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V9.1.2.x Configuration Limits for IBM FlashSystem and SAN Volume Controller

Preventive Service Planning


Abstract

This document lists the configuration limits for all IBM Storage Virtualize Systems (IBM FlashSystem and SVC) using version 9.1.2.x

Content

Refer to product documentation and release notes for detailed information about product behaviour, restrictions and known issues.
 
Product Documentation Links
Note: On some platforms, available software features or combinations of software features may depend on memory options. For more details, see the Software Feature limits page in the relevant Hardware Guide.
 
The tables in this page use a set of abbreviations for the various FlashSystem (FS) products, and SVC nodes. A full table of these abbreviations can be found at the end of this document.
 
To make the tables easier to read, you can use the product selector to filter which products are shown.
 
 
 

System (Cluster) Limits

LimitFSC200FS5200FS5300FS5600FS7200FS7300FS7600FS9200FS9500FS9600SVC SV3
I/O groups / Control Enclosures per system (cluster)11111111111
Active Nodes per system22222222222
Spare Nodes per systemn/an/an/an/an/an/an/an/an/an/a4
Nodes per fabric6464646464646464646464
Systems per FlashSystem grid3232323232323232323232
Inter-cluster partnerships per system33333333333
IP Quorum devices per system55555555555
Data encryption keys per system10241024102410241024102410241024102410241024
Key servers per system44444444444
Storage partitions per system3232323232323232323232
 

Managed Disk and Pool Limits

LimitFSC200FS5200FS5300FS5600FS7200FS7300FS7600FS9200FS9500FS9600SVC SV3
Managed disks (MDisks) per system40964096409640964096409640964096409640964096
Managed disks per storage pool (managed disk group)128128128128128128128128128128128
Storage pools per system10241024102410241024102410241024102410241024
Parent pools per system128128128128128128128128128128128
Child pools per system10231023102310231023102310231023102310231023
Minimum managed disk extent size1024 MiB1024 MiB1024 MiB1024 MiB1024 MiB1024 MiB1024 MiB1024 MiB1024 MiB1024 MiB16 MiB
Maximum managed disk extent size8192 MiB8192 MiB8192 MiB8192 MiB8192 MiB8192 MiB8192 MiB8192 MiB8192 MiB8192 MiB8192 MiB
Storage pool extents per system4194304 (222)4194304 (222)4194304 (222)4194304 (222)4194304 (222)4194304 (222)4194304 (222)4194304 (222)4194304 (222)4194304 (222)4194304 (222)
Storage pool extents per vdisk131072 (217)131072 (217)131072 (217)131072 (217)131072 (217)131072 (217)131072 (217)131072 (217)131072 (217)131072 (217)131072 (217)
Storage pool extents per data repository vdisk524288 (219)524288 (219)524288 (219)524288 (219)524288 (219)524288 (219)524288 (219)524288 (219)524288 (219)524288 (219)524288 (219)
Data Reduction Pools per system04404404404
Mdisks per Data Reduction Pooln/a128128n/a128128n/a128128n/a128
Volume copies per Data Reduction Pooln/a81928192n/a1586432100n/a1586465000n/a15864
Extents per Data Reduction Pooln/a524,288 (512k)524,288 (512k)n/a524,288 (512k)524,288 (512k)n/a524,288 (512k)524,288 (512k)n/a524,288 (512k)
Capacity for an individual external managed disk1 PB1 PB1 PB1 PB1 PB1 PB1 PB1 PB1 PB1 PB1 PB
Total storage capacity manageable per system32 PB32 PB32 PB32 PB32 PB32 PB32 PB32 PB32 PB32 PB32 PB
 

