Dell PowerEdge M915 Quick start guide

PowerEdge M915
Technical Guide
Maximized
performance and
bandwidth for
mission-critical
workloads and
applications
.

Dell
PowerEdge M915 Technical Guide ii
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December 2012 | Version 3.0

Dell
PowerEdge M915 Technical Guide iii
Table of Contents
1Product Comparison ...........................................................................................6
1.1 Overview ..................................................................................................6
1.2 Maximum Workload Performance......................................................................6
1.3 Boost Business Performance ............................................................................6
1.4 Throughput, Throughput, Throughput ................................................................6
1.5 Enterprise-Class Manageability and Efficiency.......................................................6
1.6 Comparison ...............................................................................................7
2Key Technologies............................................................................................. 10
3System Information .......................................................................................... 11
4Mechanical .................................................................................................... 13
4.1 Chassis Description..................................................................................... 13
4.2 Dimensions and Weight................................................................................ 13
4.3 Front View and Features .............................................................................. 14
4.4 Back View and Features............................................................................... 15
4.5 Power Supply Indicators............................................................................... 15
4.6 LED Indicators .......................................................................................... 15
4.7 Side View................................................................................................ 16
4.8 Internal-Chassis View .................................................................................. 17
4.9 Rails and Cable Management ......................................................................... 17
4.10 Chassis View ............................................................................................ 18
4.11 Fans ...................................................................................................... 18
4.12 Cabling................................................................................................... 18
4.13 Control Panel/LCD ..................................................................................... 18
4.14 Security.................................................................................................. 18
4.15 Cover Latch ............................................................................................. 19
4.16 TPM (Trusted Platform Module)...................................................................... 19
4.17 Power Off Security..................................................................................... 19
4.18 USB Key.................................................................................................. 19
4.19 Battery................................................................................................... 19
4.20 Field Replaceable Units (FRU)........................................................................ 19
4.21 User Accessible Jumpers, Sockets, and Connectors............................................... 19
5Power, Thermal, Acoustic .................................................................................. 20
5.1 Power Supplies ......................................................................................... 20
5.2 Power Efficiency ....................................................................................... 20
5.3 Environmental Specifications......................................................................... 20
5.4 ENERGY STAR Compliance ............................................................................ 21
5.5 Thermal.................................................................................................. 21
5.6 Acoustics ................................................................................................ 22
6Processors..................................................................................................... 23
6.1 Overview ................................................................................................ 23
6.2 Features ................................................................................................. 23
6.3 AMD Opteron 6200 Series Processors ................................................................ 24
6.4 AMD Opteron 6300 Series Processors ................................................................ 24
6.5 Supported Processors.................................................................................. 24
6.6 Processor Configurations.............................................................................. 26
6.7 Processor Installation.................................................................................. 26
7Memory ........................................................................................................ 27
7.1 Overview ................................................................................................ 27
7.2 DIMMs Supported ....................................................................................... 27

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PowerEdge M915 Technical Guide iv
7.3 DIMM Slots............................................................................................... 27
7.4 DIMM Population Guidelines .......................................................................... 27
7.5 Memory Speed .......................................................................................... 27
7.6 Sparing................................................................................................... 28
7.7 Mirroring................................................................................................. 28
7.8 Memory Scrubbing...................................................................................... 28
8Chipset ........................................................................................................ 29
8.1 Overview ................................................................................................ 29
8.2 AMD I/O Bridges ........................................................................................ 29
8.3 HyperTransport 3 (HT-3) .............................................................................. 29
8.4 SouthBridge Link Interface ........................................................................... 29
8.5 AMD SP5100 SouthBridge .............................................................................. 29
8.6 PCI Express Mezzanine Connectors .................................................................. 30
9BIOS ............................................................................................................ 31
9.1 Overview ................................................................................................ 31
9.2 Supported ACPI States................................................................................. 31
10 Embedded LAN on Motherboard (LOM).................................................................... 32
10.1 PCI Express Network Daughtercards................................................................. 32
10.2 Broadcom BCM5709S................................................................................... 32
10.3 Broadcom BCM57712................................................................................... 32
11 I/O Mezzanine Card Options................................................................................ 33
11.1 Overview ................................................................................................ 33
11.2 Options .................................................................................................. 33
12 Storage ........................................................................................................ 34
12.1 Drives .................................................................................................... 34
12.2 Hard Disk Drive Carriers............................................................................... 34
12.3 Empty Drive Bays....................................................................................... 34
12.4 Diskless Configuration Support ....................................................................... 34
12.5 RAID Configurations.................................................................................... 35
12.6 Storage Controllers .................................................................................... 35
12.6.1 PERC H200 Modular .............................................................................. 35
12.6.2 PERC H700 Modular .............................................................................. 35
12.6.3 SATA Repeater.................................................................................... 36
12.7 Optical Drives........................................................................................... 36
12.8 External Storage........................................................................................ 36
13 Video........................................................................................................... 37
14 Rack Information............................................................................................. 38
15 Operating Systems ........................................................................................... 39
16 Virtualization ................................................................................................. 40
16.1 Overview ................................................................................................ 40
16.2 Advanced Infrastructure Manager by Scalent ...................................................... 40
17 Systems Management........................................................................................ 42
17.1 Overview ................................................................................................ 42
17.2 Server Management.................................................................................... 42
17.3 Embedded Server Management ...................................................................... 43
17.4 Dell Lifecycle Controller and Unified Server Configurator ....................................... 43
17.5 Integrated Dell Remote Access Controller.......................................................... 43
17.6 iDRAC6 Enterprise...................................................................................... 44
17.7 iDRAC6 Enterprise with Virtual Flash (vFlash) Media ............................................. 44
17.8 Chassis Management Controller (CMC) .............................................................. 46
18 USB Peripherals .............................................................................................. 47
Appendix A. Statement of Volatility .......................................................................... 48

