PERC H200

RAID Controller: PERC H200 Overview

The PERC H200 RAID Controller is an entry-level solution designed for small to medium-scale data storage and RAID configurations. Developed by Dell, the PERC (PowerEdge RAID Controller) series offers advanced data management features tailored to businesses seeking high reliability and performance. The PERC H200 is ideal for servers requiring reliable RAID functionality, offering flexibility in supporting multiple RAID levels, allowing businesses to optimize data storage for redundancy, speed, and cost-efficiency.

Key Features

The PERC H200 RAID Controller is equipped with a range of features that ensure efficient data handling, including:

• Support for Multiple RAID Levels: The PERC H200 supports RAID 0, 1, 5, and 10, allowing users to configure their storage environment to meet specific needs for redundancy, performance, or both.
• Broad Compatibility: Designed to work with a variety of Dell PowerEdge servers, the PERC H200 ensures seamless integration into existing systems.
• Firmware Updates: Regular firmware updates provide continuous improvements to system stability, security, and overall functionality.
• Battery-Backed Write Cache: With an optional battery backup unit (BBU), the PERC H200 ensures data is not lost during unexpected power failures.
• Enhanced Performance: The controller delivers a reliable performance boost for systems requiring data access speeds optimized for both small and large datasets.

RAID Levels Supported by PERC H200

One of the standout features of the PERC H200 RAID Controller is its support for multiple RAID levels, each designed to meet specific storage needs:

RAID 0: Striping for Speed

RAID 0 provides data striping across multiple drives, enhancing performance by spreading the data over two or more disks. This level does not offer any redundancy, so it is ideal for non-critical applications that require high-speed data transfer and storage capacity.

RAID 1: Mirroring for Redundancy

RAID 1 mirrors data across two drives, providing redundancy by duplicating the data. If one drive fails, the system can continue operating with the other drive, ensuring no data loss and offering high data security. It’s a good choice for environments where data integrity and uptime are critical.

RAID 5: Striping with Parity

RAID 5 combines the speed of RAID 0 with the redundancy of parity data distributed across all drives in the array. It offers a good balance of performance, fault tolerance, and capacity. If a single drive fails, the data can be rebuilt using the parity data without data loss.

RAID 10: Combination of RAID 1 and RAID 0

RAID 10 (or RAID 1+0) combines the speed of RAID 0 and the redundancy of RAID 1, creating a highly reliable and high-performance configuration. This is often used in environments that require both high throughput and fault tolerance, offering a great solution for applications like databases and virtualized workloads.

Performance and Reliability of PERC H200

The PERC H200 RAID Controller is designed to deliver optimal performance and reliability in critical server environments. By supporting multiple RAID configurations, businesses can tailor their storage needs to match performance demands while ensuring data integrity.

Performance Enhancements

With its advanced architecture, the PERC H200 boosts the overall performance of servers by reducing the bottleneck often found in disk-based storage systems. It delivers fast data throughput through efficient RAID levels, allowing businesses to run high-performance applications with minimal latency.

Reliability Features

Reliability is a key concern in any data center or server environment, and the PERC H200 RAID Controller addresses this with several fault-tolerant features. The optional battery backup unit (BBU) ensures that cached data is safely written to disk during unexpected power failures, preventing data loss. Furthermore, the RAID configurations, such as RAID 1, 5, and 10, provide redundancy, so in the event of a disk failure, the system remains operational without losing any data.

Monitoring and Reporting

To maintain high reliability, the PERC H200 provides tools for continuous monitoring of disk health, temperature, and other critical factors. Proactive monitoring helps in identifying potential issues before they escalate, allowing businesses to replace failing drives or take action to prevent downtime.

Compatibility and Integration

The PERC H200 is designed to work with various Dell PowerEdge servers, providing excellent integration with the server's hardware and software ecosystem. Additionally, it supports both SAS and SATA hard drives, giving businesses the flexibility to use either high-performance SAS drives or cost-effective SATA drives, depending on their needs.

Supported Servers

The PERC H200 RAID controller is compatible with a wide range of Dell PowerEdge servers, including:

• Dell PowerEdge R310
• Dell PowerEdge R410
• Dell PowerEdge R510
• Dell PowerEdge T310
• Dell PowerEdge T410

These servers, with the PERC H200 RAID Controller, offer businesses robust performance for a range of applications, from small-scale operations to more demanding workloads.

Supported Hard Drives

The PERC H200 can manage both SAS and SATA hard drives, offering flexibility in drive selection. SAS drives are typically used for enterprise applications where performance and reliability are critical, while SATA drives offer a more cost-effective solution for less performance-demanding applications.

Upgrading from PERC H200

For businesses looking to expand their storage capabilities, the PERC H200 can be upgraded to higher-end models like the PERC H700 or PERC H800. These upgraded controllers offer additional features, higher performance, and support for more advanced RAID levels, making them suitable for larger-scale storage deployments and high-demand environments.

Benefits of Upgrading

• Increased Performance: Higher data throughput for demanding applications.
• More RAID Levels: Expanded RAID configuration options for greater flexibility.
• Improved Scalability: Ability to support more drives for larger storage arrays.

Migration Process

Upgrading from a PERC H200 to a higher-end RAID controller requires careful planning. Data migration, backup, and configuration management are essential to ensure that the transition is smooth, and downtime is minimized during the upgrade process.