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This document is for informational purposes only. Dell reserves the right to make changes without further notice to any products herein. The content provided is as is and without express or implied warranties of any kind.
Dell, the DELL logo, PowerEdge, EqualLogic, PowerVault, PowerConnect, 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. 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. 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.
©Copyright 2012 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction or translation of any part of this work beyond that permitted by U.S. copyright laws without the written permission of Dell Inc. is unlawful and strictly forbidden.
June 2012 | Rev 1.1
Table of contents
The Dell™ PowerEdge™ R420 is a 2-socket, 1U rack-mount server offering powerful performance and scalability in a dense 1U rack form factor. It is an excellent fit for compute-intense applications and high-performance computing (HPC) workloads. The R420’s low profile also makes it highly attractive for departmental email, workgroup collaboration, and file and print in space-constrained environments at departmental or remote sites of large businesses and public organizations.
The R420 features the extensive performance of two Intel ® Xeon ® E5-2400 processors. Powerful processors alone, however, are not enough to deliver balanced performance. Compute power must be combined with sufficient memory and I/O bandwidth to prevent performance bottlenecking. The
R420 complements its processors with 12 DIMM slots and two PCI Express ® (PCIe) 3.0-enabled
I/O slots, providing a substantial memory footprint and wide I/O bandwidth to support both memory-intensive and data-intensive applications and databases. These combined technology features are also key design requirements when supporting consolidated and virtualized environments, a role the R420 fits well. To protect your virtualized workloads, the R420 offers dual, redundant SD media making your hypervisors redundant and failsafe. Other reliability and availability features include up to four 3.5-inch or eight 2.5-inch hot-plug hard drives, both hardware and software RAID options, and redundant, hot-plug power supplies.
The PowerEdge family is engineered with the right combination of features and performance scalability to handle tough workloads for both large and small data center environments.
The Dell OpenManage™ systems management portfolio includes Integrated Dell Remote Access
Controller 7 (iDRAC7) with Lifecycle Controller. This embedded feature helps IT administrators manage Dell servers in physical, virtual, local and remote environments, operating in-band or out-of-band, with or without a systems management software agent. The OpenManage systems management portfolio also integrates and connects to third-party systems management solutions so you can maintain your single point of control and capitalize on your existing investment.
OpenManage simplifies the lifecycle of deploying, updating, monitoring, and maintaining your Dell
PowerEdge servers.
Table 1 summarizes the newest technologies used in the Dell PowerEdge R420 rack server.
New technologies Detailed descriptions
Intel Xeon processor
E5-2400 product family
This new family of Intel processors has embedded PCIe lanes for improved I/O
performance. See the Processor section for details.
Intel C600 series chipset The Intel Platform Controller Hub (PCH) chip is implemented on the R420 server.
1600 MT/s DDR3 memory
Next generation PERC options
PERC S110 software
RAID Solution iDRAC7 with Lifecycle
Controller
Advanced power management
Fresh Air cooling
Failsafe hypervisors
Fan fault tolerance
Certain models of the Intel Xeon processor E5-2400 product family support
1600MT/s memory. The R420 supports two DIMMs per channel at 1600MT/s with
certain models. See the Memory section for details.
The R420 supports the new PERC controller cards with improved functionality and
faster performance. See the Storage section for details.
This new software RAID solution supports RAID 0, 1, 5 and 10, and supports a maximum of four hot-plug SATA hard drives or SATA solid-state drives. See the
The new embedded system management solution for Dell 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.
The R420 supports advanced power monitoring and power capping tools that can
help manage power consumption. See the Power, thermal, and acoustics section
for details.
Dell has tested and validated an integrated data center solution that enables you
The internal dual SD module enables Dell's unique Failsafe Virtualization architecture, ensuring uptime by providing failover capability for embedded hypervisors, such as VMware for details.
® VSphere™ ESXi ®
. See the Supported virtualization
Failure of one fan rotor is tolerated with degradation in performance through active throttling and increased fan speeds. The feature helps reduce downtime by allowing you to schedule a fan replacement within 360 hours of a fan failure.
Compared to the previous generation of Dell PowerEdge servers, the R420 supports more PCIe
slots, PCIe 3.0, more memory, and advanced system management. Table 2 compares some of the
features of the R420 to its R410 predecessor. Table 3 lists all of the R420’s specifications.
