Before you install and configure solid-state
drives (SSDs), you must review the supported machine type model, the
supported expansion unit or enclosure, adapter, and configuration
details.
SSD drive rules for a system, enclosure,
or expansion unit
Solid-state drives, also known as flash drives,
follow similar rules as a regular hard disk drive (HDD). For example,
SSDs physically resemble, install in the same manner, and in most
of the same slots as HDDs. However, some restrictions and configuration
rules are specific to the SSD. The following tables helps you determine
the operating system, adapter, machine type model, and disk drive
configuration rules that apply to your system or expansion unit.
After you review the configuration rules, you can install
the drive as you would any other disk drive. For more information
about installing disk drives or solid-state drives, see the topic
collection for your system or expansion unit.
Restriction: Solid-state drives must be part
of a RAID array or system mirroring in the system or logical partition
that is controlled by IBM® i.
See the Table 1 for the system or partition or the enclosure or expansion
unit where you want to install drives.
Attention: Before you install SSD in your system,
ensure that both the SSD and the adapters have all the prerequisite
updates.
To check for the prerequisites, go to
the IBM Prerequisite website .
Table 1. Solid-state drive rules
for the IBM AIX®, IBM i, or Linux operating
system for a system, enclosure or expansion unit| System, enclosure or expansion unit |
Adapter |
Mixing rules |
|---|
| 8233-E8B or 8236-E8C |
- FC 5679 (SAS RAID Enablement, internal adapter)
- FC 5904 (PCI-X DDR 1.5 GB Cache SAS RAID Adapter)
- FC 5903 (PCIe 380 MB Cache Dual x4 3 Gb SAS RAID Adapter)
|
Important: SSD must be on one side of the split backplane
and HDD must be on the other side of the split backplane. SSD and
HDD drive types cannot be mixed within a parity set. If you are mixing
SSD and HDD in a system, ensure that you have enough of each drive
type to manage your protection scheme.
|
| 5802 and 5877 |
FC 5903 (PCIe 380 MB Cache Dual x4 3 Gb SAS
RAID Adapter) |
- SSD and HDD cannot be mixed on a pair of 5903 adapters.
- A maximum of 9 SSDs are supported on a pair of 5903 adapters.
|
| 5886 |
- FC 5904 (PCI-X DDR 1.5 GB Cache SAS RAID Adapter)
- FC 5906 and FC 5908 (PCI-X DDR 1.5 GB Cache SAS RAID Adapter)
- FC 5903 (PCIe 380 MB Cache Dual - x4 3 Gb SAS RAID Adapter)
|
- SSDs and HDDs can be mixed in this drive enclosure.
- A maximum of 24 drives are supported in this enclosure.
- SSDs and HDDs can be attached to the SAS Controller PCI or PCI-X
adapters. Also, can be attached to the embedded SAS controller in
a system with an embedded SAS port.
|
| 5887 disk
drive enclosure |
- FC 5805 (PCIe 380 MB Cache Dual - x4 3 Gb SAS RAID Adapter)
- FC 5901 (PCIe Dual x4 SAS Adapter)
- FC 5908 (PCI-X DDR 1.5 GB Cache SAS RAID Adapter)
- FC ESA1 (PCIe2 RAID SAS Adapter Dual-port 6 Gb)
- FC ESA1 (PCIe2 LP RAID SAS Adapter Dual-port 6 Gb)
- PCIe2 (3.1 GB Cache RAID SAS Enclosure 6 Gb x8)
|
- A maximum of 24 drives are supported in this enclosure.
- The EXP24S can be configured as one set of 24 bays (mode 1), two
sets of 12 bays (mode 2), or four sets of 6 bays (mode 4).
- The EXP24S serial-attached SCSI (SAS) ports are attached to SAS
controllers, which can be a SAS Peripheral Component Interconnect-X
(PCI-X) adapter, PCI Express (PCIe) adapter, or a pair of adapters.
The EXP24S can also be attached to an embedded SAS controller in a
system with an embedded SAS port.
- The mixing of the SSDs and HDDs is as follows:
- SSDs and HDDs cannot be mixed in a logical group when configured
as in mode 1.
- SSDs and HDDs can be mixed when configured as in mode 2: one set
can be SSDs and the other set can be HDDs.
- SSDs and HDDs cannot be mixed when configured as in mode 4 because
the SSDs are not supported by the adapter that is required to configure
the 5887 for
mode 4.
|
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