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Supported adapters

This section contains descriptive information of the adapters supported by this server along with the suggested slot installation sequence.

The following table lists the adapters that the server supports.
Table 1. Supported adapters, slot in which to install the adapters, and information about the adapters..

Name of adapterSuggested slot installation sequenceNotes
ServeRAID M5210 SAS/SATA Controller for System xPCIe slots 1, 2, and 3
  • Provides base RAID levels 0, 1, and 10:
    • With the ServeRAID M5200 Series Zero Cache/RAID 5 Upgrade for Lenovo System x (Features On Demand software RAID) enabled on this adapter, you also get RAID level 5 and 50 support.
    • With the ServeRAID M5200 Series RAID 6 Upgrade for Lenovo System x (Features On Demand software RAID) enabled on this adapter, you also get RAID level 6 and 60 support.
    • ServeRAID M5200 Series Solid State Drive Caching Enabler for System x enables CacheCade 1 (read only) or CacheCade 2 (write caching). This software allows a solid state drive to be configured as a secondary tier of cache. Cachecade is a usage model where a hard disk drive RAID array is given a solid state drive cache, resulting in more effective performance acceleration.
      Note
      A RAID cache card must be installed on this adapter to run the MegaRAID firmware.
    • ServeRAID M5200 Series Solid State Drive Performance Accelerator for System x accelerates the performance of solid state drive RAID devices by bypassing front end processing.
      Note
      A RAID cache card must be installed on this adapter to run the MegaRAID firmware.
  • Supports the following RAID cache cards:
    • ServeRAID M5200 Series 1 GB Cache/RAID 5 Upgrade for System x
    • ServeRAID M5200 Series 1 GB Flash/RAID 5 Upgrade for System x
    • ServeRAID M5200 Series 2 GB Flash/RAID 5 Upgrade for System x
    • ServeRAID M5200 Series 4 GB Flash/RAID 5 Upgrade for System x
    Note
    When any of the cache cards are installed on this adapter, you can enable the ServeRAID M5200 Series RAID 6 Upgrade for System x (Features on Demand software RAID) to get RAID levels 6 and 60 support.
  • This adapter supports internal drive connections.
ServeRAID M5120 SAS/SATA Controller for System xPCIe slots 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8
  • Provides base RAID levels 0, 1, 5, 10, and 50 (This adapter comes with a cache card installed):
    • With the ServeRAID M5100 Series RAID 6 Upgrade for System x (Features On Demand software RAID) enabled on this adapter, you also get RAID level 6 and 60 support.
  • You can also install the following RAID cache cards on this adapter for RAID levels 5 and 50 support:
    • ServeRAID M5100 Series 512 MB Cache/RAID 5 Upgrade for System x
    • ServeRAID M5100 Series 512 MB Flash/RAID 5 Upgrade for System x
    • ServeRAID M5100 Series 1 GB Flash/RAID 5 Upgrade for System x
      Note
      When any of the three cache cards is installed on this adapter, you can enable the ServeRAID M5100 Series RAID 6 Upgrade for System x (Features On Demand software RAID) to get RAID levels 6 and 60 support. Optionally, the ServeRAID M5100 Series Solid State Drive Caching Enabler for System x (Features On Demand software RAID) can be enabled on this adapter to accelerate solid-state drive RAID devices and reduce processing overhead that is associated with caching.
  • A RAID cache card must be installed on this adapter to run the MegaRAID firmware.
  • The adapter supports external cabling.
  • The battery must always be mounted remotely in the server.
ServeRAID N2125 SAS/SATA Host Bus AdapterPCIe slots 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8
  • This adapter provides no RAID support. It helps provide optimized performance for applications that do not need RAID support.
  • This 6 Gb adapter supports external drive connections.
ServeRAID N2215 SAS/SATA Host Bus AdapterPCIe slots 1, 2, and 3
  • This solid-state drive controller provides no RAID support. It helps provide optimized performance for applications that do not need RAID support.
  • This 12 Gb adapter supports internal drive connections.
Intel X540 ML2 Dual Port 10GbaseT Adapter for System xInstall in the ML adapter slot on the system board.
  • Port 1 on the adapter is the default port for IMM Shared mode when enabled through UEFI.
  • This adapter provides the following features:
    • Single chip, dual port 10 Gb Base-T controller with integrated MAC and PHY
    • 12.5 watts maximum power
    • Unified networking delivering LAN, iSCSI, and FCoE over 10 Gb Base-T
    • Two independent 10 Gb Base-T interfaces with SR-IOV support
    • PCI Express v2.1 with 5.0 GT/s and 2.5 GT/s support for x1, x2, x4, and x8 links widths
    • 10BASE-T, 1000BASE-T, and 100BASE-TX link modes
Intel I350-T4 ML2 Quad Port GbE Adapter for System xInstall in the ML adapter slot on the system board.
  • Port 1 on the adapter is the default port for IMM Shared mode when enabled through UEFI.
  • This adapter provides the following features:
    • Single chip, quad-port 1 Gb Base-T controller with integrated MAC and PHY
    • PCI Express v2.1 with 5.0 GT/s and 2.5 GT/s support for x1, x2, and x4 links widths
    • Pass-Through (PT) functionality via a sideband interface
    • DMTF Network Controller Sideband Interface (NC-SI)
    • 1000BASE-T, 100BASE-TX, and 10Base-T link modes
    • Flexible port partitioning (32 virtual functions on quad-port or 16 virtual functions on dual-port)
Emulex VFA5 ML2 Dual Port 10GbE SFP+ Adapter for System xInstall in the ML adapter slot on the system board.
  • Port 1 on the adapter is the default port for IMM Shared mode when enabled through UEFI.
  • This adapter supports FoD and requires a license or key (Emulex VFA5 ML2 FCoE/iSCSI License for Lenovo System x (FoD)) if you want access to FCoE and iSCSI advanced features.
  • For this adapter, you will need supported SFP transceivers or DAC cables to connect to your Fibre connections.
  • This adapter provides the following features:
    • Four SFI 10 Gb Base-R Ethernet interfaces
    • PCIe Gen3 x8 interface
    • Single Root I/O Virtualization (SR-IOV)
    • Ethernet network interface (Layer 2 NIC) and TCP/IP
    • Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE)
    • Remote Direct Memory Access (RDMA)
Broadcom NetXtreme II ML2 Dual Port 10GbE SFP+ Adapter for System xInstall in the ML adapter slot on the system board.
  • Port 1 on the adapter is the default port for IMM Shared mode when enabled through UEFI.
  • This adapter provides the following features:
    • PCIe Gen2 x8 dual-port 10 Gb SFP+ controller in 50 mm wide ML2 form factor
    • TCP/IP Offload (TOE), Wake on LAN (WoL), UCM and CIM capable
    • Supports standard pNIC or vNIC2 modes
    • Unified networking delivering LAN and iSCSI over 10 Gb SFP+
    • Two independent 10 Gbp SFP+ interfaces with SR-IOV capability
    • PCI Express v2.1 with support for x8 link width, accepts both FTP+ SR optical and SFP+ DAC cables
    • DMTV Network Controller Sideband interface (NC-SI) capable for IMM2 Shared port access
Broadcom NetXtreme II ML2 Dual Port 10GbaseT Adapter for System xInstall in the ML adapter slot on the system board.
  • Port 1 on the adapter is the default port for IMM Shared mode when enabled through UEFI.
  • This adapter provides the following features:
    • PCIe Gen2 x8 dual-port 10 Gb Base-T controller in 50 mm wide ML2 form factor
    • TCP/IP Offload (TOE), Wake on LAN (WOL), UCM and CIM capable
    • Supports standard pNIC or vNIC2 modes
    • Unified networking delivering LAN and iSCSI over 10 Gb Base-T
    • Two independent 10 Gbp Base-T interfaces with SR-IOV capability
    • PCI Express v2.1 with support for x8 link width 10 Gb Base-T and 1000Base-T link modes
    • DMTV Network Controller Sideband interface (NC-SI) capable for IMM2 shared port access