Intel 12Gb/s, RS3WC080, RS3DC040, RS3DC080 User Manual

12Gb/s Intel® RAID Controllers
User Guide

Intel Order Number: H21668-001

ii 12Gb/s Intel® RAID Controllers User Guide

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12Gb/s Intel® RAID Controllers User Guide iii

Preface

This is the primary user guide for the 12Gb/s Intel® RAID Controllers. It contains
installation instructions and specifications.

Audience

The people who benefit from this document are:

• 12Gb/s Intel

®

RAID Controller users

Organization

This document includes the following chapters and glossary:

• Chapter 1 provides a general overview of the 12Gb/s Intel

®

RAID Controller.

• Chapter 2 provides the instructions on how to install the 12Gb/s Intel

®

RAID

Controller.

• Chapter 3 describes the characteristics of the 12Gb/s Intel

®

RAID Controller.

• Glossary describes how to use the command-line-driven SAS-3 Integrated RAID

configuration utility (SAS3IRCU) to create and manage Integrated RAID volumes
on Intel SAS-3 controllers.

Related Publication

This is the primary hardware guide for the 12Gb/s Intel® RAID Controllers. It contains
installation instructions and specifications to aid in the configuration and use of this
product.

iv 12Gb/s Intel® RAID Controllers User Guide

12Gb/s Intel® RAID Controllers User Guide v

Table of Contents

Preface ........................................................................................................................iii

Audience ............................................................................................................................... iii

Organization ......................................................................................................................... iii

Related Publication ............................................................................................................... iii

12Gb/s Intel® RAID Controller Overview .................................................................. 1

Overview ................................................................................................................................1

12Gb/s Intel

®

RAID Controllers with Support for RAID Maintenance Free Back Units . 2

SAS/SATA Standards and Communication Protocols ...................................................2

General Description ...............................................................................................................2

12Gb/s Intel

®

RAID Controller Detailed Descriptions ............................................................3

Intel

®

RAID Controller RS3WC080 ...............................................................................3

Intel

®

RAID Controller RS3DC040 and RS3DC080 ...................................................... 3

Configuration Scenarios ........................................................................................................3

Benefits of the SAS Interface .................................................................................................4

PCI Express Architecture ..............................................................................................5

Operating System Support ............................................................................................5

Summary of 12Gb/s Intel

®

RAID Controller Characteristics ..................................................6

SAS Features ................................................................................................................7

SAS Array Limitations ....................................................................................................7

SATA III Features ..........................................................................................................8

PCI Express Performance .............................................................................................9

Usability Features ..........................................................................................................9

Flexibility Features .........................................................................................................9

Drive Roaming .............................................................................................................10

Drive Migration ............................................................................................................10

Hardware Specifications ......................................................................................................11

12Gb/s Intel® RAID Controller Hardware Installation ............................................ 13

Requirements ......................................................................................................................13

Quick Installation .................................................................................................................13

Detailed Installation .............................................................................................................14

After Installing the RAID Controller ......................................................................................16

SAS Device Cables and Connectors ...................................................................................16

Connecting a RAID Controller with Internal Port Connectors by Cable to Internal Drives

18

12Gb/s Intel® RAID Controller Characteristics ...................................................... 21

12Gb/s Intel® RAID Controller Family .................................................................................21

Intel

®

RAID Controller RS3WC080 .............................................................................21

Intel

®

RAID Controller RS3DC040 and RS3DC080 .................................................... 23

vi 12Gb/s Intel® RAID Controllers User Guide

12Gb/s Intel® RAID Controller Characteristics .................................................................... 27

Technical Specifications ...................................................................................................... 28

RAID Controller Specifications .................................................................................... 28

Array Performance Features ....................................................................................... 29

Fault Tolerance ........................................................................................................... 29

Electrical Characteristics ............................................................................................. 30

Safety Characteristics ................................................................................................. 32

Glossary .....................................................................................................................33

12Gb/s Intel® RAID Controllers User Guide vii

List of Figures

Figure 1. Example of an Intel SAS Direct-Connect Application................................................. 4

Figure 2. Example of an Intel SAS RAID Controller Configured with an LSISASx12 Expander 4
Figure 3. Example of the Intel

®

RAID Controller RS3DC080 Installation in a PCIe Slot......... 15

Figure 4. Internal SAS Cable for Connection to SAS Drives, SATA II Drives, or SATA III Drives
17

Figure 5. SATA III Connectors ................................................................................................ 17

