I/O CARD ARCHITECTURE BASED ON A COMMON CONTROLLER

摘要

The embodiments provide a backplane for a storage device that is readily extensible to accommodate a range storage media. In some embodiments, the controller is provided on a motherboard. In order to support a different numbers of bays, various management riser cards are provided on the motherboard to expand the capacity of the backplane while still using the same controller. The backplane supports a serial addressing scheme and shift registers to identify ports connected to the storage device controller to allow for different numbers of storage media to be connected to the motherboard. This allows the storage device controller to use the same addressing protocol and software for any number of drive bays.

主权项

1. An input/output (I/O) card for a storage device comprising:
an interface to a controller board; an extensible drive interface comprising a set of modular connections for connection to a set of storage drives; at least one power interface configured to deliver one or more power signals to the storage drives; and a I/O card controller configured to detect when a storage drive is present on the extensible drive interface and to turn on the power signals to the storage drive.