A good SAS controller and expander can make all the difference in your organization’s storage schemes. SAS stands for Serial Attached SCSI. It is a new version of SCSI technology, which is known for being a fast, reliable type of drive that keeps servers running smoothly for lengthy periods of time. The serial attached version offers even higher performance and faster data transfer speeds with the same reliability SCSI is known for. To make things even smoother and more convenient, SAS technology doesn’t require the use of any terminators, and with the addition of multiple expanders, it’s possible to link more than 65,000 different devices through your system.

Advantages of SAS over Previous SCSI Technologies

Serial Attached SCSI offers many advantages compared to parallel SCSI technologies. SCSI buses operate as multidrop systems, while SAS buses operate point to point with a dedicated link to the initiator for each storage device without any contentions like those which might have been possible with parallel SCSI. SAS also offers the possibility for even more connections with the addition of an expander. An SAS controller (or expander using SATA Tunneled Protocol) can also enable connections using SATA protocol. There are no problems with termination as no terminator packets are required for Serial Attached SCSI, and SAS devices offer much faster transfer speeds with higher throughput on every initiator-target connection, unlike parallel SCSI.

How to Take Advantage of SAS Technology—Controllers, Expanders and More

SAS buses can move data back and forth among many different digital storages devices, including tape drives and hard drives. Some of the latest high-end motherboards come with SAS controllers built in, but many business users still require an external controller to add to their system. There are PCI, PCI-e and PCI-x configurations to choose from, so it’s important to find the proper bus configuration for your specific system to make the most of your attached storage and support more devices throughout the same system.

It’s also important to choose an expander that offers sufficient power and capacity for your storage needs. You will be able to maximize your controller card with the right expander. The only way to make communication possible between very large numbers of SAS storage devices is with an expander, which will come with multiple external expander ports that each have their own SAS Management Protocol to manage target ports. Highly complex interconnected topologies are possible with SAS expanders.

 

 

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