PowerEdge M910 Name Technical Guide The M910 is ideal for the demanding applications at the core of most data centers, such as large databases, virtualization and messaging infrastructure.
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Dell Table of Contents 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Product Comparison ........................................................................................... 5 1.1 Overview .................................................................................................. 5 1.2 Product Comparison ..................................................................................... 6 New Technologies .............................................................................................. 8 2.1 Overview ....
Dell 8 Chipset ........................................................................................................ 8.1 Intel 7500 I/O Hub (IOH) .............................................................................. 8.2 IOH QuickPath Interconnect (QPI) ................................................................... 8.3 PCI EXPRESS GENERATION 2 .......................................................................... 8.4 Direct Media Interface (DMI) .........................................
Dell Table 5. Table 6. Table 7. Table 8. Table 9. Table 10. Table 11. Table 12. Table 13. Table 14. Table 15. Processor Cache Sizes (Package LGA1567) ...................................................... Supported Processors ............................................................................... PowerEdge M910 Sparing and Mirroring .......................................................... Supported Memory Configurations ................................................................
1 Product Comparison 1.1 Overview The Dell™ PowerEdge™ M-Series blade servers are designed to help cut operating expenses through energy efficiency, scalability, product flexibility, and efficient use of data center space. The PowerEdge M910 provides significant performance and reliability in a scalable, full-height, foursocket blade server, allowing the deployment of large Enterprise-class applications as well as the ability to support heavy virtualization or workload consolidation in maximum density.
Dell Product documentation is available at support.dell.com. Information for the chassis can be found in the PowerEdge M1000e Technical Guide. 1.2 Product Comparison Table 1.
Dell Feature /Spec M910 M710 R810 R910 Server Management iDRAC6 Enterprise CMC (on M1000e) iDRAC6 Enterprise (Both) standard CMC (on M1000e) iDRAC6 Express iDRAC6 Enterprise Optional iDRAC6 Express iDRAC6 Enterprise Optional Mezz Slots 4 x8 PCIe Mezzanine Cards 1 x 4 and 3 x 8 PCIe Mezzanine Cards 6 x PCIe 5x8 1x4 7 PCIe Gen2 slots (2x4, 4 x8 + 1x16) Optional: 10 PCI e Gen2 (6x4, 4x8) Slot 5 is Gen1 NIC/LOM 4 x TOE – iSCSI offload 4 x TOE with optional iSCSI offload 4 x LOM (5709) 1GbE or
Dell 2 New Technologies 2.1 Overview The PowerEdge M910 server includes the following new features: Intel Xeon Processor 7500 Series (4s) and Intel Xeon Processor 6500 Series (2s) 4-, 6-, and 8core processors Intel 7500 Chipset FlexMem Bridge IO Hub (IOH) with Intel® QuickPath Architecture DDR3 memory PCI Express® Generation 2 Optional Redundant SD media for embedded hypervisor iDRAC6 Express 2.2 Detailed Information 2.2.
Dell 2.2.6 PCI Express Generation 2 PCI Express is a serial point‐to‐point interconnect for I/O devices. PCIe Gen2 doubles the signaling bit rate of each lane from 2.5 Gb/s to 5 Gb/s. Each of the PCIe Gen2 ports is backwards‐compatible with Gen1 transfer rates. 2.2.7 Internal Redundant SD Module The Internal SD Module is dedicated for an SD Flash Card with embedded Hypervisor for virtualization. The SD Flash Card contains a bootable OS image for virtualized platforms.
Dell 3 System Information 3.1 Overview The PowerEdge M910 is an innovative blade design that allows scaling from 2 to 4 sockets (no single or 3 socket support) based on a new generation of Intel four-socket enhanced processors, RAM, and management while still taking advantage of the M1000e chassis architecture. Along with the M1000e chassis, the PowerEdge M910 server leads the industry in high speed, redundant IO throughput and power efficiency with more RAM slots in the 2-socket space. 3.
