Fujitsu EP420i RAID controller PCI Express 3.0 12 Gbit/s

The Fujitsu EP420i RAID Controller (S26361-F5243-L12) is a PCI Express 3.0 card designed for enterprise storage environments. Based on the LSI SAS3108 chipset, it provides SAS drive support and a host interface via PCI Express, delivering up to 12 Gbit/s per port to combine multiple physical disks into a single logical array for improved availability and performance.

Advantages

The controller supports multiple RAID levels (0, 1, 5, 6, 10, 50, 60) to balance redundancy and performance according to workload needs. Hardware-level parity and distributed redundancy information enable protection against disk failures while maintaining high throughput. Compatibility with SAS drives and a PCI Express 3.0 host interface ensures low-latency connections in server environments.

Suitable for

• Enterprise servers requiring high-availability storage
• Database and virtualization workloads with demanding I/O
• Storage arrays where redundancy and performance are both needed

Key specifications

• Model: Fujitsu EP420i (S26361-F5243-L12)
• Host interface: PCI Express 3.0
• Maximum transfer rate: 12 Gbit/s per SAS port
• Chipset: LSI SAS3108
• Supported RAID levels: 0, 1, 5, 6, 10, 50, 60
• Drive interface: SAS
• Brand: FUJITSU
• EAN: 4057185862844

How to use

Install the EP420i into an available PCI Express slot on a compatible server motherboard. Connect SAS storage drives to the controller ports according to your chassis and backplane design. Configure RAID arrays through the controller's BIOS/UEFI utility or management software prior to operating system installation. After array creation, install the appropriate drivers in the operating system so the array is presented as a single logical drive.

Recommendations

For best results, use identical-capacity SAS drives and maintain regular firmware and driver updates for the EP420i. Implement a monitoring and backup strategy in addition to RAID to ensure data protection and rapid recovery in case of multiple drive failures.