Product guide

NeXtScale nx360 M4 22
The following table lists the adapters that are supported for each drive configuration.
Table 17. Drive type and RAID adapter support
Software RAID or no RAID Hardware RAID
Drive type
Quantity
of drives
supported
On board
SATA
ServeRAID
C100
N2115
HBA
ServeRAID
H1110
ServeRAID
M1115
Without Storage Native Expansion Tray attached (one controller)
1.8-inch SS SATA SSD 4 No Yes Yes Yes Yes
2.5-inch SS SATA HDD 2 No Yes Yes Yes Yes
2.5-inch SS SAS HDD 2 No No Yes Yes Yes
3.5-inch SS SATA HDD 1 Yes No No No No
With Storage Native Expansion Tray attached (adds 7x 3.5-inch bays) (two controllers)**
1.8-inch SS SATA SSD 4 + 7 No Yes Yes No Yes
2.5-inch SS SATA HDD 2 + 7 No Yes Yes No Yes
3.5-inch SS SATA HDD 1 + 7 Yes Yes Yes No Yes
With Storage Native Expansion Tray attached (adds 7x 3.5-inch bays) (one controller)†
3.5-inch SS SATA HDD 8† No No Yes No Yes
* With the addition of the NeXtScale Storage Native Expansion Tray
** The two controllers must be: (1) either onboard SATA or ServeRAID C100 for internal drive(s), and (2) N2115 or
ServeRAID M115 for drives in the storage tray
† Requires the 3.5-inch RAID cage (feature A4GE, option 00Y8615)
Using the ServeRAID C100 with 1.8-inch SSDs
The on-board ServeRAID C100 SATA controller provides four channels, two at 3 Gbps and two at 6
Gbps. These connect to the four 1.8-inch drive bays in the nx360 M4. When installing only two 1.8-inch
drives, install them in the top two drive bays to maximize performance, since the top two bays are the
ones operating at 6 Gbps.
When four 1.8-inch SS SATA SSD drives are installed, the two located at the top of the cage will operate
at 6 Gbps while the two at the bottom will operate at 3 Gbps. An array involving drives at different speeds,
will perform at the lowest speed. For example, a paired array between top drives will operate at 6 Gbps
but, a paired array between a top drive and a bottom, will operate at 3 Gbps.
Controller use in conjunction with the Storage Native Expansion Tray
When the Storage Native Expansion Tray is used one of the following disk controller adapters must be
installed in the PCIe slot in the nx360 M4.
ServeRAID M1115 SAS/SATA Controller for System x, 81Y4448

N2115 SAS/SATA HBA for System x, 46C8988

If you are using the ServeRAID M1115 controller and you have a 3.5-inch drive in the internal bay of the
nx360 M4, and you wish to be able to form a RAID array with all 8 drives (1 in the server and 7 in the
storage tray), then you must use the 3.5-inch RAID cage for the internal drive (feature A4GE, option
00Y8615), replacing the standard 3.5-inch HDD cage if already installed in the server. The 3.5-inch RAID
cage includes a backplane that allows the internal drive to be connected to the drives in the storage tray.