IBM FS9500 4983-AH8 FlashSystem 9500 NVMe Storage System Upgrades Parts

IBM FlashSystem 9500 FS9500 4983-AH8 NVMe Enterprise Storage System

The IBM FlashSystem 9500 FS9500 4983-AH8 is a high-performance 4U enterprise NVMe storage platform designed for large databases, IBM Power Systems, IBM i, AIX, Linux, SAP, Oracle, VMware, analytics, virtualization and other business-critical workloads. The IBM FlashSystem 9500 system combines 48 internal NVMe drive slots, two active-active node canisters, IBM FlashCore Module technology, up to 3TB of system memory, high-speed Fibre Channel and Ethernet connectivity, and support for SAS-attached all-flash expansion enclosures. The IBM FlashSystem 9500 FS9500 includes models 4983-AH8 and 4666-AH8.

Use the IBM FlashSystem 9500 product page email price feature for custom configured IBM FS9500 pricing or inquire about 4983-AH8 upgrades and replacement parts. You may also use the IBM FlashSystem 9500 email price feature if you have general IBM FlashCore module compatibility questions for your IBM FS9500. All IBM Flash Storage, IBM FlashSystems, features and parts include warranty, support and are eligible for IBM maintenance. Download or view the IBM FS9500 Datasheet here.

IBM FS9500 FlashSystem 9500 NVMe Enterprise Storage System 4983-4H8 Performance Specifications and Maximums
The IBM FlashSystem 9500 4983-AH8 is designed as a high-performance enterprise storage platform for large databases, IBM Power Systems, virtualization, analytics and other business-critical workloads. Its architecture combines substantial controller processing power, up to 3TB of system memory, 48 internal NVMe drive slots, high-speed Fibre Channel and Ethernet connectivity, and support for additional SAS-attached all-flash expansion capacity.

IBM states the FS9500 performance can reache approximately 2.5 million 4K read-miss IOPS per control enclosure, read latency of less than approximately 50 microseconds under qualifying conditions, and read bandwidth of up to approximately 45GB/s per control enclosure. These FlashSystem 9500 peformance statistics should be considered maximum capabilities rather than guaranteed application performance. Actual results depend on block size, read/write ratio, FlashCore Module configuration, RAID design, system memory, host connectivity, queue depth, data reduction and IBM Storage Virtualize software level.

FlashSystem 9500 Controller and Processor Performance

The IBM FS9500 provides considerably more controller processing capacity than smaller FlashSystem platforms. A single control enclosure contains four Intel Xeon processors with 24 processor cores each, providing a total of approximately 96 processor cores across the two active-active node canisters. The FS9500 processors support the storage system's core functions, including:

• Storage virtualization
• Cache management
• Distributed RAID processing
• Host I/O processing
• Replication
• Data reduction services
• Snapshots and cloning
• Encryption
• External storage virtualization
• Storage management and monitoring

This processing capacity is particularly important in highly consolidated environments where the storage system must simultaneously support thousands of hosts, large numbers of volumes, multiple host protocols and intensive data services.

FlashSystem 9500 Memory and Cache Performance

The 4983-AH8 can be configured with approximately 1TB, 2TB or 3TB of total system memory. At the maximum configuration, each node canister contains approximately 1.5TB of memory.

IBM recommends larger memory configurations for workloads that make intensive use of cache, Data Reduction Pools, deduplication or large numbers of drives and host connections. System memory can therefore be an important performance consideration even when the installed FlashCore Modules remain unchanged.

48 Internal NVMe Drive Slots

A single FlashSystem 9500 control enclosure provides 48 front-accessible NVMe drive positions, giving the platform substantially greater internal flash density than smaller FlashSystem systems.

The internal NVMe storage can include supported:

• FlashCore Module 3
• FlashCore Module 4
• Industry-standard NVMe SSDs
• NVMe Storage Class Memory

A standard two-control-enclosure FlashSystem 9500 system can therefore contain as many as 2 control enclosures × 48 NVMe slots = 96 internal NVMe devices.

Maximum Internal FlashCore Capacity

The largest supported FCM3 and FCM4 capacity is 38.4TB per FlashCore Module. A single FlashSystem 9500 enclosure populated with 48 × 38.4TB modules provides 48 × 38.4TB = 1,843.2TB ≈ 1.84PB nominal installed flash capacity. A two-control-enclosure configuration provides 96 × 38.4TB = 3,686.4TB ≈ 3.69PB nominal installed flash capacity.

