User guide

LSI Corporation
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LSI Nytro WarpDrive Application Acceleration Cards User Guide
June 2013
Chapter 1: Introduction
Overview
Chapter 1: Introduction
1.1 Overview
The LSI® Nytro™ WarpDrive® Acceleration Application cards are block storage devices. The cards present themselves to
the operating system through a Fusion-MPT™ interface as single or multiple drives that require minimal user
configuration. You can use these cards for either nonpersistent (for example, cache) or persistent (for example,
database files) data.
The LSI Nytro WarpDrive cards have Flash ROM for storing the BIOS and firmware, and NVRAM for storing nonvolatile
user data. The cards have three LEDs on the PCI bracket to indicate activity, drive life, and status.
The LSI Nytro WarpDrive cards have a PCI Express® (PCIe®) interface that complies with the PCI Express Specification 2.0
or PCI Express Specification 3.0.
The functionality of the LSI Nytro WarpDrive cards comes from a SAS2008 or SAS2308 I/O controller with
LSI Nytro WarpDrive firmware that runs on the internal processor.
1.2 Related Documents
Refer to the following documents for more information on the LSI Nytro WarpDrive card and related tools.
 LSI® Nytro™ WarpDrive® Application Acceleration Card r10.00.00.00 Release Notes
 LSI® Nytro™ WarpDrive® Application Acceleration Card Management Utility User Guide
 LSI® Nytro™ WarpDrive® Application Acceleration Card Quick Installation Guide
 LSI® Nytro™ WarpDrive® 6301 Application Acceleration Card Quick Installation Guide
 LSI® Nytro™ MegaRAID® Application Acceleration Card Software User Guide
1.3 Features
This section lists the features of the LSI Nytro WarpDrive cards.
 Proven enterprise firmware stack
 Best-in-class read and write performance
 Average latency of less than 50 ms
 Low host burden – No static CPU and memory overhead
 Support for Windows® and Linux® operating systems
 Support for VMware® and FreeBSD® operating systems
 Bootable
 PCIe 2.0, x8 (for the LSI Nytro WarpDrive 6203 card)
 PCIe 3.0 x 8 (for the LSI Nytro WarpDrive 6301 card)
 Profile and form factor varies
 PCIe standard or low-profile bracket
 LEDs for data activity, drive life, and drive status
High reliability includes block-level, page-level, and die-level failure protection.