SATA/SAS Controllers
SATA/SAS Controllers is dominated by HPE Smart Array: modular P408i-a controllers, P416ie-m mezzanine cards for blades, 8-port 12Gb/s PCIe controllers, and the SAS expander cards that let one controller drive a full 24-bay backplane in servers like the ProLiant DL380 Gen9. NetApp IOM adapters and Supermicro and LSI cards fill out the rest. Controllers are tied to how the server is built, so check its slot type and drive cage before matching a part number.
SATA/SAS Controllers: 3,008 products
Buying guide
Reading a Smart Array part
The suffix tells the form factor
On Gen10 controllers, -a means a modular AROC card in the server's dedicated slot, -p a standard PCIe plug-in card, and -m a mezzanine card for blades.
Expanders add bays
An expander card sits between an 8-lane controller and a large backplane so every bay gets a path. It doesn't add RAID features, only reach.
Cache needs protection
Flash-backed write cache relies on a Smart Storage Battery or capacitor. Without one, write caching stays off and RAID 5 or 6 write performance suffers.
SATA/SAS Controllers
Frequently asked questions
What do the -a, -p and -m suffixes mean on HPE Smart Array controllers?
They describe the form factor on Gen10 controllers: -a is the modular AROC card that fits the server's dedicated controller slot, -p is a standard PCIe card, and -m is a mezzanine card for blade servers.
Do I need a battery for a Smart Array controller?
If you want the flash-backed write cache, yes. HPE's Smart Storage Battery, or a capacitor module where supported, keeps cached writes safe during a power loss. Without it, write cache stays disabled.
What does a SAS expander card do?
It lets one controller reach more drive bays than it has lanes, for example connecting an 8-lane controller to a 24-bay SFF cage. All the drives then share the controller's bandwidth.
