Server direct attached storage shared through physical SAS expanders

A system and method for servers to belong to a cascaded cluster of nodes (or servers) is disclosed. Servers share storage in common without the need of an external element such as a switch and or external storage device. SAS technology is used with direct attached drives in each node, and connections between each node, to emulate a SAN environment through a cascaded SAS topology. SAS HBAs each containing an SAS expander, connect elements internal to each server with elements external to each. This cascaded DAS clustering enables bi-directional traffic from each server in the cluster to all other servers and their attached drives.