Dell PowerEdge R815 Quick start guide

PowerEdge R815
Technical Guide
Ideal for
virtualization,
medium-sized
databases, high-
performance
computing, and
other highly
threaded application
implementations.

Dell
PowerEdge R815 Technical Guide ii
This document is for informational purposes only. Dell reserves the right to make changes without
further notice to any products herein. The content provided is as is and without express or implied
warranties of any kind.
Dell, the Dell logo, PowerEdge, EqualLogic, PowerVault, OpenManage, and ReadyRails are
trademarks of Dell, Inc. Citrix and XenServer are registered trademarks of Citrix Systems, Inc. and/or
one or more of its subsidiaries, and may be registered in the United States Patent and Trademark
Office and in other countries. AMD, AMD Opteron, AMD PowerNow!, AMD-V, CoolCore, and
combinations thereof are trademarks of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. Intel and Xeon are registered
trademarks and MMX and Core are trademarks of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and other countries.
Broadcom and NetXtreme are registered trademarks of Broadcom Corporation and/or its affiliates in
the United States, certain other countries and/or the EU. Matrox is a registered trademark of Matrox
Electronic Systems Ltd. Microsoft, Windows, Windows Server, SQL Server, and BitLocker, and Hyper-V
are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or
other countries. Red Hat is a registered trademark of Red Hat, Inc. in the United States and other
countries. Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds. Symantec and Backup Exec are
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a registered trademark of QLogic Corporation. VMware and vSphere are registered trademarks and
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trademarks and trade names may be used in this document to refer to either the entities claiming
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©Copyright 2012 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction or translation of any part of this work
beyond that permitted by U.S. copyright laws without the written permission of Dell Inc. is unlawful
and strictly forbidden.
December 2012 | Version 5.0

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PowerEdge R815 Technical Guide iii
Table of Contents
1Product Comparison ...........................................................................................7
1.1 Overview ..................................................................................................7
1.1.1 Performance-Driven Technology.................................................................7
1.1.2 Purpose-Built for Reliability ......................................................................7
1.1.3 Efficient Infrastructure............................................................................7
1.1.4 Intelligent, Connected Systems Management..................................................8
1.2 Comparison ...............................................................................................8
2System Overview............................................................................................. 10
3Mechanical.................................................................................................... 13
3.1Chassis Description..................................................................................... 13
3.2 Dimensions and Weight................................................................................ 13
3.3 Front Panel View and Features ...................................................................... 13
3.4 Back Panel View and Features ....................................................................... 14
3.5 Power Supply Indicators............................................................................... 14
3.6 NIC Indicators........................................................................................... 15
3.7 Side View................................................................................................ 15
3.8 Internal Chassis View.................................................................................. 16
3.9 Rails and Cable Management......................................................................... 16
3.10 Fans ...................................................................................................... 16
3.11 Cabling................................................................................................... 17
3.12 LCD Control Panel...................................................................................... 18
3.13 Security.................................................................................................. 19
3.13.1 Cover Latch ....................................................................................... 19
3.13.2 Bezel ............................................................................................... 19
3.13.3 Hard Drive......................................................................................... 19
3.13.4 TPM................................................................................................. 20
3.13.5 Power Off Security............................................................................... 20
3.13.6 Intrusion Alert .................................................................................... 20
3.13.7 Secure Mode ...................................................................................... 20
3.14 USB Key.................................................................................................. 20
3.15 Battery................................................................................................... 21
3.16 Field Replaceable Units (FRU)........................................................................ 21
3.17 User Accessible Jumpers, Sockets, and Connectors............................................... 21
4Power, Thermal, Acoustic .................................................................................. 22
4.1 Power Supplies ......................................................................................... 22
4.2 Power Distribution Board ............................................................................. 22
4.3 42BPower Efficiency ....................................................................................... 22
4.4 Power Supply Specifications.......................................................................... 23
4.5 Environmental Specifications......................................................................... 23
4.6 ENERGY STAR Compliance ............................................................................ 24
4.7 Thermal.................................................................................................. 24
4.8 Acoustics ................................................................................................ 24
5Processors..................................................................................................... 26
5.1 Overview ................................................................................................ 26
5.2 Features ................................................................................................. 26
5.3 AMD Opteron 6200 Series Processors................................................................ 27
5.4 AMD Opteron 6300 Series Processors................................................................ 27

