LSI MegaRAID(R) 6 Gb/s SAS RAID Controllers 25083 User Manual

Page of 78
 
A-3
Copyright © 2009 by LSI Corporation. All rights reserved.
peripheral 
devices
A piece of hardware (such as a video monitor, drive, printer, or CD-ROM) 
used with a computer and under the control of the computer. SCSI 
peripherals are controlled through a SAS MegaRAID SAS RAID 
controller (host adapter).
PHY
The interface required to transmit and receive data packets transferred 
across the serial bus. 
Each PHY can form one side of the physical link in a connection with a 
PHY on a different SATA device. The physical link contains four wires that 
form two differential signal pairs. One differential pair transmits signals, 
while the other differential pair receives signals. Both differential pairs 
operate simultaneously and allow concurrent data transmission in both 
the receive and the transmit directions.
RAID
Acronym for Redundant Array of Independent Disks (originally 
Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks). An array of multiple independent 
drives managed together to yield higher reliability, performance, or both 
exceeding that of a single drive. The RAID array appears to the controller 
as a single storage unit. I/O is expedited because several drives can be 
accessed simultaneously. Redundant RAID levels (RAID levels 1, 5, 6, 
10, 50, and 60) provide data protection.
RAID levels
A set of techniques applied to drive groups to deliver higher data 
availability, performance characteristics, or both to host environments. 
Each virtual drive must have a RAID level assigned to it.
SAS
Acronym for Serial Attached SCSI. A serial, point-to-point, 
enterprise-level device interface that leverages the proven SCSI protocol 
set. The SAS interface provides improved performance, simplified 
cabling, smaller connections, lower pin count, and lower power 
requirements when compared to parallel SCSI. SAS controllers leverage 
a common electrical and physical connection interface that is compatible 
with Serial ATA. The SAS controllers support the ANSI Serial Attached 
SCSI Standard, Version 2.0
. In addition, the controller supports the 
Serial ATA II (SATA II) protocol defined by the Serial ATA Specification, 
Version 1.0a
. Supporting both the SAS interface and the SATA II 
interface, the SAS controller is a versatile controller that provides the 
backbone of both server and high-end workstation environments. Each 
port on the SAS RAID controller supports SAS devices, SATA II devices, 
or both.