14 Intel
®
Server Board S5000PSL
SAS Server Board
In addition to the SATA features described above, SAS models of the server board
(product code S5000PSLSAS) also have a dual-mode 4-port Serial Attached SCSI (SAS)
controller that supports both SAS and SATA hard disk drives. This controller is capable of
data transfer rates of up to 3.0 Gbps per port.The SAS controller supports up to 120
physical drives when expanders are used.
The BIOS Setup utility includes options on the Advanced | Mass Storage setup page to
enable or disable the SAS option ROM and the SAS controller. Both of these options must
be enabled to use RAID.
• When the SAS controller is enabled, the two black SATA ports on the server board
continue to function as SATA ports. The four blue ports can be used as either SAS or
SATA ports. When the SAS controller is disabled in the BIOS Setup utility, SATA
ports 0 and 1 (the two black ports) function as SATA ports and all other SAS / SATA
ports are disabled.
• When the SAS option ROM is enabled in the BIOS Setup utility, Intel
®
Embedded
Server RAID Technology II is available. This enables SAS RAID modes 0, 1, or 10
for the four blue ports on the server board. These SAS controller can mix SAS and
SATA drives.
If the SAS option ROM is disabled in the BIOS Setup utility, but the SAS controller is
enabled, the four blue ports on the server board continue to function as either SAS or
SATA ports and the two black ports on the server board continue to function as SATA-
only ports. However, RAID support is not available.
Both SAS and SATA controllers support SGPIO enclosure management. Two SGPIO
connectors are available on SAS models of the server board, one for the SAS controller
and one for the SATA controller.
If RAID 5 is desired, the optional Intel
®
RAID Activation Key AXXRAKSW5 can be
installed. To enable RAID 5, this activation key is placed on the SAS_Key connector that
is located at the left side of the server board. For information on how to install the Intel
®
RAID Activation Key AXXRAKSW5 accessory to enable RAID 5, see the
documentation that is included with the accessory kit. See Figure 2 on page 6 for
connection locations.
Note: For assistance in navigating through the BIOS Setup utility, see the Intel
®
Server Board
S5000PSL Technical Product Specification.