Patent ID: 7574540

Claim:
A data storage system, comprising: a bank of disk drives; a first board disposed in a chassis, the first board having disposed thereon a first Serial Attached Small Computer Systems Interface (SAS) expander, a first management controller (MC) in communication with the first SAS expander, and a management resource accessible to the first MC; wherein the first (SAS) expander is coupled between the first MC and the bank of disk drives; a second board disposed in the chassis, the second board having disposed thereon a second SAS expander and a second MC; wherein the second (SAS) expander is coupled between the second MC and the bank of disk drives; and a communications link between the first and second MCs; wherein primary access to the management resource is provided in a first path which is through the first SAS expander and the first MC, and secondary access to the management resource is provided in a second path which is through the second SAS expander and the second MC.