Rackable Systems S3118 User manual

Rackable Systems
S3118
3U STORAGE SERVER
USER’S MANUAL
Revision 1.0.1
S3118-Manual-1.0.1 June 30, 2005 Page 1 of 15

TABLE OF CONTENTS
1Introduction............................................................................................................................ 3
1.1 Overview........................................................................................................................ 3
1.2 Server Components..................................................................................................... 3
2Server Installation ................................................................................................................ 4
2.1 Unpacking the Server.................................................................................................. 4
2.2 Preparing for Setup...................................................................................................... 4
2.3 Installing the S3118 into a Rack................................................................................ 4
2.4 Moving the S3118 Within/Between Racks............................................................... 6
3System Interface .................................................................................................................. 6
3.1 Front I/O Panel ............................................................................................................. 6
3.2 Drive Carrier I/O ........................................................................................................... 7
3.3 Rear I/O Panel.............................................................................................................. 7
4RAID Configuration.............................................................................................................. 7
4.1 Configuring Hardware RAID....................................................................................... 8
4.2 Configuring Software RAID ........................................................................................ 8
5Software Installation and Tuning ....................................................................................... 9
5.1 NAS Appliance Configuration..................................................................................... 9
5.2 iSCSI Appliance Configuration................................................................................... 9
5.3 Linux Server Configuration....................................................................................... 10
5.4 Windows Server Configuration ................................................................................ 12
6System Safety..................................................................................................................... 12
6.1 Electrical Safety Precautions.................................................................................... 12
6.2 General Safety Precautions...................................................................................... 13
7System Specifications ....................................................................................................... 13
8Contacting Rackable Systems......................................................................................... 15
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1 Introduction
1.1 Overview
Figure 1: S3118 Storage Server
The Rackable Systems S3118 server (figure 1) is a high-end, 3U rack mount storage server featuring
some of the most advanced technology currently available. It is designed with today's most state-of-the-
art features:
•Available as a complete Network-Attached Storage (NAS) server appliance, an iSCSI block
storage appliance, or as a standard Linux or Windows file/application server.
•Single and dual processor configurations available based on Xeon EM64T, Opteron, and Pentium
4 platforms.
•Support for up to 18 swappable Serial ATA or U320 SCSI hard drives for high-density
deployments (including two rear-accessible, swappable drives that can either be used as mirrored
boot OS drives or as integral parts of the main RAID sets)
•Hard drive carriers designed for minimizing rotational vibration effects. Drive power and activity
LEDs are provided on each carrier.
•550W 1+1 redundant, hot-swappable, auto-selecting power supply using two standard EIC
Adapter plugs. One of the two supplies must be operational for the server to receive adequate
power.
•Innovative thermal design utilizing four hot-swappable system fans. The system design assures a
uniform and adequate flow of cooling air to be drawn over the entire motherboard, hard drive,
memory and CPU area at all times.
•Front I/O panel, providing LCD display, CD-ROM, power on/off button; power, hard drive activity
and management/fault LEDs; an RJ45 serial remote management port.
•Rear I/O panel, providing motherboard I/O ports for keyboard, mouse, video, Ethernet, USB, and
serial connectivity.
•Optional floppy drive accessible at the rear of the system.
1.2 Server Components
In addition to the Rackable Systems S3118 chassis, the server contains a variety of hardware
components, including:
•One (1) server-class motherboard
•Two (2) Intel Xeon EM64T, Two (2) AMD Opteron, or one (1) Intel Pentium 4 processor
•Up to 4-32 GB Registered ECC main memory (maximum memory is motherboard dependant)
•Up to Eighteen (18) Serial ATA (SATA) or U320 SCSI hard drives
•Up to Two (2) SATA RAID cards (by Adaptec or 3Ware) or up to Two (2) U320 SCSI RAID cards
(by Adaptec or LSI Logic)
•One (1) Rackable Systems S3118 manual
The following additional options are available:
•One (1) slim CD-ROM drive
•One (1) Floppy drive
•One (1) Remote management card and LCD
•Up to Two (2) additional PCI cards (e.g. additional networking cards)
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2 Server Installation
This chapter provides a quick setup checklist to get your server up and running. Following these steps in
the order given should enable you to have the system operational within a minimum amount of time.
