IBM X3100 User Manual

Outstanding value in a high-performance single-socket tower

Price/Performance

server

Product Guide

March 2010

Product Overview

CONTENTS

Product Overview

Selling Features

Key Features

Key Options

x3100 M3 Images

x3100 M3 Specifications

The Bottom Line

Server Comparison

For More Information

Legal Information

IBM System x3100 M3

Outstanding price/performance in a value tower server

Suggested uses: Small and medium businesses looking for technology to help improve business efficiency.

Often small-to-medium sized businesses have limited IT budget and resources, and rely on partners or multitalented employees to help manage the company’s network. Business needs for efficiency improvement and retention of critical data require the use of a server that is easy to get

up and running quickly and is dependable. You need to squeeze as much as possible out of your IT dollars, while saving cost on features not needed in an SMB environment. The IBM® System

x3100 M3 is an ideal first server to meet those business needs. It was built for speed, yet

eliminates costly design features found in general-purpose servers that are unnecessary for smaller businesses.

The single-socket x3100 M3 supports the latest quad-core Intel® Xeon® and dual-core

Pentium®, Core i3®, and Celeron® processors, to offer impressive computing power in a minitower design that can fit under a desk. It offers up to 16GB1 of industry-standard enterprise-

class 1333MHz DDR3 memory with ECC (Error Checking and Correcting) protection—for high

performance and reliability. An integrated high-speed Gigabit Ethernet controller is standard, as are three high-performance/low-latency PCIe adapter slots, as well as one legacy PCI slot.

All models offer impressive scalability for an entry server, including an internal storage capacity of

up to 4TB2 (via four enterprise-class 3.5-inch 1TB SATA II HDDs). Selected models include the IBM ServeRAID-BR10il V2 controller, which provides internal SATA RAID-0/1 support. Other

models include RAID-0/1 in firmware. Alternatively, the optional IBM 3Gbps SAS HBA v2 provides hardware-based RAID-0/1 support for internal SATA HDDs, as well as support for external SAS/SATA HDDs and internal/external tape storage. For data backup, the x3100 M3 supports internal or external tape drives or an RDX Removable Disk Cartridge drive.

Standard in the x3100 M3 is a Baseboard Management Controller (BMC) that enables users to manage and control the server easily—both locally and, using an optional Virtual Media Key, remotely. This high level of manageability is designed to keep costs down and the system up— even when network usage increases. These advanced features help maximize network availability by increasing uptime, as do temperature-controlled fans with Calibrated Vectored

Cooling™ and industry-standard IPMI 2.0 support, including highly secure remote power control.

With the inclusion of these advanced features, and unique IBM service features implemented in system management tools, the x3100 M3 is designed for superior uptime.

If you need single-socket, quad- or dual-core computing price/performance in a budget tower package, the x3100 M3 is the ideal system.

Selling Features

Maximum memory and disk capacity may require the replacement of standard components with the largest supported component

available.

Model-specific. GB equals 1,000,000,000 bytes when referring to hard disk drive capacity. Accessible capacity may be less.

The x3100 M3 offers numerous features to boost performance and reduce product and operating costs:

• The choice of a low-cost dual-core Core i3, Pentium, or Celeron processor or a robust server-class quad-core Xeon processor offers a range of performance at ultralow prices. 64- bit extensions provide the flexibility to run 32-bit and 64-bit applications concurrently.

• Energy-efficient 73W processors draw less power and produce less waste heat than high- wattage processors, thus helping to reduce your energy costs.

• Ultra-fast server-class 1333MHz PC3-10600 DDR3 ECC memory provides up to 50% higher

Please see the Legal Information section for important notices and information.

Outstanding value in a high-performance single-socket tower server

memory throughput and lower latency than DDR2 memory, while consuming up to 30% less energy. DDR3 memory also consumes up to 30% less energy than DDR2 memory.

• Three high-speed PCIe adapter slots offer investment protection by supporting high- performance adapters, such as 10Gb Ethernet, Fibre Channel and InfiniBand cards.

• Up to four (model-specific) 3.5-inch enterprise-class SATA II hard disk drives offer terrific price/performance (incorporating up to 3Gbps throughput).

• The integrated Gigabit Ethernet controller provides high-speed network communications.

• A high degree of device integration—including the SATA and video controllers, and Gigabit

Ethernet—lowers costs and frees up valuable adapter slots.

Flexibility

The x3100 M3 has the ability to grow with your application requirements, thanks to:

• A choice of quad-core or dual-core processors, including 2.4 to 2.66GHz Xeon, 3.06GHz Core i3, 2.8GHz Pentium, or 2.26GHz Celeron processor with 73 or 95W maximum power draw, and 1333MHz or 1066MHz memory access.

• Up to 16GB of high-speed DDR3 system memory in four DIMM sockets.

• Up to three available high-performance PCIe slots (model-specific) and one available 32-bit

PCI slots (for legacy adapters) in all models.

• Up to four internal 3.5-inch fixed SATA II HDDs offer low-cost/high-capacity enterprise-class storage. The 3.5-inch drives provide a maximum of 1TB apiece of internal storage.

