Serial Attached SCSI

Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) is a point-to-point serial
protocol that moves data to and from computer storage
devices such as hard drives and tape drives. SAS re-
places the older Parallel SCSI (Small Computer System
Interface, usually pronounced “scuzzy”) bus technology
that first appeared in the mid-1980s. SAS, like its pre-
decessor, uses the standard SCSI command set. SAS of-
fers backward compatibility with SATA, versions 2 and
later. This allows for SATA drives to be connected to
SAS backplanes. The reverse, connecting SAS drives to
SATA backplanes, is not possible.[1]
The T10 technical committee of the International Com-
mittee for Information Technology Standards (INCITS)
develops and maintains the SAS protocol; the SCSI Trade
Association (SCSITA) promotes the technology.
3. A service delivery subsystem: the part of an I/O sys-
tem that transmits information between an initiator
and a target. Typically cables connecting an initiator
and target with or without expanders and backplanes
constitute a service delivery subsystem.
4. Expanders: devices that form part of a service de-
livery subsystem and facilitate communication be-
tween SAS devices. Expanders facilitate the con-
nection of multiple SAS End devices to a single ini-
tiator port.[2]
2 History
• SAS-1: 3.0 Gbit/s, introduced in 2004[3]

• SAS-2: 6.0 Gbit/s, available since February 2009

1 Introduction
• SAS-3: 12.0 Gbit/s, available since March 2013

• SAS-4: 22.5 Gbit/s,[4] under development and ex-

pected in 2017[3]

3 Identification and addressing

A SAS Domain is the SAS version of a SCSI domain—it
consists of a set of SAS devices that communicate with
one another by means of a service delivery subsystem.
Each SAS port in a SAS domain has a SCSI port identifier
that identifies the port uniquely within the SAS domain,
the World Wide Name. It is assigned by the device man-
Storage servers housing 24 SAS hard disk drives per server
ufacturer, like an Ethernet device’s MAC address, and
is typically worldwide unique as well. SAS devices use
A typical Serial Attached SCSI system consists of the fol-
these port identifiers to address communications to each
lowing basic components:
other.
1. An initiator: a device that originates device-service In addition, every SAS device has a SCSI device name,
and task-management requests for processing by a which identifies the SAS device uniquely in the world.
target device and receives responses for the same re- One doesn't often see these device names because the
quests from other target devices. Initiators may be port identifiers tend to identify the device sufficiently.
provided as an on-board component on the moth- For comparison, in parallel SCSI, the SCSI ID is the port
erboard (as is the case with many server-oriented identifier and device name. In Fibre Channel, the port
motherboards) or as an add-on host bus adapter. identifier is a WWPN and the device name is a WWNN.
2. A target: a device containing logical units and target In SAS, both SCSI port identifiers and SCSI device names
ports that receives device service and task manage- take the form of a SAS address, which is a 64 bit value,
ment requests for processing and sends responses for normally in the NAA IEEE Registered format. People
the same requests to initiator devices. A target de- sometimes refer to a SCSI port identifier as the SAS ad-
vice could be a hard disk or a disk array system. dress of a device, out of confusion. People sometimes call

