Lenovo ServeRAID M5025 SAS-SATA Controller User Guide

: June 3, 2024
: Lenovo

Table of Contents

ServeRAID M5025 SAS/SATA Controller
Part number information
Specifications
Features
Operating environment
References
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ServeRAID M5025 SAS/SATA Controller

Product Guide (withdrawn product)
The ServeRAID M5025 SAS/SATA Controller for System x is the next-generation 6 Gbps SAS 2.0 external RAID controller. This adapter has two external mini-SAS connectors to control up to 240 devices and supports global and dedicated hot- spare drives. The ServeRAID M5025 controller delivers a full 6-Gbps SAS 2.0 RAID solution with the performance advantages of an extended cache and a standard battery backup unit. With the attachment of the ServeRAID M5000 Advanced Feature Key, the ServeRAID M5025 offers the option of RAID 6, RAID 60, and SED Encryption Key Management.
Figure 1 shows the ServeRAID M5025 with its standard battery backup unit.

Lenovo ServeRAID M5025 SAS SATA Controller-

Did you know?
6 Gbps SAS 2.0 technology has been introduced to address data off-load bottlenecks in the direct-access storage environment. This new throughput doubles the transfer rate of the previous generation. SAS 2.0 is designed for backward compatibility with 3 Gbps SAS as well as with 3 Gbps SATA hard drives.

Part number information

Table 1. Ordering part numbers and feature codes

Description	Part number	Feature code
ServeRAID M5025 SAS/SATA Controller	46M0830	94
ServeRAID M5000 Series Advanced Feature Key	46M0930	5106
IBM 3m SAS Cable	39R6531	3707
IBM 1m SAS Cable	39R6529	3708

The ServeRAID M5025 includes the following items:

One ServeRAID M5025 adapter card with full-height (3U) bracket
Low-profile (2U) bracket
ServeRAID M5000 battery (attached)
Battery Remote Mount Cable
Documentation CD
The IBM Important Notices Document

Specifications

The ServeRAID M5025 adapter card has the following specifications:

Eight external 6 Gbps SAS 2.0 ports implemented via two four-lane (x4) connectors
Two mini-SAS external connectors (SFF-8088)
6 Gbps throughput per SAS port
800 MHz PowerPC processor with LSI SAS2108 6 Gbps RAID on Chip (ROC) controller
PCI Express 2.0 x8 host interface
512 MB onboard data cache (DDR2 running at 800 MHz)
Intelligent lithium polymer battery backup unit standard with up to 48 hours of data retention
Supports RAID levels 0, 1, 5, 10, and 50 (RAID 6 and 60 support with the optional M5000 Advanced Feature Key)
Connects to
Up to 240 SAS or SATA drives
Up to 9 daisy-chained enclosures per port
SAS and SATA drives are supported, but the mixing of SAS and SATA in the same RAID array is not supported
Supports up to 64 logical volumes
Supports LUN sizes up to 64 TB
Configurable stripe size up to 1 MB
Compliant with Disk Data Format (DDF) configuration on disk (COD)
S.M.A.R.T. support

The key difference between the ServeRAID M5025 and M5015 RAID controllers is that the M5025 has two external SAS 2.0 x4 connectors and the M5015 has two internal SAS 2.0 x4 connectors.

Features

The ServeRAID M5025 adapter card has the following features:

Auto-resume on array rebuild or array reconstruction after the loss of system power Auto-resume uses non-volatile NVRAM to save rebuild progress during a host reboot or power failure to automatically resume from the last checkpoint. Auto-resume will ensure data integrity is maintained throughout the process. The card supports a number of features that can be implemented without rebooting the server. Applications such as email and web servers benefit from avoiding downtime during the transition.
Online Capacity Expansion
Online Capacity Expansion (OCE) allows the capacity of a virtual disk to be expanded by adding new physical disks or making use of unused space on existing disks, without requiring a reboot.
Online RAID Level Migration
Online RAID Level Migration (also known as logical drive migration) provides the ability to migrate a virtual disk from any RAID level to any other RAID level without requiring a reboot. System availability and application functionality remain unaffected.
Fast initialization for quick array setup
Consistency check for background data integrity
Consistency Check verifies that all stripes in a virtual disk with a redundant RAID level are consistent. For RAID 1, the consistency check will mirror data when an inconsistent stripe is detected. For RAID 5 or RAID 6, the consistency check will recreate the parity from the peer disks. Consistency checks can be scheduled to take place periodically.
Extensive online configuration options: advanced monitoring and event notification
Management tools provide convenience for the configuration of logical volumes and alerts when errors have occurred or are about to occur.
Patrol Read for media scanning and repairing Patrol read is a background sentry service designed to proactively discover and correct media defects (bad sectors) that arise normally as a disk drive ages. The service issues a series of verified commands and if a bad block is discovered, the card’s firmware will use RAID algorithms to recreate the missing data and remap the sector to a good sector. The task is interruptible based on controller activity and host operations. The firmware also provides an interface where the patrol read task can be initiated, set up for continuous operation, and terminated from a management application. Patrol read can be activated by manual command or automatically.
Global and dedicated Hot Spare with Revertible Hot Spare support:
A hot spare rebuilds data from all virtual disks within the disk group in which it is configured. ServeRAID provides the ability to define a physical disk as a hot spare to replace a failed drive. Hot spares can be configured as either global or dedicated. A global hot spare allows any physical drive to be designated as a hot spare. A dedicated hot spare will allow the user to assign a hot spare drive to a particular array of the same drive type.

