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Host interface card overview

You can add, upgrade, or replace a host interface card (HIC) in the following controller shelves:

You controller comes with two 16 Gb/s FC or 10 Gb/s iSCSI baseboard host ports. Depending on the controller model, the following types of HICs in each controller model:

Controller modelSupported HIC
DE2000Lenovo ThinkSystem DE2000 HIC, 10Gb Base-T, 2-ports
Lenovo ThinkSystem DE2000 HIC, 12Gb SAS, 2-ports
DE4000Lenovo ThinkSystem DE2000/DE4000 HIC, 10Gb Base-T, 2-ports
Lenovo ThinkSystem DE4000 HIC, 10/25GbE iSCSI, 4-ports
Lenovo ThinkSystem DE4000 HIC, 12Gb SAS, 4-ports
Lenovo ThinkSystem DE4000 HIC, 16Gb FC/10GbE iSCSI,4-ports
Lenovo ThinkSystem DE4000 HIC, 32Gb FC, 4-ports
DE6000Lenovo ThinkSystem DE6000 HIC, 10/25GbE iSCSI, 4-ports
Lenovo ThinkSystem DE6000 HIC, 12Gb SAS, 4-ports
Lenovo ThinkSystem DE6000 HIC, 32Gb FC, 4-ports
Lenovo Thinksystem DE6000 HIC, 100Gb NVMe-RoCE, 2-ports
Important
If the controller has SFP+ (optical) baseboard ports and you add an SFP+ (optical) HIC, the new HIC ports usually default to the host protocol used by the baseboard host ports. For example, if you add a four-port SFP+ HIC to a controller that has FC baseboard ports, the new HIC ports should default to FC. However, you must confirm the protocol of the new SFP+ HIC ports before connecting them to data hosts. In certain cases, you might need to apply a feature pack to convert the HIC ports from iSCSI to FC or from FC to iSCSI.

Add HIC​

You can add host interface cards (HICs) to controller shelves that have only baseboard host ports. Adding HICs allows you to increase the number of host ports in your storage array and can provide additional host protocols. The following figures show a 2U and 4U controller shelf with two controller canisters before and after adding a HIC into each controller.

Figure 1. Without a HIC (2U)

Figure 2. Without a HIC (4U)

Figure 3. With a HIC (2U)

Figure 4. With a HIC (4U)

Note
The figures show example controller canisters with example HICs. You might have different types and numbers of baseboard ports and HIC ports.

Upgrade HIC​

You change the host protocol by upgrading the HIC currently installed in a controller canister with a different type of HIC. The following figures show a 2U and 4U dual controller shelf before and after a HIC upgrade. The two HICs in the first figure have four SFP+ (optical) host ports, and the two HICs in the second figure have four SAS ports.

Figure 5. With two 4-port SFP+ (optical) HICs (2U)

Figure 6. With two 4-port SFP+ (optical) HICs (4U)

Figure 7. With two 4-port SAS HICs (2U)

Figure 8. With two 4-port SAS HICs (4U)

Note
The figures show example controller canisters with example HICs. You might have different types and numbers of baseboard ports and HIC ports.

Replace HIC​

When you replace a failed host interface card (HIC) in a controller shelf, you must remove the controller canister, replace the HIC, and reinstall the controller canister. The following figure shows a 2U and 4U controller shelf with two controller canisters, each with a HIC.

Figure 9. HIC (2U)

Figure 10. HIC (4U)

Note
The figures show example controller canisters with example HICs. You might have different types and numbers of baseboard ports and HIC ports.