Discover why RAID 10 is the best RAID level for small business servers needing both redundancy and high performance, as required for the CompTIA A+ Core 1 220-1101 exam. Learn how RAID 10 combines mirroring and striping for optimal speed and data protection.
Table of Contents
Question
A technician is configuring a RAID array for a small business server requiring redundancy and performance. Which RAID level should be selected?
A. RAID 0
B. RAID 10
C. RAID 1
D. RAID 6
E. RAID 5
Answer
B. RAID 10
Explanation
RAID 10 combines mirroring (redundancy) and striping (performance), making it ideal for a small business server needing both fault tolerance and fast data access.
RAID 10 (also known as RAID 1+0) is the optimal choice for small business servers that require both data redundancy and high performance. It combines the benefits of mirroring (RAID 1) and striping (RAID 0):
Mirroring provides full data redundancy by duplicating data across pairs of drives. If a drive in a mirrored pair fails, the system continues to operate using the remaining drive, ensuring fault tolerance and minimal downtime.
Striping distributes data across multiple mirrored pairs, significantly boosting read and write performance by allowing simultaneous access to data on different drives.
RAID 10 outperforms RAID 5 and RAID 6 in speed, especially for I/O-intensive applications, and offers faster recovery and simpler rebuilds after a drive failure. While it requires a minimum of four drives and sacrifices half of the total storage capacity for redundancy, it provides the best balance of performance and fault tolerance for mission-critical business environments.
Other RAID levels:
- RAID 0: Offers performance but no redundancy—data loss occurs if any drive fails.
- RAID 1: Provides redundancy but not the same performance boost as RAID 10.
- RAID 5/6: Offer a compromise between capacity, performance, and redundancy, but have slower write speeds and more complex recovery compared to RAID 10.
- RAID 10 is recommended for servers where both uptime and speed are crucial, such as databases, email, and web servers.
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