Announced back in May, Dell EMC’s new PowerEdge Servers, the fourteenth generation, came with few details. As promised Dell EMC is now revealing more information as they become available today. The new line of servers include all new Dell EMC PowerEdge C6420, Dell EMC PowerEdge R640, Dell EMC PowerEdge R740, Dell EMC PowerEdge R740xd, Dell EMC PowerEdge R940, and an updated iDRAC.
Announced back in May, Dell EMC’s new PowerEdge Servers, the fourteenth generation, came with few details. As promised Dell EMC is now revealing more information as they become available today. The new line of servers include all new Dell EMC PowerEdge C6420, Dell EMC PowerEdge R640, Dell EMC PowerEdge R740, Dell EMC PowerEdge R740xd, Dell EMC PowerEdge R940, and an updated iDRAC.
As previously stated, Dell EMC’s new PowerEdge 14G servers aim to tackle a lot of jobs including embedded in storage arrays, data protection, hyper-converged appliances and racks, ready nodes, bundles and other industry-leading Dell EMC solutions. They will be both highly scalable and performance optimized so they would be a good fit for both traditional and cloud-native workloads. The new PowerEdge servers will features automation to increase productivity and simplify lifecycle management. Along with this automation to make things easier, the new PowerEdge will be able to use Quick Sync 2 to manage the servers through mobile devices (Android and iOS). Dell EMC will be increasing security both at the hardware and system-level.
Included in the launch are the following along with key specifications of each:
The Dell EMC PowerEdge C6420 is built for high performance and hyperscale workloads. The C6420 supports up to 4 nodes in its small 2U form factor. The C6420 also supports the new Intel and AMD CPUs, NVMe technology, and fabrics such as InfiniBand and Omnipath.
Dell EMC PowerEdge C6420 specifications:
- Form Factor: 2U
- CPU: Up to two Intel Xeon SP, up to 28 cores per processor
- Memory: 16 DIMM slots for up to 512GB per sled, 8GB/16GB/32GB DDR4 2677MT/s RDIMMs ECC Registered DDR4
- Storage: One 120GB M.2 SATA RI SSD boot drive, One 16/32/64GB MicroSD card
- Bays: up to 24 2.5” or an optional 12 3.5” model
- Controllers: S140 Software RAID with Intel C620 Chipset SATA controller (RAID 0, 1, 5, 10)
- Hardware RAID using PERC H330 Mezzanine (RAID 0, 1, 5, 10, 50), PERC H730p Mezzanine (RAID 0, 1, 5, 6, 10, 50, 60) Non RAID: HBA330 Mezzanine, 12Gbps SAS LP PCIe HBA
- I/O Ports:
- Rear ports: 2 x USB 3.0 ports, 1 Micro USB port for iDRAC Direct One x16 PCIe Gen3 riser (low pro le, half height and half length) One x8 PCIe Gen3 Mezzanine (for storage controller)
- One x16 PCIe Gen3 OCP Mezzanine (for network controller) One x16 PCIe Gen3 riser (for M.2 Boot Device)
- Dimensions (HxWxD): 86.8mm x 448mm x 790mm
The Dell EMC PowerEdge R640 is all about performance and simplicity and comes in the smallest form factor of the new line at only 1U. Users can create NVMe cache pools and utilize either 2.5” or 3.5 drives for data. Of the 24 DIMMs, 12 can be used for NVDIMMs giving lots of performance in such a small form factor.
Dell EMC PowerEdge R640 specifications:
- Form Factor: 1U
- CPU: Up to two Intel Xeon SP, up to 28 cores per processor
- Memory: 24 DDR4 DIMM slots, Supports RDIMM /LRDIMM, speeds up to 2667, 1.5TB max Up to 12 NVDIMM, 192 GB Max; Supports registered ECC DDR4 DIMMs only
- Storage Controllers:
- Internal controllers: PERC H330, H730p, H740p, HBA330, Software RAID (SWRAID) S140
- Boot Optimized Storage: HWRAID 2 x M.2 SSDs 120GB, 240 GB
- External PERC (RAID): H840
- External HBAs (non-RAID): 12 Gbps SAS HBA
- Bays:
- Front drive bays: Up to 10 x 2.5” SAS/SATA (HDD/SSD) with up to 8 NVMe SSD max 58TB or up to 4 x 3.5 SAS/SATA HDD max 40TB
- Rear drive bays: Up to 2 x 2.5” SAS/SATA (HDD/SSD), NVMe SSD max 12TB
- Optional DVD-ROM, DVD+RW
- I/O Ports:
- Network daughter card options
- 4 x 1GE or 2 x 10GE + 2 x 1GE or 4 x 10GE or 2 x 25GE
- Front ports: Video, 1 x USB 2.0, available USB 3.0, dedicated IDRAC Direct USB Rear ports: Video, serial, 2 x USB 3.0, dedicated iDRAC network port
- Video card: VGA, NVIDIA NVS310 available as PCIe card
- Up to 3 x Gen3 slots, all x16
- Depth: 705.05mm
The Dell EMC PowerEdge R740 aims for balance of performance and storage. This 2 socket, 2U server is ideal for VDI as it supports 3 double-width GPUs. There is also an internal M.2 SSD for boot, freeing up more space for storage.