2.1 Unpacking the Server
On receipt of the S3118 server, please inspect the box that the system was shipped in for signs of
shipping damage before opening it. If you see any, you will need to file a damage claim with the carrier
who delivered it before proceeding.
The box contains a welcome kit and rack rails at the top, then the server chassis, and finally the drives in
special packaging at the bottom. This provides additional protection to the server during its travel to your
location.
Decide on a suitable location for the rack unit that will hold the server. It should be situated in a clean,
dust-free area that is well ventilated. Avoid areas where heat, electrical noise and electromagnetic fields
are generated. You will also need it placed near a grounded power outlet. Please read the Rack and
Server Precautions in the next section.
2.2 Preparing for Setup
2.2.1 Choosing a Setup Location
•Leave enough clearance in front of the rack to enable you to open the front door completely (~25
inches).
•Leave approximately 30 inches of clearance in the back of the rack to allow for sufficient airflow
and ease in servicing.
2.2.2 Rack Precautions
•Ensure that the leveling jacks on the bottom of the rack are fully extended to the floor with the full
weight of the rack resting on them.
•In a single rack installation, stabilizers should be attached to the rack.
•In multiple rack installations, the racks should be coupled together.
•Always make sure the rack is stable before extending a component from the rack.
•Only extend one component at a time. Extending two or more simultaneously may cause the rack
to become unstable.
2.2.3 Server Precautions
•Review the electrical and general safety precautions in Chapter 6.
•Determine the placement of each component in the rack before you install the server.
•Install the heaviest server components on the bottom of the rack first, and then work up.
•Use a regulating uninterruptible power supply (UPS) to protect the server from power surges,
voltage spikes and to keep your system operating in case of a power failure.
•Always keep the rack doors (if present) and all panels and components on the servers closed
when not servicing to maintain proper cooling.
2.3 Installing the S3118 into a Rack
This section provides information on installing the S3118 into a rack unit. You should also refer to the
installation instructions that came with the rack unit you are using.
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2.3.1 Installing the Server into a 19” Rack
The S3118 comes with two rails that should be used for installation into a standard 19” rack. First, attach
one rail on each side of the system using appropriately sized screws. Then slide the unit between the
mounting rails of the rack. Position the server such that the two installed ‘ears’ on the side of the server
are positioned equally and level in the rack. Install four screws through the mounting ears and into the
rack’s rails. The cabinets from Rackable Systems use 10-32 size screws. Other cabinets or racks from
other vendors may use 10-32 or 12-24 size screws. Rack screws are not included with the S3118. If the
rack does not have threaded holes you will need to provide threaded inserts to snap into the rails for this
purpose.
2.3.2 Installing the Server’s Hard Drives
The system’s hard drives ship separately in their drive carriers (figure 2). Each drive is labeled according
to its position in the chassis.
Figure 2: Hard drive in carrier
Once the server is installed in the rack, you will need to insert the drive carriers into the chassis. The
drives are labeled differently depending on what RAID cards are included in your system configuration.
2.3.2.1 8-port Plus 12-port RAID Card Configuration
This is the most common configuration for the S3118 where all eighteen drives are active and available to
the RAID cards. It is the default configuration for the iSCSI and NAS appliances.
For servers configured with one eight-port and one twelve-port RAID card, insert the drive carriers as
follows (figure 3):
Figure 3: Hard drive carrier locations for one eight-port and one twelve-port RAID server configurations
The drives labeled “0-8”/“0-9” or “B0”/“B1” should go into the two rear-accessible drive bays from left to
right.
2.3.2.2 Two 8-port RAID Card Configuration
For servers configured with two eight-port RAID cards, each drive carrier will be labeled with two numbers
separated by a hyphen. The first number is the array number, the second is the drive number. In this
configuration, insert the drive carriers as follows (figure 4):
0-0 0-1 0-2 0-3
0-4 0-5 0-6 0-7
1-0 1-1 1-2 1-3
1-4 1-5 1-6 1-7
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Figure 4: Hard drive carrier locations for two eight-port RAID server configurations
If you also have drives labeled “B0” and/or “B1” these should go into the two rear-accessible drive bays
from left to right.
