2072-24G SFF Expansion Enclosure IBM FlashSystem 5000 5030 2072-324 5010 2072-2H4

IBM FlashSystem 2072-24G SFF Expansion Enclosure

IBM 2072-24G FlashSystem 5000 SFF Expansion Enclosure – 24 SFF Drive Bays - 12Gb SAS Connectivity

The IBM FlashSystem 5000 2072-24G is a 2U, 24-drive small-form-factor expansion enclosure designed to add additional SAS flash and hard-disk capacity for IBM FlashSystem 5030 2072-324 and IBM FlashSystem 5010 2072-2H4 storage systems. The IBM 2072-24G Expansion Enclosure provides 24 front-accessible 2.5-inch SFF drive bays, two redundant expansion canisters, redundant power supplies and high-speed 12Gb SAS connectivity. The 2072-24G SFF Expansion Enclosure can be purchased for upgrading existing FlashSystem includes warranty and support. The IBM 2072-24G SFF Expansion Enclosure media supported includes enterprise SAS flash drives, 10K SAS hard drives and Nearline SAS drives.

The IBM 2072-24G expansion enclosure does not contain independent storage controllers, cache or host-interface adapters. Instead, installed drives are managed by the attached IBM FlashSystem 5000 control enclosure through IBM Storage Virtualize. This allows additional 2072-24G enclosures to become part of the same storage pools, RAID arrays, Distributed RAID arrays and volumes as drives installed in the control enclosure.

IBM 2072-24G Technical Specifications

IBM FlashSystem 5000 Compatibility

The 2072-24G is designed for supported FlashSystem 5000 family controllers using SAS-attached expansion storage. IBM specifically documents the 2072-24G / 2072-F24 expansion family with the FlashSystem 5010 and FlashSystem 5030 controller families.

IBM Storage Virtualize Software Compatibility

IBM documents the 2072-24G / 2072-F24 expansion family as supported with the FlashSystem 5010 and FlashSystem 5030 controller family through the following Storage Virtualize levels:

IBM 2072-24G Performance Characteristics

The 2072-24G does not have an independent IOPS rating because storage processing is performed by the attached FlashSystem control enclosure. Expansion performance therefore depends on the controller, the SAS chain, the number and type of installed drives, RAID geometry, cache and workload.

The important performance characteristics of the enclosure itself are:

IBM 2072-24G Maximum Capacity

The 2072-24G contains 24 SFF drive positions. IBM's later service documentation lists SFF flash drives through approximately 30TB per drive as applicable to this enclosure.

A fully populated enclosure using 24 × 30TB flash drives therefore provides approximately:

24 drives × 30TB = approximately 720TB nominal installed capacity

Using the more precisely marketed 30.72TB capacity designation, the arithmetic is approximately:

24 × 30.72TB = 737.28TB nominal flash capacity

IBM 2072-24G Expansion Scaling

The 2072-24G is classified as a standard-density expansion enclosure with a SAS chain weight of 1. IBM allows a maximum SAS chain weight of 10.

This means that one qualifying SAS expansion chain can contain:

• Up to 10 × 2072-24G standard-density enclosures
• Up to 240 SFF drives using ten 24-bay enclosures
• A mixture of standard 2U and high-density 5U92 expansion enclosures within IBM SAS chain rules

A high-density 5U92 enclosure has a weight of 2.5, while the 2072-24G has a weight of 1. Mixed expansion chains must remain within the total chain weight of 10.

Controllers providing two supported SAS expansion chains can therefore attach substantially more expansion capacity, subject to the maximum-drive and enclosure limits of that particular FlashSystem controller and Storage Virtualize release.

IBM 2072-24G Expansion Canisters

The 2072-24G contains two redundant expansion canisters. These provide the SAS connectivity between the control enclosure and installed disk or flash drives.

Dual expansion canisters provide redundant SAS data paths so that a single canister failure does not require all drives in the enclosure to become inaccessible when the system is correctly cabled and configured.

IBM 2072-24G Power Supply Parts

The enclosure uses two redundant power supplies. IBM service documentation identifies both AC and supported DC options.

IBM 2072-24G Enclosure Replacement Parts

IBM 2072-24G SAS Expansion Cables

IBM provides multiple Mini-SAS HD cable lengths for connecting the 2072-24G to a FlashSystem control enclosure or another supported expansion enclosure.

IBM service documentation lists two SAS expansion cables per enclosure for a redundant expansion attachment.

IBM 2072-24G SAS Hard Drive Feature Codes and Part Numbers

IBM 2072-24G SAS Flash Drive Feature Codes and Part Numbers

IBM 2072-24G All-Flash Configuration

The expansion enclosure can be populated entirely with compatible SAS flash drives, allowing an existing FlashSystem 5000 to add a high-capacity flash tier without replacing the control enclosure.

Example nominal capacities include:

IBM 2072-24G Hybrid Storage Configuration

A 2072-24G can also contain a supported mixture of SAS flash and SAS HDD media as part of a hybrid FlashSystem configuration. IBM Storage Virtualize and Easy Tier can then use different storage classes according to workload activity.

A hybrid design can combine:

• High-performance SAS flash
• 10K enterprise SAS HDDs
• Nearline SAS capacity drives

This allows an existing FlashSystem environment to balance performance, usable capacity and cost per terabyte.

IBM Easy Tier and 2072-24G Expansion

When multiple storage technologies are configured within supported storage pools, IBM Easy Tier can analyze workload activity and move frequently accessed data extents toward faster storage tiers.

