RAID 7 disk array

Abstract

Each RAID level reflects a different design architecture. Associated with each is a backdrop of imposed limitations, as well as possibilities which may be exploited within the architectural constraints of that level. There are three unique features that differentiate RAID 7 from all other levels. RAID 7 is asynchronous with respect to usage of I/O data paths. Each I/O drive (includes all data and one parity drives) as well as each host interface (there may be multiple host interfaces) has independent control and data paths. This means that each can be accessed completely, independently, of the other. This is facilitated by a separate device cache for each device/interface as well. RAID 7 is asynchronous with respect to device hierarchy and data bus utilization. Each drive and each interface is connected to a high speed data bus controlled by the embedded operating system to make independent transfers to and from central cache. RAID 7 is asynchronous with respect to the operation of an embedded real time process oriented operating system. This means that exclusive and independent of the host, or multiple host paths, the embedded OS manages all I/O transfers asynchronously across the data and parity drives. A key factor to consider is that of the RAID 7's ability to anticipate and match host I/O usage patterns. This yields the following benefits over RAID's built around micro-code based architectures. RAID 7 appears to the host as a normally connected Big Fast Disk (BFD). RAID 7 appears, from the perspective of the individual disk devices, to minimize the total number of accesses and optimize read/write transfer requests. RAID 7 smoothly integrates the random demands of independent users with the principles of spatial and temporal locality. This optimizes small, large, and time sequenced I/O requests which results in users having an I/O performance which approaches performance to that of main memory.