An overview of RAID and creating RAID volumes on the NAS.

COURSE OBJECTIVES

Upon completion of this course you should be able to:

1. Have a basic understanding of RAID and its different configurations.
2. Be able to set up a new storage volume with RAID.

PREREQUISITES

Course Prerequisites:

None

Students are expected to have a working knowledge of:

None

OUTLINE

1. Introduction to RAID

1.1 What is RAID?

1.2 The different RAID levels

2. Configuring your NAS

2.1 Creating a new RAID Volume

2.2 Adding and Removing RAID Volume Spare Drives

1. Introduction to RAID

1.1 What is RAID?

RAID is a storage technology used to organize the data in your storage space (or storage volumes). RAID is short for redundant array of independent drives. It balances data protection, system performance, and storage space by determining how the storage system distributes data. Many different ways of distributing data have been standardized into various RAID levels. Each RAID level offers a tradeoff between data protection, system performance, and storage space. For example, one RAID level might improve data protection but reduce storage space. Another RAID level might increase storage space but also reduce system performance.

Striping:

RAID is able to offer increased performance by using a data storage technique called striping. Data striping organizes the data on your hard drives in a way that allows for faster data access.

Mirroring:

RAID offers increased data protection by using a data storage technique called mirroring. In mirroring, the data on your hard drives is replicated thereby producing data redundancy across your storage volume. This ensures greater protection for your data.

1.2 The different RAID levels

Below is a list of the different RAID levels that you can use with your ASUSTOR NAS.

Note: RAID 0 or JBOD volumes cannot migrate to other RAID levels. Data will need to be offloaded to another storage device to set up a new RAID array.

2. Configuring your NAS

2.1 Creating a new RAID Volume

In this section we will go through the steps for creating a new storage volume with a RAID level. In the following example, the ASUSTOR NAS that we are using already has a storage volume set up with 1 hard drive. We have just inserted 2 new hard drives and will walk you through the process of creating a new storage volume using these 2 drives.

STEP 1

• After inserting the 2 new hard drives into the ASUSTOR NAS open [Storage Manager]. Under the Volume section you will see that there already is an existing "Volume 1" storage volume. Click on [Create] to begin the process of creating another storage volume.

STEP 2

• The Volume Setup Wizard window will now appear. Select the [Quick setup] radio button and click [Next].

STEP 3

• Select the [Balanced] radio button and click [Next].

Note:

At this screen you will be asked about your data storage requirements. The Volume Setup Wizard is generally able to offer you three different options to choose from. You can choose "Maximum capacity" if you wish to maximize the amount of storage space available, "Superior data protection" if you wish to have increased protection for your data or "Balanced" for a balance between storage capacity and data protection benefits. In our example we have decided to select "Balanced".

Depending on the number of drives and the option that you select, the Volume Setup Wizard will then make a decision about the RAID level to use for the new volume. This is all summarized in the tables below.

STEP 4

• Look over a final summary of your settings. You can see that the wizard has helped us to select the RAID 1 configuration for a balance between data protection and storage capacity. You can also see that RAID 1 permits 1 faulty drive. This means that in the event that one of the drives for this volume should fail, your data will still remain complete. Finally you can see the two drives that are ready to be used to create the new storage volume. Once you're ready, confirm your settings by clicking [Finish].

STEP 5

• You will now see the newly created "Volume 2" under the Volume tab of storage manager. You will also see that the new storage volume is still in the process of being built. At this time your NAS will be ready for use. Please note that the time required for synchronization varies according to hard drive capacity.

2.2 Adding and Removing RAID Volume Spare Drives

ADM supports the use of spare drives when creating volumes using RAID 1, 5, 6, and 10. When a hard drive in a RAID Volume is damaged, ADM will automatically synchronize array data to the spare drive and replace the damaged hard drive to ensure no downtime, preventing the volume from entering degraded mode.

An idle hard drive can be set as a spare drive for an existing volume. A single volume can add up to two spare drives. The capacity of spare drives must be equal to or greater than the capacity of the smallest hard drive in a volume.

An inactive M.2 SSD can also be set as the spare drive for an M.2 volume.

The following example introduces instructions on how to set an inactive hard drive as a spare drive for a volume.

• Add a hard drive to the NAS, and open Storage Manager.
• Click Drive. Confirm that the status of the newly added hard drive is ‘Inactive’.

• Select a supported volume and the Spare Drive button will become available. Click Spare Drive.

• Select an inactive hard drive and click OK.

• After successfully setting up a spare drive, volume information will be updated to reflect new information.

Spare drive capacity may not be smaller than the size of hard drives in an array.

If no longer needed, a spare drive can be removed easily.

• Select a volume that has a spare drive and click Spare Drive.
• Select a spare drive and press OK.

Learn More

NAS 352 - RAID Level Migration and Capacity Expansion