Overview; Benefits Of Sas And Sata - Intel AXXRMS2AF080 Hardware User's Manual

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Overview

The Intel
performance intelligent custom board-to-board PCI Express* 2.0 compliant SAS/SATA
RAID module that offers reliability, high performance, and fault-tolerant disk subsystem
management based on the Intel
solution that meets the internal storage needs of workgroup, department, or enterprise
systems to use cost-effective SATA or high performance SAS media.
As a second generation PCI Express* storage controller, the Intel
Module RMS2AF040 and RMS2AF080 addresses the growing demand for increased data
throughput and scalability requirements across entry level, midrange, and enterprise
server platforms.
The controller can be connected to up to four drives (RMS2AF040) or eight drives
(RMS2AF080) directly and allows the use of expanders to connect to additional drives.
For more information about the use of expanders, see the ANSI SAS Standard, version 2.0
specification.
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.

Benefits of SAS and SATA

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.
Intel® Integrated RAID Module RMS2AF040 and RMS2AF080 Hardware User's Guide
®
Integrated RAID Module RMS2AF040 and RMS2AF080 is a high-
®
SAS Hardware RAID Software Stack. This is a RAID
®
Integrated RAID
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