1
2 6
a SAS address a World Wide Name or WWN, because it
is essentially the same thing as a WWN in Fibre Channel.
For a SAS expander device, the SCSI port identifier and
SCSI device name are the same SAS address.
4 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 con-
nection, hence getting higher throughput, whereas
parallel SCSI shares the speed across the entire mul-
tidrop bus.
• SAS devices feature dual ports, allowing for redun-
dant backplanes or multipath I/O; this feature is usu-
ally referred to as the dual-domain SAS.[5]
• SAS controllers may connect to SATA devices, ei-
ther directly connected using native SATA protocol
or through SAS expanders using SATA Tunneled
Protocol (STP).
• Both SAS and parallel SCSI use the SCSI command-
set.
5 Comparison with SATA
There is little physical difference between SAS and
SATA.[6]
• SAS protocol provides for multiple initiators in
an SAS domain, while SATA has no analogous The Serial Attached SCSI standard defines several layers
provision.[6] (in order from highest to lowest): application, transport,
• Most SAS drives provide tagged command queuing, port, link, PHY and physical. Serial Attached SCSI com-
while most newer SATA drives provide native com- prises three transport protocols:
mand queuing.[6]
• SATA uses a command set that is based on the
parallel ATA command set and then extended be-
yond that set to include features like native com-
mand queuing, hot-plugging, and TRIM. SAS uses
CHARACTERISTICS
the SCSI command set, which includes a wider
range of features like error recovery, reservations
and block reclamation. Basic ATA has commands
only for direct-access storage. However SCSI com-
mands may be tunneled through ATAPI[6] for de-
vices such as CD/DVD drives.
• SAS hardware allows multipath I/O to devices while
SATA (prior to SATA 2.0) does not.[6] Per spec-
ification, SATA 2.0 makes use of port multipliers
to achieve port expansion, and some port multiplier
manufacturers have implemented multipath I/O us-
ing port multiplier hardware.
• SATA is marketed as a general-purpose successor to
parallel ATA and has become common in the con-
sumer market, whereas the more-expensive SAS tar-
gets critical server applications.
• SAS error-recovery and error-reporting uses SCSI
commands, which have more functionality than the
ATA SMART commands used by SATA drives.[6]
• SAS uses higher signaling voltages (800–1,600 mV
for transmit, and 275–1,600 mV for receive) than
SATA (400–600 mV for transmit, and 325–600
mV for receive). The higher voltage offers (among
other features) the ability to use SAS in server
backplanes.[6]
• Because of its higher signaling voltages, SAS can use
cables up to 10 m (33 ft) long, whereas SATA has a
cable-length limit of 1 m (3.3 ft) or 2 m (6.6 ft) for
eSATA.[6]
• SAS is full duplex, whereas SATA is half duplex.
The SAS transport layer can transmit data at the full
speed of the link in both directions at once, so a
SCSI command executing over the link can transfer
data to and from the device simultaneously. How-
ever, because SCSI commands that can do that are
rare, and an SAS link must be dedicated to an indi-
vidual command at a time, this is generally not an
advantage.[7]
6 Characteristics
6.1 Technical details
• Serial SCSI Protocol (SSP) – for command-level
communication with SCSI devices.
• Serial ATA Tunneling Protocol (STP) – for
command-level communication with SATA devices.
6.3 Topology 3

• Serial Management Protocol (SMP) – for managing • PHY Layer:

the SAS fabric.
For the Link and PHY layers, SAS defines its own unique
protocol.
At the physical layer, the SAS standard defines connec-
tors and voltage levels. The physical characteristics of
the SAS wiring and signaling are compatible with and
have loosely tracked that of SATA up to the 6 Gbit/s
rate, although SAS defines more rigorous physical signal-
ing specifications as well as a wider allowable differential
voltage swing intended to allow longer cabling. While
SAS-1.0 and SAS-1.1 adopted the physical signaling
characteristics of SATA at the 3 Gbit/s rate with 8b/10b
encoding, SAS-2.0 development of a 6 Gbit/s physical
rate led the development of an equivalent SATA speed.
In 2013, 12 Gbit/s followed in the SAS-3 specification.[8]
SAS-4 is slated to introduce 22.5 Gbit/s signaling with a
more efficient 128b/150b encoding scheme to realize a
usable data rate of 2,400 MB/s while retaining compati-
bility with 6 and 12 Gbit/s.[9]
Additionally, SCSI Express takes advantage of the PCI
Express infrastructure to directly connect SCSI devices
over a more universal interface.[10]
6.2 Architecture
Management
SCSI application ATA application
layer layer
application
layer
SSP transport STP transport SMP transport
layer layer layer
SAS port layer
• Link layer:
• Port layer:
• Transport layer:
SCSI: mode pages, log
pages, spinup
Mgmt: SMP functions
Frame definitions
Wide port hadling
• 8b/10b data encoding (3, 6, and 12 Gbit/s)
• 128b/150b SPL packet encoding (22.5
Gbit/s)[11] (2 bit header, 128 bit payload, 20
bit Reed-Solomon forward error correction)
• Link initialization, speed negotiation and reset
sequences
• Link capabilities negotiation (SAS-2 onwards)
• Insertion and deletion of primitives for clock-
speed disparity matching
• Primitive encoding
• Data scrambling for reduced EMI
• Establish and tear down native connections be-
tween SAS targets and initiators
• Establish and tear down tunneled connections
between SAS initiators and SATA targets con-
nected to SAS expanders
• Power management (proposed for SAS-2.1)
• Combining multiple PHYs with the same ad-
dresses into wide ports
• Contains three transport protocols:
• Serial SCSI Protocol (SSP): for
command-level communication with
SCSI devices
• Serial ATA Tunneled Protocol (STP):

