Appendix E
Enclosure Management
Introduction
Mylex’s AcceleRAID controllers support the industry standard enclosure management protocol SCSI Accessed Fault-Tolerant Enclosures (SAF-TE). This feature allows the host to monitor drive enclosures and detect certain faults or operating environment conditions. The host can make a decision to shut down the system or issue a warning based on the type of fault detected.
SAF-TEThe SAF-TE protocol follows a specification jointly worked out by Conner Corporation and Intel Corporation. Enclosures that are compliant with this protocol are known as SCSI Accessed Fault-Tolerant Enclosures (SAF-TE). The protocol is compatible with standard SCSI buses and cabling.
The SAF-TE interface standard’s objective is to provide a non-proprietary means of allowing third-party disks and controllers to be automatically integrated with peripheral enclosures that support:
•Status Signals (LEDs, audible alarms, LCDs, etc.)
•Hot swapping of drives
•Monitoring of fans, power supplies, and enclosure temperature
SCSI is the underlying transport mechanism for communicating enclosure information. All standard SCSI host adapters will work. There is no need to consider reserved signals or special cabling.
The SAF-TE interface can be implemented as a SCSI target that uses a SCSI port and an 8-bit microcontroller.
All communication is initiated by the host. The SAF-TE processor acts only in target mode. The SAF-TE processor is periodically polled by the host approximately every 2 to 10 seconds.