POWER7 information

PCI adapter slot priorities for the 8236-E8C

Some adapters must be placed in specific Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI), Peripheral Component Interconnect-X (PCI-X), or PCI Express (PCIe) slots to function correctly or to perform optimally. Use this information to determine where to install PCI adapters.

PCI slot descriptions

Figure 1. Rear view of enclosure with location codes. Table 1 shows the rear view of the system unit with the location codes for the PCI and GX+ slots.
Rear view of system unit with location codes
Table 1. PCI slot locations and descriptions
Slot number Location code Description PHB Adapter size
Slot 1 P1-C1 PCIe x8 PCIe PHB0 Short
P1-C7 GX++    
Slot 2 P1-C2 PCIe x8 PCIe PHB1 Short
Slot 3 P1-C3 PCIe x8 PCIe PHB3 Long
Slot 4 P1-C4 PCI-X DDR, 64-bit, 266 MHz PCI-X PHB0 Long
Slot 5 P1-C5 PCI-X DDR, 64-bit, 266 MHz PCI-X PHB1 Long
  • Slot 1 can be used for either a PCIe x8 adapter in slot P1-C1, or a GX++ adapter in slot P1-C7.

    P1-C7 is not active on a single processor card system.

    P1-C7 provides higher bandwidth for a GX adapter than P1-C8. Use P1-C7 for the higher performance GX adapter or where the highest aggregate bandwidth is needed.

  • All slots support enhanced error handling (EEH).

Maximum number of supported adapters

The 8236-E8C system supports up to four POWER7® processor cards with 32-core configurations. Unless otherwise noted in the tables that follow this list, the maximum number of adapters allowed are shown in this list:

  • The 8236-E8C system supports a maximum of 3 PCIe and 2 PCIx adapters if no switches are attached.
  • A GX adapter is required to support switches. When the GX adapter is installed, the maximum quantity of PCIe and PCIx cards is 2 and 2.

PCI and PCI-X adapters

Use this information to identify slot placement priorities. Unless otherwise noted in the table, the maximum number of adapters supported is listed in Maximum number of supported adapters. In the following table, adapters are sorted in descending order by priority. The highest priority adapters are first in the table.

Table 2. Adapter slot priorities and maximums for PCI and PCI-X adapters
Feature code Description System unit slot priority Maximum number of adapters supported
57592
4 Gb Dual-port Fibre Channel PCI-X 2.0 DDR Adapter (FC 5759; CCIN 5759)
  • Short, 64-bit, 3.3 V
  • High-speed data networking
  • Extra-high bandwidth
  • OS support: AIX® and Linux operating systems
 4, 5 2 per system
57061
2-port 10/100/1000 Base-TX Ethernet PCI-X Adapter (FC 5706; CCIN 5706)
  • Short, 32-bit or 64-bit, 3.3 V or 5 V
  • High bandwidth
  • OS support: AIX, IBM® i, and Linux operating systems
 4, 5 2 per system
57131
1 Gb-TX iSCSI TOE PCI-X Adapter (FC 5713; CCIN 573B)
  • Short, 32-bit or 64-bit, 3.3 V or 5 V
  • High bandwidth
  • OS support: AIX, IBM i, and Linux operating systems
 4, 5 2 per system
4764
PCI-X Cryptographic Coprocessor (FC 4764; CCIN 4764)
  • Short, 64-bit, 3.3 V
  • OS support: AIX, IBM i, and Linux operating systems
 4, 5 2 per system
6808
PCI Quad Modem IOA (FC 6808; CCIN 2805)
  • Long, 32-bit, 66 MHz
  • Non-CIM
  • OS support: IBM i operating system
 4, 5 2 per system
6809
PCI Quad Modem IOA (FC 6809; CCIN 2805)
  • Long, 32-bit, 66 MHz
  • CIM
  • OS support: IBM i operating system
 4, 5 2 per system

1 High-bandwidth adapter. See the Performance notes before installing this adapter.

2Extra-high bandwidth adapter. See the Performance notes before installing this adapter.

PCIe adapters

Use this information to identify slot placement priorities. Unless otherwise noted in the table, the maximum number of adapters supported is listed in Maximum number of supported adapters. In the following table, adapters are sorted in descending order by priority. The highest priority adapters are first in the table.