Figure 6. SAS Plugs, SATA Plugs, and SAS Backplane Receptacle Connector .................... 18

Figure 7. Connecting the Intel

®

RAID Controller RS3DC080 to a Drive ................................. 19

Figure 8. Card Layout for the Intel

®

RAID Controller RS3WC080 .......................................... 22

Figure 9. Card Layout for the Intel

®

RAID Controller RS3DC080 ........................................... 24

viii 12Gb/s Intel® RAID Controllers User Guide

12Gb/s Intel® RAID Controllers User Guide ix

List of Tables

Table 1. 12Gb/s Intel® RAID Controller Features .....................................................................6

Table 2. 12Gb/s Intel

®

RAID Controller Array Limitations .........................................................8

Table 3. 12Gb/s Intel

®

RAID Controller Hardware Specifications ...........................................12

Table 4. Jumpers and Connectors on the Intel

®

RAID Controller RS3WC080 .......................22

Table 5. Jumpers and Connectors on the Intel

®

RAID Controller RS3DC080 ........................24

Table 6. 12Gb/s Intel

®

RAID Controller Characteristics ..........................................................27

Table 7. RAID Controller Specifications ..................................................................................28

Table 8. Array Performance Features .....................................................................................29

Table 9. Fault Tolerance Features ..........................................................................................30

Table 10. Power Supply for the Intel

®

RAID Controller RS3WC080 .......................................30

Table 11. Power Supply for the Intel

®

RAID Controller RS3DC0x0 ........................................31

x 12Gb/s Intel® RAID Controllers User Guide

12Gb/s Intel® RAID Controllers User Guide 1

1 12Gb/s Intel

®

RAID Controller

Overview

This document is the primary reference and user’s guide for the Intel® RAID Controllers
based on the 12Gb/s SAS/SATA RAID-on-a-chip (ROC) devices. This document contains
complete installation instructions and specifications for these RAID controllers.

Overview

The 12Gb/s Intel® RAID Controllers are high-performance intelligent PCIe-to­SATA+SAS controllers with RAID control capability. The 12Gb/s Intel

®

RAID
Controllers provide reliability, high-performance, and fault-tolerant drive subsystem
management. They are an ideal RAID solution for the internal storage of workgroup,
departmental, and enterprise systems.The 12Gb/s Intel

®

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 and

SATA devices within the same storage infrastructure. However, SAS devices and SATA
devices bring individual characteristics that make each one a more suitable choice
depending on your storage needs. The 12Gb/s Intel

®

RAID Controller 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: Carefully assess any decision to mix SAS drives and SATA drives within the same virtual

drive. Although you can mix drives, the practice is strongly discouraged.

Intel offers a family of 12Gb/s Intel® RAID Controllers that address the needs for both
internal and external solutions. The 12Gb/s Intel

®

RAID Controllers are based on the LSI
first-to-market SAS IC technology and proven MegaRAID technology. As second­generation PCIe RAID controllers, these controllers address the growing demand for
increased data throughput and scalability requirements across midrange and enterprise­class server platforms. These controllers provide these features:

• 12 Gb/s Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) performance

• 6 Gb/s SATA III performance

• Eight-lane, 8 GT/s PCIe host interface

2 12Gb/s Intel® RAID Controllers User Guide

12Gb/s Intel® RAID Controllers with Support for RAID
Maintenance Free Back Units

The Intel® RAID Controller RS3DC0x0 supports the RAID Maintenance Free Backup
Unit that protects the integrity of the cached data on Intel

®

Integrated RAID Modules by
offloading the data stored in the RAM cache to NAND flash during a power loss event.
And it eliminates the need for lithium ion (Li-ion) batteries traditionally used to protect
DRAM cache memory on RAID controllers.

SAS/SATA Standards and Communication Protocols

The 12Gb/s Intel® RAID Controllers support the ANSI Serial Attached SCSI standard,
version 3.0. In addition, the controller supports the SATA III protocol defined by the
Serial ATA specification, version 3.0. Supporting both the SAS interface and the SATA

interface, the SAS controller is a versatile controller that provides the backbone of both
server and high-end workstation environments.

Each port on your RAID controller supports SAS devices, SATA devices, or both, by
using the following protocols:

• SAS Serial SCSI Protocol (SSP), which enables communication with other SAS

devices

• SATA, which enables communication with other SATA devices

• Serial Management Protocol (SMP), which communicates topology management

information directly with an attached SAS expander device

• Serial Tunneling Protocol (STP), which enables communication with SAT A devices

through an attached expander

General Description

The 12Gb/s Intel® RAID Controllers bring 12.0 Gb/s Serial Attached SCSI and SATA III
performance to host adapter, workstation, and server designs. The 12Gb/s Intel

®

RAID
Controllers are based on the LSISAS3108 RAID On-a-Chip (ROC) device or the
LSISAS3008 SAS chip.

