SAS General Overview – 1.3MB General marketing background, followed by the key topics from each layer.

SAS Architecture – 348KB Covers the SAS object model, physical links and phys, ports, SAS devices, expander devices, domains, edge expander device sets, pathways, connections, SAS address, reset sequences, state machines, transmit data path, and describes the expander device model.

SAS Physical Layer – 256KB Describes the lowest layer of SAS, covering passive interconnects (cables and connectors) and electrical characteristics.

SAS Phy Layer – 256KB Describes 8b10b coding, OOB signaling, and speed negotiation.

SAS Link Layer – Part 1 – 364 BK Covers primitives, clock skew management, CRC, scrambling, bit order, address frames, identification and hard reset sequences, and connections.

SAS Link Layer Part 2 – 344 BK Covers arbitration fairness, deadlocks and livelocks, rate matching, SSP (Serial SCSI Protocol) frame transmission, STP (Serial ATA Tunneling Protocol) and Serial ATA frame transmission, and SMP (Serial Management Protocol) frame transmission.

SAS SCSI Upper Layers – 308 BK Covers SCSI standards organization, basic SCSI architecture, important SCSI commands and status codes, important task management functions, SCSI transport protocol services, the SSP (Serial SCSI Protocol) transport layer, SAS-specific mode pages, SAS-specific log pages, and power conditions/spinup controls.

SAS ATA Upper Layers– 228 BK Covers basic ATA architecture, the ATA task file, ATA commands, Serial ATA frames, and compares ATAPI (ATA Packet Interface) vs. native SCSI.

SAS Management Upper Layers and Port Layer – 208KB Covers the SMP transport layer and all the SMP functions, and concludes with a look at the port layer (which ties the transport layers to the link layers).

SAS_FCP_comparison_public.pdf – 116KB Covers the SMP transport layer and all the SMP functions, and concludes with a look at the port layer (which ties the transport layers to the link layers).