IBM X3400 User Manual

The engine of growth for your emerging businesses.

Price/Performance

Product Guide

May 2009

Product Overview

CONTENTS

Product Overview

Selling Features

Key Features

Key Options

x3400 M2 Images

x3400 M2 Specifications

The Bottom Line

Server Comparison Table

For More Information

Legal Information

IBM System x3400 M2

IBM System x3400 M2 provides flexible capabilities and outstanding performance that drives affordable business growth

[Suggested uses: Small/medium businesses, large multilocation enterprises and bank branch offices seeking scalability, top performance and availability features at an entry-level price.]

The dual-socket IBM® System x3400 M2, incorporating IBM X-Architecture™ features, provides outstanding value to workgroups by combining scalable performance and availability features at an

outstanding price. The x3400 M2 supports the latest quad- and dual-core Intel® Xeon™ 5500 series

(Nehalem) processors, designed with up to 1066MHz memory access and 8MB (4-core) or 4MB (twocore) of L2 cache and Hyper-Threading Technology, to help provide you with the computing power you

need to match your business needs and growth. In addition, the x3400 M2 supports industry-standard registered DDR-3 memory with Chipkill™ ECC (Error Checking and Correcting) protection—for high

performance, energy savings, and reliability. For even higher levels of availability, the x3400 M2 also

offers memory mirroring. A dual-port integrated high-speed Gigabit Ethernet controller is standard, as are high-performance PCIe adapter slots and a legacy PCI-32 slot to support legacy expansion cards.

All models offer impressive scalability, including dual-processor support and up to 96GB of memory. Some

models support eight high-performance 2.5-inch hot-swap Serial-Attach SCSI (SAS) HDDs with an internal storage capacity of up to 2.4TB. Other models support up to four 3.5-inch simple-swap Serial

ATA II (SATA II) hard disk drives with a total capacity of up to 3.0TB1, or up to four 3.5-inch high-

performance hot-swap Serial-Attach SCSI (SAS) drives with an internal storage capacity of 1.2TB, or up to four hot-swap SATA II hard disk drives with a total capacity of up to 4.0TB. For additional performance and high availability, the hot-swap x3400 M2 models include an IBM ServeRAID®-BR10i controller, providing RAID-0/1/1E support. Additional RAID support is available via the optional IBM ServeRAID™ family of SAS/SATA controllers, which support RAID-1/1E/10/5/6, and even full-drive hardware encryption. The x3400 M2 ships as a tower unit; CTO models can be ordered as a 5U rack-mounted server to help save precious data center floor space.

Standard in the x3400 M2 is an Integrated Management Module (IMM) that enables users to manage and control the server easily—both locally and, using an optional Virtual Media Key, remotely. Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) is an evolutionary leap over legacy BIOS. 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 hot-

swap/redundant HDDs; Active Memory™; temperature-controlled fans with Calibrated Vectored Cooling™; industry-standard IPMI 2.0 support, including highly secure remote power control and Serial over LAN; as well as text-console redirect over LAN.

With the inclusion of unique IBM service and support features such as IBM Systems Director, IBM Systems Director Active Energy Manager, ServerGuide™, and the IMM, the x3400 M2 is equally well

designed for a locally managed data center environment as for a remotely managed or stand-alone environment, while offering maximum availability.

For a balance of high-performance dual-core, dual-socket processing, high availability and vast internal SAS storage at a budget price, the x3400 M2 is the ideal system.

Selling Features

GB equals 1,000,000,000 bytes and TB equals 1,000,000,000,000 bytes when referring to hard disk drive capacity. Accessible

capacity may be less.

The x3400 M2 offers numerous features to boost performance and reduce product and operating costs:

• Up to two 4-core Xeon 5500 Series processors and 8MB or 4MB of shared cache per processor, offer superior performance capable of tackling the toughest jobs. 64-bit extensions provide the flexibility to run 32-bit and 64-bit applications concurrently. Xeon 5500 series processors offer up to 225% better performance than the previous-generation 5400 series processors and up to 900% better performance

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than the single-core processors of a few years ago that you may still be using.

