Fast throughput and data availability are paramount for dedicated storage systems. That’s why Xserve RAID combines leading-edge Fibre Channel, RAID and Ultra ATA technologies in an innovative architecture designed for superior performance and reliability. Redundant, hot-swap components and a passive midplane protect your digital assets from single points of failure, while independent controllers and drive channels provide up to 380MB/s sustained throughput(1) for delivering data quickly to the host system.
Battery backup module. Xserve RAID offers optional Cache Backup Battery Modules that provide more than 72 hours of backup power to protect data integrity.
Dual independent RAID controllers. Two independent storage processor units manage RAID functions, data transfers and failure protection for each set of seven drives.
Redundant cooling modules. Redundant, hot-swap cooling modules provide automatic front-to-rear cooling for rack environments.
Redundant power supplies. Either of the redundant, load-sharing, hot-swappable power supplies can power Xserve RAID alone in case one fails.
Slower Traffic, Keep Right
Xserve RAID features an advanced architecture that sustains storage performance at maximum levels across the entire array. The location or quantity of data on the array doesn’t appreciably affect throughput, ensuring consistent, fast data delivery. And the more drives you add, the better the performance.
Slight Drive Train Adjustment
Instead of relying on expensive SCSI or Fibre Channel hard drives, Apple developed a high-throughput Ultra ATA-to-Fibre Channel storage architecture that delivers superior performance and reliability at a much lower cost. Xserve RAID achieves its massive 10.5TB capacity with 14 hot-swappable 750GB Apple Drive Modules. The high-capacity 7200 RPM Ultra ATA hard drive modules provide affordable expansion and configuration flexibility as storage needs grow.
With 14 independent Ultra ATA drive channels and dual RAID controllers, the Xserve RAID architecture eliminates traditional bottlenecks, maximizing throughput and ensuring fast access to stored data. Support for simultaneous storage processing also allows the performance to scale as capacity increases. Because each hard drive is isolated on its own bus, a drive failure doesn’t degrade the accessibility or performance of the surviving drives.
Finely tuned, Independent Motors
The advanced Xserve RAID architecture delivers fast access to storage without compromising data integrity. Dual independent RAID controllers provide protected storage with unprecedented performance. In fact, Xserve RAID boasts a throughput of up to 380MB/s, fast enough to support real-time, uncompressed, high-definition (HD) and multiple-stream (SD) video editing without dropping a frame:
| Xserve RAID configuration | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Usable capacity — RAID 0 | 1TB | 5.25TB | 10.5TB |
| Usable capacity — RAID 5 | 750GB | 4.5TB | 9TB |
| Video storage in hours (2) | |||
| Native DVCPRO HD (1080i60) | 20 | 107 | 214 |
| Native DVCPRO HD (720p24) | 40 | 212 | 424 |
| Uncompressed SD 8-bit (3) | 73 | 147 | |
| Uncompressed HD 8-bit (1080i60) (3) | 12 | 25 | |
- Testing conducted by Apple in November 2006 using preproduction Xserve RAID systems. Iometer (version 2004.07.30) testing of raw disk throughput on Xserve RAID in both Mac OS X v10.4.8 and Windows XP SP2 environments has shown that the Xserve RAID is capable of delivering an average of up to 380MB/s read throughput, and an average of up to 301MB/s write throughput, on 7 x 750GB and 14 x 750GB raw disk configurations utilizing both RAID controllers. Mac OS X v10.4.8 Xserve RAID testing conducted using a directly attached Mac Pro 2.0GHz system; Windows XP SP2 Xserve RAID testing conducted using a directly attached Boxx 7300 Series dual-processor AMD Opteron 2.6GHz system. Since MBR disks only support partition sizes up to 2TB, sliced arrays were used for Windows XP tests. Performance tests are conducted using specific computer systems and reflect the approximate performance of Xserve RAID.
- Based on formatted RAID 5 capacity in standard shipping configurations. Numbers have been rounded.
- Based on RAID 50.
Apple Drive Modules
Each Apple Drive Module is equipped with up to 16MB of cache memory for boosting throughput in demanding applications such as video editing. On-drive cache accelerates read and write speeds, but offers less protection in the event of a drive failure. For this reason, drive cache is turned off by default in protected RAID configurations, while video-optimized RAID sets and RAID 0 configurations activate drive cache by default.
The drive controller can access data stored in the drive cache much more quickly than it can read from or write to the actual hard drive platters. Activating drive cache enhances overall system read speeds by allowing the drive controllers to retrieve a block of data before it is required by the host system. The RAID controller provides instructions to each drive in an array, indicating what data block is required next and allowing the individual drive controllers to queue up the data for instant availability.
Redlining It
Similarly, the drive cache serves as a holding tank for data that is being written to the hard drive. When the RAID controller distributes write data to each drive, it can be stored in cache memory, allowing the drive controller to notify the RAID processor immediately that transmission was successful, also known as a “committed write.” This frees up the storage pipeline for other needs while the data is being written to the drive platters at maximum speed. Using drive cache is inherently risky: If a drive were to fail during a write operation, the cached data could be lost. The performance needs of video editing and other high-throughput applications outweigh this risk in most situations, but activation of drive cache is not recommended where data protection is a critical requirement.
Apple Remote Desktop 3
WebObjects
Stay Up-To-Date
