RAID, or Redundant Array of Independent Disks, is a technology of saving data on a number hard disks that function together as one single logical unit. The drives could be physical or logical i.e. in the second case one drive is split into separate ones via virtualization software. In either case, the same information is saved on all drives and the basic advantage of using this kind of a setup is that in case a drive fails, the data will remain available on the other ones. Having a RAID also enhances the overall performance because the input and output operations will be spread among a number of drives. There are several types of RAID dependant upon how many hard drives are used, whether writing is performed on all drives in real time or just on one, and how the data is synchronized between the drives - whether it's written in blocks on one drive after another or it is mirrored from one on the others. These factors mean that the fault tolerance and the performance between the various RAID types may vary.

RAID in Web Hosting

The SSD drives which our cutting-edge cloud web hosting platform employs for storage operate in RAID-Z. This type of RAID is intended to work with the ZFS file system that runs on the platform and it works by using the so-called parity disk - a special drive where information saved on the other drives is copied with an additional bit added to it. In case one of the disks stops functioning, your Internet sites will continue working from the other ones and after we replace the malfunctioning one, the information that will be duplicated on it will be rebuilt from what is stored on the other drives together with the data from the parity disk. This is performed in order to be able to recalculate the elements of every file correctly and to confirm the integrity of the data cloned on the new drive. This is another level of security for the information you upload to your web hosting account in addition to the ZFS file system which analyzes a unique digital fingerprint for every single file on all the drives in real time.

RAID in Semi-dedicated Servers

The information uploaded to any semi-dedicated server account is stored on SSD drives that work in RAID-Z. One of the drives in such a configuration is used for parity - each time data is copied on it, an extra bit is added. If a disk happens to be faulty, it will be removed from the RAID without interrupting the work of the websites because the data will load from the other drives, and when a new drive is added, the information that will be duplicated on it will be a blend between the info on the parity disk and data stored on the other drives in the RAID. This is done so as to ensure that the info which is being copied is correct, so as soon as the new drive is rebuilt, it could be incorporated into the RAID as a production one. This is one more warranty for the integrity of your info since the ZFS file system that runs on our cloud Internet hosting platform compares a unique checksum of all copies of your files on the different drives to avoid any possibility of silent data corruption.

RAID in VPS Servers

All VPS server accounts that we offer are made on physical servers which employ SSD drives functioning in RAID. At least one drive is employed for parity - one additional bit is included in the data duplicated on it and if a main disk breaks down, this bit makes it easier to recalculate the bits of the files on the failed hard disk so that the right data is recovered on the new drive included in the RAID. At the same time, your Internet sites will remain online because all the information will still load from at least one other disk drive. In the event that you add routine backups to your VPS package, a copy of your data will be stored on standard disk drives which also operate in RAID because we want to make sure that any content you upload will be protected at all times. Employing multiple hard disks in RAID for all main and backup servers enables us to offer fast and reliable hosting service.