Dell EMC VxRail E series User manual

Dell EMC VxRail™E Series Appliance
Owner's Manual
Regulatory Model: E26S Series
Regulatory Type: E26S001

Notes, cautions, and warnings
NOTE: A NOTE indicates important information that helps you make better use of your product.
CAUTION: A CAUTION indicates either potential damage to hardware or loss of data and tells you how to avoid the problem.
WARNING: A WARNING indicates a potential for property damage, personal injury, or death.
Copyright ©2017 Dell Inc. or its subsidiaries. All rights reserved. Dell, EMC, and other trademarks are trademarks of Dell Inc. or its subsidiaries. Other
trademarks may be trademarks of their respective owners.
2017 - 03
Rev. A01

Contents
1 Overview........................................................................................................................................................5
Supported congurations..................................................................................................................................................5
Front panel ......................................................................................................................................................................... 7
10 x 2.5-inch hard drive chassis..................................................................................................................................7
Back panel...........................................................................................................................................................................8
Three-riser chassis.......................................................................................................................................................8
Hard drive indicator codes...............................................................................................................................................10
NIC indicator codes...........................................................................................................................................................11
Power supply unit indicator codes...................................................................................................................................11
iDRAC Direct LED indicator codes..................................................................................................................................14
Locating serial number of your appliance...................................................................................................................... 15
Looking up your appliance serial number in VxRail Manager.................................................................................15
Locating your physical VxRail™ Service Tag number.............................................................................................15
2 Documentation matrix.................................................................................................................................. 16
3 Technical specications................................................................................................................................17
Chassis dimensions...........................................................................................................................................................17
Chassis weight.................................................................................................................................................................. 18
Processor specications.................................................................................................................................................. 18
PSU specications............................................................................................................................................................18
Battery specications.......................................................................................................................................................18
Expansion bus specications...........................................................................................................................................18
Memory specications.....................................................................................................................................................18
Hard drive specications..................................................................................................................................................19
Ports and connectors specications.............................................................................................................................. 19
USB ports.................................................................................................................................................................... 19
NIC ports..................................................................................................................................................................... 19
Serial connector..........................................................................................................................................................19
Internal dual SD Module.............................................................................................................................................19
Environmental specications.......................................................................................................................................... 20
Particulate and gaseous contamination specications...........................................................................................21
Standard operating temperature...............................................................................................................................21
Expanded operating temperature............................................................................................................................ 22
Expanded operating temperature restrictions........................................................................................................22
4 Initial setup and conguration...................................................................................................................... 23
5 Pre-operating systems.................................................................................................................................24
Options to manage the pre-operating system applications........................................................................................ 24
iDRAC conguration........................................................................................................................................................ 24
Log in to iDRAC.......................................................................................................................................................... 24
Contents 3

6 Replacing and adding hardware................................................................................................................... 26
Using SolVe Desktop application for VxRail Series hardware tasks...........................................................................26
Memory.............................................................................................................................................................................26
General memory module installation guidelines......................................................................................................28
Expansion cards and expansion card riser.................................................................................................................... 28
Expansion card guidelines......................................................................................................................................... 28
7 Getting help.................................................................................................................................................30
Contacting Dell EMC.......................................................................................................................................................30
Registering for online support........................................................................................................................................ 30
Accessing support resources......................................................................................................................................... 30
4 Contents

Overview
The VxRail™E Series appliance is a hyper-converged appliance that supports:
• Up to two Intel Xeon E5-2600 v4 processors
• Up to 24 DIMM slots supporting up to 1536 GB of memory
• Storage capacity of up to 10 drive slots
• Two AC or DC redundant power supply units
NOTE: The appliance supports only internal, hot swappable hard drives.
NOTE: In this document, HDD generically refers to both HDD and SSD.
Topics:
• Supported congurations
• Front panel
• Back panel
• Hard drive indicator codes
• NIC indicator codes
• Power supply unit indicator codes
• iDRAC Direct LED indicator codes
• Locating serial number of your appliance
Supported congurations
The VxRail™E Series appliance supports the following congurations:
1
Overview 5

