Product Description
IBM EN0B PCIe3 16Gb 2-port Fibre Channel Adapter (CCIN 577F, P/N 00E3496)
The IBM EN0B is a high-performance, dual-port 16 Gb/s Fibre Channel host bus adapter designed for IBM Power Systems servers. This PCIe Gen3 x8 adapter provides two 16 Gb/s FC ports for reliable, low-latency storage connectivity to Fibre Channel SANs, supporting enterprise storage arrays (FlashSystem, DS8000, Storwize/SVC), tape libraries, and NVMe over Fibre Channel (NVMe/FC) in compatible configurations, ideal for AIX, IBM i, Linux, and VIOS environments in mission-critical data centers.
Product Description
The IBM EN0B (feature code EN0B, CCIN 577F, part number 00E3496) is a PCIe Gen3 x8 dual-port 16 Gb/s Fibre Channel adapter that occupies a single PCIe slot on the host server. It features two SFP+ ports supporting auto-sensing speeds of 16 Gb/s, 8 Gb/s, and 4 Gb/s Fibre Channel (backward compatible with older FC infrastructure), delivering up to 32 Gbps aggregate bandwidth across both ports. The adapter uses Emulex-based controllers (typically LPe32002 or similar) with advanced offload features including NPIV (N_Port ID Virtualization), large queue depths, hardware-assisted fabric management, and multipath I/O (MPIO) support. It enables boot-from-SAN, zoning, and full IBM qualification for reliability, power management, and firmware integration. The EN0B is optimized for balanced SAN attachment in Power8, Power9, and Power10 systems, providing cost-effective, high-performance block storage access, virtualization (PowerVM, VMware), and disaster recovery/replication workloads where dual-port redundancy is required.
Features
- Two SFP+ ports supporting 16 Gb/s, 8 Gb/s, and 4 Gb/s Fibre Channel auto-sensing
- PCIe Gen3 x8 host interface (backward compatible with Gen2/Gen1 slots at reduced bandwidth)
- Up to 32 Gbps aggregate bandwidth (2 × 16 Gb/s)
- NPIV support for virtualized environments (PowerVM, VMware)
- Hardware offload for checksum, header splitting, and large send/receive
- Support for boot-from-SAN, multipath I/O (MPIO), and fabric services
- Hot-plug SFP+ transceivers (short-wave/long-wave/multimode/single-mode)
- LED indicators for link/activity and speed per port
- Full IBM driver and firmware support for AIX, IBM i, Linux, VIOS
Technical Specifications
- Feature Code: EN0B
- CCIN: 577F
- Part Number: 00E3496
- Interface (Host): PCIe Gen3 x8
- Interface (Storage): 2 × SFP+ Fibre Channel ports
- Data Rates: 16 Gb/s, 8 Gb/s, 4 Gb/s auto-sensing
- Form Factor: PCIe full-height, half-length card
- Controller: Emulex LPe32002 or equivalent
- Transceivers: Supports 16 Gb/s short-wave (SWL) and long-wave (LWL) SFP+ modules
- Cabling: Multimode fiber (OM3/OM4) for SWL; single-mode for LWL
- Power Consumption: ~10–18 W typical
- Cooling: Passive heatsink; relies on server airflow
Compatibility
The IBM EN0B PCIe3 16Gb 2-port Fibre Channel Adapter is compatible with:
- Power Systems Models:
- Power8: S814 (8286-41A), S822/S824 (8284-22A), E870/E880 (9119-MME/MHE), and others
- Power9: S914 (9009-41A/41G), S922 (9009-22A/22G), S924 (9009-42A), E950/E980, and related models
- Power10: S1012/S1014/S1022/S1022s/S1024 (scale-out), E1080 (enterprise), and other Power10 models with PCIe Gen3 slots
- Operating Systems: AIX 7.1+ / 7.2+ / 7.3+, IBM i 7.1+ / 7.2+ / 7.3+, Linux (RHEL/SUSE/Ubuntu), VIOS
- Attachment: PCIe Gen3 x8 slot on host server; connects to FC switches (16/8/4 Gb/s), storage arrays (FlashSystem, DS8000, Storwize/SVC), tape libraries (TS4500/TS7700)
- Transceivers/Cables: IBM-qualified 16 Gb/s SFP+ SWL/LWL modules; OM3/OM4 multimode or single-mode fiber
- Limitations: Requires compatible SFP+ transceivers; performance limited in Gen2 slots; NVMe/FC support requires Gen7 SAN switches and firmware
Verify exact slot requirements, transceiver part numbers, firmware levels, and OS patch levels via IBM Sales Manual or resources for your specific Power Systems model.
Warranty
This product comes with a 60-day warranty covering parts and functionality.
