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Intel® RAID Controller SRCSASJV Hardware User’s Guide
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Overview
The Intel
®
RAID Controller SRCSASJV is a high-performance intelligent PCI-Express*
SAS/SATA RAID controller that offers reliability, high performance, and fault-tolerant
disk subsystem management. This is a RAID solution that meets the internal and external
storage needs of workgroup, department, or enterprise systems that use cost-effective
SATA or high performance SAS media.
As a third generation PCI Express storage controller, the Intel
®
RAID Controller
SRCSASJV addresses the demand for increased data throughput and scalability
requirements across entry level and midrange and enterprise server platforms.
The controller can be connected to up to eight drives directly and allows the use of
expanders to connect to additional drives. See the ANSI SAS standard, version 1.0
specification for more information about the use of expanders.
SATA and SAS are serial, point-to-point, device interfaces that use simplified cabling,
smaller connectors, lower pin counts, and lower power requirements than parallel SCSI.
An optional Intel
®
RAID backup battery unit can provide cached data protection for the
RAID controller, even during system failures.
Benefits of SAS
SAS is a serial, point-to-point, enterprise-level device interface that leverages the proven
SCSI protocol set. SAS is a convergence of the advantages of SATA, SCSI, and FC, and is
the future mainstay of the enterprise and high-end workstation storage markets. SAS
offers a higher bandwidth per pin than parallel SCSI and improves signal and data
integrity.
The SAS interface uses the proven SCSI command set to ensure reliable data transfers,
while providing the connectivity and flexibility of point-to-point serial data transfers. The
serial transmission of SCSI commands eliminates clock skew challenges. The SAS
interface provides improved performance, simplified cabling, smaller connectors, lower
pin count, and lower power requirements than parallel SCSI.
SAS controllers leverage a common electrical and physical connection interface that is
compatible with Serial ATA technology. The SAS and SATA protocols use a thin, 7-wire
connector instead of the 68-wire SCSI cable or 40-wire ATA cable. The SAS/SATA
connector and cable are easier to manipulate, connect to smaller devices, and do not
inhibit airflow. The point-to-point SATA architecture eliminates difficulties created by the
legacy ATA master-slave architecture, while maintaining compatibility with existing ATA
firmware.
