| General Questions |
| Q1. |
What is Serial Attached SCSI? |
| A1. |
Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) is the logical evolution that satisfies the enterprise data center requirement of scalability, performance, reliability and manageability, while leveraging a common electrical and physical connection interface with Serial ATA (SATA). This compatibility provides users with unprecedented choices for server and storage subsystem deployment. |
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| Q2. |
Why was SAS developed? |
| A2. |
SAS was developed to address anticipated I/O and direct attach storage requirements in the future. It provides universal interconnect with SATA, while offering logical SCSI compatibility along with SCSI reliability, performance and manageability.
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| Q3. |
What are the end user benefits of Serial Attached SCSI? |
| A3. |
Key end user benefits include enterprise class robustness, investment protection in compatible SCSI software and middleware and the choice of direct-attach storage devices (SAS or SATA). In addition, greater performance, longer cabling distances, smaller form factors and greater addressability will all lead to a new level of flexibility when deploying mainstream data center servers and subsystems. Since SAS is based on the foundation of the industry-leading SCSI specification, reliability and peace of mind will satisfy user's needs for continuity in the data center. |
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| Q4. |
How does Serial Attached SCSI benefit the storage industry? |
| A4. |
SAS leverages the proven SCSI technologies that customers expect in data center environments, providing robust solutions and generational consistency. It is based on a serial interface, allowing for increased device support and bandwidth scalability, and reducing the overhead impact that challenges today's SCSI environments. It utilizes SATA development work on smaller cable connectors, providing customers a downstream compatibility with desktop class ATA technologies.
Simplified routing will enable a new generation of dense devices, such as small form factor hard drives, enabling storage solutions to scale externally.
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| Q5. |
Is the HP SAS Expander Card backwards compatible to Ultra2, Ultra3, and Ultra320 SCSI? |
| A5. |
No, serial attached SCSI devices are not compatible with parallel SCSI devices. |
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| Technical questions |
| Q1. |
How many internal drives does the HP SAS Expander Card support? |
| A1. |
The HP SAS Expander Card has 6 Mini SAS 4i ports intended for attachment to server drive backplanes allowing support for up to 24 drive bays (3 drive backplanes with each holding 8 drive bays). |
| Q2. |
Does the HP SAS Expander Card support tape products? |
| A2. |
Yes, the HP SAS Expander Card has 1 Mini SAS 4x port intended for attachment to a SAS tape drive, autoloader, or library |
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| Q3. |
Which Smart Array cards support the HP SAS Expander Card? |
| A3. |
The HP SAS Expander Card is supported on the Smart Array P410 Controller and the Smart Array P410i Controller. Additionally, the use of the HP SAS Expander Card requires a minimum of 256MB cache on the Smart Array P410 Controller or Smart Array P410i Controller. |
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| Service and Support |
| Q1. |
Which ProLiant servers are supported by the HP SAS Expander Card? |
| A1. |
Currently the HP SAS Expander Card is supported on the following servers. Additional server support will be announced at future dates.
ProLiant DL (rack-optimized):
- HP ProLiant DL380 G6
- HP ProLiant DL385 G5p
ProLiant ML (expansion-optimized):
- HP ProLiant ML350 G6
- HP ProLiant ML370 G6
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| Q2. |
Which operating systems are supported by the HP SAS Expander Card? |
| A2. |
Microsoft Windows 2003 x64 Edition
Microsoft Windows 2003 x86 Edition
Microsoft Windows 2008 Server x64
Microsoft Windows 2008 Server x86
Microsoft Window Vista Enterprise
Novell Open Enterprise Server, NetWare 6.5
Oracle Enterprise Linux (OEL)
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4, 5 (x64 & x86)
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 9 (x64 & x86)
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 (x64 & x86)
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 (x64 & x86)
VMWare
UnixWare
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