Intel SASMF8I Computer Hardware User Manual


 
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.
Allows mixed connections to SAS or SATA II targets.
Support for non-disk devices and mixed capacity drives.
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.
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.
Activity and fault indicators per drive, port selector (dual-port drives).
Drive coercion (auto resizing to match existing disks).
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.