Enterprise io3 PCIe Flash Adapters

Engineered for application acceleration, the Enterprise io3 PCIe Flash Adapters can help deliver higher performance than typical solid-state devices at a fraction of the cost and space, which makes them a perfect fit for a broad range of applications, including database and cloud applications, big data analytics, and hyperscale data center workloads.

Delivering high speed, low latency, and high efficiency, this new third-generation line of flash adapters brings scalable and optimized performance to distributed scale-out architectures at low cost. These adapters are designed primarily for servers and computing appliances to maximize compute efficiency while providing the added benefits of lower power and cooling costs, low management impact, and smaller storage footprints.

The Enterprise io3 PCIe Flash Adapters are shown in the following figure.

Figure 1. Enterprise io3 PCIe Flash Adapters

The Enterprise io3 PCIe Flash Adapters use flash memory as their storage medium. The adapters contain no moving parts and do not have the issues associated with vibration, noise, and mechanical failure. The adapters are built as block devices on a PCIe bus with advanced wear-leveling, ECC protection, and chip-level fault tolerance, which provides exceptional reliability and efficiency.

The Enterprise io3 PCIe Flash Adapters can provide lower operational expenditure (OPEX) and capital expenditure (CAPEX) in applications that require high storage I/O performance compared to solutions that use many hard disk drives and solid-state drives to achieve equivalent performance.

Rigorous testing of the Enterprise io3 PCIe Flash Adapters by Lenovo through the ServerProven® program ensures a high degree of confidence in storage subsystem compatibility and reliability. Providing another peace of mind, the adapters are covered under a Lenovo warranty.

The following table lists the ordering part numbers and feature codes for the adapters.

The part numbers for the adapters include the following items:

• A PCIe Flash Adapter with full-height (3U) bracket attached
• Low-profile (2U) bracket (1000GB, 1300GB, and 2600GB adapters only)
• USB Key with documentation
• Quick Install Guide
• Important Notices document
• Warranty Flyer

Based on the Fusion ioMemory PX600 adapter with silicon-based NAND clustering storage technology, the Enterprise io3 PCIe Flash Adapters offer cost-effective Multi-Level Cell (MLC) technology in standard PCIe form factors.

These adapters use NAND flash memory as the basic building block of solid-state storage and contain no moving parts, so they are less sensitive to issues that are associated with vibration, noise, and mechanical failure. These adapters are built as block devices on a PCIe bus with advanced wear-leveling, ECC and chip-level fault tolerance, which provides exceptional reliability and efficiency.

The Enterprise io3 PCIe Flash Adapters can deliver fast and scalable performance for mixed read- and write-intensive workloads at low latency required for webscale and cloud environments. The following typical applications require ultra-high I/O performance:

• Large-scale transaction processing
• Cloud computing
• Content distribution
• On-demand streaming
• Data warehousing
• Business intelligence and analytics
• Decision support

The Enterprise io3 PCIe Flash Adapters have the following features:

• Technology:
  • Up to 5.2 TB of solid-state storage in an industry-standard PCIe form factor.
  • High-density design with cost-effective MLC NAND technology reduces storage footprint.
  • Functions as a PCIe storage and controller device. The operating system sees a block device.
• Performance:
  • High-speed, low latency, consistent, and scalable I/O performance
  • Access latency can be as low as 15 µs
  • Up to 2.7 GBps/2.2 GBps of sustained sequential read/write throughput
  • Up to 330,000/375,000 random read/write IOPS that uses 4 KB data blocks
  • Integrates with host processor as a memory tier for direct parallel access to flash
• Reliability:
  • Advanced wear leveling
  • ECC protection
  • Adaptive Flashback redundancy for RAID-like chip protection with self-healing capabilities
• Monitoring and management:
  • Power consumption
  • Thermal information
  • Flash wear-out

Note: These adapters cannot be used as bootable devices.

The following table lists the technical specifications for the Enterprise io3 PCIe Flash adapters.

Table 2. Enterprise io3 PCIe Flash Adapter technical specifications

* Write throughput is achieved with the optional high power mode. Maximum write throughput of 1.6 GBps can be achieved within 25 W power limit.

Enterprise and Enterprise Value solid-state devices have comparable read and write IOPS and throughput performance, but the key difference between them is their endurance (or lifetime); that is, how long they can perform write operations because solid-state devices have a finite number of program/erase (P/E) cycles. Enterprise PCIe Flash Adapters have better endurance and higher IOPS/GB ratio but also a higher cost/IOPS ratio compared to Enterprise Value PCIe Flash adapters. Because of this fact, the Enterprise PCIe Flash Adapters are targeted for mixed read- and write-intensive workloads, and the Enterprise Value PCIe Flash Adapters are targeted for read-intensive workloads. Solid-state device write endurance often is measured by the number of P/E cycles that the drive incurs over its lifetime, which is listed as the total bytes of written (TBW) data in the device specification.

The TBW value that is assigned to a solid-state device is the total bytes of written data (based on the number of P/E cycles) that a device can be guaranteed to complete (the percentage of remaining P/E cycles is equal to the percentage of remaining TBW). The Lenovo warranty for the solid-state storage is limited to devices that have not reached the maximum guaranteed number of program/erase cycles. Solid-state storage that reaches this limit might fail to operate according to its specifications. Because of such behavior by solid-state devices, careful planning must be done to use solid-state storage in the application environments to ensure that the TBW of the device is not exceeded before the end of the required life expectancy.