• An available 5.25-inch drive bay supports either a half-high tape drive or an RDX Removable Disk Cartridge drive, for cost-effective data backup. A dedicated 3.5-inch drive

is reserved for an optical drive.

• The IBM 3Gbps SAS HBA v2 controller provides RAID-0/1 support for internal SATA hard disk drives and RAID-0/1/1E for external SAS/SATA and tape drives.

• The eight USB 2.0 ports are up to 40X faster3 than older USB 1.1 ports. This provides speedy access to external HDDs (non-arrayed), optical drives, tape drives, and other USB devices. Two ports are on the front of the unit and four are on the back. In addition, there are two internal USB 2.0 port for use with a tape drive, RDX Removable Disk Cartridge drive, or USB flash drive containing a hypervisor.

Manageability

Powerful systems management features simplify local and remote management of the x3100 M3:

• An optional Virtual Media Key provides additional systems management capabilities, including graphical console redirection over LAN; and remote redirection of PCI video, keyboard and mouse (cKVM). And it does all this without consuming a valuable adapter slot.

• IPMI 2.0 supports highly secure remote system power control using data encryption. This allows an administrator to restart a server without having to visit it in person, saving travel time and getting the server back up and running quickly and securely. It also adds new features to those provided by IPMI 1.5, including VLAN support, Serial over LAN, enhanced authentication and encryption algorithms (RMCP+ and AES) and a firmware firewall.

Data transfer rates may be less than the maximum possible.

Please see the Legal Information section for important notices and information.

Availability and Serviceability

The x3100 M3 provides many features to simplify serviceability and increase system uptime:

• Server-class components, including the processor, memory, chipset, power supply, and others, are built for the rigors of an “always-on” environment. This helps reduce the risk of failure and life cycle costs, versus using a PC as a server.

• ECC memory provides error correction not available in PC-class “servers” that use parity memory. Avoiding system crashes (and data loss) due to soft memory errors can mean greater system uptime

• Toolless cover removal provides easy access to upgrades and serviceable parts. Similarly, adapters and memory can be installed and replaced without tools. This can mean less time (and therefore less money) spent servicing the x3100 M3.

• Temperature-controlled fan adjusts to compensate for changing thermal characteristics. At the lower speeds it draws less power and suffers less wear. Also important in an office environment, temperature-controlled fans produce less ambient noise than if they were constantly running at full speed.

Outstanding value in a high-performance single-socket tower server

Key Features

High-Performance Processors

The x3100 M3 supports one high-performance Intel Xeon, Core i3, Pentium, or Celeron processor, as the performance needs of your business dictate. The x3100 M3 offers a choice of processor clock rates, power draw, and cache sizes:

• 95W quad-core Intel Xeon models X3430 or X3450 at 2.4 or 2.66Ghz (respectively), with 64- bit extensions, 1333MHz memory access, 8MB of shared L3 processor cache, and low power draw (23.75W) per core

• 73W dual-core Intel Core i3 model 540 at 3.06Ghz, with 64-bit extensions, 1333MHz memory access, 4MB of shared L3 processor cache, and reduced power draw (36.5W) per core

• 73W dual-core Intel Pentium G6950 processor operating at 2.8GHz, with 64-bit extensions, 1066MHz memory access, 3MB of shared L3 processor cache, and reduced power draw (36.5W) per core

• 73W dual-core Intel Celeron G1101 processor operating at 2.26GHz, with 64-bit extensions, 1066MHz memory access, 2MB of shared L3 processor cache, and reduced power draw

(36.5W) per core

The dual-core processors contain two complete processor cores; quad-core processors, similarly, contain four cores. The processors also contain one shared cache. The shared cache is dynamically allocated between cores as needed. The cores appear to software as physical processors. The two-core processors offer considerably higher performance than a same-speed processor with a single core. Likewise, four-core processors offer considerably higher performance than a same-speed processor with two cores.

Intel Extended Memory 64 Technology (EM64T) 64-bit extensions allow the Xeon processor to use large memory addressing when running with a 64-bit operating system. This in turn lets individual software processes directly access more than 4GB of RAM, which was the limit of 32bit addressing. This can result in much higher performance for certain kinds of programs, such as database management and CAD. Additional registers and instructions can further boost performance for applications written to use them. Contact your software providers to determine their software support for EM64T.

1333MHz memory access offers up to 25% higher throughput at the same processor clock speed than 1066MHz memory access.

Intelligent Power Capability powers individual processor elements on and off as needed, to reduce power draw.

Execute Disable Bit functionality can help prevent certain classes of malicious buffer overflow attacks when combined with a supporting operating system.

High-Performance, Low-Latency DDR3 ECC Memory

The x3100 M3 ships with one DIMMs installed and supports up to 16GB of unbuffered DIMM (UDIMM) memory in 4 DIMM sockets. It uses PC3-10600 double data rate III (DDR3) memory (operating at 1066, or 1333MHz, depending on the processor type) for fast access, and provides ECC memory protection. (Notes: Non-ECC memory can be used as well, but reduces system availability. Mixing non-ECC and ECC memory in the same system is supported, but results in the server operating in non-ECC mode.)