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PowerEdge M915 Technical Guide v
Appendix B. Certifications ..................................................................................... 52
B 1. Regulatory Certifications ............................................................................. 52
B 2. Product Safety Certifications......................................................................... 52
B 3. Electromagnetic Compatibility....................................................................... 53
B 4. Ergonomics, Acoustics and Hygienics ............................................................... 53
Appendix C. Industry Standards ............................................................................... 54
Tables
PowerEdge M915 Comparison to M910, R815, and R910.........................................7Table 1.
Product Features Summary ........................................................................ 11Table 2.
Environmental Specifications...................................................................... 20
Table 3.
Acoustical Performance of M1000e Chassis with Four M915 Blades Installed .............. 22Table 4.
AMD Opteron 6100, 6200, and 6300 Series Processors ......................................... 23Table 5.
Supported AMD Opteron 6100 Series Processors................................................ 24Table 6.
Supported AMD Opteron 6200 Series Processors................................................ 25Table 7.
Supported AMD Opteron 6300 Series Processors................................................ 25Table 8.
Supported Hard Drives.............................................................................. 34Table 9.
Factory RAID Configurations ....................................................................... 35Table 10.
Supported Storage Controllers .................................................................... 35Table 11.
Supported Video Modes ............................................................................ 37Table 12.
Virtualization Software............................................................................. 40Table 13.
Unified Server Configurator Features and Description......................................... 43Table 14.
Features List for Base Management Functionality, iDRAC, and vFlash Media .............. 44Table 15.
Volatility.............................................................................................. 48Table 16.
Product Safety Certifications...................................................................... 52Table 17.
Electromagnetic Compatibility Certifications................................................... 53Table 18.
Ergonomics, Acoustics and Hygienics............................................................. 53Table 19.
Industry Standards .................................................................................. 54Table 20.
Figures
Figure 1. Front View ........................................................................................... 14
Figure 2. Back View ............................................................................................ 15
Figure 3. Side View ............................................................................................. 16
Figure 4. Internal Chassis View ............................................................................... 17
Figure 5. M1000e Chassis ...................................................................................... 18
Figure 6. 2.5‖ Hard Drive Carrier ............................................................................ 34

