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. For information about operating system and partition requirements, see one of the following
topics:
• The latest version of enabling libraries and utilities can be downloaded from Fix Central (http://
www.ibm.com/support/fixcentral/).
• Power Systems Prerequisites (http://www14.software.ibm.com/support/customercare/iprt/home).
• IBM SSIC (System Storage Interoperation Center) (http://www-03.ibm.com/systems/support/storage/
ssic/interoperability.wss).
• The latest version of the nvme-cli tool to manage NVMe devices can be downloaded from the IBM
Service and Productivity Tools website (http://www14.software.ibm.com/webapp/set2/sas/f/lopdiags/
home.html)
• For support details, see the Linux Alert website (http://www14.software.ibm.com/webapp/set2/sas/f/
lopdiags/info/LinuxAlerts.html).
PCIe3 x8 NVMe 1.6 TB SSD NVMe Flash Adapter (FC EC5A, EC5B, EC5G, EC6U, and EC6V; CCIN
58FC)
Learn about the specifications and operating system requirements for feature code (FC) EC5A, EC5B,
EC5G, EC6U, and EC6V adapters.
Overview
FC EC5A, EC5B, EC5G, EC6U, and EC6V are all the same adapters with different feature codes. FC EC5A,
EC5G, and EC6U are low-profile adapters. FC EC5B and EC6V are full-height adapters. FC EC5A, EC5B,
and EC5G are supported on AIX or Linux operating systems. FC EC6U and EC6V are supported on IBM i
operating system.
The PCIe3 x8 NVMe 1.6 TB SSD NVMe adapter is a Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe)
generation 3 (Gen3) x8 adapter. The adapter can be used in either a x8 or x16 PCIe (Gen3) slot in the
system and uses Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe). NVMe is a high-performance software interface
that can read or write flash memory. Compared to a Serial-attached SCSI (SAS) or Serial Advanced
Technology Attachment (SATA) solid-state drive (SSD), the NVMe Flash adapter provides more read or
write, input or output operations per second (IOPS) and larger throughput (GB/sec). The type of workload
has a great impact on the maximum write capacity. If a high percentage of more sequentially oriented
write operations are performed instead of random write operations, the maximum write capacity will be
large. To extend the life of the NVMe device, the application that is using the NVMe device must convert
small random write operations to larger sequential write operations. The write operations that exceed the
maximum write capacity of the adapter continues to operate for some time but the performance will be
slow. The life of the device is not affected depending on whether the application uses sequential oriented
write operations or random read operations from the device. A Predictive Failure Analysis message is
displayed when the adapter that is enabled by the system administrator must be replaced. To monitor the
percentage usage of the adapter, see Checking the amount of remaining life in NVMe devices. If the
adapter exceeds the maximum write capability, the adapter's replacement is not covered under IBM
warranty or maintenance. This adapter has protection against single Flash channel failures. To prevent
the entire adapter from failing, software RAID should be used. For high-value applications where the
content in the adapter must be protected, additional NVMe Flash adapters with OS mirroring or software
Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) are recommended. This adapter is not supported in the
PCIe Gen3 I/O drawer.
Managing PCIe adapters 111
Summary of Contents for Power Systems Series
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