The R420 is the new generation PowerEdge server replacing the R410.
Feature PowerEdge R410 PowerEdge R420
Chassis
Memory 1
1U rack
Processors
Intel Xeon processors 5500 and 5600 series
Internal interconnect Intel QuickPath Interconnect
8 x DDR3 RDIMM and UDIMM
Up to 128GB
1U rack
Intel Xeon processor E5-2400 product family
Intel QuickPath Interconnect
12 x DDR3 RDIMM and UDIMM
Up to 192GB
Hard drive bays
(hot-plug)
RAID controller
PCI slots
Embedded NIC
Up to 4 x 3.5” cabled or hot-plug
PERC H200, H700, H800
1 PCIe 2.0 slots
Dual Port 1GbE LOM
Up to 4 x 3.5” cabled or hot-plug
Up to 8 x 2.5” hot-plug
PERC H310, H710, H710P, H810, S110
2 PCIe 3.0 slots
Dual Port 1GbE LOM
Power supplies
Non-redundant 480W
Redundant 500W
Non-redundant 550W
Redundant 350W or 550W
Dell OpenManage
Systems Management
Dell OpenManage
Dell Management Console (DMC)
Lifecycle Controller 1.x iDRAC6 (Express or Enterprise) with
Lifecycle Controller
OpenManage Essentials
Dell Management Console
IT Assistant
OMSA Agent
OpenManage Power Center (requires iDRAC7 Enterprise with Lifecycle
Controller)
OpenManage Integrations and
Connections
Basic management (standard option)
Power efficiency Gold Platinum
Availability
Hot-plug drives
Hot-plug redundant power supply units
Hot-plug drives
Hot-plug redundant power supply units
Fan fault tolerance
Fault resilient memory
Internal dual SD module
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.
Table 3 summarizes the specifications for each of the PowerEdge R420 features. For the latest
information on supported features for the PowerEdge R420, visit Dell.com
.
Feature PowerEdge R420 technical specification
Form factor
Processors
1U rack
Intel Xeon processor E5-2400 product family
Processor sockets 2 sockets
Internal interconnect Intel QuickPath Interconnect (QPI) link: 6.4GT/s, 7.2GT/s, 8.0GT/s
Cache 2.5MB per core with core options of 4, 6, or 8
Chipset
Memory 1
PCIe slots
RAID controller
Hard drives
Embedded NIC
Power supply
Intel C600
Up to 192GB (12 DIMM slots): 2GB/4GB/8GB/16GB DDR3 up to 1600MT/s
2 PCIe slots
With 2 processors:
1 x16 slot with x16 bandwidth, 3.0, half-height, half-length
1 x16 slot with x16 bandwidth, 3.0, full-height, half-length
With 1 processor:
1 x8 slot with x4 bandwidth, 2.0, half-height, half-length
1 x16 slot with x16 bandwidth, 3.0, full-height, half-length
Internal controllers:
PERC S110 (SW RAID)
PERC H310
PERC H710
PERC H710P
External HBAs (RAID):
PERC H810
External HBAs (non-RAID):
6Gbps SAS HBA
Drive bay options:
4 x 3.5” cabled drive bays or
4 x 3.5” hot-plug drive bays (2.5” hybrid kit available) or
8 x 2.5” hot- plug drive bays
Hot-plug hard drive options:
2.5” SATA, nearline SAS, SAS (15K, 10K), SAS SSD, SATA SSD
3.5” SATA, nearline SAS, SAS (15K)
Self-encrypting drives available
Cabled hard drive options:
3.5” SATA, nearline SAS, SAS (15K)
Broadcom ® 5720 Dual Port 1GbE LOM
Platinum efficiency 550W and 350W power supplies
Silver efficiency cabled 550W power supply
Auto-ranging power supplies
Feature PowerEdge R420 technical specification
Availability
Dell OpenManage
Systems Management
(Agent-free or with
OpenManage Server
Administrator [OMSA]
Agent)
High-efficiency, hot-plug, redundant power supplies; hot-plug hard drives; TPM; dual internal SD support; fan fault tolerance; optional bezel; information tag; ECC memory; interactive LCD screen; extended power range; ENERGY STAR ® compliant
OpenManage Essentials
Dell Management Console
IT Assistant
OMSA Agent
OpenManage Power Center (requires iDRAC7 Enterprise with Lifecycle
Controller)
OpenManage Integrations and Connections:
- OpenManage Integration Suite for Microsoft
- Dell Management Plug-in for VMware
- Connections for HP ®
®
® System Center
vCenter™
Operations Manager, IBM
Network and Systems Management
® Tivoli ® Netcool ® and CA
Basic management (standard option)
- Upgrade to iDRAC7 (Express or Enterprise) with Lifecycle Controller
