Dell Sas 6ir Manual

							Glossary69
connections. These connections fan out from the switch, leading directly to the 
devices where the data needs to go. Every device has its own dedicated 
connection, so devices no longer share bandwidth like they do on a normal bus.
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 Dell-qualified 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.
Physical Disk
A physical disk (also known as hard disk drive) consists of one or more rigid 
magnetic discs rotating about a central axle, with associated read/write heads 
and electronics. A physical disk is used to store information, (data), in 
a non-volatile and randomly accessible memory space.
POST 
POST, short for Power-On Self-Test is a process performed before the operating 
system loads when the computer is turned on. The POST tests various system 
components, such as RAM, the physical disks, and the keyboard.
R
RAID
Acronym for Redundant Array of Independent Disks (originally Redundant 
Array of Inexpensive Disks). It is an array of multiple independent physical disks 
managed together to yield higher reliability and/or performance exceeding that 
of a single physical disk. The virtual disk appears to the operating system as a 
single storage unit. I/O is expedited because several disks can be accessed 
simultaneously. Redundant RAID levels provide data protection.
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							70Glossary
ROM
Read-only memory (ROM), also known as firmware, is an integrated circuit 
programmed with specific data when it is manufactured. ROM chips are used 
not only in computers, but in most other electronic items as well. Data stored in 
these chips is nonvolatile i.e., it is not lost when the power is turned off. 
Data stored in these chips is either unchangeable or requires a special operation 
such as flashing to change.
RPM
RPM, short for Red Hat Package Manager is a package management system 
primarily intended for Linux. RPM installs, updates, uninstalls, verifies and 
queries software. RPM is the baseline package format of the Linux Standard 
Base. Originally developed by Red Hat for Red Hat Linux, RPM is now used by 
many Linux distributions. It has also been ported to some other operating 
systems such as NetWare by Novell.
S
SAS
Serial-Attached SCSI, SAS, is 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 connectors, lower 
pin count, and lower power requirements when compared to parallel SCSI.
SATA
Serial Advanced Technology Attachment, a physical storage interface standard, 
is a serial link that provides point-to-point connections between devices. 
The thinner serial cables allow for better airflow within the system and permit 
smaller chassis designs.
SCSI
SCSI stands for Small Computer System Interface, a processor-independent 
standard interface for system-level interfacing between a computer and 
intelligent devices including hard-drives, floppy disks, CD-ROM, printer, 
scanners and many more.
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							Glossary71
SCSIport
SCSIport driver is a Microsoft® driver for Windows® XP storage architecture, 
delivering SCSI commands to the storage targets. The SCSIport driver works 
well with storage using parallel SCSI.
Serial Architecture
Serial architectures have emerged to deliver higher performance by allowing 
more bandwidth per device pathway than their parallel counterparts. 
Serial architecture connections consist of a single pair of transmission signals 
that contain an embedded clock for self-clocking, enabling clock speed to be 
easily scaled. Serial bus architectures also support a network of dedicated 
point-to-point device connections, versus the multi-drop architectures of 
parallel buses, to deliver full bandwidth to each device, eliminate the need for 
bus arbitration, reduce latency, and greatly simplify hot-plug and hot-swap 
system implementations.
Serial Technology
Serial storage technology, specifically Serial ATA, Serial-Attached SCSI and 
PCI Express, address the architectural limitations of their parallel counterparts 
to deliver highly scalable performance. The technology draws its name from the 
way it transmits signals - in a single stream, or serially, compared to multiple 
streams for parallel. The main advantage of serial technology is that while it 
moves data in a single stream, it wraps data bits into individual packets that are 
transferred up to 30 times faster than parallel technology data.
SMART
Acronym for Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology. 
The self-monitoring analysis and reporting technology (SMART) feature 
monitors the internal performance of all motors, heads, and drive electronics 
to detect predictable drive failures. This feature helps monitor drive 
performance and reliability, and protects the data on the drive. When problems 
are detected on a drive, you can replace or repair the drive without losing any 
data. SMART-compliant disks have attributes for which data (values) can be 
monitored to identify changes in values and determine whether the values are 
within threshold limits. Many mechanical failures and some electrical failures 
display some degradation in performance before failure.
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							72Glossary
Storport
The Storport driver has been designed to replace SCSIport and work with 
Windows 2003 and beyond. In addition, it offers better performance for storage 
controllers, providing higher I/O throughput rates, improved manageability, and 
an upgraded miniport interface.
Stripe Element
A stripe element is the portion of a stripe that resides on a single physical disk.
Striping
Disk striping writes data across all physical disks in a virtual disk. Each stripe 
consists of consecutive virtual disk data addresses that are mapped in fixed-size 
units to each physical disk in the virtual disk using a sequential pattern. 
For example, if the virtual disk includes five physical disks, the stripe writes data 
to physical disks one through five without repeating any of the physical disks. 
The amount of space consumed by a stripe is the same on each physical disk. 
The portion of a stripe that resides on a physical disk is a stripe element. 
Striping by itself does not provide data redundancy.
W
Windows
Microsoft Windows is a range of commercial operating environments for 
computers. It provides a graphical user interface (GUI) to access programs and 
data on the computer.
X
XP
XP is a Microsoft Windows operating system. Released in 2001, it is built on the 
Windows 2000 kernel, making it more stable and reliable than previous versions 
of Windows. It includes an improved user interface and more mobility features, 
such as plug and play features used to connect to wireless networks.
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							Index73
Index
B
BIOS, 35
Configuration Utility, 3 6
fault code messages, 3 5
POST messages, 3 5
C
Configuration Utility
functions performed, 3 6
navigating, 3 7
overview, 3 6
starting, 3 6
D
driver diskette, 24
drivers
installation, 2 3
Microsoft operating system 
installation, 2 5
E
electrostatic discharge. See ESD
ESD, 10
F
firmware
update utility, 5 5
updating, 5 5
I
installation
driver, 2 3
SAS 6/iR Adapter, 1 9
Integrated RAID
configuration, 37, 42
create new virtual disk, 3 8
creating IM, 4 3
creating IS, 4 2
Integrated Mirroring, 1 3
Integrated Striping, 1 2
manage array, 4 1
new virtual disk, 3 8
rebuilding virtual disk, 4 6
replacing virtual disk, 4 6
view virtual disk, 4 1
virtual disk activation, 4 5
virtual disk deletion, 4 6
virtual disk properties, 4 4
virtual disk synchronization, 4 5
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							74Index
M
Manage Array, 41
P
PCI-E connector, 11
R
RAID, 11-12
RAID 0, 1 2
RAID 1, 1 2
Red Hat Enterprise Linux, 23
creating a driver diskette, 2 9
installing with the driver update 
diskette, 30
S
safety instructions
for preventing ESD, 1 0
SAS 6/iR
BIOS, 3 5
features, 1 5
overview, 1 1
SAS 6/iR Adapter, 1 1
SAS 6/iR Adapter installation, 19
specifications, 1 5
troubleshooting, 4 9
SCSI
controller, 1 1
T
troubleshooting, 49
BIOS boot order, 49
BIOS error messages, 5 2
Configuration Utility error 
messages, 5 1
physical disk issues, 5 0
W
Windows, 23
drivers, 2 3
updating drivers, 2 8
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