IBM i 7.4 Hardware Enhancements for POWER9 and POWER8 Systems - Page 2

 Hardware Enhancements for both POWER9 and POWER8 provided with V7R4

IBM Enterprise SSD: 387 GB, 775 GB, and 1.55 TB
The IBM Enterprise SAS SSDs are available in 387 GB, 775 GB, and 1.55 TB capacities, and are 2.5-inch SFF drives that can be installed in the IBM Power9 or Power8 system unit SAS bays (SFF-3) or in EXP24SX SAS bays (SFF-2) attached to a Power9 or Power8 server. The new IBM Power9 Enterprise SSDs include the latest 3D NAND technology flash memory, which improves enterprise-class reliability, endurance, and capacity characteristics. The new IBM Enterprise SSDs build upon a heritage of performance and endurance to provide a better value proposition to users of Power9 and  Power8 servers. The IBM Power9 or Power8 servers that support the new enterprise SAS SSDs in the system unit are E950, L922, S914, S922, S924, H922, H924, S812L, S822L, S824L, S814, S812, S822, S824, E850, and E850C servers.

The SFF-3 SAS bay in these servers uses an SFF-3 carrier/tray, on which the SAS drive is mounted. Other model POWER9 and POWER8 servers E980, E880C, and E870C do not have SAS bays in their system units and therefore cannot support enterprise SFF-3 SSDs. When attached to a Power9 or Power8 server, the EXP24SX I/O drawers can hold up to 24 SAS SSDs. The EXP24SX SAS bays use an SFF-2 carrier/tray, on which the SAS drive is mounted.

The new IBM Enterprise SSDs are run by the integrated SAS controllers in the Power9 or Power8 system unit or by PCIe3 SAS adapters. The IBM SSD configuration rules, maximums, limitations, and capabilities of these PCIe3 SAS adapters and integrated SAS controllers are unchanged. You can mix IBM enterprise SSDs and earlier SSDs on the same controller or adapter, as well as mix them in the same array.

The IBM SSD rules are unchanged:

• Do not mix different size capacities such as 387 GB and 775 GB in the same array or mix 775 GB and 1.55 TB in the same array.
• Do not mix 4k and 5xx drives in the same array.
• The largest enterprise SSD supported in the 4-core Power S814/S914 server is 387 GB.
• Do not mix SSDs and HDDs in the same array unless it is an Easy Tier array.
• 4k drives are not supported on servers older than POWER8.

The new IBM Enterprise SSD features for V7R4 are as follows:

• 387 GB IBM Enterprise SSD, ES90/ES91 (SFF-3 and 4k), ESGT (SFF-3 and 5xx), ES94/ES95 (SFF-2 and 4k) and ESGV (SFF-2 and 5xx)
• 775 GB IBM Enterprise SSD, ESNC/ESND (SFF-3 and 4k), ESGX (SFF-3 and 5xx), ESNA/ESNB (SFF-2 and 4k) and ESGZ (SFF-2 and 5xx)
• 1.55 TB IBM Enterprise SSD, ESNG/ESNH (SFF-3 and 4k), ESNE and ESNF (SFF-2 and 4k)

IBM Mainstream SSD: 931 GB, 1.86 TB, 3.72 TB and 7.45 TB
The new IBM mainstream SAS SSDs are available in 931 GB, 1.86 TB, 3.72 TB and 7.45 TB capacities, and are 2.5-inch SAS SSD mounted on an SFF-3 carrier/tray for a Power9 or Power8 system unit or mounted on an SFF-2 for an expansion drawer such as the EXP24SX drawer when attached to a Power9 or Power8 server. The IBM mainstream SSDs are designed to provide a lower cost per terabyte of SSD storage in a space-efficient footprint. The IBM SSDs are formatted to use 4224-byte (4k) sectors and does not support the 4k JBOD 4096-byte sector, and does not use the 512-byte or 528-byte (5xx) sector formatting.

When the IBM SSDs are in Power9 or Power8 system units with SAS SFF-3 bays, the drive is run by the integrated SAS controller such as found in Power9 E950, L922, S914, S922, S924, H922, H924, S812L, S822L, S824L, S814, S812, S822, S824, E850, and E850C servers. When placed in the EXP24SX (SFF-2) storage enclosure, the IBM SSDs are run by a PCIe3 SAS RAID adapter, such as the feature EJ0L, EJ14, EJ0J, EJ0M, EL3B, or EL59. These PCIe3 controllers support 4k drives on Power9 or Power8 servers. Earlier IBM Power generation SAS controllers do not support 4k drives.

