Using RAID configurations

Applies To: Forefront Client Security

By using RAID, you can increase the fault tolerance of your Client Security deployment. RAID stores identical data on multiple disks for redundancy, improved performance, and increased mean time between failures (MTBF). In a RAID configuration, part of the physical storage capacity contains redundant information about data stored on the hard disks. The redundant information is either parity information (in the case of a RAID-5 volume), or a complete, separate copy of the data (in the case of a RAID-1 volume). The redundant information enables data regeneration if one of the disks or the access path fails, or if a sector on the disk cannot be read.

To ensure that computers running Client Security continue to function properly in the event of a single-disk failure, you can use RAID disk mirroring or disk striping with parity on the hard disks within your Client Security deployment. Disk mirroring and disk striping with parity creates redundant data for the data on your hard disks.

Using RAID configurations does not prevent damaged files or other file errors. For this reason, do not use RAID configurations as a substitute for keeping current backups of important data on your servers.

You can also use RAID disk mirroring or disk striping with parity to prevent the loss of a single physical hard disk from causing a failure in your Client Security database.

To implement a RAID configuration, you must use a special set of hard disks designed only for use with RAID configurations.