Distributed RAID Array Limits

LimitFSC200FS5200FS5300FS5600FS7200FS7300FS7600FS9200FS9500FS9600SVC SV3
Arrays per system10101081010410104n/a
FCM arrays per storage pool1111111111n/a
Member drives per array1281281281281281283212812832n/a
Min / Max member drives per RAID-1 arrayn/a2-162-162-162-162-16n/a2-162-16n/an/a
Min / Max member drives per RAID-5 arrayn/a4-84-84-84-128n/an/a4-128n/an/an/a
Min / Max member drives per RAID-5 array (NVMe drives)n/a4-84-84-84-24n/an/a4-24n/an/an/a
Min / Max member drives per RAID-6 array6-1286-1286-1286-1286-1286-1286-326-1286-1286-32n/a
Min / Max member drives per RAID-6 array (NVMe drives)246-126-126-126-246-246-326-246-486-32n/a
Rebuild areas per non-FCM array1-41-41-41-41-41-41-41-41-41-4n/a
Rebuild areas per FCM array1111111111n/a
Min / Max stripe width for RAID-5 arrayn/a3-73-73-73-16n/an/a3-16n/an/an/a
Min / Max stripe width for RAID-6 array5-165-165-165-165-165-165-165-165-165-16n/a
Max drive capacity for RAID-5 arrayn/a8 TB8 TB8 TB8 TBn/an/a8 TBn/an/an/a
Max SAS drive capacity for RAID-1 arrayn/a8 TB8 TB8 TB8 TB8 TBn/a8 TB8 TBn/an/a
Max Flash drive capacity for RAID-1 arrayn/a30.72 TB30.72 TB22.4 TB30.72 TB30.72 TBn/a30.72 TB30.72 TBn/an/a
Max drives added to a RAID-1 array in a single DRAID expansionn/a1212121212n/a1212n/an/a
Max drives added to a RAID-5 or RAID-6 array in a single DRAID expansion42424242424242424242n/a
Concurrent DRAID expansions per system4444444444n/a
Concurrent DRAID expansions per parent storage pool1111111111n/a
 

Volume (Virtual Disk) Limits

LimitFSC200FS5200FS5300FS5600FS7200FS7300FS7600FS9200FS9500FS9600SVC SV3
Basic volumes per system1605081928192819215864160501605015864325003250015864
Volume copies per system1605081928192819215864160501605015864325003250015864
Stretched volumes per systemn/an/an/an/an/an/an/an/an/an/a7932
Cloud volumes per system10241024102410241024102410241024102410241024
Volume copies per volume22222222222
Total mirrored volume capacity per I/O group1024 TB1024 TB1024 TB1024 TB1024 TB1024 TB1024 TB1024 TB1024 TB1024 TB40 PB
Volume groups per system10241024102410241024102410241024102410241024
Volumes per volume group512512512512512512512512512512512
Fully-allocated volume capacity256 TB256 TB256 TB256 TB256 TB256 TB256 TB256 TB256 TB256 TB256 TB
Thin-provisioned (space-efficient) volume capacity256 TB256 TB256 TB256 TB256 TB256 TB256 TB256 TB256 TB256 TB256 TB
Host mappings per system6400064000640006400064000640006400064000640006400064000
Maximum Provisioning Policies4040404040404040404040
 

Host Limits

LimitFSC200FS5200FS5300FS5600FS7200FS7300FS7600FS9200FS9500FS9600SVC SV3
Hosts per system204825651251251220482048512204820482048
Volume mappings per host20485125125122048204820482048204820482048
Host portsets per system (FC plus Ethernet)7272727272727272727272
IP addresses per system512512512512512512512512512512512
IP addresses per port6464646464646464646464
IP addresses per node256256256256256256256256256256256
Unique IP addresses per port6464646464646464646464
Routable IP Addresses per port44444444444
Node IP Addresses per portset for Host Attach44444444444
FC ports per portset44444444444
Host clusters per system512512512512512512512512512512512
Hosts in a host cluster128128128128128128128128128128128
Notes:
  • IP addresses per port, per node and per system include management IP addresses.
 

