Broadcom MegaRAID SAS/SATA 24 Port RAID Controller

The new Broadcom® 9600 family of 24G SAS MegaRAID adapters and HBAs address the performance shift that today’s data centers are facing as they transition to higher core count CPUs and SSD-based server storage. The 9600 series Tri-Mode RAID adapters and eHBAs enable high-performing 24G serial-attached SCSI (SAS), PCIe Gen 4.0 storage connectivity, and flexible system designs to support NVMe, SAS, and SATA devices.
The 16- and 24-port 9600 series adapters are powered by the Broadcom 8th generation of Tri-Mode 4000 series I/O Controllers (IOC) and 4100 series RAID-on-Chip (ROC) families, based on the industry-leading FusionMPT (Message Passing Technology). MegaRAID and eHBA 9600 series of adapters deliver 2x the bandwidth and up to 2x the IOPS (4K RR); with the MegaRAID adapters also delivering more than 3x the RAID 5 IOPS (4K RW).
Broadcom continues to offer the industry’s broadest portfolio of storage solutions, backed by decades of experience and trusted by the world’s leading server and storage suppliers. Broadcom provides the building blocks for storage solutions that help customers prioritize, store, protect, and secure critical data.

Tri-Mode SerDes Technology

Broadcom Tri-Mode SerDes technology enables the operation of NVMe, SAS, and SATA storage devices in a single drive bay. A single RAID or eHBA adapter can operate in all three modes concurrently servicing NVMe, SAS, or SATA drives. The adapter can negotiate between speeds and protocols to seamlessly work with any of the three types of storage devices. Tri-Mode support provides a non-disruptive way to evolve existing data infrastructure. By upgrading to a Tri-Mode adapter, users can expand beyond SAS/SATA and use NVMe without major changes to other system configurations. The 9600 series adapters are compatible with SlimSAS 24G SFF-8654 internal or SFF-8674 external connectors. The 9600 adapters are also compatible with existing PCI Express SFF-8639 Module (U.2) backplanes allowing users to boost performance for today’s ever increasing bandwidth requirements.

Tri-Mode SerDes Technology (cont.)

The introduction of PCIe devices executing NVMe command sets to the existing SAS/SATA infrastructure makes industry standard hot-pluggable drive bays even more versatile. The Tri-Mode interface provides SAS data transfer rates of 22.5, 12, and 6Gb/s per lane, SATA at 6Gb/s data transfer rates per lane, or PCIe data transfer rates of up to 16.0 GT/s per lane and is backward compatible to 5.0/2.5 GT/s. The storage controllers automatically negotiate between the speeds and protocols. A T-10 End-to-End Data Protection (EEDP) model for early detection of and recovery from data corruption, and Spread Spectrum Clocking (SSC) for EMI reduction are supported. Additional features include SAS 2.1 power management and DataBolt2 technology, allowing users to take advantage of 24Gb/s speeds while utilizing existing 12 and 6Gb/s drives and backplanes.
As next-generation systems expand the adoption of Tri-Mode SerDes technology through implementation of the SFF-TA-1001 and SFF-TA-1005 standards, the 9600 series adapters allow users to get the most performance and flexibility. The SFF-TA-1001 specification commonly known as U.3 defines a common bay type and connector for SAS (x1, x2), SATA, and NVMe (x1, x2, x4) devices. The creation of the U.3 standard gives unprecedented flexibility to system OEMs and data centers that want to support the latest storage technologies at the lowest cost and system complexity. With a single 9600 series adapter, system implementers can take full advantage of SAS, SATA, and x1, x2, and x4 NVMe drives in U.3-based backplane.
Control and management of multi-protocol (SAS/SATA/NVMe) backplanes has been loosely defined in previous generations of products. Recognizing this, Broadcom worked with key industry members to introduce Universal Backplane Management (UBM) or SFF-TA-1005. UBM builds upon current management frameworks to provide a comprehensive approach to managing SAS, SATA, and NVMe. The 9600 series adapters are UBM ready, and customers can immediately integrate these adapters into their U.3 backplanes utilizing UBM.

Hardware Secure Boot And Device Attestation

The adapter’s ROC or IOC controller supports hardware secure boot and device authentication to help protect against malicious activity. Hardware secure boot permits only authenticated firmware to execute on the controller. Broadcom provides the signed firmware images—making the use of hardware secure boot transparent to customers while providing confidence in the security of the solution. Device authentication provides a mechanism for the adapter to prove its unique device identity to another entity in the platform as part of a platform attestation implementation. Unique device identity is proven through a device ID certificate and a challenge protocol. Use of device authentication is optional, but available to those needing extra security for their implementation.

RAID And eHBA Features

Broadcom’s 9660/9670 RAID adapter family improves upon the long history of MegaRAID quality, incorporating the best used features and functions into a high-performance PCIe Gen 4.0, SAS4-capable solution, full RAID 0/1/5/6 support, global, dedicated and emergency hot spare support with automatic rebuild and full controller cache data protection with CacheVault technology.
The 9620 eHBA adapters launch a new set of features and functionality for MegaRAID users who value simple RAID 0/1/10 with hot spare support plus additional direct device connectivity to the host.
Broadcom’s 9600 eHBA adapters deliver increased connectivity and maximum performance for servers and appliances with internal storage, or connected to large scale storage enclosures.
The entire Broadcom 9600 RAID and eHBA family share the same drivers and tools, including management with LSA GUI Manager and StorCLI2 command line tool, plus a full range of OS drivers.

• 3rd-Generation Tri-Mode Storage Interface.
• 22.5, 12, and 6Gb/s SAS and 6Gb/s SATA data transfer rates.
• x8 PCIe Gen 4.0 Host Interface.
• Hardware Secure Boot and Attestation.
• Universal Backplane Management (UBM) ready (SFF-TA-1005).
• Unified Drivers and Utilities.