Dell PowerEdge R920 Quick start guide

PowerEdgeR920 
TechnicalGuide 
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ThePowerEdgeR920—
acompute‐intensive
rackserverdesignedto
runmission‐critical
applicationsfor
midsizedandlarge
enterprises.
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ii | DellPowerEdgeTechnicalGuide 
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Thisdocumentisforinformationalpurposesonlyandmaycontaintypographicalerrorsandtechnical
inaccuracies.Thecontentisprovidedasis,withoutexpressorimpliedwarrantiesofanykind.
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Dell,theDELLlogo,PowerEdge,EqualLogic,PowerVault,OpenManage,KACE,andReadyRailsaretrademarks
ofDell,Inc.IntelandXeonareregisteredtrademarksofIntelCorporationintheU.S.andother countries.
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Microsoft,Windows,WindowsServer,SQLServer,BitLocker,ActiveX,InternetExplorer,andHyper‐Vareeither
registeredtrademarksortrademarksofMicrosoftCorporationintheUnitedStatesand/orothercountries.
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SUSEisaregisteredtrademarkofNovell,Inc.intheUnitedStatesandothercountries.IBM,Tivoli,andNetcool
areregisteredtrademarksofIBMintheUnitedStates.Othertrademarksandtradenamesmaybeusedinthis
documenttorefertoeithertheentitiesclaimingthemarksandnamesortheirproducts.Delldisclaims
proprietaryinterestinthemarksandnamesofothers.
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March2014|Version1.0

iii | DellPowerEdgeTechnicalGuide 
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TableofContents 
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1 Systemoverview...................................................................................................................................................6 
Introduction..................................................................................................................................................6 
Newtechnologies..........................................................................................................................................6 
2 Systemfeatures.....................................................................................................................................................8 
ComparisonofPowerEdgesystems..............................................................................................................8 
Specifications................................................................................................................................................9 
3 Chassisviewsandfeatures..........................................................................................................................................11 
Chassisviews...............................................................................................................................................................11 
Chassisfeatures..................................................................................................................................................12 
4 Processors............................................................................................................................................................15 
Processorfeatures......................................................................................................................................................15 
Supportedprocessors.........................................................................................................................................15 
Chipset.................................................................................................................................................................16 
5 Memory.......................................................................................................................................................................17 
Supportedmemory.............................................................................................................................................17 
MemoryRASfeatures.........................................................................................................................................18 
MirroringandDellFaultResilientMemory........................................................................................................19 
6 Storage.........................................................................................................................................................20 
DellPowerEdgeExpressFlashNVMePCIeSSDs.....................................................................................20 
SupportedRAIDcontrollers....................................................................................................................20 
7 NetworkingandPCIe..........................................................................................................................................21 
PCIeexpansion............................................................................................................................................22 
PCIeslots........................................................................................................................................................22 
8 Power,thermalandacoustics............................................................................................................................24 
Powerconsumptionandenergyefficiency........................................................................................................24 
Powersupplyunits.............................................................................................................................................25 
Thermaldesign..............................................................................................................................................25 
Acousticaldesign....................................................................................................................................26 
Fans....................................................................................................................................................................27 
9 Rackrailsandcablemanagement......................................................................................................................28 
Slidingrailsystem...............................................................................................................................................29 
CableManagementArm(CMA)andStrainRelief Bar(SRB).............................................................................30 
10 Operatingsystemsandvirtualization.................................................................................................................31 
Supportedoperatingsystems............................................................................................................................31 
Supportedvirtualization.....................................................................................................................................32 
11 DellOpenManagesystemsmanagement...........................................................................................................33 
Systemsmanagementsolutions........................................................................................................................33 
OpenManagesystemsmanagement.................................................................................................................34 
iDRAC7withLifecycleController...................................................................................................................34 
Dellconsoles...................................................................................................................................................37 
OpenManagesystemsmanagementtoolsandutilities.................................................................................37 
Integrationwiththird‐partyconsoles.............................................................................................................38 
OpenManageintegrationandconnectionswiththird‐partyconsoles..........................................................38 
Dellservermanagementoperations..................................................................................................................39 
AppendixA. Additionalspecifications...............................................................................................................41 
Chassisdimensionsandweight..........................................................................................................................41 
Videospecifications...........................................................................................................................................41 