For example, a system can use SAS flash for active application data while larger SAS HDD tiers provide lower-cost capacity for less frequently accessed information.

Distributed RAID with 2072-24G Drives

Drives installed in the 2072-24G are managed by the attached FlashSystem controller and can participate in supported traditional RAID or Distributed RAID configurations.

IBM Distributed RAID distributes data, parity and rebuild capacity across multiple physical drives instead of depending on dedicated hot-spare drives.

This can improve rebuild behavior and make additional expansion drives particularly useful in larger FlashSystem configurations.

2072-24G vs. 2072-12G vs. 2072-92G

The 2072-24G is particularly useful when performance density, flash capacity or 10K SAS drive count is more important than the large-drive density offered by LFF and 5U92 configurations.

IBM FlashSystem 5000 Expansion Use Cases

Typical uses for the IBM 2072-24G include:

• Adding flash capacity to an existing FlashSystem 5000
• Expanding IBM i storage
• Expanding AIX storage
• Adding VMware datastore capacity
• Increasing database storage
• Adding Easy Tier flash capacity
• Increasing Distributed RAID drive count
• Replacing an existing failed expansion enclosure
• Migrating from HDD to SAS flash
• Expanding backup or archive capacity
• Increasing usable storage without replacing controllers

IBM 2072-24G for IBM Power Systems

When attached to a supported FlashSystem control enclosure, the 2072-24G can expand shared storage used by IBM Power Systems running IBM i, AIX and Linux.

The Power System does not connect directly to the expansion enclosure. Hosts connect to the FlashSystem control enclosure through supported Fibre Channel, iSCSI or other host interfaces. The controller then manages drives in the 2072-24G as part of the FlashSystem storage architecture.

This allows existing IBM i and AIX storage pools to grow without changing the host attachment architecture.

IBM 2072-24G Frequently Asked Questions

What is the IBM 2072-24G?

The IBM 2072-24G is a 2U, 24-bay SFF SAS expansion enclosure for supported IBM FlashSystem 5000 storage systems.

How many drives does the 2072-24G support?

It contains 24 front-accessible 2.5-inch SFF drive positions.

Does the 2072-24G support SAS SSDs?

Yes. IBM documents multiple 12Gb SAS flash-drive capacities for the enclosure, including 800GB, 1.92TB, 3.84TB, 7.68TB, 15.36TB and later 30TB-class drives at applicable software levels.

Does the 2072-24G support hard drives?

Yes. Supported SFF drives include 900GB, 1.2TB, 1.8TB and 2.4TB 10K SAS HDDs plus a 2TB 7.2K Nearline SAS option.

Does the 2072-24G support NVMe?

No. The 2072-24G is a 12Gb SAS expansion enclosure. It does not contain NVMe slots and does not support IBM FlashCore Modules.

What is the largest supported drive?

IBM's later service documentation identifies a 30TB-class SFF SAS flash drive, part number 02PX475, as applicable to the 2072-24G.

What is the maximum capacity of one 2072-24G?

A 24-drive enclosure populated with 30TB-class drives provides approximately 720TB of nominal installed flash capacity before RAID and system overhead.

How many 2072-24G expansion enclosures can be connected?

IBM allows up to 10 standard-density 2U expansion enclosures per supported SAS chain. Total enclosure and drive maximums depend on the attached FlashSystem controller and Storage Virtualize release.

What is IBM part number 01AC579?

01AC579 is the expansion canister used in the 2072-24G. Two are installed per enclosure.

What is IBM part number 01AC404?

01AC404 is the supported AC power supply used in the enclosure. Two redundant power supplies are installed.

What is IBM part number 01AC381?

01AC381 is the SFF enclosure midplane.

What rack rail kit is used?

IBM part number 00RY309 is the documented rack rail kit for the 2U FlashSystem 5000 expansion enclosure.

What SAS cables are used?

IBM documents Mini-SAS HD expansion cables including 00AR272 (0.6m), 00AR311 (1.5m), 00AR317 (3m) and 01EJ190 (6m).

Can the 2072-24G be used for IBM i storage?

Yes, when attached to a FlashSystem control enclosure that is supported by the IBM Power System and IBM i environment. IBM i does not attach directly to the expansion enclosure.

IBM FlashSystem 5000 2072-24G Summary

The IBM FlashSystem 5000 2072-24G is a 2U enterprise storage expansion enclosure providing 24 2.5-inch SFF 12Gb SAS drive positions. It includes two redundant expansion canisters, redundant power supplies and Mini-SAS HD connectivity to supported IBM FlashSystem controllers.

The enclosure supports both enterprise SAS flash and SAS HDD media, allowing it to be used for all-flash, performance-disk or hybrid FlashSystem configurations. Supported flash capacities extend from 800GB through later 30TB-class SFF flash drives, while supported performance HDD options include 900GB through 2.4TB 10K SAS.

IBM allows up to 10 standard-density 2U expansion enclosures on a qualifying SAS expansion chain. The 2072-24G has a chain weight of 1, allowing it to be mixed with other supported FlashSystem expansion enclosures within IBM's SAS chain rules.

Replacement hardware includes 01AC579 expansion canisters, 01AC404 AC power supplies, 01AC381 SFF midplane, 00RY309 rack rails, 00Y2512 and 02PX518 bezels, and 00AR272 / 00AR311 / 00AR317 / 01EJ190 SAS expansion cables.

Because the 2072-24G is a SAS expansion enclosure rather than a storage controller, application performance and maximum system scale are determined by the attached FlashSystem controller, drive configuration, RAID design and IBM Storage Virtualize software level.