PRODUCT BRIEF
Intel® RAID SSD Cache Controller RCS25ZB040
Intel® RAID SSD Cache
Controller RCS25ZB040
Enables SSD Performance from a Hard Drive Array
Powered by LSI® NytroTM MegaRAID® technology*
Intel® RAID SSD Cache Controller RCS25ZB040
Enables SSD Performance from a Hard Drive Array
The Intel® RAID SSD Cache Controller RCS25ZB040 delivers up to 1TB of onboard Flash-based cache and two 800MHz
RAID-On-Chip processor cores to help accelerate business applications. The Intel RCS25ZB040, powered by LSI* Nytro
MegaRAID technology, unleashes the IOPs and throughput potential afforded by solid-state memory without requiring a
full array of SSD. As an example of the performance acceleration possible, replacing a standard RAID card with the Intel
RCS25ZB040 resulted in a transaction rate of more than an order of magnitude (10x) for a database server in a test
environment.
The Intel RCS25ZB040 utilizes intelligent caching algorithms to help identify frequently accessed data or “hot spots” and
to promote them to the fast on-board Flash. SSD Caching RAID acceleration can be more cost-effective than direct attach
solid-state drive (SSD)-only arrays or short stroked hard disk drive (HDD) environments.
All Intel RAID solutions are validated across multiple platforms with Intel® boards, chassis, and systems. Customized
training, as well as service and support, make Intel the one source for customers seeking data protection, increased
productivity, and simplied IT.
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High speed Flash performance with RAID data protection. Up to 1TB of Flash signicantly enhances the
performance of many mainstream applications and a powerful LSI* SAS2208 ROC manages the high speed
transactions and data protection.
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Advanced capabilities that don’t require you to be an expert. Built-in caching algorithms manage data transfer
to and from the Flash pool without the need for special code, intimate application data structure knowledge or time
spent understanding conguration complexities.
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Optimized Flash use for both Reads & Writes. Many competing Flash caching technologies are limited to Read use
and do not allow for Write capability. Writes can be mirrored to help protect against data loss prior to the date being
written to the designated RAID array.
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Flash memory can be partitions for OS and RAID cache. The embedded Flash can be partitions such that a portion
of it is usable by the Operating System; while the remainder is utilized as cache to accelerate performance.
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Faster rebuild during degraded states. In a degraded array scenario, the time to optimal performance can be
reduced by as much as 75%.
Performance Benefits and More
Data requests served from ash can signicantly reduce application
latency, which leads to improved user response times and quality-ofservice. The graph below compares the performance of a SQL Server®
database used in an online transaction processing (OLTP) workload with
a hardware conguration with only HDDs, against an Intel RCS25ZB040based conguration.
A test found that the LSI* Nytro MegaRAID technology with intelligent
caching and integrated ash storage yielded an 80 times faster response.
Applications that benet from caching can also benet from reduced
rebuild time for degraded RAID arrays, even when using high-capacity
HDDs. With the Intel RCS25ZB040 servicing I/O from the onboard ash,
the backend HDDs are less burdened and can dedicate more resources to
the rebuild operation.