ServeRAID M1215 SAS/SATA Controller

The ServeRAID M1215 SAS/SATA Controller is a low-cost 12 Gbps internal RAID 0/1/10 solution that can be upgraded to a cacheless RAID 5 with a Features on Demand (FoD) license upgrade. The M1215 provides two internal mini-SAS HD connectors with eight lanes of 12 Gbps SAS and eight lanes of PCIe 3.0 to facilitate high data transfer rates.

The M1215 controller is a part of the ServeRAID M Series family that offers a complete server storage solution consisting of RAID controllers, cache/flash modules, energy packs, and software feature upgrades in an ultra-flexible offerings structure.

Figure 1. ServeRAID M1215 SAS/SATA Controller

The M1215 is an entry-level internal data storage solution that provides hardware RAID capabilities and advanced features, such as online capacity expansion and RAID-level migration. The optional RAID 5 upgrade and support for self encrypting drives no longer requires a hardware key because the upgrade functionality is implemented through Features on Demand (FoD) software licenses.

With increased demand for performance and advanced features, the M1215 provides a seamless migration path to the full-featured RAID controllers, such as the ServeRAID M5210. The information about existing arrays can be recognized and imported into the new controller without any reconfiguration.

Rigorous testing of the M1215 by Lenovo through the ServerProven® program ensures a high degree of confidence in storage subsystem compatibility and reliability. Providing an additional peace of mind, this controller is covered under Lenovo warranty.

Table 1 provides the ordering part numbers and feature codes.

Table 1. Ordering part numbers and feature codes

The ServeRAID M1215 option part number includes the following items:

• One ServeRAID M1215 adapter card with full-height (3U) bracket attached
• Low-profile (2U) bracket
• Documentation package

The ServeRAID M1200 Series Zero Cache/RAID 5 Upgrade option part number includes the following items:

• M1200 Series upgrade authorization letter
• Feature Activation Instructions

The ServeRAID M1215 SAS/SATA Controller has the following standard features:

• Auto-resume on array rebuild or array reconstruction after loss of system power

  Auto-resume uses non-volatile RAM (NVRAM) to save rebuild progress during a host reboot or power failure to automatically resume from the last checkpoint. Auto-resume ensures that data integrity is maintained through the process. The card supports a number of features that are able to be implemented without rebooting the server. Applications, such as email and web server, benefit from avoiding downtime during transition.

• Online Capacity Expansion

  Online Capacity Expansion (OCE) allows the capacity of a virtual disk to be expanded by adding new physical disks or making use of unused space on existing disks, without requiring a reboot.

• Online RAID Level Migration

  Online RAID Level Migration (also known as logical drive migration) provides the ability to migrate a virtual disk from any RAID level to any other RAID level without requiring a reboot. System availability and application functionality remain unaffected.

• Fast initialization for quick array setup

  Fast initialization quickly writes zeroes to the first and last sectors of the virtual drive. This feature allows you to immediately start writing data to the virtual drive while the initialization is running in the background.

• Consistency check for background data integrity

  Consistency check verifies that all stripes in a virtual disk with a redundant RAID level are consistent. The consistency check will mirror data when an inconsistent stripe is detected for a RAID 1 and will recreate the parity from the peer disks in the case of a RAID 5. Consistency checks can be scheduled to take place periodically.

• Extensive online configuration options and advanced monitoring and event notification

  Management tools provide convenience for the configuration of logical volumes and alerting when errors have occurred or are about to occur.

• Patrol read for media scanning and repairing

  Patrol read is a background sentry service designed to proactively discover and correct media defects (bad sectors) that arise normally as a disk drive ages. The service issues a series of verify commands, and if a bad block is discovered, the card's firmware uses RAID algorithms to recreate the missing data and remap the sector to a good sector. The task is interruptible based on controller activity and host operations. The firmware also provides an interface where the patrol read task can be initiated, set up for continuous operation, and terminated from a management application. Patrol read can be activated by manual command or automatically.

• Global and dedicated Hot Spare with Revertible Hot Spare support

  A hot spare rebuilds data from all virtual disks within the disk group in which it is configured. ServeRAID provides the ability to define a physical disk as a hot spare to replace a failed drive. Hot spares can be configured as either global or dedicated. A global hot spare allows any physical drive to be designated as a hot spare. A dedicated hot spare allows the user to assign a hot spare drive to a particular array of the same drive type.

