LSI in SSD Caching Software, Not Only Read-Only

LSI Corporation announced LSI MegaRAID CacheCade Pro 2.0 read/write caching software for select LSI MegaRAID 6Gb/s SATA+SAS controller cards.

      CacheCade Pro 2.0 software intelligently copies
        hot data to low latency, redundant SSD cache.

The software is designed to accelerate application I/O performance of HDD-based arrays by intelligently caching frequently accessed, or ‘hot spot,’ data to SSDs. MegaRAID controllers featuring CacheCade Pro 2.0 software can deliver up to 13X more transactions per second and an 82 percent cost savings compared to HDD-only arrays.  

The second generation software, which is compatible with LSI MegaRAID SAS 9260, 9261 and 9280 series controllers, is a SSD dedicated controller caching technology to offer both read and write caching using SSDs, extending the performance benefits of the previous generation CacheCade software featuring read-only SSD caching.  

"Until now, IT professionals dealing with Web 2.0 e-commerce, virtualized servers, OLTP and data warehousing workloads have not had a cost-effective way to use SSDs to accelerate their applications," said Steve Fingerhut, vice president of marketing, Accelerated Solutions Division, LSI. "They’d either have to manually tune applications to use SSDs as a higher performance tier of storage, which is both inefficient and expensive, or replace all server storage with SSDs at even greater cost and complexity. By deploying CacheCade Pro 2.0 software with a small number of SSDs, users can seamlessly accelerate application performance within their existing infrastructure, changing the dynamics of server storage and return on investment in the datacenter."

CacheCade Pro 2.0 intelligent read/write caching software utilizes SSDs as a dedicated pool of high-performance cache in front of HDDs to cost-effectively improve both read and write performance, reduce I/O latencies, accelerate application response time and lower RAID access and rebuild times.

The software eliminates the need to manually configure hybrid arrays that utilize SSD as primary storage pools by intelligently and dynamically directing frequently accessed data to a higher-performance, dedicated layer of SSD cache. By deploying CacheCade Pro 2.0 software with a small number of SSDs, users can minimize HDD and SSD investments while achieving up to 13X more transactions per second compared to HDD-only arrays for a variety of I/O-intensive application workloads.

"Microsoft is continually working with our hardware partners to bring advances in innovation and performance to our customers," said Samuel Druker, SQL Systems Engineering, Microsoft. "We have a strong relationship with LSI and are happy with the excellence LSI has brought to the market over the years. We look forward to our continued work with LSI and to the innovations they are bringing to customers in the area of application acceleration."

"LSI’s CacheCade Pro 2.0 software is the perfect solid state solution to boost the system and application performance of our line of Pogo Linux Iris and Atlas servers," said Erik Logan, CEO of Pogo Linux. "With a minimal upfront SSD investment, hosted service providers and cloud-based customers can enhance real-world I/O performance of HDD volumes for read and write intensive applications and experience a greater return on their IT investment."

CacheCade Pro 2.0 software helps to reduce TCO by eliminating the need to add CPU, memory or HDDs to overcome the latency bottlenecks associated with traditional rotating media. The software allows data centers and small to medium businesses to lower total cost of ownership by up to 82 percent by reducing hardware, power and cooling, and floor space requirements.

The software also eliminates the significant costs associated with license and application software upgrades required with forklift SSD deployments. In addition, CacheCade Pro software helps database administrators to minimize the application tuning costs associated with the dedicated staff and training required to keep application response times in line with service-level agreements.

CacheCade Pro 2.0 software is designed for easy installation and usage. Users can place hot-swappable SSDs into server drive slots and utilize MegaRAID Storage Manager to create CacheCade caching pools. The software automatically determines and places hot spot data to dedicated cache pools, with no performance impact to logs and other write-intensive areas, and without placing any burden on the host CPU, host DDR and host OS.

CacheCade Pro 2.0 software is the latest addition to the LSI family of application acceleration solutions, including the WarpDrive SLP-300 PCIe solid state storage card and MegaRAID Fast Path software.

Pricing and Availability

• MegaRAID CacheCade Pro 2.0: $270
• The software is immediately available through the LSI worldwide network of distributors, system integrators and VARs.