Figure 1. Supported congurations
1Cooling fan in the cooling fan assembly (6) 2 Processor (2)
3 DIMMs (24) 4 PSU connector
5 PSU (2) 6 Expansion card riser 3
7 Network daughter card 8 Expansion card riser 1
9 Expander board 10 Hard drive
6 Overview

Front panel
The front panel provides access to the features available on the front of the appliance, such as the power button, NMI button, appliance
identication tag, appliance identication button, and USB ports. The diagnostic LEDs are prominently located on the front panel. The hot
swappable hard drives are accessible from the front panel.
10 x 2.5-inch hard drive chassis
Figure 2. Front panel features of the 10 x 2.5-inch hard drive chassis
1Diagnostic indicators 2 Appliance health indicator
3 Power-on indicator, power button 4 NMI button
5 Appliance identication button 6 Micro USB port/iDRAC Direct
7 Information tag 8 Hard drives (10)
Table 1. Front panel features of the 10 x 2.5-inch hard drive chassis
Item Indicator, Button, or Connector Icon Description
1 Diagnostic indicators The diagnostic indicators light up to display error status.
2 Appliance health indicator If the appliance is on, and in good health, the indicator lights solid
blue.
The indicator blinks amber if the appliance is on or in standby, and if
any error exists (for example, a failed fan or hard drive).
3 Power-on indicator, power
button
The power indicator turns on when the appliance power is on. The
power button controls the power supply output to the appliance.
NOTE: On ACPI-compliant operating systems, turning o
the appliance by using the power button causes the
appliance to perform a graceful shutdown before power to
the appliance is turned o.
4 NMI button Used to troubleshoot software and device driver errors when
running certain operating systems. This button can be pressed by
using the end of a paper clip.
Overview 7

Item Indicator, Button, or Connector Icon Description
NOTE: Use this button only if directed to do so by
qualied support personnel or by the operating system
documentation.
5 Appliance identication button The identication buttons on the front and back panels can be used
to locate a particular appliance within a rack. When one of these
buttons is pressed, the appliance status indicator on the back
ashes until one of the buttons is pressed again.
Press to toggle the appliance ID on or o.
If the appliance stops responding during POST, press and hold the
appliance ID button for more than ve seconds to enter BIOS
progress mode.
To reset the iDRAC (if not disabled in F2 iDRAC setup), press and
hold the button for more than 15 seconds.
6 Micro USB port/iDRAC Direct Enables you to connect USB devices to the appliance or provides
access to the iDRAC Direct features. For more information, see the
Integrated Dell Remote Access Controller User's Guide at
Dell.com/idracmanuals. The port is USB 3.0-compliant.
7 Information tag Contains appliance information such as Service Tag, NIC, MAC
address for your reference. The information tag is a slide-out label
panel.
8 Hard drives (10) Up to ten 2.5-inch hot swappable hard drives.
Back panel
The back panel provides access to the features available on the back of the appliance, such as the appliance identication button, power
supply sockets, cable management arm connectors, iDRAC storage media, NIC ports, and USB ports. Most of the expansion card ports can
be accessed from the back panel. The hot swappable power supply units are accessible from the back panel.
Three-riser chassis
Figure 3. Back panel features (three PCIe expansion cards)
1Appliance identication button 2 Appliance identication connector
3 iDRAC8 Enterprise port 4 LP PCIe expansion card slot (riser 1)
5 Serial connector 6 LP PCIe expansion card slot (riser 1)
8 Overview

