Technical Advisory 859

This Technical Advisory describes an issue which may or may not affect the customer’s product
Technical Advisory TA-859-00
5200 NE Elam Young Parkway
Hillsboro, OR 97124
January 21, 2007
Copyright © 2007 Intel Corporation. * Other names and brands may be claimed as the property of others.
Intel® Embedded Server RAID Technology II (ESRT, SWR) Drive Limit
Information in this document is provided in connection with Intel products. No license, express or implied, by estoppel or otherwise,
to any intellectual property rights is granted by this document. Except as provided in Intel's Terms and Conditions of Sale for such
products, Intel assumes no liability whatsoever, and Intel disclaims any express or implied warranty, relating to sale and/or use of
Intel products including liability or warranties relating to fitness for a particular purpose, merchantability, or infringement of any patent,
copyright or other intellectual property right. Intel products are not intended for use in medical, life saving, or life sustaining
applications. Intel may make changes to specifications and product descriptions at any time, without notice. The Intel® Server boards
listed below may contain design defects or errors known as errata which may cause the product to deviate from published specifications.
Current characterized errata are available on request.
Products Affected
S5000PSLSAS
S5000XVNSAS
SR1500ALSAS, SR1550ALSAS, SR2500BRPLX
S5000VSASAS, SR2520SAX
S5000VCLSASBB, SR1530HCLS
Description
Intel has identified a potential data loss issue if the maximum number of connected drives supported by the Intel®
Embedded Server RAID Technology II (ESRTII) is exceeded on any Intel
® S5000 chipset based server board with
Software RAID enabled on the SAS controller.
Root Cause
Only eight (8) drives are allowed on an Intel S5000 chipset based server board with Intel® Embedded Server
RAID Technology II enabled on the SAS 106x controller (enabled in BIOS and by drivers).
Connecting a ninth (9th) drive to the same controller may cause the controller to alter which eight drives are considered
to be part of the array which might cause data loss.
Corrective Action / Resolution
Do not attach more than eight (8) drives including the hot spare drive(s) to the onboard SAS controller ports when
Intel® Embedded Server RAID Technology II is enabled. At this time there is no warning given when a ninth
drive is added. It is the user's responsibilitiy not to exceed the 8 total drive limit.
In the future a warning will be shown when more than 8 drives are attached to the server board SAS ports.
Please contact your Intel Sales Representative if you require more specific information about this issue.
Enterprise Platforms & Services Division
Intel Corporation