Mirrored M.2 NVMe SSDs piggyback

Areca recently presented the new hardware RAID adapters for PCI Express 4.0 (x8). The cacheless NVMe controllers, named ARC-1686, have 2, 4 or 6 NVMe M.2 SSDs piggybacked on the board as required. This enables them to secure their content and also accelerate it.

This RAID adapter family has 2, 4 or 6 NVMe slots for M.2 SSDs built in, depending on the model variant. The ARC-1686 controllers support both 2280 and 22110 form factors. Thus, they deliver high I/O performance to effectively accelerate database applications and streaming environments. In doing so, the hardware RAID adapters relieve the host and thus maximise the processing performance of applications.

Among Areca’s high-performance RAID solutions, the ARC-1686 family becomes an affordable hardware RAID solution right off the bat, delivering superior performance with increased throughput and achieving high IOPS rates at low latency. The top model ARC-1686-6NOD, for example, achieves this through a combination of adjustable RAID levels: 0, 1 (Simple/Multi Mirroring), 10, Single Disk (Single/Dual/Triple) and JBOD.

In terms of data security, the ARC-1686 models first bring the important Power Loss Protection (PLP) module, which the developers have optimized for data center environments. It uses built-in capacitors on the NVMe SSDs that release power until the data has been transferred from the internal NVMe DRAM to the NAND flash in the event of a sudden power interruption. The ARC-1686 controllers use their built-in supercapacitors to provide bypass power outside the module. Thus, there is no need to rely on the capacitors of an NVMe SSD, which in turn helps reduce costs. The onboard supercapacitor that supports the M.2 slots accurately displays its status via a fault LED so that a failed drive can be quickly identified. Last but not least, the Power Disable feature allows you to turn off a physical NVMe drive to perform a hard reset.

Intuitive RAID management

As usual, Areca’s entry-level series supports a wide range of operating systems, just like the tri-mode RAID adapters of the top ARC-1886 series. The use of the tools is also the same: With the MRAID program, for example, the RAID adapter can be conveniently controlled and managed. Areca engineers also allow access via browser-based GUI or via CLI utility. These options also give users the ability to configure, update and monitor their controllers. Customers can also access the GUI via the ArcHttp proxy server. Through it, the administrator also manages other RAID units on the same network.

Availability of the new NVMe controllers

Areca’s ARC-1686-NOD series controllers are now available from Starline. Photos can be downloaded here. The three new models are available at the following gross end-user prices (without SSDs):

ARC-1686-2NOD 600 Euro
ARC-1686-4NOD 750 Euro
ARC-1686-6NOD 900 Euro