Dell EMC PowerEdge R740 specifications:
- Form Factor: 2U
- CPU: Up to two Intel Xeon SP, up to 28 cores per processor
- Memory: 24 DDR4 DIMM slots, Supports RDIMM /LRDIMM, speeds up to 2667, 3TB max Up to 12 NVDIMM, 192 GB Max; Supports registered ECC DDR4 DIMMs only
- Storage Controllers:
- Internal controllers: PERC H330, H730p, H740p, HBA330, Software RAID (SWRAID) S140
- Boot Optimized Storage: HWRAID 2 x M.2 SSDs 120GB, 240 GB
- External PERC (RAID): H840
- External HBAs (non-RAID): 12 Gbps SAS HBA
- Drive Bays:
- Front drive bays: Up to 16 x 2.5” SAS/SATA (HDD/SSD) max 61TB or up to 8 x 3.5” SAS/SATA HDD max 80TB Optional DVD-ROM, DVD+RW
- I/O Ports:
- Network daughter card options
- 4 x 1GE or 2 x 10GE + 2 x 1GE or 4 x 10GE or 2 x 25GE
- Front ports: Video, 2 x USB 2.0, available USB 3.0, dedicated IDRAC Direct Micro-USB Rear ports: Video, serial, 2 x USB 3.0, dedicated iDRAC network port
- Video card: VGA
- Riser options with up to 8 PCIe Gen 3 slots, maximum of 4 x 16 slots
- Depth: 715.5mm
Much like the R730, the Dell EMC PowerEdge R740xd strives for balance. The xd features many of the features of the R740 along with the ability to have 24 NVMe drives for even higher performance and a much broader GPU support making it a better choice for VDI that needs higher performance overall.
Dell EMC PowerEdge R740xd specifications:
- Form Factor: 2U
- CPU: Up to two Intel Xeon SP, up to 28 cores per processor
- Memory: 24 DDR4 DIMM slots, Supports RDIMM /LRDIMM, speeds up to 2667, 3TB max Up to 12 NVDIMM, 192 GB Max; Supports registered ECC DDR4 DIMMs only
- Storage Controllers:
- Internal controllers: PERC H730p, H740p, HBA330, Software RAID (SWRAID) S140 External PERC (RAID): H840
- External HBAs (non-RAID): 12 Gbps SAS HBA
- Boot Optimized Storage: HWRAID 2 x M.2 SSDs 120GB or 240 GB
- Bays:
- Front bays: Up to 24 x 2.5 SAS/SATA (HDD/SSD), NVMe SSD max 153TB or up to 12 x 3.5” SAS/SATA HDD max 120TB Mid bay: Up to 4 x 2.5”, max 25TB SAS/SATA (HDD/SSD), NVMe SSD max 25TB or up to 4 x 3.5”, max 40TB
- Rear bays: Up to 4 x 2.5”, max 25TB SAS/SATA (HDD/SSD), NVMe SSD or up to 2 x 3.5” max 20TB SAS/SATA HDD
- I/O Ports:
- Network daughter card options
- 4 x 1GE or 2 x 10GE + 2 x 1GE or 4 x 10GE or 2 x 25GE
- Front ports: VGA, 2 x USB 2.0, dedicated IDRAC Direct Micro-USB Rear ports: VGA, Serial, 2 x USB 3.0, dedicated iDRAC network port Video card: VGA
- Riser options with up to 8 PCIe Gen 3 slots, maximum of 4 x 16 slots
- GPU Options: GPU options available only on 24 x 2.5” drive chassis Nvidia Tesla P100, K80, K40, Grid M60, M10, P4, Quadro P4000. AMD S7150, S7150X2
- Depth: 715.5mm
The big boy of the new collection is the Dell EMD PowerEdge R940. This 3U server has 4 sockets and supports up to 12 NVMe SSDs. Also aiding performance is the servers support for up to 6TB of RAM. This server too contains a built-in M.2 SSD for boot and allows space to be saved and has 24 2.5” on top of the 13 PCIe slots.