FCM4 Performance Characteristics

FlashCore Module 4 capacity influences both storage density and individual-module performance. IBM publishes higher bandwidth and IOPS for the larger 19.2TB and 38.4TB modules than for the 4.8TB and 9.6TB models.

High-Speed Fibre Channel Connectivity

The FlashSystem 9500 supports high-speed Fibre Channel connectivity for traditional SCSI-based SAN environments and NVMe over Fibre Channel.

Supported configurations include:

• 32Gb Fibre Channel
• 64Gb Fibre Channel
• FC-NVMe / NVMe over Fibre Channel

At applicable configuration levels, a single control enclosure can provide substantial aggregate Fibre Channel connectivity, allowing the system to support large numbers of hosts while maintaining multiple redundant paths. A high-performance storage array can still become constrained if insufficient host-side bandwidth is provided. SAN design, HBA speed, switch capacity, zoning, multipathing and host queue depth should therefore be considered when sizing the FlashSystem 9500.

100Gb Ethernet and NVMe over Fabrics

The FlashSystem 9500 also supports Ethernet host connectivity reaching 100Gb. Supported Ethernet-based storage and communication capabilities can include:

• iSCSI
• NVMe/TCP
• NVMe/RDMA
• Storage replication
• High-availability communication
• Inter-system communication

Ethernet and Fibre Channel adapters can be combined within supported configuration rules to accommodate heterogeneous host environments.

Enterprise Host Scale

The FlashSystem 9500 is designed to support highly consolidated enterprise storage environments. At applicable IBM Storage Virtualize levels, important host-scale limits include:

This scale makes the 9500 well suited to highly consolidated VMware estates, IBM Power Systems environments, database infrastructures and mixed enterprise workloads.

Storage Virtualize Scale

The IBM Storage Virtualize software architecture allows the FlashSystem 9500 to manage substantially more storage than the capacity physically installed in its internal NVMe slots.

Expansion Performance and Capacity

The FlashSystem 9500 supports SAS-attached all-flash expansion storage in addition to the internal NVMe tier. At applicable IBM Storage Virtualize levels, a two-control-enclosure system can support:

• Up to 12 expansion enclosures
• Up to 464 total drives
• Up to 232 drives per I/O Group
• Two SAS expansion chains per control enclosure

The internal NVMe FlashCore tier should be distinguished from SAS-attached expansion media when evaluating performance. NVMe FCM3 and FCM4 storage provides the lowest-latency path, while SAS-attached flash expansion provides additional capacity and tiering flexibility.

Scale-Out with Two FlashSystem 9500 Control Enclosures

A FlashSystem 9500 can scale beyond a single 4U controller enclosure by adding a second supported 4983-AH8 control enclosure. A two-enclosure system provides:

• 4 active node canisters
• 96 internal NVMe slots
• Additional controller processing capacity
• Additional host connectivity
• Additional cache resources
• Additional SAS expansion capability

This scale-out architecture is one of the key differences between the 9500 and smaller FlashSystem platforms.

FlashSystem 9500 Performance at a Glance

Important FlashSystem 9500 Performance Considerations

Peak performance specifications are useful for comparing storage platforms, but application performance depends on the complete storage path and workload profile. Important considerations include:

• Block Size: Small-block workloads emphasize IOPS, while larger sequential I/O emphasizes bandwidth.
• Read / Write Ratio: Read-intensive and write-intensive workloads behave differently.
• FCM Capacity: Larger FCM4 capacities provide higher per-module performance in addition to increased capacity.
• Drive Count: Additional FlashCore Modules can increase parallelism and aggregate performance.
• Cache Configuration: Cache-heavy environments can benefit from the 2TB or 3TB memory configurations.
• Distributed RAID: RAID design affects usable capacity, write behavior, resilience and rebuild performance.
• Host Connectivity: Insufficient Fibre Channel or Ethernet bandwidth can prevent applications from using available storage performance.
• SAN Design: Switch oversubscription, zoning and path design can affect throughput and latency.
• Host Configuration: Multipathing, HBA capabilities and queue depth can significantly influence realized performance.
• Data Reduction: Compression and deduplication results vary according to workload characteristics.
• Software Level: IBM Storage Virtualize releases can change performance characteristics, supported hardware and configuration maximums.

