6.1Setting up RAID
For PA4 model, the Intel® ICH7R Southbridge chip comes with the LSI Logic Embedded SATA RAID Utility and the Intel® Matrix Storage Manager. These utilities support SATA hard disk drives and allow creation of RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, and RAID 10 configuration. For PX4 model, the ASUS SASsaby 1064E SAS RAID controller card provides RAID 0, RAID 1, and RAID 1E configuration.
6.1.1RAID definitions
RAID 0 (Data striping) optimizes two identical hard disk drives to read and write data in parallel, interleaved stacks. Two hard disks perform the same work as a single drive but at a sustained data transfer rate, double that of a single disk alone, thus improving data access and storage. Use of two new identical hard disk drives is required for this setup.
RAID 1 (Data mirroring) copies and maintains an identical image of data from one drive to a second drive. If one drive fails, the disk array management software directs all applications to the surviving drive as it contains a complete copy of the data in the other drive. This RAID configuration provides data protection and increases fault tolerance to the entire system. Use two new drives or use an existing drive and a new drive for this setup. The new drive must be of the same size or larger than the existing drive.
RAID 1E (Enhanced RAID 1) has a striped layout with each stripe unit having a secondary (or alternate) copy stored on a different disk. You can use three or more hard disk drives for this configuration.
RAID 5 stripes both data and parity information across three or more hard disk drives. Among the advantages of RAID 5 configuration include better HDD performance, fault tolerance, and higher storage capacity. The RAID
5 configuration is best suited for transaction processing, relational database applications, enterprise resource planning, and other business systems. Use a minimum of three identical hard disk drives for this setup.
RAID 10 is a striped configuration with RAID 1 segments whose segments are RAID 1 arrays. This configuration has the same fault tolerance as RAID 1, and has the same overhead for
Intel® Matrix Storage. The Intel® Matrix Storage technology supported by the ICHR chip allows you to create a RAID 0 and RAID 1 set using only two identical hard disk drives. The Intel® Matrix Storage technology creates two partitions on each hard disk drive to create a virtual RAID 0 and RAID 1 sets. This technology also allows you to change the hard disk drive partition size without losing any data.
If you want to boot the system from a hard disk drive included in a created RAID set, copy first the RAID driver from the support CD to a floppy disk before you install an operating system to the selected hard disk drive.
Chapter 6: RAID configuration |