• Twelve DIMMs of fast registered 1066MHz (or 800MHz) DDR3 ECC memory with Chipkill2 protection (optional) provides speed, high availability, and a memory capacity of up 96GB.

• Four high-speed PCIe Gen 2 adapter slots offer investment protection by supporting high- performance adapters, such as 10Gb Ethernet, Fibre Channel and InfiniBand cards, none of which will run in older conventional PCI slots. A legacy PCI/33 adapter slot offers support for older adapters.

• Support for up to four 3.5-inch hot-swap SAS or SATA II hard disk drives or up to eight 2.5-inch hot- swap SAS drives offer high-performance with high availability. The SAS controller provides full-duplex

(2 x 300MBps) data transfers for SAS drives. For lower cost and high capacity, other models support up to four simple-swap SATA II drives.

• The integrated dual-port Gigabit Ethernet controller with IPMI 2.0 support provides high-speed network communications, as well as TOE, RDMA, and iSCSI support to offload work from the system processor. (Note: iSCSI/RDMA support requires an optional license key.)

• A high degree of device integration, including SAS/SATA, Gigabit Ethernet, systems management and video controllers, lowers costs and frees up valuable adapter slots.

• Energy-efficient components, including low-voltage transistors and voltage regulator modules, and power supplies that are up to 90% efficient, help keep your energy bills down.

Flexibility

The x3400 M2 has the ability to grow with your application requirements, thanks to:

• A choice of dual-core or quad-core processors starting at 1.86GHz and up to 2.53GHz clock rates, up to 5.86 gigatransfers per second, and 80W maximum power draw.

• Up to 96GB of high-speed registered DDR-3 system memory.

• Five available high-performance PCIe adapter slots and one legacy PCI slot in all models.

Optionally, a riser card supporting two PCI-X/133 adapters or one additional PCIe can be selected via Configure-to-Order (CTO) models.

• Installing the ServeRAID-MR10i option upgrades the basic RAID functionality with 256MB of low-cost, battery-backed cache to enable high-performance hardware RAID support, and allows the x3400 M2 to offer eight RAID levels: RAID-0, 1, 10, 1E, 5, 50, 6, and 60. The optional ServeRAID-MR10M controller supports up to four IBM System Storage™ EXP3000 expansion units containing up to 48 SAS HDDs and 14.4TB of external storage. If you require full data encryption, the ServeRAID-MR10is offers that in addition to the same RAID levels.

• The eight USB 2.0 ports (six external, two internal) are up to 40X faster3 than older USB 1.1 ports. This provides speedy access to external HDDs (non-arrayed), floppy drives, flash drives, optical drives, tape drives, and other USB devices. Two ports are on the front of the unit and four are on the back.

• Up to four internal 3.5-inch simple-swap SATA, hot-swap SAS or SATA HDDs, or up to eight 2.5- inch SAS drives, plus a half- or full-high tape drive. This translates into as much as 4TB of internal

SATA, 2.4TB of internal 2.5-inch SAS or 1.2TB of 3.5-inch SAS storage, providing tremendous internal storage capability, along with full data backup.

Manageability

Powerful systems management features simplify local and remote management of the x3400 M2:

• UEFI — The Unified Extensible Firmware Interface is the next generation of BIOS, providing greater manageability and function. Used in PCs for several years, it is now moving into the server arena. IBM is the first to incorporate UEFI in our new servers. Features include:

 Human readable event logs — no more beep codes

 Complete out-of-band coverage by the Advance Settings Utility to simplify remote setup

 A complete setup solution, allowing adapter configuration functions to be moved into UEFI

 Consistent firmware management across an entire product line

• The x3400 M2 includes the IMM to monitor server availability, perform Predictive Failure Analysis, etc., and trigger IBM Systems Director alerts. The IMM enables service personnel to use sophisticated diagnostic tools to resolve problems quickly.

