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Chapter 4: Installing the HostRAID Controller and Disk Drives l31
You have these connection options:
● Connecting Directly to the HostRAID Controller (see below).
● Connecting to a Backplane on page 31.
Connecting Directly to the HostRAID Controller
In a direct-attach connection, SAS or SATA disk drives are connected directly to a SAS
HostRAID controller with SAS cables. The number of direct-attached disk drives is limited to
four per internal SAS connector. For more information, see Direct-Attach Connections on page
61.
1 Install your internal SAS or SATA disk drives, following the instructions in your system’s
documentation.
2 Use internal SAS cables to connect the disk drives to the SAS HostRAID controller.
3 When you have installed all disk drives and connected the to SAS HostRAID controller,
close your computer cabinet, and reconnect the power cord.
Connecting to a Backplane
In a backplane connection, disk drives and SAS HostRAID controllers are connected to, and
communicate with each other through a backplane.
The number of disk drives is limited to the number of slots available on the backplane. Some
backplanes have embedded SAS expanders and can support up to 128 end devices. For more
information about expander connections, see page 32.
1 Connect one or more internal SAS or SATA disk drives to the backplane. Refer to your
system’s documentation for more information.
2 Use an internal SAS cable to connect the SAS HostRAID controller to the backplane.
SATA disk drives attached to
controller with fan-out cable
External
SAS cable
External SAS connector