7 Video connector 8 USB port (2)
9 LP PCIe expansion card slot (riser 3) 10 Ethernet connectors (4)
11 Power supply (PSU1) 12 Power supply (PSU2)
Table 2. Back panel features (three PCIe expansion cards)
Item Indicator, Button, or Connector Icon Description
1 Appliance identication button The identication buttons on the front and back panels can be used
to locate a particular appliance within a rack.
When one of these buttons is pressed, the appliance status
indicator on the back ashes until one of the buttons is pressed
again.
Press to toggle the appliance ID on and o. If the appliance stops
responding during POST, press and hold the appliance ID button for
more than ve seconds to enter BIOS progress mode.
To reset iDRAC (if not disabled in F2 iDRAC setup) press and hold
for more than 15 seconds.
2 Appliance identication
connector
Enables you to connect the optional appliance status indicator
assembly through the optional cable management arm.
3 iDRAC8 Enterprise port Dedicated management port.
4 LP PCIe expansion card slot
(riser 1)
Enables you to connect a low prole LP PCIe expansion card. See
the Expansion card guidelines section.
5 Serial connector Enables you to connect a serial device to the appliance.
6 LP PCIe expansion card slot
(riser 1)
Enables you to connect a low prole LP PCIe expansion card. See
the Expansion card guidelines section.
8 USB port (2) Enables you to connect USB devices to the appliance. The ports are
USB 3.0-compliant.
9 LP PCIe expansion card slot
(riser 3)
Enables you to connect a LP PCIe expansion card. See the
Expansion card guidelines section.
10 Ethernet connectors (4) Four integrated connectors:
• Two integrated 10/100/1000 Mbps RJ45 connectors
• Two integrated 100 Mbps/1 Gbps/10 Gbps SFP+ or RJ45
connectors
11 PSU1 1100 W AC power supply unit (PSU) or 1100 W DC PSU
12 PSU2 1100 W AC PSU or 1100 W DC PSU
Related links
Expansion card guidelines
Overview 9

Hard drive indicator codes
Each hard drive carrier has an activity indicator and a status indicator. The indicators provide information about the current status of the
hard drive. The activity LED indicates whether hard drive is currently in use or not. The status LED indicates the power condition of the
hard drive.
Figure 4. Hard drive indicators
1Hard drive activity indicator 2 Hard drive status indicator
3 Hard drive
Figure 5. Hard drive indicators on the hard drive and the hard drive tray backplane
1Hard drive activity indicator 2 Hard drive status indicator
3 Hard drive backplane on hard drive tray 4 Hard drive
10 Overview

NOTE: If the hard drive is in the Advanced Host Controller Interface (AHCI) mode, the status indicator (on the right side) does
not turn on.
Table 3. Hard drive indicator codes
Drive-status indicator pattern Condition
Flashes green twice per second Identifying drive or preparing for removal.
NIC indicator codes
The NIC on the back panel has an indicator that provides information about the network activity and link status. The activity LED indicates
whether the NIC is currently connected or not. The link LED indicates the speed of the connected network.
Figure 6. NIC indicators
1link indicator 2 activity indicator
Table 4. NIC indicators
Convention Status Condition
A Link and activity indicators are o The NIC is not connected to the network.
B Link indicator is green The NIC is connected to a valid network at its maximum
port speed (1 Gbps or 10 Gbps).
C Link indicator is amber The NIC is connected to a valid network at less than its
maximum port speed.
D Activity indicator is ashing green Network data is being sent or received.
Power supply unit indicator codes
AC power supply units (PSUs) have an illuminated translucent handle that serves as an indicator and DC PSUs have an LED that serves as
an indicator. The indicator shows whether power is present or a power fault has occurred.
Overview 11

