Software vs hardware raid performance and cache usage server. As one member pointed out, software raid is like playing with fire. A redundant array of inexpensive disks raid allows high levels of storage reliability. Lets start the hardware vs software raid battle with the hardware side. When your storage drives are directly connected to the servers motherboard without a raid controller, the raid configuration will be managed by the utility software in the operating system. Back then, the solution was to use a hardware raid card with a builtin processor that handled the raid calculations offline. But the real question is whether you should use a hardware raid solution or a software raid solution. Regardless and i say this with all due respect and love guys, you shouldnt make your decisions based on what stackoverflow a group of software guys has or hasnt done.
If you have a server hiccup, you could have some data loss issues. In the last couple of years, raid redundant array of independent disks technology has grown from a server option to a data protection requirement. So, what are the pros and cons of software raid vs. Hardware one is most common in areas where its advantages are somewhat realized, like in the windows server environment. Disks attached to servers can be turned into raid arrays using builtin features on a number of operating systems. Today a server with a hardware raid controller reported when i say. Hence, its performance also depends on the cpu performance and the workload of your sever. A raid can be deployed using both software and hardware.
In a hardware raid setup, the drives connect to a raid controller card inserted in a fast pciexpress pcie slot in a motherboard. Software raid is often specific to the operating system being used, so it cannot generally be used for. Im a sysadmin by trade and as such i deal with raid enabled servers on a daily basis. It can either be performed in the host servers cpu software raid, or in an external cpu hardware raid. Comparing hardware raid vs software raid setups deals with how the storage drives in a raid array connect to the motherboard in a server. With a hardware raid setup, the drives connect to a raid controller card inserted in the server s motherboard. Raid stands for redundant array of inexpensive disks. There are two types of raid, each with their advantages and disadvantages. Software raid tends to be slower than hardware raid. Comparing hardware raid vs software raid setups deals with how the storage drives in a raid array connect to the motherboard in a server or pc, and the management of those drives. It is used to improve disk io performance and reliability of your server or workstation. To compare software raid vs hardware raid, its also necessary to figure out what software raid is.
Plus, software raid permits users to reconfigure your arrays without being restricted by the hardware raid controller. If you research this topic, a lot of the information about raid suggests that a hardware raid card is preferable to using a software raid. Favoring hardware raid over software raid comes from a time when hardware was just not powerful enough to handle software raid processing, along with all the other tasks that it was being used for. The performance of a softwarebased array depends on the server cpu. For other scenarios raid 0, raid 5, or raid 10, a single drive isnt much use on its own anyways, so i prefer hardware raid. Software raid in the real world backdrift backdrift. Since some processing power is taken by the software, read and write speeds of your raid configuration, along with other operations carried out on the server can be slowed down by it. A question often asked in the server industry is, whats better software raid or hardware raid. Hardware raid controller can help you improve the performance since the processing is handled by the raid card instead of the server. In a hardware raid setup, the drives connect to a special raid controller inserted in a fast pciexpress pcie slot in a motherboard.