EXN3000 storage expansion unit hardware features

The IBM System Storage EXN3000 SAS/SATA expansion unit provides low-cost high-capacity Serially Attached SCSI (SAS) or Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA) disk storage for supported IBM N series system storage systems. For connectivity to the EXN3000 expansion disks, an available PCI-e I/O slot in the N series controller is needed for the SAS HBA.

EXN3000 storage expansion units are available with either a 3 Gbps I/O module or a 6 Gbps I/O module. The 3 Gbps I/O module is mandatory for all expansions using SAS disks, and is optional for expansions using SATA disks. The use of 6 Gbps I/O module with SATA disk drives enables mixing SSDs (quantity of 6) with selected SATA disk capacities (quantity of 18) within a single expansion, improving the flexibility of the expansion. This mixed-shelf architecture is used in conjunction with Flash Pool technology included in Data ONTAP 8.1.1, or later. This feature requires Data ONTAP 8.1.1, or later.

Note: The EXN3000 SAS/SATA storage expansion unit is available for attachment to all N series systems except the N3300 systems.

The EXN3000 SAS/SATA storage expansion unit is a 4U disk storage expansion unit. The EXN3000 contains:

Redundant hot-pluggable integrated power supplies and cooling fans
Note: Depending on the disk drive type, your EXN3000 might have two or four power supplies. EXN3000s with SAS disk drives have four power supplies and require the use of four power outlets. EXN3000s with SATA disk drives have two power supplies and require the use of two power outlets.
Dual redundant disk storage expansion unit switched controllers
24 hard disk drive slots
Diagnostic and status LEDs

The 4U disk expansion design of the EXN3000 houses up to 24 SAS, SATA, or solid state disk (SSD) drives. Disk drive options for the EXN3000 include:

300 GB, 450 GB, 600 GB, and 4 TB SAS drives
500 GB, 1 TB, 2 TB, and 3 TB SATA drives (7200 RPM)
100 GB and 200 GB solid state drives
SED SAS: 3 TB and 4 TB physical capacities

SAS and SATA drives cannot be intermixed; the EXN3000 is either a SAS storage controller or a SATA storage controller. The drives must be ordered as features of the EXN3000.

Solid state drives (SSDs) require Data ONTAP 8.0.2, or higher, be installed on the storage controller. The EXN3000s with SSDs may not be in the same SAS stack as non-SSD storage.

For detailed information about the important differences between EXN3000 and EXN1000/2000/4000 storage expansion units, see the IBM® System Storage® EXN3000 Storage Expansion Unit Hardware and Service Guide.