Dell Intel® Dual-Port 10Gb Ethernet Broadcom® Dual-Port 10Gb Ethernet (BCM-57711) 10Gb Enhanced Ethernet & Converged Network Adapters (CEE/DCB): Intel® Dual-Port 10Gb Enhanced Ethernet (FcoE Ready for Future Enablement) Emulex® Dual-Port Converged Network Adapter (OCM10102-F-M)—Supports CEE/DCB 10GbE + FCoE Qlogic® Dual-Port Converged Network Adapter (QME8142)—Supports CEE/DCB 10GbE + FCoE QLogic® Dual-Port FC8 Fibre Channel Host Bus Adapter (HBA) (QME2572) Emulex® Dual-Port FC8 Fibre Channel Host Bus Adapt
Dell 4 Mechanical 4.1 Overview The M910 is a full height blade server that requires an M1000e chassis (shown in Figure 1) to operate. Figure 1. M1000e It occupies 2 slots in the M1000e rack chassis for a maximum of 8 blades in one M1000e chassis. It can be mixed with other existing Dell blades and is designed to mix with possible future half-heightdouble-wide and full-height-double-wide blades.
Dell Figure 2. Internal Module View 4.4 Security Configurable client IP address range for clients connecting to iDRAC6. 4.5 Cover Latch The blade module includes a latch for the cover. See Opening and Closing the Blade in the Dell PowerEdge Modular Systems Hardware Owner’s Manual for more information. 4.6 TPM (Trusted Platform Module) The TPM is used to generate/store keys, protect/authenticate passwords, and create/store digital certificates.
Dell 4.7 Power Off Security Through the CMC, the front USB’s and power button can be disabled so as to not allow any control of the system from the front of the blade. 4.8 USB Key The M910 supports the following USB devices: • DVD (bootable; requires two USB ports) • USB Key (bootable) • Keyboard (only one USB keyboard is supported) • Mouse (only one USB mouse is supported) 4.
Dell 5 Operating, Thermal, and Acoustic 5.1 Overview of Operating and Storage Conditions Table 3.
Dell 5.2 Acoustics Adherence to Dell’s high sound quality standards. Sound quality is different from sound power level and sound pressure level in that it describes how humans respond to annoyances in sound, like whistles, hums, etc. One of the sound quality metrics in the Dell specification is prominence ratio of a tone, and this is listed in the table below.
Dell 5.
Dell 6 Processors 6.1 Overview The Intel Xeon processor 6500 and 7500 series 4S (Expandable Processor) is the microprocessor designed specifically for servers and workstation applications. The processor features quad-core processing to maximize performance and performance/watt for data center infrastructures and highly dense deployments.
Dell • • • • Intel® 64 Technology Intel® VT‐x and VT‐d Technology for virtualization support Enhanced Intel® SpeedStep Technology Demand‐based switching for active CPU power management as well as support for ACPI P‐ States, C‐States, and T-States 6.3 Supported Processors Table 6. Supported Processors Model Speed TDP Power Cache Cores QPI Speed X7560 2.26GHz 130W 24M 8 6.4GT/s X7542 2.66GHz 130W 18M 6 5.86GT/s X6550 2.00GHz 130W 18M 8 6.4GT/s E7540 2.00GHz 105W 18M 6 6.
Dell memory buffers associated with the two populated sockets would be connected, and therefore only 16 DIMMs would be accessible. To overcome this limitation with 2 CPUs, the M910 uses the FlexMem Bridge which allows CPU1 and CPU2 to connect to the memory of their respective adjacent sockets (CPU3 and CPU4).
Dell 7 Memory 7.1 Overview The PowerEdge M910 uses DDR3 memory providing a high-performance, high-speed memory interface capable of low latency response and high throughput. The PowerEdge M910 supports Registered ECC DDR3 DIMMs (RDIMM) only. Each DDR3 DIMM is driven by the Intel® 7500 Scalable Memory Buffer (Intel® 7500 SMB). A memory buffer has two DDR3 channels off it. Each of these channels can support up to 2 DIMMs running at 1067MHz (or slower) speeds.
