HP Smart Array P212 Controller

The HP Smart Array P212 is HP's entry level PCI Express (PCIe) Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) RAID controller. The low profile, half height card has 8 ports and utilizes DDR2-800 memory. The P212 is ideal for RAID 0, 1, 1+0, and can be upgraded with 256 MB Cache module for RAID 5, 5+0 and additionally with Battery Kit and Smart Array Advanced Pack (SAAP) license key for RAID 6 (ADG), & 6+0.

• 6G SAS and 3G SATA support
• HP StorageWorks D2600 Disk Enclosure Support
• HP StorageWorks D2700 Disk Enclosure Support
• HP StorageWorks 600 Modular Disk System

HP's innovative design and integration work of the Smart Array family of products creates customer value that is unmatched in the industry. Use of Smart Array products across multiple applications results in a much lower Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) than any other server storage RAID product. The HP Smart Array family brings an unparalleled return on investment through:

• Seamless upgrades from past generations and upgrades to next generation HP high performance and high capacity Serial Attached SCSI Smart Array controllers.
• The SA-P212 Controller supports the HP StorageWorks D2600 Disk Enclosure, HP StorageWorks D2700 Disk Enclosure, and the HP StorageWorks 600 Modular Disk System.
• 6Gb/s SAS technology delivers high performance and data bandwidth and contains full compatibility with 3Gb/s SATA technology.
• x8 5G PCI Express 2.0 host interface technology delivers high performance and data bandwidth up to 5 GB/s maximum bandwidth.
• Addition of the battery backed cache upgrade enables Capacity Expansion, RAID migration, and Stripe Size Migration. Additionally, Smart Array Advanced Pack license key enables RAID 6 (ADG), 6+0, Advanced Capacity Expansion, Mirror Splitting and Recombining in Offline Mode, Drive Erase, Performance Optimization-Degraded Reads and Read Coalescing (VOD)
• Mix-and-match SAS and SATA hard drives, lets you deploy drive technology as needed to fit your computing environment.
• Support for > 2 TB in a single logical drive.
• Support for HP StorageWorks SAS tape and tape automation products.
• Software consistency among all Smart Array family products: Array Configuration Utility (ACU), Option ROM Configuration for Arrays (ORCA), Systems Insight Manager, Array Diagnostic Utility (ADU) and SmartStart. Some of these features are not available with ProLiant 100 series platforms.
• The SA-P212 controller supports up to 54 drives.
• Low-profile PCI Express form factor - ships with a full size bracket for deployment in either a low-profile or full sized slot

• Online Capacity Expansion (with BBWC upgrade)
• Advanced Capacity Expansion (with BBWC and SAAP license key)
• Online RAID Level Migration (with BBWC upgrade)
• Online Stripe Size Migration (with BBWC upgrade)
• Mirror splitting and recombining (with SAAP license key)
• Unlimited Global Online Spares Assignment
• User Selectable Expand and Rebuild Priority
• User Selectable RAID Level and Stripe Size
• User Selectable Read and Write Cache Sizes

• Eight (8) SAS physical links distributed across 1 internal x4/1 external x4 wide port connectors.

Performance

HP's High Performance Architecture sets new boundaries of industry performance expectations!

• 6Gb/s SAS
• x8 6Gb/s SAS physical links (compatible with 3G SATA)
• 256 MB DDR2-800 battery-backed cache provides up to 4.2 GB/s maximum bandwidth.
• x8 5G PCI Express host interface provides 4 GB/s maximum bandwidth.
• MIPS 32-bit Processor
• Read ahead caching
• Write-back caching (with battery-backed write cache upgrade)

Native Command Queuing (NCQ) is a technology designed to increase performance of SATA hard disk drives by allowing the individual hard disk to internally optimize the order in which received read and write commands are executed. This can reduce the amount of unnecessary going back-and-forth on the drive's heads, resulting in increased performance for workloads where multiple simultaneous read/write requests are outstanding, most often occurring in server or storage-type applications. Without NCQ the drive has to process and complete one command at a time. For NCQ to be enabled, it must be supported and turned on in the controller and in the hard drive itself.

NOTE: Please see the SATA Hard Drive QuickSpecs for specific SATA hard drive capacities that support NCQ: http://h18000.www1.hp.com/products/quickspecs/11940_na/11940_na.html

Given the increasing need for high performance and rapid capacity expansion, the SA-P212 offers:

• Up to 24.3TB of external storage per PCI slot with 6x internal 450GB 3.5" SAS hard drives and 4x HP StorageWorks 60 Modular Smart Array enclosures or HP StorageWorks D2600 Disk Enclosures and 48 x 450GB 3.5" SAS hard drives.
• Up to 54TB of total storage per PCI slot with 6x internal 1TB 3.5" SATA MDL hard drives and 4x HP StorageWorks 60 Modular Smart Array enclosures or HP StorageWorks D2600 Disk Enclosures and 48 x 1TB 3.5" SATA MDL hard drives.
• Up to 17.4TB of total storage per PCI slot with 8x internal 300GB SFF SAS hard drives and 4x HP StorageWorks 70 Modular Smart Array enclosures or HP StorageWorks D2600 Disk Enclosures and 50 x 300GB SFF SAS hard drives.
• Up to 14.5 TB of total storage per PCI slot with 8x internal 250GB SFF SATA hard drives and 4x HP StorageWorks 70 Modular Smart Array enclosures or HP StorageWorks D2600 Disk Enclosures and 100 x 250GB SFF SATA hard drives

NOTE: Support for greater than 2TB in a single logical drive. Additional capacity up to 180 with an expander.

