RAID, or Redundant Array of Independent Disks, is a technology for storing data on multiple hard drives which function together as a single logical unit. The drives could be physical or logical i.e. in the second case one single drive is divided into different ones using virtualization software. Either way, exactly the same data is stored on all of the drives and the key advantage of using this type of a setup is that if a drive breaks down, the data will remain available on the other ones. Using a RAID also boosts the performance as the input and output operations will be spread among a few drives. There are several types of RAID based on how many hard drives are used, whether writing is carried out on all the drives in real time or just on a single one, and how the data is synced between the hard drives - whether it's written in blocks on one drive after another or it is mirrored from one on the others. All these factors mean that the error tolerance as well as the performance between the different RAID types could differ.

RAID in Shared Web Hosting

The SSD drives which our cutting-edge cloud web hosting platform uses for storage function in RAID-Z. This kind of RAID is created to work with the ZFS file system which runs on the platform and it employs the so-called parity disk - a special drive where data kept on the other drives is cloned with an additional bit added to it. In the event that one of the disks stops working, your sites shall continue working from the other ones and once we replace the bad one, the information which will be duplicated on it will be recovered from what is stored on the other drives together with the data from the parity disk. This is done so as to be able to recalculate the elements of every single file correctly and to validate the integrity of the data copied on the new drive. This is another level of security for the information which you upload to your shared web hosting account together with the ZFS file system that compares a special digital fingerprint for each file on all drives in real time.

RAID in Semi-dedicated Servers

The info uploaded to any semi-dedicated server account is kept on SSD drives that function in RAID-Z. One of the drives in this kind of a setup is used for parity - any time data is cloned on it, an extra bit is added. In case a disk happens to be flawed, it will be removed from the RAID without disturbing the functioning of the websites as the data will load from the other drives, and when a brand new drive is added, the information that will be duplicated on it will be a mix between the data on the parity disk and data saved on the other hard disks in the RAID. That is done in order to ensure that the data which is being cloned is correct, so once the new drive is rebuilt, it could be integrated into the RAID as a production one. This is an extra guarantee for the integrity of your data since the ZFS file system which runs on our cloud hosting platform compares a special checksum of all the copies of the files on the different drives to be able to avoid any possibility of silent data corruption.

RAID in VPS Servers

All VPS server accounts that our company provides are generated on physical servers which employ SSD drives operating in RAID. At least one drive is employed for parity - one extra bit is included in the info duplicated on it and in case a main disk fails, this bit makes it easier to recalculate the bits of the files on the damaged disk drive so that the accurate info is recovered on the new drive added to the RAID. In the mean time, your sites will remain online because all the information will still load from at least one more disk drive. In case you add regular backups to your VPS plan, a copy of the info will be saved on standard hard disks which also operate in RAID as we would like to make sure that any kind of site content you upload will be protected at all times. Employing multiple hard disks in RAID for all the main and backup servers enables us to offer fast and reliable Internet hosting service.