HP Smart Array Controllers

Smart Array is HP's RAID controller family, and the model number carries most of the information you need. Our stock runs from the early integrated 5i and E-series cards through the P-series that became the mainstream ProLiant controller.

Reading the model number

• E200, E500 - entry-level PCI Express cards from the earlier ProLiant generations
• P400, P410, P420, P430, P440, P840 - the mainstream P-series, broadly ascending in port count, cache and interface speed
• A trailing i indicates an internal-facing controller; cards without it may expose external ports
• Suffixes such as ar denote a specific variant, so match the full model rather than the family

Cache and the battery question

Write-back caching is where most Smart Array trouble originates. Two protection schemes appear across the range:

• BBWC - battery-backed write cache. A rechargeable pack holds the cache contents during a power loss. Batteries age, and a failed pack causes the controller to drop from write-back to write-through, which shows up as a sudden and dramatic loss of write performance rather than an error.
• FBWC - flash-backed write cache. A supercapacitor powers a flush of cache to onboard flash at power loss. It removes the recurring battery replacement, which is why later cards use it.

Cache modules are frequently separate parts from the controller itself, in sizes from 128MB to 4GB. A controller bought without its cache module will work but will not do write-back caching.

Before you swap a controller

Smart Array stores array metadata on the drives themselves, so moving a complete drive set to a compatible controller generally preserves the array. That is a general characteristic of the family, not a guarantee for a specific pairing - always have a restorable backup before moving arrays between controllers.

Send us the ProLiant model and the controller you are replacing and we will confirm the card, the cache module and the cable set together.