Take a deeper dive into the Dell™ PowerEdge™ 11th-generation servers and talk with the experts and engineers of the Dell PowerEdge T610, PowerEdge R710, PowerEdge M610, and PowerEdge M710 servers.

Technical Community - Background Reading


Chat Transcript

Mark_from_Veeam Man, I am excited about 11G
erson Lots of new technology compared to previous generations
erson Found this today: www.learndell.com/courses/prosupport/teardowns//poweredge_r710/per710/index.htm
DELL-ScottH Hey guys, what's up?
erson Trying to get my request for quote together. EqualLogic (not really sure what version I need for virtualization), 2x R710 (or perhaps MD1000e+2x M710), 3x 6248 and a server for Microsoft Scdpm (maybe R710 with MD1000)
erson Dell-scotth: should that URL I posted really be available without login?
DELL-ScottH Yeah, was just looking at that, probably not :-)
DELL-ScottH How did you find it? Google?
erson Yup
DELL-ScottH Brb. Going to shutdown the Internet :-)
erson Was trying to find some more information on vFlash, so searched for "dell vflash" and that link popped up
erson /me downloads site quickly before Scotth pulls the plug... :) If you ask me, that kind of material should be available on the manual page
DELL-ScottH Hello Armando and Khsieh! Just sent the word out; people should start to trickle in, in the next few minutes
Armando75 Sounds good
Mark_from_Veeam Back after rebooting the Internet since Scotth gave little warning
DELL-ScottH Such power I wield!
Mark_from_Veeam I use Dell servers primarily for VMware. Are there any enhancements in 11G that help with my ESX server farms?
DELL-ScottH welcome lfoutch
DELL-ScottH Great enhancements with Nehalem processors and amount of memory and performance; see the chat from two weeks back...and just released ESX update 4 with OpenManage integration
Mark_from_Veeam Did the memory increase enough to run Exchange and SQL in VMs?
erson Sure
DELL-ScottH We'll give a few minutes before the official start
erson Up to 144 GB on R710 and M710; 18 slots on 8 GB RDIMM at 800 MHz
DELL-ScottH Dude! We've been running Exchange on VMs for over a year
Mark_from_Veeam Wow, that's powerful
DELL-ScottH Hello joraye
erson I/O dropped quite a lot with Exchange 2007, so it should make it a good candidate for VM
DELL-ScottH welcome lynxbat
lynxbat Hola!
joraye_knight Hi Scott!
erson And Exchange 2010 should be released in ~October
Mark_from_Veeam Any white papers on performance re: I/O?
DELL-ScottH Welcome Karim
Karim Evening all, thanks, Scott
DELL-ScottH Alright, let's officially kick it off and others can catch up...
erson Truly droolworthy topic today
DELL-ScottH Welcome again to this week’s chat session. Today we will cover the Dell PowerEdge 11th generation of servers. Joining us today is Armando from the Dell team to help out with any questions
erson Mark_from_veeam, this post is from the official Exchange blog; should explain it: http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2006/09/08/428860.aspx
DELL-ScottH Say hello to Armando!
erson Hi Armando
DELL-ScottH Couple of quick things
Armando75 Hello All
Mark_from_Veeam Thanks, Erson ;)
DELL-ScottH Right-click links, and you can avoid being excited from the chat
Karim Hi armando
Mark_from_Veeam Scott, we are always excited in this chat
lynxbat Too funnny, "right cliick on links and you can avoid being excited from the chat"
erson /me left-clicks on links and they pops up in a new window
Mark_from_Veeam I just right-clicked and made myself dull
DELL-ScottH And, as always, use Action, Recent Room History to catch up if you accidentally exit the chat
DELL-ScottH This session is recorded, so don't worry about writing down URLs. You can click on them later in the transcript, which is available on the same link that got you to this page. And ask questions at any time; don't worry about interrupting. It's not rude in a chat
brennels Great Job moderating last week Scott, thanks
DELL-ScottH And thanks, Mark, we are all excited that I can't type :-)
DELL-ScottH Okay, so I think I'm going to start off with some general stuff, and then let the questions drive this chat
DELL-ScottH First, here's a good general overview into 11G: www.dell.com/11g ...marketing stuff, but gets you in the right direction
DELL-ScottH Ha, caught one!