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 12Gb/s Intel

®

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 devices are compliant with the Fusion-MPT

™

architecture and provides a PCIe x8

interface. Each port on the 12Gb/s Intel

®

RAID Controllers supports SAS devices, SATA
devices, or both, using SSP, SMP, STP, and SATA. The SSP protocol enables the 12Gb/s
Intel

®

RAID Controllers to communicate with other SAS devices. The SATA protocol

enables the 12Gb/s Intel

®

RAID Controllers to communicate with SATA devices.

12Gb/s Intel® RAID Controllers User Guide 3

Note: All of these RAID controllers provide an x8 PCIe 3.0 interface.

12Gb/s Intel® RAID Controller Detailed Descriptions

The 12Gb/s Intel® RAID Controllers are described in detail in the following subsections.

Intel® RAID Controller RS3WC080

The Intel® RAID Controller RS3WC080 is a PCIe 3.0 Low-Profile SAS Controller that
controls eight internal SAS/SATA ports through two SFF-8643 mini-SAS HD-4i internal
connectors.

Intel® RAID Controller RS3DC040 and RS3DC080

• The Intel

®

RAID Controller RS3DC040 is a PCIe 3.0 Low-Profile SAS Controller
that controls four internal SAS/SATA ports through one SFF-8643 mini-SAS HD­4i internal connector.

• The Intel

®

RAID Controller RS3DC080 is a PCIe 3.0 Low-Profile SAS Controller
that controls eight internal SAS/SATA ports through two SFF-8643 mini-SAS HD­4i internal connectors.

Configuration Scenarios

You can use the 12Gb/s Intel® RAID Controllers in three main scenarios:

• Low-end internal SATA configuration: In this configuration, use the RAID

controller as a high-end SATA II or SATA III compatible controller that connects up
to eight drives either directly or through a port expander. This configuration is
mostly for low-end or entry servers. An out-of-band I

2

C bus provides enclosure
management. Side bands of both types of internal SAS connectors support the SFF­8485 (SGPIO) interface.

• Midrange internal SAS configuration: This configuration is like an internal

SATA configuration, but with high-end SAS drives. This configuration is more
suitable for low-range to midrange servers.

• High-end external SAS/SATA configuration: This configuration is for external

connectivity using SATA II drives, SAT A III drives, SAS drives, or combinations of
SATA and SAS drives. External enclosure manage ment is su pp orted thro ug h in­band, SCSI-enclosed storage. The configuration must support STP and SMP.

4 12Gb/s Intel® RAID Controllers User Guide

The following figure shows a direct-connect configuration. The Inter-IC (I2C) interface
communicates with peripherals. The external memory bus provides a 32-bit memory bus,
parity checking, and chip select signals for pipelined synchronous burst static random
access memory (PSBRAM), nonvolatile static random access memory (NVSRAM), and
Flash ROM.

Figure 1. Example of an Intel SAS Direct-Connect Application

The following figure shows an example of a SAS RAID controller configured with an
LSISASx12 expander that is connected to SAS drives, SATA III drives, or both.

Figure 2. Example of an Intel SAS RAID Controller Configured with an

LSISASx12 Expander

Benefits of the SAS Interface

SAS is a serial, point-to-point, enterprise-level device interface that leverages the proven
SCSI protocol set. SAS is a convergence of the advantages of SATA, SCSI, and Fibre
Channel, and it is the future mainstay of the enterprise and high-end workstation storage
markets. SAS offers a higher bandwidth per pi n than parallel SCSI, and it improves signal
and data integrity.

Flash ROM/

SAS

PCI Express

RAID Controller

SAS/SATA III Device

32-Bit Memory

Address/Data

Bus

PSBRAM/

I2C

SAS/SATA III Device

SAS/SATA III Device

SAS/SATA III Device

PCI Express Interface

NVSRAM

I

2

C

Interface

LSISASx12

Flash ROM/

NVSRAM/

SRAM

I

2

C/UART

LSISASx12

PCI Express Interface

8

SRAM

SRAMSDRAM

Peripheral

Bus

72-bit DDR3

with ECC

Interface

LSISAS3108

PCI Express to SAS ROC

SAS

RAID Controller

Expander

Expander