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PowerEdge R815 Technical Guide iv
5.5 Supported Processors.................................................................................. 27
5.6 Processor Configurations.............................................................................. 29
5.7 Processor Installation.................................................................................. 29
5.8 Additional Processor Information.................................................................... 29
6Memory........................................................................................................ 30
6.1 Overview ................................................................................................ 30
6.2 DIMMs Supported ....................................................................................... 30
6.3 Slots...................................................................................................... 30
6.4 Speed .................................................................................................... 30
6.5 Sparing................................................................................................... 31
6.6 Mirroring................................................................................................. 31
6.7 RAID...................................................................................................... 31
6.8 Supported Configurations............................................................................. 31
7Chipset ........................................................................................................ 32
7.1Overview ................................................................................................ 32
7.2 AMD I/O Bridges........................................................................................ 32
7.3 HyperTransport-3 (HT3)............................................................................... 32
7.4 PCI Express Expansion................................................................................. 32
7.5 SouthBridge Link Interface ........................................................................... 32
8BIOS............................................................................................................ 34
8.1 Overview ................................................................................................ 34
8.2 Supported ACPI States................................................................................. 34
8.3 Power Management Modes............................................................................ 34
8.3.1 OS Control......................................................................................... 34
8.3.2 Active Power Controller......................................................................... 34
8.3.3 Maximum Performance.......................................................................... 35
9Embedded NICs/LAN on Motherboard (LOM)............................................................. 36
9.1 Overview ................................................................................................ 36
10 I/O Slots....................................................................................................... 37
10.1 Overview ................................................................................................ 37
10.2 PCI Risers................................................................................................ 37
10.3 Boot Order .............................................................................................. 38
10.4 NIC and LOM Enumeration ............................................................................ 38
10.5 PCI Card Dimensions................................................................................... 38
11 Storage ........................................................................................................ 39
11.1 Overview ................................................................................................ 39
11.2 Storage Controllers .................................................................................... 40
11.2.1 PERC H200......................................................................................... 40
11.2.2 PERC H700......................................................................................... 40
11.2.3 PERC H800......................................................................................... 40
11.3 LED Indicators .......................................................................................... 41
11.4 Optical Drives........................................................................................... 41
11.5 Tape Drives ............................................................................................. 41
12 Video........................................................................................................... 42
13 Rack Information............................................................................................. 43
13.1 Overview ................................................................................................ 43
13.2 Rails...................................................................................................... 43
13.3 Cable Management Arm (CMA)....................................................................... 45
13.4 Rack View ............................................................................................... 45

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PowerEdge R815 Technical Guide v
14 Operating Systems and Virtualization..................................................................... 47
15 Systems Management........................................................................................ 48
15.1 Overview ................................................................................................ 48
15.2 Server Management.................................................................................... 48
15.3 Embedded Server Management ...................................................................... 49
15.4 Dell Lifecycle Controller and Unified Server Configurator....................................... 49
15.5 Integrated Dell Remote Access Controller.......................................................... 50
15.6 iDRAC Express........................................................................................... 50
15.7 iDRAC6 Enterprise...................................................................................... 50
15.8 iDRAC6 Enterprise with Virtual Flash (vFlash) Media ............................................. 50
16 Peripherals.................................................................................................... 53
16.1 USB peripherals......................................................................................... 53
16.2 External Storage........................................................................................ 53
Appendix A. Statement of Volatility.......................................................................... 54
Appendix B. Certifications ..................................................................................... 61
Appendix C. Additional Information and Options ........................................................... 62
Tables
Table 1. Comparison of PowerEdge R815, R905, and R810 Servers.......................................8
Table 2. Product Features Summary ........................................................................ 10
Table 3. Power Supply Status ................................................................................ 15
Table 4. Power Supply Specifications....................................................................... 23
Table 5. Environmental Specifications...................................................................... 23
Table 6. Acoustical Performance for 4-Socket Configuration ........................................... 25
Table 7. G34 Processor Features ............................................................................ 26
Table 8. Supported AMD Opteron 6100 Series Processors................................................ 27
Table 9. Supported AMD Opteron 6200 Series Processors................................................ 28
Table 10. Supported AMD Opteron 6300 Series Processors................................................ 28
Table 11. Maximum supported memory frequencies per channel........................................ 31
Table 12. PCI Expansion Slots ................................................................................. 38
Table 13. Drives ................................................................................................. 39
Table 14. RAID Configurations................................................................................. 39
Table 15. Storage Card Support Matrix....................................................................... 41
Table 16. 2D Graphics Video Modes .......................................................................... 42
Table 17. Supported Racks..................................................................................... 44
Table 18. Rail Adjustability Ranges and Depth ............................................................. 45
Table 19. Unified Server Configurator Features and Description......................................... 49
Table 20. Features List for Base Management Functionality, iDRAC, and vFlash Media .............. 51
Table 21. Statement of Volatility............................................................................. 54
Table 22. Product Safety Certifications...................................................................... 61
Table 23. Electromagnetic Compatibility Certifications................................................... 62
Table 24. Ergonomics, Acoustics and Hygienics............................................................. 62
Table 25. Industry Standards .................................................................................. 63
Figures
Figure 1. R815 Chassis Dimensions ........................................................................... 13
Figure 2. Front Panel View (without Bezel)................................................................. 14