lynxbat Lol
Armando75 You can also visit DELL.COM/Switch
jbarton Nice
DavidSzp Ha ha
erson /me likes the manuals in http://support.dell.com/manuals
DELL-ScottH One of the biggest things we've done in the new server line is the embedding of the systems management
DavidSzp /me likes the R710 link earlier :-)
DELL-ScottH There is a topic next week to go in more depth, but I'll give you a preview
brennels Very cool
DELL-ScottH www.delltechcenter.com/page/lifecycle+controller
DELL-ScottH Hey Brace !
michaelsainz So what changed in the systems management stuff?
DELL-ScottH Erson, what was that link you gave earlier for the R710?
joraye_knight Unified Server Configurator is so amazing
Armando75 Dell has actually embedded systems management into the system
DELL-ScottH Ys, doing some demos on it; one is on that Life Cycle controller link I just gave
erson www.learndell.com/courses/prosupport/teardowns/poweredge_r710/per710/index.htm
DavidSzp Erson: Shhh, don't tell; I'm not done downloading yet :-)
Armando75 No need for media to deploy
DavidSzp Winhttrack Ftw :-)
DELL-ScottH Yeah, not sure if that link Erson just gave is supposed to be public, but great teardown and details
erson Davidszp: me too :)
erson www.learndell.com/courses/prosupport/teardowns/poweredge_r610/per610/index.htm
brennels Looks like it was tailor made for cloud architecture
DELL-ScottH Doh, he's on a tear!
erson www.learndell.com/courses/prosupport/teardowns/poweredge_t610/pet610/index.htm
Armando75 With Life Cycle Controller, Dell provides a tool for complete life cycle management of the product from deployment to update
erson Is the life cycle controller actual hardware? The iDRAC certainly is, but can't find any manual on the life cycle controller
atxtraveler_on_twitter Is that different from a BMC?
joraye_knight Life Cycle Controller = Unified Server Configurator, right Scott?
DELL-ScottH For those familiar with the PowerEdge 1950 and PowerEdge 2950, PowerEdge R610 = PowerEdge 1950 and PowerEdge R710 = PowerEdge 2950. Will help you make the leap in your head to the new machines
Armando75 Yes, life cycle controller is the actual persistent storage that houses all the drivers, BIOS, firmware, and updates
erson Okay, so the 1 GB persistent storage then
Armando75 Unified Server Configurator is the GUI powered by Life Cycle controller
erson Press F10 when the server boots, etc.
DELL-ScottH So life cycle controller is the hardware that is accessed using the Unified Server Configurator, which is the GUI...makes sense
Armando75 Correct
michaelsainz Ahhh
DELL-ScottH You can get an overview demo here: www.delltechcenter.com/page/lifecycle+controller
erson And what about vFlash that you can use with iDRAC 6 Enterprise. what can I do with that?
DELL-ScottH More details on that next week
Armando75 The USC is built from UEFI standards
Karim The iDRAC series now is replacing the BMC modules (if I remember right); iDRAC Express will give you the bare-bone BMC/IPMI usage and Enterprise will be a fully fledged DRAC card
joraye_knight Okay, so the USC is the software, the life cycle controller is the hardware/flash storage portion
DELL-ScottH @erson, right now, not much...just 256 MB blank storage to put whatever you want on it
DELL-ScottH @joraye , correct
erson User customization: Bootable and managed 256 MB persistent storage for logs, service images, crash dumps, etc. This data is accessible out of band through iDRAC Enterprise UI even when the system is on standby power
atxtraveler_on_twitter Is this where the CIM/Smash data is communicated from?
erson So pretty much that bullet from your page then?
