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Re-introducing FlexRAID (Flexible RAID)

Tolyngee said:
(I'm just trying to save you the expense of buying a dedicated drive in the event you're like me and have other, albeit smaller, drives sitting around...)
Click to expand...

Usually I offload smaller drives to friends when I get bigger ones. I have a single "spare" 500gig IDE drive, but I also have a sata hotswap 4x bay in my htpc, which is much easier to add/remove drives from, and how I will most likely be enabling flex-raid though.

Hotswap shown here:
DCP_2587.JPG
 
Any chance you could remove the view restrictions on the forum (I really don't feel like registering just to view)?
 
Rakinos said:
Any chance you could remove the view restrictions on the forum (I really don't feel like registering just to view)?
Click to expand...

There shouldn't be any need to register for the second link.

The first link points to a preview release (early access) of FlexRAID-View.
Preview releases are available only to registered users.

There is no restriction to browse the main forum.
 
You can do this same stuff with FUSE on Linux. There are FUSE filesystems to do all kinds of file/folder based raid, checksumming, error correcting codes, filesystem versioning, etc. The cool thing about FUSE is that you can mix and match by putting one filesystem on top of another. Use one for raid. Add another for checkumming. Add a third for versioning.

It's also very easy to write your own stuff. You can do most types of raid in very few lines of code. I'm talking 100-200 lines! You can write FUSE filesystems in nearly every language from C to Ruby.

One difference is that the FUSE based solutions are online, not "snaphots" as you call your thing.

There has been talk of implementing FUSE on Windows for along time but I don't know if it's gone anywhere.

I played around with file/folder style raid about a year ago. It was more trouble than it's worth imho. It's easier to buy disks in pairs and mirror them. Then for actual backups, I prefer disks that spend most of their time sitting on a shelf.
 
spectrumbx said:
I disagree. :)

"Backup" would be misleading as you should be able to get 100% of your data (from a given point) if you were to lose all of your original data.
Just like tolerance level RAIDs (RAID 5/6/etc.), FlexRAID has tolerance levels (from 1 to infinity ).
The key difference with FlexRAID is that you don't lose all of your data even if you lose more disks beyond the tolerance level (unless you lost all of your disks).

Just because FlexRAID Basic does not do real-time parity synchronization does not mean it is not RAID.
FlexRAID Basic is RAID... only a snapshot RAID.
Just like any RAID solution out there, there are advantages and disadvantages to this design.

That said, only one version of FlexRAID is out; and, that's FlexRAID Basic.
The next version will have real-time parity synchronization as you are used to seeing (like in RAID 5 but with many of the features of FlexRAID Basic).
Click to expand...

It's a neat product, but again this is data redundancy and something like this maximizes uptime. It is not a backup by definition. The term backup I think is being misused, though not intentionally from the sound of it.

RAID or anything like it has fundemental flaws as a backup solution and it never should be thought of as such.
 
codegrinder said:
website down? i cant get to it? does it work with x64 anything?
Click to expand...

FYI, RC4 is out.
It brings full 64 bit support and fixes all previous issues.

Dan_D said:
It's a neat product, but again this is data redundancy and something like this maximizes uptime. It is not a backup by definition. The term backup I think is being misused, though not intentionally from the sound of it.

RAID or anything like it has fundemental flaws as a backup solution and it never should be thought of as such.
Click to expand...

Yep.
It is all about maximizing uptime.

RAID is certainly not backup as it has been pointed out over and over.
The problem with backup, however, is that it can become impractical when you have too much data.

My initial motive in creating FlexRAID was to minimize the chances of me having to re-rip my movies.
After I was done ripping my movies, creating FlexRAID became a mission as I did not see myself ripping those movies again (far too tedious).
 
flex raid seems to run but the we binterface does not want to.