iii | DellPowerEdgeTechnicalGuide 
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Environmentalspecifications..............................................................................................................................42 
Appendix B.
Appendix C.
AppendixD.
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AppendixE. 
Standardscompliance.............................................................................................................43 
Additionalresources......................................................................................................................45 
Blockdiagram.................................................................................................................................47 
DellGlobalSupportandDeploymentServices.............................................................................48 
Serverdeploymentservices................................................................................................................................48 
Remoteconsultingservices....................................................................................................................49 
ProSupportEnterpriseSuite................................................................................................................................49 
ProSupportPlusforbusiness‐criticalservers.................................................................................................49 
ProSupport..............................................................................................................................................50 
ProSupportFlexforDataCenter...................................................................................................................50 
Additionalprofessionalservices........................................................................................................................51 
DellTrainingServices.....................................................................................................................................51 
DellITConsultingServices.............................................................................................................................51 
DellManagedServices...................................................................................................................................51 
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Tables 
Table1. 
Table2. 
Table3. 
Table4. 
Table5. 
Table6. 
Table7. 
Table8. 
Table9. 
Table10. 
Table11. 
Table12. 
Table13. 
Table14. 
Table15. 
Table16. 
Table17. 
Table18. 
Table19. 
Table20. 
Table21. 
Table22. 
Table23. 
Table24. 
Table25. 
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Figures 
Figure1. 
Figure2. 
Figure3. 
Figure4. 
Figure5. 
Figure6. 
Newtechnologies..............................................................................................................................6 
ComparingthePowerEdgeR920tothePowerEdgeR910................................................................8 
Technicalspecifications.....................................................................................................................9 
Chassisfeatures......................................................................................................................................12 
Securityfeatures............................................................................................................................................14 
Supportedprocessors.............................................................................................................................15 
Memorytechnologiessupported...........................................................................................................17 
SupportedDIMMs..........................................................................................................................................18 
MemoryRASfeatures.............................................................................................................................18 
SupportedRAIDcontroller..............................................................................................................20 
Networkdaughtercardfeatures............................................................................................................21 
SelectNetworkAdapterselectionforracks...........................................................................................21 
PowerEdgeR920RNDCoptions......................................................................................................22 
Powertoolsandtechnologies.................................................................................................................24 
PowerEdgeR920ReadyRailsII...............................................................................................................29 
Supportedracktypes.............................................................................................................................29 
PowerEdgeR920supportedoperatingsystems.....................................................................................31 
Virtualizationsupport.............................................................................................................................32 
iDRAC7withLifecycleControllerfunctions andbenefits.......................................................................34 
FeaturecomparisonforiDRAC7Express andEnterprise.......................................................................35 
One‐to‐oneandone‐to‐manyoperations................................................................................40 
Supportedvideomodes..........................................................................................................................41 
Environmentalspecifications..................................................................................................................42 
Industrystandarddocuments.................................................................................................................43 
Resourcedocumentsandwebsites........................................................................................................45 
Frontpanelview.....................................................................................................................................11 
Backpanelview..............................................................................................................................................11 
Internalchassisview...............................................................................................................................12 
QuickResourceLocator...................................................................................................................13 
DellFaultResilientMemory....................................................................................................................19 
ReadyRailsIImountinginterface............................................................................................................28 

v | DellPowerEdgeTechnicalGuide 
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Figure7. 
Figure8. 
Figure9. 
R920SlidingRailswithoptionalCMA....................................................................................................29 
Dellsystemsmanagementsolutions.....................................................................................................34 
Systemsmanagementserverlifecycle....................................................................................................39 
Figure10.R920blockdiagram................................................................................................................................47 

