Adaptec Storage Manager Selecting the Best RAID Level

Appendix D: Understanding RAID ●173

Selecting the Best RAID Level

Use the Table below t o select the RAID lev els that ar e m ost appr opriate for the logical drive s on y our st orage space,

based on the number of available disk drives and your requirements for performance and reliability.

Disk drive usage, r ead performance, and write performance depend on the n umber of driv es in the logical driv e. In

general, the more drives, the better the performance.

RAID level Redundancy Disk Drive

Usage Read

Performance Write

Performance Built-in Hot

Spare Minimum

Disk Drives

RAID 0 No 100%   No 1

RAID 1 Yes 50%   No 2

RAID 1E Yes 50%   No 3

RAID 10 Yes 50%   No 4

RAID 5 Yes 67 – 94%   No 3

RAID 5EE Yes 50 – 88%   Yes 4

RAID 50 Yes 67 – 94%   No 6

RAID 6 Yes 50 – 88%   No 4

RAID 60 Yes 50 – 88%   No 8

Spanned Volume N o 100%   No 2

RAID Volume No 50 – 100%   No 4

Contents

Main Copyright Trademarks Changes Disclaimer Adaptec Customer Support Software License Agreement Page Page Contents 1 About This Guide 2 Introduction to Adaptec Storage Manager 3 Step 1: Installing Adaptec Storage Manager 4 Step 2: Starting Adaptec Storage Manager 5 Step 3: Exploring Adaptec Storage Manager 6 Step 4: Building Your Storage Space 7 Step 5: Customizing Adaptec Storage Manager 8 Running Adaptec Storage Manager from the CD 9 Managing Logical Drives and Hot Spares 10 Protecting Your Data 11 Monitoring Your Storage Space 12 Managing Tasks 13 Managing Remote Systems 14 Working with Display Groups 15 Managing Controllers and Disk Drives 16 Solving Problems A Configuring SNMP Support B Quick Answers to Common Questions... C Buttons and Icons At-a-Glance Page About This Guide Terminology Used in this Guide Page About Adaptec Storage Manager About the Adaptec Storage Manager Agent System Requirements Growing Your Storage Space with Adaptec Storage Manager A Simple Storage Space An Advanced Storage Space Continuing to Grow Your Storage Space Adding Enhanced Features Unlocking the Enhanced Features Getting Started Checklist Step 1: Installing Adaptec Storage Manager Installing on Windows Completing a Silent Installation (Advanced) This table describes the command line options. Multiple features can be separated with commas. Page Installing on Linux Installing on NetWare Step 2: Starting Adaptec Storage Manager Starting Adaptec Storage Manager on Windows Starting Adaptec Storage Manager on Linux Starting Adaptec Storage Manager on NetWare Starting the Adaptec Storage Manager Agent Only Starting the Agent on Windows Starting the Agent on Linux Starting the Agent on NetWare Understanding Permission Levels Administrator Level User Level Guest Level Configuring NetWare User Authentication Logging Out of Adaptec Storage Manager Logging Back In Step 3: Exploring Adaptec Storage Manager Navigating the Main Window Using Enterprise View Using Physical Devices View Using Logical Devices View Revealing More Disk Drive Information Page Checking System Status Working in Adaptec Storage Manager About the Actions Menu Getting Help Step 4: Building Your Storage Space Selecting a Configuration Method Express Configuration: Building the Easy Way Page Partitioning and Formatting Your Logical Drives Next Steps Custom Configuration (Advanced) Page Page Page Including More Systems in Your Storage Space Building a RAID Volume Page Page RAID Controller Support Managing Your Storage Space Step 5: Customizing Adaptec Storage Manager Logging In to Remote Systems Page Creating Display Groups Page Setting Preferences and Changing Views Sorting Systems in the Enterprise View Setting the Standard Unit of Measure Changing the Main Window Appearance Customizing the Adaptec Storage Manager Agent Broadcasting Event Alerts from a System Changing a Systems Audible Alarm Settings Page Changing a Systems Event Log Setting Changing a Systems Agent Base Port Number Page When to Choose Bootable-CD Mode Bootable-CD Mode Limitations Getting Started in Bootable-CD Mode Running