Lenovo BladeCenter PCI Express Gen 2 Expansion Blade User Guide

Lenovo BladeCenter PCI Express Gen 2 Expansion Blade

BladeCenter PCI Express Gen 2 Expansion Blade and PCI Express Gen 2 Expansion Blade II Product Guide (withdrawn product)

The BladeCenter® PCI Express Gen 2 Expansion Blade and Expansion Blade II provide the capability to attach selected PCI Express cards on selected server blades. This capability is ideal for many applications that require special telecommunications network interfaces or hardware acceleration using a PCI Express card. They provide one full height, full length PCI Express slot and one full height, half length PCI Express slot with a 75 watt power supply for each slot integrating PCI Express card support capability into the BladeCenter architecture. Figure 1 shows the BladeCenter PCI Express Gen 2 Expansion Blade attached to an HS22 blade server

Did you know?

The unique stacking capability of the BladeCenter PCI Express Gen 2 Expansion Blade and Expansion Blade II allow you to connect up to four of them (depending on the attached server) to a single blade server providing up to eight PCIe 2.0 slots. In addition, you can still use a CFFh I/O expansion card adapter by installing it in the top-most expansion blade.

Part number information

Table 1. Ordering part number and feature code

Withdrawn from marketing

These part numbers include the following items:

• BladeCenter PCI Express Gen 2 I/O Expansion Blade or Expansion Blade II
• Documentation package

The only difference between Expansion Blade and Expansion Blade II is cut-outs on the sides of Expansion Blade II, as shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2. PCI Express Gen 2 Expansion Blade and Expansion Blade II

Features

The expansion blades have the following features:

• Support for PCIe 2.0 adapters in an expansion blade
  The expansion blade lets you install one or two standard form factor PCIe 2.0 adapter cards in a BladeCenter environment, enabling the use of specialized adapters or adapters that wouldn’t otherwise be available to BladeCenter customers. Each of the two adapters can consume up to 75W.

• Ability to stack up to four expansion blades on a single base blade
  You can attach up to two, three or four expansion blades (depending on the attached server), thereby maintaining the BladeCenter density advantage while still giving you the option to install PCIe cards as needed without the need for each server blades and the added complexity and cost that brings. The first expansion blade connects to the server blade using the CFFh expansion slot of the server blade. The second expansion blade attaches to the CFFh connector on the first expansion blade, and so on.

• CFFh slot still available
  The CFFh expansion connector is accessible on the top-most expansion blade (see Figure 3), even with four expansion blades attached. This lets you maintain the integrated networking capabilities of the blade server when installed in a BladeCenter H or BladeCenter HT chassis.

The layout of the expansion blade is shown in Figure 3.

Figure 3. Layout of the expansion blade

Specifications

The expansion blades have the following specifications:

• 30 mm expansion blade, attaches to a supported server blade
• Two PCI Express 2.0 slots:
  • Each slot x8 electrically, x16 mechanically
  • Each slot supports adapters up to 75W power consumption
  • Slot 1 supports full-length/full-height cards
  • Slot 2 supports half-length/full-height cards
  • Supported cards are listed in Table 4.
• Up to four expansion blades can be attached to the base server, depending on the server they are attached to (see Table 2 for supported server and expansion blade combinations):
  • HS22: Up to four expansion blades
  • HS23: Up to four expansion blades
  • Single-node HX5: Up to three expansion blades
  • Two-node HX5: Up to two expansion blades
• The CFFh slot remains usable on the top-most expansion blade, for use in BladeCenter H and HT configurations. Supported CFFh cards are listed in Table 5.

Supported servers

The BladeCenter PCI Express Gen 2 Expansion Blade and Expansion Blade II are supported attached to the BladeCenter servers listed in Table 2.

Table 2. Supported servers

The maximum number of expansion blades that can be attached is as follows:

• HS22: Up to four expansion blades (total width will be 150 mm)
• HS23: Up to four expansion blades (total width will be 150 mm)
• HS23E: Up to four expansion blades (total width will be 150 mm)
• Single-node HX5: Up to three expansion blades (total width will be 120 mm)
• Two-node HX5: Up to two expansion blades (total width will be 120 mm)

The Expansion Blade attaches to the blade server unit through the CFFh connector on the system board of the server blade. The top cover of the blade server needs to be removed and the Expansion Blade attaches to it, forming a double-width blade server unit. Additional PCI Express Gen 2 Expansion Blade can be attached up to the supported maximum for the server type. A supported CFFh adapter can be attached to the top-most Expansion Blade if the server unit is installed in a BladeCenter H or HT chassis.