Provides increased server uptime by providing advanced storage functionality:

• Online Capacity Expansion (with BBWC upgrade)
• Online Advanced Capacity Expansion (with Smart Array Advanced Pack upgrade)
• Online RAID Level Migration (with BBWC upgrade)
• Online Stripe Size Migration (with BBWC upgrade)
• Global Online Spare
• Pre-Failure Warranty

Fault Prevention

The following features offer detection of possible failures before they occur, allowing preventive action to be taken:

• S.M.A.R.T.: Self Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology first developed at HP detects possible hard disk failure before it occurs, allowing replacement of the component before failure occurs.
• Drive Parameter Tracking monitors drive operational parameters, predicting failure and notifying the administrator.
• Dynamic Sector Repairing continually performs background surface scans on the hard disk drives during inactive periods and automatically remaps bad sectors, ensuring data integrity.
• Smart Array Cache Tracking monitors integrity of controller cache, allowing pre-failure preventative maintenance.

Fault Tolerance

• Keeps data available and server running while a failed drive is being replaced; several fault tolerance configurations are supported including:
• RAID 6 with ADG (Advanced Data Guarding): This is the highest level of fault tolerance. It allocates two sets of parity data across drives and allows simultaneous write operations. This level of fault tolerance can withstand two simultaneous drive failures without downtime or data loss.
• RAID 6+0: Supported with min of 8 drives, but would have 4 available. Target benefit is to split RAID across the external boxes.
  NOTE: RAID 6, 6+0 can be enabled with either
  • 256 MB cache, Battery kit and Smart Array Advanced Pack License key option upgrades
  • 512 MB BBWC and Smart Array Advanced Pack License key option upgrades
• RAID 5 (Distributed Data Guarding): This allocates one set of parity data across drives and allows simultaneous write operations. This level of fault tolerance can withstand a single drive failure without downtime or data loss.
  NOTE: RAID 5 can be enabled with a minimum 256 MB cache
• RAID 5+0: This is a RAID 0 array striped across 5 elements. Combines the straight block-level striping of RAID 0 with the distributed parity of RAID 5.
• RAID 1, 1+0 (Drive Mirroring): This allocates half of the drive array to data and the other half to mirrored data, providing two copies of every file. It is a high-performance RAID.

Fault Recovery

Minimizes downtime, reconstructs data, and facilitates a quick recovery from drive failure

• On-Line Spares: There is no limit to the number of spare drives that can be installed prior to drive failure. If a failure occurs, recovery begins with an On-Line Spare and data is reconstructed automatically.
• DRAM ECC corrects against single bit data and address corruption.
• Battery-backed write cache upgrade provides for up to three days of battery power for data cache retention. The data backup duration could be extended anytime the server's auxiliary power is available during system power down.

Consistency and Upgradeability make the Smart Array family unique in the industry:

• GUI based configuration, management and diagnostic software tools
• Common data format between generations of products
• Data migration between servers and external StorageWorks Modular Smart Array enclosures and HP StorageWorks Disk Enclosures

• Powerful server and server options/storage manager tool
• Monitors over 1200 system wide parameters
• Configuration/Diagnostic Utilities
• SIM is only for the HP ProLiant 300, 500 and Blade series servers.

• Powerful Web based configuration utility for all Smart Array controllers
• Provides a graphical view of HP drive array configurations.
• Allows for management of multiple arrays over a secure internet connection from anywhere in the world.
• Easy to use Wizards for configuration
• Runs offline for all supported Operating Systems on the ProLiant 300, 500 and Blade series and runs online for Windows and Linux. For online configuration of NetWare, use CPQONLIN.

• A simple method for managing logical volumes during system power up by pressing F8 during POST
• Allows the ability to create arrays, logical volumes, and assign an online spare drive.
• Allows the ability to view and delete logical volumes
• Allows the ability to select the boot controller
• For advanced array configurations use ACU

• In depth diagnostic and reporting utility for all Smart Array controllers
• Runs offline for all supported Operating Systems, and runs online for Windows and Linux in HP ProLiant 300, 500 and Blade series servers

RAID 6, 6+0 (Advanced Data Guarding)
NOTE: RAID 6, 6+0 can be enabled with either

• 256 MB cache, Battery kit and Smart Array Advanced Pack License key option upgrades
• 512 MB BBWC and Smart Array Advanced Pack License key option upgrades

RAID 5, 5+0 (Distributed Data Guarding)
NOTE: RAID 5, 5+0 can be enabled with a minimum 256 MB cache
RAID 1, 1+0 (Striping & Mirroring)
RAID 0 (Striping)

© Copyright 2009 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.

The information contained herein is subject to change without notice. Microsoft and Windows are registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the U.S. and/or other countries. The only warranties for HP products and services are set forth in the express warranty statements accompanying such products and services. Nothing herein should be construed as constituting an additional warranty. HP shall not be liable for technical or editorial errors or omissions contained herein.

For hard drives, 1GB = 1 billion bytes. Actual formatted capacity is less.