MP-RAID: multiple parallel RAID architecture for multimedia servers

Mohamed El-Lagta; Steve Matheson

doi:10.1117/12.257302

1 November 1996 MP-RAID: multiple parallel RAID architecture for multimedia servers

Mohamed El-Lagta, Steve Matheson

Proceedings Volume 2916, Multimedia Storage and Archiving Systems; (1996) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.257302
Event: Photonics East '96, 1996, Boston, MA, United States

Abstract

The main motivation for disk arrays is the opportunity to increase data parallelism to satisfy the escalating demands of a large class of applications such as multimedia, which is characterized as a real-time IO-intensive application. However, traditional disk arrays suffer from contention in several components: memory, bus, disk controllers and processing power. This contention degrades performance and causes delivery system bottlenecks. We propose MP-RAID: a parallel architecture for redundant arrays of inexpensive disks (RAID) which extends data parallelism and introduces control parallelism to disk arrays. MP-RAID is a transputer- based multiple parallel RAID that employs data parallelism on two levels. The lower level has multiple disks grouped in a single parity group and operated simultaneously. The higher level connects multiple decentralized RAID modules via a high speed interconnect network with multiple I/O paths. Control parallelism can be achieved by either of these operating modes: SCMS (single controller multiple servers) or MCMS (multiple controller multiple servers). In SCMS parallel operation mode, requests are queued in the main array controller unit (ACU). The ACU distributes requests among modules and establishes one or more links with host applications. It instructs one or more module to serve a single large request or multiple small requests. In MCMS mode, each storage module receives requests directly acting as an independent ACU.

Citation Download Citation

Mohamed El-Lagta and Steve Matheson "MP-RAID: multiple parallel RAID architecture for multimedia servers", Proc. SPIE 2916, Multimedia Storage and Archiving Systems, (1 November 1996); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.257302

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