Figure 7. AC PSU status indicator
1 AC PSU status indicator/handle
Table 5. AC PSU status indicators
Convention Power indicator
pattern
Condition
A Green A valid power source is connected to the PSU and the PSU is operational.
B Flashing green When the rmware of the PSU is being updated, the PSU handle ashes green.
C Flashing green and
turns o
When hot-adding a PSU, the PSU handle ashes green ve times at 4 Hz rate and turns
o. This indicates a PSU mismatch with respect to eciency, feature set, health status,
and supported voltage.
NOTE: Ensure that both the PSUs are of the same capacity.
CAUTION: For AC PSUs, use only PSUs with the Extended Power Performance
(EPP) label on the back.
D Flashing amber Indicates a problem with the PSU.
CAUTION: When correcting a PSU mismatch, replace only the PSU with the
ashing indicator. Swapping the PSU to make a matched pair can result in an
error condition and unexpected appliance shutdown. To change from a high
output conguration to a low output conguration or vice versa, you must turn
o the appliance.
CAUTION: AC PSUs support both 220 V and 110 V input voltages. When two
identical PSUs receive dierent input voltages, they can output dierent
wattages, and trigger a mismatch.
CAUTION: If two PSUs are used, they must be of the same type and have the
same maximum output power.
CAUTION: Combining AC and DC PSUs is not supported and triggers a
mismatch.
12 Overview

Convention Power indicator
pattern
Condition
E Not lit Power is not connected.
Figure 8. DC PSU status indicator
1DC PSU status indicator
Table 6. DC PSU status indicators
Convention Power indicator pattern Condition
A Green A valid power source is connected to the PSU and that the PSU is operational.
B Flashing green When hot-adding a PSU, the PSU indicator ashes green. This indicates that there is a
PSU mismatch with respect to eciency, feature set, health status, and supported
voltage. Ensure that both the PSUs are of the same capacity.
C Flashing amber Indicates a problem with the PSU.
CAUTION: When correcting a PSU mismatch, replace only the PSU with the
ashing indicator. Swapping the PSU to make a matched pair can result in an
error condition and unexpected appliance shutdown. To change from a High
Output conguration to a Low Output conguration or vice versa, you must
turn o the appliance.
CAUTION: If two PSU are used, they must be of the same type and have the
same maximum output power.
CAUTION: Combining AC and DC PSU is not supported and triggers a
mismatch.
D Not lit Power is not connected.
Overview 13

iDRAC Direct LED indicator codes
The iDRAC Direct LED indicator lights up to indicate that the port is connected and is being used as a part of the iDRAC subsystem.
NOTE: The iDRAC Direct LED indicator does not turn on when the USB port is used in the USB mode.
Figure 9. iDRAC Direct LED indicator
1iDRAC Direct status indicator
The iDRAC Direct LED indicator table describes iDRAC Direct activity when conguring iDRAC Direct by using the management port (USB
XML Import).
Table 7. iDRAC Direct LED indicators
Convention iDRAC Direct LED
indicator pattern
Condition
A Green Turns green for a minimum of two seconds to indicate the start and end of a le transfer.
B Flashing green Indicates le transfer or any operation tasks.
C Green and turns o Indicates that the le transfer is complete.
D Not lit Indicates that the USB is ready to be removed or that a task is complete.
The following table describes iDRAC Direct activity when conguring iDRAC Direct by using your laptop and cable (Laptop Connect):
Table 8. iDRAC Direct LED indicator patterns
iDRAC Direct LED
indicator pattern
Condition
Solid green for two seconds Indicates that the laptop is connected.
Flashing green (on for two
seconds and o for two
seconds)
Indicates that the laptop connected is recognized.
Turns o Indicates that the laptop is unplugged.
14 Overview

