System overview

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IBM® FlashSystem 9600 is a 2U NVMe storage powerhouse that supports up to 32 drives, engineered for the most demanding enterprise and AI-driven workloads.

With advanced high-availability features, robust data protection, and hardened security, IBM FlashSystem 9600 ensures continuous operations and rapid recovery—even under the most demanding conditions. This makes it the ideal choice for mission-critical environments where downtime is not an option.

Figure 1. Front view of the control enclosure

Table 1. IBM FlashSystem 9600 Models
Machine Type - Model	Description	Minimum Software Level
5078-A40	IBM FlashSystem 9600 controller with Expert Care	9.1.2

Figure 2. Rear view of the control enclosure

IBM Storage Virtualize software

IBM FlashSystem 9600 runs IBM Storage Virtualize which provides the following functions for the host systems that attach to the system:

A single pool of storage
Logical unit virtualization
Simple management of logical volumes
Workload mobility with the use of FlashSystem grid for maximum utilization and operational flexibility
Scale-out performance and capacity with FlashSystem grid
Orchestrated immutable volume group and Safeguarded snapshots

The software also provides the following functions:

Replication:
- Simplify data management by automating configuration tasks.
- Ensure seamless continuity while maintaining high throughput and low latency to applications.
Data reduction:
- Always on with no-impact hardware compression and deduplication operations performed on FlashCore Modules (FCM) drives.
Ransomware threat detection enhanced with FlashCore Module computational storage assists.
High-performance Distributed RAID for redundancy and fast rebuild
Large scalable cache
Easy to use management and automation that is consistent across the Storage Virtualize portfolio, including RestAPI, Ansible Playbooks, CSI integration, VMWare integration, and a modern Graphical User Interface (GUI).

For more information on IBM Storage Virtualize software, see the relevant IBM Documentation.

Control Enclosure

IBM FlashSystem 9600 comprises a 2U rack-unit (2U) control enclosure, which contains:

32 slots for NVMe Flash devices (front), which use the Enterprise and Datacenter Standard Form Factor (EDSFF).
Two Node Canisters.
Two Power Supplies.

NVMe Flash Devices

IBM FlashSystem 9600 supports the use of IBM FlashCore Modules, with inbuilt hardware data reduction and computational storage assists. The system also supports the use of Industry-Standard Flash Drives.

Note: Only drives that are sold as system options are supported.

Highly Available Architecture

IBM FlashSystem 9600 implements an Active-Active architecture, with the two Node Canisters forming a redundant I/O Group. Because data volumes are served by both node canisters, the volume remains available if one node canister fails or is taken offline.

Node canisters contain the systems CPUs, memory, backup batteries, and network attachment adapters.

Flexible Network Attachment

IBM FlashSystem 9600 supports a range of network attachment adapter features.

The following adapter types are supported by the system:

Table 2. Adapter types
Adapter type	Protocols supported	Minimum or maximum per node canister	Minimum software level
Quad-port 64 Gbps Fibre Channel	SCSI, FC-NVMe	0 - 3	9.1.2
Quad-port 32 Gbps Fibre Channel	SCSI, FC-NVMe	0 - 4	9.1.2
Dual-port 100 Gbps Ethernet adapter	Host I/O that uses iSCSI or NVMe/TCP Replication over RDMA, TCP	0 - 4	9.1.2
Quad-port 25 Gbps Ethernet adapter	Host I/O that uses iSCSI or NVMe/TCP Replication over TCP	0 - 4	9.1.2

In addition, each canister has two dedicated 10 Gbps Ethernet ports that are used for system management.

Power Supplies and Battery Backup

IBM FlashSystem 9600 has two redundant Power Supplies. Each power supply requires two high-line (200 V - 240 V) AC power sources.

Each node canister contains a Battery that allows a canister to save its cache and metadata in an unscheduled power-down event.

Enterprise Warranty and Services

IBM FlashSystem 9600 is available with IBM Storage Expert Care, with several levels of support to suit different deployment models. Refer to IBM Enterprise Support and Preferred Care options for more information.

System components

For more details on the different components of the system, see the following pages: