PCIe3 RAID SAS quad-port 6 Gb adapter (FC EJ0K; CCIN 57B4)

Learn about the specifications and operating system requirements for the feature code (FC) EJ0K adapter.

Overview

The PCIe3 RAID SAS 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 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. 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, and system level mirroring via the operating system. The adapter provides both single and dual RAID controller configurations. The exception to this is when installed in PCIe slots C09 and/or C012 of the IBM® Power® System E950 (9040-MR9), the adapter will only run in single controller mode. In dual controller configurations (dual storage IOA) all attached devices 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.

Note: Dual controller configuration (dual storage IOA) is not supported when FC EJ0K is installed in PCIe slots C09 or C012 of the 9040-MR9.

The adapter supports 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. Specific device attachment 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.

Note: When FC EJ0K is installed in PCIe slots C09 or C12 of the 9040-MR9 controlling the internal SAS drive bays, any external disk drive enclosures attached must be configured in zone mode 2 only.

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.

PCIe3 RAID SAS Adapter — Figure 1. PCIe3 RAID SAS adapter

Specifications

Item

Description

Adapter FRU number

02DE906

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 more information about slot priorities, maximums, and placement rules, see PCIe adapter placement rules and slot priorities and select the system that you are working on.

Cables

Specific X, YO, or AA 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.

Voltage

3.3 V

Form factor

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

Maximum number

For the maximum adapters supported, see the PCI adapter placement topic collection for your system.

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
Support for multi-initiator and high availability or single controller configurations

Other important requirements for adapter installation

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 AIX driver: devices.pciex.14104a03.device driver package