Internal Storage; Storage Book; Ibm Exflash Memory-Channel Storage - IBM x3850 X6 Planning And Implementation Manual

2.6 Internal storage

In this section, we give an overview of different technologies used in the storage subsystem of
the X6 servers family:
2.6.1, "Storage Book" on page 38
2.6.2, "IBM eXFlash memory-channel storage" on page 38
2.6.3, "IBM eXFlash SSD technology" on page 40
2.6.4, "IBM High IOPS adapters" on page 41
2.6.5, "IBM FlashCache Storage Accelerator" on page 42

2.6.1 Storage Book

The x3850 X6 and x3950 X6 servers support 1.8-inch solid-state drives (SSDs) in the IBM
eXFlash SSD units and 2.5-inch SSDs and HDDs. The drives are installed in the Storage
Book, as shown in Figure 2-27:
Two PCIe 3.0 x8 slots for RAID-adapters
Figure 2-27 The X6 Storage Book
In addition to the drive bays, a Storage Book contains two PCIe 3.0 x8 slots for internal RAID
controllers or HBAs.
The X6 servers bring a new generation of SAS protocol, 12 Gb SAS. It doubles the data
transfer rate compared to 6 Gb SAS solutions to fully unlock the potential of the PCIe 3.0
interface and to maximize performance for storage I/O-intensive applications, including
databases, business analytics, and virtualization and cloud environment.
IBM 12 Gb SAS/SATA controllers provide performance benefits, even for the 6 Gbps SAS
drive infrastructure, especially for solid-state drives (SSDs), by providing next generation
controller performance features.

2.6.2 IBM eXFlash memory-channel storage

IBM eXFlash memory-channel storage is the newest innovative flash storage technology that
IBM introduces with new X6 family servers. The eXFlash memory-channel storage is a high
performance solid-state storage device that is produced in a standard DIMM form factor and
plugs into an existing memory DIMM slot.
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IBM System x3850 X6 and x3950 X6 Planning and Implementation Guide
Hot-swap drives
Operator panel with LCD screen
and USB ports