Avago Technologies MegaRAID Fast Path Software - Manual (Page 13)

LSI Corporation Confidential | July 2011 Page 13
MegaRAID SAS Software User Guide Chapter 1: Overview | SAS Technology
Chapter 1
This guide describes how to use the MegaRAID Storage Manager™ software, the
WebBIOS™ configuration utility, and the MegaRAID command line interface (CLI).
This chapter documents the SAS technology, Serial ATA (SATA) technology, MegaRAID
CacheCade™ 2.0 SSD Read Caching software, SSD Guard™, Dimmer Switch™, UEFI 2.0,
configuration scenarios, and drive types. Other features such as FastPath and SafeStore
are described in other chapters of this guide.
NOTE: This guide does not include the latest CacheCade and Enterprise Key
Management System (EKMS) features.
1.1 SAS Technology The MegaRAID 6Gb/s SAS RAID controllers are high-performance intelligent PCI
Express-to-SAS/Serial ATA II controllers with RAID control capabilities. MegaRAID 6Gb/s
SAS RAID controllers provide reliability, high performance, and fault-tolerant disk
subsystem management. They are an ideal RAID solution for the internal storage of
workgroup, departmental, and enterprise systems. MegaRAID 6Gb/s SAS RAID
controllers offer a cost-effective way to implement RAID in a server.
SAS technology brings a wealth of options and flexibility with the use of SAS devices,
Serial ATA (SATA) II devices, and CacheCade 2.0 SSD Read Caching software devices
within the same storage infrastructure. These devices bring individual characteristics
that make each of these more suitable choice depending on your storage needs.
MegaRAID gives you the flexibility to combine these two similar technologies on the
same controller, within the same enclosure, and in the same virtual drive.
NOTE: LSI® recommends that you carefully assess any decision to combine SAS drives
and SATA drives within the same virtual drives. Although you can mix drives, LSI strongly
discourages this practice; this applies to both HDDs and CacheCade 2.0 SSD Read
Caching software.
Overview
This chapter provides an overview of this guide, which documents the utilities used to
configure, monitor, and maintain MegaRAID® Serial-attached SCSI (SAS) RAID
controllers with RAID control capabilities and the storage-related devices connected to
them.