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06 Feb 2012 - Sherlock (TV) 2012, 2011 posted in Movie Reviews

posted in Movie Reviews Written by Dragonne February 06, 2012, 01:56:51 PM 25 Views Print

For those who aren't aware, Sherlock (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1475582/) is a BBC adaptation of the Sherlock Holmes adventures, transposed into a modern setting, and presented as a short TV series, with each season consisting of only three episodes, but each episode being much like a feature film, due to it's hour and a half running time.

Season 2 has just aired on television in England (and thanks to the marvels of the internet, it's now available for download and enjoy wherever you are). As I have found both seasons to be some of the best television I've ever watched, I figured that It it would be a good idea to write up a quick review. I'm not going to cover the details of any specific episode, in order to avoid spoilers.

The first season of the show introduces us to the two heroes, Sherlock Holmes (Benedict Cumberbatch) and Dr. John Watson (Martin Freeman). The two have an almost instant rapport, despite Sherlock being a rather peculiar individual. Anyone who has read Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's works will know that the stories center around the relationship between Holmes and Watson, and that their relationship is what bring a sense of realism to the work.

Despite some initial misgivings when seeing Cumberbatch (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1212722/) as Sherlock for the first time, I must say that his casting was absolutely spot on. His somewhat unusual physical appearance I first thought would be distracting, but actually suit the vision of a high functioning sociopath (how Sherlock is described early on).

Martin Freeman (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0293509/) is the perfect counterpart. He often portrays the English everyman (Arthur Dent in 'The hitchhikers guide to the galaxy', Tim in 'The Office'), and in Sherlock, he plays the straight man to Cumberbatch's Holmes to perfection. You can see the depth of caring that he has for Holmes, and how their relationship develops over time. I've been a fan of Freeman's for many years now, and am looking forward to seeing him play the title role in 'The Hobbit' when it releases later this year.

Each of the episodes is based upon one of the Sherlock Holmes adventures, although they do not adhere rigidly to the plots described in the books. The stories have been very well modernised, and if you didn't know the source material you could easily believe that the books were written recently, so well are the stories adapted to a current day setting.

The genius of Holmes is undiminished in the new setting, his astounding power of observation amazes every time you see it unleashed. They have used some interesting techniques to illustrate his mental faculties at work, most notably using text overlaying the character that Holmes is observing, showing all of the insights that Holmes is gaining. It's a methodology that I think works very well, as it give the opportunity to see firstly what Holmes sees, but also how quickly he is able to make his deductions. It also does away with him having to explain every time how he knows intimate details about people, although the times that he does explain are some of the most enjoyable in the show and allow him to unleash a particularly cutting wit, and almost inhuman sense of humour.

But what would a great detective be without a great villain? Or in Sherlock's case, Moriarty. Moriarty doesn't appear until the end of the first season, but his arrival in the show ups the ante, and makes the subsequent episodes immensely more enjoyable. I won't go into details so as to avoid spoilers, but the episodes that involve him are amongst the best of the two seasons so far.

A note for people who hate not knowing endings, both seasons of the show end with pretty agonising cliff-hangers. As someone who likes each season of a show to wrap up neatly, I find this infuriating (the thought of waiting a year to see what happens next is not appealing), however this is the only fault that i can find in this otherwise superb show.

If you enjoyed the two recent Sherlock Holmes movies, then you really should take a look at this TV series. It's very different in a lot of ways (the movies are a lot more action focused than the series, and the series shows a lot more of Holmes 'doing his deduction thing'), and should provide a very decent alternative perspective on the characters. If you're a fan of the books, I probably don't need to recommend this show as you'll most likely have watched it already.

In conclusion, this is one of the very best television adaptations that I've ever seen. I don't know anyone that has seen it that hasn't raved about how good it is. Get it, watch it, and enjoy it.

(Available from me if you want it. Both seasons in HD)

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About the author

Dragonne registered at Grrr on October 09, 2006, 10:00:24 PM and has posted 3530 posts in the boards since then. Last visit was February 06, 2012, 11:12:12 PM.

06 Feb 2012 - Drive (2011) posted in Movie Reviews

posted in Movie Reviews Written by Stu February 06, 2012, 12:48:34 PM 25 Views Print

A mysterious Hollywood stuntman, mechanic and getaway driver lands himself in trouble when he helps out his neighbour.

Director:
Nicolas Winding Refn
Writers:
Hossein Amini (screenplay), James Sallis (book)
Stars:
Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan and Bryan Cranston

This movie starts off with a completely different pace than what one would expect. With the light plot of Driver AKA bad ass getting mixed up in some business of his neighbours. The movie is so well put together that with minimal dialogue you can get a feel of the characters and their roles they play through out the story.

And when I say minimal dialogue the main character has about 20 lines as a maximum but with the use of cinematography and sound track the hole mood and tempo of the movie is experienced!

It is truly a work of art and anyone with the appreciation for good film making would value this movie! It made a huge impression on me and just goes to show that you can make a brilliant movie without massive explosions and incoherent dialogue.

This is definably worth watching!

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About the author

Stu registered at Grrr on October 09, 2006, 02:29:53 PM and has posted 1664 posts in the boards since then. Last visit was February 06, 2012, 03:23:20 PM.

08 Dec 2011 - Introduction to all things RAID posted in Hardware Reviews

posted in Hardware Reviews Written by Skouperd December 08, 2011, 12:48:43 PM 265 Views Print

Since Onyx helped me with the most difficult sections in the article, I figured I may just as well post it for future reference... Thank you for your help Onyx.

BTW, this is also posted on my blog, here: http://blog.skoups.com/?p=236


Introduction

Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks, better known as RAID has been in existence for several years.  The reasons why most people would consider using RAID is that they need faster data transfer speed from the drives, require redundancy, need a bigger single drive, or, in most instances, a combination of these reasons.

The first section of this document will deal with explaining what factors impact the speed of mechanical hard drives.  At the end of the section, you should know what to look for when purchasing a new hard drive and what to avoid.  The second section will cover the popular RAID formats as well as discussing the pros and cons of each.  The final section covers nested RAID.

Rotational based hard drives
Before we start delving into RAID and more specifically the read/write speed, it is imperative that we review the inner workings of spinning (or mechanical) hard drives.  The basic mechanical concept of the magnetic hard drive has not changed for several decades.  The concept still relies on a spinning platter that can hold a magnetic charge, with a magnetic head to read and write bits (0 or 1) to and from the platter.  By changing the number of platters, the hard drive manufacturers could tailor their products for more energy conservation or more performance.  A typical hard drive usually contains several platters.

The first drives weighed several tons and produced only a couple of megabytes.  Today, the biggest single drive amounts to 3TB (or 3,000,000,000,000 bytes).  The actual space available on a 3TB drive however only amounts to 2.7TiB in the operating system.  This difference boils down to the way  the hard drive manufactures use 1000s to differentiate between kilo, mega, giga and terra whereas standard operating systems use 1024 between each jump.  The correct way to differentiate between the two formats is to use the terms terabyte (TB) and tebibyte (TiB).  The latter term refers to the binary number typically associated with the space available in the operating system.  In other words, the drive is actually a 3TB drive but it only has 2.7TiB space in the operating system.