- Upgrade to 8GB vFlash media or 16GB vFlash media for iDRAC7 Enterprise with Lifecycle Controller
- Trial evaluations available for IDRAC7 (Express and Enterprise) with Lifecycle
Controller
Rack support
ReadyRails™ II sliding rails for tool-less mounting in 4-post racks with square or unthreaded round holes or tooled mounting in 4-post threaded hole racks, with support for optional tool-less cable management arm
ReadyRails static rails for tool-less mounting in 4-post racks with square or unthreaded round holes or tooled mounting in 4-post threaded and 2-post
(Telco) racks
Operating systems
Microsoft Windows Server ®
Microsoft Windows ®
®
Small Business Server 2011
Enterprise Server
®
2008 R2 SP1, x64 (includes Hyper-V ® v2)
SUSE ® Linux
Red Hat ® Enterprise Linux
Optional embedded hypervisors:
Citrix ® XenServer™
VMware vSphere™
Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization ®
For more information on the specific versions and additions, visit
Dell.com/OSsupport .
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.
The Dell PowerEdge R420 is a 1U, 2-socket rack server. For additional system views and features, see the
Dell PowerEdge R420 Systems Owner’s Manual
on Support.Dell.com/Manuals .
Figure 1 shows the features on the front of the R420 chassis including eight 2.5-inch hard drives,
control panel, USB connectors, and many other components and features described in this guide.
Figure 2 shows the optional locking bezel on the front of the R420 chassis.
Figure 3 shows the features on the back panel of the R420 including USB connectors, Ethernet
connectors, serial connector, video connector, PCIe slots, power supplies, and many other components and features described in this guide.
The chassis design of the R420 is optimized for easy access to components and for airflow for effective and efficient cooling. The R420 supports up to 12 DIMMs, 2 processors, hot-plug redundant power supplies, and many other components and features described in this guide.
Table 4 lists the features on the R420 chassis. For additional information, see the
R420 Systems Owner’s Manual
on Support.Dell.com/Manuals .
Dell PowerEdge
Feature
Power button
Front bezel
NMI button
System identification button
Hard drives
USB connectors
Information tag
Video connector
Description
ACPI-compliant power button with an integrated green power LED
Covers the system’s front-loading hard drives and locks for security
Used to troubleshoot software and device driver errors; use only if directed to do so by qualified support personnel or by the operating system's documentation
Buttons on the back and front of a system to help identify the unit in a data center environment
Up to eight 2.5-inch drives
Connects USB devices to the server
Slide-out label panel for recording system information
Connects a monitor to the server
Feature
LCD panel and buttons
Optical drive
Power supply units
Power supply indicators
NIC indicators
PCIe slots
Ethernet connectors
Serial connector iDRAC7 Enterprise port
Description
Displays system ID, status information, and system error messages; two navigation buttons to scroll through the menu on the LCD and one select button
Optional slim DVD or DVD+RW drive
Supplies power to the server
Indicates whether server has power
Indicates network activity and status
Connects PCIe expansion cards to the server
Connects integrated 10/100/1000 NICs to the server
Connects a serial device to the server
Dedicated management port for optional iDRAC Ports card
The R420 control panel is located on the front of the chassis as shown in Figure 5. For more
information about the LCD control panel, see the
Support.Dell.com/Manuals .
Dell PowerEdge R420 Systems Owner’s Manual
on
A useful feature included with Dell PowerEdge 12 th generation servers is the Quick Resource Locator
(QRL)—a model-specific Quick Response (QR) code that is located inside the R420 chassis cover
(see Figure 6). Use your smartphone to access the Dell QRL app to learn more about the server.
