PowerEdge R520 Technical Guide The PowerEdge R520, a two-socket, 2U rack server that delivers balanced performance and storage expandability for data-intensive applications.
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Table of contents 1 System overview ..................................................................................................................................................................5 Introduction .........................................................................................................................................................................5 Key technologies ...............................................................................................................
Appendix C. Additional resources................................................................................................................................. 49 Appendix D. System board block diagram ................................................................................................................... 51 Tables Table 1. Table 2. Table 3. Table 4. Table 5. Table 6. Table 7. Table 8. Table 9. Table 10. Table 11. Table 12. Table 13. Table 14. Table 15. Table 16. Table 17. Table 18.
1 System overview Introduction The Dell™ PowerEdge™ R520 is a two-socket, 2U rack-mount server offering an excellent balance of processing power, storage capacity and redundancy. The R520’s price per performance, configuration flexibility and headroom for growth make it highly appealing for consolidation and virtualization, web serving and hosting, departmental database applications such as business analytics and a wide range of general-purpose collaboration and productivity applications.
Key technologies Table 1 summarizes key technologies used in the Dell PowerEdge R520 rack server. Table 1. Key technologies Key technology Detailed description Intel Xeon processor E5-2400 and E5-2400 v2 product families This family of Intel processors has embedded PCIe lanes for improved I/O performance. See the Processor section for details. Intel C600 series chipset The Intel Platform Controller Hub (PCH) chip is implemented on the R520 server.
2 System features Compared to its predecessor, the R520 supports more PCIe slots, PCIe 3.0, more memory and advanced systems management. Table 2 compares some of the features of the R520 to its R510 predecessor. Table 3 lists all of the R520’s specifications. Comparison of PowerEdge systems The R520 is the new generation PowerEdge server replacing the R510. Table 2 compares some of the R520 features to the R510 features. Table 2.
Specifications Table 3 summarizes the specifications for each of the PowerEdge R520 features. For the latest information on supported features for the PowerEdge R520, visit Dell.com/PowerEdge. Table 3. Technical specifications Feature PowerEdge R520 technical specification Form factor 2U rack Processors Intel Xeon processor E5-2400 and E5-2400 v2 product families Processor sockets 2 sockets Internal interconnect 1 Intel QuickPath Interconnect (QPI) link: 6.4GT/s, 7.2GT/s, 8.0GT/s Cache 2.
Feature PowerEdge R520 technical specification Availability High-efficiency, hot-plug redundant power supplies; DC power supply, hot-plug hard drives; TPM; dual internal SD support; fan fault tolerance; optional bezel; information ® tag; ECC memory; interactive LCD screen; extended power range; ENERGY STAR compliant; switch independent partitioning Dell OpenManage Systems Management (Agent-free or with OpenManage Server Administrator [OMSA] Agent) OpenManage Essentials OMSA Agent OpenManage Pow
3 Chassis views and features The Dell PowerEdge R520 is a 2U, 2-socket rack server. For additional system views and features, see the Dell PowerEdge R520 Systems Owner’s Manual on Dell.com/Support/Manuals. Chassis views Figure 1 shows the features on the front of the R520 chassis including eight 3.5-inch hard drives, front control panel, USB connectors and many other components and features described in this guide. Figure 1.
Figure 3 shows the features on the back panel of the R520 including USB connectors, Ethernet connectors, serial connector, video connector, PCIe slots, power supplies and many other components and features described in this guide. Figure 3. Back view The chassis design of the R520 is optimized for easy access to components and for airflow for effective and efficient cooling.
Chassis features Table 4 lists the features on the R520 chassis. For additional information, see the Dell PowerEdge R520 Systems Owner’s Manual on Dell.com/Support/Manuals. Table 4.
Figure 5. LCD control panel Quick Resource Locator A useful feature included with Dell PowerEdge 12th generation servers is the Quick Resource Locator (QRL) — a model-specific Quick Response (QR) code that is located inside the R520 chassis cover (see Figure 6). Use your smartphone to access the Dell QRL app to learn more about the server. Figure 6.
Security feature Description TPM The Trusted Platform Module (TPM) is used to generate/store keys, protect/authenticate passwords and create/store digital certificates. It also supports the Intel Xeon TXT functionality. TPM can also be used to enable the BitLocker™ hard drive encryption feature in Windows Server 2008. TPM 1.2 is supported. No TPM version is available for China or Russia. Power-off security BIOS has the ability to disable the power button function.
4 Processor The Dell PowerEdge R520 features the Intel Xeon processor E5-2400 and E5-2400 v2 product families, which offer an ideal combination of performance, power efficiency and cost. These processors provide high performance no matter what your constraint is — floor space, power or budget — and on workloads that range from the most complicated scientific exploration to crucial web-serving and infrastructure applications.