• Integrated IPMI 2.0 support alerts IBM Systems Director to anomalous environmental factors, such as voltage and thermal conditions. It also supports highly secure remote power control using data encryption.

• Text Console Redirection support allows the administrator to remotely view x3400 M2 text messages over Serial or LAN.

All models require Chipkill-enabled DIMMs for Chipkill protection.

Data transfer rates may be less than the maximum possible.

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• Integrated Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 1.2 support.

• The completely redesigned IBM Systems Director is included for proactive systems management.

IBM Systems Director comes with a portfolio of tools, including Active Energy Manager, and Service and Support Manager. In addition, IBM Systems Director offers extended systems management tools

for additional server management and increased availability. When a problem is encountered, IBM Systems Director can issue administrator alerts via e-mail, pager, and other methods.

• IBM Systems Director Active Energy Manager™, an IBM-exclusive, is designed to take advantage of new system power management features, by providing power monitoring and power capping features.

• The optional Virtual Media key provides IMM remote presence and it does this without consuming a valuable adapter slot.

Key Features

Availability and Serviceability

The x3400 M2 provides many features to simplify serviceability and increase system uptime:

• x3400 M2 servers offer Chipkill ECC memory protection4 (when using x4 DIMMs). Chipkill memory is up to 16X better than standard ECC memory at correcting memory errors. This can help reduce downtime caused by memory errors.

• The x3400 M2 offers memory mirroring for redundancy in the event of a non-correctable memory failure

• Toolless cover removal provides easy access to upgrades and serviceable parts. Similarly, the optional IMM Virtual Media Key and the ServeRAID-BR10i controller can be installed and serviced without tools. This means less time (and therefore less money) spent servicing the x3400 M2. Additionally, hot-swap/redundant HDDs, as well as mirrored memory, mean greater system uptime while these components are being serviced.

• Environmental monitoring with fan speed control for temperature, voltages, fan failure, power supply failure, and power backplane failure.

• 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+, SHA-1, AES) and a firmware firewall.

• Temperature-controlled fans adjust to compensate for changing thermal characteristics. At the lower speeds they draw less power and suffer less wear. Equally important in a crowded data center, temperature-controlled fans produce less ambient noise in the data center than if they were constantly running at full speed.

• The three-year (parts and labor) limited onsite warranty5 offered on Machine Type 7836 helps afford you peace of mind and greater investment protection than a one-year warranty does.

High-Performance Xeon Processors

The x3400 M2 supports up to two high-performance Intel Xeon processors, allowing you to upgrade to a second processor as business needs require. The x3400 M2 offers a choice of processor clock rates, memory access speeds and power draw:

• 80W quad-core Xeon 5500 Series processor standard performance models E5540, E5530 or E5520 at

2.53, 2.4 or 2.26GHz (respectively) running 5.6GT with 8MB of L3 processor cache, 1066MHz memory access, and Intel Turbo Boost technology.

• 80W quad-core Xeon 5500 Series processor standard performance models E5504 at 2.0GHz running

4.86GT with 4MB of L3 processor cache, with 800MHz memory access.

• 80W dual-core Xeon 5500 Series processor standard performance models E5502 at 1.83GHz running

4.86GT with 4MB of L3 processor cache, with 800MHz memory access.

With the Xeon 5500 Series processors, Intel has diverged from its traditional Symmetric Multiprocessing (SMP) architecture to a Non-Uniform Memory Access (NUMA) architecture. The Xeon 5500 processors are connected through a serial coherency link called QuickPath Interconnect (QPI). QPI is capable of 6.4,

5.6 or 4.8 GT/s (gigatransfers per second), depending on the processor model.

