Avago Technologies MegaRAID SAS 9240-4i - Manual (Page 89)

LSI Corporation
- 89 -
6Gb/s MegaRAID SAS RAID Controllers User Guide
August 2013
Glossary
B
BIOS Acronym for Basic Input/Output System. Software that provides basic read/write
capability. Usually kept as firmware (ROM-based). The system BIOS on the
motherboard of a computer boots and controls the system. The BIOS on your host
adapter acts as an extension of the system BIOS.
C
configuration Refers to the way a computer is set up, the combined hardware components
(computer, monitor, keyboard, and peripheral devices) that make up a computer
system, or the software settings that allow the hardware components to
communicate with each other.
D
device driver A program that permits a microprocessor (through the operating system) to direct
the operation of a peripheral device.
domain validation A software procedure in which a host queries a device to determine its ability to
communicate at the negotiated data rate.
drive group A group of physical drives that combines the storage space on the drives into a
single segment of storage space. A hot spare drive does not actively participate in
a drive group.
E
EEPROM Acronym for Electronically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory. It is a
memory chip that typically stores configuration information, as it provides stable
storage for long periods without electricity and can be reprogrammed. See
NVRAM .
external SAS device A SAS device installed outside the computer cabinet. These devices are connected
using specific types of shielded cables.
F
Fusion-MPT architecture An acronym for Fusion-Message Passing Technology architecture. Fusion-MPT
consists of several main elements: Fusion-MPT firmware, the Fibre Channel and
SCSI hardware, and the operating system-level drivers that support these
architectures. Fusion-MPT architecture offers a single binary, operating system
driver that supports both Fibre Channel and SCSI devices.
H
host The computer system in which a RAID controller is installed. It uses the RAID
controller to transfer information to and from devices attached to the SCSI bus.
host adapter board A circuit board or integrated circuit that provides a device connection to the
computer system.
hot spare An idle, powered on, standby drive that is ready for immediate use in case of drive
failure. A hot spare does not contain any user data. A hot spare can be dedicated
to a single redundant array or it can be part of the global hot-spare pool for all
arrays managed by the controller.
When a drive fails, the controller firmware automatically replaces and rebuilds the
data from the failed drive to the hot spare. Data can be rebuilt only from virtual
drives with redundancy (RAID levels 1, 5, 6, 10, 50, and 60; not RAID level 0), and
the hot spare must have sufficient capacity.