PCIe Adapters

When you receive your system from the manufacturer, PCIe adapters that were ordered at the same time the system was ordered arrive pre-installed. To install additional PCIe adapters, be sure to read Installing Additional PCIe Adapters and Important Considerations When Installing PCIe Adapters before you read Removing and Installing a PCIe Adapter.

See System Specifications for information about the supported PCIe adapters.

Understanding PCIe-Slot Numbering

I/O module A and I/O module B each contain five PCIe adapter slots, for a total of ten per system. The slots are labeled 1 through 5 on each I/O module, as shown in Figure 8. Each I/O module also contains an embedded dual-port 10G adapter.

Figure 8: PCIe-Adapter Physical Slot Numbering

1 PCIe slot 1 4 PCIe slot 4
2 PCIe slot 2 5 PCIe slot 5
3 PCIe slot 3    

You can view information about the PCIe adapters from Hardware Page of the ztC Endurance console​ and from your operating-system software.

  • For PCIe slots 1 through 5, the physical PCIe slot numbering corresponds to the software numbering. For example, PCIe slot 1 corresponds to slots A/1 and B/1 in the software, PCIe slot 2 corresponds to slots A/2 and B/2, and so on.

  • The embedded dual-port 10G adapters appear in the software as slots A/6 and B/6.

Installing Additional PCIe Adapters

Install additional PCIe adapters in your system in the order shown in Table 6. For example, if you are adding two PCIe adapters to a system that already contains PCIe adapters in slots A/1 and B/1, install the two additional PCIe adapters in slots A/2 and B/2, for a total of four PCIe adapters in the system.

Table 6: PCIe-Adapter Installation Order
Number of Adapters I/O Module A I/O Module B
2 Slot 1 Slot 1
4 Slots 1, 2 Slots 1, 2
6 Slots 1, 2, 3 Slots 1, 2, 3
8 Slots 1, 2, 3, 4 Slots 1, 2, 3, 4
10 Slots 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Slots 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Important Considerations When Installing PCIe Adapters

Before you install PCIe adapters, consider the following:

  • Use only PCIe adapters approved by Stratus. Before approving a PCIe adapter, Stratus thoroughly tests it to make sure that it interacts properly with Stratus systems, including I/O redundancy with a duplexed partner if an active PCIe adapter or I/O module fails or is removed from service. Customers who have attempted to use inadequately tested PCIe adapters in their systems have frequently experienced problems that proved difficult to isolate and diagnose and resulted in delayed projects.

  • Thoroughly test any new PCIe adapter, including adapters sold or approved by Stratus, with your applications in a test environment before using it in a production environment.

  • An I/O module can contain different PCIe adapter models. However, you must install identical PCIe adapter models in matching I/O module A and B slots. For instance, if you install an Intel X550-T2 PCIe adapter in slot 1 of I/O module A, you must install an Intel X550-T2 PCIe adapter in slot 1 of I/O module B.

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