Dedicated Controller Slot - IBM System x3850 X5 Implementation Manual

For more information, see IBM 6Gb SSD Host Bus Adapter for IBM System x, TIPS0744,
which is available at the following website:
http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/abstracts/tips0744.html?Open
Important: Two variants of the 6Gb Host Bus Adapter exist. The SSD variant has no
external port and is part number 46M0914. Do not confuse it with the IBM 6Gb SAS HBA,
part number 46M0907, which is not supported for use with eXFlash.
ServeRAID B5015 SSD Controller
The ServeRAID B5015 is a high-performance RAID controller that is optimized for SSDs. It
has the following specifications:
RAID 1 and 5 support
Hot-spare support with automatic rebuild capability
Background data scrubbing
Stripe size of up to 1 MB
Six Gbps per SAS port
PCI Express 2.0 x8 host interface
PCI MD2 low profile form factor
Two x4 internal (SFF-8087) connectors
SAS controller: PMC-Sierra PM8013 maxSAS 6 Gbps SAS RoC controller
Up to eight disk drives per RAID adapter
Performance that is optimized for SSDs
Three multi-threading MIPS processing cores
High performance contention-free architecture
Up to four ServeRAID B5015 adapters supported in a system
Support for up to four arrays/logical volumes
For more information, see ServeRAID B5015 SSD Controller, TIPS0763, which is available at
the following website:
http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/abstracts/tips0763.html?Open
Important: This controller is listed in power-on self test (POST) and in UEFI as a
PMC-Sierra card. This controller uses the maxRAID Storage Manager for management,
not MegaRAID.

3.9.5 Dedicated controller slot

As listed in Table 3-27 on page 96, certain supported controllers (including the ServeRAID
BR10i that is standard in most models) can be installed in a single PCIe x8 dedicated slot on
the side of the server, near the front. Figure 3-25 on page 101 shows the ServeRAID M5015
adapter installed on the side of the server, near the front with an installation bracket attached
(blue plastic handle).
The blue plastic carrier is reusable and is included with the server (attached to the standard
BR10i). The latch and edge clips allow the card to be removed and replaced with another
supported card as required.
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IBM eX5 Implementation Guide