The HP StorageWorks IO Accelerator is a type of
solid-state drive
A solid-state drive (SSD) is a type of solid-state storage device that uses integrated circuits to store data persistently. It is sometimes called semiconductor storage device, solid-state device, or solid-state disk.
SSDs rely on non- ...
in a
mezzanine card
In computing, an expansion card (also called an expansion board, adapter card, peripheral card or accessory card) is a printed circuit board that can be inserted into an electrical connector, or expansion slot (also referred to as a bus sl ...
form factor for HP's
BladeSystem
BladeSystem is a line of blade server machines from Hewlett Packard Enterprise (Formerly Hewlett-Packard) that was introduced in June 2006.
The BladeSystem forms part of the HP ConvergedSystem platform, which use a common converged infrastructu ...
c-Class servers. This product was announced by HP on March 2, 2009.
The follow-on product, the HP StorageWorks PCIe IO Accelerator for Proliant Servers is a standard PCIe form factor, and is supported in a variety of Proliant DL and ML servers.
Specifications
The mezzanine adapter connects to the blade server using a
PCI Express
PCI Express (Peripheral Component Interconnect Express), officially abbreviated as PCIe, is a high-speed standard used to connect hardware components inside computers. It is designed to replace older expansion bus standards such as Peripher ...
×4 link, uses less than 9 watts, has bandwidth up to 800 MB/s and latency as low as 50 microseconds.
The PCIe adapter connects to the server using a
PCI Express
PCI Express (Peripheral Component Interconnect Express), officially abbreviated as PCIe, is a high-speed standard used to connect hardware components inside computers. It is designed to replace older expansion bus standards such as Peripher ...
version 1.0 ×4 link, ×8 link, or version 2.0 ×4 link, depending on model.
The IO Accelerator was initially offered in capacities of 80 GB, 160 GB, and 320 GB. The 320 GB model uses MLC NAND, whereas the other two models used SLC NAND. The 80 GB and 160 GB are now discontinued, and a new 640 GB model has been introduced. Newer models use MLC NAND.
The PCIe IO Accelerator is offered in 160 GB, 320 GB, 640 GB, and 1.28 TB capacities. It comes in two form factors: ioDrive or ioDrive Duo (two ioDrives on one PCIe card). The 160 GB is available in SLC NAND only, the 320 GB is available as either SLC Duo or MLC, and the 640 GB and 1.28 TB are both MLC Duo models.
Since the IO Accelerator is a Type-1 mezzanine card, the user can install up to 2 in a half-height blade server such as the BL460c, and up to 3 can be installed in a full-height blade server like the BL685c.
Architecture
The IO Accelerators contain technology obtained from the company
Fusion-io
Fusion-io, Inc. was a computer hardware and software systems company (acquired by SanDisk Corporation in 2014) based in Cottonwood Heights, Utah, that designed and manufactured products using flash memory technology. The Fusion was marketed ...
.
The adapter combines
NAND flash
Flash memory is an Integrated circuit, electronic Non-volatile memory, non-volatile computer memory storage medium that can be electrically erased and reprogrammed. The two main types of flash memory, NOR flash and NAND flash, are named for t ...
memory (either SLC or MLC) with a custom controller (beneath the heat sink) that interfaces directly to the PCI Express fabric of the server. The card has 25 channels of NAND Flash that are accessed in parallel.
Medusa Labs performance testing was performed on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.2 using the
IOzone
IOzone is a file system benchmark utility. Originally made by William Norcott, further enhanced by Don Capps and others.
Source code is available from iozone.org. It does mmap() file I/O and uses POSIX Threads.
It won the 2007 Infoworld Bossie ...
benchmark tool.
Limitations
The IO Accelerator cannot be used as
boot
A boot is a type of footwear. Most boots mainly cover the foot and the ankle, while some also cover some part of the lower calf. Some boots extend up the leg, sometimes as far as the knee or even the hip. Most boots have a heel that is clearl ...
media. Drivers are only available for Linux and Windows. Only 64-bit kernels (x86-64) are supported.
See also
*
Solid-state drive
A solid-state drive (SSD) is a type of solid-state storage device that uses integrated circuits to store data persistently. It is sometimes called semiconductor storage device, solid-state device, or solid-state disk.
SSDs rely on non- ...
*
BladeSystem
BladeSystem is a line of blade server machines from Hewlett Packard Enterprise (Formerly Hewlett-Packard) that was introduced in June 2006.
The BladeSystem forms part of the HP ConvergedSystem platform, which use a common converged infrastructu ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Io Accelerator
Computer-related introductions in 2009
Solid-state computer storage media