MODULE 3
DATA PROTECTION
RAID
EMC Proven Professional. Copyright 2012 EMC Corporation. All Rights
Module 3: Data Protection - RAID
Module 3: Data Protection RAID
Upon completion of this module, you should be able to:
Describe RAID implementation methods
Describe the three RAID techniques
Describe commonly used RAID levels
Describe the impact of RAID on performance
Compare RAID levels based on their cost,
performance, and protection
EMC Proven Professional. Copyright 2012 EMC Corporation. All Rights Module 3: Data Protection - RAID
Module 3: Data Protection RAID
Lesson 1: RAID Overview
During this lesson the following topics are covered:
RAID Implementation methods
RAID array components
RAID techniques
EMC Proven Professional. Copyright 2012 EMC Corporation. All Rights Module 3: Data Protection - RAID
Why RAID?
RAID
It is a technique that combines multiple disk drives into a
logical unit (RAID set) and provides protection,
performance, or both.
Due to mechanical components in a disk drive it
offers limited performance
An individual drive has a certain life expectancy and
is measured in MTBF:
For example: If the MTBF of a drive is 750,000 hours,
and there are 1000 drives in the array, then the MTBF
of the array is 750 hours (750,000/1000)
RAID was introduced to mitigate these problems
EMC Proven Professional. Copyright 2012 EMC Corporation. All Rights Module 3: Data Protection - RAID
RAID Implementation Methods
Software RAID implementation
Uses host-based software to provide RAID
functionality
Limitations
Use host CPU cycles to perform RAID calculations,
hence impact overall system performance
Support limited RAID levels
RAID software and OS can be upgraded only if they are
compatible
Hardware RAID Implementation
Uses a specialized hardware controller installed either
on a host or on an array
EMC Proven Professional. Copyright 2012 EMC Corporation. All Rights Module 3: Data Protection - RAID
RAID Array Components
RAID
Controller
Logical
Array
(RAID Sets)
Hard
Disks
Hos
t
RAID Array
EMC Proven Professional. Copyright 2012 EMC Corporation. All Rights Module 3: Data Protection - RAID
RAID Techniques
Three key techniques used for RAID are:
Striping
Mirroring
Parity
EMC Proven Professional. Copyright 2012 EMC Corporation. All Rights Module 3: Data Protection - RAID
RAID Technique Striping
Strip
RAID
Controller
Strip
e
Host
EMC Proven Professional. Copyright 2012 EMC Corporation. All Rights Module 3: Data Protection - RAID
RAID Technique Mirroring
Block 0
Block 0
RAID
Controller
Block 0
Host
EMC Proven Professional. Copyright 2012 EMC Corporation. All Rights Module 3: Data Protection - RAID
RAID Technique Parity
4
D1
6
D2
RAID
Controller
1
D3
7
Host
D4
18
P
Actual parity calculation is a bitwise XOR operation
EMC Proven Professional. Copyright 2012 EMC Corporation. All Rights Module 3: Data Protection - RAID
10
Data Recovery in Parity Technique
4
D1
6
D2
RAID
Controller
?
D3
7
Host
D4
Regeneration of data when Drive D3 fails:
4 + 6 + ? + 7 = 18
? = 18 4 6 7
?=1
18
P
EMC Proven Professional. Copyright 2012 EMC Corporation. All Rights Module 3: Data Protection - RAID
11
Module 3: Data Protection RAID
Lesson 2: RAID Levels
During this lesson the following topics are covered:
Commonly used RAID levels
RAID impacts on performance
RAID comparison
Hot spare
EMC Proven Professional. Copyright 2012 EMC Corporation. All Rights Module 3: Data Protection - RAID
12
RAID Levels
Commonly used RAID levels are:
RAID 0 Striped set with no fault tolerance
RAID 1 Disk mirroring
RAID 1 + 0 Nested RAID
RAID 3 Striped set with parallel access and
dedicated parity disk
RAID 5 Striped set with independent disk access
and a distributed parity
RAID 6 Striped set with independent disk access
and dual distributed parity
EMC Proven Professional. Copyright 2012 EMC Corporation. All Rights Module 3: Data Protection - RAID
13
RAID 0
C
B
A
Data from host
RAID Controller
A1
B1
C1
A2
B2
C2
A3
B3
C3
A4
B4
C4
A5
B5
C5
Data Disks
EMC Proven Professional. Copyright 2012 EMC Corporation. All Rights Module 3: Data Protection - RAID
14
RAID 1
F
E
D
C
B
A
Data from host
RAID Controller
A
B
C
Mirror Set
A
B
C
D
E
F
D
E
F
Mirror Set
EMC Proven Professional. Copyright 2012 EMC Corporation. All Rights Module 3: Data Protection - RAID
15
Nested RAID 1+0
C
B
A
Data from host
Striping
Mirrorin
g
A1
B1
C1
Mirror Set A
A1
B1
C1
Mirrorin
g
A2
B2
C2
Mirror Set B
RAID Controller
Mirrorin
g
A3
B3
C3
A2
B2
C2
A3
B3
C3
Mirror Set C
EMC Proven Professional. Copyright 2012 EMC Corporation. All Rights Module 3: Data Protection - RAID
16
RAID 3
C
B
A
Data from host
RAID Controller
A1
B1
C1
A2
B2
C2
Data Disks
A3
B3
C3
AP
BP
CP
A4
B4
C4
Dedicated Parity Disk
EMC Proven Professional. Copyright 2012 EMC Corporation. All Rights Module 3: Data Protection - RAID
17
RAID 5
C
B
A
Data from host
