Areca ARC-1203-4i User Manual

ARC-1203-4I/8I

(4/8-Port PCIe 2.0 Internal 6Gb/s SATA RAID Controllers)

ARC-1203 series internal PCIe 2.0 host RAID controllers are the cost-effective
solutions for connecting 4/8 6Gb/s SATA peripherial devices. Areca’s ARC-1203 series
entry-level RAID controllers cover the spectrum of wild range storage requirements for
cost-sensitive applications that require robust data protection. The 4/8 port configura­tions are aimed at high-availability and capacity oriented applications, such as security
systems, surveillance, multimedia content generation, large-volume data capturing,
mail servers and entry-level database systems.

HighlightsHighlights

PCIe 2.0 x4 lane host interface

•

Greater than 2TB capacity per

•

disk drive support

Support greater than 2TB per

•

volume set and battery backup

module (BBM)

Enclosure management (Serial

•

bus & SGPIO) ready

Support intelligent power

•

management to save energy and

extend service life

Support NTP protocol

•

synchronize RAID controller

clock over the on board Ethernet

port

Broad operating support

•

including Windows, Linux (open

source), FreeBSD (open source),

Soaris (open source), Mac and

VMware

Unparalleled FlexibilityUnparalleled Flexibility

Embedded with ARM-based storage I/O processor
makes those products a pure hardware RAID
controller and raise the standard to higher
performance levels with several enhancements
including 6Gb/s SATA ports, on-board 1GB
SDRAM memory and high performance PCIe 2.0
x8 lane host interface bus interconnection. The
ARC-1203 series RAID card with a dedicated
processor and cache memory that offloads the
parity calculations from the CPU, as this means
you can pair it with a slow, lower power processor,
the cost to benefit ratio for this cost-effective RAID
adapter is negligible. ARC-1203 series RAID can
be easily integrated into a variety of hardware and
software platforms, and are ideal for
cost-effective, high-capacity NAS, DVR and cold
storage market.

Unsurpassed Data AvailabilityUnsurpassed Data Availability

As storage capacities continue to rapidly increase,
users need greater level of disk drive fault
tolerance, which can be implemented without
doubling the investment in disk drives. The RAID 6
can offer fault tolerance greater that RAID 1 or
RAID 5 but only consumes the capacity of 2 disk
drives for distributed parity data. Areca entry-level
RAID controllers incorporate onboard storage
processors to deliver true hardware RAID.
Hardware RAID cards have their own local RAID
processor onboard, plus dedicated onboard cache
for full hardware offloading of RAID-processing
functions. The ability of hardware RAID controllers
to rebuild an array in the event of a drive failure is
superior to what software RAID controllers offer.

The ARC-1203 series 6Gb/s SATA RAID control­lers can also provide RAID levels 0, 1, 1E, 3, 5, 6,
10, 30, 50, 60, Single Disk or JBOD for maximum
configuration flexibility. Its high data availability
and protection derives from Areca Technology's
advanced features: Online RAID Capacity
Expansion, Array Roaming, Online RAID Level /

Stripe Size Migration, Global Online Spare,
Automatic Drive Failure Detection, Automatic
Failed Drive Rebuilding, Disk Hot-Swap, Online
Background Rebuilding, Instant
Availability/Background Initialization, Auto
Reassign Sector, Redundant Flash Image and
Battery Backup Module. The optional battery
backup module provides power to the cache if it
contains data not yet written to the drives when
power is lost.

Maximum InteroperabilityMaximum Interoperability

The ARC-1203 series 6Gb/s SATA RAID adapters
support broad operating system including Windows
10/8/server 2012/2008/Vista/2003/XP(64-bit),
Linux (Open Source), FreeBSD (Open Source),
VMware, Solaris (Open Source), Mac and more,
along with key system monitoring features such as
enclosure management (Serial bus & SGPIO) and
SNMP function. Our products and technology are
based on extensive testing and validation process;
same as Areca 3Gb/s and 6Gb/s SAS/SATA RAID
adapter field-proven compatibility with operating
systems, motherboards, applications and device
drives.

Easy RAID ManagementEasy RAID Management

The controllers contain an embedded McBIOS
RAID manager that can access via hot key at M/B
BIOS boot-up screen. This pre-boot McBIOS RAID
manager can use to simplify the setup and
management of RAID controller. The controller
firmware also contains a browser-based McRAID
storage manager which can be accessed through
the Ethernet port or ArcHttp proxy server in
Windows, Linux, FreeBSD and more environments.
The McRAID storage manager allows local and
remote to create and modify RAID set, volume set,
and monitor RAID status from standard web
browser. The Single Admin Portal (SAP) quick
manager can support one application to scan
multiple RAID units in the local and remote for
easy installation, configuration and operation.

