PCI-X SAS RAID card comparison

This table compares the main features of PCI-X SAS RAID cards.

Table 1. PCI-X SAS RAID controller cards
CCIN (custom card identification number) 2BD9 2BE0 2BE1 572A 572B 572C 572F / 575C 57B8
Description PCI-X266 Planar 3 Gb SAS RAID Adapter (RAID/Cache Storage Controller) PCI-X266 Planar 3 Gb SAS Adapter (RAID-10 Storage Controller) PCI-X266 Planar 3 Gb SAS RAID Adapter (RAID/Cache Enablement) PCI-X 266 Ext Dual-x4 3 Gb SAS Adapter PCI-X 266 Ext Dual-x4 3 Gb SAS RAID Adapter PCI-X 266 Planar 3 Gb SAS Adapter PCI-X 266 Ext Tri-x4 3 Gb SAS RAID Adapter PCI-X 266 Planar 3 Gb SAS RAID Adapter
Form factor Planar unique 64-bit PCI-X Planar unique 64-bit PCI-X Planar RAID enablement Low profile 64-bit PCI-X Long 64-bit PCI-X Planar integrated Long 64-bit PCI-X, double-wide card set Planar RAID enablement
Adapter failing function code LED value 2D18 2D16 2D17 2515 2517 2502 2519 / 251D 2505
Physical links 6 (two 2x wide ports to shared SAS Drives and one 2x wide port to 2BE1 adapter) 3 (Direct attach SAS Drives) 8 (two 2x wide ports to shared SAS Drives, one 2x wide port to 2BD9 adapter, one phy to DVD, and optionally one physical link to Tape Drive) 8 (two mini SAS 4x connectors) 8 (two mini SAS 4x connectors) 81 12 (bottom 3 mini SAS 4x connectors) and 2 (top mini SAS 4x connector for HA only) 81
RAID levels supported RAID 0, 5, 6, 10 RAID 0, 54, 10 RAID 0, 5, 6, 10 RAID 0, 54, 64, 10 RAID 0, 5, 6, 10 RAID 0 RAID 0, 5, 6, 10 RAID 0, 5, 6, 10
Adding disks to an existing disk array supported RAID levels RAID 5, 6 RAID 5 RAID 5, 6 RAID 5, 6 RAID 5, 6   RAID 5, 6 RAID 5, 6
Write cache size 175 MB   175 MB   175 MB   Up to 1.5 Gb (compressed) 175 MB
Read cache size             Up to 1.6 Gb (compressed)  
Cache battery pack technology Lilon   Lilon   LiIon   LiIon Not applicable2
Cache battery pack FFC 2D1B   2D1B   2D03   2D065 Not applicable2
Cache battery concurrent maintenance No No No No No No Yes Not applicable2
Cache data present LED Yes No Yes No No No No No
Removable cache card No No No No Yes No No No
Auxiliary write cache (AWC) support No No No No No No Yes Yes
High availability (HA) two system RAID Yes No Yes Yes3 Yes No No No
HA two system JBOD No No No Yes3 No No No No
HA single system RAID Yes No Yes Yes3 Yes No No No
Requires HA RAID configuration Yes No Yes No Yes No No No
JBOD support No Yes No Yes No Yes No Yes
  • 1 Some systems provide an external mini SAS 4x connector from the integrated backplane controller.
  • 2 The controller contains battery-backed cache, but the battery power is supplied by the 57B8 controller through the backplane connections.
  • 3 Multi-initiator and high availability is supported on the CCIN 572A adapter except for part numbers of either 44V4266 or 44V4404 (feature code 5900).
  • 4 The write performance of RAID 5 and RAID 6 might be poor on adapters that do not provide write cache. Consider using an adapter that provides write cache when using RAID 5 or RAID 6, or use solid-state drives (SSDs) where supported to improve write performance.
  • 5 The cache battery pack for both adapters is contained in a single battery field-replaceable unit (FRU), which is physically located on the 575C auxiliary cache card.
  • 6 Nonvolatile write cache is supported for RAID disk arrays only.
Figure 1. CCIN 572A PCI-X266 External Dual-x4 3 Gb SAS adapter
CCIN 572A PCI-X266 External Dual-x4 3 Gb SAS adapter
Figure 2. CCIN 572B PCI-X266 Ext Dual-x4 3 Gb SAS RAID adapter
CCIN 572B PCI-X266 Ext Dual-x4 3 Gb SAS RAID adapter
Figure 3. CCIN 572F PCI-X266 Ext Tri-x4 3 Gb SAS RAID adapter and CCIN 575C PCI-X266 auxiliary cache adapter
CCIN 572F PCI-X266 Ext Tri-x4 3 Gb SAS RAID adapter and CCIN 575C PCI-X266 auxiliary cache adapter
Figure 4. CCIN 57B8 planar RAID enablement card
CCIN 57B8 planar RAID enablement card
Figure 5. CCIN 2BE1 PCI-X266 Planar 3 Gb SAS Adapter
CCIN 2BE1 PCI-X266 Planar 3 Gb SAS Adapter
Figure 6. CCIN 2BE0 PCI-X266 Planar 3 Gb SAS Adapter
CCIN 2BE0 PCI-X266 Planar 3 Gb SAS Adapter
Figure 7. CCIN 2BD9 PCI-X266 Planar 3 Gb SAS RAID Adapter
CCIN 2BD9 PCI-X266 Planar 3 Gb SAS RAID Adapter
Parent topic: Feature comparison of SAS RAID cards


Last updated: Wed, May 24, 2017