IBM FlashSystem 9500 4983-AH8 Overview

IBM FlashSystem 9500 Performance and Maximum Specifications

The FlashSystem 9500 is designed as a high-end enterprise storage platform where performance, capacity and scale are all important. Its architecture provides 48 internal NVMe devices in a single 4U enclosure, significantly more internal media than smaller FlashSystem platforms.

Maximum Internal FlashCore Capacity

A single FlashSystem 9500 control enclosure contains 48 NVMe slots. Using 48 of the largest 38.4TB FlashCore Modules provides 48 × 38.4TB = 1,843.2TB ≈ 1.84PB nominal installed flash capacity. IBM states approximately 1,834TB of maximum usable capacity for a 48-drive DRAID6 configuration before additional data reduction is considered. A two-control-enclosure FlashSystem 9500 system can therefore provide up to 96 internal NVMe devices.

IBM FlashSystem 9500 Feature Code Quick Reference

IBM FlashSystem 9500 Cache and Memory Upgrades

The FlashSystem 9500 provides significantly more memory and cache scalability than smaller FlashSystem models. Each node canister supports as many as twenty-four 64GB DIMMs.

IBM specifically recommends the larger memory configurations for cache-heavy workloads, Data Reduction Pools, deduplication and systems with larger numbers of installed drives and host adapters.

IBM FlashSystem 9500 FlashCore Module 3 – FCM3

FlashCore Module 3 uses NVMe storage with IBM hardware-assisted compression, self-encryption and T10-DIF data-integrity protection.

IBM FlashSystem 9500 FlashCore Module 4 – FCM4

FlashCore Module 4 adds computational-storage capabilities to the FlashCore architecture while retaining hardware-based compression, self-encryption and enterprise NVMe performance.

FCM3 and FCM4 Compatibility

The FlashSystem 9500 supports both FCM3 and FCM4. IBM Storage Virtualize can support an intermix of supported internal storage technologies, although drives within an individual array should use the appropriate matching drive technology and capacity. When planning an FCM4 deployment specifically for computational-storage-assisted ransomware detection, configure the applicable RAID array entirely with FCM4 media.

Industry-Standard NVMe Flash Drives

The FlashSystem 9500 also supports industry-standard self-encrypting NVMe SSDs. These drives provide enterprise NVMe performance, hardware-based data-at-rest encryption and T10-DIF protection but do not include the internal compression and computational-storage functions of IBM FlashCore Modules.

1.6TB NVMe Storage Class Memory

Storage Class Memory is intended for particularly latency-sensitive, relatively small-capacity workloads and can coexist with supported FlashCore and NVMe storage within the system.

IBM FlashSystem 9500 Fibre Channel Connectivity

AHBB – 32Gb Fibre Channel Adapter Pair

AHBK – 64Gb Fibre Channel Adapter Pair

IBM FlashSystem 9500 Ethernet Connectivity

Depending upon adapter and Storage Virtualize configuration, Ethernet interfaces can support iSCSI, NVMe/TCP, RDMA, replication and high-availability communications.

IBM FlashSystem 9500 Transceivers and Optics

IBM FlashSystem 9500 Fibre Channel Cables

IBM FlashSystem 9500 Expansion Enclosures

Unlike systems designed exclusively around internal NVMe storage, the FlashSystem 9500 can scale capacity through 12Gb SAS-attached all-flash expansion enclosures.

AHBA SAS Expansion Enclosure Attach Card

Expansion Enclosure Configuration Limits

IBM uses SAS-chain weighting rules for the FlashSystem 9500:

• Up to three 2U24 AFF enclosures per SAS chain
• Up to one 5U92 A9F enclosure per SAS chain
• Two SAS chains are supported per control enclosure
• FCM3 and FCM4 modules are installed in the NVMe control enclosure, not the SAS expansion enclosures

IBM FlashSystem 9500 SAS Expansion Cables

Expansion Enclosure SAS SSD Capacities

The 4983-AFF and 4983-A9F expansion enclosures support IBM-qualified SAS flash storage. Supported capacities include:

• 1.92TB SAS SSD
• 3.84TB SAS SSD
• 7.68TB SAS SSD
• 15.36TB SAS SSD
• 30.72TB SAS SSD

The 4983-AFF supports up to 24 flash drives, while the high-density 4983-A9F supports up to 92 flash drives.

IBM FlashSystem 9500 Encryption Features

FlashSystem 9500 supports AES-XTS 256-bit data-at-rest encryption. Encryption keys can be managed using supported USB flash drives or external key-management configurations.

