Intel RS2WG160 Hardware User Guide - Page 36

Supported Device Technology The various device technologies supported by the Intel® RAID Controller RS2WG160 is described in the subsections that follow. Support for Hard Disk Drive Devices The Intel® RAID Controller RS2WG160 integrates sixteen internal high-performance SAS/SATA II ports that support SAS and enterprise-class SATA hard drives. Each port supports both SAS and SATA devices using the SAS Serial SCSI Protocol(SSP), Serial Management Protocol (SMP), and Serial Tunneling Protocol (STP). The SSP protocol enables communication with other SAS devices. STP allows the SAS RAID controller to communicate with SATA devices using the SATA commands. SAS Expander Support The Intel® RAID Controller RS2WG160 supports LSI* expanders, Vitesse SAS expanders, and PMC expanders that are used as a component in Intel and 3rd party enclosures. Other expanders may be supported post launch, based on market conditions and customer requirements. Support for Non-Hard Disk Drive Devices Selected non-hard drive devices are supported for use with this controller. For information on support for non-hard drive devices, see this RAID controller's Tested Hardware and Operating System List. Enclosure Management Support The Intel® RAID Controller RS2WG160 SES2 enclosure management in-band to expander-based backplanes and out-of-band to direct-connect backplanes. These RAID Controllers also support the internal SAS sideband signal SFF-8485 (SGPIO) enclosure management interface. RAID Functionality and Features Hierarchy The fundamental purpose of a RAID system is to present a usable data storage medium (virtual drive) with some level of redundancy to a host operating system. The Intel® RAID firmware is based on the concept of associating physical drives in arrays and then 26 Intel® RAID Controller RS2WG160 Hardware User's Guide