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SCSI SYSTEMS

PC designers have always sought ways to connect more devices to fewer cables. This
reduces the amount of adapter card hardware in the system, so power, space, cost, and
maintenance demands are also lowered. In the early 1980s, it became clear that a
more versatile and intelligent interface would be needed to overcome the myriad of
proprietary interfaces appearing at the time. By 1986, PC designers responded with
the introduction of the Small Computer System Interface (SCSI, pronounced
“scuzzy”). SCSI proved to be a revolution for PC “power-users”—a single adapter
could operate a number of unique de-vices simultaneously—all “daisy-chained” to the
same cable. Where other “low-end” PCs needed one adapter for hard drives, one
adapter for the CD-ROM, another adapter for a tape drive, etc., a system fitted with a
SCSI adapter could handle all of these devices and achieve data throughputs that other
interfaces of the day couldn’t even dream of.

SCSI Concepts

Ideally, peripherals should be independent of the microprocessor’s operation. The

computer should only have to send commands and data to the peripheral, and wait for
the peripheral to respond. Printers work this way. The parallel and serial ports are
actually “device-level” interfaces. The computer is unconcerned with what device is
attached to he port. In other words, you can take a printer built 12 years ago and
connect it to a new Pentium-based system—and the printer will work just fine
because only data and commands are being sent across the interface. Very simply put,
this is the concept behind SCSI. Computers and peripherals can be designed,
developed, and integrated without worrying about hardware compatibility. Such
compatibility is established entirely by the SCSI interface.

DEVICE INDEPENDENCE
From a practical standpoint, SCSI is a bus—an organization of physical wires and
terminations, where each wire has its own name and purpose. SCSI also consists of a
command set—a limited set of instructions that allow the computer and peripherals to
communicate over the physical bus. The SCSI bus is used in systems that want to
achieve device independence. For example, all hard-disk drives look alike to the SCSI
interface (except for their total capacity), all optical drives look alike, all printers look
alike, etc. For any particular type of SCSI device, you should be able to replace an
existing device with another device, without any system modifications. New SCSI
devices can often be added to the bus with little more than a driver upgrade. Because
the intelligence of SCSI resides in the peripheral device itself and not in the computer,
the computer is able to use a small set of standard commands to accomplish data
transfer back and forth to the peripheral. Now that you understand a bit about the
nature of the SCSI interface, the following sections explain some of the important
terms and concepts you’ll need to know.
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SCSI VARIATIONS
This section covers at the evolution of the SCSI interface and the ways in which it has
evolved and proliferated. SCSI began life in 1979 when Shugart Associates (you
might remember them as one of the first PC hard drive makers) released their
“Shugart Associates Systems Interface” (or SASI) standard. The X3T9.2 committee
was formed by ANSI in 1982 to develop the SASI standard, which was renamed
SCSI. SCSI drives and interfaces that were developed under the evolving X3T9.2
SCSI standard were known as SCSI-1, although the actual SCSI-1 standard (ANSI
X3.131-1986) didn’t become official until 1986. SCSI-1 provided a system-level 8-bit
bus that could operate up to eight devices and transfer data at up to 5MB/s. However,
the delay in standardization leads to a lot of configuration and compatibility problems
with SCSI-1 setups.

Earlier in 1986 (even before the SCSI-1 standard was ratified), work started on the
SCSI-2 standard, which was intended to overcome many of the speed and
compatibility problems encountered with SCSI-1. By 1994, ANSI blessed the SCSI-2
standard (X3.131-1994). SCSI-2 was designed to be backwardly compatible with
SCSI-1, but SCSI-2 also provided for several variations. Fast SCSI-2 (or “Fast SCSI”)
doubles the SCSI bus clock speed and allows 10MB/s data transfers across the 8-bit
SCSI data bus. Wide SCSI-2 (or “Wide SCSI”) also doubles the original data-transfer
rate to 10MB/s by using a 16-bit data bus instead of the original 8-bit data bus (the
SCSI clock is left unchanged). To support the larger data bus, Wide SCSI uses a 68-
pin cable instead of the traditional 50-pin cable. Wide SCSI can also support up to 16
SCSI devices. Designers then combined the attributes of fast and wide operation to
create Fast Wide SCSI-2 (“Fast Wide SCSI”), which supports 20MB/s data transfers
across a 16-bit data bus. Whenever you see references to “Fast SCSI,” “Wide SCSI,”
or “Fast Wide SCSI,” you’re always dealing with a SCSI-2 implementation. But SCSI
advancement hasn’t stopped there. ANSI began development of the SCSI-3 standard
in 1993 (even before SCSI-2 was adopted). SCSI-3 is intended to be backwardly
compatible with SCSI-2 and SCSI-1 devices. Although SCSI-3 is still not finalized,
many SCSI devices and controllers are using the advances offered by SCSI-3
development.