Adaptec Storage Manager from the CD Managing Logical Drives and Hot Spares Understanding Logical Drives Creating Logical Drives Setting the Size of a Logical Drive Including Different-sized Disk Drives in a Logical Drive Creating a Logical Drive Using Available Space Fine-tuning Logical Drives Changing the Write Cache Setting Changing the Stripe Size Changing the Read Cache Setting Changing the Initialize Method Changing the Initialize Priority Verifying Logical Drives Verifying and Fixing a Logical Drive Verifying a Logical Drive (Without Fix) Enabling/Disabling Background Consistency Check Increasing the Capacity of a Logical Drive Page Page Extending a Partition on a Logical Drive Changing the RAID Level of a Logical Drive Page Deleting a Logical Drive Working with Hot Spares Hot Spare Limitations Dedicated Spare or Global Spare? Designating a Global Hot Spare Assigning a Dedicated Hot Spare What Do the Hot Spare Icons Mean? Removing a Hot Spare Page Page Creating a Snapshot Snapshot Limitations Creating a Snapshot with Backup Creating a Snapshot Without Backup Deleting a Snapshot Enabling Copyback Page Monitoring Options Checking Activity in Your Storage Space Viewing the Full List of Events Clearing the Event Log What Do the Status Icons Mean? Using Event Notifications to Monitor Status Setting up Event Notifications Page Page Page Managing the Event Notification List Page Monitoring and Managing the Notification Log Page Disabling Event Notifications Setting Up Email Notifications Page Page Page Managing the Email List Monitoring and Managing the Email Log Page Changing the Email Notification Manager Settings Disabling Email Notifications Broadcasting Event Alerts to Users Silencing and Testing the Audible Alarm Testing the Alarm Silencing the Alarm Disabling a Controllers Alarm Viewing Component Properties Managing Tasks Scheduling a Task Page Opening the Task Manager Monitoring Tasks Monitoring Upcoming Tasks in the Task List Checking Past Tasks and Events in the Event Log Page Modifying a Task What if a task misses its start time? Deleting a Task Disabling the Task Manager Re-enabling the Task Manager Page Introduction Removing a Remote System Page Adding a System to a Display Group Viewing Display Group Status Removing a System from a Display Group Moving a System from One Display Group to Another Renaming a Display Group Deleting a Display Group Page Rescanning a Controller Registering New Controllers Viewing Controller Properties Saving Your Controller Configuration Updating Controller BIOS and Firmware Updating the Controller BIOS and Firmware Page Setting a Disk Drive to Failed Replacing Disk Drives in a Logical Drive Page Identifying a Failed or Failing Component Recovering from a Disk Drive Failure Failed Disk Drive Protected by a Hot Spare Failed Disk Drive Not Protected by a Hot Spare Failure in Multiple Logical Drives Simultaneously Disk Drive Failure in a RAID 0 Logical Drive Multiple Failures in the Same Logical Drive Removing a Failed Disk Drives Icon Rebuilding Logical Drives Solving Notification Problems Creating an Archive File Troubleshooting Adaptec Storage Manager A Configuring SNMP Support on Windows Configuring SNMP Support on Linux Configuring SNMP Support on NetWare B How do I...? Page Whats the difference between...? Adaptec Storage Manager and the agent? Event notifications, email notifications, and event alerts? C Icons in the Physical Devices View Icons in the Logical Devices View Buttons in the Physical/Logical Devices Views Buttons on the Main Window Tool Bar D Understanding RAID Understanding Drive Segments RAID 0 (Non-RAID Logical Drives) RAID 1 Logical Drives RAID 1 Enhanced Logical Drives Appendix D: Understanding RAID RAID 10 Logical Drives D isk Drives in Logical Drive RAID 10 Logical Drive = 500 GB RAID 5 Logical Drives RAID 5EE Logical Drives RAID 50 Logical Drives RAID 6 Logical Drives RAID 60 Logical Drives Selecting the Best RAID Level Glossary A B C D E F G H I L M N P R S T Page Index A B C D E F G H I J Page M N O P Q R S T U V W