PCIe2 SAS RAID card comparison

Use this table to compare the features of the various PCI Express 2.0 (PCIe2) SAS RAID cards for IBM® i.

Table 1. PCIe2 SAS RAID controller cards
CCIN (custom card identification number) 57B51 57BB 57C3 57C42
Description PCIe2 1.8 GB Cache RAID SAS adapter Tri-port 6 Gb PCIe2 1.8 GB Cache RAID SAS adapter Tri-port 6 Gb PCIe2 3.1 GB Cache RAID SAS enclosure 6 Gb x8

PCIe2 RAID SAS adapter Dual-port 6 Gb
Form factor PCIe2 x8 PCIe2 x8 PCIe2 x8 Storage Enclosure PCIe2 x8
Physical links 11 (three mini SAS HD 4x connectors with top connector containing only three physical links) 11 (three mini SAS HD 4x connectors with top connector containing only three physical links) 11 (internally integrated with two external mini SAS HD 4x connectors, each containing three physical links)

8 (two mini SAS HD 4x connectors)
Supported RAID levels RAID 5, RAID 6, system mirroring RAID 5, RAID 6, system mirroring RAID 5, RAID 6, system mirroring RAID 5, RAID 6, system mirroring
Write cache size 1.8 GB 1.8 GB 3.1 GB  
Read cache size        
Cache battery pack technology None (uses supercapacitor technology) None (uses supercapacitor technology) None (uses supercapacitor technology)  
Cache battery concurrent maintenance        
Cache data present LED        
Removable cache card        
Auxiliary write cache (AWC) support No No No No
Dual-storage IOA configuration Yes Yes Yes Yes
Requires dual storage IOA configuration Yes Yes Yes No
SAS tape support No No No No
SATA DVD support No No No No
Native 4K block device support No No No No
520-byte virtual disk support Yes Yes Yes Yes
Notes:
  1. Feature 5913 (CCIN 57B5) adapters installed in POWER6® servers must be placed in I/O expansion units. Feature 5913 (CCIN 57B5) adapters are not supported in POWER6 system units. Feature 5913 (CCIN 57B5) is supported for the full set of SAS adapter functions on POWER6 servers, except for controlling boot drives or load source drives.
  2. Feature ESA1 or ESA2 (CCIN 57C4) only supports connecting to SSD devices.
Figure 1. CCIN 57B5 PCIe2 1.8 GB cache RAID SAS adapter Tri-port 6 Gb
CCIN 57B5 PCIe2 1.8 GB cache RAID SAS adapter Tri-port 6 Gb
Figure 2. CCIN 57C4 PCIe2 RAID SAS Adapter Dual-port 6 Gb
CCIN 57C4 PCIe2 RAID SAS adapter Dual-port 6 Gb
Figure 3. CCIN 57C3 PCIe2 3.1 GB Cache RAID SAS Enclosure 6 Gb x8
CCIN 57C3 PCIe2 3.1 GB Cache RAID SAS Enclosure 6 Gb x8
Figure 4. CCIN 57BB PCIe2 1.8 GB cache RAID SAS adapter Tri-port 6 Gb
CCIN 57BB PCIe2 1.8 GB cache RAID SAS adapter Tri-port 6 Gbb
Parent topic: Feature comparison of SAS RAID cards
Related concepts:
Dual storage IOA configurations
Dual storage IOA functions


Last updated: Thu, October 03, 2019