Additionally, there
is the SCSI connector and transport, which is not present on the drives
themselves, but is used to connect devices using TCP/IP networks. The drives
themselves would use one of the other three connector types.
Note that a SCSI
target device (which can be called a "physical unit") is often
divided into smaller "logical units." For example, a high-end disk
subsystem may be a single SCSI device but contain dozens of individual disk
drives, each of which is a logical unit. Further, a RAID array may be a single
SCSI device, but may contain many logical units, each of which is a
"virtual" disk—a stripe set or mirror set constructed from portions
of real disk drives. The SCSI ID, WWN, etc. in this case identifies the whole
subsystem, and a second number, the logical unit number (LUN) identifies a disk
device (real or virtual) within the subsystem.
The Centronics 50
connector has 50 pins arranged in two rows one on top of the other. The top row
has 25 pins and the lower row has 25 pins. This connector is typically used in
SCSI-1 applications such as older scanners, controllers, and external SCSI
device cases. See our Available Centronics 50 Cables
The SCSI ID of a
device in a drive enclosure that has a backplane is set either by jumpers or by
the slot in the enclosure the device is installed into, depending on the model
of the enclosure. In the latter case, each slot on the enclosure's back plane
delivers control signals to the drive to select a unique SCSI ID. A SCSI
enclosure without a back plane often has a switch for each drive to choose the
drive's SCSI ID. The enclosure is packaged with connectors that must be plugged
into the drive where the jumpers are typically located; the switch emulates the
necessary jumpers. While there is no standard that makes this work, drive
designers typically set up their jumper headers in a consistent format that
matches the way that these switches implement.