![]() Alternatively, the ports can be used for dual porting. For example, to increase performance, both ports can be bundled to double the transfer rate, which in the case of SAS-3 enables a data rate of up to 24 Gbit/s by bundling connections. The use of both types of expander theoretically allows over 16,000 SAS devices to be used, enabling storage infrastructure to be scaled to meet the needs of complex environments such as data centres.Īs SAS hard drives typically have two ports compared to SATA models, the standard also offers advanced features in this area. Although these do not allow direct connection of end devices, they do fan out the connection into 128 ports, each of which can be used by an edge expander. For particularly large storage domains, additional fanout expanders can be installed between the controller and the edge expander. In practice, however, edge expanders are usually only available for up to 36 end devices, although up to two expanders can be used on one controller. In theory, edge expanders bundle up to 128 end devices, or SAS addresses, onto a single SAS cable, allowing a far greater number of devices to be supported than the RAID controller provides ports for. In addition, through the SAS Management Protocol (SMP), expander technology offers the potential to build large data storage systems with hundreds or even thousands of hard drives. If these are not sufficient, additional expander cards can be added to increase the number of SAS ports. Depending on the model, SAS controllers typically feature two or four ports that can be used to directly connect drives and backplane boards. If server configurations support the standard, the storage capacity of the systems can be flexibly adapted to changing requirements by adding and removing hard disks with the appropriate trays in the drive cage, often even during operation. One of the key features of SAS is its excellent scalability. ![]() The SAS interface enables high scalability and extensive storage management Another advantage of the SAS connection is that it is compatible with SATA hard drives (Serial Advanced Technology Attachment), which can therefore still be used when changing systems and communicate with the newer standard via STP (Serial ATA Tunneling Protocol). However, such a configuration may still make sense in certain scenarios, for example if you are planning to purchase a new generation of servers and want to continue using your existing drives. For example, SAS-3 generation hard drives can be used in servers that support SAS-2, but will not achieve their maximum performance. The different generations are basically compatible with each other, but in a system with mixed standards, only the speed of the slowest connection version will be achieved. SAS generations with increasing transfer rates: In order to keep up with the advance of digitalisation and ever-increasing data volumes, the standard based on the SAS SCSI Protocol (SSP) has been continuously developed through various generations, enabling higher transfer rates with each new version of the interface. ![]() Depending on the application and performance required, both traditional HDDs (Hard Disk Drives) and SSDs (Solid State Drives) with SAS connectivity can be used as storage media, ensuring fast data processing even for demanding applications such as databases or virtualisation. ![]() It meets the demands for high-performance, high-availability storage solutions in data centres and enables companies of all sizes to benefit from the extensive management capabilities of scalable data storage in growing IT infrastructures. SAS - The reliable data transfer standard for servers and storage systemsĪs a widely used and capable technology for the connection of hard disks in servers and storage systems, SAS (Serial Attached SCSI) is an established standard that is characterised by the combination of high transfer rates, scalability and reliability.
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