Supported processors Table 6 lists the Intel Xeon processors supported by the PowerEdge R520. For the latest information on supported processors, visit Dell.com/PowerEdge. Table 6. Supported processors Speed TDP Cache Cores/ threads QPI Max memory speed Turbo E5-2470 2.3GHz 95W 20MB 8/16 8.0GT/s 1600MT/s Yes E5-2470 v2 2.4GHz 95W 25MB 10/20 8.0GT/s 1600MT/s Yes E5-2450L 1.8GHz 70W 20MB 8/16 8.0GT/s 1600MT/s Yes E5-2450L v2 1.7GHz 60W 25MB 10/20 8.
5 Memory More options are available for the Dell PowerEdge 12th generation servers than in previous generations — more capacity choices and more frequency choices. The PowerEdge R520 supports up to 384GB of memory with speeds of up to 1600MT/s, providing high performance in a variety of applications. The new RAS features like memory mirroring and sparing help you increase your uptime and reduce data loss.
The R520 supports the DIMMs listed in Table 8. For the latest information on supported memory, visit Dell.com/PowerEdge. Table 8. Capacity (GB) Speed (MT/s) Type DIMMs supported Ranks per DIMM Data width SDDC support Voltage 2 1600 UDIMM 1 x8 Advanced ECC 1.35 2 1600 RDIMM 1 x8 Advanced ECC 1.35 4 1600 RDIMM 2 x8 Advanced ECC 1.35 4 1600 UDIMM 1 x8 Advanced ECC 1.35 4 1600 UDIMM 2 x8 Advanced ECC 1.35 4 1600 RDIMM 1 x8 Advanced ECC 1.
Memory speed The R520 supports memory speeds of up to 1600MT/s,depending on DIMM types installed and configuration. The loading within a channel significantly affects memory speed. Table 9 illustrates the maximum achievable speed of the Intel Xeon processor E5-2400 product family based on memory loads.
Table 10. Feature Memory RAS features Description Dense configuration optimized profile Increased memory reliability can be a result from this selectable platform profile that adjusts parameters to reduce faults regarding refresh rates, speed, temperature and voltage Memory demand and patrol scrubbing Demand scrubbing is the ability to write corrected data back to the memory once a correctable error is detected on a read transaction.
6 Storage The Dell PowerEdge R520 supports comprehensive storage options, including different internal and external storage options. Internal storage The R520 has one chassis that supports two different drive-bay options: 4 x 3.5-inch hot-plug drive option — Drive controllers: embedded SATA, PERC S110 — Non-hot-plug with embedded SATA; hard drive LED on the hard drive tray is disabled — Hot-pluggable with PERC S110; hard drive LED on the hard drive tray is enabled 8 x 3.
External storage External storage for the R520 is available through optional HBAs for SAS, iSCSI and Fibre Channel. For more information, see Dell.com/Storage. Storage controllers Dell provides highly capable RAID options for you to ensure that your data remains safe. Dell’s RAID controller options offer impressive performance improvements, including the following features: FastPath™ I/O: This feature can help accelerate performance when operating on SSDs.
Controller Description Features RAID Form modes factor supported Usage model PERC H310 Internal Eight-port, internal 6Gb/s PCIe RAID Supports hot-plug drives, expansion, pass-through 0, 1, 10, 5, 50 Integrated mini-type Value PERC S110 Software RAID 3Gb/s SATA software RAID controller that supports up to 4 physical disks or 8 virtual disks Supports up to 4 hot-plug SATA drives, no expansion, Microsoft Windows only 0, 1, 5, 10 System boardembedded SATA Entry-level CacheCade CacheCade provide
7 Networking and PCIe The Dell PowerEdge R520 offers balanced, scalable I/O capabilities, including integrated PCIe 3.0 capable expansion slots. Embedded NIC controller The R520 system board has one embedded NIC controller. The Broadcom 5720 Gigabit NIC chip is connected to the platform controller hub through a PCIe 2.0 x2 link. The Broadcom 5720 is a 14th generation 10/100/1000Base-T Ethernet LAN controller solution suitable for high-performance server applications.
Table 14.
8 Power, thermal and acoustics Lower overall system-level power draw is a result of breakthrough system design. The Dell PowerEdge R520 server maximizes performance per watt through a combination of power and cooling, energy efficient technologies and tools. Additionally, the PowerEdge R520 has an extensive collection of sensors that automatically track thermal activity, which helps regulate temperature thereby reducing server noise and power consumption.
