IBM Internal and IBM Business Partner Use Only
IBM® System StorageTM
DS4200 Express Storage System
And
®
IBM System StorageTM
EXP420 Express Storage Expansion Unit
Frequently asked Questions
(FAQ)
Last update: August 8, 2006
Frequently Asked Questions
Q1: What is the IBM® System StorageTM DS4200 Express?
 The DS4200 Express is the latest member of the DS4000 Series of products, a SATA only
solution supporting the 500 GB Serial ATA (SATA) enhanced value disk drive module (EVDDM), a 4Gbps capable storage controller. Designed to support higher IOPS and MBps than
the DS4100, the DS4200 Express is designed to work well bandwidth-intensive applications.
Additionally, the DS4200 Express is a good choice for environments with replication
requirements, because it is designed to handle the performance demands of FlashCopy®,
Volume Copy and Enhanced Remote Mirroring.

Offering a great priced storage system for heterogeneous UNIX ® and Windows®
environments. The DS4200 Express supports Serial ATA (SATA) technology in a single
environment. Supports four host ports and four drive ports, Fibre Channel Switched (FC-SW)
and FC Arbitrated Loop (FC-AL) standard, auto-sensing 1, 2 or 4 Gbps on the host side, up
to 2-GB of cache, battery-backed. RAID level 0, 1, 3, 5 and 10 support. Up to 64 storage
partitions. Up to 112 SATA drives (using six DS4000 EXP420 Expansion Units), Dual
redundant, hot-swappable cooling fans. Industry-standard 19-in. rack in 3U space.
Q2: What are the primary benefits of the DS4200 Express?

Performance – The DS4200 architecture combines fast processors, fast buses, and more
cache than DS4100, an integrated drive-side loop switch and 4Gbps capable Fibre Channel
technology.

Connectivity – With 4 host ports for attachment of either hosts or switches, and 4 drive side
ports supports double the drive connectivity over DS4100.

More spindle density and storage density. The 4 Gbps capable EXP420 Storage Expansion
Unit houses 16 disk drives - approximately 14 percent increase over the current 14-drive
DS4100 enclosures in the same 3U of rack space. More drives per enclosure can provide
advantages for all applications. Customers looking to maximize their storage density will
appreciate an extra two drives per enclosure – which can help save the cost and rack space
of a full enclosure for every 112 drives purchased.
Q3: Which DS4000 expansion units are supported with the DS4200 Express?
IBM Internal and IBM Business Partner Use Only

At initial release, it is planned for the DS4000 EXP420 Storage Expansion Unit, supporting
SATA disk drives only.
Q4: Can you mix DS4000 EXP810s or DS4000 EXP710s behind the DS4200 Express?

No, only DS4000 EXP420 is supported at this time.
Q5: What drives are supported by the DS4200 Express?

At initial release, the DS4200 Express will support the following EV-DDM:

Support for SATA: 7200 rpm, 500GB (EV-DDM)
Q6: How many disk drives will the DS4200 Express support?

The DS4200 Express will support up to 112 enhanced disk drive modules with the
attachment of six supported EXP420 expansion units.
Q7: Which version of Storage Manager is required for the DS4200 Express?

The DS4200 Express requires Storage Manager Version 9.16 (firmware level 06.16 or
higher).
Q8: Does the DS4200 Express run at 4Gbps speed when 2Gbps drives are installed?

It only supports one 4Gbps capable SATA disk drive, the 500 GB SATA EV-DDM.
Q9: Does the DS4200 Express run at 3 Gbps speed when SATA drives are installed?
No. The 3 Gbps SATA II drive has unique SATA Interface Cards that enable it to be
capable to run at 4Gbps speeds.
Q10: Is Dynamic Capacity Expansion supported on DS4200 Express?
 Yes. Dynamic Capacity Expansion (DCE), is designed to provide the ability to add DS4000
EXP420 enclosures to an existing DS4200 Express Model without the need to stop
operations. By adding these enclosures, the DS4200 Express Model can help bring unused
storage online for a new host group or an existing volume to provide additional capacity as
required.
Q11: What is the warranty coverage for the DS4200 Express?

Standard warranty is 3 years onsite 9x5 next business day, upgradeable to 24x7x4.
Q12: Can existing 2Gbps disk drive modules be inserted into the DS4200 Express?

No. The DS4200 Express requires EV-DDMs (Enhanced Value Disk Drive Modules) to be
installed; the form factor (size) for the EV-DDMs is smaller than the previous DDMs. The
DS4200 Express has a lower-profile EV-DDM in order to support 16 drives in its 19” 3U
enclosure.
Q13: Has the DS4200 been tested with IBM eServerTM System p and pSeries® Servers?

Yes. The DS4200 has been tested with System p and eServer pSeries Servers with both the
4-Gb and 2-Gb Host Fibre Channel adapters.
Q14: Can you list more benefits of the DS4200?

The DS4200 Express Model storage server helps you manage data to achieve a low cost of
ownership and high data availability with support of 500 GB SATA ll EV-DDMs
IBM Internal and IBM Business Partner Use Only

It helps you to easily and cost-effectively scale storage capacity and take advantage of
emerging technologies as information demands change

Powerful, dynamic capabilities can help you protect data and prevent failure—not just
respond and recover

The DS4200 Express Model offers fast memory with 1GB of cache per controller

IBM is a 4-Gbps technology leader

IBM has a proven storage heritage focused on open systems

The DS4200 Express Model fits well into the DS4000 series of products

The DS4200 Express Model includes the same robust software, redundancy and availability
provided in today’s IBM solutions

It enhances IBM’s extensive coverage of storage technology for both capacity-oriented and
performance-oriented applications
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