IBM 00RX898 4-Port PCIe2 1Gbe Ethernet Adapter

Core Overview

• Manufacturer: IBM

• Product Type: PCIe2 Ethernet Network Interface Card (NIC)

• Primary Part Number (FRU): 00RX898

• Ecosystem Family: Form-factor matching the updated PCIe Gen2 Converged and Base-T Ethernet lines (similar to the 00E2718 / 00E2719 hardware refresh bracket series).

• CCIN (Customer Card Identification Number): 2CC3 / 2CC4 Derivative Series

• Bracket Options: Available in Standard Full-Height or Low-Profile (Half-Height) configurations depending on the server chassis tailstock installation kit.

Port & Media Connectivity

This adapter interfaces with high-density server environments through a multi-port structural interface:

• Interface Standard: PCIe 2.0 (PCIe Gen2) baseline signaling.

• Physical Ports: Multi-Port configuration designed to slide into specialized internal mainboard backplanes or standard external PCIe Gen2/Gen3 expansion risers.

• Cabling & Transceiver Matrix:

  • For SFP+ Port Variants: Fully supports Shortwave (SW) optical transceivers with duplex LC-type fiber connections, or Direct Attach Copper (DAC) Twinaxial active cabling layout up to 5 meters.

  • For RJ45 Port Variants: Fully backward-compatible with copper twisted-pair Category 5e, 6, or 6A infrastructure running auto-negotiation protocol profiles.

Interface & Performance Specifications

• Bus Architecture: PCI Express 2.0 (PCIe Gen2) x8 mechanical and electrical slot interface. It operates seamlessly when installed inside backwards-compatible PCIe 3.0 or PCIe 4.0 slots.

• Duplex Constraints: Operates strictly in Full-Duplex execution environments to maintain predictable line rates.

• Hardware Offloading Engines:

  • IPv4/IPv6 TCP and UDP Checksum Offloading (Rx/Tx) to free up host processor pipeline stages.

  • Large Send Offload (LSO) and TCP Segmentation Offloads (TSO).

  • Advanced Receive Side Scaling (RSS) to safely distribute heavy packet processing over multiple available active CPU cores.

• Jumbo Frames Support: Handles high-payload frames up to 9.6 KB, eliminating excessive packaging header calculations for large block transfers (such as SAN-over-Ethernet or NFS workloads).

Hardware Compatibility

The 00RX898 adapter maps into entry-level, scale-out, and midrange virtualization nodes across IBM Power Systems (POWER7+, POWER8, and POWER9) portfolios.

Supported system frameworks include:

• POWER7+ / POWER8 Systems: IBM Power S814 (8286-41A), S822 (8284-22A), S824 (8286-42A), Power 720 (8202-E4D), Power 740 (8205-E6D).

• POWER9 Scale-Out Boxes: IBM Power S922 (9009-22A / 9009-22G), Power S924 (9009-42A / 9009-42G).

• I/O Drawers: Fully compatible with external PCIe expansion enclosures such as the #5802 or #5877 12X I/O expansion trays.

Operating System Support

• AIX: Natively supported via default IBM network adapter subsystem device drivers. Full integration with EtherChannel (IEEE 802.3ad Link Aggregation) for network failover or load balancing configurations.

• IBM i: Fully compatible for native system networking, communication lines, or hardware management console bridging.

• Linux: Managed natively through built-in kernel modules bundled within standard enterprise distributions, including Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL), SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES), and Ubuntu Server.

• VIOS: Fully virtualized at the hypervisor layer, enabling smooth provisioning of Virtual Ethernet adapters across multiple tenant Logical Partitions (LPARs).