CHAPTER 1: Introduction

Overview

Important

Mixing of SAS and SATA drives in the same enclosure is only supported in columns, for example, column 1 is all SAS and column 2 is all SATA. Also, mixing of drives of different capacities in the same column is not supported.

The Gateway E-842R SAS Enclosure Platform is a 2U (rack space) disk drive enclosure, housing twelve low profile (1-inch high), 3.5-inch form factor hard drives, which can be either:

•3 GB direct dock SAS disk drives,

•3 GB direct dock SATA disk drives, or

•3 GB dual path SATA disk drives through an active/active SATA mux transition card.

The system provides as much as 6 TB of data storage per enclosure when 500 GB drives are installed.

Expansion enclosure

RAID enclosure expansion is achieved by connecting expansion enclosures. Multiple enclosures are connected together using SAS patch cables. You can connect as many as five enclosures. For more information, see “Enclosure cabling - multiple enclosures” on page 25.

The enclosure

The Gateway E-842R design concept is based on an enclosure subsystem together with a set of plug-in modules. The enclosure platform, as equipped, includes:

•Chassis and backplane with integrated (front panel mounted) operator’s panel.

•As many as 12 drive carrier modules, containing either:

•3 GB direct dock SAS disk drives,

•3 GB direct dock SATA disk drives, or

•3 GB dual path SATA disk drives through an active/passive SATA mux transition card.

Important

Dummy carrier modules must be fitted in all unused drive bays to maintain airflow. See “Dummy carrier modules” on page 13.

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