These early SCSI-3 devices are generally known as Fast-20 SCSI (or Ultra SCSI-3,
also termed Ultra SCSI). Ultra SCSI uses a 20MHz SCSI bus clock with an 8-bit data
bus to achieve 20MB/s data transfers. By using a 16-bit data bus, SCSI-3 offers Wide
Fast-20 SCSI (Wide Ultra SCSI-3, also termed Wide Ultra SCSI) that handles 40MB/s
data transfers. For the future, the SCSI-3 standard is also proposing Fast-40 SCSI
(called Ultra2 SCSI-3 and Ultra2 SCSI), using a 40MHz bus clock to provide 40MB/s
data transfers with an 8- bit data bus.
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The 16-bit data bus version is known as Wide Fast-40 SCSI (called Wide Ul-tra2
SCSI-3 or Wide Ultra2 SCSI), which is supposed to support 80MB/s data transfers.
Whenever you see references to “Ultra,” “Fast-20,” “Ultra2,” or “Fast-40,” you’re
almost certain to be faced with a SCSI-3 setup. SCSI has traditionally been a
“parallel” bus; that is, 8 or 16 bits of data are transferred at a time across parallel data
lines.

INITIATORS AND TARGETS

Basically two types of devices are on the SCSI bus: initiators and targets. An initiator
starts communication when something has to be done and a target responds to the
initiator’s commands. The important thing for you to understand here is that this
“master/slave” relationship is not a one-way arrangement—an initiator might become
a target at some points in the data-transfer cycle, and the target might become the
initiator at other points. You will see more about this role duality later in this chapter.
A SCSI bus can support up to eight devices simultaneously, but at least one initiator
and one target must be in the system. An SCSI host adapter (the expansion card
installed in one of the computer’s expansion slots) is typically the initiator, and all
other devices (e.g., hard drives or CD-ROMs) are usually targets, but that is not
necessarily the only possible case.
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Many kinds of computer peripherals are candidates for the SCSI bus. Each peripheral
offers unique characteristics and applications, but each also requires different methods
of control. By adding SCSI “intelligence” to these devices, they can all be made to
share the same bus together. The SCSI nomenclature groups similar devices together
into specific “device types.”

The original SCSI standard defines six devices:

Random-access devices (e.g., hard drives)

Sequential access (e.g., tape drives)

Printers

Processors

WORM (write-once read-many) drives

Read-only random-access devices

The SCSI-2 interface adds five more devices to the specification:

CD-ROM drives

Scanners

Magneto-optical drives

Media changer (jukebox)

Communication devices.

SYNCHRONOUS AND ASYNCHRONOUS

As a system-level interface, SCSI requires an operating “handshaking protocol” that
organizes the transfer of data from a sending point to a requesting point. The three
typical hand-shaking protocols for SCSI are: asynchronous, synchronous, and fast
synchronous. The asynchronous protocol works rather like a parallel port. Each byte
must be requested and acknowledged before the next byte can be sent. Asynchronous
operation generally results in very reliable (but slow) performance. Synchronous and
fast synchronous operation both ignores the request/acknowledge handshake for data
transfer only. This allows slightly faster operation than an asynchronous protocol, but
a certain fixed amount of time delay (sometimes called an offset) must be allowed for
request and acknowledge effects. The fast synchronous protocol uses slightly shorter
signals, resulting in even faster speed. An important point to remember is that SCSI
systems can typically use any of these three protocols, as desired. The initiator and the
target through their communications must mutually agree to the actual protocol that is
used. SCSI systems normally initialize in an asynchronous protocol.
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DISCONNECT AND RECONNECT

In a number of instances, it would be desirable to allow a target to operate off-line
while the initiator is occupied elsewhere. Tape rewind time is just one example. An
important feature of SCSI is the ability to disconnect two communicating devices, and
then reconnect them again later. Disconnect and reconnect operations allow several
different operations to occur simultaneously in the system. This is the main reason
why SCSI architecture is so desirable in a multitasking environment. It is up to the
initiator to grant a disconnect privilege to a target.

