Revolutionizing RAID rebuilds: Xinnor and Solidigm's game-changing study

Xinnor and Solidigm have unveiled an innovative joint study titled "Accelerating RAID Rebuild and Reducing Write Amplification on High-Density Solidigm QLC Drives with xiRAID." This research demonstrates significant advancements in RAID rebuild performance using Xinnor's xiRAID software, offering a 10x acceleration compared to traditional mdraid implementations on Linux OS.

The study addresses enterprise concerns about RAID-configured, high-capacity QLC drives, notably the extended time and associated risks of operating in degraded modes. Using Solidigm's 61.44TB D5-P5336 QLC SSDs, the findings reveal that xiRAID can complete a rebuild in 5 hours and 22 minutes without host workload, contrasting with the 53 hours and 40 minutes required by mdraid.

"As organisations embrace AI workloads and demand massive storage capacities, the combination of performance and reliability becomes paramount," highlighted the study. Xinnor's collaboration with Solidigm demonstrates that optimised software RAID solutions can deliver the essential capacity, performance, and reliability while minimising prolonged periods in degraded operation modes.

The significance of these findings is heightened as the storage industry pivots toward performance-per-watt and capacity-per-watt optimisation. Key results include:

• 10x faster rebuild without host workload: xiRAID rebuilds the 61.44TB drives in 5h 22m, significantly outperforming mdraid's 53h 40m.
• 30x faster rebuild with concurrent host workload: xiRAID sustains a rebuild speed of 316MB/s as opposed to mdraid's 10.5MB/s under active workload.
• Superior write amplification factor (WAF): xiRAID achieved 1.02 WAF versus 1.2 with mdraid during rebuild.
• Sustained host performance: xiRAID offers 44GB/s read and 13GB/s write during operations.

This research effectively debunks concerns regarding prolonged rebuild times for expansive high-capacity drives when optimally configured software RAID solutions are employed. In host workload conditions, while mdraid might take over 67 days to rebuild a 61.44TB drive, xiRAID can achieve the same in merely 54 hours with sustained host performance.

The study was conducted utilising a robust methodology on Dell PowerEdge R760 systems equipped with Intel Xeon Gold 6430 processors and ten Solidigm D5-P5336 61.44TB drives in RAID5 configurations. These results furnish enterprise architects with vital data, fostering an informed strategic deployment.