RAIDkontroller

RAIDkontroller is a device or software component that manages RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) configurations. It consolidates multiple physical disks into one or more logical drives to improve performance, provide redundancy, or both. RAIDkontrollers can be integrated on a motherboard, added as an expansion card (for example a PCIe card), or implemented in software within the operating system.

Typical functions include selecting RAID levels (such as 0, 1, 5, 6, 10, 50, and 60), configuring stripe size, cache policies, and parity schemes, and managing hot spares and array rebuilds. Hardware RAIDkontrollers usually feature a dedicated processor and memory to offload parity calculations and data management from the host CPU. They often expose a cache (often battery-backed or flash-backed) to accelerate writes and improve throughput. The controller presents one or more logical drives to the OS and handles data placement and redundancy.

There are hardware RAIDkontrollers and software-based RAID. Hardware controllers are standalone devices with firmware and optional management interfaces; software RAID relies on the operating system's drivers and uses the host CPU for data processing. Some controllers also function as host bus adapters (HBAs) and can expose raw disks via JBOD or provide higher-level RAID functions.

Management and monitoring are provided through a BIOS/UEFI setup utility during boot, vendor management software, and sometimes SNMP or APIs. Features may include hot-swapping, online capacity expansion, and monitoring of drive health and rebuild progress.

Considerations for selection include reliability, supported RAID levels, cache size and backing battery, compatible interfaces, and vendor support. Remember that RAID improves availability and performance but is not a substitute for routine backups.