This QRL code allows you to:
View step-by-step videos, including overviews of system internals and externals, as well as detailed, concise, task-oriented videos and installation wizards
Locate reference materials, including searchable owner’s manual content, LCD diagnostics, and an electrical overview
Look up your service tag so you can quickly gain access to your specific hardware configuration info and warranty information
Contact Dell directly (by link) to get in touch with technical support and sales teams and provide feedback to Dell
These codes provide an easy way to retrieve the critical support information you need when you need it, making you more efficient and effective in managing your hardware.
The latest generation of PowerEdge servers has the features listed in Table 5 to help ensure the
security of your data center.
Security feature Description
Cover latch
Bezel
TPM
A tooled latch is integrated on the top cover with a coin key lock to secure the system.
An optional 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.
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. No TPM version is available for China or Russia.
Power-off security BIOS has the ability to disable the power button function.
Intrusion alert
Secure mode
An internal switch is used to detect chassis intrusion.
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.
The Dell PowerEdge R420 features the Intel Xeon processor E5-2400 product family, which offers an ideal combination of performance, power efficiency, and cost. These processors provide high performance no matter what your constraint is—floor space, power, or budget—and on workloads that range from the most complicated scientific exploration to crucial web-serving and infrastructure applications. In addition to providing raw performance gains, improved I/O is also made possible with Intel Integrated I/O, which can reduce latency by adding more lanes and doubling bandwidth. This helps to reduce network and storage bottlenecks, unleashing the processor’s performance capabilities.
The new Intel Xeon processor E5-2400 product family provides the following features:
2-socket processor design with power and dimensions optimized for density
Up to 8 execution cores per processor
Intel Hyper-Threading technology enables up to 16 computational threads
Micro-architecture on 32nm process for greater performance per watt
Support for more memory—4 additional DIMMs (up to 12 DIMM slots) and support for up to
16 GB DIMMs increasing the memory capacity from 128 GB to 192 GB
Integrated memory controller with 3 channels of DDR3 and 46-bit physical addressing facilitate greater memory capacity
Intel Integrated I/O has support for up to 48 lanes (24 lanes per socket) of PCIe 3.0 links capable of 8.0 GT/s
Faster connections throughout the system with support for up to DDR3 1600 MT/s memory and
8.0 GT/s QPI
Intel Data Direct I/O (DDIO) allows I/O traffic to skip the main system memory and be directed straight to the processor cache, which can provide a significant reduction in latency as well as allowing memory to remain in a low-power state
High bandwidth, low latency, bidirectional ring interconnect allows faster access to up to 20 MB
multi-banked last level cache
Intel Advanced Vector Extensions offer up to double the floating point operations per clock cycle by doubling the length of registers, which can be useful for addressing very complex problems or dealing with large-number calculations, which are integral to many technical, financial, and scientific computing problems
Intel Turbo Boost Technology 2.0, which allows processor cores to run faster than the base operating frequency if it's operating below power, current, and temperature specification limits, delivers up to double the boost than the previous generation
Continued improvements to both Intel TXT and AES-NI help to better protect systems and data
For more information on the Intel Xeon processor E5-2400 product family, visit Intel.com
.
Table 6 lists the Intel Xeon processors supported by the PowerEdge R420. For the latest information
on supported processors, visit Dell.com/PowerEdge .
Model
E5-2470
E5-2450L
E5-2450
E5-2440
E5-2430L
E5-2430
E5-2420
E5-2407
E5-2403
Speed
2.3GHz
1.8GHz
2.1GHz
2.4GHz
2.0GHz
2.2GHz
1.9GHz
2.2GHz
1.8GHz
TDP
95W
70W
95W
95W
60W
95W
95W
80W
80W
Cache
20MB
20MB
20MB
15MB
15MB
15MB
15MB
10MB
10MB
Cores/ threads
8/16
8/16
8/16
6/12
6/12
6/12
6/12
4/8
4/8
QPI
8.0GT/s
8.0GT/s
8.0GT/s
7.2GT/s
7.2GT/s
7.2GT/s
7.2GT/s
6.4GT/s
6.4GT/s
Max memory speed
1600MT/s
1600MT/s
1600MT/s
1333MT/s
1333MT/s
1333MT/s
1333MT/s
1066MT/s
1066MT/s
Turbo
Yes
Yes
Yes
NA
NA
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
For information on processor installation and configuration, see the
Owner’s Manual
on Support.Dell.com/Manuals .
