IBM eX5 Implementation Guide

96 IBM eX5 Implementation Guide

The failure rate of SSDs is low because, in part, the drives have no moving parts. The 50 GB

High IOPS SSD is a Single Level Cell (SLC) device with Enterprise Wear Leveling. As a

consequence of both of these technologies, the additional layer of protection that is provided

by a RAID controller might not always be necessary in every client environment and, in

certain cases, RAID-0 might even be an acceptable option.

3.9.4 SAS and SSD controllers

Table 3-27 lists the disk controllers that are supported in the x3850 X5.

Table 3-27 Disk controllers that are compatible with the x3850 X5

RAID levels 0 and 1 are standard on all models (except 7145-ARx) with the integrated BR10i

ServeRAID controller. Model 7145-ARx has no RAID capability standard.

All servers, even those servers that are not standard with the BR10i (model 7145-ARx),

include the blue mounting bracket (see Figure 3-25 on page 101), which allows for the easy

installation of a supported RAID controller in the dedicated x8 PCIe slot behind the disk cage.

Only RAID controllers that are supported with the 2.5-inch SAS backplane can be used in this

slot. See Table 3-27 for a summary of these supported options.

ServeRAID BR10i Controller

The ServeRAID-BR10i has the following specifications:

򐂰 LSI 1068e-based adapter

򐂰 Two internal mini-SAS SFF-8087 connectors

򐂰 SAS 3 Gbps PCIe x8 host bus interface

򐂰 Fixed 64 KB stripe size

Part

number

Feature

code Name

Supports

2.5-inch SAS

backplane

Supports

eXFlash SSD

backplane

Dedicated

slot

a

a. See 3.9.5, “Dedicated controller slot” on page 100.

Battery Cache RAID support

44E8689 3577 ServeRAID BR10i

b

b. The BR10i is standard on most models. See 3.3, “Models” on page 64.

Ye s N o Yes No None 0,1,1E

46M0831 0095 ServeRAID M1015

Ye s Ye s Yes No None 0,1,10,5,50

c

c. M1015 support for RAID-5 and RAID-50 requires the M1000 Advanced Feature Key (46M0832, 9749).

46M0916 3877 ServeRAID M5014 Ye s Ye s Ye s Optional 256MB 0,1,10,5,50,6,60

d

d. M5014, M5015, and M5025 support for RAID-6 and RAID-60 requires the M5000 Advanced Feature Key

(46M0930, fc 5106).

46M0829 0093 ServeRAID M5015

Ye s Ye s Ye s Ye s

e

e. ServeRAID M5015 option part number 46M0829 includes the M5000 battery; however, the feature code 0093 does

not contain the battery. Order feature code 5744 if you want to include the battery in the server configuration.

512MB 0,1,10,5,50,6,60

d

46M0830 0094 ServeRAID M5025 No No No Yes 512MB 0,1,10,5,50,6,60

d

None

f

f. The IBM 6Gb SSD Host Bus Adapter is currently not available as a separately orderable option. Use the feature

code to add the adapter to a customized order, using the configure-to-order (CTO) process. Part number 46M0914

is the L1 manufacturing part number. Part number 46M0983 is the pseudo option number, which is also used in

manufacturing.

3876 IBM 6Gb SSD HBA No Yes No No None No

46M0969 3889 ServeRAID B5015 SSD No

Yes No No None 1,5