IBM Flex System Storage Expansion Node 68Y8588 User Manual

IBM Flex System Storage Expansion Node

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Supported disk drives

The Storage Expansion Node is a PCIe 3.0 and a SAS 2.1 complaint enclosure supporting up to twelve 

2.5-inch drives. The drives can be HDD or SSD, and both SAS or SATA. Drive modes supported are 
JBOD or RAID-0, 1, 5, 6, 10, 50, and 60. 

The drives are accessed by opening the handle on the front of the Storage Expansion Node and sliding 

out the drive tray. Opening the drive tray can be done while it is operational. Figure 3 shows the Storage 
Expansion Node connected to an x240 compute node and with the drive tray extended part way out. With 
the drive tray extended, all twelve hot-swap drives can be accessed on the left side of the tray. 

Figure 3. Storage Expansion Node with drive tray part way extended 

The following table lists the hard disk drives (HDDs) and solid state drives (SSDs) supported within the 

Storage Expansion Node. Both SSDs and HDDs can be installed inside the unit at the same time. 
Preferred practice when creating logical drives is to use similar disk types. For example, for a RAID 1 pair, 
choose identical drive types, SSD or HDD.

Table 3. Supported drives

Part number

Feature code

Description

Maximum
supported

NL SATA HDDs

81Y9722

A1NX

IBM 250GB 7.2K 6Gbps NL SATA 2.5" SFF HS HDD

12

81Y9726

A1NZ

IBM 500GB 7.2K 6Gbps NL SATA 2.5" SFF HS HDD

12

81Y9730

A1AV

IBM 1TB 7.2K 6Gbps NL SATA 2.5" SFF HS HDD

12

10K SAS HDDs

81Y9650

A282

IBM 900GB 10K 6Gbps SAS 2.5" SFF HS HDD

12

90Y8872

A2XD

IBM 600GB 10K 6Gbps SAS 2.5" SFF G2HS HDD

12

90Y8877

A2XC

IBM 300GB 10K 6Gbps SAS 2.5" SFF G2HS HDD

12

Solid state drives

90Y8643

A2U3

IBM 256GB SATA 2.5" MLC HS Enterprise Value SSD

12