SSP link STP link SMP link

for command-level communication with
Frame transmission
layer layer layer
Connection management
SATA devices
SAS link layer
• Serial Management Protocol (SMP): for
Primitives

SAS PHY layer

OOB, speed negotiation managing the SAS fabric
8b10b encoding

• Application layer
Electrical specs
SAS physical layer
Cables and connectors

The architecture of SAS layers 6.3 Topology

SAS architecture consists of six layers: An initiator may connect directly to a target via one or
more PHYs (such a connection is called a port whether it
uses one or more PHYs, although the term wide port is
• Physical layer:
sometimes used for a multi-PHY connection).
• defines electrical and physical characteristics
• differential signaling transmission 6.4 SAS expanders
• Multiple connector types:
The components known as Serial Attached SCSI Ex-
• SFF−8482 – SATA compatible
panders (SAS Expanders) facilitate communication be-
• Internal four-lane connectors: SFF-8484, tween large numbers of SAS devices. Expanders contain
SFF-8087, SFF-8643 two or more external expander-ports. Each expander de-
• External four-lane connectors: SFF- vice contains at least one SAS Management Protocol tar-
8470, SFF-8088, SFF-8644 get port for management and may contain SAS devices
4 8 SEE ALSO

itself. For example, an expander may include a Serial SAS-1.1 topologies built with expanders generally con-
SCSI Protocol target port for access to a peripheral de- tain one root node in a SAS domain with the one ex-
vice. An expander is not necessary to interface a SAS ception case being topologies that contain two expanders
initiator and target but allows a single initiator to commu-
connected via a subtractive-to-subtractive port. If it ex-
nicate with more SAS/SATA targets. A useful analogy: ists, the root node is the expander, which is not connected
one can regard an expander as akin to a network switch in to another expander via a subtractive port. Therefore, if
a network, which connects multiple systems using a single a fanout expander exists in the configuration, it must be
switch port. the domain’s root node. The root node contains routes
for all end devices connected to the domain. Note that
SAS 1 defined two types of expander; however, the SAS-
2.0 standard has dropped the distinction between the two, with the advent in SAS-2.0 of table-to-table routing and
new rules for end-to-end zoning, more complex topolo-
as it created unnecessary topological limitations with no
realized benefit: gies built upon SAS-2.0 rules do not contain a single root
node.
• An edge expander allows for communication with up
to 255 SAS addresses, allowing the SAS initiator to
6.5 Connectors
communicate with these additional devices. Edge
expanders can do direct table routing and subtrac-
The SAS connector is much smaller than traditional par-
tive routing. (For a brief discussion of these rout-
allel SCSI connectors, allowing for the small 2.5-inch (64
ing mechanisms, see below). Without a fanout ex-
mm) drives. Commonly, SAS provides for point data
pander, you can use at most two edge expanders
transfer speeds up to 6 Gbit/s, but 12 Gbit/s products have
in a delivery subsystem (because you connect the
begun shipping in 2013.[12]
subtractive routing port of those edge expanders to-
gether, and you can't connect any more expanders). The physical SAS connector comes in several different
Fanout expanders solve this bottleneck. variants:[13]

