PERC H840

SAS-SATA Controller PERC H840 Overview

The PERC H840 is a high-performance SAS-SATA controller designed to enable smooth data transfer between your storage drives and server systems. Developed by Dell, this controller card offers unparalleled reliability and scalability for enterprise-level storage configurations. It supports both Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) and Serial ATA (SATA) devices, making it a versatile choice for various storage needs.

Built for high availability, the PERC H840 is ideal for managing large data sets and running demanding workloads in data centers, file servers, and virtual environments. It facilitates seamless connectivity and data management, providing advanced RAID functionalities for businesses requiring both speed and redundancy.

Key Features

• Dual-Port Connectivity: The controller supports dual-port SAS connectivity, ensuring high throughput and redundancy.
• RAID Support: It offers support for multiple RAID levels, including RAID 0, 1, 5, 10, 50, and 60, giving you flexible options for data redundancy and performance.
• Scalability: With the ability to connect up to 16 devices, the PERC H840 provides excellent scalability to accommodate growing storage requirements.
• Broad Compatibility: This controller is compatible with a wide range of SAS and SATA hard drives and SSDs, ensuring smooth integration with your existing infrastructure.
• Advanced Management Tools: With Dell OpenManage support, administrators can efficiently monitor and configure the controller for optimal performance and reliability.

Choose the PERC H840 SAS-SATA Controller

The PERC H840 controller offers several advantages that make it an ideal choice for businesses with demanding storage requirements. Below are some compelling reasons to choose the PERC H840 for your enterprise storage solutions:

Performance

The PERC H840 is built for speed and reliability, offering a high throughput for both read and write operations. Whether you're handling large volumes of transactional data, video rendering, or virtualized workloads, the PERC H840 ensures smooth data flow with minimal latency. Its advanced processing capabilities optimize the use of the SAS and SATA devices connected to it, ensuring optimal performance even under high workloads.

Redundancy and Reliability

Enterprise systems require high uptime and failover protection. The PERC H840 provides various RAID levels (RAID 1, RAID 5, RAID 10) that offer redundancy and data protection in case of hardware failure. Its dual-port capability also ensures redundancy in case one port fails, preventing downtime and ensuring continuous access to critical data.

Scalability

As your data needs grow, the PERC H840 offers the flexibility to scale with ease. Its ability to connect up to 16 devices means that you can expand your storage capacity without the need for additional hardware. This scalability makes the PERC H840 suitable for growing businesses or data centers that require continuous expansion.

Types of Storage Devices Compatible with PERC H840

The PERC H840 controller is designed to work with a wide range of storage devices, including both SAS and SATA drives. This compatibility provides flexibility for building custom storage solutions suited to your performance and redundancy needs.

SAS Hard Drives

SAS drives are typically used in enterprise storage environments due to their high performance, reliability, and speed. With the PERC H840, you can integrate multiple SAS drives to achieve optimal performance for demanding applications. These drives offer faster data transfer speeds and higher reliability than traditional SATA drives, making them ideal for high-performance environments.

SATA Hard Drives

SATA drives are an excellent choice for storage systems where cost-efficiency is a priority. While they may not offer the same performance as SAS drives, they still provide reliable data storage with decent transfer speeds. The PERC H840 allows you to connect multiple SATA drives, making it a versatile controller suitable for businesses with varying storage needs.

Solid State Drives (SSDs)

For the fastest data access speeds, the PERC H840 supports SSDs, both SAS and SATA-based. Integrating SSDs into your storage solution provides unparalleled read and write speeds, making them an excellent choice for database applications, virtualized environments, and data analytics. SSDs also consume less power and produce less heat compared to traditional hard drives, further enhancing the efficiency of your storage system.

RAID Levels Supported by PERC H840

The PERC H840 offers extensive RAID functionality, allowing businesses to configure their storage systems according to performance, capacity, and redundancy needs. Here are the RAID levels supported by the PERC H840:

RAID 0

RAID 0 provides striped data across multiple drives, maximizing performance but offering no redundancy. It is ideal for applications where speed is a priority and data loss is not a critical concern.

RAID 1

RAID 1 mirrors data across two drives, providing redundancy in case of drive failure. This setup is ideal for applications requiring high availability and minimal downtime.

RAID 5

RAID 5 provides data redundancy through parity, requiring a minimum of three drives. It offers a good balance between performance, capacity, and fault tolerance, making it suitable for most enterprise applications.

RAID 10

RAID 10 combines the features of RAID 1 and RAID 0, offering both redundancy and improved performance. It is suitable for high-performance applications that require high availability and minimal downtime.

RAID 50

RAID 50 is a hybrid of RAID 5 and RAID 0, offering a combination of striping and parity for increased performance and fault tolerance. It is ideal for environments that require large storage capacity with data protection and faster access speeds.

RAID 60

RAID 60 combines RAID 6's dual parity with RAID 0's striping to offer enhanced fault tolerance, performance, and capacity. It is suitable for mission-critical applications that cannot afford data loss or downtime.

Managing PERC H840 with Dell OpenManage

Dell OpenManage is an essential tool for administrators to monitor, manage, and configure the PERC H840 controller and its connected devices. OpenManage provides an intuitive interface that allows for easy configuration of RAID levels, firmware updates, and system diagnostics. Administrators can monitor system health, receive alerts for potential issues, and ensure the controller is operating at optimal efficiency.

Monitoring Performance

OpenManage enables administrators to monitor the performance of each connected drive in real time. The software provides insights into data transfer speeds, drive health, and potential issues that may arise, helping prevent downtime and data loss.

Firmware and Driver Updates

Keeping the firmware and drivers of your PERC H840 controller up to date is essential for maintaining compatibility and improving performance. OpenManage allows you to easily update the firmware, ensuring that your system benefits from the latest enhancements and bug fixes.

Common Use Cases for PERC H840

The PERC H840 is widely used in various environments due to its high-performance capabilities and flexible configuration options. Here are some common use cases:

Data Centers

In data centers, the PERC H840 is often used to manage large storage arrays, ensuring data integrity, redundancy, and high availability. Its scalability allows data centers to add more storage devices as their needs grow.

Virtualized Environments

Virtualization platforms like VMware and Hyper-V require fast and reliable storage systems. The PERC H840 offers the performance and redundancy required to support these virtualized workloads efficiently.

Database Servers

Database applications rely on fast, reliable storage to provide high-speed data access. The PERC H840, with its support for SSDs and multiple RAID levels, is perfect for database servers that require low-latency, high-performance storage solutions.

Video and Media Production

For video production and media environments, where high data throughput is critical, the PERC H840 ensures fast data transfer rates, making it ideal for handling large video files and rendering workloads.