Dell SCSI 6/IR manual Post

POST

POST, short for Power-On Self-Test is a process performed before the operating system loads when the computer is turned on. The POST tests various system components, such as RAM, the physical disks, and the keyboard.

R

RAID

Acronym for Redundant Array of Independent Disks (originally Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks). It is an array of multiple independent physical disks managed together to yield higher reliability and/or performance exceeding that of a single physical disk. The virtual disk appears to the operating system as a single storage unit. I/O is expedited because several disks can be accessed simultaneously. Redundant RAID levels provide data protection.

ROM

Read-only memory (ROM), also known as firmware, is an integrated circuit programmed with specific data when it is manufactured. ROM chips are used not only in computers, but in most other electronic items as well. Data stored in these chips is nonvolatile i.e., it is not lost when the power is turned off. Data stored in these chips is either unchangeable or requires a special operation such as flashing to change.

RPM

RPM, short for "Red Hat Package Manager" is a package management system primarily intended for Linux. RPM installs, updates, uninstalls, verifies and queries software. RPM is the baseline package format of the Linux Standard Base. Originally developed by Red Hat for Red Hat Linux, RPM is now used by many Linux distributions. It has also been ported to some other operating systems such as NetWare by Novell.

S

SAS

Serial-Attached SCSI, SAS, is a serial, point-to-point, enterprise-level device interface that leverages the proven SCSI protocol set. The SAS interface provides improved performance, simplified cabling, smaller connectors, lower pin count, and lower power requirements when compared to parallel SCSI.

SATA

Serial Advanced Technology Attachment, a physical storage interface standard, is a serial link that provides point-to-point connections between devices. The thinner serial cables allow for better airflow within the system and permit smaller chassis designs.

SCSI

SCSI stands for "Small Computer System Interface," a processor-independent standard interface for system-level interfacing between a computer and intelligent devices including hard-drives, floppy disks, CD-ROM, printer, scanners and many more.

SCSIport

SCSIport driver is a Microsoft® driver for Windows® storage architecture, delivering SCSI commands to the storage targets. The SCSIport driver works well with storage using parallel SCSI.

Serial Architecture

Serial architectures have emerged to deliver higher performance by allowing more bandwidth per device pathway than their parallel counterparts. Serial architecture connections consist of a single pair of transmission signals that contain an embedded clock for self-clocking, enabling clock speed to be easily scaled. Serial bus architectures also support a network of dedicated point-to-point device connections, versus the multi-drop architectures of parallel buses,

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Glossary