Broadcom MegaRAID SAS 9271-8iCC
Turbocharge application performance by adding solid state drive (SSD) acceleration to hard drive arrays

Overview:

Unmatched RAID Performance for Next-Generation Servers and Storage

Today’s data center, cloud and high-performance computing environments not only require increased storage capacity to handle massive volumes of data, but are also challenged to protect and deliver data as quickly as possible to meet the needs of applications and end users. To address these performance demands as capacity scales, the newest 6Gb/s SAS RAID controllers from Broadcom offer a powerful combination of intelligent performance , enterprise RAID data protection and proven interoperability with the latest server platforms based on the PCI Express 3.0 specification. The MegaRAID SAS 9271-8iCC, with eight internal ports, delivers two 800MHz PowerPC® processor cores and a 72-bit DDRIII interface that drives 1GB cache memory. Powered by the LSI SAS 2208 dual-core ROC, the 9271-8iCC controller includes the latest PCI Express 3.0 and 6Gb/s SAS technology and helps users to maximize the performance benefits of solid state storage.

MegaRAID® CacheCade™ Pro 2.0 and MegaRAID Fast Path Ready

The “CC” family of 6Gb/s MegaRAID controllers ship as standard with CacheCade Pro 2.0 and Fast Path software enabled out of the box. These software offerings help to optimize application performance in direct-attached storage environments configured with solid-state drives (SSDs). CacheCade Pro 2.0 read/ write software is designed to dramatically accelerate application I/O performance of hard disk drive (HDD)-based arrays by intelligently caching frequently accessed, or “hot spot”, data to SSDs. Using SSDs as a dedicated pool of high-performance cache memory in front of HDDs can cost-effectively improve both read and write performance, reduce I/O latencies, accelerate application response time and lower RAID access and rebuild times. MegaRAID Fast Path software is a high-performance I/O accelerator, designed to dramatically boost transactional application throughput of SSD arrays connected to the MegaRAID controller card.

Protect Cached Data with MegaRAID CacheVault™ Technology or BBU

RAID caching is a cost-effective way to improve I/O performance by writing data to a controllers’ cache before it is written to disk. In write-back mode, data written to cache is vulnerable until it is made permanent on disk. To avoid the possibility of data loss or corruption during a power or server failure, Broadcom offers the CacheVault flash cache protection module or the LSIiBBU09 battery backup unit for the MegaRAID SAS 9271-8iCC controller. CacheVault flash cache protection uses NAND flash memory powered by a super-capacitor to help protect data stored in the MegaRAID controller cache. The RAID controller automatically writes the data in cache memory to flash storage when a power failure occurs, while the super-capacitor keeps the current going during the process. When the power comes back, the DRAM is recovered from flash storage and the system goes on without loss of data. Customers have the flexibility to choose a traditional LiON battery solution or a greener, lower total cost of ownership (TCO) cache protection solution with MegaRAID CacheVault technology.

Intuitive RAID Management Utility

The MegaRAID Management Suite™ software provides essential tools to manage MegaRAID products, whether deployed in an enterprise or small business. Broadcom offers a collection of applications and tools including a pre-boot setup utility and a full spectrum of online RAID management utilities. This suite of applications allows administrators to adjust SAS or SATA topology views from the system host, controller and disk enclosure down to the logical and physical drive level. Extending to enterprise deployments, these tools scale to more easily configure, monitor and manage RAID and JBOD volumes locally or over the LAN network.