Comments on: New IBM x3650 M2? Remember these important things!

By: Brandon

Brandon — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 21:06:42 +0000

Is it possible to see the ServeRAID status in VMWare ESXi or in the RSA/IMM on one of these?

By: Stuart

Stuart — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 12:01:30 +0000

Thanks. That’s what I thought.

Cheers

Stuart

By: Lukas Beeler

Lukas Beeler — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 11:46:49 +0000

Hi Stuart,

Please take a look at the date of my post – April 1st. Since then, things have changed. The MR10i is an old SAS1 3Gbit controller, while the MR5015 is the SAS 6Gbit successor. Getting an MR10i today would be the wrong choice ;)

By: Stuart

Stuart — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 11:41:58 +0000

Hi Lukas,

Great Blog.
I’m looking to purchase some X3650 M2 machines and are a little confused on the RAID Controller choice and wondered if you had an opinion.

From the IBM product guide it seems that on some models that there is a Serveraid-MR5015 fitted.
How does this compare to the MR-10i you suggest upgrading to?

I don’t have any practical experience configuring this type of server, but on paper it seems that the MR5015 supports 6Gbps SAS whereas the MR10i doesn’t.

Any help / advice would be appreciated.

Regards

Stuart

By: anil

anil — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 01:36:11 +0000

hi do we get virtual media key by default

By: One year with SBS 2008 » Lukas Beeler’s IT Blog » Blog Archive

One year with SBS 2008 » Lukas Beeler’s IT Blog » Blog Archive — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 14:15:37 +0000

[...] servers with the new Xeon 5500 CPUs. Read my x3650 M2 tips to find more about them. Consider using an E5530 or faster CPU. Using two CPUs (for a total of 16 [...]

By: Arif

Arif — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 04:00:34 +0000

Hi stephan,
please tall me what is the different between chipset intel x5520 and Intel 5000P

Arif

By: Lukas Beeler

Lukas Beeler — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 15:51:44 +0000

Hi stephan,

No, the trays are different, slightly different locking mechanism. The new disks are SAS 6Gbit disks, while the old ones are SAS 3Gbit disks!

So it would be a bad idea to try to reuse old disks. You may be able to fit them with a bit of force, but the 6gbit vs. 3gbit may cause compatibility issues.

By: stephan

stephan — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 15:44:41 +0000

hi, lukas, thank you for the review, as were planning to buy a few new x3650M2 servers, maybe you can help me out with one question. do the actual x3400/x3650 SFF hot swap tray caddys work in the x3400M2/x3650M2? i have different information regarding this, IBM says no, wont fit, caddys are different, distributor says sure, old caddys work just fine. do you have any information about this or even tried to put a x3400/x3650 caddy into the new M2s hotplug bay?

thank you very much in advance,
stephan.

By: Jose

Jose — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 20:53:18 +0000

as I undertand It:
this memory in slots 3,6,8 (CPU0) & 11,14,16 (CPU1) operate in 1066MHz bus speed.
But in this case, exist another side of the problem?
Jose

By: Lukas Beeler

Lukas Beeler — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 06:07:59 +0000

Jose, While this will work, it’s not optimal.

I know IBM ships the servers with 1GB modules, but we usually remove them.

By: Jose

Jose — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 05:55:24 +0000

Hi Lucas, Excelent Blog.

For a system x3650 M2 with 2 CPU X5520, with memory in triple channel…

CPU 0
CH 0 -> 1GB Single Rank 1333MHz
CH 1 -> 4GB Dual Rank 1333MHz
CH 2 -> 4GB Dual Rank 1333MHz

CPU 1
CH 0 -> 1GB Single Rank 1333MHz
CH 1 -> 4GB Dual Rank 1333MHz
CH 2 -> 4GB Dual Rank 1333MHz

This is correct configuration?

Jose

By: Lukas Beeler

Lukas Beeler — Wed, 13 May 2009 12:55:12 +0000

Bernard,

Ranks are not slots.

There are single rank, dual rank and quad rank modules.

By: Bernard

Bernard — Wed, 13 May 2009 09:31:30 +0000

SO…”Per CPU” (for a system with CPU matched to 1333Mhz FSB)

1 x Rank = Slot 3,6,8 –> “Fastest” –> memory banks operating at 1333Mhz
2 x Ranks = Slots 3,6,8,2,5,7, –> “Normal” –> memory banks operating at 1066Mhz.
3 x Ranks = All Slots –> “Slowest” –> memory banks operating AT 800Mhz

Bernie.

By: Lukas Beeler

Lukas Beeler — Wed, 13 May 2009 06:34:12 +0000

Bernard,

It is recommended and allows for maximum memory speed if you populate all channels with two ranks. It is _not_ recommended to use too many ranks per channel – this will degrade the speed as you mentioned.

By: Bernard

Bernard — Wed, 13 May 2009 05:14:55 +0000

Hi, Good blog.

Couple of points on the x3650 M2…..

It is recommended NOT to use all three memory banks for best performance, bus speed with be reduced to 800Mhz if all three banks are used.

Exmaples…. x5530/40 CPU –> 1066FSB –> Use 1 bank = 1066Mhz bus speed…. Use 2 banks = 1066Mhz bus speed…. Use 3 bank = 800Mhz bus speed.
x5560/70 CPU –> 1333FSB –> Use 1 bank = 1333Mhz bus speed…. Use 2 banks = 1066Mhz bus speed…. Use 3 bank = 800Mhz bus speed.

Hope this helps.

Bernie.