Code: 
Oct 3, 2009 7:42:55 PM org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationContext log
INFO: Initializing Spring root WebApplicationContext
Oct 3, 2009 7:43:01 PM org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationContext log
SEVERE: Servlet Initializer threw unload() exception
javax.servlet.ServletException: Servlet.destroy() for servlet Initializer threw exception
	at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapper.unload(StandardWrapper.java:1401)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapper.stop(StandardWrapper.java:1727)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardContext.stop(StandardContext.java:4502)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.removeChild(ContainerBase.java:924)
	at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.undeployApps(HostConfig.java:1189)
	at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.stop(HostConfig.java:1160)
	at org.apache.catalina.startup.HostConfig.lifecycleEvent(HostConfig.java:313)
	at org.apache.catalina.util.LifecycleSupport.fireLifecycleEvent(LifecycleSupport.java:117)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.stop(ContainerBase.java:1086)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.ContainerBase.stop(ContainerBase.java:1098)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardEngine.stop(StandardEngine.java:448)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardService.stop(StandardService.java:584)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardServer.stop(StandardServer.java:744)
	at org.apache.catalina.startup.Catalina.stop(Catalina.java:628)
	at org.apache.catalina.startup.Catalina$CatalinaShutdownHook.run(Catalina.java:671)
Caused by: java.lang.IllegalStateException: Shutdown in progress
	at java.lang.ApplicationShutdownHooks.add(Unknown Source)
	at java.lang.Runtime.addShutdownHook(Unknown Source)
	at org.quartz.plugins.management.ShutdownHookPlugin.initialize(ShutdownHookPlugin.java:143)
	at org.quartz.impl.StdSchedulerFactory.instantiate(StdSchedulerFactory.java:1188)
	at org.quartz.impl.StdSchedulerFactory.getScheduler(StdSchedulerFactory.java:1361)
	at org.quartz.impl.StdSchedulerFactory.getDefaultScheduler(StdSchedulerFactory.java:1377)
	at com.tchegbe.flexraid.web.init.Initializer.destroy(Unknown Source)
	at org.apache.catalina.core.StandardWrapper.unload(StandardWrapper.java:1382)
	... 14 more
Oct 3, 2009 7:43:01 PM org.apache.catalina.core.ApplicationContext log
INFO: Closing Spring root WebApplicationContext
 
Well that settles that. I am no longer looking at $125 RAID cards or fussing about how to build RAID arrays on disks with data on them. Thanks! I know RAID's not a backup (people were advising me I needed that), but it protects against disk failures, which is what I was afraid of in the first place.
 
hallelujah - took long enough ! :) you mind posting a link? i don't see a 1.4 beta download anywhere on the site.
 
odditory said:
hallelujah - took long enough ! :) you mind posting a link? i don't see a 1.4 beta download anywhere on the site.
Click to expand...

Hey, I guess I am getting too comfortable with those private releases. :eek:
It is always best to check the private forum for all the exciting things about FlexRAID.

What's new in 1.4?

  • A new RAID 4 engine (T1+)
    - The fastest RAID engine on earth (faster than most hardware RAID engines)
    - Leverages the latest CPU instructions for hardware assisted computations
    - New checksum algorithm (20% faster than the old) [sadly, the one thing that is still handicapping the new RAID engines :( ]
  • New RAID 6 engine (T2+)
    - Rivals the best hardware RAID 6 engines (also, low CPU overhead)
    - Features Smart Engine Scalling (SES™ ) [optimizations based on run-time dynamic UoR value]
  • Fast RAID expansion
    - Supported only on the T1/T1+ engines
  • Added support for path exclusions
  • Parity data can now be restored instead having to be recreated (useful if only a few parity files are missing or compromised and in multiple parity setups)
  • Various improvement on FlexRAID-View

What else is coming in future builds?

  • FlexRAID Live!
  • Additional RAID engines
Click to expand...

http://www.openegg.org/forums/posts/list/268.page
 
Looks impressive, I'll have to check this out. To be honest I haven't gotten the best feeling from the UI or the performance in past versions so I've hesitated recommending it, but it's worth another look. What I'm really looking forward to is Flexraid Live since I think it's a bit misleading calling it RAID4 or RAID6 for now, given it's still just point in time snapshots. I realize that's just the terminology you use to make it easier for people to understand.
 
Last edited:
huh? comparing it to raid5 is comparing a car to a bicycle. each one has strengths and each one excels at the application they're intended for.

raid5= performance and reliability through multi-disk striping
Flexraid= reliability through file-based parity independent of disks

one has very little to do with the other.
 
They compare in their ability to handle failure. A situation where you've lost two drives (raid-5) or two stripes (flex) of data, you cannot restore the lost data.

Since Flex has metadata to detect damage, it's probably more comparable though to RAID-Z.
 
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