RAID, or Redundant Array of Independent Disks, is a technology of storing data on a number hard disk drives that function together as a single logical unit. The drives could be physical or logical i.e. in the latter case a single drive is divided into individual ones via virtualization software. In any case, identical data is stored on all of the drives and the key advantage of employing this type of a setup is that in case a drive stops working, the data will still be available on the remaining ones. Using a RAID also boosts the performance as the input and output operations will be spread among several drives. There are several kinds of RAID dependant upon how many drives are used, whether writing is done on all the drives in real time or just on 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. These factors suggest that the fault tolerance and the performance between the various RAID types can vary.
RAID in Cloud Website Hosting
The drives which we use for storage with our top-notch cloud hosting platform are not the traditional HDDs, but fast NVMes. They work in RAID-Z - a special setup created for the ZFS file system which we use. All the content that you add to the cloud website hosting account will be kept on multiple hard drives and at least 1 shall be employed as a parity disk. This is a special drive where a further bit is included to any content copied on it. In case a disk in the RAID stops working, it will be changed without service interruptions and the data will be rebuilt on the new drive by recalculating its bits thanks to the data on the parity disk plus that on the other disks. This is done to ensure the integrity of the data and along with the real-time checksum verification that the ZFS file system runs on all drives, you'll never have to worry about losing any data no matter what.
RAID in Semi-dedicated Servers
The NVMe drives that are used for storing any website content uploaded to the semi-dedicated server accounts which we offer function in RAID-Z. This is a specific setup where one or more drives are used for parity i.e. the system will include an extra bit to any data duplicated on such a hard drive. In the event that a disk fails and is substituted with a new one, what info will be duplicated on the latter will be a combination calculated between the data on the other hard disks and that on the parity one. This is done to make sure that the information on the new drive will be accurate. Throughout the process, the RAID will continue working adequately and the malfunctioning drive won't have an effect on the normal operation of your websites in any respect. Working with NVMes in RAID-Z is an outstanding addition to the ZFS file system which runs on our cutting-edge cloud platform with regard to preserving the integrity of your files as ZFS uses special digital identifiers known as checksums in order to avoid silent data corruption.
RAID in VPS Servers
The NVMe drives that we use on the physical machines where we set up VPS servers operate in RAID to ensure that any content you upload will be available and intact all the time. At least one drive is employed for parity - one bit of information is added to any data copied on it. In the event that a main drive breaks down, it is replaced and the information which will be cloned on it is calculated between the remaining drives and the parity one. That’s done to ensure that the correct information is copied and that not a single file is corrupted since the new drive will be a part of the RAID afterwards. Also, we use hard disks working in RAID on the backup servers, so if you add this upgrade to your VPS package, you will use an even more reliable Internet hosting service because your content will be available on multiple drives regardless of any kind of unpredicted hardware malfunction.