6 | DellPowerEdgeTechnicalGuide 
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1 System overview
Introduction 
Designedtorunmission‐criticalapplicationsformidsizedandlargeenterprises,theDell™
PowerEdge™R920isacompute‐intensiverackserverwithhighlyscalablememoryandimpressive
I/Ocapabilitiestomatch.WithuptofourIntel
®
Xeon
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E7v2multi‐coreprocessors,theabilityto
supportdualRAIDcontrollersandupto6TBofmemory,thePowerEdgeR920canreadilyhandle
themostdemandingworkloadsandisidealforlargedatabases,EnterpriseResourcePlanning,e‐
commerce,businessdecisionapplicationsandhigh‐performancecomputing.ThePowerEdgeR920
isalsoanexcellentchoicefororganizationslookingtomigratefromanoutdatedRISCarchitecture.
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Scaletomatchthechallenge 
ReactatthespeedofbusinesswiththeR920’shighlyscalablememory,I/Ooptionsandstorage
components.WithfourIntelXeonE7v2processors,96DIMMs,10integratedPCIExpress®(PCIe)
expansionslotsand24internalstoragedrives,theR920givesyouprocessingpower,flexibilityand
capacityforgrowth.BuildoutyourSANcapacityasyourbusinessgrows.Keeppacewiththe
increasingdatademandsoflargeenterpriseapplicationswithH730PPERC,dualPERCcapabilityand
uptoeightNVMeExpressFlashPCIe SSDs.
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Getresultsfaster 
Acceleratethetimeittakesenterpriseapplicationstodeliverservicesbyeliminatingthechokepoint 
—thespeedofaccesstodata.UsetheR920’s24internalstoragedrives,ortakeadvantageofits10
PCIeexpansionslotstodrivelargescaleSANstorage.Withoptionslikehigh‐performance12Gbps
SASdrives,dualRAIDcontrollercapabilitiesandExpressFlashNVMedevices,youcanreduce
storageaccesstimesandimproveoverallapplicationefficiency.
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Enterprise‐widesystemsmanagement 
PowerEdgeembeddedmanagementtechnology,integratedDellRemoteAccessController7
(iDRAC7)withLifecycleController,helpsITadministratorsmanageDellserversinphysical,virtual,
localandremoteenvironments—agent‐freeorin‐bandwithasystemsmanagementsoftware
agentinstalled.iDRAC7Enterprisefeaturesincludeamulti‐administratorvirtualconsole,virtual
mediaandremotefilesharethatenableITadminstooperateservers“asiftheywerethere,”
ensuringsecureaccesstoserversfromanywhereintheworld.OpenManage™Essentials,a
comprehensivemonitoringandmanagementconsole,availableasano‐chargesoftwaredownload,
simplifiesandautomatesbasichardwaremanagementtaskswhileDellSupportAssisthelpsyou
maintainahealthyandproductiveenvironment.
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Newtechnologies 
Table1summarizesnewtechnologiesfeaturedontheDellPowerEdgeR920rackserver. 
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Table 1. New technologies
New technology Detailed description
Intel Xeon processor
E7-4800 v2, E7-8800 and
E7-2800 v2 product families
ThisnewfamilyofIntelprocessorshasembeddedPCIelanesfor
improvedI/Operformance.SeetheProcessorssectionfordetails.
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7 | DellPowerEdgeTechnicalGuide 
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New technology Detailed description
Intel C602J chipset
TheR920serverusestheIntelPlatformControllerHub(PCH)chip. 
1600MT/s DDR3 memory
CertainmodelsoftheIntelXeonprocessorE7‐4800v2productfamily
support1600MT/smemory.SeetheMemorysectionfordetails.
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Flexible LAN
TheDellSelectNetworkAdapteroptionsallowyoutocustomizeyour
LANportcombinationsfromyourchoiceofcontrollervendors.Seethe
NetworkingandPCIesectionfordetails.
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LRDIMM
LoadreducedDIMM(LRDIMM)isdesignedwithabufferchip(orchips)to
replacetheregistertohelpminimizeloading.LRDIMMistargetedto
increaseoverallserversystemmemorycapacityandspeedusinga
memorybufferchiporchipsasopposedtoaregister.SeetheMemory
sectionformoredetails.
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Next-generation PERC
options
TheR920supportsthenewPERC9controllercardswithimproved
functionalityandfasterperformance.SeetheStoragesectionfordetails.
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Dell PowerEdge Express Flash
NVMe PCIe SSDs
Ahigh‐performance,solid‐statestoragedevicethatenableshighIOPS
throughput,farsurpassingthatofconventionalrotatingharddrives.See
theNetworkingandPCIesectionfordetails.
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iDRAC7 with Lifecycle
Controller
ThenewembeddedsystemmanagementsolutionforDellPowerEdge
serversfeatureshardwareandfirmwareinventoryandalerting,in‐depth
memoryalerting,fasterperformance,adedicatedgigabitportandmany
morefeatures.SeetheDellOpenManagesystemsmanagementsection
fordetails.
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DC power supply
Anew1100WDCpowersupplyoptionisavailablefortheR920.Seethe
Power,thermalandacousticssectionfordetails.

Advanced power
management
TheR920supportsadvancedpowermonitoringandpowercappingtools
thatcanhelpmanagepowerconsumptioninadatacenter.Seethe
Power,thermalandacousticssectionfordetails.
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Fresh Air cooling
Dellhastestedandvalidatedanintegrateddatacentersolutionthat
enablesyoutooperateathighertemperaturesorevenchiller‐less.See
thePower,thermalandacousticssectionfordetails.

Failsafe hypervisors
TheinternaldualSDmoduleenablesDell'suniqueFailsafeVirtualization
architecture,ensuringuptimebyprovidingfailovercapabilityfor
embeddedhypervisors,suchasVMware
®
vSphere
®
ESXi™. 

8 | DellPowerEdgeTechnicalGuide 

2 System features
ThePowerEdgeR920isDell’sfastestfour‐socket4Userverwithmoredrivebayoptionsover
previousgenerations,PCIe3.0slots,morememory,theabilitytosupportdualRAIDcontrollers,
supportforExpressFlashPCIeSSDs,iDRAC7Enterprise,andflexibleconfigurationoptionstotailora
systemtoyourexact requirements.

ComparisonofPowerEdgesystems 
ThePowerEdgeR920isadirectreplacementfortheR910.Table2comparessomeofthefeaturesof
theR920totheR910.Forthelatestinformationonsupportedfeatures,visitDell.com/PowerEdge.