• Single controller multipathing (failover) I/O load balancing

  The ServeRAID's firmware detects and uses multiple paths from the controllers to the SAS drives that are in enclosures. With redundant paths to the same port of a device, if one path fails, another path can be used to communicate between the controller and the drive. Using multiple paths with load balancing, instead of a single path, can increase reliability through redundancy.

• Human Interface Infrastructure (HII) configuration utility for pre-boot array configuration and management

  HII is a utility that allows you to configure drive groups and logical drives before installing or booting the operating system.

• MegaRAID Storage Manager management software

  MegaRAID Storage Manager is an easy-to-use advanced RAID management application that is used across the entire family of ServeRAID M controllers. It allows you to configure, monitor, and maintain drive groups, virtual drives, and advanced features with an intuitive GUI, reducing administrative efforts and simplifying troubleshooting.

Note: RAID 10 and 50 drive groups do not support Online Capacity Expansion and Online RAID Level Migration. RAID 0, 1, and 5 drive groups do not support Online Capacity Expansion and Online RAID Level Migration if two or more virtual drives are defined on a single drive group.

The following features are optional and require the purchase of an additional upgrade:

• RAID 5, 50 support with Zero Cache/RAID 5 Upgrade (part number 00AE930)
• MegaRAID SafeStore support for self-encrypting drive (SED) services

  MegaRAID SafeStore encryption services offer instant secure erase and local key management for self-encrypting drives. Instant secure erase permanently removes data when repurposing or decommissioning SEDs. SafeStore local key management provides the necessary management and protection of SEDs using a simple pass phrase, security key identifier, and security key file that can be set and applied to all SEDs assigned to a ServeRAID adapter. This feature removes the complexity of managing each SED’s unique encryption key, and essentially, it relieves the administrator of most of the daily tasks of securing data. The SafeStore feature is a part of a RAID 5 upgrade (part number 00AE930).

The ServeRAID M1215 SAS/SATA Controller has the following specifications:

• LSI SAS3008 12 Gbps RAID on Chip (ROC) controller
• PCI Low Profile, Half-length - MD2 form factor
• Eight internal 12 Gbps SAS/SATA ports
• Two internal mini-SAS HD connectors (SFF-8643)
• Supports 12, 6, and 3 Gbps SAS and 6 and 3 Gbps SATA data transfer rates
• Up to 12 Gbps throughput per port
• PCI Express 3.0 x8 host interface
• Support both RAID and JBOD (pass-thru mode with system drives) configurations
  • Up to 32 drives, including hot spares, are supported in a RAID configuration.
  • Up to 64 drives are supported in a JBOD (non-RAID) configuration.
• Support for RAID levels 0, 1, and 10 standard; support for RAID 5, 50 with optional upgrade
• Zero Controller Cache, no battery/flash backup
• Support for SAS and SATA hard disk drives (HDDs) and solid-state drives (SSDs)
• Support for simple swap and hot swap drives
• Support for intermixing SAS and SATA HDDs and SSDs. Mixing different types of drives in the same array (drive group) not supported.
• Optional support for self-encrypting drives (SEDs) with MegaRAID SafeStore
• Support for up to 32 virtual drives, up to 32 drive groups, up to 16 virtual drives per one drive group, and up to 32 physical drives per one drive group
• Support for virtual drive sizes greater than 2 TB
• Fixed stripe size of 64 KB
• Compliant with Disk Data Format (DDF) configuration on disk (COD)
• S.M.A.R.T. support
• MegaRAID Storage Manager management software

The ServeRAID M1215 SAS/SATA Controller provides support for RAID 0, 1, and 10 as standard, ready to use or "out-of-the-box" capabilities. An optional feature upgrade is available to expand standard capabilities with RAID 5, 50 and self-encrypting drives. This Features on Demand (FoD) upgrade is a software license. The following table lists the available upgrade and its capabilities.

Table 2. ServeRAID M1215 optional upgrade and its features

Feature			RAID 5, 50	SED
Option description	Part Number	Type
ServeRAID M1200 Series Zero Cache/RAID 5 Upgrade FOD	00AE930	FoD	Yes	Yes

The following tables list the servers that the M1215 controller is supported in.

