IBM System x3850 X5 Implementation Guide

158 IBM eX5 Implementation Guide
4.9.6 Drive combinations
The x3690 X5 drive subsystem is divided into four backplanes; each backplane can connect
to either four 2.5-inch drives or eight 1.8-inch SSDs. This section describes the supported
combinations.
A configuration with four drives
Figure 4-28 shows a four-drive configuration that uses one 4x HDD backplane. This
configuration uses one SAS cable.
Figure 4-28 x3690 with one IBM 4x 2.5-inch HS SAS HDD backplane
Configurations with eight drives
Figure 4-29 shows two 4x HDD backplanes in use. This configuration requires two SAS
cables.
Figure 4-29 x3690 with two IBM 4x 2.5-inch HS SAS HDD backplanes
Figure 4-30 on page 159 shows a configuration that uses one 8x HDD backplane instead of
two 4x HDD backplanes. Two SAS cables are needed.
Firmware update and installation order:
򐂰 You might need a firmware update to the ServeRAID B5015 SSD Controller if you
intermix 2.5-inch drives with 1.8-inch SSDs.
򐂰 When mixing 2.5-inch backplanes and 1.8-inch backplanes, always install the 2.5-inch
backplanes to the left and all 1.8-inch backplanes to the right (as seen when facing the
front of the server).
򐂰 Not all of these configurations are orderable in a configure-to-order (CTO)
configuration.

IBM System x3850 X5 Specifications

General

Processor Cores	Up to 10 cores per processor
Chipset	Intel 7500
Hard Drive Interface	SAS/SATA
Processor	Intel Xeon E7-4800 series, Intel Xeon E7-8800 series
Memory Slots	64 DIMM slots
Storage	Up to 16 x 2.5" hot-swap SAS/SATA HDDs or SSDs
RAID Support	RAID 0, 1, 5, 6, 10
Network Interface	Integrated Gigabit Ethernet
Operating System Support	Microsoft Windows Server, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, VMware vSphere
Form Factor	4U Rack