P41535-001 HPE 960GB SSD DS SAS-12GBPS SFF Mixed Use

HPE P41535-001 960GB Mixed Use SAS SSD Overview

The HPE P41535-001 represents a premium-tier 960GB Mixed Use Solid State Drive engineered specifically for enterprise environments requiring consistent high performance across mixed workload applications. This SAS-12Gbps SFF (2.5-inch) drive delivers the optimal balance of read-intensive and write-intensive capabilities, making it an ideal solution for servers and storage systems where both data retrieval and data writing performance are critical to operational efficiency.

Enterprise-Grade Storage Performance

Designed to meet the rigorous demands of modern data centers, this mixed-use SSD provides sustained performance under heavy workloads while maintaining exceptional reliability. With its 12Gb/s SAS interface, the drive ensures maximum compatibility with current-generation HPE servers and storage arrays while delivering significantly higher throughput compared to previous SAS generations.

Technical Specifications and Architecture

Capacity and Form Factor Details

The HPE P41535-001 offers 960GB of usable capacity in the industry-standard 2.5-inch Small Form Factor (SFF) design. This form factor provides optimal density for rack-mounted servers and storage enclosures, allowing organizations to maximize their storage footprint while benefiting from solid-state performance characteristics.

Physical Dimensions and Compatibility

With dimensions of 70mm x 100mm x 15mm, this drive conforms to the standard 2.5-inch enterprise form factor specifications. The SFF design ensures seamless integration into HPE ProLiant, Apollo, and Synergy servers, as well as HPE MSA, StoreVirtual, and Nimble Storage arrays that support SAS interfaces.

NAND Flash Technology

This mixed-use SSD utilizes enterprise-grade Multi-Level Cell (MLC) NAND flash memory, specifically engineered to handle the demanding write endurance requirements of mixed workloads. The advanced flash management algorithms ensure optimal performance retention throughout the drive's operational lifespan.

Interface and Protocol Performance

The Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) 12Gb/s interface delivers significant advantages over SATA alternatives, including full duplex capability, enhanced error recovery, and dual-port functionality for high availability configurations. The SAS protocol ensures maximum compatibility with existing enterprise infrastructure while providing a clear migration path for future storage expansions.

SAS-12Gbps Data Transfer Capabilities

With a theoretical maximum transfer rate of 12Gb/s (approximately 1.2GB/s in practical applications), the SAS-12Gbps interface eliminates storage bottlenecks that can occur with slower interfaces. The dual-port architecture provides redundant paths to the storage device, ensuring continuous data availability even in the event of a controller failure.

Backward Compatibility Features

The drive maintains full backward compatibility with 6Gb/s SAS infrastructures, allowing for seamless integration into existing environments without requiring immediate infrastructure upgrades. This compatibility protection ensures investment security while providing a performance upgrade path.

Mixed Use Workload Optimization

Defining Mixed Use Applications

Mixed Use SSDs are specifically engineered for workloads that balance both read and write operations, typically in a 50/50 to 70/30 read/write ratio. The HPE P41535-001 excels in environments where consistent performance is required for both data ingestion (writes) and data processing/retrieval (reads) without compromising on either operation type.

Typical Workload Scenarios

This drive is optimally suited for database applications (SQL, Oracle), virtualization hosts (VMware, Hyper-V), collaborative applications, email servers, and medium-duty transaction processing systems. The mixed-use designation indicates that the drive can handle significant write operations while maintaining high read performance, unlike read-intensive SSDs which prioritize read optimization at the expense of write endurance.

Endurance and Write Performance

With a higher write endurance rating compared to read-intensive models, the P41535-001 can withstand significantly more program/erase cycles over its lifetime. This enhanced endurance is achieved through advanced wear-leveling algorithms, over-provisioning strategies, and high-quality NAND flash components specifically binned for mixed-use applications.

DWPD and TBW Specifications

The drive is rated for approximately 3-5 Drive Writes Per Day (DWPD) throughout its warranty period, translating to significantly higher Terabytes Written (TBW) specifications compared to read-intensive alternatives. This endurance rating ensures reliable performance in environments with moderate to heavy write requirements.

Over-Provisioning Impact on Endurance

HPE employs strategic over-provisioning (additional NAND flash beyond the advertised capacity) to enhance performance consistency and extend the drive's usable lifespan. This extra capacity allows the drive controller to better manage garbage collection and wear leveling, maintaining optimal performance even under sustained write workloads.

Reliability and Data Protection Features

Enterprise-Class Reliability Metrics

The HPE P41535-001 is engineered for 24/7 operation in demanding enterprise environments with a Mean Time Between Failures (MTBF) rating exceeding 2 million hours. This exceptional reliability ensures maximum uptime for critical business applications and reduces the total cost of ownership through reduced replacement frequency.

Advanced Error Correction and Protection

Utilizing sophisticated Error Correction Code (ECC) algorithms, the drive can detect and correct multi-bit errors, ensuring data integrity even in the presence of NAND flash imperfections or read disturbances. Additional protection mechanisms include end-to-end data path protection and power-loss protection circuits that prevent data corruption during unexpected power interruptions.

Power-Loss Protection Implementation

The drive incorporates advanced power-loss protection circuitry that includes capacitors to provide temporary power during unexpected outages. This allows the drive to complete in-progress writes and flush cached data to non-volatile storage, preventing data loss and file system corruption.

HPE Enhanced Features and Firmware

As a genuine HPE storage component, the P41535-001 includes proprietary firmware enhancements that optimize performance within HPE server and storage ecosystems. These enhancements include improved queue depth management, optimized interrupt handling, and advanced telemetry for proactive health monitoring through HPE management tools.