Dell PowerEdge R420 Systems
The Intel C600 chipset is implemented on the PowerEdge R420. For more information, visit
Intel.com
.
The large memory footprint of the Dell PowerEdge R420 offers greater capacities, higher frequencies, and more flexibility. The R420 supports up to 192 GB of memory (12 DIMM slots) and speeds of up to 1600 MT/s, providing high performance in a variety of applications. The new reliability, availability, serviceability (RAS) features like memory mirroring and sparing help you increase your uptime and reduce data loss. RAS aids in the rapid and accurate diagnosis of faults that require service, increasing your memory reliability.
The R420 supports the memory technologies shown
Feature
Register
Buffer
Frequencies
Ranks supported
Capacity per DIMM
Maximum DIMMS per channel
DRAM technology
Temperature sensor
ECC
SDDC
Address parity
UDIMM
No
No
800, 1066, or 1333MT/s
1 or 2
2 or 4GB
2 x8
Yes
Yes
Yes (with advanced ECC mode)
Yes
RDIMM
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
800, 1066, 1333, or 1600 MT/s
1, 2, or 4
2, 4, 8, or 16GB
2 x4 or x8
8x
The R420 supports the DIMMs listed in Table 8. For the latest information on supported memory,
visit Dell.com
.
Capacity
(GB)
4
4
4
8
2
2
2
4
8
16
16
Speed
(MT/s)
1333
1333
1600
1333
1333
1333
1600
1333
1600
1333
1600
Type
RDIMM
UDIMM
RDIMM
RDIMM
RDIMM
UDIMM
RDIMM
RDIMM
RDIMM
RDIMM
RDIMM
Ranks per
DIMM
1
2
2
2
1
1
1
2
2
2
2
Data width x4 x8 x8 x4 x8 x8 x8 x8 x4 x4 x4
SDDC support Voltage
Advanced ECC
Advanced ECC
Advanced ECC
Advanced ECC
All modes
Advanced ECC
Advanced ECC
All modes
All modes
All modes
All modes
1.35
1.35
1.5
1.35
1.35
1.35
1.5
1.35
1.5
1.35
1.5
Flexible memory configurations are supported on the R420, ranging from capacities of 2 GB to
192 GB. The system supports up to 6 DIMMs per processor (up to 12 DIMMs in a 2-processor configuration). The R420 has 3 memory channels per processor, with each channel supporting up to 2 DIMMs.
The R420 supports a flexible memory configuration according to these basic rules:
Speed: If DIMMs of different speeds are mixed, all channels across all processors operate at the slowest DIMM’s common frequency.
DIMM type: Only one type of DIMM can be used in a system. UDIMMs and RDIMMs cannot be mixed.
The following additional memory population guidelines apply to the R420:
Up to two quad-rank (QR), dual-rank (DR), or single-rank (SR) DIMMs may be populated per channel.
DIMMs must be installed in each channel, starting with the DIMM farthest from the processor.
DIMMs should be installed with largest rank count to smallest. For example, if DR DIMMS are mixed with SR DIMMs, DR DIMMS should be placed in the lowest DIMM slots, followed by the SR
DIMMs.
For more information on memory configuration, see the
Dell PowerEdge R420 Systems Owner’s
Manual
on Support.Dell.com/Manuals .
The R420 supports memory speeds of 1600MT/s, 1333MT/s, 1066MT/s, and 800MT/s depending on the DIMM types installed and the configuration. All memory on all processors and channels run at the same speed and voltage. By default, the systems run at the highest speed for the channel with the lowest DIMM voltage and speed. The operating speed of the memory is also determined by the maximum speed supported by the processor, the speed settings in the BIOS, and the operating voltage of the system.
Table 9 lists memory configuration and performance details for the R420 based on the population
of the number and type of DIMMs per memory channel.
