An affordable dual-socket, dual- and quad-core SMP server with high performance and data protection for small and medium businesses
rates.
Intelligent Power Capability powers individual processor elements on and off as needed, to reduce power draw.
Execute Disable Bit functionality can help prevent certain classes of malicious buffer overflow attacks when combined with a supporting operating system.
DDR II ECC Fully Buffered Memory with Chipkill Protection
The x3400 supports up to 32GB of memory in 8 DIMM sockets. It uses PC2-5300fully-buffereddouble data rate II (DDR II) memory (operating at 667MHz) for faster access, and provides advanced Chipkill memory protection, for up to 16X better error correction than standard ECC memory.
The fully buffered memory in the x3400 provides up to triple the memory bandwidth (up to 21.3GBps in four channels of PC2-5300 fully-buffered DIMMs vs. a maximum of 6.4GBps in two channels of unbuffered PC2-3200 memory) and up to double the system memory capacity (8 DIMMs x 4GB) of the predecessor x236 server (8 DIMMs x 2GB). By performing reads and writes simultaneously, it eliminates the previous memory read-to-write blocking latency. In addition, it also offers innovative data reliability and security features to help improve data integrity, including enhanced CRC protection, data retry on error detect and buffer registers for improved fault isolation.
For increased availability, the x3400 offers two additional (but mutually exclusive) levels of IBM Active Memory protection: online memory mirroring, and online hot-spare memory.
Memory mirroring works much like disk mirroring. The total memory is divided into two channels. Data is written concurrently to both channels. If a DIMM fails in one of the DIMMs in the primary channel, it is instantly disabled and the mirrored (backup) memory in the other channel becomes active (primary) until the failing DIMM is replaced. Mirroring can be accomplished with multiples of four DIMMs (one pair per memory channel).
When online hot-spare memory is enabled, using single and/or dual-rank DIMMs one rank is set aside per channel as online spares in case one of the other ranks in that channel fails. The spare rank must have capacity at least that of the largest active rank. (In other words, if a combination of 2GB and 4GB DIMMs are used in a branch, one rank on each 4GB DIMM will be used for sparing.) In an x3400 with 32GB installed, up to 24GB (using 8 dual-rank 4GB DIMMs) of memory is available when the hot-spare feature is active.
Either of these features requires operating system support.
When multiples of four DIMMs (4 or 8) are installed, the x3400 operates in four-way interleaved mode, for higher performance. When only two DIMMs are used, the system defaults to two-way interleaved mode.
DIMMs must be installed in pairs. Memory is available in kits consisting of two 512MB, 1GB, 2GB or 4GB DIMMs.
Hot-Swap/Redundant Components
System availability is maximized through the extensive use of hot-swap and redundant components, including:
•Redundant memory protection (with online hot-spare memory or memory mirroring enabled)
•Hot-swap, redundant hard disk drives (with RAID-1/10 protection standard, and RAID-1E/5/6 protection optional)
•Hot-swap, redundant power supplies (optional, model-specific)
•Hot-swap, redundant cooling fans (optional, model-specific)
Large HDD Storage Capacity
The x3400 offers a choice of disk storage, supporting up to four 3.5-inch simple-swapSerial ATA (SATA) drives or four hot-swaphigh-performance Serial-Attach SCSI (SAS) drives standard. Using the optional Hot-Swap SAS/SATA 4-Pac HDD Option upgrade kit on selected models, up to eight 3.5-inch hot-swap SAS or SATA drives can be installed:
SAS
•10,000 RPMs — 146.8 or 300GB (2.4TB maximum, using 4-Pac upgrade kit)
•15,000 RPMs — 73.4 or 146.8GB (1.17TB, using 4-Pac upgrade kit)
SATA
•7,200 RPMs — 160, 250, 500GB or 750GB (3.0TB)—simple-swap
•7,200 RPMs — 160, 250, 500GB or 750GB (6.0TB, using 4-Pac upgrade kit)—hot-swap
Notes: Hot-swap and simple-swap SATA drives offer exactly the same reliability as fixed SATA drives.
Only the system availability improves using the swappable drives. (Less downtime is incurred removing
