Abstract
The ServeRAID M1215 SAS/SATA Controller is a low-cost 12 Gbps internal RAID 0/1/10 solution that can be upgraded to a cacheless RAID 5 with a Features on Demand (FoD) license upgrade. The M1215 provides two internal mini-SAS HD connectors with eight lanes of 12 Gbps SAS and eight lanes of PCIe 3.0 to facilitate high data transfer rates.
Change History
Changes in the June 10 update:
Introduction
The ServeRAID M1215 SAS/SATA Controller is a low-cost 12 Gbps internal RAID 0/1/10 solution that can be upgraded to a cacheless RAID 5 with a Features on Demand (FoD) license upgrade. The M1215 provides two internal mini-SAS HD connectors with eight lanes of 12 Gbps SAS and eight lanes of PCIe 3.0 to facilitate high data transfer rates.
The M1215 controller is a part of the ServeRAID M Series family that offers a complete server storage solution consisting of RAID controllers, cache/flash modules, energy packs, and software feature upgrades in an ultra-flexible offerings structure.
Figure 1. ServeRAID M1215 SAS/SATA Controller
Did you know?
The M1215 is an entry-level internal data storage solution that provides hardware RAID capabilities and advanced features, such as online capacity expansion and RAID-level migration. The optional RAID 5 upgrade and support for self encrypting drives no longer requires a hardware key because the upgrade functionality is implemented through Features on Demand (FoD) software licenses.
With increased demand for performance and advanced features, the M1215 provides a seamless migration path to the full-featured RAID controllers, such as the ServeRAID M5210. The information about existing arrays can be recognized and imported into the new controller without any reconfiguration.
Rigorous testing of the M1215 by Lenovo through the ServerProven® program ensures a high degree of confidence in storage subsystem compatibility and reliability. Providing an additional peace of mind, this controller is covered under Lenovo warranty.
Features
The ServeRAID M1215 SAS/SATA Controller has the following standard features:
- Auto-resume on array rebuild or array reconstruction after loss of system power
Auto-resume uses non-volatile RAM (NVRAM) to save rebuild progress during a host reboot or power failure to automatically resume from the last checkpoint. Auto-resume ensures that data integrity is maintained through the process. The card supports a number of features that are able to be implemented without rebooting the server. Applications, such as email and web server, benefit from avoiding downtime during transition.
- Online Capacity Expansion
Online Capacity Expansion (OCE) allows the capacity of a virtual disk to be expanded by adding new physical disks or making use of unused space on existing disks, without requiring a reboot.
- Online RAID Level Migration
Online RAID Level Migration (also known as logical drive migration) provides the ability to migrate a virtual disk from any RAID level to any other RAID level without requiring a reboot. System availability and application functionality remain unaffected.
- Fast initialization for quick array setup
Fast initialization quickly writes zeroes to the first and last sectors of the virtual drive. This feature allows you to immediately start writing data to the virtual drive while the initialization is running in the background.
- Consistency check for background data integrity
Consistency check verifies that all stripes in a virtual disk with a redundant RAID level are consistent. The consistency check will mirror data when an inconsistent stripe is detected for a RAID 1 and will recreate the parity from the peer disks in the case of a RAID 5. Consistency checks can be scheduled to take place periodically.
- Extensive online configuration options and advanced monitoring and event notification
Management tools provide convenience for the configuration of logical volumes and alerting when errors have occurred or are about to occur.
- Patrol read for media scanning and repairing
Patrol read is a background sentry service designed to proactively discover and correct media defects (bad sectors) that arise normally as a disk drive ages. The service issues a series of verify commands, and if a bad block is discovered, the card's firmware uses RAID algorithms to recreate the missing data and remap the sector to a good sector. The task is interruptible based on controller activity and host operations. The firmware also provides an interface where the patrol read task can be initiated, set up for continuous operation, and terminated from a management application. Patrol read can be activated by manual command or automatically.
- Global and dedicated Hot Spare with Revertible Hot Spare support
A hot spare rebuilds data from all virtual disks within the disk group in which it is configured. ServeRAID provides the ability to define a physical disk as a hot spare to replace a failed drive. Hot spares can be configured as either global or dedicated. A global hot spare allows any physical drive to be designated as a hot spare. A dedicated hot spare allows the user to assign a hot spare drive to a particular array of the same drive type.
- Single controller multipathing (failover) I/O load balancing
The ServeRAID's firmware detects and uses multiple paths from the controllers to the SAS drives that are in enclosures. With redundant paths to the same port of a device, if one path fails, another path can be used to communicate between the controller and the drive. Using multiple paths with load balancing, instead of a single path, can increase reliability through redundancy.
- Human Interface Infrastructure (HII) configuration utility for pre-boot array configuration and management
HII is a utility that allows you to configure drive groups and logical drives before installing or booting the operating system.
- MegaRAID Storage Manager management software
MegaRAID Storage Manager is an easy-to-use advanced RAID management application that is used across the entire family of ServeRAID M controllers. It allows you to configure, monitor, and maintain drive groups, virtual drives, and advanced features with an intuitive GUI, reducing administrative efforts and simplifying troubleshooting.
Note: RAID 10 and 50 drive groups do not support Online Capacity Expansion and Online RAID Level Migration. RAID 0, 1, and 5 drive groups do not support Online Capacity Expansion and Online RAID Level Migration if two or more virtual drives are defined on a single drive group.
