How Do SAS Devices Communicate?...........................................................................................................70
What’s a Phy?...............................................................................................................................................71
What’s a SAS Port?.......................................................................................................................................71
What’s a SAS Address?.................................................................................................................................71
What’s a SAS Connector?.............................................................................................................................72
What do SAS Cables Look Like?....................................................................................................................72
How are Disk Drives Identied in SAS? ........................................................................................................72
What are the SAS Connection Options?.......................................................................................................72
Direct-attach Connections...............................................................................................................72
Backplane Connections...................................................................................................................73
SAS Expander Connections..............................................................................................................73
How is SAS Different from Parallel SCSI? .....................................................................................................74
Appendix B Understanding RAID.............................................................................................................................75
Understanding Drive Segments....................................................................................................................75
Non-redundant Arrays (RAID 0)...................................................................................................................75
RAID 1 Arrays ...............................................................................................................................................76
RAID 1 Enhanced Arrays...............................................................................................................................76
RAID 10 Arrays..............................................................................................................................................77
RAID 5 Arrays................................................................................................................................................78
RAID 5EE Arrays............................................................................................................................................79
RAID 50 Arrays..............................................................................................................................................80
RAID 6 Arrays................................................................................................................................................81
RAID 60 Arrays..............................................................................................................................................81
Comparing RAID Levels................................................................................................................................82
Appendix C Using the Adaptec RAID Conguration Utility......................................................................................83
Introduction to the ARC Utility.....................................................................................................................83
Ctrl-A or uEFI/HII? ...........................................................................................................................83
Running the ARC Utility...................................................................................................................83
Using the ARC Utility to Create and Manage Arrays....................................................................................84
Creating a New Array.......................................................................................................................84
Managing Existing Arrays.................................................................................................................84
Creating Bootable Arrays....................................................................................................84
Modifying Power Management Settings.............................................................................85
Modifying Cache Settings....................................................................................................85
Initializing Disk Drives......................................................................................................................86
Rescanning Disk Drives....................................................................................................................86
Secure Erasing Disk Drives...............................................................................................................86
Stopping a Secure Erase......................................................................................................86
Uninitializing Disk Drives.................................................................................................................87
Managing Global Hot Spares...........................................................................................................87
Creating and Managing JBODs.........................................................................................................87
Creating a New JBOD..........................................................................................................87
Managing Existing JBODs....................................................................................................87
Converting a JBOD Into a Simple Volume............................................................................88
Managing the maxCache Pool.........................................................................................................88
Using the ARC Utility to Modify Controller Settings.....................................................................................88
Opening the Controller Settings Tool ..............................................................................................88
Applying Changes and Exiting..........................................................................................................88
Modifying Your Controller’s Conguration......................................................................................88
General Controller Settings ................................................................................................89
Power Management Settings..............................................................................................91
Preserving the Controller Cache.........................................................................................91
Enabling and Disabling Controller Cache Preservation ..........................................91
Clearing the Controller Cache ................................................................................92
Checking the Cache Preservation Status................................................................92
Checking Backup Unit Status...........................................................................................................92
Formatting and Verifying Disk Drives...........................................................................................................92
Locating Disk Drives.....................................................................................................................................92
Identifying Disk Drives .................................................................................................................................93
6Proprietary and Condential to PMC-Sierra, Inc., and for its customers.
Document No.: CDP-00310-01-A Rev. A, Issue
Serial Attached SCSI RAID Controllers Installation and User's Guide