Data Availability and Performance
11
Data Availability and Performance
The CHALLENGE RAID storage system hardware implements data
availability and performance enhancements in these ways:
•
data redundancy
•
enhanced performance: disk striping
•
enhanced performance: storage system caching
•
data reconstruction and rebuilding after disk module failure
This section discusses these features.
Data Redundancy
RAID technology provides redundant disk resources in disk-array and
disk-mirror configurations that make the storage system more highly
available. Data redundancy varies for the different RAID levels supported
by CHALLENGE RAID: RAID-0, RAID-1, RAID-1_0, and RAID-5.
Because the CHALLENGE RAID storage system has five internal SCSI-2
buses, RAID-5 provides redundancy for up to five groups of disk modules.
A RAID-5 group maintains parity data that lets the disk group survive a disk
module failure without losing data. In addition, the group can survive a
single SCSI-2 internal bus failure if each disk module in the group was
bound on an independent SCSI-2 internal bus.
A RAID-1 mirrored pair, or a RAID-1_0 group, which uses RAID-1
technology, duplicates data on two disk modules. If one disk module fails,
the other module provides continuing access to stored information.
Similarly, a RAID-1 mirrored pair or RAID-1_0 group can survive a single
SCSI internal bus failure if you bind each disk module on an independent
SCSI internal bus.