2.3.2.3 Single 16-port RAID Card Configuration
Systems configured with a single sixteen port RAID card are set up differently. In that case, there will be a
single number on the carrier from 0 to 15 indicating the position in the array. Install these as follows
(figure 5):
Figure 5: Hard drive carrier locations for one sixteen-port RAID server configurations
If you also have drives labeled “B0” and/or “B1” these should go into the two rear-accessible drive bays
from left to right.
2.3.2.4 Verifying Correct Drive Seating
Regardless of which drive configuration your system includes, please verify that the drives are fully
inserted before powering on the system. When powering on the server for the first time, verify that the
yellow power LEDs on all drive carriers light up. If a drive power indicator doesn’t light up on power on,
verify that the drive is correctly inserted in the carrier and try again.
2.4 Moving the S3118 Within/Between Racks
If you later need to move the S3118 server, please carefully remove all drive carriers from the unit prior to
moving the unit. Once you have re-racked the server in the new location, reinsert the drives into their
original locations as shown above. This will minimize the risk of damaging the drives and/or drive
backplanes while the system is moved.
3 System Interface
3.1 Front I/O Panel
Figure 6: S3118 I/O Panel
0 4 8 12
1 5 9 13
2 6 10 14
3 7 11 15
0-0 0-1 0-2 0-3
0-4 0-5 0-6 0-7
1-0 1-1 1-2 1-3
1-4 1-5 1-6 1-7
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The S3118 server’s front I/O panel (figure 6) provides (left to right) a power on/off button; power, hard
drive activity, and management LEDs; and an RJ45 serial port supporting serial redirection for remote
management. At the far left (not pictured), there is also an LCD screen that can be programmed via the
remote management card or from the host operating system. The CD-ROM drive is in the middle.
3.1.1 Power Button
There is one push-button button located on the front of the chassis. This is the power on/off button. When
the system is in an “off” state, pressing this button once powers the system on. When the system is in an
“on” state, pressing the button and then releasing it powers the system off. Please note that some
motherboards require pressing and holding the button before power off will take effect.
3.1.2 Front Control Panel LED’s
On the right hand side of the S3118 chassis are three LED’s that provide you with critical information
pertaining to the functioning of your system.
•Power: The yellow LED on the left indicates that the server is currently on. When the LED is off,
the system is off, even if the AC power cords are plugged into the server.
•Hard drive activity: The blue LED in the middle indicates that activity is occurring on the boot
hard drive.
•Management: The red LED on the right is a management/fault indicator light that is controlled via
the remote management card.
3.1.3 LCD and Remote Management Serial Port
On the far left side of the I/O panel is an LCD screen that can be used to display information about the
server. It can be accessed as a serial device in the operating system via the remote management card.
On the far right side of the I/O panel is an RJ45 port that provides remote serial management access to
the server via the remote management card. Please see the Rackable Systems Remote Management
Manual for more information on how to use these features.
3.2 Drive Carrier I/O
Blue LED: hard drive activity
Green LED: hard drive power
Figure 7: Hard drive carrier indicators
Each drive carrier provides a green LED for drive power and a blue LED for drive activity (figure 7).
For SCSI system configurations equipped with SAF-TE support, the power LED will turn amber to indicate
hard drive failure and will blink amber to indicate a drive that is rebuilding.
3.3 Rear I/O Panel
The S3118’s rear I/O panel provides I/O ports for keyboard, mouse, video, Ethernet, USB, and serial
connectivity. If the floppy option was selected, it is accessible at the rear as well. This is where you will
find the two additional swappable drives not visible from the front of the server.
4 RAID Configuration
Before you can use your S3118 server you may want to reconfigure RAID.
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The data partitions can be set up using hardware or software RAID. If you intend to use hardware RAID
on the server you will need to set it up prior to accessing the array(s). Hardware RAID is the best choice
for Windows configurations and Linux configurations if you intend to use the RAID card manufacturer’s
RAID management utilities.
Especially in Linux configurations, software RAID typically provides very high performance (often higher
than hardware RAID) and may not require a substantial amount of CPU. It allows flexibility such as RAID
5 across drives located on more than one RAID card that is not possible with hardware RAID.
We recommend becoming familiar with the web sites of the manufacturers of the RAID card(s) installed in
your system so that you can upgrade your RAID card firmware and operating system drivers over time as
feature enhancements and bug fixes are released.