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PowerEdge R815 Technical Guide vi
Figure 3. Front Panel View (with Bezel)..................................................................... 14
Figure 4. Back Panel View..................................................................................... 14
Figure 5. Side View............................................................................................. 15
Figure 6. Internal Chassis View ............................................................................... 16
Figure 7. Cabling Diagram..................................................................................... 18
Figure 8. LCD Panel ............................................................................................ 19
Figure 9. USB Port .............................................................................................. 20
Figure 10. R815 ReadyRails Sliding Rails with Optional CMA............................................ 43
Figure 11. 2U Threaded Rack Adapter Brackets Kit...................................................... 44
Figure 12. R815 Mounted in the B2 Sliding Rails.......................................................... 45
Figure 13. R815 CMA Mounted on the Side Opposite the Power Supplies (Recommended)......... 46

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PowerEdge R815 Technical Guide 7
1Product Comparison
1.1 Overview
The Dell™ PowerEdge™ R815 is a 4-socket rack server offering the latest AMD Opteron™ processors
with up to 64 processor cores and an excellent balance of advanced manageability, memory
scalability, I/O, and redundancy in a space-saving 2U form factor.
1.1.1 Performance-Driven Technology
Purpose-built to provide a reliable foundation and balanced with the latest AMD Opteron processor
technology optimized for stability, consistency, and outstanding price for performance, the Dell
PowerEdge R815 is designed from the ground up for value and performance. It is an ideal platform
for customers looking to maximize data center space and budget.
1.1.2 Purpose-Built for Reliability
We have listened to our customers and built servers endowed with reliability, availability, and
quality. Dell’s reliability promise is simple: Deliver quality products that stand the test of time.
From the robust, metal hard drive carriers and organized cabling to the interactive LCD screen, dual
SD hypervisor modules, and embedded diagnostics, all components are purposefully designed and
built to improve server reliability and usability. Dell has developed its reliability processes by:
•Employing robust validation and testing processes for durable product design
•Verifying each supplier meets stringent quality standards
•Implementing a “one-touch” build process to ensure that one person is responsible for the
entire server build, resulting in greater quality control
•Ensuring that every fully configured Dell server is tested (and re-tested) before it leaves the
factory
•Introducing Unified Server Configurator (USC) which offers embedded and persistent
diagnostics with no media required to help minimize downtime
•Utilizing robust and durable industrial materials to enable long product lifecycles
•Improving redundancy generation over generation by adding features such as dual internal
failsafe SD modules to provide failover at the hypervisor level
In addition to these quality measures, all PowerEdge servers are designed with external ports, power
supplies, and LED lights or LCD screens in the same location for a more efficient and familiar user
experience, as well as easy installation and deployment.
1.1.3 Efficient Infrastructure
Limitations on space, power, and cooling capacity combined with rising energy costs present
enormous challenges for IT. Our newest Dell PowerEdge servers are made to deliver energy efficiency
as a design standard while helping to meet the performance and budget goals your infrastructure
requires. Energy-efficient system design built with Energy Smart technologies such as power capping,
power inventory, and power budgeting help to better manage power within your specific
environment.
Included in the PowerEdge R815 chassis are efficient fans, which spin in accordance with server
workload demands. In addition, the internal shrouding and logical layout of the internal components
aids with airflow direction, helping to keep the server cool. The PowerEdge R815 also includes