Quad-core Xeon processors contain four complete processor cores. Processors contain one unified 8MB L3 cache. The cache is dynamically allocated between the cores as needed. The multiple cores

appear to software as multiple physical processors. Quad-core processors offer considerably higher performance than a same-speed Xeon processor with dual cores.

Chipkill protection is supported with x4 DDR-3 DIMMs, but not x8 DIMMs.

For terms and conditions or copies of the IBM Statement of Limited Warranty, call 800-772-2227 in the U.S. In Canada call 800-

426-2255. Telephone support may be subject to additional charges. For warranties including onsite labor, a technician is sent after IBM attempts to resolve the problem remotely. International warranty service is available in any country in which this product is sold.

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DDR

3 Registe

red Memory with Chipkill ECC Protection

Ch2 Ch1 Ch0 Ch2 Ch1 Ch0

Turbo Boost Technology dynamically turns off unused processor cores and increases the clock speed of the cores in use, by up to two model frequencies. For example, with three cores active, a 2.26GHz processor can run the cores at 2.4GHz. With only one or two cores active, the same processor can run those cores at 2.53GHz. Similarly, a 2.93GHz processor can run at 3.06GHz or even 3.33GHz. When the cores are needed again, they are dynamically turned back on and the processor frequency is adjusted accordingly.

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.

The x3400 M2 ships with registered double data rate III (DDR-3) memory and provides Active Memory features, including advanced Chipkill memory protection (optionally), for up to 16X better error correction than standard ECC memory. In addition to offering better performance than DDR-2 or fully-buffered memory, DDR-3 memory also uses less energy. DDR-2 memory already offered up to 37% lower energy use than fully buffered memory. Now, a generation later, DDR-3 memory is even more efficient, using 22% less energy than DDR-2 memory.

The x3400 M2 supports up to 96GB of memory in twelve DIMM slots. Redesign in the architecture of the Xeon 5500 series processors bring radical changes in the way memory works in these servers. For example, the Xeon 5500 series processor integrates the memory controller inside the processor, resulting in two memory controllers in a 2-socket system. Each memory controller has three memory channels. Depending on the type of memory, population of memory, and processor model, the memory may be clocked at 1066MHz or 800MHz.

Xeon 5500

Processor 0

Memory Controller

QPI

Memory Controller

Xeon 5500

Processor 1

D10

D11

D13

D14

D15

D16

1-12: DIMM population sequence; D1-D12: DIMM slot assignments

Note: If only one processor is installed, only the first six DIMM slots can be used. Adding a second processor not only doubles the amount of memory available for use, but also doubles the number of memory controllers, thus doubling the system memory bandwidth. If you add a second processor, but no additional memory for the second processor, the second processor has to access the memory from the first processor “remotely,” resulting in longer latencies and lower performance. The latency to access remote memory is almost 75% higher than local memory access. So, the goal should be to always populate both processors with memory.

The E552x-and-up models support up to 1066MHz clock speed, and the E550x models support 800MHz clock speed. Using 1066MHz memory (where supported) versus 800MHz offers up to 28% better performance.

Xeon 5550 series processors access memory with almost 50% lower latency than the previous generation 5400 series processors. That can result in faster processing of latency-sensitive workloads.

This new processor design comes with some trade-offs in memory capacity, performance, and cost: For example, greater memory capacity comes with lower memory speed. Alternatively, it is possible to achieve the same memory capacity at lower cost but at a lower memory speed.

Regardless of memory speed, the Xeon 5500 platform represents a significant improvement in memory bandwidth over the previous Xeon 5400 platform. This improvement is mainly due to the dual integrated memory controllers and faster DDR-3 memory. Throughput at 800MHz is 25 gigabytes per second (GBps), and at 1066MHz it’s 32GBps. This improvement translates into improved application performance and scalability.

Memory interleaving refers to how physical memory is interleaved across the physical DIMMs. A balanced system provides the best interleaving. A Xeon 5500 processor-based system is balanced when all

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memory channels on a socket have the same amount of memory.

