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b. Disk drives
c. Integrated SCSI devices
d. Integrated Ethernet controller
e. x455 PCI-X slots (in the order 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
f. RXE-100 slots (A1, A2, A3, A4, A5, A6, B1, B2, B3, B4, B5, B6)
Tip: This scan order is different from that of the x450.
3.1.4 Broadcom Gigabit Ethernet controller
The x455 offers a dual Gigabit Ethernet controller integrated standard in the
system. The x455 includes a single-port Broadcom BCM5704 10/100/1000
BASE-T controller on a PCI 64-bit 66 MHz bus.
The BCM5704 supports full- and half-duplex performance at all speeds
(10/100/1000 Mbps, auto-negotiated) and includes integrated on-chip memory
for buffering data transmissions, and dual onboard RISC processors for
advanced packet parsing and backwards compatibility with 10/100 devices. The
Broadcom controller also includes software support for Wake on LAN, failover,
layer-3 load balancing, and comprehensive diagnostics.
Category 5 or better Ethernet cabling is required with RJ-45 connectors. If you
plan to implement a Gigabit Ethernet connection, ensure that your network
infrastructure is capable of the necessary throughput to match the server's I/O
capacity.
Adapter teaming
The Broadcom controller is capable of participating in an adapter team for the
purposes of failover, load balancing, and port trunking. The choice of adapters to
team with the onboard controller depends on whether you have a copper-only
network or a mixed copper/fiber network. Our recommendations are:
If you have a copper Gigabit environment, use the Broadcom-based
NetXtreme 1000T Ethernet adapter, part 31P6301. Alternatively, use the Intel
PRO/1000 XT Server adapter, part 22P6801.
If you have a mixed fiber/copper Gigabit server switch network, use the
Broadcom-based 22P7801, NetXtreme 1000 SX Fiber Ethernet adapter.
You can also team any of the onboard Gigabit cards with 10/100 cards such as
06P3601 and 22P4901, but this is not a recommended configuration. You can
also team with the older Gigabit fiber card, 06P3701.
Adapter teaming and failover work by using software additional to the adapter
driver to provide the failover functionality. This software is operating system
IBM Eserver xSeries 455 Planning and Installation Guide
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