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About This Guide
This Installation and User's Guide explains how to install your Microsemi® Adaptec® RAID controller. It also
describes the utilities included in your controller kit, and provides a basic overview of Serial Attached SCSI
(SAS) and Redundant Array of Independent Disk (RAID) technology.
These Microsemi Adaptec Serial Attached SCSI RAID (ASR) controller models are described in this guide:
• ASR-8405, ASR-8405E
• ASR-8805, ASR-8805E
• ASR-8885, ASR-8885Q
• ASR-81605Z, ASR-81605ZQ
1.1
What You Need to Know Before You Begin
You should be familiar with computer hardware, data storage, RAID technology, and SAS and Serial ATA
(SATA) technology. (For more information about SAS technology, see
You should also be familiar with direct-attached storage (DAS) concepts and technology.
Note: Because this guide covers multiple Microsemi Adaptec RAID products, some of the
features and functions described may not be available for your controller. For more
information, see
About Your RAID Controllercontrollers figurescontrollers descriptions
1.2
Terminology Used in this Guide
Because you can use your Microsemi Adaptec RAID controller to manage data storage in a variety of
configurations, the generic term “storage space” is used to refer to controller(s) and disk drives being
managed with Microsemi Adaptec maxView Storage Manager™ (called simply maxView Storage Manager
in the remainder of this guide) or the other utilities described in this guide.
Many of the terms and concepts referred to in this guide are known to computer users by multiple names.
This guide uses these terms:
• Controller (also known as adapter, board, or card)
• Disk drive (also known as hard disk, hard drive, or hard disk drive)
• Solid State Drive (also known as SSD or non-rotating storage media)
• Enclosure (also known as a RAID enclosure, storage enclosure, or disk drive enclosure)
• Array (also known as a container, logical device, or logical drive)
Note: maxView Storage Manager refers to arrays as logical drives. Your RAID
controller creates arrays, which your operating system (and maxView Storage
Manager) recognizes as logical drives. For more information, refer to the maxView
Storage Manager User’s Guide.
1.3
How to Find More Information
You can find more information about your Microsemi Adaptec RAID controller and utilities software by
referring to these documents, available for download at
.
• Readme.txt—Includes updated product information and known issues.
• maxView Storage Manager User’s Guide for Microsemi ARC-Family Controllers—Describes how to
install and use the maxView Storage Manager software (see
About maxView Storage Managerconcept
)
to manage direct attached storage on Microsemi Adaptec Series 8 controllers.
Note: In the remainder of this guide, this manual is referred to simply as the maxView
Storage Manager User's Guide.
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Microsemi Proprietary and Confidential. Installation and User's Guide Revision 5
About This Guide
