Redundant Array of Independent Disks, or RAID, is a method of storing content on multiple hard disk drives simultaneously. A RAID might be software or hardware depending on the hard drives that are used - physical or logical ones, still what is common between them is that they all work as just one single unit where your information is stored. The main advantage of using a RAID is redundancy since the information on all drives is the same all the time, so even in case some drive fails for whatever reason, the info will still be present on the other drives. The overall performance is also enhanced as the reading and writing processes will be split between different drives, so a single one will never be overloaded. There are different types of RAIDs where the capabilities and fault tolerance may differ according to the exact setup - whether info is written on all drives real-time or it is written on one drive and afterwards mirrored on another, the number of drives are used for the RAID, and so on.
RAID in Cloud Web Hosting
The NVMe drives that our cutting-edge cloud hosting platform employs for storage function in RAID-Z. This sort of RAID is created to work with the ZFS file system which runs on the platform and it takes advantage of the so-called parity disk - a specific drive where information located on the other drives is cloned with an additional bit added to it. If one of the disks stops functioning, your websites shall continue working from the other ones and after we replace the faulty one, the information which will be copied on it will be recovered from what is stored on the other drives along with the data from the parity disk. This is performed so as to be able to recalculate the elements of each and every file properly and to authenticate the integrity of the information cloned on the new drive. This is another level of security for the information which you upload to your cloud web hosting account in addition to the ZFS file system that analyzes a unique digital fingerprint for each file on all the disk drives in real time.
RAID in Semi-dedicated Hosting
The NVMe drives which are used for storing any content uploaded to the semi-dedicated hosting accounts which we offer function in RAID-Z. This is a special setup where one or more hard drives are employed for parity i.e. the system will include an extra bit to any data cloned on such a hard drive. In case that a disk fails and is substituted with a new one, what data will be duplicated on the latter will be a mix calculated between the data on the remaining hard disks and that on the parity one. This is done to ensure that the info on the new drive shall be correct. During the procedure, the RAID will continue working normally and the malfunctioning drive will not have an impact on the normal operation of your Internet sites by any means. Using NVMes in RAID-Z is an impressive addition to the ZFS file system that runs on our revolutionary cloud platform with respect to preserving the integrity of your files because ZFS uses unique digital identifiers referred to as checksums so as to avoid silent data corruption.
RAID in VPS Web Hosting
The NVMe drives which we use on the machines where we set up virtual private servers operate in RAID to make sure that any content which you upload will be available and intact at all times. At least a single drive is used for parity - one bit of info is added to any data copied on it. In case a main drive fails, it is changed and the info which will be cloned on it is calculated between the remaining drives and the parity one. This is done to make sure that the correct information is copied and that not a single file is corrupted since the new drive will be included in the RAID afterwards. We also use hard disks operating in RAID on the backup servers, so if you add this upgrade to your VPS plan, you shall use an even more reliable Internet hosting service because your content will be available on multiple drives irrespective of any type of unpredicted hardware malfunction.