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PowerEdge R815 Technical Guide 8
power-management features such as volt regulators, power-regulating processors, and an interactive
LCD screen for access to power consumption information.
1.1.4 Intelligent, Connected Systems Management
The Dell Lifecycle Controller (an integrated chip) is the engine for advanced embedded management
that is delivered as part of the iDRAC6 Express or optional iDRAC6 Enterprise in the PowerEdge R815.
It is accessed through a single console called the Unified Server Configurator. Administrators can
simplify tasks by performing a complete set of provisioning functions such as system deployment,
system updates, hardware configuration, and diagnostics in the pre-OS environment. This avoids the
need to use and maintain multiple pieces of disparate CD/DVD media. The PowerEdge R815 also
features an interactive LCD screen positioned on the front of the server for ease of monitoring.
1.2 Comparison
Table 1 compares the Dell™ PowerEdge™ R815 to the PowerEdge R905 and the PowerEdge R810.
Table 1. Comparison of PowerEdge R815, R905, and R810 Servers
Feature R815 R905 (predecessor) R810
Processor AMD Opteron™ 6100,
6200, and 6300 series
processors
AMD Opteron™ 8200 or
8300 series processors Intel®Xeon®
Processor 6500 and
7500 series
Intel Xeon E7-2800,
E7-4800, and E7-8800
product family
Number of sockets 4 4 2 or 4
Number of cores 4, 8, 12, or 16 4 or 6 4, 6, 8, or 10
L2/L3 Cache L2: 1MB/core
L3: 16MB N/A Up to 30MB
Chipset AMD SR5650, SR5670,
and SP5100 HT1100 Intel®7500
DIMMs 32 (1, 2, 4, 8, 16,
and 32GB DDR3) 32 (1, 2, 4, and 8GB DDR2) 32 (1, 2, 4, 8, 16, and 32GB DDR3)
Min./Max. RAM 8GB/1TB 4GB/256GB Up to 1TB
Hard Drive Bays 6 x 2.5” 5 x 3.5” or 8 x 2.5” 6 x 2.5”
Hard Drive Types SAS SSD, SATA, SAS SAS SATA SSD, SATA, SAS
Ext Drive Bay(s) 1 1 1
Int. HD Controller PERC H200, H700 PERC6/i PERC H200, H700
I/O Slots 6 7 6
RAID PERC H200, H700,
H800, 6/E PERC6/I PERC H200, H700, H800, 6/E, SAS 5/E
NIC/LOM 4 x 1Gb LOMs 4 x 1Gb LOMs or
2 x 1Gb + 2 x 10Gb LOMs 4 x 1Gb LOMs
Power Supplies Hot-swap redundant Hot-swap redundant Hot-swap redundant

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PowerEdge R815 Technical Guide 9
Feature R815 R905 (predecessor) R810
Fans 6 4 6
Chassis 2U 4U 2U

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PowerEdge R815 Technical Guide 10
2System Overview
Table 2 lists a summary of features for the Dell™ PowerEdge™ R815. For the latest information on
supported features, visit Dell.com.
Table 2. Product Features Summary
Feature
Technical Specification
Form Factor
2U rack
Processors
AMD Opteron™ 6100, 6200, and 6300 series processors
Processor Sockets
4
Front Side Bus or
HyperTransport Hyper-Transport-3 Links
Cache
L2: 1MB/core
L3: 16MB
Chipset
AMD (SR5650, SR5670 and SP5100)
Memory1
Up to 1TB (32 DIMM Slots): 1GB/2GB/4GB/8GB/16GB/32GB up to 1600MT/s
I/O Slots
6 PCIe G2 slots + 1 storage slot:
Five x8 slots (three with x16 connectors)
One x4 slot (with x8 connector)
One x4 storage slot (with x8 connector)
RAID Controller
Internal Controllers:
PERC H200 (6Gb/s)
PERC H700 (6Gb/s) with 512MB
battery-backed cache; 512MB,
1GB non-volatile battery-backed
cache
External Controllers:
SAS 5/E with 512MB battery-backed cache
PERC H800 (6Gb/s) with 512MB of battery-
backed cache; 512MB, 1GB non-volatile
battery-backed cache
PERC 6/E with 256MB or 512MB of battery-
backed cache
External HBAs (non-RAID):
6Gbp/s SAS HBA
SAS 5/E HBA
LSI2032 PCIe SCSI HBA
Drive Bays
Up to six 2.5” hot-swappable SATA SSD, SAS, nearline SAS, or SATA drives
Maximum Internal
Storage 6TB