SINGLE-ENDED AND DIFFERENTIAL

The signal wiring used in an SCSI bus has a definite impact on bus performance. The
two generally used wiring techniques for SCSI are: single-ended and differential.
Both wiring schemes have advantages and disadvantages. The single-ended (SE)
wiring technique is just as the name implies—a single wire carries the particular
signal from initiator to target. Each signal requires only one wire. Terminating
resistors at each end of the cable help to maintain acceptable signal levels. A common
ground (return) provides the reference for all single-ended signals. Unfortunately,
single-ended circuitry is not very noise resistant, so single-ended cabling is generally
limited to about six meters at data transfer speeds of 5MHz or less. At higher data-
transfer speeds, cable length can be as short as 1.5 meters. In spite of the
disadvantages, single-ended operation is simple and popular because of its simplicity.

The differential (DIF) wiring approach uses two wires for each signal (instead of one
wire referenced to a common ground). A differential signal offers excellent noise
resistance because it does not rely on a common ground. This allows much longer
cables (up to 25 meters) and higher-speed operation (10 MHz). An array of pull-up
resistors at each end of the cable helps to ensure signal integrity. The problem with
differential wiring is that it is more complicated than single-ended interfaces.

TERMINATORS
When high-frequency signals are transmitted over adjacent wires, signals tend to
degrade and interfere with one another over the length of the cable. This is a very
natural and relatively well-understood electrical phenomenon. In the PC, SCSI signal
integrity is enhanced by using powered resistors at each end of the data cable to “pull
up” active signals. Pull-up resistors at drives and controller cards already terminate
most high-frequency signal cables in the PC. The small resistor array is known as a
terminator. Because the number of devices that can be added to a floppy drive or IDE
cable is limited, designers have never made a big deal about termination—they just
added the resistors and that was it. With SCSI, however, up to eight devices can be
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added to the bus cable. The SCSI cable also must be terminated, but the location of
terminating resistors depends on which devices are added to the bus and where they
are placed. As a result, termination is a much more vital element of SCSI setup and
troubleshooting. As you will see later, poor or incorrect termination can cause
intermittent signal problems. Termination is typically either active or passive.
Basically, passive termination is simply plugging a resistor pack into a SCSI device.
The TERMPWR line powers passive resistors. Passive termination is simple and
effective over short distances (up to about 1 meter) and usually works just fine for the
cable lengths inside a PC, but can be a drawback over longer distances. Active
terminators provide their own regulated power sources, which make them most
effective for longer cables (such as those in external SCSI devices, such as page
scanners) or Wide SCSI systems. Most SCSI-2 implementations use active
terminators. A variation on active termination is forced perfect termination (FPT).
FPT includes diode clamps, which prevent signal overshoot and undershoot. This
makes FPT effective for long SCSI cable lengths.

SCSI IDS
A SCSI bus will support up to eight devices. This means that each device on the bus
must have its own unique ID number (0 to 7)—if two devices use the same ID, there
will be a conflict. IDs are typically set on the SCSI adapter and each SCSI device
using jumpers or DIP switches. Typically, the SCSI adapter is set to ID 0, and a
second SCSI hard drive is ID 1. Other devices can usually be placed anywhere from
ID 2 to ID 6.or ID 7.

Understanding SCSI Bus Operation

Now that you have learned about SCSI bus concepts and structure, you can see how
the interface behaves during normal operation. Because bus wires are common to
every device attached to the bus, a device must obtain permission from all other
devices before it can take control of the bus. This attempt to access the bus is called
the arbitration phase. Once a device (such as the SCSI controller) has won the bus
arbitration, it must then make contact with the device to be communicated with. This
device selection is known as the selection phase. When this contact is established,
data transfer can occur. This part of the chapter details negotiation and information
transfer over the SCSI bus. NEGOTIATION Devices must negotiate to access and
use an SCSI bus. Negotiation begins when the bus is free (BSY and SEL lines are
idle). A device begins arbitration by activating the BSY line and its own data ID line
(data bit D0 to D7, depending on the device). If more than one device tries to control
the bus simultaneously, the device with the higher ID line wins.
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The winning device (an initiator) attempts to acquire a target device by asserting the
SEL line and the data ID line (data bit D0 to D7) of the desired device. The initiator
then releases the BSY line and the desired target device asserts the BSY line to
confirm that it has been selected. The initiator then releases the SEL and data bus
lines. Information transfer can now take place.

