IBM Power System Series Manual page 164

provides protection of the write cache without batteries in case of power failure. FC EJ14 effectively
provides up to 12 GB of write cache that uses compression of 4 GB of physical cache.
The adapter provides four Mini-SAS HD (high density) narrow connectors for the attachment of SAS drives
in the ESLL storage enclosure (IBM EXP12SX SAS Storage Enclosure), the ESLS storage enclosure (IBM
EXP24SX SAS Storage Enclosure), or the 5887 disk drive enclosure (IBM EXP24S SFF Gen2-bay Drawer)
as shown in Figure 50 on page 151. Specific SAS cables with HD narrow connectors are used to attach to
the storage enclosure or disk drive enclosure. To provide the highest bandwidth, two AA SAS cables with
HD narrow connectors are used to attach the two paired FC EJ14 adapters on the third and fourth adapter
ports (T2, T3) to communicate status and cache content information between the two adapters. Both AA
SAS cables are required unless 3 or 4 ports are being used to attach the SAS drives. When all connectors
are attaching SAS drives, the communication between the adapter pair is performed through the SAS
fabric by way of the disk enclosures and cabling. A maximum of 96 SAS devices are supported using four
ESLS storage enclosures or 5887 disk drive enclosures . The SAS devices can be all HDDs or can have up
to 48 SSD + 48 HDDs (HDDs must be on the 3rd and 4th ports). They can have a maximum of 72 SSDs
with no HDDs and must have an AA cable on the top port. If there are over 48 SSDs, then no HDDs can be
attached.
The adapter provides RAID 0, RAID 5, RAID 6, RAID 10, RAID 5T2, RAID 6T2, RAID 10T2, and OS
mirroring (LVM) for the AIX, Linux, and VIOS operating systems. Under the IBM i operating system, the
adapter provides RAID 5, RAID 6, OS mirroring, and data spreading. RAID 10 is supported by IBM i
Version 7.2 or later.
Important: See the SAS RAID controllers for AIX, SAS RAID controllers for IBM i, or SAS RAID controllers
for Linux topics for more information and important considerations for multi-initiator and high availability
or dual storage IOA configurations
Figure 50 on page 151 shows the PCIe3 12 GB Cache RAID + SAS quad-port 6 Gb adapter. The connector
plug (A) is installed in an empty port and prevents damage to that port whenever a cable for the adjacent
port connectors is plugged-in or removed.
150 Power Systems: Managing PCIe adapters