Intel AXXROMBSASMR Installation manual

Intel®Integrated RAID Module
SROMBSASMR (AXXROMBSASMR)
Hardware User’s Guide
Intel Order Number: E58607-003

ii Intel® Integrated RAID Module SROMBSASMR Hardware User’s Guide
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Intel® Integrated RAID Module SROMBSASMR Hardware User’s Guide iii
Preface
This is the primary hardware guide for the Intel®Integrated RAID Module
SROMBSASMR (also known as Intel®Integrated RAID Controller SROMBSASMR),
which can be used to manage SAS and SATA disk drives. It contains installation
instructions and specifications.
For details on configuring the storage adapters, and for an overview of the software
drivers, see the Intel®RAID Software User’s Guide on the Resource CD.
Audience
This document assumes that you have some familiarity with RAID controllers/modules
and related support devices. The people who benefit from this book are:
•Engineers who are designing an Intel®Integrated RAID Module SROMBSASMR
for their RAID system.
•Anyone installing an Intel®Integrated RAID Module SROMBSASMR in their
RAID system.
Organization
This document includes the following chapters and appendices:
•Chapter 1 provides a general overview of the Intel®Integrated RAID Module
SROMBSASMR.
•Chapter 2 describes the procedures for installing and configuring the RAID module.
•Chapter 3 provides the characteristics and technical specifications for the Intel®
Integrated RAID Module SROMBSASMR.
•Appendix A explains drive roaming and drive migration.
•Appendix B provides safety instructions to be observed during installation and
assembly.
•Appendix C provides regulatory and certification information.
Related Publication
The Intel®RAID Software User’s Guide is included on the Resource CD that shipped with
the RAID module.

iv Intel® Integrated RAID Module SROMBSASMR Hardware User’s Guide

Intel® Integrated RAID Module SROMBSASMR Hardware User’s Guide v
Table of Contents
Preface ........................................................................................................................iii
Audience ............................................................................................................................... iii
Organization ......................................................................................................................... iii
Related Publication ............................................................................................................... iii
Chapter 1: Overview ................................................................................................... 1
Benefits of SAS and SATA ....................................................................................................1
Intel®Integrated RAID Module SROMBSASMR ...................................................................2
Protocol Support ............................................................................................................2
Operating System Support ............................................................................................2
Usability .........................................................................................................................3
Redundancy and Error Handling ...................................................................................3
SAS/SATA Features ......................................................................................................4
Online Capacity Expansion and RAID Level Migration Rules .......................................5
Chapter 2: Intel®Integrated RAID Module SROMBSASMR Hardware Installation 7
Requirements ........................................................................................................................7
Installing the RAID Module ....................................................................................................7
Configuring the RAID Module ..............................................................................................11
Replacing a Controller, Resolving a Config Mismatch .........................................................11
Chapter 3: Intel®Integrated RAID Module SROMBSASMR Characteristics ....... 13
Technical Specifications ......................................................................................................14
Array Performance Features ...............................................................................................14
Fault Tolerance ............................................................................................................15
Electrical Characteristics .............................................................................................16
Thermal and Atmospheric Characteristics ...................................................................16
Safety Characteristics ..................................................................................................16
Appendix A: Drive Roaming and Drive Migration Install ...................................... 17
Drive Roaming .....................................................................................................................17
Drive Migration .....................................................................................................................18
Appendix B: .....................................Installation / Assembly Safety Instructions 19
English .................................................................................................................................21
Deutsch ................................................................................................................................22
Français ...............................................................................................................................23
Español ................................................................................................................................25
Italiano .................................................................................................................................26
Appendix C: Regulatory and Certification Information ........................................ 29
Product Safety and EMC Compliance .................................................................................29

vi Intel® Integrated RAID Module SROMBSASMR Hardware User’s Guide

Intel® Integrated RAID Module SROMBSASMR Hardware User’s Guide vii
List of Figures
Figure 1. Installing the Snap Standoff ....................................................................................... 8
Figure 2. Installing the Intel®Integrated RAID Module SROMBSASMR .................................. 9
Figure 3. Connecting Cable between the RAID Module and Drives/Backplane...................... 10
Figure 4. Card Layout.............................................................................................................. 13

viii Intel® Integrated RAID Module SROMBSASMR Hardware User’s Guide

Intel® Integrated RAID Module SROMBSASMR Hardware User’s Guide ix
List of Tables
Table 1. Jumper Description ...................................................................................................13
Table 2. Technical Specifications ............................................................................................14
Table 3. Array Performance Features .....................................................................................14
Table 4. Fault Tolerance Features ..........................................................................................15

xIntel® Integrated RAID Module SROMBSASMR Hardware User’s Guide

Intel® Integrated RAID Module SROMBSASMR Hardware User’s Guide 1
1Overview
The Intel®Integrated RAID Module SROMBSASMR (also known as Intel®Integrated
RAID Controller SROMBSASMR) is a high-performance intelligent custom board-to-
board PCI Express* SAS/SATA RAID module that offers reliability, high performance,
and fault-tolerant disk subsystem management. This is a RAID 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 third generation PCI Express* storage controller, the Intel®Integrated RAID Module
SROMBSASMR addresses the 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 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 1.0 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.
The optional Intel®RAID Smart Battery AXXRSBBU3 provides cached data protection
for the RAID module, even during system failures.
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.

2Intel® Integrated RAID Module SROMBSASMR Hardware User’s Guide
Intel®Integrated RAID Module SROMBSASMR
The Intel®Integrated RAID Module SROMBSASMR is an intelligent custom board-to-
board PCI Express* interface RAID adapter with an integrated LSI* 1078 RAID-On-Chip
chipset, providing both a SAS controller and RAID engine. With 128 MB RAM built onto
the board and four internal ports with four individual SAS/SATA connectors, this
controller supports up to 16 enterprise-class SAS or SATA devices and 64 logical drives.
The proprietary PCI Express* connector fits into a 50-pin connector capable of 2.5 Gbps
per lane over PCI Express* x4 with a 3.0 Gbps point-to-point transfer rate.
The RAID module is designed to fit the following Intel®Server Boards and Systems:
•Intel®Server Board S5520UR
•Intel®Server System SR1600UR
•Intel®Server System SR1625UR
•Intel®Server System SR2600UR
•Intel®Server System SR2625UR
•Intel®Server Board S5520HC/S5500HCV
•Intel®Workstation Board S5520SC
•Intel®Server Board S5500WB
Note: Additional Intel®Server Boards and Systems may be supported. For the most up-to-date
list, see the Compatibility section under the link for this Intel®RAID Module at
http://support.intel.com/support/motherboards/server/.
The SAS controller supports the ANSI Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) Standard, Version 1.0
and the Serial ATA (SATA) protocol defined by the Serial ATA Specification, Version
1.0a.
Protocol Support
•Serial SCSI Protocol (SSP): Communication with other SAS devices.
•SATA II Protocol: Communication with other SATA II devices.
•Serial Management Protocol (SMP): Topology management information sharing
with expanders.
•Serial Tunneling Protocol (STP): Support for SATA II through expander interfaces.
Operating System Support
•Windows Server 2008*, Windows Server 2003*, Windows Vista*, Windows XP*.
•Red Hat* Enterprise Linux 4.0, and 5.0.
•SuSE* Linux Enterprise Server 9 and 10.

Intel® Integrated RAID Module SROMBSASMR Hardware User’s Guide 3
The operating systems supported 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/.
To make sure the RAID module supports your operating system, see also the Tested
Hardware and Operating System List for the Intel®Integrated RAID Module
SROMBSASMR.
Usability
•Small, thin cabling with serial point-to-point 3.0 Gbps data transfer rates.
•Support for non-disk devices and mixed capacity drives.
•Support for intelligent XOR RAID levels 0, 1, 5, 6, 10, 50, and 60.
•Dedicated or global hot spare with auto rebuild if an array drive fails.
•User defined stripe size per drive: 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, or 1024 KB.
•Advanced array configuration and management utilities provide:
— Online Capacity Expansion (OCE) adds space to existing drive or new drive.
See Appendix A: Drive Roaming and Drive Migration Install for limitations on
OCE and RAID migration.
— Online RAID level migration (upgrade of RAID mode may require OCE)
— Drive migration
— Drive roaming
— No reboot necessary after expansion
•Upgradeable Flash ROM interface.
•Allows for staggered spin-up, hot-plug, and lower power consumption.
•User specified rebuild rate (percent of system resources to use from 0-100%).
Caution: Exceeding 50% rate may cause operating system errors due to waiting for
controller access.
•Background operating mode can be set for Rebuilds, Consistency Checks,
Initialization (auto restarting Consistency Check on redundant volumes), Migration,
OCE, and Patrol Read.
Redundancy and Error Handling
•In-band and out-of-band SES2.
•Enclosure management support.
•Fault indicators per drive.
•Drive coercion (auto-resizing to match existing disks).

