Installation guide

6
Note:
The PCI-X and PCIe Combination Option slots are not to be used for HP
VMA-series Memory Arrays.
I/O slots capable of bi-directional x8 PCIe provide the best performance. The DL980 G7 server
comes with the Standard Main I/O board with PCIe slots 7-11. Slots 9 and 11 are x8 Gen2 PCIe
slots. The PCIe expander option provides additional I/O slots 1-6. Slots 2, 3, 5 and 6 are x8 Gen2
PCIe slots. The low profile expansion option provides additional I/O slots 12-16. Slots 12, 13, 15,
and 16 are x8 Gen2 PCIe slots. For configuration three, the DL980 with eight VMA arrays requires
eight PCIe slots. In order to get the best performance for configurations two and three you will need to
also install the low profile expansion option to optimize performance with the PCIe x8 slots. If a VMA
Array is ordered with a DL980 G7, PCIe Option I/O Expansion (588137-B21) is integrated
regardless. If 3 or more (up to 8) VMA Arrays are ordered with the DL980 G7, the low profile PCIe
Option (AM434A) is automatically integrated. Table 6 provides the recommended slot locations
occupied by the VMA pass-thru cards for each configuration.
Table 6. HP ProLiant DL980 G7 server with HP VMA PCIe slot configurations
Configuration
Number of
HP VMA arrays
DL980 PCIe x8
slots needed
Recommended PCIe x8
I/O slot #
Slot Type
1
2
2
2, 5
x8 Gen2 PCIe
2
4
4
2, 5, 9, 11
x8 Gen2 PCIe
3
8
8
2, 3, 5, 9, 11, 12, 13, 15
x8 Gen2 PCIe
If an add-on SAS controller is installed into the DL980 it may be possible the SAS controller could
interfere with the performance of any VMA pass-thru cards installed in PCIe x8 slots 9 and 11 on
the Standard Main I/O. You may want to move any VMA pass-thru cards to alternate PCIe x8 slots
6 and 16.
Note:
It is not supported to use slot 1 for any HP VMA PCIe Pass Thru Cards
due to low I/O performance (PCI-x 100 MHz).