Table 2. Comparing the PowerEdge R920 to the PowerEdge R910
Specification PowerEdge R920 PowerEdge R910
Chassis
Rack4S/4U  Rack4S/4U 
Processors
IntelXeonprocessorE7‐4800v2and
E7‐8800v2productfamilies(upto
4);IntelXeonprocessorE7‐2800v2
productfamily(upto2)

IntelXeonprocessorE74800andE7‐8800
productfamilies 
Memory
96DIMMslots,upto6TB  64DIMMslots,upto2TB 
Drive bays
 Upto242.5”hot‐plug12Gb/6Gb
SASHDDorSAS/SATA SSD

 Upto8front‐accessibleExpress 
FlashNVMePCIeSSD(PCIe3.0) 
 Upto162.5”SATASSD,SAS,nearlineSAS,or
SATAdrives

RAID
PERCH730P,H810 
DualPERCoption 
PERCH200,H700,H800 
PCI slots
 8PCIe3.0slots(twox8+sixx16) 
 OptionalPCIerisertoaddtwo
additionalslotsfor10total

 7PCIe2.0 slots 
 OptionalPCIerisertoadd3additionalslotsfor
10total

Onboard NICs
FlexibleLOMoptions  2options – (1)4x1GbEor(2)2x1GbE + 2x10Gb 
Power supplies
and power
efficiency
Hot‐plugredundantPSUs:
750WACPlatinum

750WACTitanium
1100W(AC&DC)

Hot‐plugredundantPSUs:
750WACGold

1100WACGold 
Management
DellOpenManageportfolio  DellOpenManageportfolio 
Remote
Management
iDRAC7ExpresswithLifecycle
Controller(standard)

iDRAC7EnterprisewithLifecycle
Controller(optional)

iDRAC6withLifecycleController 
Availability
Hot‐plugdrives, 
Hot‐plugpowersupplyunits
Hot‐plugfans

Hot‐plugdrives, 
Hot‐plugpowersupplyunits
Hot‐plugfans


9 | DellPowerEdgeTechnicalGuide 

Specifications 
Table3summarizestheproductfeaturesforthePowerEdgeR920.Forthelatestinformationon
supportedfeaturesforthePowerEdgeR920,visitDell.com/PowerEdge.


Table 3. Technical specifications
Feature PowerEdge R920 technical specification
Form factor
4Urack 
Processors
IntelXeonprocessorE7‐4800v2andE7‐8800v2productfamilies(upto4)
IntelXeonprocessorE7‐2800v2productfamily(upto2)

Internal interconnect
IntelQuickPathInterconnectv.1.1 
Chipset
IntelC602J 
Memory
Upto6TB(96DIMMslots):4GB/8GB/16GB/32GB/64GBDDR3L,RDIMM,LR‐DIMMup 
to1600MT/s 
I/O slots Upto10PCIeslots;8PCIe3.0,+1RAIDslot,+1NDCslot+2optionalPCIeslots 
RAID controller
Internal controllers:
PERCH730P 
External HBAs (RAID):
PERCH810
6GbpsSASHBA

Drive bays
• Upto242.5”hot‐plug12Gb/6GbSASHDDorSAS/SATASSD 
• Upto8front‐accessibleExpressFlashNVMePCIeSSD(PCIe3.0) 
Supported drives
Hot‐plugharddriveoptions: 
2.5”SATA/SASSSD,SASHDD(15K,10K),nearlineSASHDD(7.2K) 
2.5”PCIeSSDs:DellPowerEdgeNVMeExpressFlashPCIeSSD 
Embedded NIC
Broadcom
®
5720quad‐port1GbNDC 
Broadcom578002x10GbDA/SFP++2x1GbBTNDC 
Broadcom578002x10GbBT+2x1GbBTnetworkdaughtercard
IntelI350quad‐port1GbEnetworkdaughtercard

IntelX520dual‐port10GbDA/SFP+,+I350DP1GbENDC 
IntelEthernetConvergedNetworkAdapterX540,10GbBTDP+I3501GbBTdual‐
portNDC

Power supplies
Hot‐plugredundantPSUs:750WAC,1100WACandDC 
Availability
Hot‐plugharddrives,hot‐plugredundantpower,hot‐plugredundantfans,ECC
memory,internaldualSDmodule

Video
Matrox
®
G200with8MBmemory 
Remote management
iDRAC7withLifecycleController 
 iDRAC7Express(default) 
 iDRAC7Enterprise(upgrade option) 
 8GBor16GBvFlashmedia(upgradeoptions) 

10 | DellPowerEdgeTechnicalGuide 

Feature PowerEdge R920 technical specification
Systems Management
IPMI2.0compliant 
DellOpenManageEssentials
DellOpenManageMobile

DellOpenManagePowerCenter
DellOpenManageIntegrations:

 DellOpenManageIntegrationSuiteforMicrosoftSystemCenter 
 DellOpenManageIntegrationforVMware
®
vCenter 
DellOpenManageConnections: 
 HPOperationsManager,IBMTivoli
®
Netcool
®
,andCANetworkandSystems
Management

 DellOpenManagePlug‐inforOracleDatabaseManager. 
1
GBmeans1billionbytesandTBequals1trillionbytes;actualcapacityvarieswithpreloadedmaterialandoperating
environmentandwillbeless.