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PowerEdge R815 Technical Guide 11
Feature
Technical Specification
Hard Drives1
Hot-plug Hard Drive Options:
2.5” SAS SSD, SATA SSD, SAS (15K, 10K), nearline SAS (7.2K), SATA (7.2K)
Communications
Optional add-in NICs :
Intel®10GBase-T Copper Single
Port NIC, PCI-E x8
Intel Single Port Server Adapter,
10Gigabit, SR Optical, PCI-E x8
Broadcom®BMC57710 10Base-T
Copper Single Port NIC, PCI-E x8
Broadcom 10GbE NIC, Broadcom
Dual Port 10GbE SFP+
Intel Gigabit ET Dual Port Server
Adapter
Intel Gigabit ET Quad Port Server
Adapter
Brocade®CNA Dual port adapter
Emulex®CNA Standup HBA
adapter OCe10102-FX-D Emulex®
CNA iSCSI HBA stand-up adapter
OCE10102-IX-D
Optional add-in HBAs:
QLogic®QLE 2462 FC4 Dual Port 4 Gbps Fiber
Channel HBA
QLogic QLE 220 FC4 Single Port 4 Gbps Fiber
Channel HBA
QLogic QLE 2460 FC4 Single Port 4 Gbps Fiber
Channel HBA
QLogic QLE2562 FC8 Dual-channel HBA, PCI-E
Gen 2 x4
QLogic QLE2560 FC8 Single-channel HBA, PCI-
E Gen 2 x4
QLogic QLE2660 FC16 Dual-Port Fibre Channel
HBA
QLogic QLE2662 FC16 Dual-Port Fibre Channel
HBA
Emulex®LPe-1150 FC4 Single Port 4 Gbps
Fiber Channel HBA, PCI-E x4
Emulex LPe-11002 FC4 Dual Port 4 Gbps Fiber
Channel HBA, PCI-E x4
Emulex LPe-12000 FC8 Single Port 4 Gbps
Fiber Channel HBA, PCI-E Gen 2 x4
Emulex LPe-12002 FC8 Dual Port 4 Gbps Fiber
Channel HBA, PCI-E Gen 2 x4
Brocade FC4 and 8GB HBAs
Power Supply
One hot-pluggable non-redundant 1100W power supply
Two hot-pluggable redundant 1100W power supplies
Availability
Hot-plug hard drives, hot-plug redundant power, dual SD modules, ECC memory,
interactive LCD screen
Video
Matrox®G200eW with 8MB memory
Remote Management
iDRAC6 Express (standard), iDRAC6 Enterprise,
and vFlash media (upgrade optional)

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PowerEdge R815 Technical Guide 12
Feature
Technical Specification
Systems Management
BMC, IPMI 2.0 compliant
Dell™ OpenManage™ featuring Dell Management Console
Unified Server Configurator
Lifecycle Controller enabled: iDRAC6 Express, optional iDRAC6 Enterprise, and
vFlash media
Microsoft®System Center Essential (SCE) 2010 v2
Rack Support
ReadyRails™ sliding rails with optional cable management arm for 4-post racks
(optional adapter brackets required for threaded hole racks)
Operating Systems
Microsoft®Windows Server®2012
Microsoft Windows Server 2008 SP2, x86/x64 (x64 includes Hyper-V®)
Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1, x64 (includes Hyper-V v2)
Microsoft Windows HPC Server 2008
Novell®SUSE®Linux Enterprise Server
Red Hat®Enterprise Linux®
Oracle®Solaris™
Virtualization Options:
Citrix®XenServer®
VMware®vSphere®including ESX™ and ESXi™
Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization®
For more information on the specific versions and additions, visit
Dell.com/OSsupport.
Featured Database
Applications
Microsoft®SQL Server®solutions (see Dell.com/SQL)
Oracle database solutions (see Dell.com/Oracle)
1GB means 1 billion bytes and TB equals 1 trillion bytes; actual capacity varies with preloaded material and
operating environment and will be less.

