DXi9000 Capacity Upgrade

This procedure is for the DXi9000 Standard Density (SD) system. For capacity upgrade in other DXi9000 Series systems, see DXi9000 HD Capacity Upgrade and DXi9100 Capacity Upgrade.

This document provides instructions for upgrading the storage capacity of a Quantum DXi9000 disk backup systems. The storage capacity of the system is determined by two factors:

The physical storage capacity of the system can be greater than the licensed capacity. In this case, the usable storage capacity of the DXi9000 Series can be upgraded simply by adding an additional license key to enable the customer to use the physical capacity that is already installed.

DXi9000 Supported Configurations

Configuration

Licensed Usable Capacity1, 2 System Memory 5 Array Modules (RBOD) Expansion Modules (EBOD) Total Rack Space Required
  • 1 Node (2U)
  • 4 x 12 Gb SAS ports
  • 2 x 10 GbE ports (ingest)
  • Up to 16 x 16 Gb Fibre Channel ports (path to tape, or ingest and read).
  • Up to 16 x 10 GBase-T Ethernet ports.
  • Up to 18 x 10 GbE (SFP+) Ethernet ports.
  • Up to 8 x 25 GbE (SFP28) Ethernet ports.

  • Up to 8 x 100 GbE (Optical or DAC) Ethernet ports.4
51 TB - 102 TB3 192 GB 1 0 4U
153 TB - 204 TB 384 GB 1 1 6U
255 TB - 306 TB 384 GB 1 2 8U
357 TB - 408 TB 384 GB 1 3 10U
459 TB - 510 TB 384 GB 1 4 12U
561 TB - 612 TB 384 GB 1 5 14U
663 TB - 714 TB 384 GB 1 6 16U
765 TB - 816 TB 384 GB 1 7 18U
867 TB - 918 TB 384 GB 1 8 20U
969 TB - 1020 TB 384 GB 1 9 22U

1 Usable storage capacity for installed Array or Expansion modules can be upgraded at any time after purchase in increments of 51 TB, up to a total of 51 TB per module. Storage capacity upgrades are enabled simply by purchasing expansion module hardware if needed and adding a license key. To purchase a storage capacity upgrade license, contact your Quantum sales representative. After you obtain the storage capacity license, refer to the section “Adding a License Key” in the DXi User Instructions for instructions on completing the capacity upgrade.

2 Usable space is presented as a decimal (1000) value (TB or Terabyte) in the DXi GUI. Backup applications may report the binary (1024) value (TiB or Tebibyte) but incorrectly label it as "TB". For example, 272 TB will be seen in the DXi GUI; however a backup application may report 247.38 TB. 247.38 "tebibyte (TiB) = 271.99718647923 "terabyte (TB)"

3 1 TB = 1,000,000,000,000 bytes

4Quantum recommends installing the dual port 100 GbE card in slots 1,4, and 8. If those slots are already used by existing 100 GbE cards, then use slot 7 for your fourth 100 GbE card. Slots 8, 4, and 1 have 16 PCIe lanes and slot 7 is has 8 PCIe lanes.
5 The Extended CPU and Memory Option configuration contains 768 GB of memory for all capacity points.

Important Information - Before You Begin

Before you begin the capacity upgrade, it is important to verify the EBOD model shipped for the capacity upgrade. DXi 4.7 software and above now supports a new generation RBOD/EBOD called the Lenovo Gen2L2.

You can verify the type of EBOD shipped for the capacity upgrade by looking at the rear panel of the RBOD.

Previous Gen EBOD

The previous generation EBOD version contains Fibe Channel (FC SFP) cages located on the upper left part of the rear panel (see below).

Gen2L2 EBOD

The new Gen2L2 EBOD does not have Fibre Channel (FC) cages on the upper left part of the rear panel (see below).

If you are using a Gen2L2 EBOD for the capacity upgrade, the DXi system MUST be operating on DXi 4.7 software or above BEFORE you start the upgrade. If you perform an upgrade with Gen2L2 EBODs and the system is operating on software below DXi 4.7, the EBOD controllers will go into lock down and the capacity upgrade will fail.

Capacity Upgrade Overview

To upgrade the storage capacity for an installed Array Module (RBOD) or Expansion Module (EBOD), you simply need to enter the new storage capacity license key. Skip directly to Installing the Storage Capacity License.

Tasks

To upgrade the storage capacity of the DXi9000 Series by adding one or more Expansion Modules (EBODs), complete the following major steps in order:

  1. Shut Down the System
  2. Install Additional Drives in the Node
  3. Install Additional Memory in the Node
  4. Unpack the Expansion Modules
  5. Install the Expansion Modules
  6. Add the New Storage to the System
  7. Installing the Storage Capacity License