IBM Redbooks ServeRAID-MR10i, User Manual

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Summary of the ServeRAID-MR10i SAS/SATA Controller Characteristics 1-11
* - Assumes one Storage Enclosure Processor (SEP) per enclosure.
The ServeRAID-MR10i controller supports 64-bit logical block addressing
(LBA), which makes it possible to connect a large number of drives to
the RAID controller, directly and through expanders. However, the actual
number of drives that you can attach depends on the limits listed in
Table 1.2 rather than by actual RAID volume capacity.
The maximum numbers in Table 1.2 depend on how many physical
devices you have connected to the controller. For example, the
maximum number of arrays per controller is equal to the number of
physical disks supported by the controller up to the limit of 128 arrays
per controller. The ServeRAID-MR10i controller supports up to 240
physical disks, but the maximum number of arrays is limited to 128.
Though you can have up to 16 virtual disks per array, and up to 64
arrays per ServeRAID-MR10i controller, there is a limit of 64 virtual disks
per controller. Because of this constraint, the 32 arrays cannot all contain
16 virtual disks at the same time.
Note: The maximum number of hot spares per array is equal to
the maximum number of drives per array.
1.6.3 SATA II Features
The following list describes the SATA II features of the ServeRAID-
MR10i controller:
•
Supports SATA II data transfers of 3.0 Gbits/s
•
Supports STP data transfers of 3.0 Gbits/s
•
Provides a serial, point-to-point storage interface
•
Simplifies cabling between devices
•
Eliminates the master-slave construction used in parallel ATA
Maximum spans per virtual disk 8
Maximum enclosures per port* 3
Maximum ports 2
Table 1.2 ServeRAID-MR10i Controller Array Limitations
Specification
ServeRAID-MR10i
Controller