Intel SASMF8I - RAID Controller, Hardware User'S Manual

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2 Intel® RAID Controller SASMF8I Hardware User’s Guide
The SAS controller supports the ANSI Serial-attached SCSI (SAS) Standard, Version 1.0 .
In addition, the controller supports the Serial ATA (SATA) protocol defined by the Serial
ATA Specification, Version 1.0a . The SAS controller is a versatile controller that supports
both the SAS and SATA interfaces and provides the backbone of both server and high-end
workstation environments.
Protocols supported include:
•
Serial SCSI Protocol (SSP): Communication with other SAS devices.
•
SATA II Protocol: Communication with other SATA II devices.
•
Serial Management Protocol (SMP): Topology management information sharing
with expanders.
•
Serial Tunneling Protocol (STP) support for SATA II through expander interfaces.
Usability
•
Smaller, thinner cabling with serial point-to-point 3.0 Gbps data transfer rates.
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Allows mixed connections to SAS or SATA II targets.
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Support for non-disk devices and mixed capacity drives.
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Support for software RAID levels 0, 1, 5, and 10.
•
Global hot spare with auto rebuild if an array drive fails.
•
Fixed RAID stripe size of 64 KB.
•
Advanced array configuration and management utilities that provide:
— Drive migration.
— Drive roaming.
•
An upgradeable Flash ROM interface.
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Allows for staggered spin-up, hot plug, and lower power consumption.
•
User specified rebuild rate (% of system resources to use from 0-100%).
Warning: Exceeding 50% rate may cause operating system errors caused by waiting
for controller access.
•
Background operating mode can be set for rebuilds, consistency checks,and
initialization (auto restarting consistency check on redundant volumes).
Redundancy and Error Handling
•
Enclosure management support, including LEDs.
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Activity and fault indicators per drive, port selector (dual-port drives).
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Drive coercion (auto resizing to match existing disks).
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Auto-detection of failed drives with transparent rebuild. Disk activity (I/O to the
drive) must be present for a missing drive to be marked as failed.