Dell EMC PowerEdge R940 specifications:
- Form Factor: 3U
- CPU: Up to four Intel Xeon SP, up to 28 cores per processor
- Memory: 48 DDR4 DIMM slots, Supports RDIMM /LRDIMM, up to 2667MT/s, 6TB max Up to 12 NVDIMM, 192 GB Max; Supports registered ECC DDR4 DIMMs only
- Storage Controllers:
- Internal controllers: PERC S140, H330, H740P Boot optimized Storage
- External HBAs (RAID): H840
- External HBAs (non-RAID): 12 Gbps SAS HBA
- Bays: Front drive bays: Up to 24 x 2.5” SAS/SATA (HDD/SSD) with up to 12 NVMe PCIe SSD, max 122TB
- I/O Ports:
- Network daughter card options
- 4x 1Gb, 4x 10Gb, 2x 10Gb+2x 1Gb, or 2x 25Gb
- Front ports: Video, 2 x USB 3.0, dedicated IDRAC Direct USB
- Rear ports: Video, serial, 2 x USB 3.0, dedicated iDRAC network port
- Video card: VGA
- Up to 13 x Gen3 slots, (3 x8 + 10 x16)
- Depth: 777.05mm
Dell EMC is releasing the latest version of its integrated Dell Remote Access Controller, iDRAC9. The latest version of iDRAC revolves around automating several common management tasks. iDRAC comes embedded in all PowerEdge Servers and is ready to go when they are powered up.
iDRAC Features and specifications:
- BIOS Recovery: Detect an invalid, untrusted BIOS image when a boot is attempted and recover to an authenticated, trusted BIOS image.
- Connection View: Quickly check if server LOMs/NDCs and iDRAC are connected to the correct switches and ports via the GUI or by command line interface. This helps prevent costly remote dispatch of technicians to remediate cabling errors.
- Full Power Cycle: By utilizing the iDRAC Service Module (iSM), DC power, including AUX power, can be temporarily removed via local or remote control to reset all power nodes in a server, saving time when troubleshooting.
- iDRAC Direct: Secure front-panel USB connection to iDRAC web interface which eliminates the need for crash carts or a trip to the hot aisle of your data center. You can use the same port to insert a USB key to upload new system pro le for secure, rapid system configuration
- iDRAC Group Manager: Provides built-in, one-to-many monitoring and inventory of local iDRAC9s with no software to install. Ideal for customers who don’t want to install and maintain a separate monitoring console. This feature does require iDRAC Enterprise licenses.
- iDRAC RESTful API: With this API, iDRAC enables support for the Redfish standard and enhances it with Dell extensions.
- Multi Vector Cooling: Air flow for each PCIe slot can be fine-tuned to ensure proper cooling. This allows for greater power efficiency and more precise cooling within each server for accessory cards.
- OpenManage Mobile and Quick Sync 2: Use the OpenManage Mobile 2.0 (or higher) app on your handheld device to securely retrieve critical health data and easily perform bare-metal server configuration tasks via BLE/Wi-Fi connectivity. Compatible with various iOS and Android devices.
- System Erase: With proper authentication, administrators can securely erase data from local storage (HDDs, SSDs, NVMs) and embedded flash devices.
- System Lockdown: Helps to prevent configuration or firmware changes to a server when using Dell tools. Requires iDRAC Enterprise License.
- Zero touch deployment and provisioning: When ordered with DHCP enabled from the factory, PowerEdge servers can be automatically configured when they are initially powered up and connected to your network. This process uses pro le-based configurations that ensure each server is configured per your specifications. This feature requires an iDRAC Enterprise license.
Availability
Dell EMC PowerEdge R940, R740, R740xd, R640, and C6420 are now available worldwide.
Dell EMC PowerEdge FC640 and M640 will be available later in 2017.
Dell EMC solutions based on new PowerEdge servers will become available worldwide throughout the second half of 2017.
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