Product Description
IBM 2078 AF4 Storwize V5100 Expansion Enclosure
This is a Small Form Factor (SFF) NVMe-capable expansion enclosure, supporting up to twenty-four 2.5-inch NVMe FlashCore Modules or industry-standard NVMe flash drives in a 2U, 19-inch rack-mount design. It uses 12 Gb SAS connectivity for attachment to compatible control enclosures (e.g., 2078-4H4, 2078-424) or daisy-chaining additional expansions, enabling scalable all-flash capacity with high performance and data reduction features inherited from the control system.
This expansion supports system-wide Spectrum Virtualize capabilities like virtualization, thin provisioning, Easy Tier, snapshots, replication, inline compression (when using FCMs), and encryption in NVMe environments.
Key Specifications
| Specification | Details |
|---|---|
| Form Factor | 2U rack mount (19-inch) |
| Enclosure Type | SFF NVMe Expansion Enclosure |
| Expansion Canisters | Two expansion canisters |
| Drive Bays | Up to 24 x 2.5-inch NVMe SSDs (FlashCore Modules or industry-standard) |
| Drive Support | 2.5-inch NVMe flash drives (FCMs for hardware compression/encryption; intermix supported by control system) |
| Interfaces | 12 Gb SAS ports (for control attachment and daisy-chaining) |
| Expansion | Attaches to Storwize V5100/FlashSystem 5100 control enclosures; up to 20 expansions per system (two chains of 10 each, system-dependent) |
| Maximum Drives | Scalable with system (hundreds per single system; higher in clusters) |
| Power Supply | Dual redundant hot-swap (typically high-efficiency PSUs for NVMe) |
| Dimensions | Height: 87 mm (3.4 in), Width: 483 mm (19 in), Depth: approx. 659-744 mm (typical for series) |
| Weight | Approx. 25-35 kg (empty to fully configured, typical for similar NVMe expansions) |
Configuration Options
No specific pre-configured bundles or feature codes are listed on the DataTech page beyond the base model (2078-AF4). Use standard IBM-compatible options:
- NVMe Drives: 2.5-inch NVMe SSDs (various capacities, e.g., high-density FCMs like 38.4 TB equivalents, enterprise NVMe drives)
- SAS/NVMe Cables: 12 Gb SAS cables (Mini-SAS HD, lengths like 0.6 m, 1.5 m, 3 m, 6 m)
- Other: Drive blanking plates/fillers for unused bays; rack-mount hardware kit included
These options enable high-density, all-flash expansions optimized for performance and capacity.
Compatibilities
The IBM Storwize V5100 NVMe Expansion Enclosure (2078-AF4) is compatible with:
- Control Enclosures: Storwize V5100/FlashSystem 5100 models (e.g., 2078-4H4, 2078-424, 2078-U5B; also cross-compatible with related FlashSystem 5x00 series).
- Drives: Intermix of 2.5-inch NVMe SSDs (FlashCore Modules for compression/encryption; standard NVMe drives).
- Expansion Chaining: Daisy-chain with other compatible 12 Gb SAS/NVMe expansions (e.g., 2078-24F SFF, 2078-12F LFF, 2078-92F HD); max 20 expansions total per system/cluster.
- Systems/Software: Spectrum Virtualize (V8.3+ levels for full NVMe support); supports major OS including Microsoft Windows Server, Red Hat/SUSE Linux, VMware vSphere/ESXi, IBM AIX, Oracle Solaris, HP-UX, IBM i.
- Restrictions: Optimized for NVMe/all-flash; requires compatible NVMe-capable control enclosures (not backward-compatible with older SAS-only V5000/V7000 Gen1/Gen2 without NVMe support).
This ensures seamless, high-performance scaling in NVMe-enabled Storwize V5100/FlashSystem 5100 environments.
The unit comes with a 60-day warranty for added assurance.
