PCIe3 SAS RAID quad-port 6 Gb adapter (FC EJ0J and FC EL59; CCIN 57B4)

Learn about the specifications and operating system requirements for the feature code (FC) EJ0J and FC EL59 adapter.

Overview

The PCIe3 SAS RAID quad-port 6 Gb adapter is a PCI Express (PCIe), generation 3, SAS RAID adapter that has a low-profile, short-form factor, but packaged for full height installation. The adapter is used in high-performance and high-density, serial attached SCSI (SAS) applications. It supports the attachment of SAS disk and SAS tape by using four mini SAS high-density (HD) x4 connectors that allow the physical links to be used in various narrow and wide-port configurations. SAS tape attachment is only supported in a single adapter configuration and cannot be mixed with SAS disk on the same adapter. The adapter does not have write cache. Figure 1 shows the PCIe3 SAS RAID quad-port 6 Gb adapter.

Important: There is no FCoE support on POWER9™ systems.

The adapter is a 64 bit, 3.3 V, bootable SAS adapter that provides RAID 0, 5, 6, 10, 5T2, 6T2, and 10T2 capability, and system level mirroring via the operating system. The adapter provides both single and dual RAID controller configurations. Dual controller configurations (dual storage IOA) must run RAID. JBOD (512 byte) functionality is supported only in a single controller configuration based on the operating system. Best performance is achieved when multiple RAID sets are configured and optimized under a pair of adapters in a high availability, multi-initiator RAID configuration (dual storage IOA) which allows for an Active-Active mode of operation.

The adapter support a maximum of 98 attached disk devices that depends on the drive enclosure attached. A maximum of 48 devices can be solid-state devices (SSDs). Externally attached devices are designed to run at a maximum data rate of 6 Gbps for SAS disk devices and 3 Gbps for SAS tape devices. This adapter supports RAID and non-RAID DASD, and SAS tape devices. Specific device attachment support rules apply. This adapter supports the multi-initiator and high availability (dual storage IOA) configurations in AIX®, IBM® i, and Linux® partitions. This adapter enables configuring the SAS drives as dedicated hot-spares with equal or higher capacity.

Important: See the SAS RAID controllers for AIX, SAS RAID controllers for IBM i, or SAS RAID controllers for Linux topics for more information and important considerations for multi-initiator and high availability or dual storage IOA configurations

Figure 1 shows the adapter. The connector plug (A) is installed in an empty port and prevents damage to that port whenever a cable for the adjacent port connectors is plugged-in or removed.

Specifications

Item

Description

Adapter FRU number

000FX846

Connector plug part number

00FW784 (The connector plug is installed in an empty port and prevents damage to that port whenever a cable for the adjacent port connectors is plugged-in or removed.)

I/O bus architecture

PCIe 3.0 but compatible to PCIe 2.0 or PCIe 1.0 slots.

Slot requirement

For details about slot priorities, maximums, and placement rules, see PCIe adapter placement rules and slot priorities and select the system you are working on.

Voltage

3.3 V

Form factor

Short, low-profile but packaged for full-height installations.

Cables

Specific X, YO, AA, or AT SAS cable features with new narrow HD connectors are used to attach to the other adapter or disk expansion drawers.

Internal SAS device attachment on a 9040-MR9 system requires specific AZ cables that are provided with the subsystem or device features that are being attached. Special cabling is required for multi-initiator and high availability configurations. For more information, see Serial attached SCSI cable planning.

Attributes

Four external mini SAS HD 4x connectors provide attachment of SAS device enclosures
SAS Serial SCSI Protocol (SSP) and Serial Management Protocol (SMP)
RAID 0, 5, 6, or 10 with hot-spare capability. System level mirroring through the operating system is also supported. JBOD functionality (512 byte) is supported in a single controller configuration only.
Concurrent firmware update
Removable media device (SAS Tape) are supported in a single controller configuration only and cannot be combined with disk devices attached to the same adapter. Removable media is not supported in multi-initiator and high availability (dual storage IOA) configurations
Support for multi-initiator and high availability or single controller configurations

Other important requirements for adapter installation

If you are attaching a new or existing FC 5887 to an FC EJ0J adapter, verify that the latest System Enclosure Services (SES) code is applied to the FC 5887 before attaching to the FC EJ0J adapter. See the Power Systems Prerequisites website.

An automatic sector conversion takes place for use with the new adapter when migrating existing SAS disk enclosures and devices from existing previous PCIe SAS adapters to PCIe3 SAS adapters. For more information about the migration procedures, see Upgrading a SAS RAID storage adapter.

Operating system or partition requirements

If you are installing a new feature, ensure that you have the software that is required to support the new feature and you must determine any prerequisites that must be met for this feature and the attached devices. For information about operating system and partition requirements, see one of the following topics:

The latest version of enabling libraries and utilities can be downloaded from the Fix Central website.
Power Systems Prerequisites website.
IBM System Storage Interoperation Center (SSIC) website.
The latest version of the device driver or IBM Power® RAID adapter utilities (iprutils) can be downloaded from the IBM Service and Productivity Tools website.
For information about important notices for Linux on IBM Power Systems, see the Linux on IBM website.

This adapter requires the following drivers:

AIX: devices.pci.14104A0 device driver package