ESGA 387GB SFF-3 Enterprise SSD 4k IBM i Power9 iSeries

IBM ESGA 387GB Enterprise SSD SAS is a SFF-3 Solid State Drive for IBM i systems, formatted with 528 byte sectors and supported in Power9 and Power8 SFF-3 SAS bays in system unit. IBM ESG9 and ESGA SSDs are physically identical solid state drives with the same CCIN of 5B19 and 00LY324 part number, but with different feature codes to specify how the SSD is used. ESG9 indicates usage by AIX, Linux or VIOS, and ESGA indicates usage by IBM i.

 

All IBM Power9 and Power8 servers support the new Enterprise SSD in SAS bays (SFF-3) system units, including: S924 9009 42A, S914 9009-41A, S922 9009-22A, S812L 8247-21L, S814 8286-41A, S824 8286-42A, S812 8284-21A, S822 8284-22A, S822L 8247-22L, S824L 8247-42L, E850 8408-E8E, and E850C 8408-44E. The SFF-3 SAS bay in these servers uses an SFF-3 carrier/tray, on which the SAS drive is mounted. Other model Power8 servers do not have SAS bays in their system units and therefore cannot support Enterprise SFF-3 SSDs. Earlier Power servers do not use the SFF-3 SAS bay. When attached to a Power8 server, the EXP24S or EXP24SX I/O drawers 5887, EL1S, ESLS, or ELLS can hold up to 24 SAS SSDs. The EXP24S and EXP24SX SAS bays use an SFF-2 carrier/tray, on which the SAS drive is mounted. The Power S814 6-core and 8-core, S822, S824, E850, E870, and E880 servers support the features 5887 EXP24S and ESLS EXP24SX. The S812L, S822L, and S824L servers support the features EL1S EXP24S and ELLS EXP24SX.

 

These IBM Enterprise 2.5-inch SSD featuring 3D NAND, high-density solid-state storage technology delivers increased value for users of IBM Power Systems servers. IBM Power8 technology-based servers now feature 2.5-inch small form factor SFF Enterprise SAS SSD technology. These Enterprise SSDs previously called eMLC provide high-performance, enterprise-class storage at much higher performance levels than is available on disk drives. The Enterprise SSDs represent the new generation of SSD introduced by Power Systems. These drives are rated at 10 DWPD Drive Writes Per Day calculated over a five-year period.
 
The 387GB, 775GB and 1550GB 1.55 TB capacity point SAS SSDs included in the Power SAS SSD portfolio are refreshed. The new Enterprise SAS SSDs are supported in all Power8 system units with SAS bays and run by integrated SAS controllers. The SAS SSDs are also supported in the EXP24S or EXP24SX storage drawer when attached to a Power8 system and run by PCIe3 SAS RAID controller. The new Enterprise SSDs can be intermixed with existing SSD configurations, providing flexible growth to existing servers. Both 4224 4k and 528 5xx byte sector features are offered to provide configuration flexibility for Power8 servers. The Enterprise SAS SSDs are 2.5-inch SFF drives that can be installed either in the Power8 system unit SAS bays SFF-3 or in EXP24S or EXP24SX SAS bays SFF-2 attached to a Power8 server. Power Enterprise SSDs include the latest 3D NAND technology flash memory, which improves enterprise-class reliability, endurance, and capacity characteristics. The Enterprise SSDs build upon a heritage of performance and endurance to provide a better value proposition to users of Power8 servers.
 
The Enterprise SSDs refresh the previously available 387 GB, 775 GB, and 1.55 TB capacity points for Power8 servers. These are 400 GB, 800 GB, and 1600 GB SSDs that are always formatted either to 4224 4k byte sectors or to 528 5xx byte sectors for additional protection, resulting in 387 GB, 775 GB, and 1550 GB capacities. The 4096 or 512 byte sectors or JBOD are not supported. The 4k drives are not supported on servers older than Power8.
 
The new Enterprise SSDs are run either by the integrated SAS controllers in the Power8 system unit or by PCIe3 SAS adapters. The PCIe3 controller adapters are:

Support of the new Enterprise SSDs by earlier SAS adapters prior to PCIe3 is not planned. The SSD configuration rules, maximums, limitations, and capabilities of these PCIe3 SAS adapters and integrated POWER8 SAS controllers are unchanged, whether new Enterprise SSDs are used or earlier SSDs are used. You can mix Enterprise SSDs and earlier SSDs under the same controller or adapter, as well as mix them in the same array. This allows existing SSD investments to be leveraged and can provide more flexible growth.

 

Previous IBM Power SSD rules are unchanged and include: