RAID Controller
Definition
What is a RAID controller?
What does a RAID controller do?
They virtualize drives into different groups with specific data protection and redundancy features.
The front-end interface typically communicates with the server through a host-based adapter (HBA).
The RAID controller is not a storage controller.
Advantages
Now, lets see the advantages of the RAID controller card.
The advantages are as follows:
Cache memory
Controller-based RAID typically provides additional dickcache memoryto accelerate RAID operations.
Dedicated processing
The controller-based system independently manages RAID configuration in addition to the operating system.
However, RAID controllers will not be affected by boot errors.
RAID Controller Card:RAID controller card is anexpansion cardinserted into a PCIe or PCI-X motherboard slot.
It has a RAID processor and I/O processor with drive interface.
Software-Based: Server-Based RAID
Software RAID provides RAID services from the host.
It has two types: software-only RAID and hybrid hardware/software RAID.
The host-based tool manages RAID calculations and uses HBA or native I/O interfaces to attach to storage drives.
Different RAID Levels
RAID controllers are specific to RAID levels.
The most common levels are RAID 0, 1, 5/6, and 10.
RAID 1: Mirroring RAID 1 works on two or more desktops to provide data redundancy and failover.
It reads and writes the same data to each disk.
If the mirrored disk fails, the file will be fully present on a functioning disk.
RAID 10: Striping and Mirroring RAID 10 is the most expensive of the RAID levels.
It is striped on at least four disks to improve performance and redundant on mirrors.
In a four-drive array, the system stripes data to two disks.
The remaining two disks mirror the striped disks and each disk stores half of the data.
Hence, you will have a comprehensive and deep understanding of the RAID controllers.