11 | DellPowerEdgeTechnicalGuide 

3 Chassis views and features
ThePowerEdgeR920featuresanewchassisdesignthatsupportsadvancedmemorycapacity
throughadditionalDIMMs,PCIslotsandincreasedharddrivespindlecount.

Chassis views 

Figure 1. Front panel view
Figure 2. Back panel view

12 | DellPowerEdgeTechnicalGuide 

Figure 3. Internal chassis view
Chassisfeatures 
Table4liststhefeaturesontheR920chassis.Foradditionalinformation,seethe Dell PowerEdge
R920 Owner’s Manual onDell.com/Support/Manuals.

Table 4. Chassis features
Feature Description
Power-on indicator, power
button
Thepower‐onindicatorlightswhensystempowerison.The
powerbuttoncontrolstheDCpowersupplyoutputtothe
system.

NMI button
Usedtotroubleshootsoftwareanddevicedrivererrorswith
certainoperatingsystems;useonlyifdirectedtodosoby
qualifiedsupportpersonnelorbytheoperatingsystem's
documentation.

System identification button Buttonsonthebackandfrontofasystemtohelpidentifythe
unitinadatacenterenvironment.


13 | DellPowerEdgeTechnicalGuide 

Video connector
Connectsamonitortotheserver. 
LCD menu buttons AllowsyoutonavigatethecontrolpanelLCDmenu. 
Information tag
Aslide‐outlabelpanelforsysteminformationincludingthe
ExpressServicetag,EmbeddedNIC1MACaddress,and
iDRAC7EnterprisecardMACaddress.

LCD panel
DisplayssystemID,statusinformationandsystemerror
messages.

Optical drive
OneoptionalSATADVD‐ROMdriveorDVD+/‐RWdrive 
Hard drives
 Upto242.5”hot‐plug12Gb/6GbSASHDDorSAS/SATA
SSD

 Upto8ExpressFlashNVMePCIeSSD(PCIe 3.0) 
USB connectors
TwoUSB2.0‐compliantportsinthefront,andtwointherear,
connectUSBdevicestotheserver.

vFlash media card slot
AllowsinsertionofavFlashmediacard. 
Ethernet connectors Connectsintegrated10/100/1000NICstotheserver 
Power supply units
Suppliespowertotheserver 
PCIe slots
Upto10PCIeslots;8PCIe3.0,+1RAIDslot,+1NDCslot+2
optionalPCIeslots

iDRAC7 Enterprise port
AllowsyoutonavigatethecontrolpanelLCDmenu 
QuickResourceLocator(QRL) 
ThePowerEdgeR920featuresaQuickResourceLocator—amodel‐specificQuickResponse(QR)
codelocatedinsidetheR920chassiscover(seeFigure4).UseyoursmartphonetoaccesstheDell
QRLapptolearnmoreabouttheserver.



Figure 4. Quick Resource Locator
TheQRcodeprovidesquickaccessto: 

Step‐by‐stepvideos,includingoverviewsofsysteminternalsandexternals,aswellas
detailed,concisetask‐orientedvideosandinstallation wizards


Referencematerials,includingsearchableowner’smanualcontent,LCDdiagnostics,andan
electricaloverview 

Servicetaglookup,soyoucanquicklygainaccesstoyourspecifichardwareconfiguration
infoandwarrantyinformation 

14 | DellPowerEdgeTechnicalGuide 

ContactwithDellviaadirectlinktogetintouchwithtechnicalsupportandsalesteams,and
providefeedbackdirecttoDell

Thesecodesprovideaneasywaytoretrievecriticalsupportinformationwhenyouneedit,making
youmoreefficientandeffectiveatmanagingyourdatacenterhardware.

Securityfeatures 
ThelatestgenerationofPowerEdgeservershasthefeatureslistedinTable5tohelpensurethe
securityofyourdatacenter.


Table 5. Security features
Security feature Description
Cover latch
Atooledlatchisintegratedinthesidecovertosecureittotherackchassis. 
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harddrives.Systemstatusis
viewableontheLCDscreenwhenthebezelisinstalled.

TPM
TheTrustedPlatformModule(TPM)isusedtogenerate/storekeys,
protect/authenticatepasswordsandcreate/storedigitalcertificates.Italso
supportstheIntelXeonTXTfunctionality.TPMcanalsobeusedtoenablethe
BitLocker™harddriveencryptionfeatureinWindowsServer2008.TPM1.2is
supported.TheChinaTCMsolutionisnotsupportedonR920.NoTPMversionis
availableforChinaorRussia.