Dell 7.2 DIMMs Supported If DIMMs of different speeds are mixed, all channels operate at the fastest common frequency. UDIMMs are not supported. The first DIMM slot in each channel is color‐coded with white ejection tabs for ease of identification. The M910’s DIMM sockets are placed 0.40‖ apart, center‐to‐center, to provide enough space for sufficient airflow to cool stacked DIMMs. DIMMs must be installed in each channel starting with the DIMM farthest from the processor (DIMM 1).
Dell 7.5.2 Mirroring MBOX0 MBOX0 CPU1 DIMM1 DIMM2 DIMM3 DIMM4 DIMM5 DIMM6 DIMM7 DIMM8 C D B CPU2 MBOX1 Figure 5. DIMM1 DIMM2 DIMM3 DIMM4 DIMM5 DIMM6 DIMM7 DIMM8 DIMM1 DIMM2 DIMM3 DIMM4 DIMM5 DIMM6 DIMM7 DIMM8 A DIMM1 DIMM2 DIMM3 DIMM4 DIMM5 DIMM6 DIMM7 DIMM8 For mirroring, the M910 will support 2P/4P configurations with 32 DIMMs only. When mirroring is enabled, only half of the physical memory will be visible to the system software.
Dell 7.5.
Dell 8 Chipset The PowerEdge M910 system board incorporates the Intel® 7500 chipset for I/O and processor interfacing. The 7500 chipset is designed to support Intel® Xeon® processor 6500 and 7500 series 4S family, Intel® QPI Interconnect, DDR3 memory technology, and PCI Express Generation 2 (PCIe 2). The 7500 chipset consists of the IOH QuickPath Interconnect (QPI), Intel® 7500 Scalable Memory Buffer, and the ICH10 South Bridge. 8.
Dell • • • • • • • • M910 has three external USB ports and one internal ports dedicated for UIPS/RIPS and embedded storage Power management interface (ACPI 3.0b compliant) Platform Environmental Control Interface (PECI) Intel® Dynamic Power Mode Manager I/O interrupt controller SMBus 2.
Dell 9 BIOS 9.1 Overview The PowerEdge M910 BIOS is based on the Dell BIOS core, and supports the following features: • IA‐32 Intel Xeon 7500 chipset 4S • Simultaneous Multi‐Threading (SMT) • CPU Turbo Mode • PCI 2.3 • Plug n’ Play 1.0a • MP (Multiprocessor) 1.4 • Boot from hard drive, optical drive, iSCSI drive, USB key, and SD card • ACPI • Direct Media Interface (DMI) • PXE and WOL support for on‐board NICs • Memory mirroring and sparing • SETUP access through key at end of POST • USB 2.
Dell 10 Embedded Gigabit Ethernet Controllers on Motherboard (LOM) Two embedded Broadcom® 5709S dual-port LAN controllers are on the PowerEdge M910 system board as independent Gigabit Ethernet interface devices.
Dell 11 I/O Mezzanine Card Options 11.1 Overview The M910 contains four PCIe Gen2 mezzanine slots. Installation of mezzanine cards requires an M1000e I/O Module (IOM) of the same fabric technology to be installed in the corresponding fabric slot of the mezzanine to support data flow through that fabric/slot. For more information, refer to the PowerEdge M1000e Technical Guide. 11.
Dell 12 Storage 12.1 Drives The PowerEdge M910 supports up to two 2.5‖ SAS hard disk drives. • 2.5" SAS (10K rpm): 146GB, or 300GB • 2.5" SAS (15K rpm): 73GB or 146GB • 2.5‖ SAS (7.2k rpm): 500GB • 2.5‖ SSD: 50GB or 100GB 12.2 Hard Disk Drive Carriers The PowerEdge M910 supports the 11G 2.5‖ hard drive carrier. Legacy carriers are not supported on M910. Figure 7. 2.5” HDD Carrier 12.
Dell 12.5 RAID Configurations Table 9.
Dell 12.6.2 PERC6/i For customers who want a hardware RAID solution, the PERC6i is available as an optional customer kit. The PERC6i uses the LSI 1078 ROC (RAID on Chip) processor with a PCI Express host interface and DDR2 memory. A battery is available with this card. 12.6.3 PERC H200 The M910 supports the PERC H200, which offers a battery-backed cache. Details of the PERC H200 can be found in the PERC H200 Technical Guidebook. 12.6.4 PERC H700 The M910 also supports the PERC H700.
