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ServeRAID M5210 SAS/SATA Controller for IBM System x User’s Guide
July 2014
Chapter 1: Overview
Benefits of the ServeRAID M5210 SAS/SATA Controller
Advanced array configuration and management utilities
Online RAID level migration
Drive migration
Drive roaming
Media scan
No reboot necessary after expansion
More than 200 Qtags per array
User-specified rebuild rate
32-Kbyte nonvolatile random access memory (NVRAM) for storing RAID system configuration information; the
MegaRAID SAS firmware is stored in flash ROM for easy upgrade.
1.5.1
SAS Features
The following list describes the SAS features of the ServeRAID M5210 controller:
Provides eight fully independent PHYs
Supports 12.0 Gb/s SAS data transfers per PHY
Supports SSP to enable communication with other SAS devices
Supports SMP to communicate topology management information
Provides a serial, point-to-point, enterprise-level storage interface
Simplifies cabling between devices
Supports wide ports consisting of 2, 3, or 4 PHYs within a single quad port
Supports narrow ports consisting of a single PHY
Transfers data using SCSI information units
1.5.2
SAS Array Limitations
This section describes the array limitations of the controller. These include limitations such as the number of physical
disks supported, the maximum number of disks per controller, and the maximum number of virtual disks allowed per
controller.
Table 2
lists the array limitations for the ServeRAID M5210 controller.
Table 2 ServeRAID M5210 SAS/SATA Controller Array
Specification
ServeRAID M5210
SAS/SATA Controller
Maximum virtual disks per controller
64
Maximum arrays per controller
128
Maximum virtual disks per array
16
Maximum physical devices per array
32
Maximum physical devices per controller
128
NOTE
Can support up
to 64 devices, but only
16 can be used in a
RAID configuration.