When placed in an SSD array of one of these PCIe3 controllers, the array must be all mainstream SSDs or all nonmainstream SSDs. A SAS controller can currently run both 4k and 5xx drives, but they must be in separate arrays. Drives in an array should be the same or similar capacity. HDDs and SSDs can only be mixed in the same array when part of an Easy Tier® array (RAID 5TS, RAID 6T2, or RAID 10T2) provided by SAS RAID controllers such as the feature EJ0L or EJ14 or Power9 or Power8 integrated backplane controllers.

Like all IBM SSDs, the performance of the 931 GB, 1.86 TB, 3.72 TB, and 7.45 TB mainstream SSDs are excellent compared to a disk drive (HDD). Read performance is on par with higher write endurance IBM SSDs such as the enterprise SSDs. Write performance when compared to enterprise SSDs is somewhat slower but still more than 25 times that of a standard 15K HDD. As with any drive, either HDD or SSD, the number of drives is still a factor in achieving satisfactory performance, especially for IBM i.

These are mainstream drives and are not suitable for write-intensive workloads. Write-intensive workloads are those that write more to the drive each day than its rated capacity. Assuming a typical heavily random workload at about 3394 TB of writes to the drive, it will be at its maximum projected write capability. Writes past the drive's maximum write capacity will continue to work for some period of time, but much more slowly. A Predictive Failure Analysis message will indicate that it is time to replace the drive. If the predictive failure is ignored and writes continue to be sent to the drive, eventually the drive will be unable to accept write commands and will accept only read commands for a period of time. A failed write will result in a more serious error message indicating that the drive must be replaced.

The nature of the workload has a great impact on the maximum write capacity. For example, if a high percentage of more sequentially oriented writes is used instead of random writes, the maximum write capacity can be significantly larger. The user should occasionally check to see what percentage of the drive's write life remains and adjust the workload or drive assignment as it makes sense to do so. Checking is done by inspecting the SSD Mainstream Fuel Gauge. This capability is available through IBM AIX, IBM i, and Linux®. The query or command to view the information varies by operating system. Check the remaining life of the mainstream drives individually, even if all are in the same array.

DWPD (Drive Write Per Day) rating is 1 calculated over a 5-year period. The approximate lifetime Total Bytes Written (TBW) in Terabyte (TBB) supported by each drive capacity are as follows: 931 GB = 1,700 TBW, 1.86 TB = 3,399 TBW, 3.72 TB = 6,799 TBW, 7.45 TB = 13,601 TBW.

The new IBM Mainstream SSD features for V7R4 are as follows:

• 931 GB IBM Mainstream SSD for IBM i, ESJ8/ESJ9 (SFF-3 4k) and ESJ0/ESJ1 (SFF-2 4k)
• 1.86 TB IBM Mainstream SSD for IBM i, ESJA/ESJB (SFF-3 4k) and ESJ2/ESJ3 (SFF-2 4k)
• 3.72 TB IBM Mainstream SSD for IBM i, ESJC/ESJD (SFF-3 4k) and ESJ4/ESJ5 (SFF-2 4k)
• 7.45 TB IBM Mainstream SSD for IBM i and Power9 only, ESJE/ESJF (SFF-3 4k) and ESJ6/ESJ7 (SFF-2 4k)

IBM EJ1N and EJ1P PCIe1 SAS Tape/DVD Dual-port 3 Gb x8 Adapter
The IBM EJ1N and EJ1P PCIe1 SAS Tape/DVD Dual-port 3 Gb x8 Adapters are available for the Power E980 server. It supports the attachment of SAS tape and DVD using a pair of mini SAS 4x connectors. The IBM EJ1N and EJ1P adapter can be used for external tape drives, which are not supported on the newer and faster 4-port 6 Gb PCIe3 adapter (see #EJ10, #EJ11, #EL60). The adapter supports external SAS tape drives such as the DAT72, DAT160, LTO™-4, LTO-5, LTO-6, and LTO-7 found in the IBM multimedia drawers such as the 7226-1U3 or 7214-1U2 or tape units such as the TS2240, TS2340, TS3100, TS3200, and TS3310. Other removable media devices supported include IBM SAS/SATA DVD-ROM/RAM drives.

The IBM EJ1N and EJ1P SAS adapter-to-enclosure (AE) 3 Gb cables with mini-SAS connectors are used to attach these drives. See features 3684 (3 meter) and 3685 (6 meter). The same AE cables can often alternatively be ordered under the tape enclosure or multimedia drawer.