DIMM type
UDIMM
RDIMM
DR
SR
DR
QR
SR
DR
SR
SR
SR
SR
DR
QR
QR
QR
DIMM 0 DIMM 1
SR
DR
DR
SR
DR
DR
SR
DR
QR
Number of
DIMMs
1
1
2
1
2
2
2
1
1
2
2
2
2
2
800
∞
∞
∞
∞
∞
∞
∞
∞
∞
∞
∞
∞
∞
∞
1066
∞
∞
∞
∞
∞
∞
∞
∞
∞
∞
∞
Speed (MT/s)
1333
∞
∞
∞
∞
∞
∞
∞
∞
∞
∞
1600
∞
∞
∞
∞
Reliability, availability, serviceability (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 10 describes the RAS
features supported on the R420.
Feature
Dense configuration optimized profile
Description
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
Feature Description
Memory demand and patrol scrubbing
Recovery from single
DRAM device failure
Failed DIMM isolation
Memory mirroring: intra-socket
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 (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.
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 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
Memory sparing (rank)
This feature provides the ability to detect transient errors on the address lines of the DDR channel.
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.
For information on memory mirroring and sparing configurations, see the
Systems Owner’s Manual
on Support.Dell.com/Manuals .
Dell PowerEdge R420
The Dell PowerEdge R420 supports internal and external storage options and controllers, different drive types, and different chassis configurations for a varied number of drives.
Features such as CacheCade™ provide accelerated performance over previous technologies.
CacheCade uses Dell PERC storage controllers to accelerate performance over hard drives or traditional solid-state drives.
R420 has three chassis to support up to three different drive-bay options.
4 x 3.5-inch drive option (base configuration, cabled tray)
4 x 3.5-inch drive option (volume configuration, hot-plug tray; 2.5-inch hybrid kit available for
2.5-inch drives)
8 x 2.5-inch drive option (maximum drive support in 1U, hot-plug tray)
The R420 supports up to eight 2.5-inch or four 3.5-inch hard drives or solid-state drives.
up-to-date list of supported hard drives for the R420, see Dell.com/PowerEdge .
Form factor
Type Speed
(rpm)
Capacities
Nearline SAS *
SAS
SAS
SAS SSD
SATA SSD
SATA*
SATA
Nearline SAS
SAS
* Applies to the 8-drive bay only.
N/A
10K
15K
N/A
N/A
N/A
7.2K
7.2K
15K
500G, 1TB, 1TB SED
300GB, 600GB, 900GB, 900GB SED
146GB, 300GB, 300GB SED
200GB, 400GB
100GB, 200GB
250GB, 500GB, 1TB
500GB, 1TB, 2TB
1TB, 2TB, 3TB
300GB, 600GB
External storage for the R420 is available through optional HBAs for SAS and iSCSI. For more information, see Dell.com/Storage .
Dell provides highly capable RAID options for you to ensure that your data remains safe. Dell’s RAID controller options offer impressive performance improvements, including the following features:
FastPath™ I/O: This feature can help accelerate performance when operating on SSDs.
Split mirror: This function allows you to break mirrored disk connection in order to quickly replace a drive.
Physical disk power management (Dimmer Switch™): This feature allows for power control of spare or idle drives, which can save energy and operating expenses.
The newest line of PERC (PowerEdge RAID Controller) cards offer high I/O performance for database applications and streaming digital media environments. The internal RAID controllers have a dedicated connection to the system board. The R420 supports the new PERC 8 family of controllers with improved functionality and faster performance.
The default PERC for the R420 is a mini-type PERC. The R420 also supports the new software RAID
solution that supports RAID 0, 1, 5 and 10. The R420 supports the PERC cards listed in Table 12. For
more information about the latest PERC offerings, see Dell.com/PERC .
