IBM 6 Gb SAS Host Bus Adapter for System x

The IBM 6 Gb SAS HBA is an economical storage enabler to attach RAID-capable external storage enclosures and provide 3 Gbps or 6 Gbps tape storage connectivity for data archiving applications to achieve a higher level of performance.

The PCIe small form-factor IBM 6 Gb SAS HBA is based on the LSI SAS2008 controller and can handle medium to large capacity server storage applications by connecting an 8-lane PCI Express adapter with one external x4 SFF-8088 connector and four internal SATA connectors.

The IBM 6 Gb SAS Host Bus Adapter is shown in Figure 1 (with the 3U bracket removed).


Figure 1. IBM 6Gb SAS Host Bus Adapter


Did you know?

6 Gbps SAS 2.0 technology has been introduced to address data off-load bottlenecks in the direct-access storage environment. This new throughput doubles the transfer rate of the previous generation. SAS 2.0 is designed for backward compatibility with 3 Gbps SAS as well as with 3 Gbps SATA hard drives and tape drives.


Part number information

Table 1 shows the part number to order these HBAs.

Table 1. Part number and feature code for ordering

Description	Part number	Feature code
IBM 6 Gb SAS Host Bus Adapter for System x	46M0907	3875

Part number 46M0907 includes the following items:

• One 6 Gb SAS Host Bus Adapter with 3U bracket attached
• 2U bracket
• Quick Install Guide
• Documentation CD
• IBM Important Notices document

Features and specifications

The IBM 6 Gb SAS Host Bus Adapter has the following specifications:

• SAS Controller: LSI SAS2008
• Eight SAS/SATA ports (four external, four internal)
• Up to 6 Gbps per port data transfer rate
• Four internal SATA x1 connectors
• One external SAS x4 connector (SFF-8088)
• PCI Express x8 2.0 host interface
• MD2 small form factor
• High performance I/O Processor: PowerPC 440 @ 533 MHz
• uEFI support
• RAID levels : None (uses RAID as provided by external disk enclosures)
• Maximum endpoint devices: 512
• Power consumption: 13.5 W

The IBM 6 Gb SAS Host Bus Adapter has the following key features:

• Connection to supported internal and external tape drives
• Connection to supported external storage controllers
• Power management support
• Support for SSP, SMP, STP and SATA protocols - flexible to optimize costs
• Environmentally friendly due to low power consumption
• LSI Fusion-MPT architecture drives more than 290,000 I/Os per second
• End-to-End CRC with Advanced Error Reporting
• T-10 Protection Model for early detection of and recovery from data corruption
• Spread Spectrum Clocking for EMI reductions

Warranty

One-year limited warranty. When installed on a System x server, these cards assume your system’s base warranty and any IBM ServicePac upgrade.


Supported servers

The IBM 6 Gb SAS Host Bus Adapter is supported on the IBM System x servers listed in Table 2.

Table 2. Supported servers

Adapter

Part number

IBM 6 Gb SAS Host Bus Adapter

46M0907

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

See the IBM ServerProven Web site for the latest information about the adapters supported by each System x server type: http://ibm.com/servers/eserver/serverproven/compat/us/.


Supported tape drives and disk enclosures

The IBM 6 Gb SAS Host Bus Adapter supports connectivity to the following internal tape drives:

• IBM Half High LTO Gen 3 SAS Tape Drive, 43W8478
• IBM Half High LTO Gen 4 SAS Tape Drive, 44E8895
• IBM Half-High LTO Generation 5 SAS Tape Drive, 49Y9898
• IBM DDS Gen 5 SATA Tape Drive, 43W8480
• IBM GoVault Internal Dock, 42D8771

Internal tape drives are connected to the IBM 6 Gb SAS HBA using the internal SAS or SATA cable supplied with the tape drive.

The adapter supports connectivity to the following 6 Gbps SAS external storage enclosures:

• IBM System Storage DS3512 Express Single Controller Storage System (1746A2S)
• IBM System Storage DS3512 Express Dual Controller Storage System (1746A2D)
• IBM System Storage DS3524 Express Single Controller Storage System (1746A4S)
• IBM System Storage DS3524 Express Dual Controller Storage System (1746A4D)

The following external cables are supported:

• IBM 3 m SAS Cable, part number 39R6531
• IBM 1 m SAS Cable, part number 39R6529

Note: The adapter does not support internal disk drives.


Supported operating systems

The adapter supports the following operating systems:

• Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Web Edition
• Microsoft Windows Server 2003/2003 R2, Datacenter Edition
• Microsoft Windows Server 2003/2003 R2, Datacenter x64 Edition
• Microsoft Windows Server 2003/2003 R2, Enterprise Edition
• Microsoft Windows Server 2003/2003 R2, Enterprise x64 Edition
• Microsoft Windows Server 2003/2003 R2, Standard Edition
• Microsoft Windows Server 2003/2003 R2, Standard x64 Edition
• Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Foundation
• Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2
• Microsoft Windows Server 2008, Datacenter x64 Edition
• Microsoft Windows Server 2008, Datacenter x86 Edition
• Microsoft Windows Server 2008, Enterprise x64 Edition
• Microsoft Windows Server 2008, Enterprise x86 Edition
• Microsoft Windows Server 2008, Standard x64 Edition
• Microsoft Windows Server 2008, Standard x86 Edition
• Microsoft Windows Server 2008, Web x64 Edition
• Microsoft Windows Server 2008, Web x86 Edition
• Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003/2003 R2 Premium Edition
• Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003/2003 R2 Standard Edition
• Microsoft Windows WebServer 2008 R2
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 AS for AMD64/EM64T
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 AS for x86
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 ES for AMD64/EM64T
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 ES for x86
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Server Edition
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Server Edition with Xen
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Server with Xen x64 Edition
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Server x64 Edition
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 Server Edition
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 Server x64 Edition
• SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server 10 for AMD64/EM64T
• SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server 10 for x86
• SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server 10 with Xen for AMD64/EM64T
• SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server 10 with Xen for x86
• SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server 11 for AMD64/EM64T
• SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server 11 for x86
• SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server 11 with Xen for AMD64/EM64T
• VMware ESX 4.0
• VMware ESX 4.1
• VMware ESXi 4.1
• VMware vSphere 5

See the IBM ServerProven Web site for the latest information about the specific versions and service packs supported: http://ibm.com/servers/eserver/serverproven/compat/us/. Click System x servers, then Disk controllers to see the support matrix. Click the check mark that is associated with the System x server in question to see details about the operating system support.


Operating environment

The IBM 6Gb SAS Host Bus Adapter is supported in the following environment:

Temperature:

• 10 to 35 °C (50 to 95 °F) at an altitude of 0 to 914 m (0 to 3,000 ft)
• 10 to 32 °C (50 to 90 °F) at an altitude of 0 to 2,100 m (0 to 7,000 ft)

Humidity: 20% to 80%, non-condensing

Maximum altitude: 2,100 m (7,000 ft)


Related publications

For more information refer to the following documents:

• IBM Announcement Letter
  http://ibm.com/common/ssi/cgi-bin/ssialias?infotype=dd&subtype=ca&&htmlfid=897/ENUS110-013
• IBM 6Gb SAS Host Bus Adapter Installation and User's Guide
  http://ibm.com/support/entry/portal/docdisplay?lndocid=MIGR-5084780
• IBM ServeRAID Adapter Quick Reference
  http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/abstracts/tips0054.html?Open
• IBM System x Configuration and Options Guide:
  http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=psg1SCOD-3ZVQ5W
• IBM System Storage Interoperation Center (SSIC)
  http://www.ibm.com/systems/support/storage/config/ssic