Feature EJ1P and EJ1N are electrically and functionally identical with the same CCIN of 57B3. EJ1P has a full-high tailstock bracket, and EJ1N has a low-profile tailstock bracket. Feature EJ1P/EJ1N is the same adapter as feature 5901/5278 but designates to IBM configurator tools that the usage will be tape/DVD and will not be used for disk. PCIe3 12 GB Cache RAID SAS Adapter Quad-port 6Gb x8 (#EJ0L) with AIX and Linux operating system support for the Power E980 server.

IBM EPA0 Deactivation of LPM for Dedicated Servers
The default state of the POWER9 server firmware is with LPM activated. Feature EPA0 provides appropriate VET codes to change the setting to LPM deactivated prior to shipping the order. This feature is available for Power S922, S914, S924, E950, and E980 servers and for initial and MES orders. Note: Feature EPA0 is mutually exclusive with feature.

IBM EPVV V7R4 Indicator
IBM EB74 is the indicator for IBM i 7.4 that is supported on Power9 and Power8 technology-based processors. See the Technical Information section for specific hardware and software prerequisites at 219-214, dated April 23, 2019.

IBM EC51 PCIe3 3D Graphics Adapter x16
The IBM EC51 PCIe3 3D Graphics Adapter x16 is available for IBM Power9 L922, S922, and H922 servers. This feature provides 2x DISPLAY port outputs. When using a graphic adapter for Partition Firmware Console to select an install or boot device use FC 3632 display or rack mount 7316-TF4 display. Limit of one adapter per LPAR.

IBM EC3B PCIe3 2-Port 40 GbE NIC RoCE QSFP+ Adapter
The IBM EC3B PCIe3 2-Port 40 GbE NIC RoCE QSFP+ Adapter is available for Power E980 and E950 servers. This feature provides two 40 Gb Ethernet QSFP+ ports. NIC and IBTA RoCE protocols are supported. RoCE is Remote Direct Memory Access (RDMA) over Converged Ethernet. The IBM EC3B PCIe3 2-Port 40 GbE NIC RoCE QSFP+ Adapter can support significantly greater bandwidth with low latency and minimize CPU overhead by more efficiently using memory access. This offloads the CPU from I/O networking tasks, improving performance and scalability.

The IBM EC3B adapter does not include transceivers. Shorter distance copper cables include transceivers on the end of the QSFP+ cable (see #EB2B (1m), #EB2H (3m), #ECBN (5m)). For longer distances, use two optical SR transceiver (two #EB27). QSFP+ optical cables to be used with the feature EB27 transceiver are feature EB2J (10m) or feature EB2K (30m). Do not mix copper and optical on the same adapter. AIX NIM and Linux Network Install are supported.

IBM EC3A PCIe3 LP 2-Port 40 GbE NIC RoCE QSFP+ Adapter
The IBM EC3A PCIe3 LP 2-Port 40 GbE NIC RoCE QSFP+ Adapter is available for the IBM Power9 E980 server. This feature provides two 40 Gb Ethernet QSFP+ ports. NIC and IBTA RoCE protocols are supported. IBM EC3A PCIe3 LP 2-Port 40 GbE NIC RoCE QSFP+ Adapter can support significantly greater bandwidth with low latency and minimize CPU overhead by more efficiently using memory access. This offloads the CPU from I/O networking tasks, improving performance and scalability.

The feature EC3A and EC3B adapters do not include transceivers. Shorter distance copper cables include transceivers on the end of the QSFP+ cable (see #EB2B (1 m), #EB2H (3 m), #ECBN (5 m)). For longer distances, use two optical SR transceiver (two #EB27). QSFP+ optical cables to be used with the feature EB27 transceiver are feature EB2J (10 m) or feature EB2K (30 m). Do not mix copper and optical on the same adapter. Features EC3A and EC3B have identical electronics and function and the same CCIN (57BD), but they have different tail stocks. Feature EC3A is low profile and feature EC3B is full height. AIX NIM and Linux Network Install are supported.

IBM EC3E PCIe3 LP 2-port 100 Gb EDR IB Adapter x16
The IBM EC3E PCIe3 LP 2-port 100 Gb EDR IB Adapter x16 is available for the Power E980 server. This feature provides high-speed connectivity with other servers or IB switches. Each port maximum of 100 Gb assumes no other system or switch bottlenecks are present. A PCIe Gen3 x16 PCIe slot is required. This adapter is sourced from Mellanox Corporation, based on ConnectX-4 technology. The adapter supports the InfiniBand Trade Association (IBTA) specification version 2.