The ServeRAID M5000 Series Advanced Feature Key enables the following features:

RAID levels 6 and 60
LSI SafeStore: support for self-encrypting drive services:
Instant secure erase
Local key management

LSI SafeStore encryption services offer instant secure erase and local key management for self-encrypting drives. This technology represents a significant step forward in securing data on a disk drive from any unauthorized access or modification resulting from theft, loss, or repurposing of drives:

Instant secure erase permanently removes data when repurposing or decommissioning SEDs.
SafeStore local key management provides the necessary management and protection of SEDs using a simple pass phrase, security key identifier, and security key file that can be set and applied to all SEDs assigned to a ServeRAID adapter. This removes the complexity of managing each SED’s unique encryption key, and essentially relieves the administrator from most of the daily tasks of securing data.

Note: To use the SED services of the ServeRAID M5000 Series Advanced Feature Key, you must use self encrypting drives as listed in “Supported disk drives” below.
Self-encrypting drives are based on a new technology that helps prevent data from being accessed without authorization. These drives adhere to the Trusted Computing Group (TCG) Enterprise Security Subsystem Class specification and are National Security Agency qualified to provide government-grade encryption. With self-encrypting drives (SEDs), if a drive is removed from its storage system or the server that it is housed in, the data on that drive is encrypted and useless to anyone who attempts to access it without the appropriate security authorization.
Figure 2 shows the ServeRAID M5000 Series Advanced Feature Key.

Operating environment

The ServeRAID M5025 adapter card is supported in the following environment:

Temperature:
At 0-1000 m (0-3000 ft): 10-35° C (50-95° F)
At 1000-2100 m (3000-7000 ft): 10-32° C (50-90° F)
Relative humidity: 20-80% (non-condensing)

Warranty
One-year limited warranty. When installed on a System x server, these cards assume your system’s base warranty and any IBM ServicePac upgrade. Batteries are consumables and therefore are not covered under the warranty.
Supported servers
The ServeRAID M5025 adapter card is supported on the System x servers listed in Table 2.
Table 2. Supported System x servers (Part 1)

See the IBM ServerProven website for the latest information about the adapters supported by each System
x server type: http://ibm.com/servers/eserver/serverproven/compat/us/.
Supported external enclosures
The ServeRAID M5025 controller supports connectivity to the external SAS expansion enclosures listed in Table 3.
Table 3. Supported expansion enclosures

Expansion Enclosure| Part number| Supported with ServeRAID M5025| Maximum number of enclosures*
---|---|---|---
IBM System Storage EXP3000| 172701X / 39R6464| Yes| 18
IBM System Storage EXP3512 Express| 1746A2E| No| None
IBM System Storage EXP3524 Express| 1746A4E| No| None
IBM System Storage EXP2512 Express| 174712X| Yes| 18
IBM System Storage EXP2524 Express| 174724X| Yes| 9

This refers to the maximum number of enclosures supported connected to one ServeRAID M5025
Supported operating systems
The ServeRAID M5025 adapter card supports the following operating systems:
- Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Web Edition
- Microsoft Windows Server 2003/2003 R2, Datacenter Edition
- Microsoft Windows Server 2003/2003 R2, Datacenter x64 Edition
- Microsoft Windows Server 2003/2003 R2, Enterprise Edition
- Microsoft Windows Server 2003/2003 R2, Enterprise x64 Edition
- Microsoft Windows Server 2003/2003 R2, Standard Edition
- Microsoft Windows Server 2003/2003 R2, Standard x64 Edition
- Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2
- Microsoft Windows Server 2008, Datacenter x64 Edition
- Microsoft Windows Server 2008, Datacenter x86 Edition
- Microsoft Windows Server 2008, Enterprise x64 Edition
- Microsoft Windows Server 2008, Enterprise x86 Edition
- Microsoft Windows Server 2008, Standard x64 Edition
- Microsoft Windows Server 2008, Standard x86 Edition
- Microsoft Windows Server 2008, Web x64 Edition
- Microsoft Windows Server 2008, Web x86 Edition
- Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003/2003 R2 Premium Edition
- Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003/2003 R2 Standard Edition
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 AS for AMD64/EM64T
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 AS for x86
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 ES for AMD64/EM64T
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 ES for x86
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 WS/HPC for AMD64/EM64T
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 WS/HPC for x86
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Server Edition
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Server Edition with Xen
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Server with Xen x64 Edition
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 Server x64 Edition
- SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server 10 for AMD64/EM64T
- SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server 10 for x86
- SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server 10 with Xen for AMD64/EM64T
- SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server 11 for AMD64/EM64T
- SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server 11 for x86
- SUSE LINUX Enterprise Server 11 with Xen for AMD64/EM64T
- VMware ESX 4.0
- VMware ESXi 4.0