Power-off security
BIOShastheabilitytodisablethepowerbuttonfunction. 
Intrusion alert
Aswitchmountedonriserthreedetectschassisintrusion.WheniDRACis
enabled,theswitchcircuitclosestoindicateintrusionwhenthecoverisopened.

Secure mode
BIOShastheabilitytoenterasecurebootmodethroughsystemsetup.This
modeincludestheoptiontolockoutthepowerandNMIswitchesonthe
controlpanelorsetupasystempassword.


15 | DellPowerEdgeTechnicalGuide 

4 Processors
ThePowerEdgeR920featurestheIntelXeonprocessorE7‐4800v2,E7‐8800v2andE7‐2800v2
productfamilieswithadvancedreliability,availabilityandserviceability(RAS)featurestokeepyour
businessoperationsrunningandminimizeunnecessarydowntime.Withitshighmemorycapacity,
theR920isidealfordata‐demanding,transaction‐intensiveworkloads,suchasERP,CRM,HPC,and
in‐memorydatabasesystems.

Processorfeatures 
 Upto15coresineachprocessor 

EightDDR3channelspersocket 

Upto1600MT/sDDR3speeds 

AdvancedRASfeaturesofIntelRunSureTechnology,designedtoreducefrequencyandcost
ofdowntimewhileprotectingdataintegrity.IntelRunSureTechnologyprovides40reliability
features,including:

> EnhancedMachineCheckArchitectureGen1(eMCA1)providesadvancederrorlogdata 
tosystemfirmwareandtheOStoimprovesystemdiagnosticandpredictivefailure
analysis

> MachineCheckArchitecture(MCA)recovery—ExecutionPathoffersthecapability fora 
systemtocontinuetooperateevenwhentheprocessorisunabletocorrectdataerrors
withinthememorysub‐systemandallowssoftwarelayerstoparticipateinsystem
recovery

> MCAforI/Oprovidesimproveddiagnosticsandreduceservicecosts,thisfeature 
providesinformationonuncorrectedI/OerrorstotheOSsothatitcantakeappropriate
actions.

> PCIeLiveErrorRecovery(LER)canincreasesystemuptimeandextendrecoveryand 
containmentfromPCIeerrors. 
Supported processors 
ThePowerEdgeR920supportsuptofourE7‐4800v2andE7‐8800v2processors,ortwoE7‐2800
v2processors.IntelXeonprocessorssupportedbythePowerEdgeR920arelistedinTable6.Forthe
l a t e s t i n f o r m a t i o n o n s u p p o r t e d p r o c e s s o r s , v i s i t Dell.com/PowerEdge.


Table 6. Supported processors
Model Speed TDP Cache
Cores/Threa
ds QPI Turbo
MaxMemor
y
Speed
XeonE7-8893v2 3.4GHz 155W 37.5M 6/12 8.0GT/s Yes 1600
XeonE7-8891v2 3.2GHz 155W 37.5M 10/20 8.0GT/s Yes 1600
XeonE7-8880Lv2 2.2GHz 105W 37.5M 15/30 8.0GT/s Yes 1600
XeonE7-8857v2 3.0GHz 130W 30M 12/12 8.0GT/s Yes 1600
XeonE7-4890v2 2.8GHz 155W 37.5M 15/30 8.0GT/s Yes 1600
XeonE7-2890v2 2.8GHz 155W 37.5M 15/30 8.0GT/s Yes 1600
XeonE7-4880v2 2.5GHz 130W 37.5M 15/30 8.0GT/s Yes 1600
XeonE7-2880v2 2.5GHz 130W 37.5M 15/30 8.0GT/s Yes 1600
XeonE7-4870v2 2.3GHz 130W 30M 15/30 8.0GT/s Yes 1600

16 | DellPowerEdgeTechnicalGuide 

XeonE7-2870v2 2.3GHz 130W 30M 15/30 8.0GT/s Yes 1600
XeonE7-4860v2 2.6GHz 130W 30M 12/24 8.0GT/s Yes 1600
XeonE7-4850v2 2.3GHz 105W 24M 12/24 7.2GT/s Yes 1600
XeonE7-2850v2 2.3GHz 105W 24M 12/24 7.2GT/s Yes 1600
XeonE7-4830v2 2.2GHz 105W 20M 10/20 7.2GT/s Yes 1600
XeonE7-4820v2 2.0GHz 105W 16M 8/16 7.2GT/s Yes 1600
XeonE7-4809v2 1.9GHz 105W 12M 6/12 6.4GT/s NA 1333
Forinformationonprocessorinstallationandconfiguration,seethe Dell PowerEdge R920 Owner’s
Manual
onDell.com/Support/Manuals. 
Chipset 
ThePowerEdgeR920usestheIntelC602Jchipset.Formoreinformation,visitIntel.com. 