The two 100 Gb ports have QSFP+ connections, which support EDR cables, either EDR DAC or EDR optical. One adapter can support either or both types of cable. Users can choose to cable up just one port if they want. Transceivers are included in the cables. IBM cable features EB50-EB54 (copper shorter distance) and features EB5A-EB5H (optical longer distance) are supported or their copper or optical Mellanox equivalents are supported. Other cables are not supported.

Feature EC3E and EC3F adapters are electronically and functionally identical with the same CCIN of 2CEA. Feature EC3E has a low-profile tailstock bracket. Feature EC3F has a full-high tailstock bracket. See also feature EC3T and feature EC3U for a 1-port version of this adapter. The EC3E adapter does not fit in a x8 PCIe slot, and is not supported in a PCIe Gen3 I/O drawer.

IBM EC3T PCIe3 LP 1-port 100 Gb EDR IB Adapter x16
The IBM EC3T PCIe3 LP 1-port 100 Gb EDR IB Adapter x16 is available for the Power9 E980 server. The EC3T feature provides high-speed connectivity with other servers or IB switches. The port's maximum of 100 Gb assumes no other system or switch bottlenecks are present. A PCIe Gen3 x16 PCIe slot is required. This adapter is sourced from Mellanox Corporation, based on ConnectX-4 technology. The adapter supports the InfiniBand Trade Association (IBTA) specification version 2.

The 100 Gb port has a QSFP+ connection, which supports EDR cables, either EDR DAC or EDR optical. Transceivers are included in the cables. IBM cable features EB50-EB54 (copper shorter distance) and features EB5A-EB5H (optical longer distance) are supported or their copper or optical Mellanox equivalents are supported. Other cables are not supported.

Feature EC3T and EC3U adapters are electronically and functionally identical with the same CCIN of 2CEB. Feature EC3T has a low-profile tailstock bracket. The IBM EC3T adapter does not fit in a x8 PCIe slot and is not supported in a PCIe Gen3 I/O drawer.

IBM EC64 PCIe4 LP 2-port 100 Gb EDR IB CAPI adapter
PCIe4 LP 2-port 100 Gb EDR IB CAPI adapter is available for the Power E980 server. This feature provides high-speed connectivity with other servers or IB switches. Each port maximum of 100 Gb assumes no other system or switch bottlenecks are present. A PCIe Gen4 x16 PCIe slot is required. This adapter is sourced from Mellanox Corporation, based on ConnectX-5 technology. The adapter supports the InfiniBand Trade Association (IBTA) specification version 2.

The two 100 Gb ports have QSFP+ connections, which support EDR cables, either EDR DAC or EDR optical. One adapter can support either or both types of cable. Users can choose to cable up just one port if they want. Transceivers are included in the cables. IBM cable features EB50-EB54 (copper shorter distance) and features EB5A-EB5H (optical longer distance) are supported or their copper or optical Mellanox equivalents are supported. Other cables are not supported.

Feature EC64 and EC65 adapters are electronically and functionally identical with the same CCIN of 2CF2. Feature EC64 is low profile and feature EC65 is full high. The IBM EC64 adapter does not fit in a x8 PCIe slot, and is not supported in a PCIe Gen3 I/O drawer.

IBM EC62 PCIe4 LP 1-port 100 Gb EDR IB CAPI adapter
The IBM EC62 PCIe4 LP 1-port 100 Gb EDR IB CAPI adapter is available for the Power E980 server. This IBM EC62 provides high-speed connectivity with other servers or IB switches. The port's maximum of 100 Gb assumes no other system or switch bottlenecks are present. A PCIe Gen4 x16 PCIe slot is required. This adapter is sourced from Mellanox Corporation, based on ConnectX-5 technology. The adapter supports the InfiniBand Trade Association (IBTA) specification version 2.

The 100 Gb port has a QSFP+ connection, which supports EDR cables, either EDR DAC or EDR optical. Transceivers are included in the cables. IBM cable features EB50-EB54 (copper shorter distance) and features EB5A-EB5H (optical longer distance) are supported or their copper or optical Mellanox equivalents are supported. Other cables are not supported.

Feature EC62 and EC63 adapters are electronically and functionally identical with the same CCIN of 2CF1. Feature EC62 is low profile and feature EC63 is full high. The IBM EC62 adapter does not fit in x8 PCIe slot, and is not supported in a PCIe Gen3 I/O drawer.