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PowerEdge M915 Technical Guide 6
1Product Comparison
1.1 Overview
The Dell™PowerEdge™ M915 is a 4-socket, full-height blade server ideal for mission-critical
applications needing maximum I/O scalability and performance.
1.2 Maximum Workload Performance
Input, process, analyze, and report data on the same platform; consolidate servers; and scale during
peak workloads. With up to 48 processor cores, the Dell PowerEdge™ M915 offers you the
performance you need to run your important business applications and workloads. Get the ability to
run robust virtual machines (VMs), maximize the number of virtual machines being run per server,
and reap all the benefits of consolidation. The M915 can also help increase database performance by
taking advantage of the high processor core count to run more tasks simultaneously.
1.3 Boost Business Performance
The PowerEdge M915 offers robust AMD processors designed to:
Deliver up to 64 processor cores for optimal 4-socket performance with 2-socket value and
provide the essential features needed to operate your consolidated infrastructure efficiently.
Give you the ability to monitor power and thermals at the processor level and assist with
platform efficiency.
Offer vast pools of processor cores to be deployed, which is ideal for assignment to
virtualized servers. A fully loaded M1000e chassis with eight PowerEdge M915 blade servers
running 16-core AMD Opteron™ 6200 or 6300 series processors can yield up to 512 processor
cores per chassis or 51.2 cores per U.
1.4 Throughput, Throughput, Throughput
Unleash the potential of your consolidated VMs with more I/O throughput:
Maximizing both 10GbE and GbE port counts provides your virtualized applications the
dedicated bandwidth they need in I/O-intensive environments.
Enabling the choice of fabric and vendor can enhance your flexibility to adopt and deploy
networks at your own pace.
Using up to six dual-port 10GbE network cards can bring the total aggregate throughput into a
single server to an amazing 120Gbps.
An integrated, flexible network daughter-card enables a choice of embedded network adapters.
Select either GbE network interface cards (NICs) or 10Gb converged network adapters (CNAs) to
attach to M1000e I/O modules, such as the PowerConnect M8428-k converged network switch. I/O
traffic can then flow to your existing Dell or 3rd-party switching infrastructure.
1.5 Enterprise-Class Manageability and Efficiency
Spend more time creating business value and less on planning, deploying and managing IT. Spend less
money keeping the lights on and cooling servers, reclaiming more resources for strategic business
needs.
One-to-many updating: The Chassis Management Controller and Lifecycle Controller simplify
the update process for BIOS, firmware and drivers on a one-to-many basis without additional

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PowerEdge M915 Technical Guide 7
software. Multi-chassis management provides one console access to several blade enclosures.
Industry leading power and cooling: Efficient power supplies (fully redundant up to 92+%)
utilize minimal power without compromising productivity. High-efficiency fans and intuitive
chassis airflow ducting drive enterprise-class power consumption draw.
Enterprise-Class High-Availability: Dual optional failsafe embedded hypervisors and hard
drive fault tolerance through the hardware RAID controller (PERC) offer data-protective
redundancy that safeguards your organization from IT loss or corruption.
1.6 Comparison
PowerEdge M915 Comparison to M910, R815, and R910Table 1.
Feature
M910
M915
R815
R910
Processor
Intel®Xeon®
E7-2800, E7-4800
and
E7-8800 product
family or
Intel Xeon processor
6500 and 7500 series
AMD Opteron™
6100, 6200, and
6300 series
processors
AMD Opteron™ 6100,
6200, and 6300
series processors
Intel®Xeon®
E7-4800 and
E7-8800 product
family
Intel Xeon processor
7500 series
Front Side Bus
Intel QuickPath
Interconnect (QPI)
HyperTransport-3
(HT-3)
HyperTransport-3
(HT-3)
Intel QuickPath
Interconnect (QPI)
Sockets
4
4
4
4
Cores
6, 8, or 10
8 or 12
8 or 12
6, 8, or 10
L3 Cache
30MB
12MB
12MB
30MB
Chipset
Intel 7500
AMD SR5670 and
SP5100
AMD SR5650,
SR5670, and SP5100
Intel 7500
DIMMs
32 DDR3
32 DDR3
32 DDR3
64 DDR3
Min/Max RAM
4GB/1TB
8GB/1TB
8GB/512GB
4GB/2TB
Form Factor
Full-height blade,
dual-slot
Full-height blade,
dual-slot
2U rack
4U rack
Drive Bays
2 x 2.5‖
hot-plug
2 x 2.5‖
hot-plug
6 x 2.5‖
hot-plug
16 x 2.5‖
hot-plug
Hard Drive
Types
SAS SSD, SATA SSD,
SAS, nearline SAS
SATA SSD, SAS
SAS SSD, SATA SSD,
SAS, nearline SAS,
SATA
SATA SSD, SAS,
nearline SAS, SATA
Embedded Hard
Drive Controller
PERC H200
PERC H700
PERC 6/i
PERC H200
PERC H700
PERC H200
PERC H700
PERC H200
PERC H700
Optional Hard
Drive Controller
PERC H200
PERC H700
PERC 6/i
PERC H200
PERC H700
PERC H200
PERC H700
PERC H200
PERC H700

