Datasheet

ServeRAID M5000 Series Performance Accelerator Key for IBM System x 6
Space-efficient snapshots
Each MegaRAID Recovery PiT volume snapshot is a fraction of the original volume size, because it only
keeps track of the changes that are made to a volume after the PiT is created. Disk space for PiTs is
pre-allocated (reserved as the Snap Repository), and the PiT is expanded in small increments as new
data is written to the volume. Multiple PiTs of each volume can be retained online, enabling frequent
snapshots to be stored in a space-efficient manner.
Reduce IT costs and improve data protection
Communication and file-sharing applications encounter many changes in the data throughout the day.
Most small and medium businesses (SMBs) have limited IT resources and can only run data backups
once every 24 hours, most of which occur overnight. This longer backup cycle increases the risk that
important changes made during the day are lost before the next backup occurs. MegaRAID Recovery
allows for quick and frequent snapshots of data to be taken with a only a few mouse-clicks, limiting
reliance on dedicated IT resources.
Boot volume protection
MegaRAID Recovery also offers a convenient way to implement additional boot volume protection. By
isolating a server’s boot volume to a separate virtual drive and enabling the Auto Snapshot feature, users
can be guaranteed that bootable snapshots exist, should OS corruption occur. If, for any reason, the boot
volume gets corrupted, the user can reboot, and within WebBIOS, choose the last known good snapshot
(PiT) and roll back the boot volume. If there is a malicious file present that has created the corruption on
the boot volume, administrators can roll back to a PiT before the malicious file was present. The additional
boot volume protection from MegaRAID Recovery provides a more convenient way to re-enter an
operating system and debug corruption issues.
Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy Service provider support
The Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) provides the backup infrastructure for the Microsoft Windows
XP and Microsoft Windows Server 2003 operating systems. VSS has native support, using a standard set
of application programming interfaces (APIs) for creating consistent point-in-time copies of data,
regardless of the snapshot technology or application. As a certified Microsoft VSS Provider, MegaRAID
Recovery can be initiated by VSS in order to create PiT volume snapshots on demand. This functionality
provides a straight-forward and standard way to produce clean snapshots of a volume while coordinating
with different types of business applications, file-system services, backup applications, and storage
hardware.
MegaRAID FastPath
MegaRAID FastPath is a high-performance IO accelerator for solid state drive (SSD) arrays connected to
a ServeRAID controller card. This advanced software is an optimized version of ServeRAID technology
that can dramatically boost storage subsystem and overall application performance -- particularly those
that demonstrate high random read/write operation workloads -- when deployed with a M5000-series
controller connected to SSDs.
Enabling MegaRAID FastPath
Enabling MegaRAID FastPath does not require any special configuration. Simply connect the
Performance Accelerator Key to the ServeRAID controller and MegaRAID FastPath will be enabled. As
the user implements SSDs into an array, he should see a significant increase in overall application
performance. Application workloads that will benefit most from MegaRAID FastPath with SSD volumes
are those with small and random I/O patterns requiring high transactional throughput, such as OLTP.