Intel S5000VSA User Guide - Page 23

SAS Server Board In addition to the SATA features described above, SAS models of the server board (order code S5000VSASAS/S5000VSASASR) also have a dual-mode 4-port Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) controller that supports both SAS and SATA hard disk drives. This controller is capable of data transfer rates of up to 3.0 Gbps per port.The SAS controller (in RAID mode) supports eight physical drives and eight logical arrays. The SAS controller (in native mode) supports up to 120 physical drives when expanders are used. The BIOS Setup utility includes options on the Advanced | Mass Storage setup page to enable or disable the SAS option ROM and the SAS controller. Both of these options must be enabled to use RAID. • When the SAS controller is enabled, the two black SATA ports on the server board continue to function as SATA ports. The four blue ports can be used as either SAS or SATA ports. When the SAS controller is disabled in the BIOS Setup utility, only the two black SATA ports will be available. • When the SAS option ROM is enabled in the BIOS Setup utility, Intel® Embedded Server RAID Technology II is available. This enables SAS RAID modes 0, 1, or 10 for the four blue ports on the server board. The SAS controller can mix SAS and SATA drives. If the SAS option ROM is disabled in the BIOS Setup utility, but the SAS controller is enabled, the four blue ports on the server board continue to function as either SAS or SATA ports and the two black ports on the server board continue to function as SATAonly ports. However, RAID support is not available unless enabled in the BIOS for either SATA or SAS. SAS server boards can use either or both of the SAS and SATA controllers. Either one or two Intel® RAID Activation Keys AXXRAKSW5 can be installed, one for the SAS controller and/or one for the SATA controller. The RAID controllers have separate configuration utilities available at boot, but they share the Intel® RAID Web Console 2 management utility. Both SAS and SATA controllers support SGPIO enclosure management. Two SGPIO connectors are available on SAS models of the server board, one for the SAS controller and one for the SATA controller. If RAID 5 is desired, the optional Intel® RAID Activation Key AXXRAKSW5 (available post-release) can be installed. To enable RAID 5, this activation key is placed on the SAS_Key connector that is located at the left side of the server board. For information on how to install the Intel® RAID Activation Key AXXRAKSW5 accessory to enable RAID 5, see the documentation that is included with the accessory kit. Notes: For assistance in navigating through the BIOS Setup utility, see the Intel® Server Board S5000VSA Technical Product Specification. For information on RAID configuration through the BIOS console and Intel® RAID Web Console 2, see the RAID Software Guide. Intel® Server Board S5000VSA User's Guide 5