Chapter 1. Introduction
This chapter describes the operating specifications, features, and components for the IBM System Storage DS4700 Express Storage Subsystem (hereafter referred to as DS4700 or storage subsystem).
This chapter also includes an inventory checklist and important information on best practices guidelines and product updates for your DS4700 Express.
Overview
IBM DS4000 solutions support the large and growing data storage requirements of business-critical applications. These scalable IBM DS4000 solutions offer you data access and protection to meet your existing enterprise storage requirements and prepare for the future.
The IBM System Storage DS4700 Express Storage Subsystem (Machine Type 1814, Models 70A, 70H, 70S, 70T, 72A, 72H, 72S, and 72T) is designed to provide solutions to meet the needs of midrange/departmental storage requirements, delivering high performance, advanced function, high availability, modular and scalable storage capacity, with SAN-attached 4-Gbps Fibre Channel (FC) connectivity, and support for RAID levels 0, 1, 3, 5, and 6 up to over 33 terabytes (TB) when using 300 GB hard drives and up to 56 TB when using 500 GB SATA Enhanced Disk Drive Modules (E-DDMs).
A 3-U rack-mountable enclosure houses the DS4700 Express redundant, dual-active RAID controllers with up to six fibre-channel ports per controller for attachment of host servers and DS4000 storage expansion enclosures and up to 16 4-Gbps fibre channel or SATA E-DDMs.
The DS4700 Express supports attachment of up to six EXP810, EXP710, or EXP100 storage expansion enclosures, resulting in the capability to connect up to 112 disk drives and enabling storage configurations of over 33 TB using 300 GB fibre channel E-DDMs or 56 TB using 500 GB SATA E-DDMs. The DS4700 Express supports configurations of FC or Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA) disks, or a mix of both types of disk drives by use of the optional DS4700 Express Fibre Channel/SATA Enclosure Intermix feature. Advanced DS4000 storage management, copy service options, and optional advanced disaster recovery functions are available for the DS4700 Express, including FlashCopy®, VolumeCopy, and Enhanced Remote Mirroring.
The DS4700 Express supports up to four hosts in a redundant direct-attached fibre channel configuration. When using fibre channel switches, you can redundantly connect up to 512 hosts to the DS4700 Express.
Depending on the model, the DS4700 Express Storage Subsystems are shipped with either ac or dc (-48V dc) power supply and fan unit CRUs. In addition, an DS4700 Express Telco bezel assembly with an integrated air filter can also be purchased for the operating environments that require it.
The DS4700 Express Storage Subsystem with dc power supply and fan units (1814-70/2S&T) supports both NEBS level 3/Telco operating environments and standard Information Technology (IT) and office environments. However, not all DS4700 Express models with ac power supplies (1814-70/2A&H) support both NEBS level 3/Telco operating environments and standard IT and office
