TREADLAYERS.COM: AMCC 3WARE 9650SE-16ML and 9690SA-8I RAID CONTROLLERS

AMCC 3WARE 9650SE-16ML and 9690SA-8I RAID CONTROLLERS

3Ware 9650SE-16ML

First, let's meet the 9650SE-16ML:

From the AMCC Website:

3ware 9650SE Selection Guide

Model	9650SE-2LP	9650SE-4LPML	9650SE-8LPML
Form Factor	Low Profile	Low Profile	Low Profile
Port Count	2	4	8
PCI Express Lanes	1	4	4
Raid Levels	0,1, Single Disk,JBOD	0,1,5,10,Single Disk,JBOD	0,1,5,6,10,50,Single Disk,JBOD
Onboard Memory	128 MB DDR2 533	256 MB DDR2 533	256 MB DDR2 533
Connector Type	Discrete	Multi-lane	Multi-lane
BBU Support	No	Yes	Yes

Model	9650SE-12ML	9650SE-16ML	9650SE-24M8
Form Factor	Full Height	Full Height	Full Height
Port Count	12	16	24
PCI Express Lanes	8	8	8
Raid Levels	0,1,5,6,10,50 Single Disk,JBOD	0,1,5,6,10,50,Single Disk,JBOD	0,1,5,6,10,50,Single Disk,JBOD
Onboard Memory	256 MB DDR2 533	256 MB DDR2 533	512 MB DDR2 533
Connector Type	Multi-lane	Multi-lane	Multi-lane
BBU Support	Yes	Yes	Yes

* All models are RoHS Compliant

3ware 9650SE Features

8th-generation StorSwitch� non-blocking switched architecture.
On-board I/O RISC processor and RAID offload provides true hardware RAID.
- SCSI device driver model to take advantage of the benefits of SCSI using inexpensive Serial ATA drives .
Bootable array support for greater fault tolerance.
Variable stripe size for performance tuning by application.
64-bit LBA support.
ATA pass-through mode support.
Up to 512MB DDR2 533 memory with ECC protection. (see table below)
32 pooled DMA channels.
Complete configuration management suite.
- 3ware BIOS Manager 2 (3BM2) � easy to use BIOS configuration tool.
- 3ware Disk Manager 2 (3DM�2) � browser-based management tool.
- Command Line Interface (CLI) � scriptable configuration tool.
SNMP support.
SMTP support for email/pager notification.
ATA/6 and Out of band (OOB) staggered drive spin-up support.
Auto carving allows LUNs > 2TB to be divided into multiple units for legacy operating systems limited to 2TB max. per LUN.
Battery Backup Unit (BBU) support.
Multiple logical unit sizes and RAID levels on one card.
Multiple card support within a system for large storage requirements.
Hot-swap and hot-spare support for data availability.
Dynamic sector repair for robust data protection.
S.M.A.R.T. disk drive monitoring for reliability.
Emergency Flash Recovery protects against failed firmware upgrade.
Drive activity LED support.
Online Capacity Expansion and RAID Level Migration.
Enhanced data protection with write journaling for non-redundant arrays and accidental drive removal.
Drive insertion and removal notification.
Array/Drive Status and drive identification LED support. (requires 3ware Chassis Control Unit-enabled backplane)
Chassis Control Unit for enclosure management via I2C.

Operating System Support

Microsoft� Windows� 2003/XP/2000, Red Hat Linux, SuSE Linux, Fedora Linux, 2.4 Linux kernel, 2.6 Linux kernel, FreeBSD; 32/64-bit driver support for Windows, Linux and FreeBSD For complete OS listing, Go to: www.3ware.com/support/OS-Support.asp

AMCC uses a browser-based configuration utility as shown below, called 3DM2. It is one of the fastest and most responsive utilities we've used. Others take several seconds, even minutes, or requiring a reboot in order to effect a change. One thing to note is the StorSave setting. It relates mostly to the Write Cache. For our tests, it was set to Balance. The other options were Performance and Protection. One interesting option was a lack of other possible stripe sizes when choosing RAID-6 - only 64k was available. Other RAID levels offered three sizes to choose from: 16k, 64k and 256k.