Karim Dell Remote Access Card, for those unfamiliar with the term DRAC ;)
Armando75 iDRAC is not replacing the BMC; BMC is still standard on 11G
DELL-ScottH Welcome halflinger, use Action, Recent Room History to catch up
atxtraveler_on_twitter So BMC is where the sensors attach on the motherboard, and the iDRAC is the methodology of pulling information from the BMC?
joraye_knight My favorite part of this, hopefully, no more SMTD, Installation and Server Management CDs, BUU, SUU, etc. The OS install can be done without additional media!
erson Dell Unified Server Configurator Manual: http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/software/smusc/
DELL-ScottH @joraye, yes no more installation media (except for the OS). That's my next demo
erson iDRAC 6 Manual: http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/software/smdrac3/idrac/idrac10mono/index.htm
DELL-ScottH Erson is manual man today :-)
atxtraveler_on_twitter Erson - FTW
erson Some sneaky Dell employee hid the system management hardware under software...pretty evil :)
DELL-ScottH I think the memory configurations will be the most confusing on these new systems
atxtraveler_on_twitter I think it might be, Scotth
DELL-ScottH Dr. Jeff Layton wrote a great blog post
erson URL?
DELL-ScottH www.delltechcenter.com/page/04-08-2009+-+nehalem+and+memory+configurations
JasonPowell Where do we find the difference between the bare bones and Enterprise DRAC stuff?
DELL-ScottH And he also had a very nice intro blog post to Nehalem: www.delltechcenter.com/page/04-06-2009+-+introduction+to+nehalem-ep
erson Jasonpowell, in my URL above about iDRAC 6
erson Memory guidelines for R710: http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/per710/en/hom/html/install.htm#wp1193696
JasonPowell Is there a cliff notes version?
Armando75 Not that I'm aware of
Halflinger left.
erson iDRAC 6 Enterprise adds support for RACADM, virtual KVM, virtual media features, a dedicated NIC, and virtual Flash (with an optional Dell vFlash Media card)
erson From iDRAC 6 overview: http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/software/smdrac3/idrac/idrac10mono/en/ug/html/racugc1.htm
erson /me is not on fire
DELL-ScottH I'm working with marketing manager on the systems management stuff and hopefully will have a nice decoder ring on the TechCenter site to help with the free and pay stuff for the DRACs
JasonPowell iDRAC Express is free?
erson Yes
DELL-ScottH Hey, Dr J! Was just pimping your blog posts... The doctor is In. Any questions from his posts?
Armando75 Remote Access Controller Administrator. This interface allows customers to script their use of most iDRAC 6 features
Armando75 iDRAC Express is $99
DELL-ScottH Welcome newcomers. Use Action, Recent Room History to catch up, or you can view the transcript tomorrow
DELL-ScottH Any customers have an 11G in their hands yet?
DELL-ScottH Welcome Roopa!
jbarton Does anyone know why my Dell rep can give me a quote for a dual processor M610 full of 4 G DIMMs, but if I want a single processor, they only support 2 G DIMMs?
Dell-Roopa Hi Scott
DELL-ScottH Roopa is behind much of the systems management stuff—good contact :-)
erson Regarding memory configuration for the R710, go with 8/12 4 GB modules and enjoy 1,066 MHz memory speed and advanced ECC. When 48 GB isn't enough you can't get advanced ECC, and you can go up to 72 GB by filling out the extra memory modules
JasonPowell Can you get both ESXi or ESX embedded on 11G?
Armando75 With the new Intel architecture there are over 4,000 combinations
erson Jasonpowell, I think you can with the internal SD module, and Xen too
Dell-Roopa Yes, ESXi and ESX are supported on 11G
Armando75 ESXi is the embedded version, and yes it will be available
JasonPowell So if I want VI 3/ESX, would I not get ESXi embedded?
joraye_knight Isn't ESXi going to be on an SD-type card this time instead of a USB key?