• A fanout expander can connect up to 255 sets of

edge expanders, known as an edge expander device
set, letting even more SAS devices be addressed.
7 Nearline SAS
The subtractive routing port of each edge expanders
connects to the phys of fanout expander. A fanout Nearline SAS (abbreviated to NL-SAS, and sometimes
expander cannot do subtractive routing, it can onlycalled midline SAS) drives have a SAS interface, but head,
forward subtractive routing requests to the con- media, and rotational speed of traditional enterprise-class
nected edge expanders. SATA drives, so they cost less than other SAS drives.
When compared to SATA, NL-SAS drives have the fol-
Direct routing allows a device to identify devices di- lowing benefits:[15]:20
rectly connected to it. Table routing identifies devices
connected to the expanders connected to a device’s own • Dual ports allowing redundant paths
PHY. Subtractive routing is used when you are not able
• Ability to connect a device to multiple computers
to find the devices in the sub-branch you belong to. This
passes the request to a different branch altogether. • Full SCSI command set
Expanders exist to allow more complex interconnect • No need for using Serial ATA Tunneling Protocol
topologies. Expanders assist in link-switching (as op- (STP), which is necessary for SATA HDDs to be
posed to packet-switching) end-devices (initiators or tar- connected to a SAS HBA.[15]:16
gets). They may locate an end-device either directly
(when the end-device is connected to it), via a routing • No need for SATA interposer cards, which are
table (a mapping of end-device IDs and the expander the needed for pseudo–dual-port high availability of
link should be switched to downstream to route towards SATA HDDs.[15]:17
that ID), or when those methods fail, via subtractive rout- • Larger depth of command queues
ing: the link is routed to a single expander connected to
a subtractive routing port. If there is no expander con-
nected to a subtractive port, the end-device cannot be
reached.
8 See also
Expanders with no PHYs configured as subtractive act as • Serial Storage Architecture
fanout expanders and can connect to any number of other
expanders. Expanders with subtractive PHYs may only • List of device bandwidths
connect to two other expanders at a maximum, and in that
• USB Attached SCSI
case they must connect to one expander via a subtractive
port and the other via a non-subtractive port. • SCSI / ATA Translation
 5

9 References • MultiLink SAS presentations, press releases and

[1] “SAS and SATA: Unparalleled Compatibility”. Retrieved
2013-08-05.
[2] “SAS architecture”. ibm. Retrieved January 14, 2016.
roadmaps, SCSI Trade Association
• SAS Integrators Guide, SCSI Trade Association,
April 2006

[3] “Serial Attached SCSI Master Roadmap”. SCSI Trade

Association. 2015-10-14. Retrieved 2016-02-26.

[4] “Serial Attached SCSI - 4 (SAS-4) draft” (PDF). T10.

2016-05-11. Retrieved 2016-05-15.

[5] “Redundancy in enterprise storage networks using dual-

domain SAS configurations”. Hewlett-Packard Develop-
ment Company. May 2008. Archived from the original
(PDF) on 2016-01-10. Retrieved 2016-01-10.

[6] Steadfast. “SATA vs SAS Hard Drives on Dedicated

Servers”. Retrieved 2013-08-05.

[7] Patrick Schmid; Achim Roos (2009-08-31). “SAS Fea-

tures And Basics - Next-Generation SAS: 6 Gb/s Storage
Hits The Enterprise”. Tom’s Hardware. Retrieved 2014-
07-15.

[8] “Serial Attached SCSI - 3 (SAS-3)" (PDF). T10. 2013-

11-07. Retrieved 2015-05-11.

[9] “Serial Attached SCSI - 4 (SAS-4), 5.8.1 General electri-

cal characteristics” (PDF). Retrieved 2015-05-11.

[10] “Library » SCSI Express”. SCSI Trade Association. Re-

trieved 2013-08-05.

[11] “SAS Protocol Layer - 4 (SPL-4) draft, p.” (PDF). T10.

2016-05-09. Retrieved 2016-05-15.

[12] “LSI First to Ship New High-Performance 12Gb/s SAS

Products”. Retrieved 2013-12-03.

[13] “SFF Committee specifications”. Retrieved 2013-08-05.

[14] “PCPer SFF-8639 Review”. Retrieved 2016-07-21.

[15] Willis Whittington (2007). “Desktop, Nearline & Enter-

prise Disk Drives” (PDF). Storage Networking Industry
Association (SNIA). Retrieved 2014-09-22.