4.1 Configuring Hardware RAID
In SATA drive configurations, the S3118 server typically comes configured for hardware RAID 5 using two
8-port SATA RAID cards (or one 8-port and one 12-port card), with one RAID array per card. In SCSI
drive configurations, the S3118 server will typically come with a single two-channel U320 SCSI RAID
card. For best availability, Rackable Systems recommends allocating one drive per card as a hot spare so
that RAID can automatically rebuild when a drive failure occurs.
Hardware RAID setup procedures vary depending on whether your system is based on 3Ware or Adaptec
branded controller cards.
4.1.1 3Ware-based Hardware RAID (SATA)
For server configurations using 3Ware RAID controller cards, press “alt-3” during the boot-up sequence to
enter the 3Ware configuration screen. With the 9500 series cards, this will give you access to both arrays.
With the 8506 series cards you will need to press “alt-3” again after leaving the first card’s configuration
screen to configure the second array. Follow the instructions to create the RAID partition of your choice
on each controller.
Once the server is fully operational, you will want to install the 3Ware 3DM management software
(available for free download at http://www.3ware.com). With 3DM, administrators can be automatically
notified when drives fail and can perform RAID array diagnostics. Command line and Web-based
graphical interfaces are available.
4.1.2 Adaptec-based Hardware RAID (SATA or SCSI)
For server configurations using Adaptec RAID controller cards, press “control-A” during the boot-up
sequence to enter the Adaptec configuration screen. Follow the instructions to create the RAID partition
of your choice on each controller. Once you have your server operational, you will want to install the
Adaptec Storage Manager™ software (available for free download at http://www.adaptec.com). This
allows administrators to remotely manage the server via Web- and command line-based management
interfaces.
4.2 Configuring Software RAID
The S3118 server will typically be set up configured for hardware RAID 5. To configure the system for
software RAID, follow the hardware RAID setup instructions above to enter the RAID card manufacturer’s
BIOS screen and then erase any RAID arrays that have been created previously, leaving all drives
exported as single drives (JBOD or “single disk” with 3Ware 9500 cards). Once you have done this on all
RAID cards in the system, you will be able to configure software RAID in the operating system of your
choice.
With software RAID, RAID array management needs to be performed using operating system-level
utilities since the hardware RAID card management utilities don’t have any knowledge of the software
RAID configuration. However, you should still install the RAID card management utilities listed in the
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hardware RAID sections above. They will allow you to obtain the controller card’s log files and hard drive
serial numbers for support purposes.
5 Software Installation and Tuning
The S3118 server can be set up in three basic configurations:
•NAS Server: preinstalled & configured turnkey server for use as a dedicated NAS appliance,
suitable for use with Linux/Unix, Windows, and Macintosh clients
•Linux Server: by installing a compatible version of Linux, the S3118 can easily be set up as a
Linux file server or application server.
•Windows Server: by installing a compatible version of Microsoft Windows, the S3118 can easily
be set up as a Linux file server or application server.
This chapter describes these options in more detail.
5.1 NAS Appliance Configuration
The S3118 NAS server is available pre-installed and configured as a fully functional NAS appliance. It
provides a comprehensive set of NAS features including:
•Easy-to-use Web-based GUI or command line interface for rapid deployment and maintenance
•Cross-platform support for mixed Linux/UNIX, Windows, and Apple environments (NFS, CIFS,
Appletalk protocols)
•Authentication via NIS, Windows PDC/active directory
•High-performance XFS file system
•Up to 32 snapshots and snapshot scheduling for fastest data recovery
•Unlimited number of users with no client access licenses required
•Automatic shutdown on power failure when connected to APC SmartUPS battery backup
•Redundant, mirrored OS partition on rear-accessible swappable drives
•Email alert notification
The NAS server software includes the RAID management utilities (see the Hardware RAID configurations
section earlier in this document) and the Smartmontools package (see the Linux Server Configuration
section below).
For more information on setting up the NAS server, please see the Rackable Systems S3118-NAS
Getting Started Guide and the MVD NAS Administration manual.
