IBM N2125, Hardware User'S Manual

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N2125 SAS/SATA HBA for IBM System x Hardware User’s Guide
March 2013 N2125 SAS/SATA HBA for IBM System x Hardware User’s Guide
Overview
N2125 SAS/SATA HBA for IBM System x Hardware User’s Guide
1 Overview
The N2125 SAS/SATA HBA for IBM® System x® is a Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) host bus adapter (HBA) that provides
high-performance external storage connectivity for servers and workstations. The HBA provides eight lanes of 6Gb/s
SAS connectivity and is matched with eight lanes of PCIe 3.0 8Gb/s performance. The low-profile design of the SAS
HBA includes a full-height bracket and low-profile mounting bracket that creates a universal fit for any server. The HBA
is based on the Fusion-MPT™ architected LSI SAS 2308 controller that integrates the latest enhancements in PCIe 3.0
technology and 6Gb/s SAS technology.
The HBA has integrated Flash memory for the firmware and BIOS.
2 HBA Features
This section lists the HBA features.

Implements one LSI SAS 2308 eight-port 6 Gb/s to PCIe 3.0 controller

Supports eight-lanes, full-duplex PCIe 3.0 performance

Supports eight external 6Gb/s SATA+SAS ports

Supports SAS link rates of 1.5Gb/s, 3.0Gb/s, and 6.0Gb/s

Provides two x4 external mini-SAS connectors (SFF-8088)

Supports up to 1024 SATA or SAS end devices

Offered with a full-height bracket and low-profile vented bracket

Provides one heartbeat LED
3 Functional Descriptions
3.1 PCI Express Host Interface
PCIe is a high-speed serial interconnect technology for interfacing I/O components to the processor and memory
subsystems. The LSI SAS 2308 controller interfaces to the PCIe interconnect providing timing and protocol compliance
with the PCIe specification. The interface is a PCIe 3.0 x8 interface providing 5.0 Gbps bandwidth.
3.2 SAS Interface
The LSI SAS 2308 controller chip contains the SATA + SAS functionality for the HBA. The following table shows the HBA
6 Gb/s SAS performance.
Table 1 6 Gb/s SAS Bandwidths
Half Duplex Full Duplex
Narrow port (one lane), 600 MB/s Narrow port (one lane), 1200 MB/s
Wide port (four lanes), 2400 MB/s Wide port (four lanes), 4800 MB/s