Controller Description Features
RAID modes supported
PERC H810
External
PERC H710P
Internal
Eight-port, internal 6Gb/s
PCIe RAID controller
PERC H710
Internal
PERC H310
Internal
Eight-port, external and
6Gp/s PCIe RAID controller
Eight-port, internal 6Gb/s
PCIe RAID controller
Eight-port, internal 6Gb/s
PCIe RAID
Includes 1GB NV DDR3 cache, premium performance and feature set, security SED/EKMS, and SSD as cache
0, 1, 10, 5,
50, 6, 60
Includes 1GB NV DDR3 cache, premium performance and feature set, security SED/EKMS, and SSD as cache
0, 1, 10, 5,
50, 6, 60
Includes 512MB NV
DDR3 cache, advanced feature set, security
SED/EKMS
Supports hot-plug drives, expansion, passthrough
0, 1, 10, 5,
50, 6, 60
0, 1, 10, 5,
50
Adapter
Integrated mini-type
Integrated mini-type
Integrated mini-type
Premium performance
Premium performance
Performance
Value
Controller Description Features
RAID modes supported
PERC S110
Software
RAID
3Gb/s SATA software RAID controller that supports up to 4 physical disks or 8 virtual disks
Supports up to 4 hot-plug SATA drives, no expansion, Microsoft
Windows only
0, 1, 5, 10
System boardembedded
SATA
Table 13 lists the storage matrix for the R420 hard drives, backplanes, and Dell PERC cards.
Entry-level
Backplane options Controller Drive types
4 x 3.5” cabled
4 x 3.5” or 2.5” hot-plug
PERC S110, H310
PERC S110, H310
1
1
, H710
, H710
1,2
1
, H710P
, H710P 1
1,2
3.5” SATA
3.5” Nearline SAS
3.5” SAS
3.5” SATA
3.5” Nearline SAS
3.5” SAS
2.5” SAS
2.5” SSD
8 x 2.5" hot-plug PERC H310 1 , H710 1 , H710P 1
2.5” SATA
2.5” Nearline SAS
2.5” SAS
2.5” SSD
1
Mini-type PERC
2
H710 and H710P not available for the cabled chassis option until PERC 8.1 firmware release in Q3 2012
CacheCade is a technology that provides automated storage tiering on SSDs with the PERC H810 and H710P. It works by detecting the most often accessed data and copying it over time to the
CacheCade SSD(s) where that cached data is accessed directly, instead of accessing the hard disk drives. This can dramatically increase how your applications respond when they are under peak traffic times and how they perform when response time is critical.
CacheCade provides cost-effective performance scaling for database-type applications that perform lots of random reads, and saves the cost of adding extra drives.
The R420 supports one slim, 9.5mm, internal optical drive on the 8-drive bay chassis through the system board embedded SATA. The 4-drive bay chassis supports the 12.7mm optical drive. The R420 supports both DVD-ROM and DVD+/-RW.
The R420 does not support internal tape drives.
The Dell PowerEdge R420 offers balanced, scalable I/O capabilities, including integrated PCIe 3.0 capable expansion slots. The R420 supports up to 2 PCIe slots.
The R420 system board has one embedded NIC controller. The Broadcom 5720 Gigabit NIC chip is connected to the platform controller hub through a PCIe 2.0 x2 link.
The Broadcom 5720 is a 14 th generation 10/100/1000BASE-T Ethernet LAN controller solution suitable for high-performance server applications. The Broadcom 5720 combines dual triple-speed
IEEE 802.3 compliant Media Access Controllers (MACs) with dual 10/100/1000 Ethernet transceivers
(PHYs), selectable individually per port, a network controller-sideband interface (NC-SI), and an on-chip memory buffer in a single device. The device provides a PCIe 2.1-compliant interface, which operates at 5 GT/s or 2.5 GT/s x2 link width.
The R420 provides expanded PCIe slot capability over the previous servers. This is made possible by the 24 PCIe lanes available from each processor in the system. Dell designed the R420 to be PCIe
3.0-compliant in order to take full advantage of the processor capabilities.
PCIe connectivity is integrated with the processor in that the number of processors in a system
impacts the number of PCIe slots and the bandwidth of each PCIe slot. Table 14 lists the slot
configurations for the R420.
One processor Two processors
PCIe slot 1
PCIe slot 2
PCIe x8 connector with x4 bandwidth; half-length, half-height, 2.0
(from PCH)
PCIe x16 connector with x16 bandwidth; half-length, full-height, 3.0
(from CPU1)
Storage slot Storage slot for PERCs H310, H710, or H710P
PCIe x16 connector with x16 bandwidth; half-length, half-height, 3.0
(from CPU2)
PCIe x16 connector with x16 bandwidth; half-length, full-height, 3.0
(from CPU1)
The R420 supports a variety of PCIe expansion cards. Table 15 lists the supported add-in NICs and
HBAs for the R420.