Performance Characteristics and Benchmarks

Sequential and Random Performance

The drive delivers exceptional sequential read performance up to 1050MB/s and sequential write performance up to 1000MB/s, making it suitable for large file transfers and streaming applications. Random performance, critical for database and virtualization workloads, reaches up to 180,000 IOPS for reads and 65,000 IOPS for writes at typical queue depths.

Latency and Quality of Service

Consistent low latency is a hallmark of this mixed-use SSD, with typical read latencies under 100 microseconds and write latencies under 20 microseconds. The drive maintains consistent performance under varying workload conditions, ensuring predictable application response times essential for service level agreement compliance.

Performance Consistency Under Sustained Workloads

Unlike consumer-grade SSDs that may experience significant performance degradation under sustained writes, the HPE P41535-001 maintains consistent performance through advanced garbage collection algorithms and static and dynamic wear leveling. This consistency ensures that application performance remains predictable even during extended periods of heavy utilization.

Use Cases and Deployment Scenarios

Server Applications and Configurations

The drive is ideally suited for use as primary storage in application servers, database servers, and virtualization hosts where both read and write performance are critical. In HPE ProLiant servers, the drive can be configured in RAID arrays to provide both performance enhancement and data protection through redundancy.

Database Server Implementations

For database applications such as Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle Database, and MySQL, the mixed-use characteristics of this SSD provide optimal performance for both transaction processing (write-intensive) and reporting/query operations (read-intensive). The consistent low latency ensures predictable transaction times essential for OLTP applications.

Virtualization and VDI Environments

In virtualization environments, the drive excels at handling the mixed workload patterns typical of consolidated server workloads or Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI). The high random IOPS capability ensures smooth operation during boot storms and login storms common in VDI implementations.

Storage Array Integration

When deployed in HPE storage arrays such as the MSA or StoreVirtual platforms, multiple P41535-001 drives can be configured in tiers to accelerate performance-critical workloads. The SAS dual-port capability ensures continuous data availability in redundant controller configurations, essential for business-critical storage systems.

Compatibility and Integration

HPE Server Compatibility

The HPE P41535-001 is certified for use across a wide range of HPE server families including ProLiant DL, ML, and BL series, Apollo systems, and Synergy compute modules. The drive is supported by HPE Smart Storage Administrator and is manageable through iLO advanced storage features.

Firmware and Management Integration

As a genuine HPE component, the drive includes access to HPE firmware updates through the HPE Support Center and can be managed through HPE Systems Insight Manager and OneView. This integration ensures optimal performance and compatibility while simplifying firmware maintenance across the infrastructure.

Operating System Support

The drive is compatible with all major enterprise operating systems including Windows Server, Linux distributions (Red Hat, SUSE, Ubuntu Server), VMware ESXi, and Citrix Hypervisor. The standard SAS drivers included with these operating systems provide full functionality without requiring additional vendor-specific drivers.

Warranty and Support Considerations

HPE Warranty Coverage

The HPE P41535-001 is backed by HPE's limited warranty, typically providing 3 years of coverage or through the endurance rating of the drive. The warranty includes advanced replacement options in many regions, minimizing downtime in the event of drive failure.

Proactive Health Monitoring

Through HPE management tools, the drive provides comprehensive S.M.A.R.T. attributes and additional vendor-specific telemetry that enables proactive health monitoring. This early warning system allows administrators to identify potential drive issues before they result in downtime or data loss.

Comparative Advantage in the Storage Landscape

Against Read-Intensive SSDs

Compared to read-intensive SSDs, the P41535-001 offers significantly higher write endurance and better sustained write performance, making it suitable for a broader range of enterprise workloads. While read-intensive drives excel in predominantly read environments, the mixed-use designation ensures balanced performance across varied workload types.

Against Write-Intensive SSDs

While write-intensive SSDs offer even higher write endurance, they typically command a premium price point. The mixed-use category represented by the P41535-001 provides the optimal balance between performance, endurance, and cost for the majority of enterprise applications that don't require extreme write endurance.

Against SATA SSDs

The SAS interface provides significant advantages over SATA SSDs, including higher maximum throughput, full-duplex operation, and dual-port capability for high availability. For mission-critical applications where performance and availability are paramount, the SAS-based P41535-001 represents a superior choice despite the typically higher cost compared to SATA alternatives.

Environmental and Power Specifications

Power Consumption Characteristics

Enterprise SSDs typically consume significantly less power than their hard disk drive counterparts. The P41535-001 operates at approximately 5-8 watts during active use and drops to below 1 watt during idle states, contributing to reduced power and cooling costs in dense server configurations.

Thermal Management

With no moving parts, the drive generates less heat than traditional hard drives, reducing cooling requirements in densely packed server enclosures. The consistent thermal profile also contributes to improved reliability compared to mechanical storage alternatives.

Future-Proofing and Investment Protection

SAS-12Gbps Interface Longevity

The SAS-12Gbps interface ensures that this drive remains relevant for multiple server generations, with compatibility expected through future HPE server platforms. The interface provides sufficient bandwidth for all but the most demanding all-flash array configurations, protecting the storage investment for the foreseeable future.

Endurance for Evolving Workloads

The mixed-use endurance rating ensures that the drive can accommodate evolving workload patterns without premature wear-out. As applications generate increasingly mixed I/O patterns, the balanced characteristics of this SSD provide the flexibility to adapt to changing performance requirements.