(#5711) PCI-X Dual Channel Ultra320 SCSI RAID Blind Swap Adapter
The PCI-X Dual Channel Ultra320 SCSI RAID Blind Swap Adapter (#5711) is a 64-bit 3.3 volt, bootable high performance Ultra320 SCSI RAID Adapter providing RAID 0,5, or 10 capability and can address up to thirty 16-bit SCSI physical disk drives on two independent SCSI buses.
To increase the data writing performance, a 40 MByte fast-write cache is provided as a resident part of this adapter. The 40 MByte fast-write cache is resident on the Dual Channel Ultra320 SCSI RAID Blind Swap Adapter and utilizes non-volatile RAM. The 40 MByte fast-write cache can provide an significant improvement in data throughput and response time during certain sequence write operations compared to SCSI RAID adapters without the fast-write cache. The response time and data transfer improvement will vary depending upon the data block sizes, the percentage of sequential writes, machine type/model, and application parameters.
The Dual Channel Ultra320 SCSI RAID Blind Swap Adapter has two independent ultra320 SCSI buses. There are two internal ports and two external ports. The two internal ports are shared with the two external ports. The SCSI busses can drive either an internal port or an external port. The internal ports can be used to provide an internal RAID solution on certain supporting pSeries systems with internal multiple disk drives or packs of drives. Internally attached Ultra320 devices are designed to run at a data rate of up to 320 MB per second on systems that have internal backplanes that are capable of supporting Ultra320 speeds.
In order to achieve an Ultra320 SCSI bus data rate of up to 320 MB per second and also maintain a reasonable drive distance, the adapter utilizes Low Voltage Differential (LVD) drivers and receivers. To fully utilize this 320 MB per second performance, all attaching devices should also be Ultra320 LVD devices. But, if Ultra2, Ultra3, or Ultra320 devices coexist on the same bus, each device will operate at its rated speed. For lower speed single-ended (SE) devices, the SCSI bus will switch to single-ended (SE) performance and interface to all devices on that SCSI bus at the lower SE bus data rate of the device.
When an array configuration is selected with the RAID Manager, the disk drives being designated as part of the array (attached to either the internal or external ports) are required to be formatted to 522 byte sectors. 522 byte sectors provide additional CRC error checking for improved data integrety. A menu option is provided in the AIX supporting software which will reformat these disk drives prior to their usage in an array. Conversely, when a disk drive is removed from an array, a similar menu option is also provided to re-format them back to 512 byte sectors.
Note: Some disk drives require that their microcode be updated to the latest level before being formatted to 522 Byte Sectors.
Also, there are some disk drives which do not support being formatted to 522 Byte Sectors. The PCI-X SCSI Disk Array Manager will inform the user of these known situations when they exist.
Two industry standard VHDCI 68-pin connectors are mounted on the adapter's end bracket allowing attachment of various LVD and SE external subsystems. A .3 meter converter cable, VHDCI to P, Mini-68 pin to 68-pin, (#2118) can be used with older external SE devices or subsystems to allow connection to the VHDCI connector on the PCI-X Dual Channel Ultra320 SCSI RAID Blind Swap Adapter.
The two external ports provide connectivity to an IBM 2104-DS4 Expandable Storage Plus Drawer or 2104-TS4 Expandable Storage Plus Tower at up to 320 MB/s SCSI bus data rate configured as either a non-array or an array of disks. Also the two external ports provide non-array connectivity to numerous other SCSI external subsystems. Check the external subsystem sales/web pages for verification of connectivity support with this adapter.
Limitations:
- The two external ports provide connectivity to an IBM 2104-DU3 Expandable Storage Plus Drawer or 2104-TU3 Expandable Storage Plus Tower at up to 160 MB/s SCSI bus data rate as well as connectivity to an IBM 2104-DL1 Expandable Storage Plus Drawer or 2104-TL1 Expandable Storage Plus Tower at up to 80 MB/s SCSI bus data rate, but is limited to only non-array configuration support.
- The two external ports do not support the connection to the IBM 7131-105 IBM Multi-Storage Tower Model 105.
- Even though the Dual Channel Ultra320 SCSI RAID Blind Swap Adapter has ports that run at ultra320 SCSI speeds (up to 320 MBytes/s), the internally attached disk drives will run at a maximum SCSI bus data rate specified by that supporting system disk backplane.
- Disk drives internal to the pSeries system shipped prior to September 1, 2003, require a disk drive microcode update to run at Ultra320 speed.
- Attributes provided: Attachment of internal and external SCSI devices
- Attributes required: One PCI or PCI-X bus slot.
Option Part Numbers
- 39J5105
- 53P3880
- 80P2696
- 97P2702
- 97P3960
- 97P6516
- 97P6654
 Drawer Guide
 StorFacts Report
StorFacts Report
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