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Chad Grant
Asked: 2009-05-08 00:41:04 +0800 CST

What is a RAID Controller's Sideband Cable used for?

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I have some Adaptec SAS raid controllers and the fanout cable comes with an extra cable called a SideBand but I am curious what it does?

I know it plugs into the backplane, but other than that I can't seem to find anything on google

The adaptec site refers to it as "SFF-8448 sideband signals" and there is no mention of it in the manuals or their site.

raid sas cable

2 Answers

  1. This PDF document "SFF-8448 Specification for SAS Sideband Signal Assignments", (Rev. 05; September 2, 2005) on Seagate's FTP Server defines the signal assignments for known Vendor specific sidebands thata are defined in SAS (Serial Attached SCSI).

    On page 12 there is a description of the Sideband Assignments.

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  2. Best Answer

    The sideband cables are used to connect the controller to a managed backplane or disk enclosure, so that it can monitor the controller as well as the disks.

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