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PowerEdge M915 Technical Guide 8
Feature
M910
M915
R815
R910
Availability
Hot-plug hard drives
Hot-plug redundant
power and cooling
ECC memory
Single Device Data
Correction (SDDC)
Support for memory
demand and patrol
scrubbing
High availability
failover cluster
support
Hot-plug hard
drives
Hot-plug redundant
power and cooling
ECC memory
Single Device Data
Correction (SDDC)
Support for
memory demand
and patrol
scrubbing
High availability
failover cluster
support
Hot-plug hard drives
Hot-plug redundant
power and cooling
ECC memory
Single Device Data
Correction (SDDC)
Support for memory
demand and patrol
scrubbing
High availability
failover cluster
support
Hot-plug hard drives
Hot-plug redundant
power and cooling
ECC memory
Single Device Data
Correction (SDDC)
Support for memory
demand and patrol
scrubbing
High availability
failover cluster
support
Server
Management
iDRAC6 Enterprise,
BMC, IPMI 2.0, Dell™
OpenManage™,
Chassis Management
Controller
Optional:
vFlash media
iDRAC6 Enterprise,
BMC, IPMI 2.0,
Dell™
OpenManage™,
Chassis
Management
Controller
Optional:
vFlash media
iDRAC6 Express,
BMC, IPMI 2.0, Dell™
OpenManage™
Optional: iDRAC6
Enterprise, vFlash
media
iDRAC6 Express, BMC,
IPMI 2.0, Dell™
OpenManage™
Optional: iDRAC6
Enterprise, vFlash
media
Mezzanine/
PCI Slots
Four x8 PCIe
mezzanine slots
Four x8 PCIe
mezzanine slots
Five x8 PCIe slots
(three with x16
connectors)
One x4 PCIe slot (x8
connector)
One x4 storage slot
(x8 connector)
Standard:
7 PCIe slots
(two x4, four x8, one
x16)
Optional:
10 PCIe (six x4, four
x8)
NIC/LOM
4 x 1GbE LOMs
Broadcom®
BCM5709S
4 x 1GbE LOMs
Broadcom®
BCM5709S
or
2 x 10GbE
Broadcom
BCM57712
4 x 1GbE LOMs
Broadcom®
BCM5709C
1GbE or 10Gb
Embedded NIC
Options:
4-port (4 x 1GbE)
Embedded NIC
Broadcom®5709C, or
4-port (2 x 10Gb SFP+
and 2 x 1GbE)
Embedded NIC
Broadcom 57711 +
Broadcom 5709c
Optional: various NICs
available
USB
2 front,
1 internal
2 front,
1 internal
2 front,
4 back,
1 internal
2 front,
2 back,
1 internal

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PowerEdge M915 Technical Guide 9
Feature
M910
M915
R815
R910
Power Supplies
See M1000e
Technical Guide
See M1000e
Technical Guide
2 x 1100W
4 x 750W (Energy
Smart)
or
4 x 1100W
(high-output)
Form Factor
See M1000e
Technical Guide
See M1000e
Technical Guide
2U rack
4U rack

Dell
PowerEdge M915 Technical Guide 10
2Key Technologies
The Dell™ PowerEdge™M915 features AMD Opteron™6100, 6200, and 6300 series processors,
designed specifically for high-end server applications, DDR3 memory, DIMM thermal sensors, PCI
Express Generation 2, an internal redundant SD module, and iDRAC6 Enterprise.
The Opteron 6100, 6200, and 6300 series features up to twelve-core processing to maximize
performance and performance/watt for data-center infrastructures and highly dense deployments.
The processor also features the AMD Opteron micro-architecture and AMD64 architecture for
flexibility in 64-bit and 32-bit applications and operating systems.

