Enclosures and expansion units

You can attach your expansion units to system units using either remote input/output (RIO), also known as high-speed link (HSL), adapters (RIO/HSL), (12X adapters), 12X adapter Double Data Rate (12X DDR), Serial-attached SCSI (SAS) adapters, or SCSI adapters.

Note: The terms enclosure and expansion unit are synonymous.

Important: You can add your expansion units concurrently. This means you can add or install the expansion units with the server at firmware running state. Active partitions do not have to be shut down. Only in the following situations must the server be shut down (powered off) to add expansion units:

The expansion units are being added to an IBM® Power Systems™ server that is not managed by an Hardware Management Console (HMC).
GX adapters (I/O hub cards) must be added to accommodate the new expansion units.
The existing RIO/HSL/12X or 12X DDR fabric must be redistributed across the GX adapters to accommodate the new expansion units as determined in the planning steps for adding the expansion units.
The loop you are adding expansion units to currently has one or more 5796 or 7314-G30 expansion units, and the server and system firmware combination is one of the following:
- 9406-MMA or 9117-MMA with system firmware level equal to or less than EM320_040_031 or EM310_069_048.
- 8204-E8A with system firmware level equal to or less than EL320_040_031.

If you are adding a new expansion unit or migrating expansion units from another IBM Power Systems server, you may not be able to allocate the expansion unit resources to logical partitions on the new server until an SPCN firmware update is completed for the expansion units.

RIO/HSL/12X/12X DDR configuration changes, such as moving existing expansion units to different GX adapters, should not be performed at the same time as adding new expansion units. If these two tasks must be performed, first make configuration changes involving existing expansion units with server power off. After the configuration changes are complete, power on the server to firmware standby or running state and add the new expansion units using this procedure.