INFORMATION
The selected target controls the data being transferred and the direction of transfer.
Information transfer lasts until the target device releases the BSY line, thus returning
the bus to the idle state. If a piece of information requires a long time for preparation,
the target can end the connection by issuing a disconnect message. It will try to re-
establish the connection later with a new arbitration and selection procedure. During
information transfer, the initiator tells its target how to act on a command and
establishes the mode of data transfer during the message-out phase. A specific SCSI
command follows the message during the command phase. After a command is sent,
data transfer occurs during the data-in and/or data-out phases. The target relinquishes
control to the initiator during the command phase. For example, the command itself
might ask that more information be transferred. The target then tells the initiator
whether the command was successfully completed or not by returning status
information during a status phase. Finally, the command is finished when the target
sends a progress report to the initiator during the message in phase. Consider this
simple SCSI communication example:

1 Bus Free Phase  System is idle

2 Arbitration Phase
3 Select Phase
4 Message-Out Phase
5 Command Phase
6 Data-In Phase
7 Status Phase
8 Message-In Phase
9 Bus Free Phase
 A device takes control of the bus
 The desired device is selected
 Target sets up data transfer
 send Command
 Exchange data
 Indicate the results of the exchange
 Indicate exchange is complete
 System is idle

Upgrading a PC for SCSI

Whether you are considering adding SCSI support to your own computer or are
planning an upgrade for a customer, four essential elements must be considered: the
SCSI peripheral, the SCSI host adapter, the SCSI cable assembly, and the SCSI
software driver(s). If any one of these four elements is missing or ill-planned, your
installation is going to run into problems.
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SCSI PERIPHERALS
The first item to be considered is the SCSI peripheral itself. You first need to know
what type of device is needed (such as a SCSI hard drive or CD-ROM). The
peripheral should be compatible with SCSI-2 architecture. You might also find a
growing base of SCSI-3 compliant adapters and peripherals. Each SCSI peripheral
device should also have a wide range of available SCSI ID settings. SCSI typically
handles eight IDs (0 to 7) and the peripheral should have the flexibility to run on
virtually any ID. If only a few IDs are available, you might be limited when it comes
time to add other SCSI devices. Peripherals should support SCSI parity. SCSI devices
are available in both internal and external versions. If you consider an internal
peripheral, be sure that there is adequate drive space in the PC to accommodate the
new peripheral. Either there is a drive bay available, or an existing device might be
removed to make room. If the peripheral is to be an external device (such as a printer
or scanner), there should be two SCSI connectors on the device to allow for daisy-
chaining additional devices later. All SCSI peripherals other than hard drives will
require device drivers. Be sure that the device driver is compatible with the same
standard protocol used by the adapter (i.e., ASPI, CAM, or LADDR). This is a serious
consideration because peripherals using incompatible device driver standards will not
work properly. Finally, try to choose SCSI peripherals that offer built-in cable
termination.

SCSI HOST ADAPTER

The next item to be considered is the SCSI host adapter (often just called a host or
HA) that fits in the PC expansion bus. Be sure to choose an adapter that is compatible
with the PC bus in use (e.g., ISA, EISA, MCA, PCI, etc.). Bus-mastering 32-/64-bit
PCI SCSI adapters will provide superior performance if your system will support
them. The peripheral itself, the adapter should also be designed to support the SCSI-2
standard (or SCSI-3, if possible). Although most adapters are assigned a SCSI ID of
7, the adapter should be flexible enough to work with any ID from 0 to 7. The host
adapter will also require a device driver for using devices other than hard drives. Be
sure that the host device driver uses the same standard as the peripheral(s) (ASPI,
CAM, or LADDR). It is important to note here that the driver standard has nothing to
do with the choice of SCSI, SCSI-2, or SCSI-3. It is only important that the
peripherals and the adapter use the same driver standard.
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SCSI CABLES AND TERMINATORS