Key things that differentiate hard drives, apart from the size, are the following:
1.   Rotation speed
2.   Speed variations on the same drive (read/write speed at the beginning and end of the drive)
3.   Consecutive read / write speed
4.   Random read / write speed
5.   Seek time


Rotation Speed

The rotation speed indicates the speed at which the platters spin.  A typical laptop drive spins at 5400RPM, while a SATA drive spins at 7200RPM.  SAS / SCSI and high end SATA drives spin at 10,000RPM, with the most expensive SAS and SCSI drives peaking at 15,000RPM.  The faster the drive spins, the quicker the magnetic head will reach a specific section on the platter.  The slower a drive spins, the less energy and heat it will dispense, and the less noisy it will be.  It is thus important to realize and appreciate the purpose for which you buy a hard drive.  Also, when we eventually get to describing various RAID functions, keep in mind that the optimal performance of a RAID array is achieved when all the drives spin at the same speed.


Speed variations on the same drive
Depending on where the data is read from on the platter, you will observe different transfer speed.  Another way to visualise fs is to think of a spinning merry-go-round.  If the merry-go-round spins at 100 revolutions per minute, the people the furthest from the centre will travel faster (in terms of metres per second) than the people closer to the centre point.  Hard drives work the same - the further out from the centre you are, the quicker the hard drive will be able to read and process the data because the platter underneath moves so much quicker.  In practise, hard drives will start filling up from the outside towards the centre. CD’s and DVD’s start from the inside and write / read to the outside.

Now let us make a couple of assumptions for me to demonstrate the mathematics behind a hard drive:

1.   Our drive spins at 7200 rotations per minute.
2.   Our drive (supposedly a normal 3.5” drive), has a platter with a diameter of 3.4” or 86 millimetres.
3.   The innermost tracks where data can be stored are located 10mm from the centre of the platter.
4.   The outer most tracks where data could be stored are located 43mm from the centre of the platter.
5.   For this example, let us just assume the sectors are packed optimally and equally dense everywhere.
6.   Our final assumption is that the picture below represents the hard drive platter, and that the green line represents the innermost tracks, and the red line the outermost tracks.






One can calculate the speed at which the innermost circle spins by taking the circumference of the green circle and multiplying that with the number of rotations the drive makes in a minute.  We know that the rotations are 7200 and we can calculate the circumference by using the formula <i>circumference = 2 x radius x Pi </i> which, if we substitute it with numbers, results in c = 2 x 10mm x 3.14159265 = 62.831853mm.  So the speed at which the green circle spins at will be 62.831853mm, multiplied by 7200RPM, multiplied by 60 (converting minutes to hours).  This then tells us that the green circle is traveling at 27.14km/h.

Doing the same calculation on the red circle produces the following: 2 x 43mm (Radius) x 3.14159265 (Pi) x 7200 (RPM) x 60 (min to hour) = 116.72km/h.  You can therefore clearly see that the actual distance that is covered between the inside and the outside of the platter is vastly different.

Just as a theoretical mind tease, the outer track of a 15,000RPM drive will travel at a speed of over 243.16km/h.  This raw speed is partly the reason why rotational hard drives are reaching their limit in terms of how fast they can transfer data.  The only place where rotational drives are now gaining is how densely they can compact the data so that each millimetre of platter can now hold a lot more data.  That is the reason why you will now find large drives performing at only 5400RPM’s, outperforming older drives spinning at 10,000RPM.


Consecutive read/write speed

Consecutive read/write speed looks at what rate a hard drive reads and writes bits that are placed next to each other on the platter.  Given the numbers I quoted above, this figure could differ quite substantially based on where the data is located on the platter, and therefore it is always important to consider maximum, slowest, average consecutive read/write speeds, and if possible, the standard deviation.  Good luck for finding a standard deviation from the sales agent!  Then again, it is quite cool to watch their expression when you do ask for it…
 
Random read/write speed

Random read/write looks at read/write speeds when the data you are looking for is located at different locations on the platter.  The poor hard drive will need to complete rotations for each bit it is trying to read – compare this to consecutive read/writes where the data was contained in bits all sitting next to each other, and accessible with a single rotation.  To solve this problem, hard drives have thus brought in NCQ (native command queuing) which will basically read the bits in the fastest possible order from the platter and then reorganize them in the hard drive’s cache before sending it on to the CPU.  This is why hard drives have some cache as well.


Seek time

Seek time refers to how fast the head moves from the beginning of the drive to the end.  The lower the seek time on a hard drive, the faster the random/read writes will be as well.


RAID Basics

Ok, now that we understand the basics of a hard drive, let us consider RAID.  As mentioned before, RAID (or Redundant Array of Inexpensive Drives) has been around for decades.  Originally the main objective of RAID was not so much to increase speed, but to improve reliability.  In other words, if my drive head crashes, or my platter fails, then I do not want to lose all the data.  There are various combinations of RAID and each motherboard manufacturer, OEM and software designer has his own specific way of implement each combination.  I will discuss the most obvious ones i.e., RAID 0, RAID1, RAID5 and RAID6, before moving on to nested RAID solutions such as RAID 10, RAID0+1, RAID 50, and then finally also discuss Matrix RAID and JBOD. 

By the way, when calculating the speed of the read/write calculations (in the best-case scenarios), you have to allow, in practice, for a little overhead from the controllers’ perspective.


RAID 0

RAID 0, also known as striping, was not on the original list of specifications for the various RAID implementations.  This is because, technically, it is not redundant at all.  The example below explains how a RAID 0 operates.

Assume we have two drives in a RAID 0 array and want to write the following text “Hello_world!.”  The following will occur:  the controller will split the data across both drives, first writing to the one drive, then to the second, then back on the first and so forth until it is finished.  Assuming that the controller is set to write two letters at a time to a single drive, the letters “He” will be written to the first drive while at the same time, “ll” is written to the second drive.  Then “o_” and “wo” will be written to the two drives (again at the same time), followed by one more write of “rl” to the first and “d!” to the second drive.








Because you are writing to both drives simultaneously, the speed at which you write data to the drive is equal to the number of drives in the array, multiplied by the slowest drive.  In our example, assume the slowest drive can write 100 letters per second. This means the two drives combined will be able to write 200 letters per second.  When reading data off the drive, the same principle applies.  In other words, the read speed is as fast as the slowest of the drives, multiplied by the number of drives in the array.

The space you obtain from a RAID 0 configuration is the number of drives in the array multiplied by the smallest drive.  If you have four drives and they are all 100GB in size, you will have a 400GB array.  The benefit of a RAID 0 array is speed, both from a reading and from a writing perspective.  The downside of a RAID 0 is that should any one of the hard drives in the array crash, all the data in that array will be lost - in our example above, if second drive crashes, there is no way to determine or “guess” that the missing letters on the drive were “ll”, “wo”, and “d!.

I will only recommend using a RAID 0 if you have no concern whatsoever about losing the data, so typically a RAID 0 array is for somebody who requires speed, and lots of it.  For instance, your game installation folder will be a good example of where you can use a RAID 0.  If one of the drives fails, big deal, you just reinstall the game...  I would not install my saved games on that RAID 0 array though.  Another use for RAID 0 is as a temporary workspace, which allows you to have the source data located on a different redundant array, but all the processing and data manipulations occur on this RAID 0 array.  If the array fails, then you still have the source data and can just redo the manipulations.


RAID1

In RAID 1 the data on one drive is an exact replica of the data on a second drive, which is why it is also known as mirroring.  Again, let’s assume we want to write “Hello_World!” to the RAID 1 array.  The controller writes the data “Hello_World!” to both the first and the second drive simultaneously.  If the one drive crashes, all the data is still available on the second drive.  This solution therefore provides you with full redundancy.


 
Since the controller feeds the same data to both of the drives, the write speed of a RAID 1 is equal to the slowest drive in the array.  The read speed, however, is equal to the slowest drive, multiplied by the number of drives in the array.  This is because you can read from both drives simultaneously - at least in theory.  Few controllers implement RAID 1 correctly, so the read speed is usually slower.

