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Beginning with PowerStoreOS 3.0, the PowerStore 500, 1200, 3200, 5200, and 9200 model systems support 24-drive 2U NVMe expansion enclosures, as shown in Figure 27, using 2.5-inch NVMe SSD drives for extra capacity. Beginning with PowerStoreOS 3.2, the PowerStore 1000, 3000, 5000, 7000, and 9000 model systems can convert to an upgraded embedded module to support the addition of NVMe expansion enclosures. For details, see Embedded module conversion. NVMe expansion enclosures do not support NVMe SCM drives. The base enclosure can support all NVMe SSDs or mix of NVMe SSDs and NVMe SCM drives (for metadata tier) with an NVMe expansion enclosure attached. Before attaching an NVMe expansion enclosure, ensure that all drive slots 0 to 20 in the base enclosure are populated. Each appliance in a PowerStore cluster supports up to three NVMe expansion enclosures.
The front of the expansion enclosure features an indication panel on the left side. It displays a status LED along with stacking icon LEDs that provide additional drive, thermal, and hardware component information.
The back of the expansion enclosure includes LEDs to indicate power and fault status. There are also LEDs to indicate bus and enclosure IDs. There are 4x QSFP ports for back-end connectivity to the base enclosure.
The purpose-built PowerStore 1000, 3000, 5000, 7000 and 9000 model systems support a 25-drive 2U expansion enclosure using 2.5-inch SAS drives for extra capacity. SAS Expansion enclosures do not support NVMe drives, are not supported with PowerStore systems using only NVMe SCM drives or the PowerStore 500 model. Before adding a SAS expansion enclosure, ensure that the base enclosure is fully populated with data drives in slots 0 to 20. This could be all NVMe SSDs or starting in PowerStoreOS 2.0, a mix of NVMe SSDs and SCM drives. These SAS expansion enclosure restrictions only apply to the specific base enclosure of the appliance to which the expansion enclosure is being added. Expansion enclosure restrictions on an appliance do not impact other systems within a multi-appliance PowerStore cluster.
The back of the SAS expansion enclosure includes LEDs to indicate power and fault status. There are also LEDs to indicate bus and enclosure IDs. 4x 12 Gbps SAS ports are used for back-end connectivity to the base enclosure.