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PowerEdge M915 Technical Guide 11
3System Information
For the latest information on supported features for the Dell™PowerEdge™M915, visit Dell.com.
Product Features SummaryTable 2.
Feature
Technical Specification
Processors
AMD Opteron™ 6100, 6200, and 6300 series processors
Chipset
AMD (SR5670 and SP5100)
Memory1
Up to 1TB (32 DIMM slots): 1GB/2GB/4GB/8GB/16GB/32GB DDR3 up to
1600MT/s
Drive Bays
Up to two 2.5‖ SSD or SAS hot-plug drives
Storage1
Hot-plug Hard Drive Options:
2.5‖ SATA SSD, SAS (15K, 10K)
Maximum Internal Storage:
Up to 2TB1per blade
External Storage:
For information about Dell external storage options, visit
Dell.com/Storage.
RAID Controller Options
PERC H200 (6Gb/s)
PERC H700 (6Gb/s) with 512MB battery-backed cache; 512MB, 1GB
non-volatile battery-backed cache
I/O Mezzanine Card Options
Fully populated mezzanine card slots and switch modules that yield 3
highly available, redundant I/O fabrics per blade.
Ethernet:
Broadcom®Dual-Port 1Gb Ethernet with TOE (BCM-5709S)
Intel®Dual-Port 10Gb Ethernet
Broadcom Dual-Port 10Gb Ethernet (BCM-57711)
10Gb Enhanced Ethernet:
Intel® Dual-Port 10Gb Enhanced Ethernet (10Gb Enhanced Ethernet—FCoE
Ready)
QLogic®Dual-Port CNA QME8142 (10Gb Enhanced Ethernet + FCoE)
Brocade®BR1741M-k Dual-Port Mezzanine CNA
Fibre Channel:
QLogic Dual-Port FC8 Fibre Channel Host Bus Adapter (HBA) (QME2572)
Emulex®Dual-Port FC8 Fibre Channel HBA (LPe1205-M)
Emulex 8 or 4 Gb/s Fibre Channel Pass-Through Module
QLogic Dual-Port FC16 Fibre Channel HBA (QME2662)
Emulex Dual-Port FC16 Fibre Channel HBA (LPm16002B-D)
InfiniBand™:
Mellanox®Dual-Port ConnectX®Quad Data Rate (QDR) InfiniBand
Mellanox Dual-Port ConnectX-3 Fourteen Data Rate (FDR10) 40Gb

Dell
PowerEdge M915 Technical Guide 12
Feature
Technical Specification
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
Virtualization Options:
Citrix®XenServer®
Microsoft Hyper-V through Microsoft Windows Server 2008
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)
Power Supply
Supplied by Dell™PowerEdge™M1000e Blade Chassis
Video
Integrated Matrox®G200eW with 8MB memory
Remote Management
iDRAC6 Enterprise (standard)
Systems Management
BMC, IPMI 2.0 compliant
Dell OpenManage™
Unified Server Configurator
Lifecycle Controller
iDRAC6 Enterprise with optional vFlash media
Chassis Management Controller
Embedded Hypervisor
Optional dual-media redundant hypervisor
1GB means 1 billion bytes and TB equals 1 trillion bytes; actual capacity varies with preloaded material and
operating environment and will be less.
For more information about the Dell blade solution, see the PowerEdge M1000e Technical Guide or the
M1000e Blade Chassis Specification Sheet.

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PowerEdge M915 Technical Guide 13
4Mechanical
4.1 Chassis Description
The Dell™ PowerEdge™ M915 is a full-height blade server that requires an M1000e chassis to operate.
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-height-
double-wide and full-height-double-wide blades. Some highlights include:
Support for RAID
Support for persistent storage (internal USB connector and two SD card slots)
Refer to the PowerEdge M1000e Technical Guide for more information.
4.2 Dimensions and Weight
The PowerEdge M915 dimensions and weight are listed as follows:
Height: 38.5 cm (15.2 in)
Width: 5 cm (2 in)
Depth: 48.6 cm (19.2 in)
Weight: (maximum configuration) 12.7 kg (28 lb)

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PowerEdge M915 Technical Guide 14
4.3 Front View and Features
Figure 1 shows the front view of the M915.
Figure 1. Front View
See the Blade Features section in the About Your System chapter of the Dell PowerEdge Modular
Systems Hardware Owner's Manual on Support.Dell.com for more information.

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PowerEdge M915 Technical Guide 15
4.4 Back View and Features
Figure 2 shows the back view of the M915.
Figure 2. Back View
See the Blade Features section in the About Your System chapter of the Dell PowerEdge Modular
Systems Hardware Owner's Manual on Support.Dell.com for more information.
4.5 Power Supply Indicators
The power supplies must be connected to a power distribution unit (PDU), and not directly to an
electrical outlet. The power supplies require a 200V–240V power source.
See the Power Supply Indicators section in the About Your System chapter of the Dell PowerEdge
Modular Systems Hardware Owner's Manual on Support.Dell.com for more information.
4.6 LED Indicators
Each disk drive carrier has two LED indicators visible from the front of the system. One is a green LED
for disk activity and the other is a bicolor (green/amber) LED for status information. The activity LED
is driven by the disk drive during normal operation. The bicolor LED is controlled by the SEP device
on the backplane. Both LEDs are used to indicate certain conditions under direction of a storage
controller.

