Storage Support And Pathway Redundancy; Solid State Drives; Native Command Queuing; Dual Domain Support - HP 273914-B21 - Smart Array 6404/256 RAID Controller Technology Brief

Storage support and pathway redundancy

HP Smart Array controllers support solid state drives, Native Command Queuing and Dual Domain
providing increased performance and redundancy on the storage network. Smart Array controllers
continue to support tape back up devices.

Solid state drives

HP has introduced the second generation of solid state drives (SSD) for ProLiant servers. These solid
state drives are 3Gb/second SATA interface in both 60GB and 120GB capacities. The product,
based on NAND Single Level Cell flash technology, are implemented as SFF and LFF hot plug devices
on the HP universal drive carrier for general use across the ProLiant portfolio. These drives deliver
higher performance, lower latency, and low power solutions when compared with traditional rotating
media.
These HP second generation SSDs are supported for use with the present generation Smart Array
controllers based on the PM8011 SRC MIPS processor on select ProLiant G6 servers.

Native Command Queuing

Native Command Queuing (NCQ) increases SATA HDD performance by internally prioritizing
read/write command execution. This reduces unnecessary drive head movement which results in
increased performance, especially in server or storage-type applications where multiple simultaneous
read/write requests are common. Without NCQ, the drive can process and complete only one
command at a time. NCQ must be supported in both the controller and the drive.
NOTE:
For more information about NCQ support on Smart Array controllers, see Support
Communication – Customer Notice, Document ID: c01800086, Version: 1 at-
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?objectID=c01
800086&lang=en&cc=us&taskId=101&prodSeriesId=428936

Dual Domain support

Dual Domain SAS creates redundant pathways from servers to storage devices. These redundant
paths reduce or eliminate single points of failure within the storage network and increase data
availability. Dual domain SAS implementations can tolerate host bus adapter (HBA) failure, external
cable failure, expander failure, or failure in a spanned disk (JBOD).
Dual Domain support is available for the HP Smart Array P800 attached to an MSA60/70 with the
HP StorageWorks Dual Domain I/O Module Option (AG779A). Dual Domain support requires HP
Smart Array firmware v5.10 or higher and dual-port SAS drives.
Dual Domain supports Multi-Initiator JBOD Clusters. I/O Module Option with the HP SC44Ge Host
Bus Adapter supports HP-UX and OpenVMS on select HP Integrity servers only.
Dual Domain is also supported by HP Serviceguard software on HP-UX with HP-UX 11iv2 and 11iv3
only.
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