Datasheet

Ultrascalability combined with extreme availability
features and industry-leading performance
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IBM Systems Director Service and Support Manager (previously called IBM Electronic
Service Agent
™
) is an innovative “call home” feature that allows System x and BladeCenter
servers to automatically report hardware problems to IBM support, which can even dispatch
onsite service if necessary to those customers entitled to onsite support under the terms of their
warranty or an IBM Maintenance Agreement. Service and Support Manager resides on a server
and provides electronic support and problem management capabilities through a highly secure
electronic dialogue between your systems and IBM. It monitors networked servers for hardware
errors and it can perform hardware and software inventories and report inventory changes to
IBM. All information sent to IBM is stored in a highly secure database and used for improved
problem determination.
Additional services include hardware warranty upgrades and factory-installed Product
Customization Services (PCS), such as asset tagging, hardware integration, software imaging
and operating systems personalization.
IBM offers extensive technical support by phone and via the Web. Support options include
links to forums/newsgroups, problem submission, online shopping support, service offerings,
device drivers for all IBM product lines, software downloads and even upcoming technical
seminar worldwide schedules and registration. Also available are remote installation,
configuration and usage support for System x and xSeries hardware and software, as well as
onsite custom services to provide the level of expertise you require.
IBM Maintenance and Technical Support solutions can help you get the most out of your IT
investment by reducing support costs, increasing availability and simplifying management with
integrated support for your multiproduct, multivendor hardware and software environment. For
more information on hardware maintenance, software support, solution support and managed
support, visit http://ibm.com/services/maintenance.
Key Options
IBM options for System x servers help you take your servers to a
higher level
You can rely on System x options to supply a complete solution for your business needs.
Options help you create an optimized server system to meet your data protection, storage and
availability needs. Every IBM option is designed and tested for peak performance and flexibility,
helping to maximize your return on investment. The combination of System x servers and
options lets you keep your fingers on the pulse of your e-business.
Processors — The Intel Xeon processor provides high clock rates, a choice of 8, 6, or 4 cores,
64-bit extensions, a large L3 cache and advanced features for availability and manageability.
Large cache size, combined with a fast 1066MHz memory access, reduces memory latency
and facilitates the movement of data through the processor and I/O devices. (Note: System
performance depends not only on the number of processors in the server but also on the power
and functionality of each processor.) Adding a second, third, or fourth processor may be a cost-
effective way to achieve significant performance improvements.
Memory — Memory is a significant factor in systems application performance. Adding more
memory to a System x server is one of the most effective ways to increase application
performance. An 8-core processor should have twice as much memory as a 4-core processor.
x3850 X5 and x3950 X5 servers support 64 DIMMs natively and 96 DIMMs using a MAX5
memory expansion unit.
Hard Disk Drives — IBM hard disk drives help customers improve the transaction and cost
performance of their System x servers. The choice of hard disk drives can be a critical aspect of
maximizing the I/O throughput of the system. SAS hard disk drives (2.5-inch) are available for
the eX5 servers with capacities of 500GB at 7,200 RPMs, up to 300GB at 10,000 RPMs, and
146.8GB at 15,000 RPMs. Enterprise-class 2.5-inch SATA hard disk drives are available with
capacities of up to 500GB at 7,200 RPMs.
Solid State Drives — IBM offers a 50.0GB 1.8” solid-state drive as a higher reliability, lower-
energy-use alternative to internal HDDs. They can be used as a highly available boot drive, for
storing disk images, or for other uses that stress read performance. A 200GB 1.8” drive is also
supported in the x3850 X5 and x3950 X5, when available.
IBM ServeRAID Controllers — System x servers using ServeRAID technology allow
companies to build a reliable foundation for business-critical computing. IBM ServeRAID
technology allows an array consisting of multiple physical hard disk drives to be treated as one
logical drive. ServeRAID technology also allows data to be stored redundantly, across multiple
hard disk drives— enhancing both the integrity and the availability of the data. SAS and SATA
ServeRAID controllers offer enhanced performance due to onboard processors and cache.
Because IBM ServeRAID controllers can help significantly improve data transfer rates, this
technology is extremely effective when implementing demanding, transaction-oriented
applications. By employing the advanced fault tolerance of IBM ServeRAID technology,
companies can effectively implement networked business systems that require large amounts
of storage space for data and applications that must be available for their businesses to