HPE Smart Array P416IE-M SR GEN10 Ctrlr - 804428-B21

HPE 804428-B21 Smart Array P416IE-M SR Gen10 Mezzanine RAID Controller

Overview

The HPE 804428-B21 is the Smart Array P416IE-M SR Gen10 mezzanine RAID controller — a half-height, direct-attach storage card designed for HPE Gen10 servers that require both internal and external SAS/SATA storage expansion in a single, slot-efficient form factor. Built around a PCIe 3.0 x8 interface and a 12Gb/s SAS backbone, this controller handles the storage demands of dense workloads where a traditional add-in card would consume a valuable PCIe slot. If you're building out an HPE Gen10 platform and need to drive internal drive bays alongside external JBOD expansion without sacrificing riser real estate, the HPE server storage lineup makes the P416IE-M a natural fit.

Key Features

• 12Gb/s SAS Throughput per Lane: At 12 gigabits per second per SAS lane, this controller delivers double the raw bandwidth of a 6Gb/s SAS predecessor — critical when driving large sequential I/O workloads like video surveillance storage vaults, database log streams, or NVR recording arrays where sustained throughput is the limiting factor.
• 6Gb/s SATA Support: The controller accepts both SAS and SATA drives on the same backplane, so you're not locked into a single drive tier. Mix high-speed SAS spindles or SSDs with cost-effective SATA arrays in the same chassis without adding a separate controller.
• PCIe 3.0 x8 Host Interface: An eight-lane Gen3 PCIe uplink to the host CPU provides up to 8 GB/s of theoretical host bandwidth — enough headroom that the controller interface itself won't become the bottleneck even under concurrent read/write to multiple arrays.
• Mezzanine Form Factor: Installing directly into the server's mezzanine slot rather than a PCIe riser keeps all standard expansion slots free for networking, GPU, or HBA cards. This is the right answer when your server chassis is already near slot capacity.
• 8 Internal SAS Lanes via 2x Slim SAS Ports: Two x4 Slim SAS internal connectors give you a clean, low-profile cable run to internal drive backplanes. Eight internal lanes is enough to address all drives in a typical 8-bay LFF or SFF Gen10 chassis without daisy-chaining.
• 8 External SAS Lanes: The eight external SAS lanes let you connect JBOD shelves directly — expanding raw capacity without replacing the host controller. For long-term video retention or expanding a recording server's storage footprint, this eliminates the need for a second controller card entirely.
• 2 GB Flash-Backed Write Cache (FBWC): Write cache with flash backup protects pending writes across a power failure — the cache data survives and flushes when power is restored. This is the difference between a crash causing data loss and a crash being a non-event. For 24/7 surveillance write workloads, the FBWC matters more than most buyers initially realize.
• Full RAID Level Support (0, 1, 5, 6, 10, 50, 60, 1 ADM, 10 ADM): The complete RAID matrix covers everything from striped performance arrays (RAID 0) to triple-drive-fault-tolerant ADM configurations (RAID 1 ADM, RAID 10 ADM). For network video recorders and surveillance storage servers, RAID 6 or RAID 60 gives you dual drive fault tolerance — important when you can't afford storage downtime in a running recording environment. ADM configurations add a third mirror for environments where even RAID 10 doesn't feel conservative enough.

Integration & Compatibility

The 804428-B21 (often searched as 804428 B21) is designed for HPE ProLiant Gen10 servers that expose a mezzanine slot for storage controllers. Verify your specific Gen10 model's mezzanine compatibility before ordering — not every Gen10 chassis exposes this slot. The Slim SAS internal connectors require compatible HPE backplane cabling; standard mini-SAS HD cables will not connect directly. External expansion requires HPE-compatible SAS JBOD shelves. The controller integrates with HPE's HPE Smart Array ecosystem and is managed through HPE Smart Storage Administrator (SSA) and iLO-based storage monitoring. For environments standardized on HPE OneView or Intelligent Provisioning, this controller surfaces natively without third-party drivers on supported OS platforms. Consult HPE's Quick Specs for the full server compatibility matrix before pairing with a specific ProLiant model — mezzanine slot availability varies by chassis generation and configuration.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What RAID levels does the HPE 804428-B21 support?

A: The 804428-B21 supports RAID 0, 1, 5, 6, 10, 50, 60, 1 ADM, and 10 ADM. This includes ADM (Advanced Data Mirroring) configurations that provide triple-drive mirroring beyond standard RAID 1/10.

Q: How many drives can the P416IE-M controller address internally and externally?

A: The controller provides 8 internal SAS lanes across two x4 Slim SAS ports, and 8 external SAS lanes for JBOD expansion. Total addressable drive count depends on backplane and expander configuration in your chassis and external shelves.

Q: What is the write cache size and is it protected against power loss?

A: The 804428-B21 includes a 2 GB Flash-Backed Write Cache (FBWC). The flash-backed design preserves cached write data through power outages and flushes it safely to drives when power is restored, protecting in-flight writes without requiring a battery.

Q: Does the 804428-B21 support SATA drives or only SAS?

A: Yes — the controller supports both 12Gb/s SAS and 6Gb/s SATA drives, allowing mixed-drive configurations on compatible backplanes within the same array or separate arrays on the same controller.

Q: What form factor and host interface does the P416IE-M use?

A: It is a mezzanine card that connects via a PCIe 3.0 x8 host interface. This installs directly into the server's mezzanine slot rather than consuming a standard PCIe riser slot.

Q: Which HPE server generations is the 804428-B21 compatible with?

A: The 804428-B21 is designed for HPE ProLiant Gen10 servers with an available mezzanine slot. Compatibility varies by specific server model and configuration — consult HPE's Quick Specs or server options guide for your ProLiant model before ordering.

Jerry Tildsen

The 804428-B21 is the controller I reach for when a Gen10 build has a full PCIe complement and still needs both internal array management and external JBOD headroom. The mezzanine placement is the operational detail that matters most here — you're getting a full 12Gb/s SAS controller with 2 GB of flash-backed write cache and a complete RAID feature set without giving up a single riser slot to it.

Technical Highlights:

• 2 GB Flash-Backed Write Cache: The FBWC isn't just a performance buffer — it's data protection. In a 24/7 recording environment, an ungraceful shutdown without FBWC means potential corruption of in-flight writes to every active array. Flash backing means the data survives the outage and commits cleanly on restart.
• 12Gb/s SAS per Lane: Twice the per-lane bandwidth of a 6Gb/s predecessor. On an 8-lane port connected to a high-density SSD backplane, that headroom is real — you're not immediately saturating the controller side of the pipe when the workload spikes.
• RAID 1 ADM / RAID 10 ADM: Three-way mirroring via ADM is a niche but legitimate choice for any storage pool where you cannot tolerate simultaneous dual-drive failure during a rebuild window. For a surveillance recorder running dozens of high-bitrate streams continuously, a long RAID 5/6 rebuild window is a real risk window — ADM eliminates it at the cost of one additional drive per mirror group.

Deployment Considerations:

• Verify your specific Gen10 server model exposes a mezzanine slot in its chosen configuration — some chassis ship with the slot populated or blocked depending on the SFF/LFF drive bay count and selected backplane option.
• The Slim SAS internal connectors are not standard mini-SAS HD — use only HPE-qualified internal cables for this controller. Third-party cables may physically fit but are not validated and can introduce intermittent errors under sustained I/O.

This controller is a strong fit for HPE Gen10 surveillance recording servers — specifically high-channel NVR builds where you need to start with an internal RAID array and have a clear expansion path to external JBOD shelves as retention requirements grow, all without consuming the PCIe slots reserved for NIC or HBA cards.