17 | DellPowerEdgeTechnicalGuide 

5 Memory
MorememoryoptionsareavailablethaneverbeforewiththeDellPowerEdgeR920—greater
capacities,higherfrequenciesandmoreflexibility.TheR920supportsupto6TBofLRDIMM
memory(with96x64GBLRDIMMs);upto3TBofLRDIMMmemory(with96x32GBLRDIMMs)and
upto1.5TBofRDIMMmemory(with48x16GBRDIMMs.)

InadditiontosupportingregisteredDIMMs(RDIMM),theR920supportsloadreducedDIMMs
(LRDIMM),whichuseabuffertoreducememoryloadingandprovidegreaterdensity,allowingfor
themaximumplatformmemorycapacity.Highmemorydensityprovidesaricher,nocompromise
virtualizationenvironment.WhilethebufferintheLRDIMMreducesmemorybusloadingandallows
50%highercapacityinasystem,thebufferdoesintroduceadditionallatency,whichwillhavea
smallimpactonsystemperformance.

Increaseyouruptimeandreducedatalosswithreliability,availabilityandserviceability(RAS)features
likememorymirroring,sparingandmanyothers.RASaidsintherapidandaccuratediagnosisof
faultsthatrequireservice,increasingyourmemoryreliability.

Supportedmemory 
TheR920supportsthememorytechnologiesshown inTable7 . 

Table 7. Memory technologies supported
Feature RDIMM LRDIMM
Register
Yes  Yes 
Buffer
No  Yes 
Frequencies*
1600MT/s  1600MT/s 
Ranks supported 1or2  4or8 
Capacity per DIMM
4,8or16GB  32or64GB 
Maximum DIMMs per channel 3  3 
DRAM technology
x4  X8 
Temperature sensor Yes  Yes 
Error Correction Code (ECC)
Yes  Yes 
Enhanced Single Device Data
Correction (SDDC +1)
Yes,x8(lockstep)  Yes,x8(lockstep) 
Enhanced DRAM Double Device
Data Correction (DDDC +1)
Yes,x4(lockstep)  Yes,x4(lockstep) 
Address parity Yes  Yes 

18 | DellPowerEdgeTechnicalGuide 

TheR920supportstheDIMMslistedinTable8.Forthelatestinformationonsupportedmemory,
visit Dell.com/PowerEdge.


Table 8. Supported DIMMs
1
Actualoperationalfrequencycouldbelowerthan1600MT/sdependingonDIMMtype,rank,numberof
DIMMsperchannelandmemorymode.

MemoryRASfeatures 
RASfeatureshelpkeepthesystemonlineandoperationalwithoutsignificantimpactto
performance,andcandecreasedatalossandcrashingduetoerrors.RASaidsinrapid,accurate
diagnosisoffaultsthatrequireservice.Table9describestheRASfeaturessupportedontheR920.


Table 9. Memory RAS features
Feature Description
Dense configuration
optimized profile
Increasedmemoryreliabilitycanbearesultfromthisselectableplatformprofile
thatadjustsparameterstoreducefaultsregardingrefreshrates,speed,
temperatureandvoltage

Memory demand and
patrol scrubbing
Demandscrubbingistheabilitytowritecorrecteddatabacktothememoryonce
acorrectableerrorisdetectedonaread transaction.

Patrolscrubbingproactivelysearchesthesystemmemory,repairingcorrectable
errors.

Recovery from single
DRAM device failure
RecoveryfromSingleDRAMDeviceFailure(SDDC)provideserrorcheckingand
correctionthatprotectsagainstanysinglememorychipfailureaswellasmulti‐bit
errorsfromanyportionofasinglememorychip.

Failed DIMM isolation ThisfeatureprovidestheabilitytoidentifyaspecificfailingDIMMchannelpair,
therebyenablingtheusertoreplaceonlythefailedDIMMpair.

Memory mirroring:
intra-socket
Memorymirroringisamethodofkeepingaduplicate(secondaryormirrored)
copyofthecontentsofmemoryasaredundantbackupforuseiftheprimary
memoryfails.Themirroredcopyofthememoryisstoredinmemoryofthesame
processor socket.

Memory address parity
protection
Thisfeatureprovidestheabilitytodetecttransienterrorsontheaddresslinesof
theDDRchannel.

Memory sparing (rank) Memorysparingallocatesonerankperchannelasaspare.Ifexcessivecorrectable
errorsoccurinarankorchannel,itismovedtothespareareawhiletheoperating
systemisrunningtopreventtheerrorfromcausinganuncorrectablefailure.

Memory thermal
throttling
Thisfeaturehelpstooptimizepower/performanceandcanalsobeusedto
preventDIMMsfromoverheating.

