PCIe3 low profile 12 Gb SAS/SATA RAID adapter with 1 GB protected write cache (FC EC3S - PMC 81605Z)

Learn about the specifications and operating system requirements for the feature code (FC EC3S - PMC 81605Z) adapter.

Overview

The PCIe Gen3 SAS/SATA RAID Adapter is a low-profile, PCIe generation-3 (PCIe3) x8 adapter with a 1 GB protected write cache. The adapter has four internal connections each of which has four x1 ports, allowing it to support up to 16 drives. The adapter supports RAID (0, 1, 1E, 5, 6, 10, 50, 60), Hybrid RAID (1, 10), and the hot plug of its attached drives. The adapter's super capacitors provide protection of the write cache in case of power loss.

Note: The adapter can connect to the 12 internal (front) disk bays on the 8348-21C. SATA devices are supported at up to 6 Gb/s per port.

The adapter provides the following RAID features:

  • Flexible Configuration: HBA Mode and Auto Volume Mode for automatic deployment
  • Optimized Disk Utilization (multiple arrays per disk)
  • Supports up to 256 SAS or SATA devices that use SAS expanders
  • Support for native 4 K sector SAS and SATA devices in addition to 512-byte sector devices
  • Hybrid RAID 1 and 10
  • Quick initialization
  • Online Capacity Expansion
  • Copyback Hot Spare
  • Dynamic caching algorithm
  • Native Command Queuing (NCQ)
  • Background initialization
  • Hot-plug drive support
  • RAID Level Migration
  • Hot spares - global, dedicated, and pooled
  • Automatic and manual rebuild of hot spares
  • SES and SAF-TE enclosure management
  • Configurable stripe size
  • S.M.A.R.T. support
  • Multiple arrays per disk drive
  • Dynamic sector repair
  • Staggered drive spin-up
  • Bootable array support
  • Support for tape devices, autoloaders
  • MSI-X support for all device driver for all supported operating systems
  • Secure boot support for the uEFI host BIOS
  • USB image available to boot maxView Storage Manager
  • GUI from any USB device for enhanced GUI-based setup and offline maintenance
  • Offline maintenance

Utilities

The adapter can use the following management utilities:
  • Adaptec maxView Storage Manager

    IBM® highly recommends that you use the maxView Storage Manager utility to configure and manage the storage that is controlled by a PMC adapter or adapters. Once the maxView Storage Manager utility is installed and running, it can be configured to automatically monitor and report issues such as disk failures. If you do not install the maxView Storage Manager utility, you need to use manual tools such as the ARCCONF command line utility. ARCCONF does not offer the automatic monitoring and reporting of issues such as disk failures.

    The maxView Storage Manager includes the following options:
    • Web-based GUI Management utility
    • Remote configuration, monitoring, and notification
    • Remote firmware updates including adapter and FW updates
    • SMI-S Support
    • SMTPARCCONF
    Important:
    • It is recommended that you install the maxView Storage Manager utility if you are using the Red Hat Enterprise Linux or IBM PowerKVM operating systems.
    • The maxView Storage Manager utility is not currently supported on Ubuntu.
    • To download the maxView Storage Manager utility, see the PMC Adaptec website.
  • Arcconf:
    • Command Line Interface
    • SMI-S support for VMware
Figure 1. FC EC3S adapter (PMC 81605Z)
Image of the EC3S adapter

Specifications

Item
Description
Adapter FRU number
00WV554 (Designed to comply with RoHS requirement)
I/O bus architecture
PCIe3 x8
Slot requirement
For details about slot priorities and placement rules, see PCIe adapter placement rules and slot priorities and select the system you are working on.
Cables
Internal mini-SAS cables are included with the system and can be connected to the adapter SAS HD connectors as needed.
Voltage
3.3 V
Form factor
Short
Maximum number
For details about the maximum number of adapters that are supported, see PCIe adapter placement rules and slot priorities and select the system you are working on.

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 that you determine whether any prerequisites must be met for this feature and attaching devices. To check for the prerequisites, see IBM Prerequisite website.

The adapter is supported on the following versions of the operating systems, depending on the system you are using:
  • Bare Metal Systems (FC EC16):
    • Linux:
      • Ubuntu Server 14.04.3 or later with AACRAID device driver v1.2.1-41059
      • Ubuntu Server 16.04, or later
      • Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.2, little endian, for Power®, or later with AACRAID device driver v1.2.1-41059
      • For support details, see the Linux Alert website.
  • PowerKVM 3.1 Systems (FC EC40):
    • Virtualized resources served to guest partitions
    • PCI pass-through direct to guests not supported



Last updated: Wed, May 24, 2017