Host: SCSI over Fibre Channel Limits

LimitFSC200FS5200FS5300FS5600FS7200FS7300FS7600FS9200FS9500FS9600SVC SV3
Fibre Channel hosts per system204825651251251220482048512204820482048
Fibre Channel host ports per system20482048204820482048204820482048819281922048
NPIV Direct Attach Logins per Fibre Channel WWPN256256256256256256256256256256256
Fibre Channel host ports per host (ID)3232323232323232323232
Fibre Channel logins per port Fibre Channel WWPN512512512512512512512512512512512
Notes:
  • Fibre Channel logins per port Fibre Channel WWPN includes logins from server HBAs, disk controller ports, node ports within the same system and node ports from remote systems.
 

Host: NVMe over Fabric General Limits

LimitFSC200FS5200FS5300FS5600FS7200FS7300FS7600FS9200FS9500FS9600SVC SV3
Total NVMe over Fabric hosts per system256256256256256256256256256256256
NVMe Qualified Names (NQNs) per host (ID)22222222222
NVMe Qualified Names (NQNs) per system256256256256256256256256256256256
Notes:
  • Total NVMe over Fabric hosts includes NVMe over Fibre Channel, NVMe over RDMA and NVMe over TCP hosts
 

Host: NVMe over Fibre Channel Limits

LimitFSC200FS5200FS5300FS5600FS7200FS7300FS7600FS9200FS9500FS9600SVC SV3
NVMe over Fibre Channel hosts per system256256256256256256256256256256256
NVMe over Fibre Channel sessions per FC port6464646464646464646464
 

Host: NVMe over RDMA Limits

LimitFSC200FS5200FS5300FS5600FS7200FS7300FS7600FS9200FS9500FS9600SVC SV3
NVMe over RDMA hosts per system256256n/an/a256256n/a256256n/a256
Primary RDMA sessions per port256256n/an/a256256n/a256256n/a256
Host queue size6464n/an/a6464n/a6464n/a64
Number of IO queues88n/an/a88n/a88n/a8
 

Host: NVMe over TCP Limits

LimitFSC200FS5200FS5300FS5600FS7200FS7300FS7600FS9200FS9500FS9600SVC SV3
NVMe over TCP hosts per system256256256256256256256256256256256
NVMe over TCP sessions per Ethernet port6464646464646464646464
Host queue size128128128128128128128128128128128
Number of IO queues88888888888
 

Host: iSCSI Limits

LimitFSC200FS5200FS5300FS5600FS7200FS7300FS7600FS9200FS9500FS9600SVC SV3
iSCSI hosts per system102425651251251210241024512102410241024
iSCSI names per host44444444444
iSCSI names per system10241024102410241024102410241024102410241024
 

Ethernet Session Limits

LimitFSC200FS5200FS5300FS5600FS7200FS7300FS7600FS9200FS9500FS9600SVC SV3
iSCSI sessions per node used for Host Attach10241024102410241024102410241024102410241024
 

Host: SAS Limits

LimitFSC200FS5200FS5300FS5600FS7200FS7300FS7600FS9200FS9500FS9600SVC SV3
SAS hosts per systemn/a4n/an/an/an/an/an/an/an/an/a
 

