AMD OEM of Dot Hill Virtual RAID Technology

Dot Hill Systems Corp. announced that its RAIDCore Virtual RAID Adapter (VRA) Technology will be embedded into select platforms based on the recently announced AMD SR5690/SP5100 server chipset.

AMD will bundle two new SP5100 chipset models with a license to Dot Hill’s RAIDCore VRA technology solutions – the SP5100R supporting RAIDCore Basic (RAID 0/1/10) and the SP5100R5 supporting RAIDCore Plus (RAID 0/1/5/10). With support for Windows and Linux operating systems, RAIDCore VRA solutions provide end-user customers with a simple, software-based licensing scheme that eliminates the need for hardware keys in order to leverage RAIDCore‚s advanced capabilities.

"As the very low power server designs and other platforms based on the AMD SP5100 server become available through numerous server motherboard OEMs and distributors, small businesses and enterprises will have an inexpensive and easy-to-implement alternative to traditional hardware-based RAID solutions," said Patrick Patla, vice president and general manager, Server/Workstation and Embedded Division, AMD. "Backed by Dot Hill‚s many years of RAID expertise, RAIDCore VRA technology can provide our customers with highly sophisticated RAID capabilities built right into the chipset."

System builders and OEMs that install the AMD SP5100R or SP5100R5 RAID solution will also be able to upgrade to the full-featured version of RAIDCore, RAIDCore VST, which supports a number of enhanced RAID features, including RAID 1n/10n (multi-volume mirroring), distributed sparing and additional migration features, by purchasing a simple upgrade license from Dot Hill. This upgrade enables full enterprise-class virtual RAID for significantly less than a conventional hardware RAID adapter card.

"Today’s multi-core processors and chip sets from AMD possess the horsepower and high performance capabilities that make server-based RAID more practical than ever," said Andy Mills, vice president of marketing, Dot Hill. "By adding AMD core logic support to our new VRA solution, we ensure the most extensive support for entry- and mid-level server markets and provide resellers with a new source of upgrade revenue via the RAIDCore VST license opportunity."

RAIDCore VRA a Better Alternative
to Hardware- and Software-based RAID
Dot Hill VRA technology enables server, storage and motherboard vendors to integrate RAID technology into their products by leveraging the power of today‚s multi-core server CPUs instead of a dedicated RAID CPU-based, add-in board, helping to reduce hardware, power, cooling and support costs. RAIDCore enables host-based RAID 0, 1, 5, 10 and 50 directly on motherboard SATA I/O ports, reducing system costs and increasing the reliability of internal disk storage. The same software stack, with additional features enabled, may also be used for higher end SAS disk based systems that employ a built-in or PCIe host adapter-based SAS/SATA chipset, enabling vendors to maintain compatibility and a consistent look and feel across the entire product line.

The technology leverages a sophisticated RAID software stack, enabling today’s servers to effectively process RAID tasks without compromising performance needed for other operations. RAIDCore rivals the performance of hardware controller-based RAID at a fraction of the cost, in addition to offering enhanced functions such as enhanced mirroring schemes to support simple system backup and recovery.

Dot Hill RAIDCore technology key features/functionality include:

• Single, unified O/S driver and single-pane management suite capable of managing RAID sets on different controller vendors
• Spanned virtual RAID arrays, allowing users to create a virtual disk that spans across SAS/SATA I/O controllers and SATA-based core logic chipsets
• Native support for multiple motherboard chipset vendors, including AMD SB600, SB700 and SP5100 core logic chipsets
• Broad Operating system support – Windows XP, 2003, Vista, 2008, Windows 7 – 32 and 64 bit; Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 and 5 – 32 and 64 bit; SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 and SLES 10 – 32 and 64 bit and Generic Linux SDK for custom integration
• Support for basic RAID 0, 1, 10 features or higher featured RAID 0, 1, 5, 10, 50 and 1n, 10n via licensing
• N-way mirrored volume copy using RAID 1n, hidden arrays and split mirror
• Hard coded licensing or web enabled software licensing framework that enables easy after-market upgrades and eliminating the need for a hardware-based license key
• Support for mixed capacity drives allowing 100 percent of usage of all disk capacity available