External Storage; Storage Controllers; Table 11. Supported Raid Controllers - Dell PowerEdge R820 Technical Manual

Express Flash drives
Express Flash drives use PCIe and SSD technologies to provide performance, scalability and optimal
serviceability. Accelerated performance with high IOPs is made possible without requiring processor
resources or capturing DRAM. Also, Express Flash drives use a standardized 2.5-inch hot-plug form
factor that saves critical PCIe slot space by moving drives from the back to the front of the system
and allows a common management process for all drives.
The PowerEdge R820 has an option to support up to four 2.5-inch, hot-plug Express Flash drives
with capacities of 175GB or 350GB.

External storage

External storage for the R820 is available through optional HBAs for SAS, iSCSI and Fibre Channel.
For more information, see Dell.com/Storage.

Storage controllers

Dell provides highly capable RAID options for you to ensure that your data remains safe. Dell's RAID
controller options offer impressive performance improvements, including the following features:
 FastPath™ I/O: This feature can help accelerate performance when operating on SSDs.
 Split mirror: This function allows you to break mirrored disk connection in order to quickly
replace a drive.
Physical disk power management (Dimmer Switch™): This feature allows for power control of

spare or idle drives, which can save energy and operating expenses.
Supported RAID controllers
The newest line of PERC (PowerEdge RAID Controller) cards offer high I/O performance for
database applications and streaming digital media environments. The internal RAID controllers have
a dedicated connection to the motherboard. The R820 supports the new PERC 8 family of
controllers with improved functionality and faster performance.
The default PERC for the R820 is a mini-type PERC. However, for a system with an internal GPU
card or a card between half-length and ¾-length, use the adapter-type PERC. The R820 also
supports the new software RAID solution that supports RAID 0, 1, 5 and 10.
The R820 supports the PERC cards listed in Table 11. For more information about the latest PERC
offerings, see Dell.com/PERC.
Controller Description
PERC H810 Eight-port, external and
External 6Gb/s PCIe RAID controller
21 PowerEdge R820 Technical Guide
Table 11. Supported RAID controllers
Features
Includes 1GB NV DDR3
cache, premium
performance and feature
set, security SED/EKMS,
and SSD as cache
RAID
modes Form factor
supported
0, 1, 10, 5,
Adapter
50, 6, 60
Usage
model
Premium
performance