Writes are tracked and reported by the adapter's management utility and might be affected by application writes, data patterns, and maintenance designed to maximize data integrity.

The following tables list the server compatibility information for the Enterprise io3 PCIe Flash Adapters.

See the following ServerProven website for the latest compatibility information for System x servers:
http://www.lenovo.com/us/en/serverproven/

For further information about server compatibility, see this support page:
https://support.lenovo.com/us/en/documents/serv-io3

The Enterprise io3 PCIe Flash Adapters support the following operating systems:

• Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2
• Microsoft Windows Server 2012
• Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Server with Xen x64 Edition
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Server x64 Edition
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 Server x64 Edition
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7
• SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server 11 for AMD64/EM64T
• SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server 11 with Xen for AMD64/EM64T
• SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12
• SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12 with XEN
• VMware vSphere 5.1 (ESXi)
• VMware vSphere 5.5 (ESXi)
• VMware vSphere 6.0 (ESXi)

For more information about the specific supported versions and service packs, see the following ServerProven web page:
http://www.lenovo.com/us/en/serverproven/xseries/storage/mcmatrix.shtml

On the ServerProven page, click the check mark that is associated with the server in question to see more information about the operating system support.

The Enterprise io3 PCIe Flash Adapters carry a 1-year, customer-replaceable unit (CRU) limited warranty. When installed in a supported Lenovo server, these adapters assume the system’s base warranty and any warranty upgrade.

The 1000GB, 1300GB, and 2600GB Enterprise io3 PCIe Flash Adapters have the following physical specifications:

Dimensions and weight (approximate):

• Height: 17 mm (0.7 in.)
• Width: 69 mm (2.7 in.)
• Depth: 167 mm (6.6 in.)
• Weight: 152 g (0.3 lb)

Shipping dimensions and weight (approximate):

• Height: 65 mm (2.6 in.)
• Width: 245 mm (9.6 in.)
• Depth: 225 mm (8.9 in.)
• Weight: 421 g (0.9 lb)

The 5200GB Enterprise io3 PCIe Flash Adapter has the following physical specifications:

Dimensions and weight (approximate):

• Height: 17 mm (0.7 in.)
• Width: 112 mm (4.4 in.)
• Depth: 167 mm (6.6 in.)
• Weight: 212 g (0.5 lb)

Shipping dimensions and weight (approximate):

• Height: 65 mm (2.6 in.)
• Width: 245 mm (9.6 in.)
• Depth: 225 mm (8.9 in.)
• Weight: 481 g (1.1 lb)

The Enterprise io3 PCIe Flash Adapters are supported in the following environment:

• Temperature (operational): 0 - 55 °C (32 - 131 °F) at 0 - 3,048 m (0 - 10,000 ft)
• Relative humidity: 5 - 95% (non-condensing)
• Maximum altitude (operational): 3,048 m (10,000 ft)

The Enterprise io3 PCIe Flash Adapters conform to the following regulations:

• FCC Title 47, Part 15 Subpart B, Class A
• CAN ICES-3 (A) NMB-3 (A)
• EN 55022: 2010
• EN 61000-3-2: 2006 plus A1:2009 and A2:2009
• EN 61000-3-3: 2008
• EN 55024: 2010
• VCCI V-3/2013.04 Class A & EN 55022: 2010 Class A
• ANSI C63.4: 2009
• BSMI CNS 13438: 2006 Class A
• EN 55022 (2006)A1 (2007) Class A
• AS/NZS CISPR 22: 2009 plus A1:2010
• MSIP-REM-FIO-ioScale3
• EN 60950-1:2006 + A11:2009 + A1:2010 + A12:2011 and IEC 60950-1:2005 A1:2009
• DIRECTIVE 2011/65/EU
• MIL-STD-810

For more information, see the following documents:

• Flash Adapters product page
  http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/systems/servers/options/systemx/storage/solid-state/flash-adapters/
• US Announcement Letter
  http://ibm.com/common/ssi/cgi-bin/ssialias?infotype=dd&subtype=ca&&htmlfid=897/ENUS114-138
• io3 Flash Adapter configuration information and requirements
  https://support.lenovo.com/us/en/documents/serv-io3
• ioMemory VSL 4.1.2 io3 Flash Adapter Hardware Installation Guide (PDF)
  https://support.lenovo.com/us/en/docs/UM104182
• ioMemory VSL 4.1.2 Release Notes (PDF)
  https://support.lenovo.com/us/en/docs/UM104183
• ioMemory VSL 4.1.2 User Guide for Linux (PDF)
  https://support.lenovo.com/us/en/docs/UM104184
• ioMemory VSL 4.1.2 User Guide for Microsoft Windows (PDF)
  https://support.lenovo.com/us/en/docs/UM104185
• ioMemory VSL 4.1.2 User Guide for VMware ESXi (PDF)
  https://support.lenovo.com/us/en/docs/UM104186
• Flash Management Console 3.15.0 Installation Guide (PDF)
  https://support.lenovo.com/us/en/docs/UM104178
• Flash Management Console 3.15.0 Release Notes (PDF)
  https://support.lenovo.com/us/en/docs/UM104179
• Flash Management Console 3.15.0 Tools Guide (PDF)
  https://support.lenovo.com/us/en/docs/UM104180
• Flash Management Console 3.15.0 User Guide (PDF)
  https://support.lenovo.com/us/en/docs/UM104181
• System x Configuration and Options Guide
  https://support.lenovo.com/us/en/documents/SCOD-3ZVQ5W
• ServerProven
  http://www.lenovo.com/us/en/serverproven/