Dell Shared PowerEdge RAID Controller 8 Cards For Dell PowerEdge VRTX Systems User’s Guide

The Shared PERC 8 Internal and External cards are two separate SAS domains. The PowerEdge VRTX system is available in the following configurations for both Internal and External cards:

Single Non-Fault Shared PERC 8 Card Configuration — In this configuration, the controllers do not mirror their cache. The default cache policy for virtual disks created in this configuration is write-back. In this mode, the write completion information is returned to the host after the data is written to the Shared PERC 8 controller’s cache.

Dual Fault Tolerant Shared PERC 8 Card Configuration — In this configuration, there are two Shared PERC 8 cards configured in an active-passive cluster. Both controllers can access the same storage subsystem. However, only the active controller provides the data access. If one of the Shared PERC 8 cards fails, the other Shared PERC 8 card takes control in a seamless transition. The default cache policy for virtual disks created in this configuration is write-back.

The following configuration is only available for External cards:

Dual Non-Fault Tolerant Shared PERC 8 External Cards Configuration — In this configuration, the PowerEdge VRTX system contains two Shared PERC 8 External cards where both are cabled to separate JBODs creating separate SAS domains. If one Shared PERC 8 External card fails, access to the storage subsystem attached to that card is lost. This configuration option is not available for Shared PERC 8 Internal cards.