Note: The M1215 controller does not support 6 Gb SAS/SATA internal storage backplanes that can be installed in x3500 M4 and x3550 M4 servers.

For more information about the servers that support each adapter, see the ServerProven website:
http://www.lenovo.com/us/en/serverproven/xseries/controllers/matrix.shtml

The ServeRAID M1215 SAS/SATA Controller supports the drives that are supported in the servers listed in the following tables. The maximum number of drives that can be connected to the RAID controller is limited by the maximum number of internal drive bays for a supported server.

• Table 6: 1.8-inch SSDs
• Table 7: 2.5-inch hot-swap 12 Gb SAS/SATA HDDs
• Table 8: 2.5-inch hot-swap 6 Gb SAS/SATA HDDs
• Table 9: 2.5-inch hot-swap 12 Gb SAS/SATA SSDs
• Table 10: 2.5-inch hot-swap 6 Gb SAS/SATA SSDs
• Table 11: 3.5-inch hot-swap 12 Gb SAS/SATA HDDs
• Table 12: 3.5-inch hot-swap 6 Gb SAS/SATA HDDs
• Table 13: 3.5-inch hot-swap 12 Gb SAS/SATA SSDs
• Table 14: 3.5-inch hot-swap 6 Gb SAS/SATA SSDs
• Table 15: 2.5-inch simple-swap 6 Gb SAS/SATA HDDs
• Table 16: 3.5-inch simple-swap 6 Gb SAS/SATA HDDs
• Table 17: 2.5-inch internal 12 Gb HDDs for NeXtScale
• Table 18: 2.5-inch internal 6 Gb HDDs for NeXtScale
• Table 19: 3.5-inch internal 12 Gb HDDs for NeXtScale
• Table 20: 3.5-inch internal 6 Gb HDDs for NeXtScale
• Table 21: 2.5-inch internal 6 Gb SSDs for NeXtScale

See ServerProven for the latest information about the System x servers and drives support:
http://www.lenovo.com/us/en/serverproven/xseries/controllers/matrix.shtml

The adapter supports the following operating systems:

The ServeRAID M1215 SAS/SATA Controller carries a 1-year limited warranty. When installed in a supported System x server, the adapter assumes your system’s base warranty and any Lenovo warranty service upgrade purchased for the system.

The ServeRAID M1215 SAS/SATA Controller has the following physical specifications:

Dimensions (approximate):

• Height: 69 mm (2.7 in.)
• Width: 17 mm (0.7 in.)
• Depth: 170 mm (6.7 in.)
• Weight: 88 g (0.2 lb.)

Shipping dimensions (approximate):

• Height: 51 mm (2.0 in.)
• Width: 143 mm (5.6 in.)
• Depth: 238 mm (9.4 in.)
• Weight: 193 g (0.4 lb.)

The ServeRAID M1215 SAS/SATA Controller is supported in the following environment:

• Temperature:
  • Operational: 5 to 40 degrees C (41 to 104 F) at 0 to 5,000 m (0 to 16,404 ft)
  • Non-operational: -40 to 60 degrees C (-40 to 140 F) at 10,700 m (35,105 ft)
• Relative humidity: 8% to 93% (noncondensing)

The adapter conforms to the following regulations:

• UL
• cUL
• IEC60950
• EMC
• FCC
• CE
• VCCI
• BSMI
• C-tick
• KC

For more information, see the following documents:

• ServeRAID M1215 User's Guide
  https://support.lenovo.com/docs/UM104745
• ServeRAID M1215 Qick Installation Guide
  https://support.lenovo.com/docs/UM104744
• System x RAID products home page:
  https://www3.lenovo.com/us/en/data-center/servers/server-options/system-x-options/server-storage/raid-controllers-and-storage-adapters/raid-controllers/c/raid-controllers
• M1215 support and downloads
  https://support.lenovo.com/us/en/search?query=M1215
  http://ibm.com/support/entry/portal/search_results?q=M1215
• ServerProven
  http://www.lenovo.com/us/en/serverproven/xseries/controllers/matrix.shtml
• US Announcement Letter:
  http://ibm.com/common/ssi/cgi-bin/ssialias?infotype=dd&subtype=ca&&htmlfid=897/ENUS114-076