The main purpose of RAID 1 is not speed, but redundancy.  The size of the array is equal to the size of the smallest drive in the array.  In other words, due to data replication, two drives of 100GB each will still only result in a 100GB RAID 1 array.  From a monetary perspective, Rand per GB, this is the most expensive setup but it does provide very good redundancy.

A typical use of RAID 1 in a home environment is photo and document storage.  In a corporate environment, you may find the operating system and some databases such as e-mail, installed on a RAID 1 array.


RAID 5

RAID 5 uses distributed parity calculations to reconstruct data in the event of a drive failure.  It requires a minimum of three drives, because it uses a form of striping (RAID0) that writes data on two of the three drives and writes a parity calculation value on the third drive.  In other words, if either drives 1 or 2 fails, then you will be able to reconstruct what was on the failed drive using the parity information from the 3rd drive.

Writing our “Hello_World!” to a RAID 5 array will do the following (we’re writing one character per drive at a time):
Data written to drive 1 will be:
“H L O W R D”

Data written to drive 2 will be:
“E L _ O L !”

Drive 3 will hold the parity information.
In hexadecimal: “2D 00 30 38 1E 45”






RAID 5 Parity

Because the mathematics behind the parity calculations on RAID 5 is rarely explained, let us do so now. The secret to parity calculation is an “Exclusive OR”, also known as “XOR” calculation.  XOR calculation states the following:

0 xor 0 = 0
0 xor 1 = 1
1 xor 0 = 1
1 xor 1 = 0

In English, when the two values are the same, the answer is “0”, otherwise it is “1”.

When writing “Hello_World!” to a RAID 5 drive the controller will convert each letter into a binary number, so in our example “Hello_World!” will be converted to:

H = 01001000
e = 01100101
l = 01101100
l = 01101100
o = 01101111
_ = 01011111
W = 01010111
o = 01101111
r = 01110010
l = 01101100
d = 01100100
! = 00100001

If we look at the data that we wrote to the two drives (in binary format this time), then drive 1 will contain the data 01001000 01101100 01101111 01010111 01110010 01100100, and drive 2 will contain 01100101 01101100 01011111 01101111 01101100 00100001.

Using the XOR calculation, the parity string would be 00101101 00000000 00110000 00111000 00011110 01000101.

Put all three underneath each other:
D1: 01001000 01101100 01101111 01010111 01110010 01100100
D2: 01100101 01101100 01011111 01101111 01101100 00100001
P1: 00101101 00000000 00110000 00111000 00011110 01000101



 

Now we can see exactly how the parity calculation worked.

By removing either one of the three drives, using the remaining two drives, you can recalculate the missing values with the same XOR function.

If we destroy D1, the data will look like this:

D1: …….. …….. …….. …….. …….. ……..
D2: 01100101 01101100 01011111 01101111 01101100 00100001
P1: 00101101 00000000 00110000 00111000 00011110 01000101

Using the remaining two drives, XOR-ing each bit from D2 with the corresponding bit on P1, we can rebuild D1’s data.

D1: 01001000 …….. …….. …….. …….. ……..

RAID 5 may extend to more than 3 drives, but the process remains the same.  Assume we have 5 drives in a RAID 5 configuration then the data will look like this:

D1: 01001000 01101111 01110010
D2: 01100101 01011111 01101100
D3: 01101100 01010111 01100100
D4: 01101100 01101111 00100001
P1: 00101101 00001000 01011011

The way that XOR works now is (((D1 XOR D2) XOR D3) XOR D4) = P1. 

Looking at the first 8 bits on each drive, this is the process: (((D1 XOR D2) XOR D3) XOR D4) = P1

Written out as:(((01001000 XOR 01100101) XOR 01101100) XOR 01101100 = P1

First, get rid of the first set of brackets by doing the first XOR calculation:
((00101101 XOR 01101100) XOR 01101100 = P1

Getting rid of the second XOR calculation results in:
(01000001 XOR 01101100) = P1

And finally:
00101101 = P1

An easy way to see how XOR works is to think that P1 is the value needed to make the total number of 1’s in that specific column an even number.

You have to agree that mathematics is a cool subject!


Performance

The biggest problem with RAID 5 is the speed of the parity calculation.  Due to that reason RAID 5 generally does not go hand in hand with stating things like “twice the speed of the slowest drive” etc.  It really boils down to how fast the RAID controller can do the calculation.  Generally, if you have a superfast RAID controller, then the theoretical speed of a RAID 5 array will be the speed of the slowest drive, multiplied by the number of drives in the array less one.

RAID 5 is also the cheapest form of having redundant data (per GB) since the size of a RAID 5 partition is the equivalent of the number of drives in the array, minus 1 for parity, multiplied by the smallest drive in the array.  In other words, if you have four drives of a 100GB each, then the formula is (4 – 1 = 3 * 100GB = 300GB).  The weakest point in a RAID 5 array is that if one drive fails, then there is a zero point failure on the remaining drives until the array has been rebuilt.  In other words, as long as you only lose 1 drive, you should be fine.

Since RAID 5 is the cheapest form of redundancy (price per GB) RAID 5 is typically used in arrays where the objective is more space, with some redundancy added for good measure.  Home users might use RAID 5 for their movie collections, or even ISO.  Corporations use RAID 5 for their file servers, even with high-end RAID controllers for databases.

RAID 5 has always been one of those “magic” solutions.  Magic however only remains magic until one understands the inner workings.  I trust that this little piece of information helped remove some of the mystique associated with RAID 5.  Just a warning with regard to cheap RAID controllers: they generally cannot do RAID 5 calculations in hardware and pass the calculations back to the operating system and/or the CPU.  If you do intend to use RAID 5, ensure that you do research before going out to buy a RAID controller or else you will get frustrated with the slow speed of the array.


RAID 6

This brings us to RAID 6. The concept of RAID 6 is effectively a RAID 5 on steroids. Whereas RAID 5 uses a single drive as parity drive, RAID 6 uses a double distributed parity algorithm instead.  RAID6 is very similar to RAID 5 with the exception of two parity drives instead of one.  Users have found that too often, given the mean time before failure (MTBF) of a drive or the technician unplugs the wrong drive, that if one drive crashes and is replaced, another one tends to go very quickly.  RAID 6 introduces another drive for parity, thus allowing you to lose two drives before you lose data.  The space calculation is the total number of drives minus two drives for parity, multiplied by the smallest drive.





Mathematics of RAID 6

RAID 5 use XOR Boolean calculations whereas the normal RAID 6 mostly uses a Reed-Solomon coding. I am saying mostly because the definition of RAID 6 is defined by the Storage Networking Industry Association as “any form of RAID that can continue to execute read and write requests to all of a RAID array’s virtual disks in the presence of any two concurrent disk failures.”  This definition resulted in various vendors implementing different solutions to achieve RAID 6 compatibility.  The method implemented by most vendors is the Reed Solomon error correction method, or variations thereof.  The Reed Solomon coding uses Galois Field mathematics and finite fields.  The mathematics behind the proper implementation is a bit scary as it relies on polynomials, matrix multiplication and linear feedback shifts.

Doing some research into the above mathematics made the implementation thereof even more confusing.  So if somebody has a simplified way to explain exactly how RS works in a RAID 6 environment, feel free to let me know.  (I will give you credit if I end up using it).  Explaining the mathematics of a Reed Solomon implementation as such will have to wait for the time being.    We may call a spade a shovel, but at the end of the day, the use of it is to bury some bodies.  , Herewith is my view on how RAID 6 works.

