Operating system support, Beep codes, Benefits of serial attached scsi (sas) – Intel raid controller srcsas144e User Manual

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Intel® RAID Controller SRCSAS144E Hardware Guide

Operating System Support

The RAID Controller SRCSAS144E supports major operating systems, including:

• Windows 2000*, Windows Server 2003*, and Windows XP*
• Red Hat* Enterprise Linux 3.0 and 4.0
• SuSe* Linux Enterprise Server 9 and 9 SP1

Note: The operating systems supported by this controller may not be supported by your server

board. See the tested operating system list for your server board at

http://support.intel.com/support/motherboards/server/. See also the tested hardware and

operating system list for the RAID Controller SRCSAS144E to make sure the RAID card

supports your operating system.

Beep Codes

• Short beep, 1 second on, 1 second off: The array is degraded, but no data is lost
• Long beep, 3 seconds on, 1 second off: The array has failed and data has been lost.
• Short beep, 1 second on, 3 seconds off: Using hot spare in rebuild. The alarm will

continue during the rebuild with a different sound at completion.

To disable the alarm, choose Disable Alarm. To disable the alarm only until the next event

or until the next power cycle, choose Silence Alarm. To enable the alarm, choose Enable

Alarm.

Benefits of Serial Attached SCSI (SAS)

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 when compared to 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, allow connections to smaller devices, and do

not inhibit airflow. The point-to-point SATA architecture eliminates inherent difficulties

created by the legacy ATA master-slave architecture, while maintaining compatibility with

existing ATA firmware.

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