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Small Computer System Interface

Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) is a set of standards that defines how to connect and transfer data between computers and peripheral devices physically and logically. SCSI allows up to 16 devices such as hard drives, tape drives, and optical drives to connect to a single controller. Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) is now commonly used and offers advantages over parallel SCSI such as support for more devices, elimination of termination and clock issues, and higher speeds. SAS is backward compatible with SATA but SATA devices cannot connect to SAS controllers.

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Mrudul A Thakadiyel INT MCA 2017-2022
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185 views

Small Computer System Interface

Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) is a set of standards that defines how to connect and transfer data between computers and peripheral devices physically and logically. SCSI allows up to 16 devices such as hard drives, tape drives, and optical drives to connect to a single controller. Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) is now commonly used and offers advantages over parallel SCSI such as support for more devices, elimination of termination and clock issues, and higher speeds. SAS is backward compatible with SATA but SATA devices cannot connect to SAS controllers.

Uploaded by

Mrudul A Thakadiyel INT MCA 2017-2022
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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SMALL COMPUTER SYSTEM

INTERFACE
Small Computer System Interface
(SCSI)

• Small Computer System Interface is a set of standards for physically


connecting and transferring data between computers and peripheral devices.
The SCSI standards define commands, protocols, electrical and optical
interfaces. SCSI is most commonly used for hard disk drives and tape drives,
but it can connect a wide range of other devices, including scanners and CD
drives, although not all controllers can handle all devices. The SCSI standard
defines command sets for specific peripheral device types.
The SCSI Standard

• Small Computer System Interface


• Not Really “Small” any longer

• Designed to string many peripherals together onto a single cable/controller


• Up to 16 devices in a SCSI “chain”

• Many different formats


• Fast SCSI , Ultra SCSI , Ultra Wide SCSI , Ultra 2 SCSI , Ultra 3 SCSI ,Ultra-320
V,Ultra-640 SCSI ,iSCSI (SCSI over IP)
SCSI ADVANTAGES
• Not just for hard drives
• Scanners , tape drives , cd rom drives

• Many devices on a single bus


• 8 on narrow bus , 16 on wide bus

• Very Intelligent interface functionality


• Much of difficult configuration work is done between the SCSI devices

• Industry longevity
• Tends to be specialised these days

• SCSI is particular about termination


• The recent SCSI standards automatically configure most drive settings
Common SCSI components

• Initiator : An initiator issues requests for service by the SCSI device and receives
responses. Initiators come in a variety of forms and may be integrated into a server’s
system board or exist within a host bus adapter. ISCSI connectivity typically uses a
software-based initiator.

• Target. : A SCSI target is typically a physical storage device (although software-based SCSI
targets also exist). The target can be a hard disk or an entire storage array. It is also
possible for non-storage hardware to function as a SCSI target. Although rare today, it
was once common for optical scanners to be attached to computers through the SCSI bus
and to act as SCSI targets.
• Service delivery subsystem : The mechanism that allows communication to
occur between the initiator and the target; it usually takes the form of cabling.
• Expander : Only used with serial-attached SCSI (SAS); allows multiple SAS
devices to share a single initiator port.
SCSI Interfaces

• SCSI is available in a variety of interfaces. The first was parallel SCSI (also
called SCSI Parallel Interface or SPI), which uses a parallel bus design. Since
2005, SPI was gradually replaced by Serial Attached SCSI (SAS), which uses a
serial design but retains other aspects of the technology.
SCSI ID and logic unit (LUN)

• Every SCSI device on a single bus is assigned a separate ID number


• i.e SCSI ID 0(boot disk),ID 2(floppy disk),ID 3(CD-ROM)
• Logical units (LUNs) are defined within each SCSI ID
• Separate drives in storage array or virtual machine
• The signal at the “end” of the SCSI bus is terminated
• Can be internal to the device or aseperate termination device
• Serial attached SCSI (SAS) device have no jumpers , terminators or
settings
SCSI HARD DRIVE
Parallel SCSI

• Initially, the SCSI Parallel Interface (SPI) was the only interface using the SCSI
protocol. Its standardization started as a single-ended8-bit bus in 1986,
transferring up to 5 MB/s, and evolved into a low-voltage differential 16-bit bus
capable of up to 320 MB/s. The last SPI-5 standard from 2003 also defined a
640 MB/s speed which failed to be realized.
• Parallel SCSI specifications include several synchronous transfer modes for the parallel cable,
and an asynchronous mode. The asynchronous mode is a classic request/acknowledge
protocol, which allows systems with a slow bus or simple systems to also use SCSI devices.
Faster synchronous modes are used more frequently.
Serial-attached SCSI

• SAS has become a popular alternative to parallel SCSI in enterprise environments. Both
serial and parallel SCSI are based on the SCSI command set. SAS offers the following
distinct advantages over parallel SCSI:

• • It supports up to 65,535 devices (through the use of expanders). The latest parallel
SCSI standards allow for only 16 devices.

• • It eliminates issues with termination and clock skew.

• • It is a point-to-point technology. This means SAS is not subject to the resource


contention issues that are so common with parallel SCSI.
Comparison with parallel SCSI

• The SAS "bus" operates point-to-point while the SCSI bus is multidrop. Each SAS
device is connected by a dedicated link to the initiator, unless an expander is
used. If one initiator is connected to one target, there is no opportunity for
contention; with parallel SCSI, even this situation could cause contention.

• SAS has no termination issues and does not require terminator packs like parallel
SCSI.

• SAS eliminates clock skew.


• SAS allows up to 65,535 devices through the use of expanders, while Parallel SCSI
has a limit of 8 or 16 devices on a single channel.

• SAS allows a higher transfer speed (3, 6 or 12 Gbit/s) than most parallel SCSI
standards. SAS achieves these speeds on each initiator-target connection, hence
getting higher throughput, whereas parallel SCSI shares the speed across the
entire multidrop bus.

• SAS devices feature dual ports, allowing for redundant backplanes or multipath
I/O; this feature is usually referred to as the dual-domain SAS.
• SAS controllers may connect to SATA devices, either directly connected using
native SATA protocol or through SAS expanders using Serial ATA Tunnelling
Protocol (STP).

• Both SAS and parallel SCSI use the SCSI command set.
SAS vs. SATA

• Like SAS, SATA is a serial bus that replaces the aging parallel ATA (PATA) standard.
The SATA-3 standard is rated at 6 gigabits per second (Gbps)/600 MBps, which is
slightly slower than the Ultra640 SCSI standard. Similarly, SATA-2 has a transfer
speed of 3 Gbps/300 MBps, which is just below that of Ultra320 SCSI.

• SAS is backward-compatible with SATA-2 and above. A SATA-2 drive can be


connected to a SAS backplane. This is possible because both SAS and SATA drives
use the SCSI command set. Conversely, SAS drives cannot be connected to a SATA
controller.
Thank You

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