ML270 Serial-Attached SCSI Architecture & Instrumentation

BASIC ELEMENTS OF SAS

This section identifies the basic features of and the premises upon which Serial-Attached SCSI technology has been designed. SAS-specific objects and terminology are defined. Upon completion students are able to:

* Identify the basic features of SAS.
* Explain how connectivity between multiple targets is enabled.
* Identify opportunities for SAS implementation.



BASIC ELEMENTS OF SCSI (SCSI REVIEW)

This section reviews the basics of SCSI architecture. SCSI-specific objects and terminology are defined. Upon completion students are able to:

* Identify the basic concepts of SCSI architecture.
* Define the separate roles of the SCSI Initiator and SCSI Target.
* Identify the SCSI nexus.
* Identify the SCSI phases and how they relate to overall data transfer including:

o SCSI commands and command sets
o SCSI Task Management and
o SCSI Status including check conditions.

BASIC ELEMENTS OF FIBRE CHANNEL (FC REVIEW)

This section reviews the basic concepts of Fibre Channel which are important to SAS. FC-2 layer concepts are reviewed. Upon completion students are able to:

* Identify the basic concepts of serial communication.
* Define the encoding scheme for Fibre Channel.
* Identify the FC framing structure.
* Identify FC connectivity topologies: Loop and Fabric.
* Define the relationship between an Exchange, a Sequence and a Frame.
* Define the elements involved in Class 2 flow control.
* Identify how a SCSI operation is performed over Fibre Channel.

HARDWARE ELEMENTS OF SAS

This section details the various hardware components used in SAS configurations. Upon completion students are able to:

* Describe the HBA and its function in a SAS configuration.
* Identify potential target devices in a SAS configuration.
* Describe the Expander and its function in a SAS configuration.
* Identify the cables and connectors used with SAS.
* Identify the relationship between the SAS worldwide name and the SAS address.

SAS PHYSICAL LAYER

This section discusses the features of the SAS Physical layer. Upon completion students are able to:

* Describe how bits are transmitted between SAS ports.
* Identify speed and distance limitations for SAS.
* Identify the various measures SAS takes to guard against EMI.

SAS PHY LAYER

This section discusses the features of the SAS PHY layer which controls SAS signaling. Trace analysis is used to investigate the encoding scheme, primitives used within a SAS transmission, and speed negotiation. Upon completion students are able to:

* Identify the primitives used with SAS.
* Describe how SAS out-of-band signaling works.
* Identify the process for speed negotiation between SAS devices.

SAS LINK & PORT LAYERS

This section discusses the features of the SAS link layer which controls SAS signaling. Trace analysis is used to investigate the encoding scheme and ordered sets of a transmission. Upon completion students are able to:

* Identify the classes of primitives and their application.
* Identify how primitives and dwords are used for SAS transmissions.
* Describe how SAS manages clock skew.
* Describe rate matching.
* Identify the processes for opening and closing connections.
* Define the principle functions of the Port layer.

SAS TRANSPORT LAYER

This section discusses the SAS link layer including SAS SCSI Protocol (SSP) and SAS Management Protocol (SMP). Trace analysis is used to investigate the processing of SCSI commands through SAS. Upon completion students are able to:

* Identify the frame formats and protocol for both SSP and SMP.
* Describe the sequence of information units (IU) used to execute a SCSI command.
* Describe how connections are managed during SCSI command processing.
* Describe how transport errors are handled for SSP.
* Describe the sequence of IUs used to execute an SMP request.

SAS SCSI APPLICATION LAYER

This section examines the SAS SCSI Application Layer. Upon completion students are able to:

* Identify how SMP instantiates the SCSI protocol services.
* Examine the specialized SAS Mode Pages, Log Pages and VPD Pages.
* Identify how transport events are instantiated in SAS.
* Identify how device server errors are reported in SAS.
* Examine the behavior of the READY LED.
* Identify how drive power is managed.

SAS EXPANDERS

This section further examines the SAS Expanders introduced in the Hardware Elements of SAS section. Upon completion students are able to:

* Describe how expanders are connected.
* Describe how routing is carried out between SAS ports.
* Describe the process for discovery and initalization of SAS devices and expanders.

SAS MANAGEMENT PROTOCOL

This section further examines the SAS Management Protocol introduced in the SAS Transport layer section. Trace analysis is used to further examine how to determine topology and routing using SAS SMP frames. Upon completion students are able to:

* Describe the SAS Management request-response protocol.
* Identify how to determine the properties of expanders.
* Determine the network topology from SMP query functions.
* Identify the proper format of routing tables.
* Describe how to read the routing tables from expanders.
* Describe how to write the routing tables of an expander.

SAS WIDE PORTS
This section examines the usage and behavior of SAS wide ports. Upon completion students are able to:

* Identify the addressing and worldwide name relationship when a wide port is used.
* Explain why a wide port might be implemented.
* Describe how wide ports connect to expanders and targets.
* Describe how requests, data, and responses are routed in the presence of wide ports.

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