Assume you have six drives (minimum number is four for RAID 6) then four of the six drives will contain data drives (marked as D1 to D4 below) and two contain parity drives (marked P1 and P2).  The first parity drive (P1) will use a row level XOR calculation, similar to that explained in RAID 5, across the four data drives.  For now, let us just ignore the second diagonal parity calculations.

The first row contains data (a1, b1, c1, and d1).  A row level XOR calculation is performed, similar to that of RAID 5 and the value is stored in P1 (marked as r1).  Continuing with the process, after 4 rows of writing data, the array will look something like this.  You need to write the same number of rows as the number of data drives you have in the RAID 6 array.




Now, in order for us to do the parity 2 diagonal XOR calculation, we need to generate a linear shift in the array as is marked by the different colours below.



Just to confirm:  just because the cells refer to a1 in the different rows, does not mean it is a replication of the data in each cell  It merely refers to the fact that those cells marked a1 (and the same colour) are used in the calculation of the diagonal XOR calculation.  For clarity, in the next array, I have renamed r1, r2, r3 and r4 so that it matches the different diagonal colouring stripes as well. The data still remains the row-XOR calculation.  If we then calculate the diagonal XOR and store it in P2, then we end up with the following array:



 The value for the first row diagonal XOR is the calculation of XOR for all the orange cells (b1 cells).  The value of the second row will be the XOR calculation of all the blue cells (c1), row 3 of all the purple cells (d1) and row 4 of all the yellow cells (e1).  Those astute readers amongst you will note that I am neither performing nor storing an XOR calculation on the cells marked (a1). 

That is because it is not necessary, as I will show later on.

If we continue with the above trend, then the final array will look like this:





Ok, this looks all pretty and nice, but let see how we can recover data if we lose various combination of drives.


RAID 6 - Recover from two data drive failures

Assume for starters that we have lost Data Drive 1 (d1) and Data Drive 2 (d2).  (The same logic will hold true if you lose any two data drives.)  Losing those two drives result in the following array:




As with a Sudoku puzzle or breaking an encryption algorithm, you need to find that first weak point before solving it.  In the above scenario, we are unable to use the row-level parity drive P1 since we are missing two sets of data.  However, we can use the diagonal parity XOR calculation since we have three of the four data cells of the orange diagonal (b1).  Solving b1, (row 1 disk 2) we now have three of the four bits to use with the row parity P1 drive to solve row 1, disk 1.

The array now looks like this:




It would have been easy for us to follow the pattern as we used for row 1, however, remember I said we do not need to create a XOR value for the white diagonal (a1 data) as we can still solve disk 1, row 4 using the blue diagonal parity c1.  Once solved for d1, r4 then the row parity is used to solve d2, r4.
 


The below indicates the order in which the various question marks is solved.


 
The above showed us how to restore a two data drive failure, but what happens if a data drive and perhaps the row-XOR drive fails?  Here are just some of the solutions:

RAID 6-  Recover from a row parity drive and a data drive failure

In the following case, the data drive D2 and the row parity drive, P1 failed leaving our array in the following condition:





In order to solve the above broken array, you first need to solve the row 3, parity 1 data by using the blue diagonal (c1) XOR calculation stored in r2 p2.  Once solved andthen using the value from r3 p1, we can solve r3 d2 and so the process continues.  The below is the order in which to recover the whole drive.




[size-9pt]RAID 6 - Recover from a diagonal parity drive and a data drive failure[/size]

Ok, now that we can recover from a data drive and the row parity, what about a data drive and the diagonal parity?

The broken array looks like this:





One can do it the complicated way, or, the easiest which would be to recover the data drive using the row-parity drive and then just recalculate (from scratch) the diagonal parity drive.


 


[size-9pt]RAID 6 - Recover from both parity drives failing[/size]

Ok, smarty pants.  What happens if both parity drives fail?  The solution is just to go and recalculate both the drives from scratch.  In other words, not recover them, just recalculate from scratch.






RAID 6 - Conclusion

Now the above method is probably not the most efficient method to do the calculations, according to the clever people that is, but in my view this is compliant with the definition of RAID 6 and I am sure, somewhere along the lines, somebody has implemented it.

Saying the above, I am curious to learn from anybody that can actually explain, without using any mathematical equations, signs or symbols that is not covered by basic algebra, how a real RAID 6, Reed-Solomon implementation work in practise.

To summarise, the benefit of a RAID 6 is that you could lose any two drives and the array will continue to function. Having 6x3TB drives will yield an effective capacity of 12TB.  This is on par with a RAID 50 solution but having the benefit that any two drives could be lost.  RAID 50 allows only a specific combination of a 2 drive failure. The only other benefit of going with RAID 6 over RAID 50 is that you could use an uneven number of drives in a RAID 6 configuration whereas for RAID 50 you need even numbers.

RAID 6 is typically used where one has a very large number of drives and/or a big size array.  I would say that as soon as you start exceeding a couple of Terabytes, or more than six drives in a single array, then it is time to start considering RAID 6 as a solution, depending on the importance of the data.

As individual drive space increases and the size of individual arrays increase with that, the time for a RAID 5 to be rebuilt increases the risk of  losing that second drive.  RAID 6 is not something new, but only recently  due to the sufficient drop in the price of hard drives, together with the increase in processing power,  makes this a more feasible solution.  Just be careful though, only new RAID controllers will support RAID 6 in hardware mode.


Nested Raids

The next set of RAID arrays are also known as nested RAID.  That is where you will combine different formats of the above single level RAID arrays with each other.  Any RAID that is denominated with two numbers effectively is two of the aforementioned kind of RAID setup to work as a single array.  The first number denotes the actual configuration of the drives in the array.  The second number is how the configuration of the individual arrays looks like in relation to the other arrays.

RAID 50 for instance, will have two RAID 5 arrays (each array has four drives) and these two RAID 5 arrays are striped with a RAID 0.  Once the single level RAIDs are understood then nested RAIDS is very easy to follow.


RAID0+1
The first nested array that I want to deal with is RAID0+1. Assume we have eight drives then a RAID0+1 will be:



We first create two RAID 0 arrays and then we mirror them, most likely in the operating system.  You will not find RAID0+1 in enterprise settings and that is because it is a very risky affair. 

RAID 10 is a much safer method, as I will explain later.

The biggest risk with a RAID 0+1 is that if any single drive fails, then all your data becomes reliant on another high-risk array.  Therefore, losing a single drive from both arrays means a complete loss of data.  The key benefit of RAID0+1 is that it is a cheap-man’s solution to speed, online capacity expansion and using several different RAID controllers on the same array.  Allow me to explain.

Most motherboards will allow you to create a RAID 0 array  Let us assume the motherboard has eight SATA ports.  For argument sake, 1 is used for the OS drive and 1 is used for the optical drive thus leaving you six ports for your data array.  You use 6x1TB drives for the array.  So, create two RAID0 arrays of 3TB each using the motherboard’s on-board raid controller.  In Windows Manager you will see two individual arrays, each being 3TB in size.  Mirror the two arrays and you end up with a 3TB logical drive in Windows that is redundant.  Any one of the arrays could crash and you will not lose your data.  This not only provides you with a form of redundancy, but because RAID 5 controllers that get shipped with most motherboards perform very poorly, this now also provides you  with a lot of speed.

So, how about that online capacity expansion on RAID0+1?  Now assume that you need to increase the capacity of your array and that you do not have money for a proper RAID controller.  You could do the following.  Purchase any cheap SATA controller that can do RAID 0 and buy as many drives as you can afford.  The capacity does not need to be the same as the original ones as long as the total space is the same).  For our example, we will be buying two 1TB drives.  Remember, we have six 1TB drives already.