Other Important FlashSystem 9500 Features

IBM FlashSystem 9500 Active-Active Architecture

Each FlashSystem 9500 control enclosure contains two active-active node canisters that form an IBM Storage Virtualize I/O Group. Both node canisters participate in serving storage during normal operation. If one node canister fails or is taken offline for supported service operations, storage access can continue through the partner node. The control enclosure also contains four redundant power supplies and can remain powered using any two supplies, providing N+2 power redundancy.

FlashSystem 9500 Scale-Out Architecture

A standard FlashSystem 9500 system can contain up to two 4983-AH8 control enclosures, creating two I/O Groups and four active node canisters. This increases internal NVMe capacity to as many as 2 control enclosures × 48 NVMe slots = 96 NVMe devices. The IBM FS9500 also supports SAS expansion enclosures for additional flash capacity.

IBM Storage Virtualize Features

IBM Storage Virtualize provides the software foundation of the FlashSystem 9500 and includes enterprise storage functions such as:

• Distributed RAID
• Thin provisioning
• FlashCore hardware compression
• Data Reduction Pools
• Deduplication
• Encryption
• Easy Tier
• Snapshots
• Cloning
• Replication
• Policy-based replication
• High availability
• Safeguarded Copy / Safeguarded Snapshot capabilities
• External storage virtualization
• REST API automation
• Ansible integration
• VMware integration
• Container Storage Interface integration
• Ransomware threat detection

IBM FlashSystem 9500 Upgrade and Replacement Planning

Before ordering a replacement part, capacity expansion or connectivity upgrade for a 4983-AH8, verify:

• Machine type and model 4983-AH8
• Machine serial number
• Installed IBM Storage Virtualize level
• Installed FCM generation
• Drive capacity and feature code
• Physical service FRU
• Existing Distributed RAID configuration
• Available NVMe slots
• Installed memory configuration
• Available PCIe adapter slots
• Adapter symmetry between node canisters
• Required SFPs and cables
• Expansion enclosure type and SAS-chain configuration

IBM FlashSystem 9500 Feature Codes vs. FRU Part Numbers

IBM FlashSystem 9500 Frequently Asked Questions

What is the IBM machine type for FlashSystem 9500 with Expert Care?

The IBM Storage FlashSystem 9500 with Expert Care is machine type and model 4983-AH8.

How many NVMe drives does a FlashSystem 9500 support?

Each 4U control enclosure provides 48 front-accessible NVMe slots. A standard two-control-enclosure system can therefore contain up to 96 internal NVMe devices.

Which FlashCore Modules does the 4983-AH8 support?

The FlashSystem 9500 supports FCM3 and FCM4 in 4.8TB, 9.6TB, 19.2TB and 38.4TB capacities.

What is the feature code for a 38.4TB FCM4?

The FlashSystem 9500 feature code for the 38.4TB FCM4 is AHSH.

What is the feature code for a 19.2TB FCM4?

The 19.2TB FCM4 uses feature code AHSG.

What is the maximum FlashSystem 9500 memory?

A control enclosure supports approximately 3TB of total system memory, or 1.5TB per node canister.

Does FlashSystem 9500 support 64Gb Fibre Channel?

Yes. Feature AHBK provides a pair of four-port 64Gb Fibre Channel adapters.

Does FlashSystem 9500 support 100Gb Ethernet?

Yes. Feature AHB8 provides a pair of dual-port 100Gb Ethernet RoCE adapters.

Can the FlashSystem 9500 use expansion enclosures?

Yes. The 4983-AH8 supports the 4983-AFF 2U24 and 4983-A9F 5U92 all-flash SAS expansion enclosures.

What adapter is required for FlashSystem 9500 expansion enclosures?

Feature AHBA provides the 12Gb SAS Expansion Enclosure Attach Card pair.

Does FlashSystem 9500 support standard NVMe SSDs?

Yes. Supported capacities include 1.92TB, 3.84TB, 7.68TB, 15.36TB and 30.72TB.

Does FlashSystem 9500 support Storage Class Memory?

Yes. Feature AHTM provides a 1.6TB NVMe Storage Class Memory drive.

Can FlashSystem 9500 use FCM3 and FCM4?

Yes. The platform supports both generations. For FCM4 computational-storage-assisted ransomware detection, the applicable array must be constructed entirely from FCM4 modules and meet IBM's software-level requirements.