eXFlash DIMM Configuration and Support Requirements - System x3850/x3950 X6

Updated:  1/28/2015
Doc version 0.1

System x3850/x3950 X6

Please follow these configuration instructions when implementing eXFlash DIMMs on this server platform.

Software Requirements:

The following software are the minimum system code versions required to support eXFlash DIMM devices.  Please ensure your server is updated to these code levels or higher prior to installing the eXFlash DIMM hardware.

• UEFI:  lnvgy_fw_uefi_a9e122x-1.00_anyos_32-64
• IMM2:  lnvgy_fw_imm2_tcoo08z-1.65_anyos_noarch
• pDSA:  lnvgy_fw_dsa_dsala6o-10.1_anyos_32-64

Hardware Configuration:

• x3850/x3950 X6 models supporting the X6 Compute Books listed below.
• Install equivalent quantities of RDIMMs to match the quantities of eXFlash DIMMs up to eight (8) modules per CPU book (2 DIMMs per channel). Additional RDIMMs can be installed up to a quantity of sixteen (16) to populate all available DIMM slots (3 DIMMs per channel, 2 RDIMMs and 1 eXFlash DIMM).
• Additional X6 Compute Books must have matching Processors and memory options.
• 1, 2, 4, 8, 16 or 32 total eXFlash DIMM modules of the same capacity (Up to 8 modules per X6 Compute Book).

Supported Operating Systems:

• Microsoft Windows 2008 R2 (SP1) all versions
• Microsoft Windows 2012 all versions
• Microsoft Windows 2012 R2 all versions
• Red Hat™ Enterprise Linux® 6.3, 6.4, 6.5,7.0
• SUSE™ Linux Enterprise Server (SLES™ 11) SP1, SP2, SP3
• SUSE™ Linux Enterprise Server (SLES™ 12)
• VMware ESXi 5.1 Update 2
• VMware ESXi 5.5 Update 1

Supported Memory Options:

Note:  eXFlash DIMM module will operate at 1333 MHz in the x3850/x3950 X6.  See “Memory Module Population Rules” for more information.

The following X6 Compute Books support up to 1333 MHz speeds with eXFlash DIMMs.

The following X6 Compute Books support up to 1066 MHz speeds with eXFlash DIMMs

Memory Module Population Rules:

System x3850/x3950 X6

Population rules for up to (8) eXFlash DIMM and up to (8) memory modules in an X6 Compute Book (2 DIMMs per channel is *1333 MHz).

• A maximum of four X6 Compute Books can be configured on the x3850/x3950 X6 models with eXFlash DIMMs.  For x3950 X6 models, the primary node (lower X6 Compute Books) must host the eXFlash DIMM modules.
• Populate an equal number of memory modules and eXFlash DIMM modules in the following quantities:   1, 2, 4 or 8.
• Populate modules for the following sockets in order from left to right:
  

2 DIMMs Per Channel Configuration:
RDIMMs install to DIMM Slots:  9, 6, 1, 10, 15, 24, 19, 16
eXFlash DIMMs install to DIMM Slots:  8, 5, 2, 11, 14, 23, 20, 17

Population rules for up to (8) eXFlash DIMM and up to (16) memory modules in an X6 Compute Book (3 DIMMs per channel is *1333 MHz).

• A maximum of four X6 Compute Books can be configured on the x3850/x3950 X6 models with eXFlash DIMMs.  For x3950 X6 models, the primary node (lower X6 Compute Books) must host the eXFlash DIMM modules.
• Populate eXFlash DIMM modules in the following quantities:   1, 2, 4 or 8 for each X6 Compute Book.
• Populate modules for the following sockets in order from left to right:
  

3 DIMMs Per Channel Configuration:
RDIMMs install to DIMM Slots:  9, 6, 1, 10, 15, 24, 19, 16, 8, 5, 2, 11, 14, 23, 20, 17
eXFlash DIMMs install to DIMM Slots:   7, 4, 3, 12, 13, 22, 21, 18

* Note:  Requires a Compute Book that supports the 1333 MHz speeds noted above.  Otherwise the speed with be 1066 MHz.

eXFlash DIMM Software Requirements

• eXFlash DIMM Software Requirements
• eXFlash DIMM software includes four components:
• the device drivers
• the firmware for the eXFlash DIMM module
• the IPMI Proxy service, and the optional
• eXFlash DIMM Management Console for graphical user management.
• The first three components are required for all operations and the graphical management console is recommended within graphical operating system environments.

eXFlash DIMM Firmware / Drivers:

• eXFlash DIMM v1.6.0 software