In Windows, delete the mirror array.  This will produce you two arrays (each 3TB) that contain the exact same information.  Remove 2 hard drives from any one of the arrays on the motherboard and install that with the two new drives on the SATA controller.  You now have 4 drives on the SATA controller and 4 data drives on the motherboard.  Create a new 4TB array on the SATA controller (RAID 0).  In Windows you still have an array that contained all the data that was on the original 3TB array.  Copy the data onto the new 4TB array.  Once the copy is finished, destroy the 3TB array and recreate the array on the motherboard but this time using all four drives.  (This will produce a 4TB array from the motherboard.)  Back in Windows, now just create a mirror (RAID1) between the two 4TB drives.

The above is the cheap-mans’ method to do Online Capacity Expansion.  The biggest problem is that while you increase the arrays, your data is very vulnerable and if anything happens to that single array while you copy the data from the one to the other, you could lose data.  Most high-end RAID controllers can do RAID 10, but only few RAID controllers will do a RAID0+1.  The reason for that is with most high-end RAID controllers, the key advantage of RAID0+1 is nullified by their built-in “Online Capacity Expansion Technology” or OCE.  OCE allows the user to add more drives into the array without deleting the existing data that is stored on the array. 

Your cheap motherboard RAID controllers do not support that feature which is where RAID0+1 comes in handy.

Negatives of RAID0+1?  As mentioned, redundancy is a problem.  The other problem is that should you lose a single drive, then in order to rebuild, all the data in the total array need to be rebuilt.  Assume you have 8 drives in RAID0+1 (4 per array).  Then instead of just recreating the failed drive, it will recreate 4 drives.  This increases the time before the array is back to optimal health and increases the risk of losing a second drive.

Saying all the above, I have used RAID0+1 for many years on my own setup and never once did I lose data due to drive failures. (Due to stupidity yes, but not due to drive failures).  Using the above, it allowed me the benefit of building up my drives and capacity as I needed it.  At some stage, it becomes more economical to buy a proper RAID controller and to convert to a RAID 5 configuration.  The cost of the additional space offset the cost of the RAID controller.  For instance the space available from 12x1TB drives is as follows:

RAID 0+1 = 6TB
RAID 5 = 11TB
RAID 6 = 10TB

In other words, instead of trying to increase a RAID0+1 to 10TB, (requiring 8 new drives) it is cheaper to buy a real RAID controller and use your existing drives.

Bottom line, having RAID 0 arrays on the bottom provide you the flexibility and creativity that you generally don’t have with other RAID formats especially if the top most RAID is done in the operating system.  For example, Matrix RAID is quite easy when the bottom array is RAID 0 .  Using 3 independent RAID 0 arrays, you can create a RAID0+1 partition for your photos and important stuff, a RAID0+0 for game installations and a RAID0+5 for your semi important files.  If a single drive fails, then you will lose all the data on the RAID0+0 configuration but you will not lose your photos nor any of and your semi important stuff.


RAID10

RAID10 use multiple RAID 1 arrays and then stripe it using RAID 0.  See the below example.





As opposed to RAID0+1, as long as you don’t lose two drives from the same 2 drive array, you are fine.  You can lose several drives in this setup without incurring any data loss.  If a drive fails, then only that drive’s array is rebuilt, so the rebuilding process is also a lot faster than RAID 5 or RAID0+1.

As such, you will often see RAID10 used in a corporate environment where both speed and redundancy is more important than the cost of the drives.  The cost of RAID10 (and RAID0+1) is quite expensive in that you are only able to use 50% of the available space for your data.


RAID50

We have covered RAID 5 in detail.  Assume we have 12 x 1TB drives for our RAID50 example.  Create two RAID5 arrays of six drives each.  The six drives, less the parity drive, times the space of the smallest drive will provide 5TB space for each of the two arrays.






Now we can stripe the two arrays using RAID0.  Therefore, your final array will be 10TB in size. Thus, you will end up with a 1TB array at the end of the day.

The benefit of this is that you could now lose a single drive from both the two arrays and still have all your data. The problem is you will still need to rebuild a 5TB RAID 5 array when you have a drive crash. While the array is rebuilding, that array is vulnerable for data loss in case of another drive failure. If you lose two drives from any single array, then you will also lose all your data.


RAID51

I have never seen RAID 51 actually implemented for real.  The benefit of RAID51 is super redundancy.  Assume we have twelve 1TB drives.  RAID 51 needs two RAID 5 arrays, which in our case will be six drives each and each array will thus produce 5TB. This 5TB array mirrors with each other keeping the total usable space to just 5TB. The benefit of this is that you could lose many drives;  in fact, you could lose seven of the twelve drives (best case) and still have all your data available. Even losing three drives, in any combination, will still not result in a data loss. The problem is the cost of having this kind of redundancy is a bit expensive and as such is very rarely used, if at all.




 

RAID60

RAID60 consists of bottom arrays of RAID 6, striped for additional performance.  RAID 60 is mainly used for when your array becomes quite large.  I would say you need 16 or more drives before a setup like this is justified.





Exotic RAID

The following RAID levels are just for show (ooh, look everybody, I am running RAID 100!).  If you are still reading by this stage, the following diagrams should be self-explanatory.  The only reason why you would actually want to do something like this is if you have multiple RAID controllers or have multiple enclosures each running their own RAID configuration.





 




Other RAIDs
Until now, we have covered the basics of RAID.  The following section covers topics that are generally associated with RAID in one way or another.


JBOD

“Just bunch of drives”, better known as “JBOD” or “spanning” is not RAID in the strictest sense.  Effectively, the computer will write data to the first drive.  When that is full, it will continue to the second and when that is full, to the third and so on.

Most popular use is to get odd drives, say for instance a 2x200GB, and a 600GB drive into something that is manageable.You could JBOD them and create just one array that is 1TB in size.  This array in turn could then be used with another 1TB drive in RAID 0 or RAID 1 for instance.

In theory, if a drive within a JBOD fails, you will only lose the data from that drive.  In practise though, if you create a JBOD array in windows, and one drive fails, you will lose all your data.  (You could recover it with software but that is a whole new topic.) 



MATRIX RAID

Finally, the last kind of RAID I want to discuss today is Matrix RAID.  Intel patents matrix RAID  and you will therefore only find it on Intel chipset motherboards.  What you do with Matrix RAID is to apply multiple different RAID levels to a single drive.  Assume that you have 2x100GB drives.  You want both speed and redundancy.  Using normal (non matrix raid) you could only have one, either RAID0 or RAID1.  With Matrix RAID you could use 50% of the drives in a RAID0 configuration and the other 50% in a RAID1 configuration, i.e. the two drives will thus provide you the following total space: 100GB / 2 = 50GB partitions.  The RAID1 partition will be (50GB + 50GB) / 2 = 50GB. The RAID 0 partition will be 50GB + 50GB = 100GB with total drive usage = 150GB of 200GB.  Redundant space = 50GB.  Speed is the fastest on the RAID 0 configuration but redundancy is only found on the RAID1 partition.  This is a very handy setup for gamers who don’t have big budget systems.  Basically, you setup your operating and install drive on the RAID 0 configuration, and you store your save games and photos on the RAID1 partition.

Setting up RAID

Ok, now that we have covered the different RAIDs that exist, let’s tackle the next section which is how to setup RAID.  I mentioned before that you have three different ways you could set RAID up. 

The first being software, then RAID as shipped with the motherboard (also known as FAKE RAID) and then you could get a proper RAID controller that you plug into your PCI, or even your pci-express slot.