Feature Description Active power management (redundant PSU only) Intel Node Manager is an embedded technology that provides individual server-level power reporting and power limiting functionality. Dell offers a complete power management solution comprised of Intel Node Manager accessed through Dell iDRAC Enterprise and OpenManage Power Center that allows policy-based management of power and thermals at the individual server, rack and data center level.
Figure 7 shows a 750W power supply unit extended from the R520 chassis. Figure 7. 750W power supply unit Dell PSUs have achieved Titanium efficiency levels as shown in Table 16. Table 16. Power supply efficiency Efficiency targets by load Form factor Redundant 86mm Cabled Output Class 10% 20% 50% 100% 495W AC Platinum 82.0% 90.0% 94.0% 91.0% 750W AC Platinum 82.0% 90.0% 94.0% 91.0% 750W AC Titanium 90.0% 94.0% 96.0% 91.0% 1100W AC Platinum 89.0% 93.0% 94.5% 92.
realization that every customer has a unique set of circumstances or expectations of the system, in this generation of servers, we are introducing limited user-configurable settings in the iDRAC7 BIOS setup screen. For more information, see the Dell PowerEdge R520 Systems Owner’s Manual on Dell.com/Support/Manuals and “Advanced Thermal Control: Optimizing across Environments and Power Goals” on Dell.com. Fan fault tolerance: Continuous operation with one motor failure in the system.
Table 17 details the acoustical performance for the R520. Table 17. Configuration (23 ± 2°C ambient) Typical Maximum CPUs Hard drives 2 6 x 2.5“ 600GB SAS (10K) 2 8 x 3.
9 Rack rails and cable management The sliding and static rail systems for the Dell PowerEdge R520 provide tool-less support for fourpost racks with square or unthreaded round mounting holes. Both rail systems also support tooled mounting in four-post threaded racks and the static rails support tooled mounting in two-post (Telco) racks as well for added versatility.
The static rails (shown in Figure 9) support a wider variety of racks than the sliding rails but do not support serviceability in the rack and are therefore are not compatible with the CMA. Figure 9. Static rails One key factor in selecting the proper rails is identifying the type of rack in which they will be installed. Both the sliding rails and the static rails support tool-less mounting in 19”-wide, EIA-310-E compliant square hole and unthreaded round hole four-post racks.
Cable management arm The optional CMA organizes and secures the cords and cables exiting the back of the server and unfolds to allow the server to extend out of the rack without having to detach the cables.
10 Operating systems and virtualization The Dell PowerEdge R520 supports a wide range of industry-standard operating systems and virtualization software. Supported operating systems Table 19 lists the primary operating systems supported on the R520. For the latest information on supported operating systems, see Dell.com/OSsupport. Table 19.
Supported virtualization One of the key features for virtualization on the PowerEdge R520 is the support for a fail-safe hypervisor. By running a hypervisor on an optional SD card and installing a backup copy on the other mirrored SD card, you can protect against hardware failure and maximize virtualization uptime. Table 20 highlights the virtualization support for the R520. Table 20. Install version Factory options Internal dual SD module install support vSphere v5.0 ESXi DIB Yes vSphere v5.
11 Dell OpenManage systems management Whether your IT environment consists of a few servers or a few thousand servers, Dell OpenManage systems management solutions provide comprehensive management for evolving IT environments. OpenManage is based on open standards and provides agent-based and agent-free server lifecycle management functionality for Dell PowerEdge servers. OpenManage solutions help you automate and streamline essential hardware management tasks.
OpenManage systems management The Dell OpenManage systems management portfolio includes powerful hardware and software management tools and consoles. OpenManage simplifies the lifecycle of deploying, updating, monitoring and maintaining your Dell PowerEdge servers. iDRAC7 with Lifecycle Controller The Integrated Dell Remote Access Controller 7 (iDRAC7) with Lifecycle Controller is the heart of the second generation of Dell PowerEdge server embedded management functionality.
Feature Electronic licensing Function Benefit Upgrades to iDRAC7 Express or iDRAC7 Enterprise by software licensing key and license portal (may require installation of hardware option for 200-500 series servers) If iDRAC7 Express or iDRAC7 Enterprise is ordered during initial point of sale, license key is installed. If Basic Management is ordered during initial point of sale, customer must request a license key through the Dell Licensing Portal.
Basic management iDRAC7 Express iDRAC7 Enterprise Serial redirection ∞ ∞ Remote config ∞ ∞ Email alerts ∞ ∞ SNMP alerts ∞ ∞ Comprehensive monitoring ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ Feature (function) Crash screen capture 3 ∞ Part replacement ∞ Backup and restore configurations ∞ Virtual console (4 user) ∞ Virtual console chat ∞ Support for customer supplied SD cards for vFlash media ∞ Virtual flash partitions ∞ Virtual media ∞ Virtual folders ∞ Remote file share ∞ Crash video playback ∞
Agent-based management Most systems management solutions require pieces of software, called agents, to be installed on each node in order to be managed within the IT environment. Additionally, the same agent is often used as a local interface into the hardware health and may be accessed remotely as a management interface, typically referred to as a one-to-one interface. For customers that continue to use agent-based solutions, Dell provides OpenManage Server Administrator.