A memory rank is simply a segment of memory that is addressed by a specific address bit. DIMMs typically have 1, 2 or 4 memory ranks, as indicated by their size designation.

• A typical memory DIMM description is 2GB 4Rx8 DIMM

• The 4R designator is the rank count for this particular DIMM (R for rank = 4)

• The x8 designator is the data width of the rank

It is important to ensure that DIMMs with appropriate number of ranks are populated in each channel for optimal performance. Whenever possible, it is recommended to use dual-rank DIMMs in the system. Dual-rank DIMMs offer better interleaving and hence better performance than single-rank DIMMs. For instance, a system populated with six 2GB dual-rank DIMMs outperforms a system populated with six 2GB single-rank DIMMs by 7% for SPECjbb2005. Dual-rank DIMMs are also better than quad-rank DIMMs because quad-rank DIMMs will cause the memory speed to be down-clocked.

Another important guideline is to populate equivalent ranks per channel. For instance, mixing one single- rank DIMM and one dual-rank DIMM in a channel should be avoided.

Note: It is important to ensure that all three memory channels in each processor are populated. The relative memory bandwidth decreases as the number of channels populated decreases. This is because the bandwidth of all the memory channels is utilized to support the capability of the processor. So, as the channels are decreased, the burden to support the requisite bandwidth is increased on the remaining channels, causing them to become a bottleneck.

For increased availability, the x3400 M2 offers an additional (but mutually exclusive) level of IBM Active Memory protection: online memory mirroring.

Memory mirroring works much like disk mirroring. The total memory is divided into two channels. Data is written concurrently to both channels. If a DIMM fails in one of the DIMMs in the primary channel, it is

instantly disabled and the mirrored (backup) memory in the other channel becomes active (primary) until the failing DIMM is replaced. One-half of total memory is available for use with mirroring enabled. (Note: Due to the double writes to memory, performance is affected.)

Mirroring is handled at the hardware level; no operating system support is required.

DDR-3 memory is available in 1GB, 2GB, 4GB and 8GB DIMMs. DIMMs are installed individually (not in pairs).

Hot-Swap/Redundant Components

System availability is maximized through the extensive use of hot-swap and redundant components, including:

• Redundant memory protection (with memory mirroring enabled) and Chipkill protection

• Hot-swap, redundant hard disk drives (with RAID-1/10 protection standard, and RAID-1E/5/6

protection optional)

Large HDD Storage Capacity

The x3400 M2 offers a choice of disk storage, supporting up to four 3.5-inch hot-swap or simple-swap Serial ATA (SATA) drives, four 3.5-inch hot-swap high-performance Serial-Attach SCSI (SAS) drives or

eight 2.5-inch hot-swap SAS drives:

3.5-inch SAS

• 15,000 RPMs — 73.4, 146.8, or 300GB (2.4TB maximum)

2.5-inch SAS

• 10,000 RPMs — 146.8 or 300GB (2.4TB)

• 15,000 RPMs — 73.4 or 146.8GB (1.17TB)

3.5-inch SATA—Hot-Swap

• 10K RPMs — 160, 250, 500, 750GB or 1TB (4.0TB)

3.5-inch SATA—Simple-Swap

• 10K RPMs — 160, 250, 500 or 750GB (3.0TB)

Notes: Hot-swap and simple-swap SATA drives offer exactly the same reliability as fixed SATA drives. Only the system availability improves using the swappable drives. (Less downtime is incurred removing and installing the drives.) Hot-swap SAS drives use the Converged Tray for interchangeability with other IBM System x™ systems.

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Drive Bays

The x3400 M2 contains either 11 drive bays (in 2.5-inch models) or 7 bays (in 3.5-inch) models. 2.5-inch models support small form-factor (SFF) hot-swap SAS drives. 3.5-inch models support four hot-swap SAS or SATA II drives, or simple-swap SATA II drives. In addition, there are three 5.25-inch bays.

