RAID-II: Design and implementation of a large scale disk array

Abstract: We describe the implementation of a large scale disk array controller and subsystem incorporating over 100 high performance 3.5 " disk drives. It is designed to provide 40 MB/s sustained performance and 40 GB capacity in three 19 " racks. The array controller forms an integral part of a file server that attaches to a Gb/s local area network. The controller implements a high bandwidth interconnect between an interleaved memory, an XOR calculation engine, the network interface (HIPPI), and the disk interfaces (SCSI). The system is now functionally operational, and we are tuning its performance. We review the design decisions, history, and lessons learned from this three year university implementation effort to construct a truly large scale system assembly. 1