The problem with both FAKE RAID or Software RAID is that you will use your CPU cycles to perform the calculations which means that you will require drivers for your RAID and and …  Expensive, RAID controllers ship with a battery backup, serious amount of on-board cache as well as their own dedicated CPU’s.  While on-board RAID controllers are not created equal, as mentioned, they tend to rely on the main CPU for starters, but also the bandwidth provided by the south bridge.  The 680i chipset from NVidia for instance is restricted to about 140MB per second on a single threaded read/write which basically bottlenecks the drives in a big RAID0 array.

If you do want to go with RAID and the goal is performance, then I would recommend you consider getting yourself a dedicated RAID controller card rather than relying on just the motherboard’s on-board RAID.  The easiest way for me to explain this is: think of your on-board graphics card, now compare that to your dedicated 9600GSO graphics card then compare that to a GTX570.  There is no comparison.  Likewise with RAID - what you pay is what you get.


RAID Capacity Summary
Ok, we have been talking a long time about RAID.  The following table should make the capacity you will obtain clear from the various drives as well as what kind of level the applicable RAID should be considered.  This table has been prepared by myself for my own purposes, it should however give a reasonable level of clarity I am assuming for the purpose of the table, that all the drives are 2TB drives.  The colour scheme is as follows:
Green: I will consider using it
Red: Really getting nervous with this setup
Blue: This is overkill





Conclusions
I hope that this article have removed some of the magic and mystery from RAID levels.  If you think there is anything that I did not cover in sufficient detail, or if you think I’ve got something wrong, let me know.


Kind regards
Skouperd

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About the author

Skouperd registered at Grrr on March 05, 2009, 01:57:49 PM and has posted 431 posts in the boards since then. Last visit was February 06, 2012, 07:53:15 PM.

28 Oct 2011 - [grrr]Squad - Our BF3 Players posted in Reviews

posted in Reviews Written by SlipperyDuck October 28, 2011, 11:57:08 AM 701 Views Print

Wondering who in [grrr]Squad plays BF3, what their stats are, why they are so awesome?
Then this is the thread for you!

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About the author

SlipperyDuck registered at Grrr on June 22, 1974, 12:00:00 AM and has posted 10427 posts in the boards since then. Last visit was February 06, 2012, 04:30:23 PM.

09 Feb 2011 - Grrr vs Adhoc Clan match posted in FRONTPAGE

posted in FRONTPAGE Written by Paul February 09, 2011, 06:58:00 AM 489 Views Rating: 0 (0 Rates) Print

Grrr vs Adhoc

In a do or die match for both The Grrr squad and Adhoc, the worst possible map to ever be created for competitive play, Arica Harbor was chosen as the battle ground for the match.

Despite his better judgment the Grrr Squad captain thought that this map would be well suited for a match against the Adhoc clan. Having previously been trounced by the Adhoc clan and an armor team that is not well practiced, it was decided that a pure infantry map would be the best bet.

Unlike the previous match there were no technical issues and the game started promptly a few minutes passed 8pm.  The Grrr squad started out as Ruskies and were able to get the all important middle flag B right from the start. The Adhoc clan fought back hard and so began another long hard slog with the round lasting almost an hour. Both teams played really well but it seemed as though Adhoc was better mentally prepared, they were able to hold their metal and made slight but constant gains towards the end of the round to finish 60 odd tickets up on the Grrr squad.

The second round was not quite as “tight” as the first,  the Grrr Squad  just didn’t seem to be able to string battles together and were constantly pushed around the map by Adhoc, a tactic that Grrr had initially wanted to play from the beginning. Never settling at one flag or creating one battle line, the Adhoc team had The Grrr squad fighting on multiple front for the entire round. The beginning of the end was insight!

As mentioned, although a much improved fight compared to their first encounter, the Grrr Squad was not able to defeat their arch Nemisis Vovo and his band of (too)merry men. So Adhoc advance to the next round of the championship and the Grrr Squad get to go more spend with their groupies while they contemplate the future and the extra-ordinary matches that will inevitably follow in future leagues and competitions.

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[Grrr vs Synergy]

07 Feb 2011 - Grrr vs Synergy :Round 1 Double Elimination stage posted in FRONTPAGE

posted in FRONTPAGE Written by Paul February 07, 2011, 07:32:00 AM 354 Views Rating: 0 (0 Rates) Print

Grrr vs Synergy

This was the first round of the double elimination stage of the competition. It was also the first ever match between The Grrr Squad and Synergy. In previously leagues Synergy had always competed in the Premier Division while The Grrr Squad had always competed in the first division. So fate would have it that these two great teams (in different ways) had never before met.

A few of The Grrr squad members personally know some of the Synergy members, one might even say they are friends, having met them on numerous occasions at rAge (a once in a lifetime occurrence that happens every year, figure that out). Therefore they knew the match was going to be friendly but given Synergy’s dominant reputation it was also going to be an extremely tough match.

Both of these expectations were fulfilled 100%. Before the match started both teams experienced technically issues and thus the game was delay by a few minutes. This allowed for a bit of pre-game banter to be dished out by both sides with the usual humourous (and not so humorous) quips.
When the metaphorical buzzer rang though it was all business and Synergy had clearly decided that it was time for a corporate takeover.  It was both a pleasure to watch and painful to be on the receiving end of the lethal efficiency with which they laid out their plan. It was reminiscent of the FiB (First in Battle Clan) days in BF2.

The Grrr Squad literally ran into a wall, there was almost nothing they could do to penetrate the defence.  As a result Synergy took both rounds comfortable.  The Grrr Squad captain was however pleased with his team’s performance. They are not quite in the league of Synergy yet but there is potential.  Their chopper team showed immense talent and bettered Synergy’s Chopper team on a few occasion. This is not a mean feat given the how excellent sG Scoper is in the chopper.

All in all, a result that was not unexpected but it was still an experience. The next round of the elimination should be sorted out sometime during the day (7th February 2011), The Grrr Squad will have to wait and see who their do or die opponents will be.

** formatting and prettying up will come later

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[DAC Clan Match]

01 Feb 2011 - DAC Clan match posted in FRONTPAGE

posted in FRONTPAGE Written by Paul February 01, 2011, 07:30:00 AM 455 Views Rating: 0 (0 Rates) Print

DAC Clan Match "Did you hear that?" "No" "What, are you sure?" "Yes I am sure!" "So you didn't hear how the mighty have fallen?"

That's right sports fans, The GRRR Squad finally met their match against the Deadly Alliance Clan (DAC). In a much anticipated match DAC came prepared. They were a well oiled machine with a clear plan. The round scores ended up being 56 tickets to DAC in the first round and 122 Tickets in the second round but as DAC team captain Jansen said on SGS "Thanks Grrr for the game it was hectic!!!! and let me add the score does not show how tough this was!!!" (http://games.saix.net/cgi-bin/sgsbb/ikonboard.cgi?s=71722f95bdb7700761873210829b399a;act=ST;f=349;t=69446;st=100) And that is was.  A tough WAR of attrition that actually could have gone either way except for a few key moments that saw DAC get the upper hand. The first round was especially intense with literally a battle line drawn in the middle of the map and a fight for inches, not flags. The GRRR squad held their line well and were ahead of DAC for most of the round (if only by 20 tickets) but they made a fatal mistake. They didn't not put enough pressure on DAC, allowing them to regroup and counter attack each time. So when there was a slight crack in the GRRR defense, they took full advantage. The was no turning back. This first round victory seemed to also give them confidence because they, came out the gates with abandon, launched a full scale attack on the GRRR Squads flags from the outset. This immediately put the GRRR Squad on the back foot and despite some fancy ninja moves and intense fighting they were never able to get fully back into the game. As a result DAC took the game clean, there is no question who was the better team on the day but as Jansen said the GRRR squad never made it easy for them. As they (still trying to find out who 'they' are) say, it is easy to be the captain of a winning team.  The true test comes in times of adversity. Will the GRRR Squad captain be able to rally the troops? Will the team bounce back? Will their lovable Captain be able to guide them to victory in the coming weeks? Guess you will just have to stay tuned to find out. So what now? Well, the GRRR squad can now plot their revenge on the Evil Deadly Alliance Clan while they wait for the group results to be calculated. It remains to be seen who tops Group D as this will determine who the GRRR Squad play in stage two of the Championship. One thing they can count on though - the competition is not going to get any easier. ***Now can I get back to my vacation?