Controller Architecture

• ARM_based 1066MHz storage I/O processor

• 1GB on-board DDR3-1066 SDRAM with ECC protection

• PCIe 2.0 x4 lanes host interface

• Write-through or write-back cache support

• Support read/write cache allocation by policy

• ARC-1203-4/8 supports up to 4/8 x 6Gb/s SATA HDDs

• Multi-adapter support for large storage requirements

• BIOS boot support for greater fault tolerance

• BIOS PnP (plug and play) and BBS (BIOS boot specification) support

• Boot support for the uEFI host BIOS

• NVRAM for RAID event & transaction log

• Redundant flash image for controller availability

• Battery Backup Module (BBM) ready (optional)

• Firmware level self-diagnosis function

RAID Features

• RAID level 0, 1, 10(1E), 3, 5, 6, 30, 50, 60, Single Disk or JBOD

• Multi-level RAID 0 and RAID 10 (R00 and R100)

• Support up to 1MB stripe size

• Multiple RAID selection

• Online array roaming

• Online RAID level/stripe size migration

• Online capacity expansion and RAID level migration simultaneously

• Online volume set growth

• Instant availability and background initialization

• Support global and dedicated hot spare

• Automatic drive insertion/removal detection and rebuilding

• Support intelligent power management to save energy and extend

service life

• Support for native 4K and 512 byte sector SATA devices

• Multiple pairs SSD/HDD disk clone function

• SSD automatic monitor clone (AMC) support

• Support HDD firmware update

• Verify the correctness of the RAID data

• Disk drive patrol function through Scheduled Volume Checking

• SED (self-encrypting drives) function support

• Drive SMART status monitoring for reliability

Electrical

•

Power Dissipation:

12V ; ARC-1203-4I/8I: 10W / 11W

Monitors/Notification

• System status indication through global HDD activity/fault connec-

tor, individual fault connector, LCD/serial bus connector and alarm

buzzer

• SMTP support for email notification

• SNMP support for remote manager

• Enclosure management (Serial bus & SGPIO) ready

RAID Management

• Field-upgradeable firmware in flash ROM

In-Band Manager

• Hot key "boot-up" McBIOS RAID manager via M/B BIOS

• Web browser-based McRAID storage manager via ArcHttp proxy

server for all operating systems

• Support Command Line Interface (CLI)

• API library for customer to write manager utility

• Single Admin Portal (ArcSAP) quick manager utility

Out-of-Band Manager

• Firmware-embedded web browser-based McRAID storage

manager, SMTP manager, SNMP agent and Telnet function via

Ethernet port

• Out-of-Band API sample and functional code for customer to

quickly customize its AP.

• Support push button and LCD display panel (optional)

Operating System

• Windows 10/Server 2016/8/server 2012/7/2008

• Linux

• FreeBSD

• VMware (Driver 6.x support CLI in-band management utility)

• Solaris 10/11 x86/x86_64

• Mac OS 10.5.x or higher

For more information & latest supported OS listing visit www.areca.com.tw

Environment

•

Operating

Storage

Regulatory Certification

Temperature: +5 c to +60 c with 200 LFM airflow

Humidity: 10-85%, non-condensing

Temperature: -40 c to 70 c

Humidity: 5-90%, non-condensing

CE, FCC

Model Name

I/O Processor

Host Bus Type

Drive Connector

Drive Support

RAID Level

On-Board Cache

Management Port

Enclosure Ready

Form Factor (H x L)

Products View

TM

6Gb/s

Areca is a registered trademark of Areca Technology Corporation. Other brand names and
product names are trademark or registered trademarks of their respective companies.
This specification may be changed at any time without prior notice.

ARC-1203-4I

1xSFF-8087 2xSFF-8087

Up to 4x6Gb/s SATA HDDs/SSD Up to 8x6Gb/s SATA HDDs/SSD

ARC-1203-8I

ARM_based 1066MHz storage I/O processor

PCIe 2.0 x 4 Lanes

0, 1, 1E, 3, 5, 6, 10, 30, 50, 60, Single Disk, and JBOD

1GB on-board DDR3-1066 SDRAM with ECC protection

In-Band: PCIe / Out-of-Band: LCD and LAN Port

Individual Faulty Header, SGPIO, and Serial Bus

Low Profile: 64.4 x 168 mm

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