Enterprise Data Storage: Getting Your Money's Worth

RAID or Redundant Array of Independent Disks is the industry standard for enterprise level data storage where write speeds and data redundancy have a high priority. Developed back in 1987, the storage system has been adopted by enterprise IT systems, hosting companies and recently advanced cloud computing platforms.

However the benefits of a RAID array will always come at a price. As RAID works by creating da-ta redundancy across multiple disks, often organisations will need to purchase double the storage they actually plan to use to accommodate these backups.

There are a range of RAID setups that can be adopted by an IT service provider, each with their own unique benefits and cost implications. In a world where the data baggage being carried around by large enterprise is growing at phenomenal rates, large and cost-effective storage sys-tems are increasingly sought after. Careful selection of RAID configuration can save hundreds if not thousands of dollars for organisations of any size.

When both data redundancy and fast write speeds need to be achieved, the options are generally RAID 5 or RAID 10. Lets pit the two configurations against each other to see how they come out. It's also important to look at the RAID recovery implications for each.

RAID 5 is a storage system based on achieving data parity across a series of disks. It spreads data backups across multiple disks in an attempt to avoid having to perform RAID 5 recovery or service interruptions in the event of a disk failure. However managing the disks is a complicated and processor-intensive process, often resulting in performance implications. Although multiple write heads can be used at once to write data, that data also needs to be made redundant across multiple disks at the same time. Such a complicated system means more resistance to disk fail-ure, but also a much more complicated RAID recovery process. From a cost perspective, RAID 5 is generally seen as a cost effective option. The configuration, however, has  hidden costs you may not encounter until the system is up and running. RAID 5 is more expensive for write inten-sive applications, less resilient to disk outages and expensive to repair than RAID 1 or RAID 10 systems.

With decreasing hardware costs, RAID 10 is becoming a much more attractive configuration. RAID 10 is a pairing of the RAID 0 and RAID 1 configurations, achieving fast write speeds and complete data redundancy without overhead of managing disk parity. It offers a read speed of 4x a single disk, and write speed increase of 2x. This is in some cases half of what a RAID 5 confi-guration can offer. Due to the (relatively) simplistic nature of a RAID 10 array, RAID recovery is a much less inhibiting expense should multiple disk failures occur. It is also less expensive to repair and maintain, with less strain put on individual disks.

It's important to take the time to assess your configuration options when setting up your own sto-rage infrastructure. Keep in mind the total cost of ownership (TCO) of any system, including the ongoing maintenance and potential RAID recovery expenses.