HP Smart Array Controller technology, 4th edition

The Smart Array controller moves the data from the cache to the DRAMs, verifies that the data is correct,

and then transfers it to the disk drives.

Software RAID

Today’s operating systems offer basic support for RAID disks (called software RAID) to create and manage

logical drives that do not contain the OS. Software RAID can require a significant amount of the server’s

resources and harm performance.

HP has developed the B110i software RAID solution based on the Smart Array firmware and using

standard SATA controllers. The B110i SATA Software RAID supports ACU, ACU-CLI (command line tool),

SNMP agents, and Web-Based Enterprise Management (WBEM) providers.

The Smart Array B110i also includes the following:

 Support for solid state disks

 LED support

 SATA drive firmware flashing (offline)

The B110i features an OS-specific driver from HP that uses the embedded ICH10R controller. The B110i

supports RAID 0, 1, and 1+0 and a maximum of two logical drives. The B110i supports up to four 1.5

Gb/s or 3 Gb/s SATA drives. Administrators can move drives to a Smart Array controller in a seamless

procedure that maintains the user data and RAID configuration.

The HP Smart Array RAID Hot Plug Advance Pack for the B110i provides hot-plug RAID support for the

embedded SATA controller. The Hot Plug Advance Pack is available as a license key on cold plug and hot

plug models.

Zero Memory RAID

Using Zero Memory RAID (ZMR), you can create a RAID 0+1 configuration without additional memory.

ZMR uses memory embedded in the controller. ZMR has limited configurations: up to eight drives in Zero

Memory Mode, or seven drives and one tape drive. ZMR does not include caching; but you can upgrade

supported systems with a BBWC memory module that can increase performance.

Current generation (P410, P410i, P212, and P712) Smart Array controllers support ZMR for internal, direct

connections only. The P212 controller does not include ZMR on the external connector. Modular Smart

Array (MSA) products do not support ZMR mode. You can update the P212 controller to the 256 MB

BBWC but not the 512 MB BBWC. Smart Array Advanced Pack is not available on Zero Memory

configurations.

Smart Array Advanced Pack

HP Smart Array Advanced Pack (SAAP) firmware provides advanced functionality for the present

generation of SAS/SATA-based Smart Array controllers. It enhances performance, reliability, and data

availability. SAAP requires a license key for activation.

NOTE:

At a minimum, a 256 MB cache and battery kit, or FBWC, is required to enable

the SAAP license key. SAAP is not available on Zero Memory Configurations