IBM DCS3860, Installation, User'S, And Maintenance Manual

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Chapter 1. Introduction
This section describes the operating specifications, features, and components for
the IBM System Storage DCS3860 storage system and EXP3800 expansion unit.
Note: For Ethernet Interfaces: DCS3860 storage system is not intended to be
connected directly or indirectly by any means whatsoever to interfaces of public
telecommunication networks.
This chapter also includes an inventory checklist and important information about
best practices guidelines and product updates for your DCS3860.
Overview
The DCS3860 storage system is designed to meet the storage needs of highly
scalable, data streaming applications in high-performance computing
environments. The DCS3860 is a high-performance system that is designed to meet
midrange storage requirements. This high-availability, modular, and scalable
storage system provides SAN-attached 6 Gbps Serial Attached SCSI (SAS)
connectivity, support for RAID levels 0, 1, 3, 5, 6, and 10, data access and data
protection, and other advanced functions.
Note:
RAID 6 uses a P+Q design implementation. When RAID level 1 is
implemented and there are more than two drives, RAID level 10 is automatically
implemented.
The DCS3860 storage system supports attachment of the EXP3800 expansion
enclosure. The DCS3860 supports configurations of SAS and Near-Line SAS disks,
or a mix of these types of disk drives. For details on the maximum number of disk
drives supported, maximum storage capacity, and other features of the storage
system, see “DCS3860 Features” on page 2.
The DCS3860 is a 4U, rack-mountable storage enclosure that supports up to two
redundant, dual-active RAID storage controllers or environmental service modules,
depending on the model. As a standard, the DCS3860 storage system RAID
controllers have two 6 Gbps x4 SAS expansion ports on the base controller. Each
controller has an additional slot in which you can install a Host Interface Card
(HIC). For details on the supported HIC, see “DCS3860 Features” on page 2.
The IBM DS Storage Manager client is also available for the DCS3860 storage
system. This storage management software is designed to help centralize storage
management, simplify partitioning of the DCS3860 series storage into as many as
512 partitions, and strategically allocate storage capacity to maximize storage
space.
SAS defined
The Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) is a point-to-point serial architecture that replaces
the parallel SCSI bus technology but still retains usage of the standard SCSI
command set. The SAS point-to-point architecture provides a dedicated,
full-duplex channel that can transfer data at 6 Gbps in each direction. The Serial
SCSI Protocol (SSP) is used to support SAS-only drives.
© Copyright IBM Corp. 2013
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