Table 3. Adapter slot priorities and maximums for PCIe adapters
Feature code Description System unit slot priority Maximum number of adapters supported
5289
PCIe 2-port Async EIA-232 PCIe 1X LPC Adapter (FC 5289; CCIN 57D4)
  • Short, x1
  • PCIe 1.1
  • Two ports through RJ45 by using the DB9 connector
  • EIA-232 Compatible
  • OS support: AIX, IBM i, and Linux operating systems
 1, 2, 3 3 per system
5785
4 Port Async EIA-232 PCIe Adapter (FC 5785; CCIN 57D2)
  • Short, x1
  • OS support: AIX and Linux operating systems
 1, 2, 3 3 per system
57352
8 Gb PCI Express Dual-port Fibre Channel Adapter (FC 5735; CCIN 577D)
  • Short, x8
  • Extra-high bandwidth: If only one port is planned to be active in normal operation, the adapter is counted as an extra-high bandwidth adapter. If both ports are planned to be active, the adapter must be treated as two extra-high bandwidth adapters.
  • OS support: AIX, IBM i, and Linux operating systems
 1, 2, 3
  • 3 per system
  • If only one port is planned to be active in normal operation, the adapter is counted as an extra-high bandwidth adapter. If both ports are planned to be active, the adapter needs to be treated as two extra-high bandwidth adapters.
57742
4 Gb PCI Express Dual-port Fibre Channel Adapter (FC 5774; CCIN 5774)
  • Short, x4
  • Extra-high bandwidth
  • OS support: AIX, IBM i, and Linux operating systems
 1, 2, 3 3 per system
5748
POWER® GXT145 PCI Express Graphics Accelerator (FC 5748; CCIN 5748)
  • Short, x1
  • Not hot-pluggable
  • OS support: AIX and Linux operating systems
 1, 2, 3 3 per system
57082
10 Gb FCoE PCIe Dual-port Adapter (FC 5708; CCIN 2B3B)
  • Low-profile capable
  • Extra-high bandwidth
  • PCIe 2.0 adapter with x8 generation 1
  • Convergence enhanced Ethernet (CEE) supported
  • OS support: AIX, IBM i with VIOS, and Linux operating systems
 1, 2, 3
  • 3 per system
  • If only one port is planned to be active in normal operation, the adapter is counted as an extra-high bandwidth adapter. If both ports are planned to be active, the adapter needs to be treated as two extra-high bandwidth adapters.
57171
4-port 10/100/1000 Base-TX PCI Express Adapter (FC 5717; CCIN 5717)
  • Short, x4
  • High bandwidth
  • OS support: AIX and Linux operating systems
 1, 2, 3 3 per system
57322
10 Gb Ethernet-CX4 PCI Express Adapter (FC 5732; CCIN 2B43)
  • Short, x8
  • Extra-high bandwidth
  • OS support: AIX and Linux operating systems
 1, 2, 3 3 per system
57671
2-port 10/100/1000 Base-TX Ethernet PCI Express Adapter (FC 5767; CCIN 5767)
  • Short, x4
  • High bandwidth
  • OS support: AIX, IBM i, and Linux operating systems
 1, 2, 3 3 per system
57681
2-port Gigabit Ethernet-SX PCI Express Adapter (FC 5768; CCIN 5768)
  • Short, x4
  • High bandwidth
  • OS support: AIX, IBM i, and Linux operating systems
 1, 2, 3 3 per system
57692
10 Gb Ethernet-SR PCI Express Adapter (FC 5769; CCIN 2B44)
  • Short, full-high, x8
  • Regular-height
  • Extra-high bandwidth
  • OS support: AIX and Linux operating systems
 1, 2, 3 3 per system
57722
10 Gb Ethernet-LR PCI Express Adapter (FC 5772; CCIN 576E)
  • Short, x8
  • Regular-height card
  • Extra-high bandwidth
  • OS support: AIX, IBM i, and Linux operating systems
 1, 2, 3 3 per system
5899
PCIe 2-port Async EIA-232 PCIe 1X LPC Adapter (FC 5289; CCIN 57D4)
  • Short, x1
  • PCIe 1.1
  • Two ports through RJ45 by using the DB9 connector
  • EIA-232 Compatible
  • OS support: AIX, IBM i, and Linux operating systems
 1, 2, 3 3 per system
2728
4-port USB PCIe Adapter (FC 2728; CCIN 57D1)
  • Regular-height adapter
  • Single-slot, half-length PCIe adapter
  • PCIe 1.1
  • OS support: AIX and Linux operating systems
 1, 2, 3 3 per system
4807
PCIe Cryptographic Coprocessor (FC 4807; CCIN 4765)
  • PCIe x4, full-height, half-length
  • OS support: AIX, and IBM i operating systems
 1, 2, 3 3 per system
2054
PCIe RAID and SSD SAS Adapter 3 Gb Low-profile (FC 2054; CCIN 57CD)
  • Short, x8
  • Double-wide, low-profile adapter, requires two slots
  • OS support: AIX, IBM i, and Linux operating systems
  • VIOS attachment requires version 2.2, or later
 1, 2, 3 1 per system
5805
PCIe 380 MB Cache Dual - x4 3 Gb SAS RAID Adapter (FC 5805; CCIN 574E)
  • Short, dual x4
  • SAS RAID adapter
  • Installed in pairs
  • OS support: AIX, IBM i, and Linux operating systems
 1, 2, 3 3 per system
59012
PCIe Dual - x4 SAS Adapter (FC 5901; CCIN 57B3)
  • Short
  • Extra-high bandwidth
  • OS support: AIX, IBM i, and Linux operating systems
 1, 2, 3 3 per system
59032
PCIe 380 MB Cache Dual x4 3 Gb SAS RAID Adapter (FC 5903; CCIN 574E)
  • Short
  • Extra-high bandwidth
  • Installed in pairs
  • OS support: AIX and Linux operating systems
 1, 2, 3 3 per system
2893
PCI Express 2-Line WAN with Modem (FC 2893; CCIN 576C)
  • Short, x4
  • Non-CIM
  • OS support: AIX, IBM i, and Linux operating systems
 1, 2, 3 3 per system
2894
PCI Express 2-Line WAN with Modem (FC 2894; CCIN 576C)
  • Short, x4
  • CIM
  • OS support: AIX, IBM i, and Linux operating systems
 1, 2, 3 3 per system

1 High-bandwidth adapter. See the Performance notes before installing this adapter.

2Extra-high bandwidth adapter. See the Performance notes before installing this adapter.

Performance notes

Use the information in this section to help determine the maximum number of adapter that can be placed in a system while still maintaining optimum performance.

The section Maximum number of supported adapters shows maximum number adapters allowed for connectivity. However, for optimum performance, you might want to further limit the total number of high bandwidth and extra-high bandwidth adapters.

The following four tables provide guidelines on the maximum number of high bandwidth and extra-high bandwidth adapters you can use and still maintain optimum performance.

Note: Because of the many types of application workloads, these guidelines cannot cover all cases. The numbers in the following tables are suggestions for single types of adapters that are running exclusively. For systems with mixed adapter types or that have high aggregate bandwidth requirements, consult an IBM representative for additional guidelines.

Extra-high bandwidth storage adapters

Table 4. Maximum number of extra-high bandwidth storage adapters for best performance
System configuration Adapters in system unit including both PCI-X DDR and PCIe slots System maximum1
4-processor card 5  

1If 5708 or 5735 adapters are used in an application with both ports active, each adapter counts as two extra-high bandwidth adapters.

High bandwidth storage adapters

Table 5. Maximum number of high-bandwidth storage adapters for best performance
System configuration Adapters in system unit including both PCI-X DDR and PCIe slots System maximum
4-processor card 5  

Extra-high bandwidth Ethernet adapters

Table 6. Maximum number of extra-high bandwidth Ethernet adapters for best performance
System configuration Adapters in system unit including both PCI-X DDR and PCIe slots System maximum
4-processor card 4 4

For optimum performance, no more than one 10 Gb Ethernet port per two processors should be used in a system. If one 10 Gb Ethernet port is present per two processors, no other 10 Gb or 1 Gb ports should be used.

High bandwidth Ethernet adapters

Table 7. Maximum number of high bandwidth Ethernet adapters for best performance
System configuration Adapters in system unit including both PCI-X DDR and PCIe slots System maximum
4-processor card 55 5

For optimum performance, no more than two 1 Gb Ethernet ports per processor should be used in a system. If two 1 Gb Ethernet ports are present per processor, no other 1 Gb or 10 Gb ports should be used.
Parent topic: Supported PCI adapters for the 8233-E8B or 8236-E8C

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Last updated: Mon, January 14, 2019