Abstract: Increased power savings is provided by powering down idle storage devices and emulating storage device responses to host requests which do not require data access. A virtual target emulates the hard disk drive, has information associated with the hard disk drive, and provides information in response to host requests to satisfy the host. For host requests that do require data access, the storage device is powered on and storage device control is provided to the host. If the storage device is not ready to communicate with a host, a virtual target communicates with the host to emulate the storage device and prevent the host from timing out while the storage device is powering up to get ready.

Abstract: A midplane may include a printed circuit board (PCB) with a top surface and a bottom surface. A first plurality of midplane connectors may be disposed on one or more edges of the top surface. The first midplane connectors may have one or more pins that are longitudinally oriented parallel to the top surface of the PCB. The midplane may further include a second plurality of midplane connectors disposed on the top surface. The second midplane connectors may have one or more pins that are longitudinally oriented perpendicular to the top surface of the PCB.

Abstract: Embodiments of the invention includes a plurality of connectors configured to connect a plurality of data storage host bus adaptors to a plurality of data storage device subassemblies such that at least one lane of low voltage differential signal pairs from each of the plurality of host bus adaptors is connected to each of the data storage device subassemblies. The invention improves the electrical interconnections in a data storage array such as a JBOD enclosure or data storage server. The invention minimizes the number of connectors by reducing the number of printed circuit boards, and eliminates the need to add signal repeaters to maintain signal quality. The invention also increases the cooling efficiency of the enclosure by increasing air flow by reducing the number of printed circuit boards in the data storage array.

Abstract: The SAS expander PCBA is partitioned to allow SAS lanes to be externalized, allowing for a x4 wide port external access into each of the two primary SAS expander modules and each of the two secondary SAS expander modules. This configuration allows for a single host x8 external HBA connection to tunnel into the storage array by connecting into either the primary or secondary x4 wide ports. A second host may connect to the alternate connection if desired. This configuration may also lend itself to allow up to four hosts to access the internal SAS topology of the Enclosure. This configuration may also lend itself to connecting the primary and secondary SAS expander modules together in applications that require an SAS expander to see more storage device arrays than would normally be confined to a typical SAS expander module.

Abstract: A system which semi-automates the assignment of data storage device controllers to data storage devices in a system that contains a plurality of data storage device controllers and a plurality of data storage devices. The object of the invention is to programmatically control which data storage device controllers control which specific data storage devices. The invention eliminates the need for an engineer to travel to a data center to manually reconfigure cables or interconnections between data storage device controllers and data storage devices.

Abstract: The front panel includes intelligence for controlling power, reset and power down functions for a storage enclosure having multiple servers, service processors, and enclosure management devices. The front panel may display information pertaining to system power state, disk activity, Ethernet activity, and other information. The front panel may implement sequencing rules for changes in power state. The front panel provides information for multiple servers and other devices through a single panel.