Adaptec Adaptec Series 8 SAS/SATA RAID Reference guide

ADAPTEC FLEXIBLE CONFIGURATION TECHNICAL BRIEF
High-density rack storage environments
require form-factor optimized solutions
that can deliver capacity and exibility in
conguring direct attach storage.
Available on Adaptec Series 8 and Series 7
RAID adapters, Flexible Conguration allows
for automatic congurability of both raw and
logical devices tailored to the application need.
Flexible Conguration oers three settings,
tunable via the adapter’s pre-boot tools:
• Auto Volume Mode – Automatically cong-
ures all HDD/SSD devices as logical devices
• RAID Mode (default) – Traditional RAID
adapter functionality and usage models
• HBA Mode – Automatically exposes
physical devices to the operating system
By supporting mixed deployments of logical and
physical devices, Adaptec Series 8 and Series
7 adapters make it possible to utilize hard disk
drives (HDDs) and solid state drives (SSDs),
along with tape and other storage peripherals,
and control placement of data.
Auto Volume Mode
e Auto Volume Mode setting automatically
congures HDDs and/or SSDs as logical
devices by writing a small amount of metadata
to the drive. e drive is then recognized as a
logical block storage device. e benet to this
is that onboard adapter memory is used for
caching to accelerate reads/writes and reduce
access times and latency.
RAID Mode
e default adapter setting is RAID Mode,
which provides support for full hardware
RAID data protection, an industry-leading
feature set, maxCache Plus, and more. RAID
Mode also supports all the features and
functionality of Auto Volume Mode and HBA
mode through manual conguration of the
attached devices.
HBA Mode
e HBA Mode setting automatically exposes
(i.e. provides full access to) physical devices
like HDDs, SSDs, tape devices and autoloaders
to the operating system. It supports migration
of disks from onboard SATA interfaces as well
as other SAS/SATA I/O adapters. Additionally,
this mode supports third-party vendor tools
which access/congure drives via mode pages.
>
Flexible Configuration Options for Adaptec Series 8
(12Gb/s) and Adaptec Series 7 (6Gb/s)
SAS/SATA RAID Adapters
Flexible Configuration
Highlights
Available on Adaptec Series 8
(12Gb/s) and Series 7 (6Gb/s)
RAID adapters
Three settings
– Auto Volume Mode — Automatically
congures all HDD/SSD devices
as logical devices
– RAID Mode (default) — Traditional
RAID adapter functionality and
usage models
– HBA Mode — Automatically
exposes physical devices to the
operating system
Tunable via the adapter’s pre-boot
tools
Automatic congurability of both
raw and logical devices, tailored
to the application need
Ideal for high-density rack storage
environments and expander-based
backplane scenarios
Adapter
Setting Description Supported Devices Device Conguration Benet
Auto Volume
Mode
Automatically congures all HDDs/SSDs
as logical devices
Automatic • Acceleration via DRAM read/write caching which can
lower access time and latency
RAID Mode Traditional ARC functionality and usage models
(raw devices, simple volumes, RAID volumes,
tape devices and autoloaders)
Manual • Support for full hardware RAID data protection, features
& RAID level migration
• Support for maxCache (SSD Caching)
• Support all Auto Volume /HBA mode features
HBA Mode Automatically exposes physical devices
to the OS (HDD, SSD, tape, autoloaders)
Automatic • Supports migration of disks from onboard SATA interfaces
or other SATA/SAS I/O controllers
• Provides full access to the physical device from the
OS/App layer
• Support for 3rd party vendor tools to access and congure
devices through mode pages
Host Writes
Disk Device
Writes > =
Threshold Size
Writes <
Threshold Size
Controller Cache
JBODs
1U 8-Drive Server
Host Writes
Disk Device
Writes > =
Threshold Size
Writes <
Threshold Size
Controller Cache
JBODs
1U 8-Drive Server
Host Writes
Disk Device
Writes > =
Threshold Size
Writes <
Threshold Size
Controller Cache
JBODs
1U 8-Drive Server
Host Writes
Disk Device
Writes > =
Threshold Size
Writes <
Threshold Size
Controller Cache
JBODs
1U 8-Drive Server
Logical Drives Physical Drives Tape/Other Devices

Flexible Configuration Options for
Adaptec Series 8 and Series 7 SAS/SATA RAID Adapters
© Copyright PMC-Sierra, Inc. 2013. All rights reserved. PMC, PMC-SIERRA and Adaptec are registered trademarks of PMC-Sierra, Inc. “Adaptec by PMC” is a trademark of PMC-Sierra, Inc.
Other product and company names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective owners. For a complete list of PMC-Sierra trademarks, see www.pmc-sierra.com/legal.
TB_FlexCong_S8_071113_US Information subject to change.
ADAPTEC FLEXIBLE CONFIGURATION TECHNICAL BRIEF
PMC-Sierra, Inc.
1380 Bordeaux Dr.
Sunnyvale, CA 94089 USA
Tel: [phone]
World Wide Web: www.adaptec.com
Pre-Sales Support: US and Canada: 1 [phone] or [phone] or [email protected]
UK: [phone] or [email protected]
Australia: [phone]
Germany: [phone] or [email protected]
Singapore: [phone]
Use Cases
A 1U server has limited slot space and typically only supports
8 direct attach drive bays. e low-prole Adaptec 8885 and
Adaptec 78165 RAID adapters with Flexible Conguration are
designed specically for these environments, oering support
for 8 internal drives congured as logical volumes for critical
data. Each adapter also provides external connectivity to JBODs.
ese can be congured as raw devices for maximum capacity
cold storage usage — all within an MD2 form-factor.
Flexible Conguration is also ideal for expander-based backplane
applications. Whether inside or outside the server chassis,
expander-based backplanes allow for scalability but can introduce
compatibility issues and latency. Series 8 and Series 7 RAID
adapters oer 16- and 24-port direct connectivity options. By
conguring each drive as a simple volume, onboard DRAM can
be used to help accelerate reads/writes. When coupled with
“Big Block Bypass Mode” — a setting available on every Adaptec
RAID adapter which lters large I/Os to the drive and keeps
cache available for small random I/Os — Flexible Conguration
delivers signicant gains in random I/O performance.
The Flexible Configuration Advantage
With Flexible Conguration, Adaptec Series 8 (12Gb/s) and
Series 7 (6Gb/s) RAID adapters provide an eective and ecient
hardware investment by allowing data centers to purchase one
SKU and then choose from three conguration proles to meet
their needs.
Host Writes
Disk Device
Writes > =
Threshold Size
Writes <
Threshold Size
Controller Cache
JBODs
1U 8-Drive Server
Host Writes
Disk Device
Writes > =
Threshold Size
Writes <
Threshold Size
Controller Cache
JBODs
1U 8-Drive Server