SATA topologies
The following internal and external topologies use a SATA controller only. However, the Serial ATA
STP enables SAS controllers to communicate with SATA devices through expanders and, therefore,
allows SATA drives to be deployed in a SAS domain. For information, refer to the technology brief
“Serial Attached SCSI technology” at
http://h18004.www1.hp.com/products/servers/technology/whitepapers/proliant-storage.html
.
Internal
Figure 9 shows a topology that can be used for internal RAID systems incorporating SATA drives.
Each drive has a point-to-point connection to the controller. The controller can support a maximum of
six drives.
Figure 9.
Topology for internal RAID array using six internal ports on a SATA RAID Controller
External
Port multipliers enable a single SATA HBA port to connect up to four times as many drives with no
performance degradation and, as a result, reduce cabling complexity (Figure 10).
Figure 10.
Topology for external storage applications
8