Capacity
(GB)
Speed
(MT/s)
Type
Ranks per
DIMM
Data
width
SDDC support Voltage
4 
1600
1

RDIMM  1  x8  AdvancedECC 1.35
8  1600  RDIMM  1  x4  lockstepmode 1.35
16  1600  RDIMM  2  x4  lockstepmode 1.35
32  1600  LRDIMM  4  x4  lockstepmode 1.35
64  1600  LRDIMM  8  x4  lockstepmode 1.35

19 | DellPowerEdgeTechnicalGuide 

Forinformationonmemorymirroringandsparingconfigurations,seethe Dell PowerEdge R920
Owner’sManual
onDell.com/Support/Manuals. 


MirroringandDellFaultResilientMemory 
ThePowerEdgeR920supportsmemorymirroring.PartialmirroringisenabledthroughDellFault
ResilientMemory(FRM).AvailableonDellPowerEdge12thgenerationservers,FRMestablishesan
areaofmemorythatisfaultresilientandcanbeusedbyanoperatingsystemsupportingtheFRM
featuretoloadcriticalapplicationsandmaximizesystemavailability.

Benefits: 

Createsahighlyresilientmemoryzoneforthehypervisor,protectingitfromallbutthemost
severememoryerrors.


WithVMware 

,vSpherev5.5,FRMprovidethehypervisorwithstrongprotectionfrommemoryfaultsthat
wouldotherwisebringdowntheentiresystem.WhenusedinconjunctionwithotherDell
PowerEdgereliabilityandredundancyfeaturesforvirtualization—suchastheinternaldual
SDmodules—itcreatesahighlyreliableVMwarevirtualizationserverenvironmentwithhigh
availabilityanduptime.


Figure 5. Dell Fault Resilient Memory

20 | DellPowerEdgeTechnicalGuide 

6 Storage
ThePowerEdgeR920supportsextensiveinternalandexternalstorageoptions.Supportforinternal
storageincludesanumberofvariationswitha2.5”drivechassis.Forexternalstorage,therearea
numberofstorageoptionsthatrangefromJBODconnectivitytoSANsupportwithDellCompellent.
Connectivityoptionsinclude:hostbusadaptors(HBA)optionsforSAS,iSCSIandFibreChannel.

NewserverstoragefeaturessuchasExpressFlashNVMePCIeSSDsandsoftwarecachingsolutions
provideacceleratedapplication/workloadperformanceoverprevioustechnologies.ExpressFlash
drivesusePCIebuslanestoconnectdirectlytotheprocessorandchipsetandareeasilyaccessible
throughthehot‐plugdrivebay.


DellPowerEdgeExpressFlashNVMePCIeSSDs 
ThePowerEdgeR920supportsuptoeightPowerEdgeExpressFlashNVMePCIeSSDs,high‐
performancestoragedevicesdesignedforsolutionsrequiringultra‐lowlatency,highinput/output
operationspersecond(IOPs)andenterprise‐classstoragereliabilityandserviceability.Withachoice
of400GB,800GBand1.6TBcapacities,PowerEdgeExpressFlashNVMePCIeSSDsinteractwithand
optimizehigh‐performanceNAND,achievingultra‐highIOPsandsequentialread/writespeeds.

ExpressFlashNVMePCIeSSDsdeliverexceptionalperformanceindemandingenterprise
environments,suchasbladeandenterpriseservers,onlinetransactionalprocessing(OLTP)
databases,video‐on‐demandservers,webacceleratorsandvirtualizationworkloads.

ForinformationonDellPowerEdgeExpressFlashNVMePCIeSSDs,visit
Dell.com/PowerEdge/ExpressFlash.


SupportedRAID controllers 
ThenewestlineofPowerEdgeRAIDController(PERC)cardsoffershighI/Operformancefor
databaseapplicationsandstreamingdigitalmediaenvironments.InternalRAIDcontrollershavea
dedicatedconnectiontothemotherboard.TheR920supportsthenewPERC8familyofcontrollers
withimprovedfunctionalityandfaster performance.

TheR920supportsthePERCcardslistedinTable10.FormoreinformationaboutthelatestPERC
offerings,seeDell.com/PERC.


Table 10. Supported RAID controller
Controller Description Features
RAID modes
supported Form factor
Usage
model

Includes1GBNVDDR3
cache,premium
performanceandfeature
set,securitySED/EKMS,
andSSDascache


Premium
p
erformance 
PERC H810
External 
Eight‐port,externaland 
6Gb/sPCIeRAIDcontroller 
0,1,5,6,10,50, 
60 
Adapter 
PERC H730P
Internal 
12Gb/sSAS/6Gb/sSATAPCIe 
3.02x4internaladapter 
PCIe3.0supportand
12Gb/sSAS(SAS3.0)host
interface,2GBNVFlash
backedcache;capableof
RAIDaswellasNon‐RAID
(JBODMode)operations

0,1,5,6,10,50, 
60 
Adapter 
Premium
performance
