Compaq 3200 manual Drive Array Benefits, Data Protection, Fault-Tolerance RAID Options

E-5

Drive Array Benefits

Using drive arrays with the Smart Array 3200 Controller has several important benefits:

■Data Protection

■Performance Enhancement

■Capacity Changes

■Data Reliability

Data Protection

The Smart Array 3200 Controller provides several options to produce data redundancy for a more reliable system including distributing data, fault- tolerance methods, assigning online spares, and rebuilding data.

Fault-Tolerance (RAID) Options

During configuration, you will make RAID (Redundant Arrays of Independent Disks) level choices. RAID is the term used for an array technology that provides data redundancy to increase system reliability and performance.

RAID levels range from RAID-5 to RAID-0. The Smart Array 3200 Controller supports the following levels of RAID:

■RAID 5 - distributed data guarding

■RAID 4 - data guarding

■RAID 1 - drive mirroring (also RAID 0+1, or RAID 10)

■RAID 0 - no fault tolerance (data striping only)

The fault-tolerance method you choose affects the amount of available disk storage capacity and performance of your drive array. Table E-1 lists the supported RAID levels and illustrates how the fault-tolerance methods affect performance and capacity.

Compaq Smart Array 3200 Controller Reference Guide