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[“The signs of outstanding leadership appear primarily among the followers. Are the followers reaching their potential? Are they learning? Do they achieve the required results? Manage conflict?” - Max de Pree]

26 Jan 2011 - BigDaddy Clan match posted in FRONTPAGE

posted in FRONTPAGE January 26, 2011, 03:30:00 PM 252 Views Rating: 0 (0 Rates)

[grrr] vs BigDaddy Map: Laguna Presa “The signs of outstanding leadership appear primarily among the followers. Are the followers reaching their potential? Are they learning? Do they achieve the required results? Manage conflict?” - Max de Pree Going into the match against BigDaddy, we were facing an unknown OpFor. The only real intel we had on BigDaddy was that they had also beaten IRF in our group, which didn't give us much solid data about their true strength. Other than a few encounters with individual players on the free for all servers, they were an enigma. We were also without our fearless leader Paul, who claimed to have a prior engagement (a pathetic attempt to maintain the illusion that he has a real life i.m.o.), but were confident that super sub Dragonne would bring his A game to the fray. The indomitable Duck was given the job of filling Paul's enormous leadership boots as we thought the webbed feet might help keep them on nice and snug. Oh ja, and because he's done it before. 'Don't underestimate these guys!' was the phrase Paul sent with us into battle. (That and 'Win or die, bitches!')

The map elimination was done swiftly and with style immediately prior to the game, and resulted in us staying on the already-loaded Laguna Presa. [grrr]'s history on this map has been a mixed bag of glorious success and embarassing defeat, both in practice and league matches (the most recent being a solid, lube-free raping at the hands of the AdHoc team in our first warm up for this league. It still hurts and I wasn't even there...) We knew our team was geling nicely and that teamwork was on a high, but Laguna Presa offers a myriad of approaches to flag capping, defense, and most of all, movement between flags. There is a lot of cover from the terrain, but there are also some nasty, wide open stretches of water in between these places of refuge. Get caught whilst paddling through these, and an APC will churn you into fish food faster than you can say 'Oh shiiiii...!'

It was thus that the chat in TS during the 5mins warm up prior to kickoff was edged with an extra dash of excited nervousness. We hadn't been able to do a map elimination in the days leading up to the game, so we'd had no clue where the battle would unfold (although we knew it wouldn't be that god-awful Arica Harbour because we elim that sh*thole first time, every time). The team was already on a high, having won the first two matches of the group phase, including Sunday's narrow win over DNA, and this certainly helped our confidence. Just as well...

BigDaddy came out in the first round with big guns blazing. They swept onto 2 of the flags and had them capped and defended immediately. Despite our best efforts, they had put us in the exact position we had hoped to force them into at the start. And they kept us at bay for a good few minutes before we managed to start turning things around.

Despite this early set back wrt flag management, our APC team (Mikey and Drags) was ensuring that ticket difference between the teams was almost non-existent. They proved the devastating capabilities of a good armour team throughout both rounds - Mikey slaughtering troops and the enemy APC and Jarrod hopping into the gunner's seat to mow down infantry in between extended bouts of legendary repair work. Something tells me we will be seeing more of this armour combo in upcoming matches.

Another key factor to the maintenance of good ticket count despite the bleed was the usual outstanding medic work from leelo, NoMaD and Hubris. When medic whoring is done properly, the result is a true artform, and these 3 are the masters. I have yet to be revived in a clan match by any of these players unless the close-proximity OpFor are dealt with and no longer pose a threat to your resuscitation (and continued motion sensor spamming in my case).

On the other front, Bravo Squad were being exorted into reclaiming Flag A by subsitute Fuhrer pmurgs. Roped into leading the squad in Paul's absence, this stalwart of the [grrr] military heirarchy had the tricky job of managing what is essentially a split squad: 2 infantry players; 2 armour jockeys in an APC. Under his calm and concise orders, Bravo Squad whittled away at the strong resistance on Flag A, including continued pressure from the enemy APC, until they managed to capture the flag and set up their own defense. Cronos provided unparalleled multi-tasking pwnage, switching between anti-troop and anti-tank kits depending on what BigDaddy threw at the flag thereafter.

For the remainder of round one, we held our two flags and even made a succesful forray or two into BigDaddy's only flag to cap them out and put some serious ticket bleed on for short periods. The result? We took the first round by 114 tickets, a remarkable achievement given the start of the round and the ability of the BigDaddy players.

After a short break in between the rounds (including a heart stopping moment for myself as I had another disconnect, but thankfully rejoined immediately), we launched ourselves at BigDaddy with renewed, vehement vigour. This time we started a lot stronger and capped our first 2 flags without difficulty, moving on to take the third flag shortly after. From here, BigDaddy gave us a huge run around, moving their focus of attack between the flags with unrelenting and highly annoying regularity. Kudos to the entire [grrr] team for the way we handled these attacks. The calls came in clear and quick from the Squad Leaders Lee and murgs, and the grunts responded with ruthless efficiency. In short, BigDaddy moved around capping one flag at a time, but our guys quickly recapped each time to ensure that we always had at least 2 flags, (with the exception of one point where we came close to being shoved all the way back into our base - like I say, those BigDaddy players just WOULD NOT lie down!)

Despite what felt like an easier 2nd round, it was marginally tighter at 112 tickets, owing largely to the outstanding play of the BigDaddy soldiers when it comes to fragging. They may have lost the match, but they continually put the hurt on us each and every time we made a mistake. All credit to their players for the heart and skill they showed throughout the match - they never, ever gave up.

Summary: The results of our practices and the time our current team has spent playing together on the open servers are truly coming to fruition. Team play was even better than the match against DNA, communication is becoming more and more efficient, and the whole squad is starting to gel into one machine. Each and every player is using their own initiative within the scope of their assigned kits and roles, and playing on such a team is a thrill. Remember the quote from the top of the article? (See, there was a point to putting it in:) It's there for 3 players: Lee and murgs who led their respective squads to victory in the fashion they did, and Paul for managing the team and instilling the desire to do our best in all of us. We are reaching our potential, learning, achieving the required results, and managing conflict, which, according to Max de Pree is a sign of outstanding leadership.

Next Up: DAC Crusaders on Sunday night...


***Knights of Columbus! This article was brought to you by Captain English himself Jono "j0nny" Wickwar

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[DnA:Avarice Clan match]

DnA:Avarice Clan match Summary posted in FRONTPAGE

posted in FRONTPAGE 293 Views Rating: (1 Rates)

DnA:Avarice Clan match When the going is good, it is good! When it is bad, it is really bad! Sometimes it is in between and this is when character counts. It can mean the difference between a narrow win and a narrow loss. So why am I bubbling on about this? Who cares? You just want to know the result don’t you? Well that is not good enough, numbers don’t tell a story, unless you are Lee and you are writing your memoirs in binary. Coming off, let’s face it, a trouncing of IRF and with no major hiccups during the preparation for the match, the Grrr Squad was on top of the world. The chosen map to play was Port Valdez, except for the snow this map could not be any more different to Nelson bay (the previous map played against IRF).