DavidSzp Jason, ESX doesn't come embedded, but you can use VI 3/vCenter/etc. with the ESXi version
erson Jbarton, the manual for the PowerEdge M610 confirms the things your Dell sales rep told you
DavidSzp The whole point of ESXi was to have a firmware-like thing that could be embedded...and also installed
erson Jbarton, scroll a bit down from: http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/pem/en/hom/html/blades.htm#wp1337283
JasonPowell Hmmm...something’s not clicking for me on the ESXi/ESX then
DavidSzp Except for not having a service console, ESXi and ESX generally have the same capabilities once you add vCenter. ESXi is free by itself, but is about as powerful when paid for as full-blown ESX.
erson Isn't VMware slowly moving away from ESX to ESXi?
DavidSzp It kind of appears so, but that's not something I know about
DavidSzp As far as I know the service console is really mainly useful for running backup agents and such. And Veeam Backup won't replicate to ESXi, just ESX for now, but it will backup ESXi just fine
Armando75 In my opinion that is the way they would like to see
DELL-ScottH Sorry, got caught...catching back up
JasonPowell Sorry...still not clear :-) Oh well
erson I have two friends as VMware, and they seem to hint that that is the long-term plan
DELL-ScottH ESXi can be installable of embedded...same thing, just one is installed on drive D, other is embedded (SD, USB). ESX is the full blown with service console
atxtraveler_on_twitter Davidszp, thanks for the Veeam plug, they have excellent utilities for people using ESXi as well as ESX
erson Do I need to get a special SD from Dell or can I use any SD for vFlash?
JasonPowell So if we're planning to buy VI 3 we'd not want ESXi embedded?
DELL-ScottH another thing to know about the 11G servers is performance! We have benchmarks here: www.dell.com/benchmarks
Karim Joraye, I think the SSD will be an add-on offer, but not sure on that. Armando, do you know?
atxtraveler_on_twitter ESXi versus ESX is just the delivery method of the kernel
Karim SD, sorry
atxtraveler_on_twitter ESXi has no service console
erson I got quite impressed by the HP equivalent of the PowerEdge R710 that was capable of up to 16x 2.5". Was there any talk about doing anything similar with the PowerEdge R710?
Armando75 Currently you can use any SD card, but with future capabilities you will have to use a Dell branded
erson The Swedish sell up on the 1 GB vFlash card is almost $100 :) And I thought robbery was forbidden…
Armando75 At this time, there are no plans for 16 drives
Karim Would be nice though, 16 drives, though I think that would be more along the lines of a PowerVault alternative if one came about
jbarton So is there a requirement that in a single processor PowerEdge M610 you must use UDIMMs instead of RDIMMs? Isn't the only difference between the two of those power consumption?
Armando75 RDIMMs offer more RAS capabilities and higher performance at high utilization rates
erson RDIMM = Registered DIMM, UDIMM = Unbuffered DIMM
Armando75 UDIMMs use less power
DELL-ScottH Yes, but I think jbarton’s question is about why he can't get 4 GB in the single processor PowerEdge M610
jbarton Correct
erson I agree that is odd
jbarton I would like to be able to use 4 GB RDIMMs in a single processor PowerEdge M610
erson But the manual supported what his sales rep. told him
DELL-ScottH I'm digging more, because I'm pretty sure I just ordered mine with 8 GB DIMMs
Armando75 There are no limitations, it can be supported, but with 4,000 possible memory configurations, we couldn't validate them all
jbarton My Dell rep offered to let me buy a PowerEdge M610 with 1 GB of memory, and then 6x 4 GB RDIMMs separately, and test myself :)
erson RDIMM is supported with one CPU on the PowerEdge M710, so it should definitely work
jbarton I understand they couldn't validate all of them, but seems like it makes sense to validate a single processor configuration with maximum memory
Karim I'm possibly put this to the wild but if you think on it the way the new Intel processor is with the three channels per processor for the DDR3 memory, don't quote me on that one ;P
Armando75 We are looking at adding configurations
jbarton I am building a database environment where I need a lot of memory, but also have to worry about licensing based on processor
Armando75 So please stay tuned
DELL-ScottH Yeah, I'm looking at table 3-6 that Erson referenced, and it just says "examples"
DELL-ScottH The internal configurator let me build a PowerEdge M610 with 8 GB DIMMs...that's the only memory sticks I ordered for the lab
erson Send them to me when your done with them :)
DELL-ScottH 4,000 possible combinations is like the number of drinks available at Sonic :-)
DELL-ScottH By that time they will be a dime a dozen :-)
Armando75 Yeah, it’s pretty amazing. It will make your head spin
DELL-ScottH <-- realizes he has some studying to do on memory configurations
erson Is the iDRAC 6 on the R-series identical to the one on the M-series?