4Intel® Integrated RAID Module SROMBSASMR Hardware User’s Guide
•Auto-detection of failed drives with transparent rebuild. There must be disk activity
(I/O to the drive) for a missing drive to be marked as failed.
•Auto-resume of initialization or rebuild on reboot (the Auto Rebuild feature must be
enabled before virtual disk creation).
•Smart initialization automatically checks consistency of virtual disks if there are five
or more disks in a RAID 5 array, which optimizes performance by enabling read-
modify-write mode. RAID 5 arrays of only three or four drives use Peer Read mode.
•Smart Technology predicts failures of drives and electronic components.
•Patrol Read checks drives and maps bad sectors.
•Commands are retried at least four times.
•Firmware provides best effort to recognize an error and recover if possible.
•Failures are logged from controller and drive firmware, and SMART monitor.
•Failures are logged in NVRAM, viewable from OS Event Log, Intel®RAID Web
Console 2, CIM, and LEDs.
•Multiple cache options allow configuration-specific performance optimization:
— Write-back: Faster because it does not wait for the disk but data will be lost if
power is lost.
— Write-through: Usually slower but ensures data is on the disk.
— Read Ahead: Predicts next read will be sequential and buffers this data into the
cache.
— Non Read Ahead: Always reads from the drive after determining exact location
of each read.
— Adaptive Read Ahead: Reads ahead and caches data only if doing sequential
reads.
— I/O setting. Determines whether read operations check the cache before reading
from disks.
✧Cache I/O: Checks cache first, only reads disk if data is not in the cache.
✧Direct I/O: Reads data directly from disk. (not cache)
•Redundancy through:
— Configuration stored in non-volatile RAM and on the drives (COD).
— Hot-swap support.
— Optional battery backup for cache memory.
SAS/SATA Features
•Provides four independent PHYs, each supporting 3.0 Gbps SAS and SATA data
transfers.
•Scalable interface that supports up to 16 physical devices and 64 logical devices via
expanders.

Intel® Integrated RAID Module SROMBSASMR Hardware User’s Guide 5
•Supports Serial SCSI Protocol (SSP) to enable communication with other SAS
devices.
•Supports Serial Management Protocol (SMP) to communicate topology
management information.
•Allows addressing of multiple SATA targets through an expander if using SATA 2.0-
compliant hard disk drives.
•Allows multiple initiators to address a single target (in a fail-over configuration)
through an expander.
Online Capacity Expansion and RAID Level Migration Rules
•Migration must occur to the same or larger capacity configuration.
•Migration cannot occur if there is more than one virtual disk in a logical array.
•Migration and OCE cannot be done on Spanned Arrays (RAID 10, 50, 60).
•Migrations supported are RAID 1 to RAID 0, RAID 5 to RAID 0, RAID 6 to RAID
0.
•With OCE, migrations supported are RAID 0 to RAID 1, RAID 0 to RAID 5, RAID
1 to RAID 5.

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Intel® Integrated RAID Module SROMBSASMR Hardware User’s Guide 7
2Intel®Integrated RAID Module
SROMBSASMR Hardware Installation
Requirements
•Intel®Integrated RAID Module SROMBSASMR, with the provided standoffs
•A host system with an available 50-pin PCI Express* connector
•Resource CD, which contains drivers and documentation
•SAS or SATA 3.0 hard drives
•Four provided SAS/SATA cables (for cable requirements, see step 6 in “Installing
the RAID Module”)
Note: Intel Corporation strongly recommends using an uninterruptible power supply (UPS).
Installing the RAID Module
To install the RAID Module, follow these steps:
1. Turn off the power to the system, all drives, enclosures, and system components.
Remove the power cord(s).
2. Remove the server cover. For instructions, see your server system documentation.
3. Insert the three snap standoffs into the matching holes in the server/workstation
board. To locate the matching module card slot on your server/workstation board,
see your server/workstation board documentation.

8Intel® Integrated RAID Module SROMBSASMR Hardware User’s Guide
The Intel®Server Board S5520HC/S5500HCV is shown for illustrative purpose
(see Figure 1).
Server Board
AF003047
A
Figure 1. Installing the Snap Standoff
4. Attach the Intel®Integrated RAID Module SROMBSASMR module card to the
matching server/workstation board connector, and press the module card firmly to
engage the snap standoffs installed in step 3 (see Figure 2).
5. Press down gently but firmly to ensure that the card is properly seated in the
connector.

Server Board
A
AF003048
Intel® Integrated RAID Module SROMBSASMR Hardware User’s Guide 9
Figure 2. Installing the Intel®Integrated RAID Module SROMBSASMR
6. Connect the SAS/SATA cables from the backplane (or hard drives) to the RAID
module (see Figure 3). For information regarding connecting the recommended
Right-angle end or Vertical end of the SAS/SATA cable to the SAS connectors of
the controller, see your server/workstation board or chassis documentation. Make
sure the cables are properly connected to the controller.
Note: System throughput problems can occur if non-standard SAS cables are used.
To minimize the potential for problems:
✧Use cables no longer than ten meters for SAS and one meter for SATA. It is
better to use the shortest possible cables. The cable length should be reduced
by about one foot (.33 meters) if using a backplane.
✧You may connect one device per SATA/SAS cable either as a device or as an
expander.
✧Route SAS cables carefully.
✧Use only “straight” SAS cables, not “cross-over” SAS cables. .

AF003046
10 Intel® Integrated RAID Module SROMBSASMR Hardware User’s Guide
Figure 3. Connecting Cable between the RAID Module and Drives/Backplane
7. Install the server system cover and connect the power cords. See your server system
documentation for instructions.