5.2 iSCSI Appliance Configuration
The S3118 iSCSI server is available pre-installed and configured as a fully functional iSCSI target
appliance. It provides a comprehensive set of iSCSI features including:
•Block-level data access via Ethernet from Windows and Linux clients (standard initiators
supported)
•Easy-to-use Web-based GUI or command line interface for rapid deployment and maintenance
•No client access licenses required
•High security: IPv6, Ipsec, Chap authentication
•Reliable Disk-on-module boot device ensures all hard drives are fully available to data partitions
•Email alert notification and SNMP trap support
The iSCSI server software includes the RAID management capabilities (see the Hardware RAID
configurations section earlier in this document) such that you can configure the appliance’s RAID settings
through the Web configuration interface.
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For more information on setting up the iSCSI appliance server, please see the Rackable Systems S3118-
iSCSI Getting Started Guide, the Wasabi Quick Start manual, and the Wasabi Users Manual.
5.3 Linux Server Configuration
Many useful configurations of Linux are possible on the S3118. For overall stability, we recommend
installing a recent version of Red Hat or SuSE Linux.
The following section assumes moderate level Linux system administration skills. With relatively little
tuning, the S3118 server can become a high-performance Network-Attached Storage (NAS) server.
5.3.1 Operating System Installation
If your S3118 configuration includes a single or mirrored pair of boot drives accessible from the rear of the
server, you may want to consider installing the operating system there in order to provide an isolated boot
environment from the RAID. It is especially useful if you intend to use software RAID on the data drives.
Otherwise, install a boot partition (for /boot) on a small part of one of the RAID volumes (100-200 MB in
size may be sufficient), leaving the remaining capacity for data. Rackable also recommends a separate /
partition of at least 5 GB. To create the partitions, use a partitioning tool like parted or fdisk.
5.3.2 File System Selection
There are several production-quality file system choices available for Linux. Ext3 is the default Linux file
system. Although it is widely used and supports file system journaling, it does not provide as good
performance as the two other primary choices, Reiserfs and XFS. Reiserfs and XFS are also both high-
quality journaled file systems. Reiserfs is generally seen as higher performance than XFS for small file
transactional performance (and still significantly better than ext3 for large file streaming performance)
whereas XFS is generally seen as better at large file streaming performance than small file performance.
The Red Hat installer does not support XFS or Reiserfs by default. Newer releases of RHEL and Fedora
support XFS, Reiserfs, and JFS if you enable support for the file system when you boot the installer. (E.g.
for reiserfs, type "linux reiserfs".) When installing Red Hat Linux, we recommend keeping /boot,
and /as ext3. Other Linux distributions such as SuSE use Reiserfs as their default file system.
5.3.3 Data Drive Configuration (Hardware RAID)
When using hardware RAID, one SCSI device will be visible to the operating system for each hardware
RAID partition you created during the RAID card BIOS configuration stage. In Linux these devices will be
visible as /dev/sd<x> where <x> is a letter like “a”, “b”, “c”, etc.
Once you have identified the correct device name, you will need to create a file system using the correct
method for the file system you have selected. For example, to create a Reiserfs file system on /dev/sda,
you would type “mkreiserfs /dev/sda”.
After the file systems have been created, you will want to create mount points for them such as “/export1”
and “/export2” and add them to your /etc/vfstab file so that they are mounted on boot. Consider using the
“noatime,notail” options to optimize performance.
Finally “mount /export1 /export2” to mount the file systems and a “df” should now show the capacity as
being available.
5.3.4 Exporting File Systems
To export the file systems via NFS, you will need to add the required entries to the /etc/exports file. In
most cases, adding “no_subtree_check" is a good way to obtain a small increase NAS performance. If
your storage server is on a Uninteruptible Power Supply (UPS) or you can risk losing data in cache on a
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power failure, consider adding “async" to your export options so that writes can be cached in system
memory prior to being written to disk. This can make an extreme difference in NAS write performance so
you should set this option if you can afford to.
For Windows clients, you will need to set up Samba and use it to export the file systems via CIFS
protocol. For more information on Samba, please visit the Samba web site at http://www.samba.org/.
5.3.5 Tuning Linux NFS Server Performance
One more performance optimization that is worth making for large file streaming application is to increase
the size of the data readaheads. Add the following lines to /etc/sysctl.conf:
vm.max-readahead = 256
vm.min-readahead = 128
Then type “sysctl -e -p /etc/sysctl.conf" to make the changes take effect.