Supported BladeCenter chassis

BladeCenter chassis support is based on the blade server type in which the expansion card is installed.

Consult IBM ServerProven to see which chassis each blade server type is supported at the following address:

http://ibm.com/servers/eserver/serverproven/compat/us/
Table 3 lists the supported chassis in which the BladeCenter PCI Express Gen 2 Expansion Blade can be installed.
Table 3. Supported BladeCenter chassis

Supported PCIe adapter cards

Table 4 lists the PCIe adapters that are supported in the PCI Express Gen 2 Expansion Blade and Expansion Blade II and the number of adapters supported.
Table 4. Supported adapter cards

Consult IBM ServerProven to see the latest list of adapter cards that are supported in the Expansion Blades:
http://ibm.com/systems/info/x86servers/serverproven/compat/us/peu/46M6730.html
http://ibm.com/systems/info/x86servers/serverproven/compat/us/peu/68Y7484.html

Note: If the PCI Express adapter that you require is not on the ServerProven, web site use the IBM
ServerProven Opportunity Request for Evaluation (SPORE) process to confirm compatibility in the desired configuration.

Supported CFFh expansion cards

Table 5 lists the CFFh expansion cards that are supported in the PCI Express Gen 2 Expansion Blade and
Expansion Blade II.

Table 5. Supported CFFh expansion cards

Consult IBM ServerProven to see the latest list of CFFh expansion cards that are supported in the Expansion Blades:
http://ibm.com/systems/info/x86servers/serverproven/compat/us/peu/46M6730.html
http://ibm.com/systems/info/x86servers/serverproven/compat/us/peu/68Y7484.html

Operating environment

This unit is supported in the following environment:

• Temperature: 10° C to 35° C (50° F to 95° F)
• Operating power: Approximately 200 watts
• Dimensions: 24.5 cm x 5.9 cm x 45.7 cm (9.7 in. x 2.3 in. x 18.0 in.)

Related publications

For more information, refer to these documents:

• US Announcement Letter for PCI Express Gen 2 Expansion Blade II
  http://ibm.com/common/ssi/cgi- bin/ssialias?infotype=dd&subtype=ca&&htmlfid=897/ENUS112-044

• BladeCenter PCI Express Gen 2 Expansion Blade Installation and User’s Guide
  http://ibm.com/support/entry/portal/docdisplay?lndocid=MIGR-5085445

• BladeCenter Interoperability Guide
  http://lenovopress.com/bcig

• BladeCenter Products and Technology, SG24-7523
  http://lenovopress.com/sg247523

Related product families

Product families related to this document are the following:

• Blade Servers

Notices
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• 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. © Copyright Lenovo 2022. All rights reserved.

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Lenovo and the Lenovo logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Lenovo in the United States, other countries, or both. A current list of Lenovo trademarks is available on the Web at
https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/legal/copytrade/.

The following terms are trademarks of Lenovo in the United States, other countries, or both:

• Lenovo®
• BladeCenter Interoperability Guide
• BladeCenter®
• ServerProven®

Other company, product, or service names may be trademarks or service marks of others.
BladeCenter PCI Express Gen 2 Expansion Blade and PCI Express Gen 2 Expansion Blade II (withdrawn product)

References

• Enterprise Business Server Solutions | IBM
• IBM Support
• IT Infrastructure | IBM
• IT Infrastructure | IBM
• BladeCenter Interoperability Guide (withdrawn product) > Lenovo Press
• IBM BladeCenter Products and Technology (withdrawn product) > Lenovo Press
• Blade Servers > Lenovo Press
• BladeCenter PCI Express Gen 2 Expansion Blade and PCI Express Gen 2 Expansion Blade II Product Guide (withdrawn product) > Lenovo Press
• Copyright and Trademark Information | Lenovo US | Lenovo US

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