User guide

LSI Corporation
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6Gb/s MegaRAID SAS RAID Controllers User Guide
August 2012
Chapter 1: Overview
General Description
1.2 General Description
The 6Gb/s MegaRAID SATA+SAS RAID controllers bring 6.0 Gb/s Serial Attached SCSI and 6.0 Gb/s SATA III
performance to host adapter, workstation, and server designs. The controllers support internal storage devices and
external storage devices, which allow you to use a system that supports enterprise-class SAS drives and desktop-class
SATA III drives. Each 6Gb/s MegaRAID SATA+SAS RAID controller can connect to drives directly and can use expanders
to connect to additional drives. Simplified cabling between devices is an additional benefit.
These MegaRAID SATA+SAS RAID controllers are based on the following chips and devices:
 LSISAS2008 PCI Express-SAS/SATA I/O Processor chip
 LSISAS2108 RAID On-a-Chip (ROC) device
 LSISAS2208 RAID On-a-Chip (ROC) device
These devices are compliant with the Fusion-MPT™ architecture and provides a PCI Express x8 interface. Each port on
the MegaRAID SAS controllers supports SAS devices, SATA devices, or both, using SSP, SMP, STP, and SATA. The SSP
protocol enables the MegaRAID SAS controllers to communicate with other SAS devices. The SATA protocol enables
the MegaRAID SAS controllers to communicate with SATA devices.
1.3 6Gb/s MegaRAID SATA+SAS RAID Controller Detailed Descriptions
The 6Gb/s MegaRAID SATA+SAS RAID controllers are described in detail in the following subsections.
1.3.1 MegaRAID SAS 9240 RAID Controllers
 The MegaRAID SAS 9240-4i PCI Express 2.0 Low-Profile Serial-Attached SCSI/SATA Disk Array Controller is a
PCI-Express 2.0, half-size, full-height RAID controller based on the LSISAS2008 PCI Express-SAS/SATA I/O Processor
chip. The MegaRAID SAS 9240-4i controller controls four internal 6-Gb/s SAS/SATA ports through one SFF-8087 x4
internal mini SAS connector.
 The MegaRAID SAS 9240-8i PCI Express 2.0 Low-Profile Serial-Attached SCSI/SATA Disk Array Controller is a
PCI-Express 2.0, half-size, full-height RAID controller based on the LSISAS2008 PCI Express-SAS/SATA I/O Processor
chip. The MegaRAID SAS 9240-8i controller controls eight internal 6-Gb/s SAS/SATA ports through two SFF-8087
x4 internal mini SAS connectors.
1.3.2 MegaRAID SAS 9260 RAID Controllers
 The 6Gb/s MegaRAID SAS 9260-4i PCI Express 2.0 Low-Profile Serial-Attached SCSI/SATA Disk Array Controller
controls four internal SAS/SATA ports through one SFF-8087 x4 internal mini SAS connector.
 The 6Gb/s MegaRAID SAS 9260-8i PCI Express 2.0 Low-Profile Serial-Attached SCSI/SATA Disk Array Controller
controls eight internal SAS/SATA ports through two SFF-8087 x4 internal mini SAS connectors.
 The 6Gb/s MegaRAID SAS 9260-16i PCI Express 2.0 Standard-Height Serial-Attached SCSI/SATA Disk Array
Controller controls 16 internal SAS/SATA ports through four SFF-8087 x4 internal mini SAS connectors.
 The 6Gb/s MegaRAID SAS 9260CV-4i PCI Express 2.0 Low-Profile Serial-Attached SCSI/SATA Disk Array Controller
controls four internal SAS/SATA ports through one SFF-8087 x4 internal mini SAS connector, and it has an
onboard CacheVault Flash Module 01 (CVFM01) that connects to a remote CacheVault Power Module 01.
NOTE All of these RAID controllers provide an x8 PCI Express 2.0 interface.