Background Initialization
Where the initialization process of a disk array takes place in the background, allowing use of a disk array within seconds instead of several hours. Also known as Immediate RAID Availability.
Benchmarks
A set of conditions or criteria against which a product or system is measured. Computer trade magazine laboratories frequently test and compare several new computers or computer devices against the same set of application programs, user interactions, and contextual situations. The total context against which all products are measured and compared is referred to as the benchmark. Programs can be specially designed to provide measurements for a particular operating system or application.
Berkeley RAID Levels
A family of disk array protection and mapping techniques described by Garth Gibson, Randy Katz, and David Patterson in papers written while they were performing research into I/O systems at the University of California at Berkeley. There are six Berkeley RAID levels, usually referred to as RAID Level 0 through RAID Level 5. See also RAID Levels.
Bridge RAID Controller
A device appearing as a single ID in a Storage Area Network (SAN), but which bridges to multiple devices, typically used to control external RAID subsystems (compare to Internal PCI-based RAID subsystems, see Internal RAID Controller). A bridge RAID controller is often referred to as an External RAID Controller.
Bootable array
An array which includes system disk files and allows a server to boot from the array while protecting the network operating system disk — and other data on the array — from drive failure.
Cold swap Power must be switched off before the removal or insertion of a component.