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Capacity Upgrade Path - do i have to go from Grid to RAIN?
Hi - We currenty have an Avamar grid configured 1 x 2 (1 x Utility Node, 2 x Data Nodes) we operate at a capacity of 4Tb but wish to add another datastore node to increase our capacity. Will i be forced into reconfiguring the system as a RAIN array or is it possible to add another data node into this configuration?
LeeHindle1
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January 26th, 2012 05:00
The RAIN feature for Avamar is a optional feature, it is not a mandatory item needed in a multi-node grid. There are certain pro's and con's to not having RAIN which I will discuss below for you.
GRID w RAIN:
Pro's
Certainly the best feature concerning RAIN is that it can with stand a single node going offline and not affect production data or current backups that maybe running.
Con's
A percentage of disk space will be needed on each node to keep the parity information of other nodes to safely withstand a node loss
GRID w non-RAIN
Pro's
Maximize total disk space of all the data nodes
Con's
If a node were to go offline, there would be no parity to protect the current information, and backups would immediately fail if running. In this event we would have to rollback to the latest checkpoint/hfscheck.
Now as discussed there are certainly other measures you could take to prevent data loss with Avamar Grids w non-RAIN functions, and that would be to replicate the data daily to a DR box. With this kind of setup it certainly will give you more reliability in the event of a disaster recovery.