By Jim Bagley, senior analyst, Storage Strategies NOW
Adaptec recently announced a storage controller that speed virtual environments and diminishes the performance gap between servers and storage. The Adaptec MaxIQ SSD Cache Performance Solution turns any Adaptec Series 5Z, Series 5 or Series 2 Storage Controller into an I/O supercharger.
The Storage Controller monitors storage traffic and makes decisions regarding “hot” data areas that can be copied to solid state drives, automatically increasing the speed of any system. Adaptec’s MaxIQ SSD Performance Cache Solution consists of software and a version Intel’s X-25E single-level cell (SLC) Enterprise SSD that is used as a cache pool. MaxIQ analyzes traffic patterns and copies frequently-read “hot” data to the SSD cache pool, automatically increasing performance without adding any management issues. The data in the SSD cache pool is simply a copy of the hot data residing on the HDD, eliminating many of the data migration concerns that get involved in placement algorithms.
Hot data blocks are particularly common in virtualization implementations, but are not always obvious to the storage manager. With the addition of MaxIQ, any HDD array instantly becomes a hybrid array. And because the storage controller is making the decisions regarding hot data, the implementation is totally transparent to the applications. Just plug it in and watch the Input Outputs per second (IOPS) take off. The data copying is done in the background, is adaptive in its decision process, is totally transparent to the applications, and does not tap any server processor resources.
MaxIQ uses the SSD as read cache, and random read operations can benefit from an 11x improvement in IOPS when compared with high-performance HDDs. Web server workloads can expect a 5x improvement, file server and OLTP can expect a 4x improvement. Any system can benefit from MaxIQ, even application servers with direct attached storage can become a hybrid via the PCI interface with MaxIQ.
MaxIQ supports many of the most popular operating systems including Windows and Linux OS environments, and can be “dropped into” any existing Adaptec Series 5Z, Series 5 or Series 2 array installation, or a new hybrid array can be built from scratch. Up to four of the custom Intel®-powered MaxIQ SSDs can be deployed per controller, providing from 32G to 128GB of SSD caching. The MaxIQ SSD that ships with the MaxIQ solution has a special software feature that allows the SSD to be configured as cache. This tight cooperation with Intel is indicative of the partnership that the two companies have enjoyed for the development of high performance storage products.