The following features are optional and require the purchase of an additional upgrade:
- RAID 5, 50 support with Zero Cache/RAID 5 Upgrade (part number 00AE930)
- MegaRAID SafeStore support for self-encrypting drive (SED) services
MegaRAID SafeStore encryption services offer instant secure erase and local key management for self-encrypting drives. Instant secure erase permanently removes data when repurposing or decommissioning SEDs. SafeStore local key management provides the necessary management and protection of SEDs using a simple pass phrase, security key identifier, and security key file that can be set and applied to all SEDs assigned to a ServeRAID adapter. This feature removes the complexity of managing each SED’s unique encryption key, and essentially, it relieves the administrator of most of the daily tasks of securing data. The SafeStore feature is a part of a RAID 5 upgrade (part number 00AE930).
Technical specifications
The ServeRAID M1215 SAS/SATA Controller has the following specifications:
- LSI SAS3008 12 Gbps RAID on Chip (ROC) controller
- PCI Low Profile, Half-length - MD2 form factor
- Eight internal 12 Gbps SAS/SATA ports
- Two internal mini-SAS HD connectors (SFF-8643)
- Supports 12, 6, and 3 Gbps SAS and 6 and 3 Gbps SATA data transfer rates
- Up to 12 Gbps throughput per port
- PCI Express 3.0 x8 host interface
- Support both RAID and JBOD (pass-thru mode with system drives) configurations
- Up to 32 drives, including hot spares, are supported in a RAID configuration.
- Up to 64 drives are supported in a JBOD (non-RAID) configuration.
- Support for RAID levels 0, 1, and 10 standard; support for RAID 5, 50 with optional upgrade
- Zero Controller Cache, no battery/flash backup
- Support for SAS and SATA hard disk drives (HDDs) and solid-state drives (SSDs)
- Support for simple swap and hot swap drives
- Support for intermixing SAS and SATA HDDs and SSDs. Mixing different types of drives in the same array (drive group) not supported.
- Optional support for self-encrypting drives (SEDs) with MegaRAID SafeStore
- Support for up to 32 virtual drives, up to 32 drive groups, up to 16 virtual drives per one drive group, and up to 32 physical drives per one drive group
- Support for virtual drive sizes greater than 2 TB
- Fixed stripe size of 64 KB
- Compliant with Disk Data Format (DDF) configuration on disk (COD)
- S.M.A.R.T. support
- MegaRAID Storage Manager management software
Feature upgrade matrix
The ServeRAID M1215 SAS/SATA Controller provides support for RAID 0, 1, and 10 as standard, ready to use or "out-of-the-box" capabilities. An optional feature upgrade is available to expand standard capabilities with RAID 5, 50 and self-encrypting drives. This Features on Demand (FoD) upgrade is a software license. The following table lists the available upgrade and its capabilities.
Table 2. ServeRAID M1215 optional upgrade and its features
Server support
The following tables list the servers that the M1215 controller is supported in.
Note: The M1215 controller does not support 6 Gb SAS/SATA internal storage backplanes that can be installed in x3500 M4 and x3550 M4 servers.
Support for System x and dense servers with Xeon E5/E7 v4 and E3 v5 processors
Support for servers with Intel Xeon v3 processors
Support for servers with Intel Xeon v2 processors
For more information about the servers that support each adapter, see the ServerProven website:
http://www.lenovo.com/us/en/serverproven/xseries/controllers/matrix.shtml
Drive support
The ServeRAID M1215 SAS/SATA Controller supports the drives that are supported in the servers listed in the following tables. The maximum number of drives that can be connected to the RAID controller is limited by the maximum number of internal drive bays for a supported server.
See ServerProven for the latest information about the System x servers and drives support:
http://www.lenovo.com/us/en/serverproven/xseries/controllers/matrix.shtml
Operating system support
The ServeRAID M1215 SAS/SATA Controller supports the following operating systems:
- Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2
- Microsoft Windows Server 2012
- Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 Server Edition
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 Server x64 Edition
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
- SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server 11 for AMD64/EM64T
- SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server 11 for x86
- SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server 11 with Xen for AMD64/EM64T
- VMware vSphere 5.1 (ESXi)
- VMware vSphere 5.5 (ESXi)
- VMware vSphere 6.0 (ESXi)
See the ServerProven website for the latest information about the specific versions and service levels supported and any other prerequisites:
http://www.lenovo.com/us/en/serverproven/xseries/controllers/matrix.shtml
Warranty
The ServeRAID M1215 SAS/SATA Controller carries a 1-year limited warranty. When installed in a supported System x server, the adapter assumes your system’s base warranty and any Lenovo warranty service upgrade purchased for the system.
Physical specifications
The ServeRAID M1215 SAS/SATA Controller has the following physical specifications:
Dimensions (approximate):
- Height: 69 mm (2.7 in.)
- Width: 17 mm (0.7 in.)
- Depth: 170 mm (6.7 in.)
- Weight: 88 g (0.2 lb.)
Shipping dimensions (approximate):
- Height: 51 mm (2.0 in.)
- Width: 143 mm (5.6 in.)
- Depth: 238 mm (9.4 in.)
- Weight: 193 g (0.4 lb.)
Operating environment
The ServeRAID M1215 SAS/SATA Controller is supported in the following environment:
- Temperature:
- Operational: 5 to 40 degrees C (41 to 104 F) at 0 to 5,000 m (0 to 16,404 ft)
- Non-operational: -40 to 60 degrees C (-40 to 140 F) at 10,700 m (35,105 ft)
- Relative humidity: 8% to 93% (noncondensing)
Agency approvals
The adapter conforms to the following regulations:
- UL
- cUL
- IEC60950
- EMC
- FCC
- CE
- VCCI
- BSMI
- C-tick
- KC
Related product families
Product families related to this document are the following:
