DS8950F model 996

DS8950F Agility Class consolidates all your workloads for IBM Z®, IBM LinuxONE, IBM Power® System and distributed environments under a single all-flash storage solution.

DS8950F storage systems are scalable with up to 20-core processors, and up to 384 Flash Tier 0, Flash Tier 1, or Flash Tier 2 drives. They are optimized and configured for cost. The frame is 19 inches wide and 40U high. They support the following High Performance Flash Enclosure Gen2 pairs:
  • Up to four High Performance Flash Enclosure Gen2 pairs in the base frame (model 996).
  • Up to four High Performance Flash Enclosure Gen2 pairs in the expansion frame (model E96).

The DS8950F uses 16 or 32 Gbps Fibre Channel host adapters that run Fibre Channel Protocol (FCP) or FICON®. The High Performance FICON (HPF) feature is also supported.

The DS8950F supports single-phase and three-phase power.

The following tables list the hardware components and maximum capacities that are supported for the DS8950F models 996 and E96, depending on the amount of memory that is available.

Table 1. Components for the DS8950F models 996 and E96
Processors System memory Processor memory I/O enclosures Host adapters (4 port) High Performance Flash Enclosure Gen2 pairs1 Expansion frames
10-core 512 GB 256 GB 1 or 2 2 - 16 1 - 4 0
20-core 1024 GB 512 GB 1 - 4 2 - 32 1 - 8 0 - 1
20-core 2048 GB 1024 GB 1 - 4 2 - 32 1 - 8 0 - 1
  1. High Performance Flash Enclosures Gen2 are installed in pairs.
Table 2. Maximum capacity for the DS8950F models 996 and E96
Processors System memory Maximum 2.5-in. Flash Tier 0, Flash Tier 1, or Flash Tier 2 drives Maximum storage capacity for 2.5-in. Flash Tier 0, Flash Tier 1, or Flash Tier 2 drives
10-core 512 GB 192 2 PB1
20-core 1024 GB 384 5.9 PB
20-core 2048 GB 384 5.9 PB
  1. With 512 GB or less system memory, the maximum raw capacity is 2 PB when using large extents, or 512 TB when using small extents. With 512 GB or less system memory, the maximum virtual capacity for volume allocation (including overprovisioning) is 4 PB when using large extents, or 1 PB when using small extents (including Safeguarded Copy virtual capacity).