IBM 71413SU Technical Reference - Page 8

The x3950 M2 can form a multinode configuration by adding one or more x3950 M2 servers. The following configurations are possible, as shown in Figure 3: A two-node complex comprised of two x3950 M2 servers, with four or eight processors and up to 512 GB RAM installed A three-node complex comprised of three x3950 M2 servers, with six or 12 processors and up to 768 GB RAM installed A four-node complex comprised of four x3950 M2 servers, with eight or 16 processors and up to 1 TB RAM installed Note: Support for three-node and four-node configurations is planned for 2Q08. One node 2-way or 4-way Up to 256 GB RAM Two nodes 4-way or 8-way (Each node is 2-way or 4-way) Up to 512 GB RAM x3950 M2 Three nodes* 6-way or 12-way (Each node is 2-way or 4-way) Up to 768 GB RAM x3950 M2 x3950 M2 Four nodes* 8-way or 16-way (Each node is 2-way or 4-way) Up to 1 TB RAM x3950 M2 x3950 M2 x3950 M2 x3950 M2 x3950 M2 x3950 M2 x3950 M2 * 3-node and 4-node configurations are planned to be supported in 2Q08 Figure 3 Supported multinode configurations The following configuration rules apply: Combinations of x3950 M2s It is only supported to have multi-node complexes that are made up of x3950 M2 servers Other nodes like the older x460, MXE-460, x3950 (machine type 8872 and 8878) and x3950 E (machine type 8874 and 8879) are not supported. Processors Each x3950 M2 server must have either two or four processors installed, and all processors in the complex must be the same speed and cache size. Memory For performance reasons, you should have the same amount of memory in each node. However, a minimum of 4 GB of RAM is required in each node because otherwise, the node will not be able to join the multinode configuration. Firmware All system firmware, including the system BIOS, diagnostics, BMC firmware, and RSA II firmware, must be at the same level across all systems. 8 IBM System x3950 M2 and x3850 M2 Technical Introduction