Replication and HA: Policy-Based Limits

LimitFSC200FS5200FS5300FS5600FS7200FS7300FS7600FS9200FS9500FS9600SVC SV3
Total volume capacity per system using policy-based replication or policy-based high availability2 PiB1 PiB1 PiB2 PiB2 PiB2 PiB5 PiB2 PiB4 PiB10 PiB4 PiB
Volumes using policy-based replication or policy-based high availability1605079327932793279321605016050793232500325007932
Maximum round-trip latency for policy-based high availability1 ms1 ms1 ms1 ms1 ms1 ms1 ms1 ms1 ms1 ms1 ms
Maximum round-trip latency for asynchronous policy-based replication using Fibre Channel partnerships250 ms250 ms250 ms250 ms250 ms250 ms250 ms250 ms250 ms250 ms250 ms
Maximum round-trip latency for asynchronous policy-based replication using IP (long distances using TCP) partnerships80 ms80 ms80 ms80 ms80 ms80 ms80 ms80 ms80 ms80 ms80 ms
Maximum round-trip latency for asynchronous policy-based replication using IP (short distances using RDMA) partnerships3 ms3 ms3 ms3 ms3 ms3 ms3 ms3 ms3 ms3 ms3 ms
Replication policies per system132132132132132132132132132132132
I/O group connections per system using policy-based replication (see notes for example)1212121212121212121212
Total number of I/O groups in remote systems that can be configured for policy-based replication for an I/O group66666666666
Notes:
  • I/O group connections per system using policy-based replication example: If I/O group 0 in system 1 is replicating to two I/O groups in system 2, this counts as two connections. If I/O group 1 in system 1 is also replicating to these same I/O groups, that counts as two additional connections, for a total of four connections.
  • A volume configured for high availability and disaster recovery counts as using 2x the replicated volume capacity.
 

IP (long distances using TCP) Partnership Limits

LimitFSC200FS5200FS5300FS5600FS7200FS7300FS7600FS9200FS9500FS9600SVC SV3
Inter-cluster IP (long distances using TCP) partnerships per system33333333333
Inter site links per IP (long distances using TCP) partnership22222222222
Ports per node per IP (long distances using TCP) partnership11111111111
 

IP (short distances using RDMA) Partnership Limits

LimitFSC200FS5200FS5300FS5600FS7200FS7300FS7600FS9200FS9500FS9600SVC SV3
IP (short distances using RDMA) partnerships per system22222222222
High speed portsets per system66666666666
High speed portsets per IP (short distances using RDMA) partnership22222222222
IP addresses per node per high speed portset22222222222
 

Snapshot and FlashCopy Limits

LimitFSC200FS5200FS5300FS5600FS7200FS7300FS7600FS9200FS9500FS9600SVC SV3
Snapshots per system3209915863158631586315863320993209915863649996499915863
Thin-Clone, Clone Volumes per system1604981918191819115862160491604915862324993249915862
Total snapshot capacity per system100 PiB200 PiB200 PiB200 PiB300 PiB300 PiB400 PiB300 PiB800 PiB800 PiB800 PiB
Total volume group snapshot production capacity per system20 PiB4 PiB10 PiB10 PiB4 PiB20 PiB20 PiB4 PiB40 PiB40 PiB40 PiB
Total FlashCopy volume capacity per system which legacy FlashCopy can have up to4 PiB4 PiB4 PiB4 PiB4 PiB4 PiB4 PiB4 PiB8 PiB8 PiB8 PiB
Safeguarded Policies per system3232323232323232323232
Snapshot Policies per system128128128128128128128128128128128
FlashCopy mappings per system1586481928192819215864158641586415864158641586415864
FlashCopy consistency groups per system500500500500500500500500500500500
FlashCopy mappings per consistency group512512512512512512512512512512512
FlashCopy targets per source256256256256256256256256256256256
Cloud accounts per system11111111111
Active cloud snapshots per volume256256256256256256256256256256256
Notes:
  • Total volume group snapshot production capacity includes legacy FlashCopy, snapshots, clone volumes and change volumes, where supported. For SV3 total volume group snapshot production capacity also includes volume mirroring.
  • Total snapshot capacity includes snapshots only.
  • IBM recommends that the sum of volume copies and snapshots in a system should not exceed 50,000 when using standard pools. Data reduction pools are recommended for larger configurations.
 

