PCIe LP Dual - x4 SAS Adapter (FC 5278; CCIN 57B3)

Learn about the specifications and operating system requirements for the feature code (FC) 5278 adapter.

Overview

The FC 5278 (PCIe LP Dual - x4 SAS adapter) is the low-profile adapter, same as the FC 5901 (CCIN 57B3), which is the full-height adapter.

The PCIe LP Dual - x4 SAS adapter is a low-profile, short form factor adapter for high-performance and high-density, serial attached SCSI (SAS) applications. It supports the attachment of SAS disk, tape, and DVD by using a pair of mini SAS 4x connectors which allow the eight physical links to be used in various narrow and wide-port configurations. The adapter does not have write cache.

The adapter is a 64 bit, 3.3 V, bootable SAS adapter that provides RAID 0, 5, 6, and 10 capability. Some RAID level support is operating system dependent. The adapter provides RAID 0, RAID 5, RAID 6, and RAID 10 for the AIX® and Linux operating systems. IBM® i operating system provides mirroring and data spreading capability. IBM i operating system does not support the RAID 5 and RAID 6 configurations for this adapter. The adapter does not have write cache. (The write performance of RAID 5 and RAID 6 can be poor on adapters that do not provide write cache. Consider using an adapter which provides write cache when using RAID 5 or RAID 6.)

The adapter can address up to 48 SAS disk drives, although the actual number of drives in a system is subject to the physical placement limitations of the system. Externally attached devices are designed to run at a data rate of 1.5 Gbps for serial ATA (SATA) devices, and 3 Gbps for SAS devices. This card supports RAID and non-RAID DASD, tape, and optical devices. This adapter supports the multi-initiator and high availability configurations in AIX and Linux. IBM i does not support feature 5278 in multi-initiator and high availability configurations.
Important: See the SAS RAID controllers for AIX, SAS RAID controllers for IBM i, or SAS RAID controllers for Linux topics for more information and important considerations for multi-initiator and high availability or dual storage IOA configurations

The FC 5278 supports SAS SFF disk drives located in a PCIe 12X I/O Drawer or SAS disk drives located in an EXP 12S Disk Drawer or SAS disk drives located in a supported POWER® system unit (split disk backplane).

For details about slot priorities and placement rules, see PCIe adapter placement rules and slot priorities and select the system you are working on.

Figure 1. PCIe Dual - x4 SAS adapter
PCIe Dual - x4 SAS adapter

Specifications

Item
Description
Adapter FRU number
44V4852 (Designed to comply with RoHS requirement)
I/O bus architecture
PCIe
Slot requirement
One available PCIe x8 slot
Cables
SAS device attachment requires specific cables that are provided with the subsystem or device features that are being attached. Special cabling is required for multi-initiator and high availability configurations. For more information, see Serial attached SCSI cable planning.
Voltage
3.3 V
Form factor
Short, low-profile
Maximum number
For details about the maximum number of adapters that are supported, see PCIe adapter placement rules and slot priorities and select the system you are working on.
Attributes
  • Two external mini SAS 4x connectors provide attachment of SAS and Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA) device enclosures
  • SAS Serial SCSI Protocol (SSP), Serial ATA Tunneling Protocol (STP), and Serial Management Protocol (SMP)
  • RAID 0, 5, 6, 10

    The write performance of RAID 5 and RAID 6 can be poor on adapters that do not provide write cache. Consider using an adapter that provides write cache when using RAID 5 or RAID 6.

  • Concurrent firmware update
  • Removable media device supported (Removable media is not supported in multi-initiator and high availability configurations)
  • Removable media device supported
  • 440 - 500 Mhz PowerPC® (PPC)
  • Support for multi-initiator and high availability configurations

Operating system or partition requirements

If you are installing a new feature, ensure that you have the software that is required to support the new feature and that you determine whether any prerequisites must be met for this feature and attaching devices. To check for the prerequisites, see IBM Prerequisite website.

The adapter is supported on the following versions of the operating systems, depending on the system you are using:
  • AIX
    • AIX 7.1, or later
    • AIX Version 6.1, or later
    • AIX Version 5.3, or later
  • Linux
    • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Version 7, or later, with current maintenance updates available from Red Hat.
    • Red Hat Enterprise Linux Version 5.6, or later
    • SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11, Service Pack 1, or later, with current maintenance updates available from SUSE.
    • For support details, see the Linux Alert website.
  • IBM i
    • IBM i Version 7.2 or later
    • IBM i Version 7.1, or later
This adapter requires the following drivers:
  • AIX: devices.pci.1410bd02 device driver package
  • Linux:
    • iprutils version 2.4.1 and ipr driver version 2.0.11.6 (or later) for RHEL4 kernels
    • iprutils version 2.4.1 and ipr driver version 2.2.0.2 (or later) for RHEL5 kernels
    • iprutils version 2.4.1 and ipr driver version 2.2.0.2 (or later) for SLES10 kernels
    • The latest version of the device driver or iprutils can be downloaded from the IBM Service and Productivity Tools website.



Last updated: Thu, June 27, 2019