5.3.6 Tuning Linux Client Performance
Optimizing the Linux-based server configuration is not sufficient to achieve the highest possible
performance. Doing so also requires client-side tuning.
The most important thing to test is varying different mount options. Try using NFS v3 over UDP with
RSIZE and WSIZE in your mount options set to “32768” for streaming environments. If your networking
infrastructure doesn’t show excessive packet retransmits when using these settings you will achieve the
highest throughput rates this way. With some lower-end or older network switches the retransmit count
may be high enough that you may obtain better results with a 4K or 8K block size.
On the Linux clients, modify /etc/sysctl.conf as follows to improve large file single stream
performance:
net.core.rmem_max = 262143
net.core.wmem_max = 262143
net.core.rmem_default = 262143
net.core.wmem_default = 262143
Again, "sysctl -e -p /etc/sysctl.conf" makes the changes take effect.
5.3.7 Improving Availability Using Smartmontools Software
If your system uses 3Ware SATA RAID cards accessed in either hardware or software RAID modes, you
should consider installing the Smartmontools package (http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net) in addition
to installing and using the RAID card vendor’s management package (described in the RAID
Configuration section above).
The Smartmontools utility provides a mechanism for running long integrity tests on individual hard drives,
even through a 3Ware card. This can be used to detect SATA drive problems that are likely to fail in the
future but have not resulted in a catastrophic RAID failure yet. Problematic drives can then be replaced
ahead of hard RAID failures in a more planned manner. By running these tests on all drives periodically
you can improve server and data availability quite significantly. Doing this on a weekly basis automated in
the server crontab makes sense for many administrators.
With this package installed, the “smartctl -t long -d 3ware,4 /dev/sda” command would start
an extended background test on a specific drive (in this example, the drive on port 4 of the first 3Ware
card).
To access drives on the second 3Ware card, you need to first determine any device name that resides on
the second controller card. Using hardware RAID and one RAID volume per card, typically you would
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have /dev/sda on the first card and /dev/sdb on the second. Using software RAID, it would depend on
your specific RAID layout but typically the highest /dev/sd<x> device would be on the second RAID card.
Provide that device and the port number to smartctl – for example, assuming /dev/sdb is on the second
3Ware card, type “smartctl -t long -d 3ware,6 /dev/sdb” com to start the long test on port 6 of
the second 3Ware card.
When analyzing the SMART test results from the long test, first verify that your test run has completed
successfully by typing “smartctl –a –d3ware,4 /dev/sda”, substituting the appropriate port
number and device. Note that the long test can take two hours or more to complete with large capacity
drives. If the first paragraphs of output include “Off-line data collection status: Offline
data collection activity was completed” and “without error” or listing a specific error,
then the offline completed successfully. Otherwise repeat this query again later until you confirm that the
test has completed.
When the test has completed, if it completed without error then the drive has passed the extended tests.
If it did not pass, please send the query output to Rackable Systems support to determine the appropriate
support action. The drive may need to be replaced to prevent a future RAID failure.
5.4 Windows Server Configuration
Microsoft Windows XP Professional or Windows 2003 Server operating systems can easily be installed
on the S3118 to create a standard Windows file server or application server.
If your S3118 configuration includes a single or mirrored pair of boot drives accessible from the rear of the
server, you may want to consider installing the operating system there in order to provide an isolated boot
environment from the RAID. After the operating system has been installed, you will need to install the
drivers appropriate for the RAID card(s) in your server, available for free download from the RAID card
manufacturer’s web site. Make sure that the drivers you download are compatible with the current card
firmware (otherwise you will need to also update the RAID card firmware). Once the drivers are installed,
you may need to reboot the server before accessing the RAID arrays.
Then use the standard Windows administration tools to create new partitions and drive letters for the
RAID volumes. These can then be exported by selecting the new drive letter, selecting Properties from
the File menu, then creating the correct settings in the Sharing tab.
6 System Safety
This chapter covers important safety information for the server.
6.1 Electrical Safety Precautions
Basic electrical safety precautions should be followed to protect yourself from harm and the S3118 from
damage:
•Be aware of the locations of the power on/off switch on the chassis as well as the room's
emergency power-off switch, disconnection switch or electrical outlet. If an electrical accident
occurs, you can then quickly remove power from the system.