Locating serial number of your appliance
To get support for your appliance, use the VxRail Appliance serial number, also called the "PSNT" (Product Serial Number Tag). The PSNT
is a 14-digit number used to identify your appliance to Dell EMC support.
NOTE: Only use the VxRail Appliance serial number to contact Customer Support. Sometimes, you may need to supply the 8-
digit Service Tag number
There are two identication tags on your appliance:
• The VxRail appliance serial number—You can nd the serial number in VxRail Manager, or printed on the information tag.
• The Service Tag — You can nd the Srvice Tag printed on the physical appliance.
Looking up your appliance serial number in VxRail Manager
1 In VxRail Manager, on the left navigation bar, click Health.
2 To display appliance information, click Physical.
3 Observe the VxRail Appliance serial number, listed under the appliance ID as the PSNT.
Locating your physical VxRail™Service Tag number
Your hardware is identied by a unique Service Tag number. The Service Tag is found on the front of the appliance by pulling out the
information tag.
Alternatively, the information may be on a sticker on the chassis of the appliance. This information is used by Dell EMC to route support
calls to the appropriate personnel.
NOTE: Use the 8-digit Service Tag, only if instructed by Technical Support.
Figure 10. VxRail™Service Tag
Overview 15

Documentation matrix
The documentation matrix provides information on documents that you can refer to for setting up and managing your appliance.
Table 9. Documentation matrix
Document Provides information about... Location
Software Documents
Online help in the VxRail
Manager UI
All admin tasks, licensing, and product architecture
information.
VxRail Manager Online Help
Administrator Guide Help with admin tasks and includes conceptual information. emc.com/vxrailsupport
Release Notes Product-related information that includes critical information
about the release.
emc.com/vxrailsupport
Hardware Documents
Getting started with your
appliance
Technical specications. emc.com/vxrailsupport
Owner's Manual All the hardware details for your appliance along with
technical specications.
emc.com/vxrailsupport
Service Procedure Documents
SolVe Desktop application The SolVe Desktop application gathers critical information
from EMC product guides and combines it with expert Dell
EMC support advice to generate a procedure document that
is concise and task driven.
EMC Online Support site
NOTE: Download the SolVe Desktop
application, all generators are
available within the Solve Desktop.
2
16 Documentation matrix

Technical specications
The technical and environmental specications of your appliance are outlined in this section.
Chassis dimensions
Figure 11. Chassis dimensions
Table 10. Dimension details
Appliance Xa Xb Y Za (with
bezel)
Za (without
bezel)
Zb Zc
10 x 2.5-inch hard drive 482.4 mm 444.0 mm 87.3 mm 32.0 mm 18.0 mm 684.0 mm 723.0 mm
3
Technical specications 17

Chassis weight
The VxRail™E Series appliance supports 10 x 2.5-inch hard drive with maximum weight of 18.5 kg (40.79 lb)
Processor specications
The VxRail™E Series appliance supports two Intel Xeon E5-2600 v4 product family processors.
PSU specications
The VxRail™E Series appliance supports two AC or DC redundant power supply units (PSUs).
Table 11. PSU specications
PSU Class Heat dissipation (maximum) Frequency Voltage
1100 W AC Platinum 4100 BTU/hr 50/60 Hz 100–240 V AC, autoranging
1100 W DC N/A 4416 BTU/hr N/A –(48–60) V DC
NOTE: Heat dissipation is calculated by using the PSU wattage rating.
NOTE: This appliance is also designed to connect to the IT power systems with a phase to phase voltage not exceeding 230 V.
Battery specications
The VxRail™E Series appliance supports CR 2032 3.0-V lithium coin cell battery.
Expansion bus specications
The VxRail™E Series appliance supports PCI express (PCIe) generation 3 expansion cards, which must be available on the system board by
using expansion card risers. This appliance supports three types of expansion card risers. The following table provides detailed information
about the expansion card riser specications:
Table 12. Expansion card riser specications
Expansion card
riser
PCIe slots on the riser Height Length Link
Riser 1 Slot 1 Low-prole half-length x16
Slot 2 low-prole half-length x8
Riser 3 Slot 3 low-prole half-length x16
NOTE: When using slot 1 and slot 2 on the riser, ensure that both the processors are available on the appliance.
Memory specications
The VxRail™E Series appliance supports DDR4 registered DIMMs (RDIMMs) and load-reduced DIMMs (LRDIMMs). Supported memory
bus frequencies are 1333MT/s, 1600 MT/s, 1866 MT/s, 2133MT/s, or 2400 MT/s.
18 Technical specications