Check that you select the proper cabling for the SCSI level you are using. Although
SCSI cabling is now highly standardized, some older cables might use slight
modifications for particular peripherals (a typical trick used with SCSI-1 devices. Be
certain that you know of any specialized cabling requirements when choosing
peripherals. Try to avoid specialized cabling, if at all possible. But if you must use
specialized cabling, you should determine what impact the cabling will have on any
other SCSI peripherals that might be installed (or might be installed later). Use good-
quality SCSI cables, specifically intended for the SCSI level you are using (probably
SCSI-2), and keep the cables short to minimize signal degradation. SCSI cables must
be terminated at the beginning (host adapter) and end (after the last device) of the
SCSI chain. Try to choose internal peripherals that have built-in terminators. Also try
to select a host adapter and peripherals that use the same type of terminator resistor
network. SCSI-2 systems use active terminator networks.
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SCSI DRIVERS
Device drivers provide the instructions that allow the SCSI host adapter to
communicate with the PC, as well as the peripherals in the SCSI chain (or the SCSI
bus). The host adapter itself requires a device driver, as will every peripheral that is
added. For example, a SCSI system with one CD-ROM will need a driver for the host
adapter and a driver for the CD-ROM. Be sure that driver standards (ASPI, CAM, or
LADDR) are the SAME for the host adapter and peripherals. The only exception to
the device-driver requirement (at this time) is the SCSI hard drive, which might be
supported by the SCSI adapter’s BIOS ROM. Real-mode device drivers are added by
including them in your PC’s CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT files. One issue to
remember when adding device drivers is that drivers use conventional memory
(unless you successfully load the drivers into high memory). The more drivers that are
added, the more memory will be consumed. It is possible that a large number of
device drivers might prevent certain memory-demanding DOS applications from
running. To keep as much conventional memory (the first 640KB in RAM) free as
possible, use the DOS device high and load high features to load the drivers into
upper memory (from 640KB to 1MB in RAM). Windows 95 uses protected-mode
drivers for the host adapter and devices.

Drivers can now be written for each peripheral without worry of incompatibility so
long as the drivers are written to be compatible with the standard. Three SCSI
standards are now competing: ASPI (Advanced SCSI Programming Interface),
CAM (Common Access Method), and LADDR (Layered Device Driver
Architecture). ASPI is the most popular of the three standards. The idea for
compatibility is to select a host adapter and peripherals that support the same
standard. For example, if you select a host adapter that uses an ASPI driver, each of
the peripherals that you choose must also use ASPI drivers. If you upgrade the host
adapter later, you also upgrade the host’s ASPI driver—full compatibility should be
maintained.

CABLING AND TERMINATION

Once the host adapter and peripheral are configured and installed, you must connect
them with a cable. Internal devices are typically connected with a 50-pin Insulation
Displacement Connector (IDC) ribbon cable (an A-cable). By placing multiple
connectors along the length of cable, daisy chaining can be achieved with a single
connector on each internal device. External devices typically connect to an external
50-pin connector on the rear of the SCSI adapter, and each device offers two
connectors, which allows daisy chaining to additional devices. Most commercial
adapter and drive “kits” are packed with an appropriate cable. The cable(s) must be
terminated. Internal and external SCSI cable terminators are avail-able, along with
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SCSI devices that have terminating resistor networks already built in. The concept of
termination is reasonably simple—achieve the desired signal-cable characteristics by
loading each end of the SCSI “chain” with resistors. If the chain is not terminated
properly, signals will not be carried reliably (which invariably results in system
errors). For technicians and end-users alike, the trouble usually arises in determining
where the “ends” are. A number of examples clarify how to determine the chain
“ends.” For a single SCSI drive and adapter (Fig. 39-2), the “ends” are easy to see.
One end should be terminated at the host adapter (which usually has terminating
resistors built in). The other end should be terminated at the SCSI hard drive (which
also usually has terminating resistors built in). In this type of situation, you need only
connect the cable between both devices and verify that the terminators are in place.
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When a second SCSI peripheral is added (Fig. 39-3), termination becomes a bit more
complex. Suppose that a CD-ROM is added with a SCSI ID of 6. The terminator on
the existing SCSI hard drive is no longer appropriate; it should be removed, and the
termination should be made on the CD-ROM, which is now the last device in the
SCSI chain. In most cases, flipping a DIP switch or changing a jumper on the
peripheral itself can deactivate a terminator network. If the terminator cannot be “shut
off,” it can almost always be removed by gently easing the resistor network out of its
holder using needle-nose pliers. If you remove a terminator, place it in an envelope
and tape it to the inside of the PC enclosure. If it is simply impossible to remove the
existing terminator on the hard drive, place the CD-ROM between the adapter and
hard drive and remove the CD-ROM’s terminator (re-arrange the chain). The SCSI
host adapter must remain terminated. So what happens if an external device is used
(such as a scanner)? An external cable connects the adapter to the scanner. Because
the scanner (ID 6) and adapter (ID 7) are the only two points in the chain, both are
terminated. Most external devices designed for SCSI-2 compatibility allow the active
terminator built into the peripheral to be switched off, if necessary.
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Suppose that both an internal and an external SCSI device are being used. The SCSI
host adapter (ID 7) is no longer at an end of the chain, so its terminator should be
switched off or removed. The internal hard drive (ID 0) and external scanner (ID 6)
now form the ends so both devices should be terminated. Because both peripherals
should ideally support internal termination, nothing needs to be done, except to
confirm that the terminators are in place and switched on.