10 External links
• T10 committee
• SCSI Trade Association
• Current draft revision of SAS-2 from T10 (6.83
MiB PDF after registration)
• Current draft revision of SAS-3 from T10 (2.8 MB
PDF after registration)
• Seagate whitepaper on Nearline SAS
• SAS Standards and Technology Update, SNIA,
2011, by Harry Mason and Marty Czekalski (Multi-
Link SAS is described on pp. 17–19)
6 11 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES

11 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

11.1 Text
• Serial Attached SCSI Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_Attached_SCSI?oldid=744964280 Contributors: Leandrod, Llywrch,
Modster, Msiren, Jdforrester, Ehn, Dcoetzee, RickBeton, Chealer, Fredrik, Tomchiukc, Asparagus, DavidCary, Salfter, Matt Crypto, Bob-
blewik, Utcursch, Onco p53, Neilm, Sterwill, YUL89YYZ, Eric Shalov, Alistair1978, Sdwood, Evice, Triona, Adambro, Whosyourjudas,
Timl, Giraffedata, Vicarage, Drf5n, Nichlas, 119, Katana, Stephan Leeds, Voxadam, RHaworth, Nipsy, Camw, Pol098, Pgilman, Alecv,
Rjwilmsi, FlaBot, Mirror Vax, Moreati, GreyCat, StuffOfInterest, RussBot, Gaius Cornelius, Shaddack, Afiler, Mikeblas, Voidxor, Kkmur-
ray, Extraordinary, Cffrost, Memodude, Quebron, Rwwww, TrygveFlathen, SmackBot, Clpo13, RenOfHeavens, Anastrophe, KelleyCook,
Edgar181, Brianski, Bluebot, Thumperward, ERobson, Trek00, Vladimir.mencl, Frap, Rrburke, Pboyd04, Mosca, Adamantios, UU, Cy-
bercobra, Dcamp314, WhosAsking, Zac67, ThurnerRupert, Leksey, Xenophonf, Fan-1967, Amakuru, CmdrObot, Raysonho, PPrakash,
KnightLago, Jesse Viviano, Lemmio, Gousha, Kaldosh, Epbr123, DavidLeeLambert, AntiVandalBot, Qasdfdsaq, Jawsper, Alphachimpbot,
MER-C, Austinmurphy, Neonetizen, Tokino, Ceros, Annsilverthorn, Ayamanita, Wlgrin, Bendodge, JRS, VolkovBot, Gypsyzoo, Nxavar,
Little buddha81, Anna Lincoln, Arunajay, PDFbot, JimBurd, Milan Keršláger, Rondo66, SieBot, VVVBot, StorageMania, Lightmouse,
Engineerism, Btisdall, Rkarlsba, Rozsnyo, AussieScribe, SlackerMom, ClueBot, Leonidaz, Denna Haldane, Quanstro, UmbertinaV, Bd-
kives, Porcofederal, Jiphung, Thehelpfulone, Error −128, Jonverve, Frettled, DumZiBoT, Jdwinx, Byj wiki, Thtse, SilvonenBot, Dsimic,
Addbot, Storagewonk, LaaknorBot, Ikara, Abisys, Webwizard, Luckas-bot, Yobot, Pugglewuggle, KarlHegbloom, AnomieBOT, Xqbot,
PabloCastellano, Craftyminion, Wfischer, Sesu Prime, FrescoBot, W Nowicki, Sahedin, Nowakpl, Franciscouzo, Lopifalko, Hajatvrc,
Saftorangen, Chrislenhart, Dewritech, ArtKocsis, Xjtuwjp, CalvinTheMan, Music Sorter, Nosachevd, ChuispastonBot, ClueBot NG, Den-
nisLMartin97, Scodde, Skycode, Osicim, Mycosys, BattyBot, Rfkrishnan, Kevinf28, Someone not using his real name, Kamen Rider Blade,
G S Palmer, Iamxerc, ChamithN, JITR, Neil Schoolman, GreenC bot, Warterdesmanne and Anonymous: 205

11.2 Images
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main Contributors: Own work, based off of Image:Ambox scales.svg Original artist: Dsmurat (talk · contribs)
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