See the IBM ServerProven website for the latest information about the specific versions and service packs supported: http://ibm.com/servers/eserver/serverproven/compat/us/. Click System x servers, then Disk controllers to see the support matrix. Click the check mark that is associated with the System x server in question to see the details of the operating system support.

Related publications
For more information refer to the following documents:

US Announcement Letter
http://ibm.com/common/ssi/cgi- bin/ssialias?infotype=dd&subtype=ca&&htmlfid=897/ENUS110-172
US Announcement Letter for the M5000 Series Advanced Feature Key:
http://ibm.com/common/ssi/cgi- bin/ssialias?infotype=dd&subtype=ca&&htmlfid=897/ENUS109-739
ServeRAID M5025 Quick Install Guide
http://ibm.com/support/entry/portal/docdisplay?lndocid=MIGR-5086113
ServeRAID M5025 Installation and User’s Guide
http://ibm.com/support/entry/portal/docdisplay?lndocid=MIGR-5086123
System x RAID products home page:
http://www.ibm.com/systems/storage/product/systemx/scsi_raid.html
ServeRAID software matrix:
http://ibm.com/support/entry/portal/docdisplay?lndocid=SERV-RAID

Related product families
Product families related to this document are the following:

RAID Adapters

Notices
Lenovo may not offer the products, services, or features discussed in this document in all countries. Consult your local Lenovo representative for information on the products and services currently available in your area. Any reference to a Lenovo product, program, or service is not intended to state or imply that only the Lenovo product, program, or service may be used. Any functionally equivalent product, program, or service that does not infringe any Lenovo intellectual property right may be used instead. However, it is the user’s responsibility to evaluate and verify the operation of any other product, program, or service. Lenovo may have patents or pending patent applications covering the subject matter described in this document. The furnishing of this document does not give you any license to these patents. You can send license inquiries, in writing, to:

Lenovo (United States), Inc.
8001 Development Drive
Morrisville, NC 27560
U.S.A.
Attention: Lenovo Director of Licensing

LENOVO PROVIDES THIS PUBLICATION ”AS IS” WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF NON-INFRINGEMENT, MERCHANTABILITY, OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. Some jurisdictions do not allow the disclaimer of express or implied warranties in certain transactions, therefore, this statement may not apply to you.
This information could include technical inaccuracies or typographical errors. Changes are periodically made to the information herein; these changes will be incorporated in new editions of the publication. Lenovo may make improvements and/or changes in the product(s) and/or the program(s) described in this publication at any time without notice.
The products described in this document are not intended for use in implantation or other life support applications where malfunction may result in injury or death to persons. The information contained in this document does not affect or change Lenovo product specifications or warranties. Nothing in this document shall operate as an express or implied license or indemnity under the intellectual property rights of Lenovo or third parties. All information contained in this document was obtained in specific environments and is presented as an illustration. The result obtained in other operating environments may vary. Lenovo may use or distribute any of the information you supply in any way it believes appropriate without incurring any obligation to you.
Any references in this publication to non-Lenovo Web sites are provided for convenience only and do not in any manner serve as an endorsement of those Web sites. The materials at those Web sites are not part of the materials for this Lenovo product, and use of those Web sites is at your own risk. Any performance data contained herein was determined in a controlled environment. Therefore, the result obtained in other operating environments may vary significantly. Some measurements may have been made on development-level systems and there is no guarantee that these measurements will be the same on generally available systems. Furthermore, some measurements may have been estimated through extrapolation. Actual results may vary. Users of this document should verify the applicable data for their specific environment.

This document, TIPS0739, was created or updated on April 22, 2016.
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https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/legal/copytrade/.
The following terms are trademarks of Lenovo in the United States, other countries, or both:
Lenovo®
ServeRAID
ServerProven®
System x®
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ServeRAID M5025 SAS/SATA Controller (withdrawn product)