The x3100 M3 supports either 1, 2, or 4 DIMMs. When 2 or 4 DIMMs are installed, memory operates in two-way interleaved mode for increased performance.

Memory is available in capacities of 1GB, 2GB, or 4GB DIMMs.

Drive Bays

The x3100 M3 contains six drive bays in total, including four 3.5-inch bays that support fixed SATA II drives and two 5.25-inch bays that support optical drive or tape drives. The HDD bays

support slimline (1.0") drives, totaling up to 4TB per system, respectively.

A 5.25-inch bay contains a half-height DVD-ROM drive, with a SATA interface, upgradeable to a

DVD-RW drive. A second 5.25-inch bay is available for a half-height tape drive, or an RDX Removable Disk Cartridge drive. An optional external USB floppy drive may be used, if needed.

Large HDD Storage Capacity

The x3100 M3 supports up to four 3.5-inch fixed SATA drives:

• 7,200 RPMs —250, 500, or 1TB (4TB maximum capacity)

Note: Enterprise-class 500GB+ SATA drives offer higher reliability and higher performance compared to lower-capacity SATA drives.

Please see the Legal Information section for important notices and information.

Outstanding value in a high-performance single-socket tower

Other Features

server

Disk Controllers

All x3100 M3 models include an integrated SATA II controller. It provides data transfer speeds of up to 3Gb per second4 across the SATA bus for up to four 3.5-inch internal Serial ATA (SATA) drives. In addition, the system chipset includes RAID-0/1 support in firmware. This provides the advantages of RAID at no additional cost, although without the performance boost of hardware RAID.

Selected models also include a ServeRAID controller for greater performance. The IBM x4 PCIe ServeRAID-BR10il V2 controller offers hardware RAID-0/1/1E support. The controller supports up to four 3.5-inch SATA drives at 6Gbps (half-duplex). The serial design of the SATA bus allows maximum performance to be maintained as additional drives are added.

Optionally, the x8 PCIe Gen 2 IBM 3Gbps SAS HBA v2 controller provides RAID-0 (striping) and RAID-1 (mirroring) support for internal SATA HDDs and SAS/SATA tape drives. For external storage, this controller enables RAID-0/1 support, as well as RAID-1E (mirroring with an odd number of drives) for external SAS/SATA storage and tape drives.

High-Performance Adapter Slots

The x3100 M3 provides three PCIe (PCI Express) adapter slots standard. Slot 1 is a x16 (“by 16”) Gen 2 (16GBps) slot. Slot 2 is a x8 Gen 2 (8GBps) slot. Slot 3 is a x4 Gen 1 (2GBps) slot. All slots are full-length/full-height. In addition, Slot 4 is a 32-bit/33MHz PCI full-length/full- height slot to support legacy adapters. PCI Express Gen 2 is the next generation of high- performance, low-latency, serial I/O bus. The ServeRAID-BR10il V2 controller, if installed, would be in Slot 3.

Internal Backup

The x3100 M3 supports internal half-high backup options. Supported technologies include:

• DDS-5 (internal USB or SATA)

• DDS-6 (internal USB or SATA)

• RDX Removable Disk Cartridge (internal USB or SATA)

• IBM Half-High 400/800GB LTO-3 (SAS)

External tape backup support is available using the optional IBM 3Gbps SAS HBA v2 controller.

Gigabit Ethernet Controller

The x3100 M3 includes an integrated Intel WG82574T Gigabit Ethernet controller for up to 10X higher maximum throughput than a 10/100 Ethernet controller.

It also supports Wake on LAN® and PXE (Preboot Execution Environment) flash interface. Optional PCI adapters offering failover and load balancing between adapters are available for added throughput and increased system availability.

Efficient Cooling

A strategically located fan, combined with efficient airflow paths, provide highly effective system cooling for the x3100 M3, known as Calibrated Vectored Cooling. The server includes one non- hot-swap fan. In addition, the power supply contains a fan.

The fan automatically adjusts speeds in response to changing thermal requirements, from minimum RPMs to maximum RPMs, depending on the internal temperature. When the temperature inside the server increases, the fan speeds up to maintain the proper ambient temperature. When the temperature returns to a normal operating level, the fan returns to its default speed. Why not simply run the fan at 100% capacity all the time? For several good reasons: to reduce the ambient noise, reduce the wear-and-tear on the fan and reduce the server power draw. The reduction in ambient noise and power draw may be relatively minor for a single server, but put several in an office and it can make a significant difference.

In addition, the server uses hexagonal ventilation holes in the chassis. Hexagonal holes can be grouped more densely than round holes, providing greater airflow through the system cover.

This cooling scheme is important because newer, more powerful processors generate a significant amount of heat, and heat must be controlled for the system to function properly.

• Eight USB 2.0 ports — Provides flexibility to add high-speed external devices. The USB 2.0 specification supports up to 480Mbps transfer rates. (Note: Not all USB 2.0 devices are

Data transfer rates depend on many factors and are often less than the maximum possible.

Please see the Legal Information section for important notices and information.

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