Dell PowerVault ME4 Series Storage System Administrator’s Guide

Changing host port settings

You can configure controller host-interface settings for ports except for systems with a 4-port SAS controller module. To enable the system to communicate with hosts, you must configure the host-interface options of the system.

For a system with a 2-port SAS controller module, host ports can be configured to use standard cables. A standard cable can connect one port on a SAS host to one controller port, using four PHY lanes per port. Use of fan-out cables is enabled by default. When configuring the host-interface settings for a 2-port SAS controller module, the Host Ports Settings panel displays the following:

• Current link speed
• Cable type
• Number of PHY lanes expected for the SAS port
• Number of PHY lanes active for each SAS port

The number of ports that are displayed depends on the configuration of the system.

CNC host ports can be configured as all FC or all iSCSI ports, or a combination of both. FC ports support use of qualified 8 Gb/s or 16 Gb/s SFPs. You can set FC ports to auto-negotiate the link speed or to use a specific link speed. iSCSI ports support use of qualified 1 Gb/s, 10 Gb/s SFPs. or qualified 10 Gb/s Direct Attach Copper (DAC) cables. iSCSI port speeds are auto-negotiated.