Intel integrated RAID (Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks) module provides reliability, high performance, and fault-tolerant disk subsystem management. Acomplete fault-tolerant strategy requires protection of all data, including the unwritten cached data in the RAM cache. If power is lost, the data in the RAM cache is lost. To avoid data loss, a RAID Maintenance Free Backup Unit (RMFBU) can be added to store unwritten cached data from the RAID RAM during an AC power outage or if the AC power cord is removed.
A RAID Maintenance Free Backup Unit protects the integrity of the chached data on Intel integrated RAID modules by offloading data stored in the RAM cache to the NAND flash if there is a complete AC power failure or a brief power outage. The Intel RAID Maintenance Free Backup Unit provides an alternative to use an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) or it can act as a second level of fault tolerance when used with a UPS. Furthermore, it eliminates the need for lithium-ion batteries traditionally used to protect DRAM cache memory on PCI RAID controllers. Therefore this is a greener and lower total cost cache proection solution.
The Intel RAID Maintenance Free Backup Unit AXXRMFBU2 consists of cache offload module and SuperCap2. It monitors the voltage level of the DRAM modules of the Intel integrated RAID module. If the voltage drops below a predefined level, the RMFBU offloads the data from the RAID RAM to the NAND flash of RMFBU2 cache-offload module and SuperCap2 provides sufficient power to complete the data transferring. When the voltage level returns to an acceptable level, the RAID RAM is recoverd from flash, and all pending writes to storage devices are completed without losing any data.
The Intel RAID Maintenance Free Backup Unit AXXRMFBU2 has built-in functionality to charge the SuperCap2 automatically and to communicate entire unit status information such as voltage, temperature, and current to the host server system.
The Intel RAID Maintenance Free Backup Unit AXXRMFBU2 is a smart backup module and uses MegaRAID CacheVault technology. It is compatible with a backup auxiliary power source. The SuperCap2 is charged automatically.