cache battery on Smart Array Cards ?

[George Quist]

Was wondering... whats the deal on "expected" life of the cache batterys on the many Smart Array controllers ( older Smart2 and the newer 5300 type cards ? ) Is there failure in the future a lurking monster ? Is there a recommneded preventive service time ?

[Chanler Childs]

Expected ram backup time or expected service life?

The service life is excellent, maybe 1 battery failure in 4 years in 200 controllers. (Had been in the storeroom for a while) The SA's themselves are so robust I've never needed to replace controllers and carry over the battery backed cache.

Usually the worst thing that happens is the batteries will become discharged and require charging before they'll activate the onboard cache.

[George Quist]

My concern is around there service life..You mention charging ? Can this be invoked on the Smart Array Cards ? I have seen that the DELL PERC2/3 cards have a battery conditioning process that can be run from the FAST console tools.. From my view of many years fighting various raid hardware, these Smart array cards are the best ( versus say .. the Mylex world !)

[Chanler Childs]

They'll charge automatically, no software is needed. You'll get a message on boot and in ACU if the batteries are still charging. Even when its charging, you can access all of the functions of the raid controller, you just lose the cache for a while.

My experience with the service life is that its longer than you'd want to keep it in use. We just removed a server here with a Smart-2DH this weekend. My guess is that its been in use since late 98 or early 99.