•Do not work alone when working with high voltage components.
•Power should always be disconnected from the system when removing or installing main system
components, such as the motherboard, memory modules and IDE/floppy drives. When
disconnecting power, you should first power down the system with the operating system first and
then unplug the power cords of all the power supply units in the system.
•When working around exposed electrical circuits, another person who is familiar with the power-
off controls should be nearby to switch off the power if necessary.
•Use only one hand when working with powered-on electrical equipment. This is to avoid making a
complete circuit, which will cause electrical shock. Use extreme caution when using metal tools,
which can easily damage any electrical components or circuit boards they come into contact with.
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•Do not use mats designed to decrease static electrical discharge as protection from electrical
shock. Instead, use rubber mats that have been specifically designed as electrical insulators.
•The power supply power cords must include a grounding plug and must be plugged into
grounded electrical outlets.
•Verify that the electrical outlets and power strips which the server is plugged into have reliable
earthing.
•Verify that the server is plugged into an electrical outlet with appropriate circuit overloading
protection.
6.2 General Safety Precautions
Follow these rules to ensure general safety:
•Keep the area around the S3118 clean and free of clutter.
•The S3118 weighs approximately 85 lbs. When lifting the system, two people at either end should
lift slowly with their feet spread out to distribute the weight. Always keep your backs straight and
lift with your legs.
•Place the chassis top cover and any system components that have been removed away from the
system or on a table so that they won't accidentally be stepped on.
•While working on the system, do not wear loose clothing such as neckties and unbuttoned shirt
sleeves, which can come into contact with electrical circuits or be pulled into a cooling fan.
•Remove any jewelry or metal objects from your body, which are excellent metal conductors that
can create short circuits and harm you if they come into contact with printed circuit boards or
areas where power is present.
•After accessing the inside of the system, close the system back up and secure it to the rack unit
with the retention screws after ensuring that all connections have been made.
•Motherboard battery: CAUTION - There is a danger of explosion if the onboard battery is installed
upside down, which will reverse its polarities. This battery must be replaced only with the same or
an equivalent type recommended by the manufacturer. Dispose of used batteries according to the
manufacturer's instructions.
•To ensure proper cooling when the server is operating, care must be taken to assure that all
chassis covers are in place, and that the room ambient temperature is within the specified
operating temperature range.
7 System Specifications
Processors
Single Intel Pentium 4, dual Intel Xeon, or dual AMD Opteron processors.
Memory Capacity
4-8 DIMM slots to support a maximum of 4-32 GB ECC registered SDRAM (motherboard dependant).
DIMM Sizes
512MB, 1GB, 2GB, 4GB. In some cases, the server may ship with faster memory than required (although
it will still run at the speed determined by the motherboard).
IDE Controller
Dual-channel master mode for up to four enhanced IDE devices.
Expansion Slots
Minimum of two 64-bit PCI slots (motherboard dependant). Some motherboards also feature PCI-
Express slots.
Power Supply
Type: 550W 1+1 Redundant, +3.3V, +5V, +12V, -5V and -12V main DC outputs and 5V standby output.
Input Voltage: 100-240VAC at 47-63 Hz (auto-switching capable)
Fans: Four 40-mm fans (two per swappable unit)
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System Operating Environment
Operating Temperature Range: 10 - 35 degrees C / 50 - 95 degrees F
Operating Humidity Range: 8 - 80% (non-condensing)
Cooling Fans
System: four swappable 80mm fans. Fans are serial redundant for high availability.
Form Factor
3U rack mount/standard depth (27.3”)
Dimensions
19 x 5.25 x 27.3 in. (W x H x D)
Weight
Gross: Full System: 85 lbs. (As measured with 18 hard drives, two CPUs, three PCI cards, floppy/CD-
ROM, Remote Management card and LCD)
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8 Contacting Rackable Systems
Rackable Corporate Headquarters:
Rackable Systems, Inc.
1933 Milmont Dr.
Milpitas, CA 95035 USA
Tel: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
Email:
[email protected] (General Information)
[email protected] (Technical Support)
Web Site:
http://www.rackable.com
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