Table 13. Memory specications
Memory module
sockets
Memory capacity Minimum RAM Maximum RAM
Twenty-four 288-
pins • 64 GB quad rank (LRDIMMs)
• 16 GB or 32 GB dual rank
(RDIMMs)
• 64 GB with single processor
(minimum of four memory
modules)
• 128 GB with dual processors
(minimum four memory modules
per processor)
• LRDIMM: up to 768 GB with
single processor
• LRDIMM: up to 1536 GB with dual
processors
• RDIMM: up to 384 GB with single
processor
• RDIMM: up to 768 GB with dual
processors
Hard drive specications
The VxRail™E Series appliance supports up to ten 2.5-inch, internal, hot-swappable SAS, or Nearline SAS hard drives.
Ports and connectors specications
USB ports
The VxRail™E Series appliance supports:
• One micro USB 2.0-compliant port on the front panel
• Two 9-pin USB 3.0 - complaint ports on the back panel
NIC ports
The VxRail™E Series appliance supports four Network Interface Controller (NIC) ports on the back panel, which is available in one of the
following NIC congurations:
• Two 10/100/1000 Mbps RJ45 connectors and two 100 Mbps/1 Gbps/10 Gbps SFP+ or RJ45 connectors
• An optional PCIe NIC, which has either two 100Mbps/1Gbps/10Gbps SFP+ or RJ45 connectors
Serial connector
The serial connector connects a serial device to the appliance. The VxRail™E Series appliance supports one serial connector on the back
panel, which is a 9-pin connector, Data Terminal Equipment (DTE), 16550-compliant.
Internal dual SD Module
The Internal Dual SD module (IDSDM) provides you with a redundant SD card solution. The IDSDM card oers the following feature:
• Dual card operation — Maintains a mirrored conguration by using SD cards in both the slots and provides redundancy.
NOTE: The IDSDM on the VxRail appliance is pre-congured for appliance bare metal recovery. Do not change any of the
settings.
Technical specications 19

Environmental specications
Table 14. Temperature specications
Temperature Specications
Storage –40°C to 65°C (–40°F to 149°F)
Continuous operation (for altitude less than 950 m or 3117 ft) 10°C to 35°C (50°F to 95°F) with no direct sunlight on the
equipment.
Maximum temperature gradient (operating and storage) 20°C/h (36°F/h)
Table 15. Relative humidity specications
Relative humidity Specications
Storage 5% to 95% RH with 33°C (91°F) maximum dew point. Atmosphere
must be non-condensing at all times.
Operating 10% to 80% relative humidity with 29°C (84.2°F) maximum dew
point.
Table 16. Maximum vibration specications
Maximum vibration Specications
Operating 0.26 Grms at 5 Hz to 350 Hz (all operation orientations).
Storage 1.88 Grms at 10 Hz to 500 Hz for 15 min (all six sides tested).
Table 17. Maximum shock specications
Maximum shock Specications
Operating Six consecutively executed shock pulses in the positive and
negative x, y, and z axes of 40 G for up to 2.3 ms.
Storage Six consecutively executed shock pulses in the positive and
negative x, y, and z axes (one pulse on each side of the appliance)
of 71 G for up to 2 ms.
Table 18. Maximum altitude specications
Maximum altitude Specications
Operating 3048 m (10,000 ft)
Storage 12,000 m (39,370 ft)
Table 19. Operating temperature de-rating specications
Operating temperature de-rating Specications
Up to 35°C (95°F) Maximum temperature is reduced by 1°C/300 m (1°F/547 ft)
above 950 m (3,117 ft).
35°C to 40°C (95°F to 104°F) Maximum temperature is reduced by 1°C/175 m (1°F/319 ft) above
950 m (3,117 ft).
20 Technical specications