David McIntyre Altera Corporation

Increased data processing and storage demands are challenging traditional ways of maintaining data integrity in data centers. Increasing performance demands from applications in enterprise finance and Web 2.0 coupled with green environmental requirements are causing data center designers to look for more cost-effective, alternative approaches to today's battery-backed data recovery systems.

RAID adapter cards, a critical component of data center servers and storage complexes, traditionally rely on battery charged recovery circuitry to preserve the integrity of data during server power outages. Burdened by hazardous disposal and total cost of ownership (TCO) issues like field maintenance, system designers are looking for battery-free RAID adapter solutions that are more power efficient without impacting performance and data integrity specifications.

A battery-free RAID adapter design approach for protecting and restoring data during such power conditions is discussed in this article. Advancements in FPGA, flash memory, and capacitor technologies have enabled a lower power, nonvolatile memory backup solution that supports a battery-free environment and the benefits thereof. This article provides an overview of the supporting component technologies that can support such an environmentally-friendly data recovery solution.

Green Trends for Enterprise Data Centers

Increasing data center performance demands under constrained power budgets are creating management issues in power management, system cooling costs, and preservation of data integrity. These factors further contribute to the TCO of running these data centers. In addition, regulatory agencies are mandating green standards that stipulate data center power reductions and strict rules for battery materials disposal.

Power outages across server farms can result in data loss or even worse, undetected error conditions within the host application. To remedy these problems, companies have developed RAID adapter cards that provide a data recovery mechanism during such power outages. The issue with current RAID adapter products is that they are powered by batteries. The table below addresses many of the constraints associated with battery back up systems.

Power Constraints Associated with Battery Back Up Systems Click on image to enlarge.