PCIe3 RAID SAS quad-port 6 Gb LP Adapter (FC EL3B and FC EJ0M; CCIN 57B4)
Learn about the specifications and operating system requirements for the feature code (FC) EL3B and EJ0M adapter.
Overview
The PCIe3 RAID SAS quad-port 6 Gb LP Adapter is a PCI Express (PCIe), generation 3, RAID SAS adapter that has a low-profile and short-form factor. The adapter is used in high-performance and high-density, serial attached SCSI (SAS) applications. It supports the attachment of SAS hard disk drives (HDDs) and solid-state devices (SSDs) by using four mini SAS high-density (HD) x4 connectors that allow the physical links to be used in various narrow and wide-port configurations. The adapter does not have a non-volatile write cache. However, Linux customers can take advantage of a volatile adapter write cache of up to 1 Gb (compressed) for improved performance. This support is available with the 2.4.10 version of the iprutils utility available from the IBM Linux Power Tools Repository and with the latest adapter firmware available from the Fix Central website .
The adapter is a 64 bit, 3.3 V, bootable SAS adapter that provides RAID 0, 5, 6, and 10 capability, and system level mirroring via the operating system. The adapter provides both single and dual RAID controller configurations. Dual controller configurations (dual storage IOA) must run RAID. JBOD (512 byte) functionality is supported only in a single controller configuration based on the operating system. Best performance is achieved when multiple RAID sets are configured and optimized under a pair of adapters in a high availability, multi-initiator RAID configuration (dual storage IOA) which allows for an Active-Active mode of operation.
Figure 1 shows the adapter. The connector plug (A) is installed in an empty port and prevents damage to that port whenever a cable for the adjacent port connectors is plugged-in or removed.
Specifications
- Item
- Description
- Adapter FRU number
- 000MH910
- Connector plug part number
- 00FW784 (The connector plug is installed in an empty port and prevents damage to that port whenever a cable for the adjacent port connectors is plugged-in or removed.)
- I/O bus architecture
- PCIe 3.0 but compatible to PCIe 2.0 or PCIe 1.0 slots.
- Slot requirement
- For details about slot priorities, maximums, and placement rules, see PCIe adapter placement rules and slot priorities and select the system you are working on.
- Voltage
- 3.3 V
- Form factor
- Short, low-profile but packaged for full-height installations.
- Cables
- Specific X, YO, AA, or AT SAS cable features with new narrow HD connectors are used to attach to the other adapter or disk expansion drawers.
- Attributes
-
- Four external mini SAS HD 4x connectors provide attachment of SAS device enclosures
- SAS Serial SCSI Protocol (SSP) and Serial Management Protocol (SMP)
- RAID 0, 5, 6, or 10 with hot-spare capability. System level mirroring through the operating system is also supported. JBOD functionality (512 byte) is supported in a single controller configuration only.
- Concurrent firmware update
- Support for multi-initiator and high availability or single controller configurations
Important requirements for adapter installation
If you are attaching a new or existing 5887, ESLL, or ELLS enclosure to an FC EL3B or EJ0M adapter, verify that the latest System Enclosure Services (SES) code is applied to the enclosure before attaching to the FC EL3B or EJ0M adapter. For details, see the IBM Prerequisites website.
An automatic sector conversion takes place for use with the new adapter when migrating existing SAS disk enclosures and devices from existing previous PCIe SAS adapters to PCIe3 SAS adapters. For more information about the migration procedures, see Upgrading a SAS RAID storage adapter.
Operating system or partition requirements
- The latest version of enabling libraries and utilities can be downloaded from the Fix Central website.
- Power Systems Prerequisites website.
- IBM System Storage Interoperation Center (SSIC) website.
- The latest version of the device driver or IBM Power® RAID adapter utilities (iprutils) can be downloaded from the IBM Service and Productivity Tools website.
- For information about important notices for Linux on IBM Power Systems, see the Linux on IBM website.
- AIX: devices.pci.14104A0 device driver package