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PowerEdge M915 Technical Guide 16
4.7 Side View
Figure 3 shows the side view of the M915.
Figure 3. Side View

Dell
PowerEdge M915 Technical Guide 17
4.8 Internal-Chassis View
Figure 4 shows the internal-chassis view of the M915.
Figure 4. Internal Chassis View
4.9 Rails and Cable Management
See the PowerEdge M1000e Technical Guide.

Dell
PowerEdge M915 Technical Guide 18
4.10 Chassis View
Figure 5 shows the M915 mounted in the PowerEdge M1000e chassis.
Figure 5. M1000e Chassis
4.11 Fans
For detailed information, see the Dell PowerEdge Modular Systems Hardware Owner’s Manual on
Support.Dell.com.
4.12 Cabling
For detailed information, see the Dell PowerEdge Modular Systems Hardware Owner’s Manual or the
Rack Installation Guide on Support.Dell.com.
4.13 Control Panel/LCD
For detailed information, see the Dell PowerEdge Modular Systems Hardware Owner’s Manual on
Support.Dell.com.
4.14 Security
The M915 offers a configurable client IP address range for clients connecting to iDRAC6. For
additional information regarding the PowerEdge M915 security features, see the Dell PowerEdge
Modular Systems Hardware Owner’s Manual on Support.Dell.com.

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PowerEdge M915 Technical Guide 19
4.15 Cover Latch
The blade module includes a latch for the cover. See the Opening and Closing the Blade section in
the Installing Blade Components chapter in the Dell PowerEdge Modular Systems Hardware Owner’s
Manual on Support.Dell.com for more information.
4.16 TPM (Trusted Platform Module)
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
Microsoft®Windows Server®2008. TPM is enabled through a BIOS option and uses HMAC-SHA1-160 for
binding. TCM is available in China.
4.17 Power Off Security
Through the CMC, the front blade server USB ports and power button can be disabled so as to not
allow any control of the system from the front of the blade.
4.18 USB Key
The M915 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.
4.19 Battery
A replaceable coin cell CR2032 3V battery is mounted on the planar to provide backup power for the
Real-Time Clock and CMOS RAM.
4.20 Field Replaceable Units (FRU)
The planar contains a serial EEPROM to contain FRU information including Dell part number, part
revision level, and serial number.
4.21 User Accessible Jumpers, Sockets, and Connectors
For information, see the System Board Information chapter in the Dell PowerEdge Modular Systems
Hardware Owner’s Manual on Support.Dell.com.

Dell
PowerEdge M915 Technical Guide 20
5Power, Thermal, Acoustic
5.1 Power Supplies
See the PowerEdge M1000e Technical Guide for information on power supplies and power supply
specifications.
5.2 Power Efficiency
One of the main features of blade servers is enhanced power efficiency. The M915 achieves higher
power efficiency by implementing the following features:
User-configurable power options with the M1000e Chassis Management Controller (CMC) (see
M1000e documentation online at Support.Dell.com for further details)
Improved power budgeting
VR efficiency improvements (using switching regulators instead of linear regulators)
Closed-loop thermal throttling
Use of LV DDR3 memory (lower voltage compared to DDR2)
BIOS Power/Performance options page
Active Power Controller (BIOS-based CPU P-state manager)
Ability to throttle memory
Ability to disable a processor core
Ability to turn off embedded NICs or PCIe lanes when not being used
Energy Smart components at the M1000e chassis level to selectively enable more computing
performance with less power consumption.
5.3 Environmental Specifications
Environmental SpecificationsTable 3.
Temperature
Operating
10°C to 35°C (50°F to 95°F) with a maximum temperature
gradation of 10°C per hour
Note: For altitudes above 2950 feet, the maximum operating
temperature is derated 1oF/500ft
Storage
-40°C to 65°C (-40°F to 149°F) with a maximum temperature
gradation of 20°C per hour
Relative Humidity
Operating
20% to 80% (noncondensing) with a maximum humidity gradation
of 10% per hour
Storage
5% to 95% (noncondensing) with a maximum humidity gradation of
10% per hour
Maximum Vibration
Operating
0.26Grms at 5-350Hz in operational orientations
Storage
1.54Grms at 10-250Hz in all orientations
Maximum Shock
Operating
Half sine shock in all operational orientations of 31G +/- 5% with a
pulse duration of 2.6ms +/- 10%