RAID Controller
A1
B1
C1
A2
B2
C2
A3
B3
CP
A4
BP
C3
AP
B4
C4
Distributed Parity
EMC Proven Professional. Copyright 2012 EMC Corporation. All Rights Module 3: Data Protection - RAID
18
RAID 6
C
B
A
Data from host
RAID Controller
A1
B1
C1
A2
B2
CP
A3
BP
CQ
AP
BQ
C2
AQ
B3
C3
Dual Distributed Parity
EMC Proven Professional. Copyright 2012 EMC Corporation. All Rights Module 3: Data Protection - RAID
19
RAID Impacts on Performance
RAID Controller
Cp new =
Cp old -
C4 old +
C4 new
4
A1
B1
C1
1
A2
B2
C2
A3
B3
CP
A4
BP
C3
AP
B4
C4
In RAID 5, every write (update) to a disk manifests as
four I/O operations (2 disk reads and 2 disk writes)
In RAID 6, every write (update) to a disk manifests as six
I/O operations (3 disk reads and 3 disk writes)
In RAID 1, every write manifests as two I/O operations (2
disk writes)
EMC Proven Professional. Copyright 2012 EMC Corporation. All Rights Module 3: Data Protection - RAID
20
RAID Penalty Calculation Example
Total IOPS at peak workload is 1200
Read/Write ratio 2:1
Calculate disk load at peak activity for:
RAID 1/0
RAID 5
EMC Proven Professional. Copyright 2012 EMC Corporation. All Rights Module 3: Data Protection - RAID
21
Solution: RAID Penalty
For RAID 1/0, the disk load (read + write)
= (1200 x 2/3) + (1200 x (1/3) x 2)
= 800 + 800
= 1600 IOPS
For RAID 5, the disk load (read + write)
= (1200 x 2/3) + (1200 x (1/3) x 4)
= 800 + 1600
= 2400 IOPS
EMC Proven Professional. Copyright 2012 EMC Corporation. All Rights Module 3: Data Protection - RAID
22
RAID Comparison
RAI
D
lev
el
Min
dis
ks
Available
storage
capacity (%)
Read
performance
Write
performance
Write
penalty
Protection
Moderat
e
Mirror
Moderat
e
Mirror
High
Parity
(Supports
single disk
failure)
Fair for random
and sequential
writes
High
Parity
(Supports
single disk
failure)
Poor to fair for
random and
sequential writes
Very
High
Parity
(Supports two
disk failures)
50
Better than
single disk
Slower than
single disk,
because every
write must be
committed to all
disks
1+0
50
Good
Good
Fair for
random reads
and good for
sequential
reads
Good for
random and
sequential
reads
Good for
random and
sequential
reads
Poor to fair for
small random
writes
fair for large,
sequential writes
[(n-1)/n]*100
[(n-1)/n]*100
where
of disks
6 n =4number [(n-2)/n]*100
EMC Proven Professional. Copyright 2012 EMC Corporation. All Rights Module 3: Data Protection - RAID
23
Suitable RAID Levels for Different Applications
RAID 1+0
Suitable for applications with small, random, and
write intensive (writes typically greater than 30%) I/O
profile
Example: OLTP, RDBMS Temp space
RAID 3
Large, sequential read and write
Example: data backup and multimedia streaming
RAID 5 and 6
Small, random workload (writes typically less than
30%)
Example: email, RDBMS Data entry
EMC Proven Professional. Copyright 2012 EMC Corporation. All Rights Module 3: Data Protection - RAID
24
Hot Spare
Failed disk
RAID
Controller
Replace
failed
disk
Hot spare
EMC Proven Professional. Copyright 2012 EMC Corporation. All Rights Module 3: Data Protection - RAID
25
Module 3: Summary
Key points covered in this module:
RAID implementation methods and techniques
Common RAID levels
RAID write penalty
Compare RAID levels based on their cost and
performance
EMC Proven Professional. Copyright 2012 EMC Corporation. All Rights Module 3: Data Protection - RAID
26
Exercise 1: RAID
A company is planning to reconfigure storage for
their accounting application for high availability
Current configuration and challenges
Application performs 15% random writes and 85%
random reads
Currently deployed with five disk RAID 0 configuration
Each disk has an advertised formatted capacity of 200
GB
Total size of accounting applications data is 730 GB
which is unlikely to change over 6 months
Approaching end of financial year, buying even one
disk is not possible
Task
Recommend a RAID level that the company can use
to restructure their environment fulfilling their needs
Justify your choice based on cost, performance, and
EMC Proven Professional. Copyright 2012 EMC Corporation. All Rights Module 3: Data Protection - RAID
27
Exercise 2: RAID
A company (same as discussed in exercise 1) is now
planning to reconfigure storage for their database
application for HA
Current configuration and challenges
The application performs 40% writes and 60% reads
Currently deployed on six disk RAID 0 configuration
with advertised capacity of each disk being 200 GB
Size of the database is 900 GB and amount of data is
likely to change by 30% over the next 6 months
It is a new financial year and the company has an
increased budget
Task
Recommend a suitable RAID level to fulfill companys
needs
Estimate the cost of the new solution (200GB disk
costs $1000)
EMC Proven Professional. Copyright 2012 EMC Corporation. All Rights Module 3: Data Protection - RAID
28