An internal full-high tape drive can be installed using two of the 5.25-inch drive bays; alternatively, an internal half-high tape drive can be installed using one of the 5.25-inch drive bays. The tape drive must have a USB 2.0 interface.

A half-high DVD-ROM drive with a SATA interface ships standard in the other 5.25-inch bay. An external USB floppy drive may be used, if needed.

Hot-swap drives may be inserted or removed through the front of the server without powering off the system. Simple-swap drives may also be installed and removed through the front, but requires powering off the server first.

For still more storage, a direct-attach, NAS or SAN external expansion option can be added, using an optional controller.

Disk/Tape Controllers

All hot-swap x3400 M2 models include an integrated hardware-based IBM ServeRAID-BR10i SAS/SATA controller. This controller supports up to eight internal SAS or SATA drives. (Simple-swap models use the

SATA support incorporated in the system chipset.)

The integrated ServeRAID-BR10i controller offers hardware RAID-0/1/1E support. The controller provides data transfer speeds of up to 3Gbps6 per SAS port on an 8-lane 2.5 Gbps PCIe card. It supports both SAS and SATA HDDs, as well as Solid-State Drives (SSDs) and tape drives.

The x3400 M2 also supports full RAID-0/1/10/1E/5/6 support using the optional ServeRAID-MR10i card. It also offers higher performance, due to the 256MB battery-backed onboard cache.

The x3400 M2 also supports hardware based full-disk encryption with RAID-0/1/10/1E/5/6 support using the optional ServeRAID-MR10is Vault card.

For external storage, the ServeRAID-MR10M controller enables connection to up to four IBM System Storage EXP3000 SAS expansion units (48 HDDs total). It provides RAID-0/1/10/5/50 support and 256MB of onboard cache.

Internal Backup

The x3400 M2 supports several internal tape backup options. Supported technologies include:

• DDS-5 (half-high)

• DDS-6 (half-high)

• GoVault internal dock (half-high)

• LTO-3 Ultrium (half-high)

• LTO-4 Ultrium (half-high)

High-Performance Adapter Slots

The x3400 M2 provides six adapter slots in all, including one x16 (“by 16”) physical/x8 electrical PCIe (PCI Express) Gen 2 full-length/full-height adapter slot (Slot 2). This means that although the slot runs

at x8 Gen 2 speeds (8GBps), it can accept a x16 Gen 2 adapter in the slot. It is also capable of supporting x1/x4/x8 adapters at full speed. In addition to this slot, the x3400 M2 also includes two x8

physical/x8 electrical Gen 2 slots (8GBps), two x8 physical/x4 electrical Gen 2 slots (4GBps), and one 33MHz legacy PCI slot. As part of a configure-to-order (CTO) build two choices of PCIe riser card can be added, with either two 133MHz PCI-X slots or one PCIe x8 physical/x4 electrical Gen 1 slot (2GBps).

Slot 1 is a half-length/full-height PCIe slot; slots 2, 3, 4 and 5 are full-length/full-height PCIe slots, and Slot 6 is a half-length/full-height 33MHz legacy PCI slot. The PCI-X riser contains two fulllength/full-height slots (5 and 6).

PCI Express is a high-performance, low-latency, next-generation serial I/O bus that is rapidly replacing

the older parallel PCI and PCI-X buses. A x16 PCIe Gen 2 adapter offers approximately sixteeen times the maximum throughput of a 133MHz PCI-X adapter7. (A x1 Gen 1 adapter offers throughput similar to a

66MHz PCI-X slot.)

Dual-Port Gigabit Ethernet Controller

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

Actual throughput will depend on the adapter vendor’s implementation.

The x3400 M2 includes one dual-port integrated Broadcom 5709C Gigabit Ethernet controller for up to 10X higher maximum throughput than a 10/100 Ethernet controller, as well as support for PXE 2.0

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