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PowerEdge R815 Technical Guide 13
3Mechanical
3.1 Chassis Description
The Dell™ PowerEdge™ R815 is a rack mount 2U chassis that provides the following features:
•Slide-out drive bay section to allow servicing of DIMMs below drives
•Updated industrial design including a new LCD, bezel, and hard drive carriers
•Toolless rack latches
•Pull-out tray for Express Service Tag and customer labels
•Support for persistent storage (internal USB and SD card slots and external SD card slot)
•Updated power supply removal process
3.2 Dimensions and Weight
Xa Xb Y Za
w/ bezel Za w/o bezel Zb Zc
482.4 mm 443.1 mm 86.4 mm 35.0 mm 23.5 mm 717.5 mm 720.6 mm
Figure 1. R815 Chassis Dimensions
Maximum configuration weight is 24.1 kg.
3.3 Front Panel View and Features
For more information, see the Front-Panel Features and Indicators section in the About Your System
chapter of the PowerEdge R815 Hardware Owner’s Manual.

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PowerEdge R815 Technical Guide 14
Figure 2. Front Panel View (without Bezel)
Figure 3. Front Panel View (with Bezel)
3.4 Back Panel View and Features
For more information, see the Back-Panel Features and Indicators section in the About Your System
chapter of the PowerEdge R815 Hardware Owner’s Manual on Support.Dell.com/Manuals.
Figure 4. Back Panel View
3.5 Power Supply Indicators
The base redundant system consists of two hot-plug 1100 W power supplies in a 1+1 configuration.
PowerEdge R815 power supplies have embedded cooling fans. The PSUs have one status bi-color LED:
green for AC power present and amber for a fault.

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PowerEdge R815 Technical Guide 15
Table 3. Power Supply Status
LED Power Supply Status
AC Power is not present
AC Power is present
Fault of any kind is detected
DC Power is applied to the system
↔PSU mismatch (when hot-
plugged/swapped)
3.6 NIC Indicators
See the NIC Indicator Codes section in the About Your System chapter in the PowerEdge R815
Hardware Owner’s Manual.
3.7 Side View
Figure 5. Side View

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PowerEdge R815 Technical Guide 16
3.8 Internal Chassis View
Figure 6. Internal Chassis View
3.9 Rails and Cable Management
Sliding ReadyRailsTM for 4-post Racks support the following:
•Toolless installation in 19” EIA-310-E compliant square or unthreaded round hole 4-post racks
including all Dell 42xx & 24xx racks
oNOTE: Threaded 4-post racks require the static ReadyRails™ kit or 3rd party conversion
kits available through Dell Software & Peripherals
•Full extension of the system out of the rack to allow serviceability of key internal components
•Optional cable management arm (CMA)
Measurements and adjustment ranges for the rack:
•Rail depth without the CMA: 714 mm (with outer CMA brackets removed)
•Rail depth with the CMA: 845 mm
•Square-hole rack adjustment range: 686–883 mm
•Round-hole rack adjustment range: 672–876 mm
3.10 Fans
Six hot swappable fans are mounted in a fan gantry that is located in the chassis behind the
processors. Each fan has a blind mate 2x2 connector that plugs directly into the CPU Board. There is
an additional fan integrated in each power supply to cool the power supply subsystem and also
provide additional cooling for the whole system.
The Embedded Server Management logic in the system monitors the speed of the fans. A fan failure
or over-temperature in the system results in a notification by iDRAC6. All system fans are pulse width
modulated fans. Redundant cooling is supported with one fan failing at a time.

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PowerEdge R815 Technical Guide 17
3.11 Cabling
Cabling includes:
•2x30 Control Panel cable
oVGA, LCD, I2C, miscellaneous like power and NMI buttons
•2x6 IO power cable
oDistributes +12V to IO planar from PDB
•SATA data cable
•SAS Interface cables
oSAS0 and SAS1 cables connect SAS adapter to Backplane
•2x10 bundled cables
o2-wire SATA device power cable
o5-wire USB data cable
o2x7 Backplane power cable
•ZIF-connected LCD cable
•Optional cable for Internal Dual SD module
Figure 7 shows a cabling diagram for the PowerEdge R815.