Unlike Nelson bay which was a pure infantry/ground pound map, Valdez is heavy on the vehicles, including Helicopters. Valdez is also a very linear map with 3 flags lined up and numerous choke points, especially at the middle flag. As a result this is a do or die map, if you secure the middle flag then you have a massive advantage. The only wild card is the chopper, if a team was able to totally dominate the air then they would have free reign of the map and cap flags on either side of the choke points. So Grrr Squad’s plan was simple, cap the middle flag, maintain air superiority and sip cool-aid while they watched the opposition’s tickets bleed out. Well, we all know what they say about best laid plans. Correct, they are prone to get wiped out like coastal village during monsoon season. The match started without much hassle, the plan seemed to work pretty well. The only hiccup was when the chopper team that was taken out very early on but that misfortune was negated when moments later “Enemy chopper down!” was heard over the comms. They had successfully captured the two flags they wanted, now was the time to dig in and secure their position. It was also the time that things start to go wrong, not horribly wrong like a picture of the team after rAge, but bad enough to cause a few sweat beads on the team's foreheads, well the captain’s at least. Once it again it was Telkom to the rescue, of the opposition team that is. j0nny got disconnected and remained so for pretty much the rest of the match except for a few momentary reconnects that lasted all of 10 seconds. In an 8 vs 8 match with relatively balanced teams, 1 man down means a lot. With one man down and some sneaky moves by DnA, it allowed them to capture a second flag and so began the toing and froing between the two teams. The flags continuously swapped hands but thanks to some superior piloting and gunning, the chopper team was able make sure the Grrr Squad always had a superior ticket count, they also assisted greatly in supporting the ground staff in acquiring flags as quick as possible. At the end of the round the Grrr Squad emerged victorious with a lead of 33 tickets, a good round considering the problems. But what about j0nny I hear you say? Well, as mentioned, he never recovered from the dreaded internetlessness disease. He did however use his extreme mental capability and contacted Dragonne, informing him of our situation. Like a white knight riding a pony, Dragonne joined the TS channel with the very comforting words “I hear you have a problem, I will see what I can do”. So back to a full team, the Grrr Squad was confident that the next round was in the bag. They thought that if they could beat DnA with 7 players, then 8 players would mean a definite win. But just like Icenflame in a spelling bee, they were wrong. The next round was way more intense, DnA came out with guns blazing and a renewed vigor. No team managed to get a foothold and secure it, the ticket count was even roughly throughout the round with only a few tickets separating the teams. Towards the end of the round the Grrr Squad managed to pulled ahead by a couple of tickets. Once again they thought they had the round in the bag, a few more kills and it is over! DnA had other ideas, they managed to capture the back flag and sandwiched the Grrr Squad in the middle. Still with only a few tickets remaining the Grrr Squad thought that this was too little too late for DnA and continued to looked for the kills instead of the flags. DnA put up a valiant fight and ensured that they did not lose tickets and with ticket bleed now becoming a factor the Grrr Squad realized to late that they should rather captured back a flag. Thus ended the second round with DnA beating the Grrr Squad by 6 tickets. This is where the character comes into play that I was talking about, DnA never gave up and managed to pull a round back BUT the Grrr Squad showed equal character during the first round, displaying resilience and a cool-under fire attitude, this allowed them to in the end finish with an overall superior ticket count. Once again, the squad has emerged victorious but with a few lessons that need to be remembered. Hopefully this tough match will prepare the team well for their next match against Bigdaddy, another new team who they are hoping to be able to chastise at the end of the match with the phrase “Who's your Daddy?”

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[The Competition]

DoGaming Online Championships 2010 posted in FRONTPAGE

posted in FRONTPAGE Rating: (1 Rates)

The Competition Entries for the DoGaming Online Championship Competition (DOCC) closed on the 14th of January and the competition officially started on the 18th of January, although the first matches didn’t start until a few days later. There was a flurry of entries just before the closing date, with the number of teams swelling from 5 to 18 , including a couple of teams entering on the last day. This makes it the biggest battlefield competition the Grrr Squad has ever participated in, including all the previous Battlefield 2 competitions and rAge competitions. There were a few rule changes this time round with additional weapons being listed as banned. The match map is now also decided by the two teams instead of being prescribed by the competition organisers. This caused a few headaches for the team captain as planning is virtually impossible and strategies are laid down moments before the start of the match. It has been almost impossible to get details of the map choice more than 5 minutes before the start of each game so this is the only route available to the team. Compared to the previous leagues , DOCC is extremely compressed with teams having to play 2 matches a week or 4 matches before 22:00 on 31st January. This, however, only constitutes the first stage. Thereafter the top two teams from each Pool go through to the next stage. The second stage is double elimination, which is similar in structure to the rAge competitions. Double elimination is usually a very tense affair and every match counts - you have very few chances, if any, to screw up before getting booted out.

The Team The current team is a mix of both new and old players (both in the clan and age), with fan favourites Lee, j0nny, Murgs, Mikey and Dragonne making their returns. Both Lee and j0nny have been part of every league and competition the Grrr Squad has participated in, barring one erroneous rAge competition when j0nny had some lame excuse about not being able to attend. Murgs, Mikey and Dragonne have been loyal servants and put in the hours when ever was asked. The Grrr Squad will be calling on them again and they can expect the same dedication from them. Although not new to the clan Jackal and Cr0n0S have not played in many battlefield competitions for the Grrr Squad and they will be looking to cement themselves as valuable and core members of future teams. New members Hubris and NoMaD will be making their Grrr Squad debut in DOCC and a lot is expected of the young ones. Both have previous experience in clannies. Having played for Torment, their insight could prove useful as well as giving the team both a new perspective and dynamic. Only time will tell whether it was a wise decision to let the stragglers in.

The Preparations Preparations for the league did not go too well for the Grrr Squad, starting with j0nny having connection issues and being unable to get online for a week and a half. This caused some organisational issues but initially it did not seem to be too much of a problem. The Grrr squad had their first practise match against the Adhoc Clan on Tuesday 18th January, the rust in the team was quite evident and their performance was below par to say the least. The Adhoc clan completely dominated the Grrr Squad and proved once again that team play beats individual skill every time - there is no substitute for team cohesion. After learning a hard lesson and taking stock of the situation the team re-organised themselves and took those lessons into their first match against IRF.

DOCC : The First Match IRF is a newcomer to the competition scene. The Grrr squad has never played them either competitively or in a friendly match, thus the team had no idea what to expect. Would they find the footing straight out of the blocks or would the unknown variables cause confusion and chaos, resulting in a repeat performance of the Adhoc match? Luckily for the Grrr Squad it was the former. IRF’s newcomer status was quite obvious as they did not pose much of a challenge to the team. They did show moments during the match indicating that they could be potentially tougher opponents in the future. A young Grrr maybe? Both squads in the team performed exceptionally well and achieved every objective set out for them. Calm and serenity accompanied the demolition of IRF, the team only relinquishing 61 tickets out of a possible 500 to the opposition and winning both rounds. It was not perfect and work still needs to be done especially if they want to beat some of the tougher teams but it was a good start to the competition and a good confidence booster. Special mention has to go out to Murgs who was a wall of defence. IRF members will be having nightmares of this monster for quite some time. Not to be outdone though was Hurbis who was either possessed or on performance enhancing drugs. One has to ask yourself whether he was shooting bullets or nuclear warheads.

Next up Next up is a match against another newcomer to the competition scene: DnA. They have some pedigree players and the Grrr Squad should expect a much tougher match next time out. Will the team continue their winning ways or will reality come crashing down? There is only one thing left to say, “You better check yourself, before you wreck yourself.”

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