External Storage System Limits

LimitFSC200FS5200FS5300FS5600FS7200FS7300FS7600FS9200FS9500FS9600SVC SV3
Storage system WWNNs per system (cluster)10241024102410241024102410241024102410241024
Storage system WWPNs per system (cluster)10241024102410241024102410241024102410241024
WWNNs per storage system1616161616161616161616
WWPNs per WWNN1616161616161616161616
WWPNs per Mdisk (see comment below)1616161616161616161616
Notes:
  • WWPNs per Mdisk means limit of Storage System WWPNs that can have LUN mappings for a specific Storage System LU
 

System and User Management Limits

LimitFSC200FS5200FS5300FS5600FS7200FS7300FS7600FS9200FS9500FS9600SVC SV3
User accounts per system (Includes the default user accounts)400400400400400400400400400400400
User groups per system (Includes the default user groups)256256256256256256256256256256256
Ownership groups per system6464646464646464646464
Management IP addresses per port3333333333333333333333
Management IP addresses per portset11111111111
Management IP addresses per system3434343434343434343434
Management portsets per system3333333333333333333333
Remote authentication (LDAP) services per system11111111111
Multifactor authentication services per system11111111111
Single sign-on authentication services per system11111111111
DNS servers per system22222222222
NTP servers per system11111111111
iSNS servers per system11111111111
Concurrent open SSH sessions per system3232323232323232323232
Two Person Integrity Requests per system44444444444
Patches per node (Includes Installed, Obsolete and Error)3030303030303030303030
Notes:
  • Default SystemManagement portset (portset 72) can have up to two systems IP addresses.
 

Event Notification Limits

LimitFSC200FS5200FS5300FS5600FS7200FS7300FS7600FS9200FS9500FS9600SVC SV3
SNMP servers per system66666666666
Syslog servers per system66666666666
Email (SMTP) servers per system66666666666
Email users (recipients) per system1212121212121212121212
LDAP servers per system66666666666
 

REST API Limits

LimitFSC200FS5200FS5300FS5600FS7200FS7300FS7600FS9200FS9500FS9600SVC SV3
Max active connections per cluster4040404040404040404040
Max requests/sec to auth endpoint33333333333
Max requests/sec to command endpoints1010101010101010101010
 

Extent Tables

 

Volume Capacity

Extent Size (MiB)Fully Allocated Volume CapacityThin-Provisioned Volume Capacity in Standard PoolsData Reduced Volume Capacity in Data Reduction Pools (includes Thin-provisioning)Total capacity of Data Reduced Volumes in a Data Reduction Pool (includes Thin-provisioning)
162 TiB1.8 TiBn/an/a
324 TiB3.6 TiBn/an/a
648 TiB7.3 TiBn/an/a
12816 TiB14.6 TiBn/an/a
25632 TiB29.1 TiBn/an/a
51264 TiB59.1 TiBn/an/a
1024128 TiB118.2 TiB128 TiB512 TiB
2048256 TiB236.5 TiB256 TiB1 PiB
4096256 TiB256 TiB256 TiB2 PiB
8192256 TiB256 TiB256 TiB4 PiB
 

Mdisk Capacity

Extent Size (MiB)Virtualized Mdisk CapacityDRAID CapacityTotal Storage Capacity Manageable per System
162 TiBn/a64 TiB
324 TiBn/a128 TiB
648 TiBn/a256 TiB
12816 TiBn/a512 TiB
25632 TiBn/a1 PiB
51264 TiBn/a2 PiB
1024128 TiB2 PiB4 PiB
2048256 TiB4 PiB8 PiB
4096512 TiB8 PiB16 PiB
81921 PiB16 PiB32 PiB
 

Product Lookup

ProductTable Header
IBM FlashSystem C200FSC200
IBM FlashSystem 5200FS5200
IBM FlashSystem 5300FS5300
IBM FlashSystem 5600FS5600
IBM FlashSystem 7200FS7200
IBM FlashSystem 7300FS7300
IBM FlashSystem 7600FS7600
IBM FlashSystem 9200FS9200
IBM FlashSystem 9500FS9500
IBM FlashSystem 9600FS9600
IBM SAN Volume Controller - SV3 nodesSVC SV3

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Document Information

Modified date:
05 March 2026

UID

ibm17256231