HP Smart Array 6400A (SA6400A) Controller

• Advanced RAID level: Advanced Data Guarding
• High Performance Architecture
• High Capacity
  • SA6402A 2 channel model supports up to 28 drives
  • SA6404A 4 channel model supports up to 56 drives, 28 drives per controller

• Advanced Data Guarding (RAID ADG) offers breakthrough level of fault protection of RAID volumes up to 1TB and a total of 28 disk drives in a RAID volume. RAID ADG provides fault protection greater than RAID 1 or RAID 5 and only consumes the capacity of 2 disk drives for distributed parity data. RAID ADG protects against any 2 disk drive failures. This higher level of protection is ideal to protect large logical volumes and with high capacity disk drives where a failed drive rebuild time may be significant.
• High-performance, Sixth generation architecture offers a new hardware RAID engine, and a new performance 266MHz DDR memory architecture for increased performance over previous controllers.
• Recovery ROM protects against a ROM failure or corruption.
• Ultra320 SCSI technology delivers high performance and data bandwidth up to 320 MB/s bandwidth per channel.
• Mix-and-match LVD SCSI compatibility protects your investments and lets you deploy drives as needed.
• Battery-backed Cache protects cached data in the event of a power outage, server failure or controller failure, and redundant, replaceable batteries take that protection even further. Maximum cache configuration is 256-MB of battery-backed cache.
• 64-bit, 133 MHz PCI-X interface boosts bandwidth above 1GB/s burst transfer rate over PCI-X bus
• Online Management Features: Capacity Expansion, RAID Level Migration, Stripe Size Migration, Multiple Spares (Global), User Selectable Read/Write cache, User Selectable Expand and Rebuild Priority.

HP's innovative design and integration work of the Smart Array family of products creates customer value that is unmatched in the industry. Use of Smart Array products across multiple applications results in a much lower Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) than any other server storage RAID product. The HP Smart Array family brings an unparalleled return on investment through:

Data Compatibility among all models of Smart Array controllers allows simple and easy upgrades any time needs for higher performance, capacity, and availability increase. Even successive generations of Smart Array controllers understand the data format of other Smart Array Controllers.

Consistent Configuration and Management Tools. All Smart Array products utilize a standard set of management and utility software. These tools minimize TCO by reducing training requirements and technical expertise necessary to install and maintain the HP server storage.

Universal Hard Drive form factor is for use across multiple HP servers, disk enclosures and storage systems. With compatibility across many enterprise platforms, you are free to deploy and re-deploy these drives to quickly deliver increased storage capacity, migrate data between systems, and easily manage spare drives.

Pre-Failure Warranty means HP Insight Manager not only reports when a drive is going to fail but allows replacement of failing drives prior to actual failure. For complete details, consult the HP Support Center or refer to your HP Server documentation.

• Ultra320 SCSI (320-MB/s bandwidth) per channel
• High-performance 64-bit architecture, featuring a super-scalar RISC processor
• New RAID XOR engine
• Innovative dual processor, dual XOR engine design for the SA6404A
• New performance 266MHz DDR memory architecture providing for greater performance through greater bandwidth
• 64-bit, 133-MHz PCI-X bus (1-GB/s bandwidth)

• Up to four Ultra320 SCSI channels, supporting up to 56 disk drives
• More than 16TB of storage per PCI slot

• Online RAID Level Migration (between any RAID level)
• Online Capacity Expansion
• Global Online Spare
• Pre-Failure Warranty

• S.M.A.R.T.: Self Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology first developed at Compaq detects possible hard disk failure before it occurs, allowing replacement of the component before failure occurs.
• Drive Parameter Tracking monitors drive operational parameters, predicting failure and notifying the administrator.
• Dynamic Sector Repairing continually performs background surface scans on the hard disk drives during inactive periods and automatically re-maps bad sectors, ensuring data integrity.
• Smart Array Cache Tracking monitors integrity of controller cache, allowing pre-failure preventative maintenance.
• Environment Tracking for External Storage System monitors.

• Advanced Data Guarding (RAID ADG): This is the highest level of fault tolerance. It allocates two sets of parity data across drives and allows simultaneous write operations. This level of fault tolerance can withstand two simultaneous drive failures without downtime or data loss. It is available standard with the SA6400A.
• Distributed Data Guarding (RAID 5): This allocates parity data across multiple drives and allows simultaneous write operations. It is recommended for up to 14 hard drives.
• Drive Mirroring (RAID 1, 1+0): This allocates half of the drive array to data and the other half to mirrored data, providing two copies of every file. It is a high-performance RAID configuration.

• Recovery ROM: provides a unique redundancy feature that protects from a ROM failure. A new version of firmware can be flashed to the ROM while the controller maintains the last know working version of firmware. If the firmware becomes corrupt, the controller will revert back to the previous version of firmware and continue operating. This reduces the risk of flashing firmware to the controller.
• On-Line Spares: Up to four spare drives can be installed prior to drive failure. If a failure occurs, recovery begins with an On-Line Spare and data is reconstructed automatically.
• ECC-Protected Cache Memory: Removable, battery-backed cache memory protects data, up to four days (three days with 256-MB Module), in the event of power failure, server hardware failure or controller failure. In addition, HP provides an exclusive design that includes redundant and replaceable batteries for greater cache protection.

• GUI based configuration, management and diagnostic software tools
• Common data formatting between generations of products
• Data migration between servers and external storage enclosures

• DS15
• DS25
• ES45, ES47, ES80
• GS1280

• OpenVMS V7.3-2, OpenVMS V8.2

• HP Array Configuration Utility (ACU)
  • Powerful Web based configuration utility for all Smart Array controllers
  • Easy to use Wizards for configuration
  • Provides a graphical view of HP drive array configurations
  • Allows for management of multiple arrays over a secure internet connection from anywhere in the world
• Options ROM Configuration for Arrays
  • Rapid configuration upon initial install of the OS

• Powerful server and server options/storage manager tool
• Monitors over 1200 server parameters

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The information contained herein is subject to change without notice.

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The only warranties for HP products and services are set forth in the express warranty statements accompanying such products and services. Nothing herein should be construed as constituting an additional warranty. HP shall not be liable for technical or editorial errors or omissions contained herein.