Owner's Manual
B-18
LSI SAS RAID
▍
MS-96E0
LSI SAS RAID
▍
MS-96E0
4�4 Integrated Striping Firmware
This section describes features of the LSI Logic Integrated Striping (IS) rmware.
4�4�1 Host Interface
The IS host interface uses the Message Passing Interface, as described in the Fusion-
MPT Message Passing Interface Specication, including Integrated Striping. Through
the Fusion-MPT interface, the host operating system has access to the logical IS drive
as well as the physical disks.
4�4�2 Metadata Support
The rmware supports metadata, which describes the IS logical drive conguration
stored on each member disk. When the rmware is initialized, each member disk is
queried to read the stored metadata to verify the conguration. The usable disk space
for each IS member disk is adjusted down to leave room for this data.
4�4�3 SMART Support
The IS rmware enables Mode 6 SMART on the IS member disks. Mode 6 SMART
requires each physical disk to be polled at regular intervals. If a SMART ASC/ASCQ
code is detected on a physical IS disk, the rmware processes the SMART data, and
the last received SMART ASC/ASCQ is stored in non-volatile memory. The IS volume
does not support SMART directly, since it is just a logical representation of the physical
disks in the volume.
4�4�4 Disk Write Caching
Disk write caching is disabled by default on all IS volumes.
4�5 Fusion-MPT Support
The BIOS uses the LSI Logic Fusion-MPT interface to communicate to the SAS control-
ler and rmware to enable Integrated Striping. This includes reading the Fusion-MPT
conguration to gain access to the parameters that are used to dene behavior between
the SAS controller and the devices connected to it. The Fusion-MPT drivers for all sup-
ported operating systems implement the Fusion-MPT interface to communicate with the
controller and rmware.