Dell Update Packages: The Dell Update Packages (DUP) is a self-contained executable in a standard package format that updates a software element on a Dell server such as the BIOS, a driver, firmware and other software updates.
OpenManage connections with third-party consoles Dell OpenManage provides connections with many third-party consoles, including: Dell OpenManage Connection for Computer Associates Network and Systems Management: This connection allows you to monitor PowerEdge servers and PowerVault storage arrays from within the Computer Associates Network and Systems Management (CA NSM) console.
Table 23 lists the products that are available for one-to-one and one-to-many operations and when they are used in the server’s lifecycle. Table 23.
Appendix A. Additional specifications Chassis dimensions Figure 12 details the dimensions of the Dell PowerEdge R520 chassis. Figure 12. System dimensions Xa 482.4mm Xb 434.0mm Y 86.8mm Za with bezel 35mm Za without bezel 20.1mm 1 Zb 1 611.1mm Zc 631.7mm with cabled PSU 649.1mm with redundant PSU Zb goes to the nominal back wall external surface where the system board I/O connectors are located. Chassis weight The R520 chassis at maximum configuration is 28.2 kg (62 lb).
Power supply specifications Table 24 lists power supply specifications for the PowerEdge R520. Table 24. Power supply specifications Specification 495W AC 550W AC Current consumption 6.5–3A 7.4–3.7A Supply voltage Frequency Heat dissipation (BTU/hr max) Maximum inrush 2 current 100–240VAC 1 100–240VAC 1 750W AC 750W AC Titanium Platinum 10–5A 10–5A 1100W AC 1100W DC 12–6.
Non-redundant power supplies not supported Non Dell-qualified peripheral cards and/or cards greater than 25W are not supported Temperature Operating See Dell Fresh Air for temperature information Storage –40 C to 65 C (-40 F to 149 F) with a maximum temperature gradation of 20 C per hour o o o o o Relative humidity Operating See Dell Fresh Air for relative humidity information Storage 5% to 95% at a maximum wet bulb temperature of 33°C (91°F); atmosphere must be noncondensing at all times
Table 27. Rail adjustability range Rail adjustability range (mm) Product R520 Rail identifier Rail type Square Round Rail depth (mm) Threaded Min Max Min Max Min Max without CMA with CMA B6 Sliding 676 868 662 861 676 883 714 845 B4 Static 608 879 594 872 604 890 622 — The adjustment range of the rails is a function of the type of rack in which they are being mounted.
Appendix B. Standards compliance The Dell PowerEdge R520 conforms to the industry standards listed in Table 28. Table 28. Standard ACPI Advance Configuration and Power Interface Specification, v2.0c Ethernet IEEE 802.3-2005 HDG Hardware Design Guide Version 3.0 for Microsoft Windows Server IPMI Intelligent Platform Management Interface, v2.0 DDR3 Memory DDR3 SDRAM Specification, Rev. 3A LPC Low Pin Count Interface Specification, Rev. 1.1 PCI Express PCI Express Base Specification Rev. 2.0 and 3.
Appendix C. Additional resources Table 29 provides a list of documents and websites that provide for more information on the Dell PowerEdge R520. Table 29. Additional resources Resource Description of contents PowerEdge R520 Systems Owner’s Manual This manual, available in PDF format provides the following information: PowerEdge R520 Getting Started Guide This guide ships with the system and is also available in PDF format on the Dell support site.
Resource Description of contents Location Energy Smart Solution Advisor The Dell Energy Smart Solution Advisor (ESSA) enables easier and more meaningful estimates to help you determine the most efficient configuration possible. Use ESSA to calculate the power consumption of your hardware, power infrastructure and storage. Dell.com/ESSA Power and cooling technologies Provides details for improving energy efficiency in the data center. Dell.
Appendix D. System board block diagram Figure 13. R520 system board block diagram Front Video DVD USB 2.0 IDSDM USB 2.0 (2 Front) USB 2.0 (2 Rear) SATA (1) SATA in miniSAS(4) Left* PCIe x8 Conn.(x4) Slot1 USB x2 USB x2 USB x1 USB x1 PCIe Gen2 x4 2GB/s Int. USB 2.0 Left* PCIe x16 Conn. Slot 1 x4 Right* PCIe x8 Conn.
