Learn about the specifications and operating system requirements for the feature code (FC) 5901 adapter.
The PCI Express (PCIe) Dual - 4x SAS adapter is a low-profile short form factor adapter for high-performance and high-density, serial attached SCSI (SAS) applications. It supports the attachment of SAS disk, tape, and DVD by using a pair of mini SAS 4x connectors which allow the eight physical links to be used in various narrow and wide-port configurations. The adapter does not have write cache.
The adapter is a 64 bit, 3.3 V, bootable SAS adapter that provides RAID 0, 5, 6, and 10 capability. Some RAID level support is operating system dependent. The adapter provides RAID 0, RAID 5, RAID 6, and RAID 10 for the Linux operating system. The adapter does not have write cache. (The write performance of RAID 5 and RAID 6 can be poor on adapters that do not provide write cache. Consider using an adapter which provides write cache when using RAID 5 or RAID 6.)
The 5901 supports SAS SFF disk drives located in a PCIe 12X I/O Drawer or SAS disk drives located in an EXP 12S Disk Drawer or SAS disk drives located in a supported POWER® system unit (split disk backplane).
The write performance of RAID 5 and RAID 6 can be poor on adapters that do not provide write cache. Consider using an adapter that provides write cache when using RAID 5 or RAID 6.
For details about slot priorities and placement rules, see the PCI adapter placement topic collection for your system.
If you are installing a new feature, ensure that you have the software that is required to support the new feature and that you determine whether there are any prerequisites for this feature and attaching devices. To check for the prerequisites, see IBM® Prerequisite website .