Hardware overview of a single rack

Review the overall system layout and hardware configuration.

  • Ensure that IBM Storage Fusion is installed in a restricted access location, such that the area is accessible only to skilled and instructed persons with proper authorization.

Single rack (9155-C00, 9155-C01, 9155-C04, 9155-C05, 9155-G02, and 9155-F01)

In this appliance, you cannot configure your racks with any servers in positions 29 to 32. The following picture shows the rack along with its rack units:

hardwareoverview

Rack (Model R42)

42U rack with 2 to 6 PDUs, cabling, and components.

Compute-only server (Model C00, C04) / Compute-storage server (Model C01, C05, C10, C14)
See Compute-only and compute-storage server model servers
Networks
See Network layout and configuration
(Optional) Console Kit (KVM) (Model TF5)
Service console used for initial system setup.
  • RU22
(Optional) AFM Server (Model F01)
The optional Active File Manager (AFM) feature of IBM Spectrum® Storage Scale Erasure Code Edition (ECE) is supported by adding an optional one or two servers to IBM Storage Fusion HCI System that function as AFM Gateway Nodes. AFM gateway nodes may generate a large amount of network traffic between themselves and the home system to fetch and to synchronize files. To ensure the best performance and cluster stability, these separate nodes are used so that AFM traffic has its own physical adapter that is separate from the IBM Storage Scale cluster network and from servers that are used for other application workloads.
  • RU23 and RU24
(Optional) GPU Server (Model G02 or G03)
An optional one or two GPU accelerated nodes for AI workloads that make use of the NVIDIA A100 GPUs (3 per server). A minimum quantity of one GPU server can be ordered up to a maximum of two in total.
  • RU25 to RU28

Single rack (9155-C10, 9155-C14, 9155-G03 servers)

In this rack, you can install servers in any rack unit position bottom up.
Base rack
The following image shows a base rack:
Rack with maximum compute servers
The following image shows a rack with maximum compute servers:
Rack with a mixture of compute and GPU servers
The following image shows a rack with a mixture of compute and GPU servers:

The following picture shows how you can add multiple GPUs.

Picture showing the different ways in which you can add multiple gpus

Hardware configuration of the appliance

You can purchase a rack from IBM or arrange one yourself.

Base configuration:
  • 42U rack

    2x Ethernet high-speed switches

    2x Ethernet management switches

    6x compute-storage servers with 2 NVMe drives or server:
    • The server in RU7 is connected to the service console tray
    • Servers in RU2, RU3, and RU4 become the OpenShift® control plane servers
    • 6x 32 core servers, or 6x 64 core servers, or 3x 32 core servers + 3x 64 core servers
    • 2x 7.68 TB NVMe PCle drives or 3.84 TB NVMe drives. Do not mix them within a rack.
Available options:
  • Additional compute-storage servers to a maximum of 16 (minus any GPU servers)
  • GPU servers with 1-8 GPU adapter cards
  • Increased storage by adding drives to compute-storage servers:
    • 7.68 TB NVMe PCle drives or server to a maximum of 10 drives
    • The rack that supports 9155-C10, 9155-C14, 9155-G03 servers includes 3.84 TB drives to servers that already have 3.84 TB drives
  • Increased compute power by adding compute-only servers
  • Rack that supports 9155-C00, 9155-C01, 9155-C04, 9155-C05, 9155-G02, and 9155-F01 servers - A minimum quantity of one AFM (Active File Management) server can be ordered up to a maximum of two in total.
  • Rack that supports 9155-C10, 9155-C14, 9155-G03 servers - It does not have special-purpose AFM server nodes. Instead, 32-core compute-only nodes can be configured to provide AFM capabilities.

Physical configuration

For the physical configuration, limitations, and models, see Family 9155+01 IBM Storage Fusion HCI.

Power Distribution Unit (PDU) positions in IBM Storage Fusion appliance

Use this section as a guidance for PDU positions in the IBM Storage Fusion appliance. Additional PDUs may be added depending upon the configuration of the system. These additional PDUs get horizontally mounted in the space above PDU 6.

Figure 1. IBM Storage Fusion PDU positions
IBM Spectrum Fusion PDU positions
Important: There may be more than 6 PDUs for racks that have one or more GPU servers. Those servers are added in pairs, horizontally mounted, and placed on top of PDUs 5 and 6.

For the rack that supports 9155-C10, 9155-C14, 9155-G03 servers, all the PDUs that are installed in the rack are needed and all of them must be connected to power.

Apply the following rules for rack that supports 9155-C00, 9155-C01, 9155-C04, 9155-C05, 9155-G02, and 9155-F01 servers:
  • All configurations require PDUs 1 and 2 to be connected to power.
  • If more than six compute-storage servers exist, PDUs 3 and 4 must be connected to power.
  • If AFM servers exist, PDUs 3 and 4 must be connected to power.
  • If more than 14 compute-storage servers exist, PDUs 5 and 6 must be connected to power.
  • If GPU servers exist, then PDUs 5 and 6 must be connected to power.
Note: For independent or redundant power feeds, the two power sources must be split between the left and lower (odd numbered) PDUs and the right and upper (even numbered) PDUs.
There are two possible models of the PDU and the one you get depends on your power connection:
  • For all single-phase power and for wye-wired three-phase power there is one PDU feature code. See Supported PDU power cords are ECJN with Souriau inlet table in Supported PDU power cords
  • For delta-wired three-phase power (typically used only in N America) there is a different PDU feature code. See Supported PDU power cords for PDU feature codes ECJQ with Amphenol inlet table in Supported PDU power cords.
For more information about the line cords for power connections, see Supported PDU power cords. For more information about power prerequisites for IBM Storage Fusion, see General power information.

Drives and usable storage capacities

To calculate the usable storage capacities for drives, use the IBM Storage Modeler (StorM) tool.

Weight of miscellaneous rack parts

The following table lists the weight of the rack configs that include miscellaneous parts beyond individual components like cables, Constellation rack and so on:
Table 1. Weight of miscellaneous rack parts
Component Weight (lbs) Weight (kg) Model
SN3700C switch 27.5 12.5 S01
7316-TF5 console 12.0 5.5 TF5
AS4610 switch 11.8 5.4 S02
SR665 GPU server 85.5 38.9 G01
SR630 AFM server 41.9 19.0 F01
SR645-0 32-core 256GB server 39.1 17.8 C00
SR645-2 32-core 256GB server 40.2 18.3 C01 with 2 drives
SR645-10 32-core 256GB server 44.6 20.3 C01 with 10 drives
SR645-0 64-core 1024GB server 39.1 17.8 C04
SR645-2 64-core 1024GB server 40.2 18.3 C05 with 2 drives
SR645-10 64-core 1024GB server 40.2 18.3 C05 with 10 drives
SR630 V3 32-core 45.9 20.8 C10
SR630 V3 64-core 45.9 20.8 C14
Constellation rack 398.2 181.0 R42
Intelligent switched PDU+ 9.5 4.3 n/a
All cables, rails, and so on. 395.5 179.8 n/a
SR675 V3 GPU server 72.1 lbs 32.8 kg G03 with 1 GPUs
SR675 V3 GPU server 87.5 lbs 39.8 kg G03 with 8 GPUs