Dell 13 Video (PCI Video) The PowerEdge M910 Integrated Dell Remote Access Controller 6 (iDRAC6) incorporates an integrated video subsystem connected to the 32-bit PCI interface of the ICH10. This logic is based on the Matrox® G200. The device only supports 2D graphics. The integrated video core shares its video memory with the iDRAC6’s 128 MB DDR2 application space memory. This memory is also used for the KVM buffer.
Dell 14 Rack Information For information on rack and cable accessories for the M910, see the PowerEdge M1000e Technical Guide and the M1000e Rack and Cable Advisor Tool.
Dell 15 Operating Systems The PowerEdge M910 is designed to meet the MSFT WinLogo 3.0 design specifications. For the most up-to-date information, see the Operating System Support Matrix for Dell PowerEdge Systems on Dell.com.
Dell 16 Virtualization 16.1 Overview Table 12. Virtualization Software Hypervisor Factory Install Certification VMware® ESX/ESXi™ 3.5U5 DIB/FI/NFI Yes VMware® ESX/ESXi™ 4.0U1 DIB/FI/NFI Yes Windows Server® 2008 R2 with Hyper-V™ FI Yes, included in Windows Server 2008 R2 WHQL process Citrix® XenServer™ 5.6 FI Yes Support.dell.com has extensive information designed to help customers configure virtualization software with PowerEdge servers.
Dell The following platforms have been certified by Scalent: Nov 2009: 2970, R610, R710, M1000E, 1955, M605, M610, M710, and M905. April 2010: R810, R815, R910, and M910. More information can be found at www.dell.com/aim . 16.3 Vizioncore Vizioncore's easy-to-use virtualization software products support business continuity and disaster recovery, high availability, monitoring, automation, P2V and optimization.
Dell 17 Systems Management 17.1 Overview Dell aims on delivering open, flexible, and integrated solutions that help you reduce the complexity of managing disparate IT assets by building comprehensive IT management solutions. Combining Dell PowerEdge Servers with a wide selection of Dell-developed management solutions gives you choice and flexibility, so you can simplify and save in environments of any size.
Dell 17.3 Embedded Server Management The PowerEdge M910 implements circuitry for the next generation of Embedded Server Management. It is Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) v2.0 compliant. The optional iDRAC (Integrated Dell Remote Access Controller) is responsible for acting as an interface between the host system and its management software and the periphery devices. The optional upgrade to iDRAC6 provides features for managing the server remotely or in data center lights-out environments.
Dell 17.
Dell Feature BMC iDRAC6 Enterprise vFlash Media Server power control Serial-over-LAN (with proxy) Serial-over-LAN (no proxy) Power capping Last crash screen capture Boot capture Serial-over-LAN Virtual media Virtual console Virtual console sharing Virtual flash Real-time Power Monitoring Real-time Power Graphing Historical Power Counters RAC Log Trace Log Sensor Monitoring and Al
Dell 18 Peripherals 18.1 USB peripherals The PowerEdge M910 provides an internal USB connector for a USB flash memory key. The USB memory key can be used as a boot device, security key, or mass storage device. 18.
Dell Appendix A. Regulatory Certifications and Standards Compliance Please see the external Product Safety, EMC, and Environmental Datasheets on dell.com at: http://www.dell.com/regulatory_compliance_datasheets The M910 systems conform to the industry standards shown in Table 15. Table 15. Industry Standards and URLs Standard URL for information and specifications ACPI Advance Configuration and Power Interface Specification, v2.0c http://www.acpi.info/ Ethernet IEEE 802.3-2005 http://standards.
Dell Standard URL for information and specifications USB Universal Serial Bus Specification, Rev. 2.0 http://www.usb.org/developers/docs/ Windows Logo Windows Logo Program System and Device Requirements, v3.10 http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/winlogo/hwrequirements.
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