Compaq 166207-B21 - Smart Array 5302/32 RAID Controller Technology Brief

June 2002
Compaq Computer
Corporation
Prepared by
ISS Technology
Communications
C
O N T E N T S
Executive Summary..........1
Introduction .....................3
RAID Levels:
Functions and
Limitations .......................3
RAID ADG Provides
Optimum Fault
Tolerance .........................5
RAID ADG is a
Cost-Effective
Solution ...........................7
Performance
Considerations.................8
Choosing a RAID
level .................................8
Summary ..........................9
TC020604TB
T
ECHNOLOGY
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. . Compaq RAID Advanced Data Guarding:
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A Cost-effective, Fault-tolerant Solution
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E S
X E C U T I V E U M M A R Y
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Although most customers are not experiencing sharp increases in business revenue,
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almost all are experiencing an explosion in the volume of enterprise data they are
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. . accruing. As customers evaluate storage solutions for this data, they are focusing on three
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very important needs: fault tolerance, storage capacity efficiency (cost effectiveness), and
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performance. Compaq RAID Advanced Data Guarding (ADG) is a cost-effective, fault
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tolerant solution for storing large volumes of enterprise data. Its performance, like that of
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other RAID levels, depends on the nature of the application. RAID ADG is supported on
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the Compaq Smart Array 5300 Controller and the Smart Array Cluster Storage and
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Modular SAN Array 1000 controllers.
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Organizations implementing a large array should consider RAID ADG because it can
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tolerate up to two simultaneous drive failures without downtime or data loss. It can safely
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protect an array of up to 56 hard disk drives with greater fault tolerance than RAID 5 and
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with a lower implementation cost than RAID 1.
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Please direct comments regarding this communication to the ISSG Technology Communications Group at this Internet
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address: TechCom@hp.com
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1
B
RIEF