Drive bay configurations and requirements
This topic describes the drive bay configurations supported by the server and the requirements for hardware configurations.
Front bays: up to 12 x 3.5-inch or 24 x 2.5-inch hot-swap bays
Middle (internal) bays: up to 4 x 3.5-inch or 8 x 2.5-inch hot-swap bays
Rear bays: up to 4 x 3.5-inch or 4 x 2.5-inch hot-swap bays
VMware ESXi does not support ThinkSystem 2.5 U.3 6500 ION 30.72TB Read Intensive NVMe PCIe 4.0 x4 HS SSD.
Chassis with 3.5-inch front drive bays
The following table shows the supported drive bay combinations for the chassis with 3.5-inch front drive bays.
NVMe drives are only supported in the front drive bays (bays 8–11), using the AnyBay backplane (which offers 4 x NVMe capable drive bays).
When the front drive bays are 3.5-inch bays, the middle drive bays are also 3.5-inch bays. However, the rear drive bays can be either 2.5-inch SAS/SATA or 3.5-inch SAS/SATA bays.
When the front SAS/SATA backplane is connected to PCIe connectors on the system board, only SATA drives are supported. No SAS drives are supported.
For the middle/rear drive cage with an NVMe backplane, only 7 mm NVMe drives (installed in the 15 mm-height drive trays) are supported. The 15 mm drives are not supported.
- To support a middle drive cage:
Performance fans (speed of 29000 RPM) must be installed.
The processor TDP must be lower than or equal to 155 watts.
The ambient temperature must be lower than or equal to 35°C (95°F).
All empty memory slots must be covered with a memory module filler or new memory module to ensure optimal air flow.
- To support a rear drive cage:
Performance fans (speed of 29000 RPM) must be installed.
The processor TDP must be lower than or equal to 225 watts.
The ambient temperature must be lower than or equal to 35°C (95°F).
| Config | Total drives | Front bays (3.5") | Mid bays (3.5") | Rear bays (3.5" or 2.5") | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SAS/SATA | AnyBay | SAS/SATA | 3.5" SAS/SATA | 2.5" SAS/SATA | ||
| 3.5-inch chassis – SAS/SATA drives only | ||||||
| A | 8 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| B | 12 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| C | 16 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| D | 16 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| E | 20 | 12 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 0 |
| F | 20 | 12 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| 3.5-inch chassis – SAS/SATA and AnyBay drives | ||||||
| G | 12 | 8 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| H | 16 | 8 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| I | 16 | 8 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| J | 20 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 0 |
| K | 20 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| 3.5-inch chassis – no backplanes, no drives | ||||||
| L | 0 | 12 (with drive fillers) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Chassis with 2.5-inch front drive bays
With the 2.5-inch chassis, all drive bays are 2.5-inch bays. No 3.5-inch drives are supported.
Middle drive bays and rear drive bays cannot be used concurrently.
When the front SAS/SATA backplane is connected to PCIe connectors on the system board, only SATA drives are supported. No SAS drives are supported.
For the middle/rear drive cage with an NVMe backplane, only 7 mm NVMe drives (installed in the 15 mm-height drive trays) are supported. The 15 mm drives are not supported.
- To support a middle drive cage:
Performance fans (speed of 29000 RPM) must be installed.
The processor TDP must be lower than or equal to 155 watts.
The ambient temperature must be lower than or equal to 35°C (95°F).
Note that the ambient temperature must be lower than or equal to 30°C (86°F) for the server model with 24 NVMe front drive bays.
All empty memory slots must be covered with a memory module filler or new memory module to ensure optimal air flow.
- To support a rear drive cage:
Performance fans (speed of 29000 RPM) must be installed.
The processor TDP must be lower than or equal to 225 watts.
The ambient temperature must be lower than or equal to 35°C (95°F).
| Config | Total drives | Front bays (2.5") | Mid bays (2.5") | Rear bays (2.5") | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SAS/SATA | NVMe | SAS/SATA | NVMe | SAS/SATA | NVMe | ||
| 2.5-inch chassis – SAS/SATA drives only | |||||||
| A | 8 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| B | 16 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| C | 20 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| D | 24 | 24 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| E | 28 | 24 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| F | 32 | 24 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2.5-inch chassis – SAS/SATA and NVMe drives in the front bays | |||||||
| G | 16 | 8 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| H | 20 | 8 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| I | 24 | 16 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| J | 28 | 16 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| K | 32 | 16 | 8 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2.5-inch chassis – only NVMe drives in the front bays | |||||||
| L | 8 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| M | 16 | 0 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| N | 20 | 0 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| O | 20 | 0 | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| P | 24 | 0 | 24 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Q | 28 | 0 | 24 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| R | 28 | 0 | 24 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| S | 32 | 0 | 24 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| T | 32 | 0 | 24 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 0 |
| 2.5-inch chassis – no backplanes, no drives | |||||||
| U | 0 | 24 (with drive fillers) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |