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ServeRAID M5210 SAS/SATA Controller for IBM System x User’s Guide
July 2014
Chapter 1: Overview
Integrated MegaRAID Mode and MegaRAID mode
1.2
Integrated MegaRAID Mode and MegaRAID mode
The ServeRAID M5210 controller can run in either integrated MegaRAID (iMR) mode natively or in MegaRAID (MR)
mode with the addition of a transportable memory module.
iMR is a highly integrated, low-cost RAID solution made possible by Fusion-MPT architecture. Integrated MegaRAID is
a processor-based, hardware RAID solution designed for system environments requiring redundancy and high
availability where a full-featured RAID implementation is not required or might be cost prohibitive.
The major advantage of iMR is that it provides RAID at the processor level, so it does not burden the CPU, which allows
for more efficient operation. iMR mode is native to the ServeRAID M5210 controller and does not require a
transportable memory module.
The major advantage of MR mode is that the it supports more RAID levels than iMR mode. iMR mode supports RAID
levels 0, 1, 5, 10, and 50 and supports 64k stripe size only. MR mode supports RAID levels 0, 1, 5, 6, 10, 50, and 60 and
supports 64k to 1M stripe size.
See
Section 1.2.1, “Supported RAID Level Upgrades”
for information about these upgrades.
See
Section 1.2.2, “Summary of RAID Levels”
for information about the supported RAID levels.
1.2.1
Supported RAID Level Upgrades
To use RAID levels 5, 6, 50, or 60 with this controller, you need to install a Feature on Demand upgrade and/or a
transportable memory module, depending on the RAID level.
This controller supports iMR RAID levels 5 and 50 with the following installed Feature on Demand upgrade:
ServeRAID M5200 Series Zero Cache/RAID 5 Upgrade for IBM System x
This controller supports MegaRAID RAID levels 5 and 50, with any of the following installed transportable memory
modules:
ServeRAID M5200 Series 1GB Cache/RAID 5 Upgrade for IBM System x
ServeRAID M5200 Series 1GB Flash/RAID 5 Upgrade for IBM System x
ServeRAID M5200 Series 2GB Flash/RAID 5 Upgrade for IBM System x
ServeRAID M5200 Series 4GB Flash/RAID 5 Upgrade for IBM System x
This controller supports MegaRAID RAID levels 6 and 60 with the ServeRAID M5200 Series RAID 6 Upgrade for IBM
System x
1.2.2
Summary of RAID Levels
RAID levels describe a system for ensuring the availability and redundancy of data stored on large disk subsystems.
NOTE
iMR mode RAID 5 requires purchase of the Feature on Demand upgrade.
NOTE
MR mode RAID 5/50 requires a transportable memory module (4 options).
NOTE
MegaRAID RAID 6/60 requires a transportable memory module (4 options) and the Feature on Demand
upgrade.
