(#1975) PCI-X Dual Channel Ultra320 SCSI RAID Adapter
The PCI-X Dual Channel Ultra320 SCSI RAID Adapter (#5703) 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 non-volatile fast-write cache is provided as a resident part of this adapter. The 40 MByte fast-write cache can provide a 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 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 integrity. 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 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.
Option Part Numbers
Option Model Support
- 9110-1975
- 9111-1975
- 9115-1975
- 9116-1975
- 9123-1975
- 9124-1975
- 9131-1975
- 9133-1975
 Option Guide
 StorFacts Report
StorFacts Report
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