IBM eX5 Implementation Guide

56 IBM eX5 Implementation Guide

3.1 Product features

The IBM System x3850 X5 and x3950 X5 servers address the following requirements that

many IBM enterprise clients need:

򐂰 The ability to have increased performance on a smaller IT budget

򐂰 The ability to increase database and virtualization performance without having to add

more CPUs, especially when software is licensed on a per-socket basis

򐂰 The ability to add memory capacity on top of existing processing power, so that the overall

performance goes up while software licensing costs remain static

򐂰 The flexibility to achieve the desired memory capacity with larger capacity single DIMMs

򐂰 The ability to pay for the system they need today, with the capability to grow both memory

capacity and processing power when necessary in the future

The base building blocks of the solution are the x3850 X5 server and the MAX5 memory

expansion drawer. The x3850 X5 is a 4U system with four processor sockets and up to 64

DIMM sockets. The MAX5 memory expansion drawer is a 1U device that adds 32 DIMM

sockets to the server.

The x3950 X5 is the name for the preconfigured IBM models, for specific workloads. The

announced x3950 X5 models are optimized for database applications. Future x3950 X5

models will include models that are optimized for virtualization.

3.1.1 IBM System x3850 X5 product features

IBM System x3850 X5, machine type 7145, is the follow-on product to the IBM System x3850

M2 and x3950 M2. It is a 4U 4-socket Intel 7500-based (Nehalem-EX) platform with 64 DIMM

sockets. It can be scaled up to eight processor sockets depending on model and 128 DIMM

sockets by connecting a second server to form a single system image and maximize

performance, reliability, and scalability.

The x3850 X5 is targeted at enterprise clients looking for increased consolidation

opportunities with expanded memory capacity.

See Table 3-1 on page 62 for a comparison of eX4 x3850 M2 and eX5 x3850 X5.

The x3850 X5 offers the following key features:

򐂰 Four Xeon 7500 series CPUs (4 core, 6 core, and 8 core)

򐂰 Scalable to eight sockets by connecting two x3850 X5 servers

򐂰 64 DDR3 DIMM sockets

򐂰 Up to eight memory cards can be installed, each with eight DIMM slots

򐂰 Seven PCIe 2.0 slots (one slot contains the Emulex 10Gb Ethernet dual-port adapter)

򐂰 Up to eight 2.5-inch hard disk drives (HDDs) or sixteen 1.8-inch solid-state drives (SSDs)

򐂰 RAID-0 and RAID-1 standard; optional RAID-5 and 50, RAID-6 and 60, and encryption

򐂰 Two 1 Gb Ethernet ports

򐂰 One Emulex 10Gb Ethernet dual-port adapter (standard on all models, except ARx)

򐂰 Internal USB for embedded hypervisor (VMware and Linux hypervisors)

򐂰 Integrated management module

Referring to the models: Throughout this chapter, where a feature is not unique to either

the x3850 X5 or the x3950 X5 but is common to both models, the term

x3850 X5 is used.

Chapter 3. IBM System x3850 X5 and x3950 X5 57

The x3850 X5 has the following physical specifications:

򐂰 Width: 440 mm (17.3 in.)

򐂰 Depth: 712 mm (28.0 in.)

򐂰 Height: 173 mm (6.8 in.) or 4 rack units (4U)

򐂰 Minimum configuration: 35.4 kg (78 lb.)

򐂰 Maximum configuration: 49.9 kg (110 lb.)

Figure 3-1 shows the x3850 X5.

Figure 3-1 Front view of the x3850 X5 showing eight 2.5-inch SAS drives

In Figure 3-1, two serial-attached SCSI (SAS) backplanes have been installed (at the right of

the server). Each backplane supports four 2.5-inch SAS disks (eight disks in total).

Notice the orange colored bar on each disk drive. This bar denotes that the disks are

hot-swappable. The color coding used throughout the system is orange for hot-swap and blue

for non-hot-swap. Changing a hot-swappable component requires no downtime; changing a

non-hot-swappable component requires that the server is powered off before removing that

component.

Figure 3-2 on page 58 shows the major components inside the server and on the front panel

of the server.

58 IBM eX5 Implementation Guide

Figure 3-2 x3850 X5 internals

Figure 3-3 shows the connectors at the back of the server.

Figure 3-3 Rear of the x3850 X5

Two 1975W rear-access

hot-swap, redundant

power supplies

Four Intel Xeon CPUs

Eight memory cards for

64 DIMMs total –

eight 1066MHz DDR3

DIMMs per card

Six available

PCIe 2.0 slots

Two 60mm hot-swap fans

Eight SAS 2.5” drives or

two eXFlash SSD units

Two 120mm

hot-swap fans

Two front

USB ports

Light path

diagnostics

DVD drive

Dual-port 10Gb

Ethernet Adapter

(PCIe slot 7)

Additional slot for internal

RAID controller

QPI ports 1 & 2

(behind cover)

QPI ports 3 & 4

(behind cover)

Gigabit

Ethernet ports

Serial port

Video port

Four USB

ports

Systems

management

port

10 Gigabit Ethernet ports

(standard on most models)

Power supplies (redundant at

220V power)

Six available PCIe slots