erson /me is going to begin with 12x 4 GB and top out at 72 GB when the time is right; 8 GB is too expensive to be worth it right now
erson *cough* - you couldn't direct me to the PowerEdge M710 page on learndell? :)
DELL-ScottH Armando, do you know if the iDRACs are the same? I don't know if they are exactly identical
Armando75 Not the same exact series, but with similar features
jbarton Scott, did the internal configurator allow 8 GB DIMMs on a single processor machine, or was it dual processor?
erson /me dislikes the NIC hardware key to enable full NIC functionality
DELL-ScottH @jbarton, it was dual processor; I don't have access to it right now to run the configurations, or I would
joraye_knight One of the big differences I saw was the Express version shares a LOM port, Enterprise has a dedicated port
jbarton Okay
erson The big difference is KVM-over-IP with Enterprise and second virtual media
Karim Hmmm, interesting. Looking at the manual for the PowerEdge R710, it allows 8 GB RDIMMs in single processor systems or 2 GB on the UDIMMs
erson iDRAC 6 Express iDRAC6 Express [included in Price] iDRAC 6 Enterprise [add $349] iDRAC 6 Enterprise with vFlash 1 GB SD Card [add $448]
joraye_knight Well, besides all the features, it was a physical hardware difference I noted
Karim That’s with the quad rank DIMMs
erson Those are the prices on DELL.COM for PowerEdge R710 in the SMB section
DELL-ScottH @jbarton, yes strange, the online configurator only allows 2 GB DIMM choices if you just select one processor...pick second processor and the others show up
Karim @erson http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/pet610/multlang/gsg/dao/dp884a01mr.pdf
erson joraye_knight, on that piece of physical hardware you also get the SD slot for the vFlash
Karim it4/,4d ant 610
erson Karim, what were you trying to say to me with that pdf?
Karim sorry* meant
erson Okay, regarding hard drives, what do you guys suggest?
DELL-ScottH Coming up on the end of the hour (and have to run to a meeting). Want to thank everyone for joining, especially Armando. If we didn't get to your question, you can ask it directly on the page of the transcript. Everyone is welcome to stay on longer for as long as you like
Armando75 Thanks for your time. Much appreciated
erson Probably spent an hour today at work going back and forth between 2.5" and 3.5"
DELL-ScottH appreciate everyone's time; sorry for having to run. You guys always know where to find me :-)
joraye_knight Thanks Scott!
Karim Thanks Scott
erson Scotth: improv class?
DELL-ScottH Ha, nope, real meeting today
erson A welcome change for the unreal meetings I suppose :)
erson So, any suggestions on 2.5" and 3.5"
erson The setup is a Hyper-V physical host connected to an EqualLogic
Karim Scott still looking for new bodies for the labs there (if my spelling didn't suck of course)
erson So I'm going for a RAID-1 for the Windows 2008 R2 core
DELL-Mark Have to run…ya'll take care