FC-AL and Flash PCIe cables – Models 981, 98E (single-phase power)

FC-AL Cables

1. FC-AL cables and connectors are identified with two different color codes and a location designator:
   1. A colored band, corresponding to the color code of the DA pair, is found on each end of the cable near the connector. These color codes are shown in Figure 1 and Figure 2.
   2. The connector itself is color coded to help prevent cross-cabling at the Fibre Channel interface card (FCIC) or device adapter card (DA) end. The connectors always appear in the following order:

      beige (T1), green (T2), black (T3), and blue (T4)	

      as shown in Figure 3 and Figure 4. This color code is specific to each FCIC or DA, and is independent of the DA pair color code.
   3. A black or white label at each end of the cable shows a location designator (for example, 0A2). Both ends of the cable have the same location designator and DA pair color code. However, the connector at each end of the same cable usually does NOT have the same color code.
2. Location designators are in the form CTP, where:

   C

   Is the device adapter pair (0-7)

   T

   Is the port pair on the device adapter (A, B, C, D, a, b, c, d) (uppercase for left device adapter in pair, lowercase for right device adapter in pair).

   P

   Is the logical position of the downstream FCIC in the loop.

   Example: 2a1 is the link between device adapter R1-XI4-P1-C6-T1 and R1-G07-P1-C1-T2.

   2

   Device adapter pair 2

   a

   First port pair on right adapter of device adapter pair (lowercase a)

   1

   First FCIC on loop of this port pair

   The connector plugged into R1-XI4-P1-C6-T1 (2a1) is beige, while the connector plugged into R1-G07-P1-C1-T2 (2a1) is green.
3. Some connectors are for cables that would go to an optional expansion rack. In that case, only one instance of that designator is on the rack.
4. The black and white label at each end may have a physical location code in addition to the location designator.
   • If the cable connects to an I/O enclosure device adapter card connector, the physical location code is similar to this example: R1-XC1-P1-C1-T1. Refer to I/O enclosure location codes (Models 98x) (not 983).
   • If the cable connects to a storage enclosure Fibre Channel interface card, the physical location code is similar to this example: R1-G01-P1-C1-T1. Refer to Storage enclosure location codes (Models 961, 96E, FC/SAS, 12 and 24 drive slots).

FC-AL cabling tables

Flash PCIe Cables

1. Flash PCIe cables and connectors are identified with a colored band matching the DA pair and two different color codes:
   • A colored band, corresponding to the color code of the DA pair, is found on each end of the cable near the connector. These color codes are shown in Figure 1.
   • The connector is color-coded to help prevent cross-cabling at the RAID controller card or I/O enclosure PCIe and PCN card end. Connectors on cables attaching to Rx-Bxx-P1-C1-T3 have white labels with black text, and connectors on cables attaching to Rx-Bxx-P1-C2-T3 have black labels with white text. An example of this showing both cables attaching to an enclosure is shown in Figure 5. This alternating color scheme is the same for all Flash PCIe cables, and is independent of the DA pair color code. Figure 6 and Figure 7 show the Flash PCIe cable connection ends.
2. The black and white label at each end has a physical location code showing the "FROM" and "TO" end.
   • • If the cable connects to an I/O enclosure device adapter card connector, the physical location code is similar to this example: R1-XI3-P1-C7-T5. Refer to I/O enclosure location codes (Models 98x) (not 983).
     • If the cable connects to a storage enclosure RAID controller card, the physical location code is similar to this example: R1-B04-P1-C1-T3. Refer to Storage enclosure location codes (Models 98x, PCIe flash enclosure, 30 SSD slots, 1.8 inches).

Flash PCIe Cabling tables

Table 11 and Table 12 show a summary of Flash PCIe cabling for models 981 and 98E single-phase power.

Table 13 shows details of the Flash PCIe cabling with Rack 1 high-performance flash enclosures (device adapter pairs 16, 17, 18, and 19, in normal installation order).

Table 14 shows details of the Flash PCIe cabling with Rack 2 high-performance flash enclosures (device adapter pairs 20, 21, 22, and 23, in normal installation order).