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PowerEdge R815 Technical Guide 18
SATA Optical
PSU
(1+1 configuration)
IO Planar
PDB
CPU Planar
2.5" SAS HDD Bays
Control Panel
PSU Connector
32-signal/6 blade
connector
IO
PWR
AIR MAX
CPU3
CPU1 CPU2
CPU4
FanFan Fan FanFan Fan
2x30
connector USB conn
USB
2.0 USB 2.0
LCD
Power
Button
BackPlane
Video
2x7
Power
USB
2.0
RIPS
Conn
2x10
head
er
SAS
Data SAS
Data
SAS Connectors SAS Connectors SAS Connectors
R
is
e
r
1
S
l
o
t
3
S
l
o
t
4
R
is
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r
2Storage Adapter
S
A
S
x
4
Quad RJ-45 USB
2.0 USB
2.0Video
USB
2.0Serial Drac
2
x
3
0
C
o
n
n
LCD
RIPS module +
SD
SATA
power/
data
SATA
data
ID
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PERC
Battery
Figure 7. Cabling Diagram
3.12 LCD Control Panel
The system control panel is located on the front of the system chassis to provide user access to
buttons, display, and I/O interfaces. Features of the system control panel include:
•ACPI-compliant power button with an integrated green power LED (controlled by iDRAC6)
•128x20 pixel LCD panel with controls
oTwo navigation buttons
oOne select button
oOne system ID button
•Non-Maskable Interrupt (NMI) button (recessed)
•Ambient temperature sensor

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PowerEdge R815 Technical Guide 19
•Two external USB 2.0 connectors (with an internal USB connector and Optional Internal SD
Module)
•15-pin VGA connector
For detailed information on the control panel, see Front-Panel Features and Indicators section in the
About Your System chapter in the PowerEdge R815 Hardware Owner’s Manual.
The LCD panel is a graphics display controlled by iDRAC6. Error codes can be sent to the display by
either iDRAC6 or BIOS.
BIOS has the ability to enter a Secure Mode through Setup, which will lock the Power and NMI
buttons. When in this mode, pressing either button has no effect but does not mask other sources of
NMI and power control.
Figure 8. LCD Panel
For information on LCD Panel Features, see LCD Panel Features section in the About Your System
chapter of the PowerEdge R815 Hardware Owner’s Manual.
3.13 Security
3.13.1 Cover Latch
A tooled entry latch is provided on the top of the unit to secure the top cover to the chassis. See the
Opening and Closing the System section in the Installing System Components chapter of the
PowerEdge R815 Hardware Owner’s Manual.
3.13.2 Bezel
A metal bezel is mounted to the chassis front to provide the Dell ID. A lock on the bezel is used to
protect un-authorized access to system peripherals and the control panel. System status via the LCD
is viewable even when the bezel is installed.
The bezel is optional for PowerEdge R815 systems. For more information, see the Front Bezel
(Optional) section in Installing System Components chapter of the PowerEdge R815 Hardware
Owner’s Manual.
3.13.3 Hard Drive
The optional front bezel of the system contains a lock. A locked bezel secures the system hard
drives. See Hard Drives in the Hardware Owner’s Manual.

Dell
PowerEdge R815 Technical Guide 20
3.13.4 TPM
The TPM is used to generate/store keys, protect/authenticate passwords, and create/store digital
certificates. TPM can also be used to enable the BitLocker™ hard drive encryption feature in Windows
Server 2008.
TPM is enabled through a BIOS option and uses HMAC-SHA1-160 for binding. A Trusted Computing
Module (TCM) version of the planar is available for use where TCM is the standard, for example, in
China.
3.13.5 Power Off Security
The control panel is designed such that the power switch cannot be accidentally activated. The lock
on the bezel secures the switch behind the bezel. In addition, there is a setting in the CMOS setup
that disables the power button function.
3.13.6 Intrusion Alert
A switch mounted on the left riser board is used to detect chassis intrusion. When the cover is
opened, the switch circuit closes to indicate intrusion to ESM. When enabled, the software can
provide notification to the customer that the cover has been opened. PowerEdge R815 only supports
up to five minutes of operation with the cover off.
3.13.7 Secure Mode
BIOS has the ability to enter a secure boot mode via Setup. This mode includes the option to lock out
the power and NMI switches on the Control Panel or set up a system password.
3.14 USB Key
An optional USB memory key installed inside your system can be used as a boot device, security key,
or mass storage device. The USB connector must be enabled by the Internal USB Port option in the
Integrated Devices screen of the System Setup program.
Figure 9. USB Port