Type Adapter
1Gb/10Gb NICs
FC4/FC8 HBAs
Broadcom 5720 2x1Gb Base-T
Broadcom 5719 4x1Gb Base-T
Intel I350 2x1Gb Base-T
Intel I350 4x1Gb Base-T
Broadcom 57810S 2x10Gb SFP+
Broadcom 57810S 2x10Gb Base-T
Intel X520 2x10Gb SFP+
Intel X540 2x10Gb Base-T
QLogic ® QLE8262 2x10Gb SFP+
Brocade ® BR1020 2x10Gb SFP+
QLogic QLE2460 4Gb
QLogic QLE2462 4Gb
QLogic QLE2560 8Gb
QLogic QLE2562 8Gb
Emulex LPe12000 8Gb
Emulex LPe12002 8Gb
Brocade BR815 8Gb
Brocade BR825 8Gb
For the latest information on all supported add-in PCIe expansion cards for the R420, visit Dell.com
.
The R420 has limited support for external graphics processing unit (GPU) technology and interface card solutions through the PowerEdge C410x series 3U external PCIe through a hardware interface card (HIC). An external GPU is available through certified factory installation (CFI) or field upgrade only.
Lower overall system-level power draw is a result of breakthrough system design. The Dell
PowerEdge R420 server maximizes performance per watt through a combination of power and cooling, energy efficient technologies, and tools. Additionally, the PowerEdge R420 has an extensive collection of sensors that automatically track thermal activity, which helps regulate temperature thereby reducing server noise and power consumption.
With the rise in the cost of energy coupled with increasing data center density, Dell provides tools and technologies to help you realize greater performance with less energy cost and waste. More efficient data center usage can reduce costs by slowing the need for additional center space.
Table 16 lists the tools and technologies Dell offers to help you achieve your data center goals by
lowering power consumption and increasing energy efficiency.
Feature
Power supply unit (PSU) portfolio
(redundant PSU only)
Tools for right-sizing
Industry compliance
Power monitoring accuracy
(redundant PSU only)
Power capping
(redundant PSU only)
Systems management
(redundant PSU only)
Description
Dell’s PSU portfolio includes intelligent features such as dynamically optimizing efficiency while maintaining availability and redundancy. Find
additional information in the Power supply units section.
Dell Energy Smart Solution Advisor (ESSA) is a tool that helps you determine the most efficient configuration possible. With ESSA, you can calculate the power consumption of your hardware, power infrastructure, and storage.
ESSA can help you determine exactly how much power your server will use at a given workload, and the PSU Advisor can help you choose the best, most efficient PSU for your workload. Learn more at Dell.com/calc .
Energy Smart Data Center Assessment is a Dell Services offering that uses infrastructure and thermal analysis to help maximize system efficiency. Learn more at Dell.com/EnergySmart .
Dell’s servers are compliant with all relevant industry certifications and guidelines, including 80 PLUS, Climate Savers, and ENERGY STAR.
PSU power monitoring improvements include:
Dell’s power monitoring accuracy is currently 1%, whereas the industry standard is 5%
More accurate reporting of power
Better performance under a power cap
Use Dell’s systems management to set the power cap limit for your systems to limit the output of a PSU and reduce system power consumption. Dell is the first hardware vendor to leverage Intel Node Manager for circuit-breaker fast capping.
iDRAC7 Enterprise provides server-level management that monitors, reports, and controls power consumption at the processor, memory, and system level.
Dell OpenManage Power Center delivers group power management at the rack, row, and data center level for servers, power distribution units, and uninterruptible power supplies.
Feature Description
Active power management
(redundant PSU only)
Fresh Air cooling
(redundant PSU only)
Rack infrastructure
Intel Node Manager is an embedded technology that provides individual server-level power reporting and power limiting functionality. Dell offers a complete power management solution comprised of Intel Node Manager accessed through Dell iDRAC Enterprise and OpenManage Power Center that allows policy-based management of power and thermals at the individual server, rack and data center level.
Hot spare reduces power consumption of redundant power supplies.
Thermal control of fan speed optimizes the thermal settings for your environment to reduce fan consumption and lower system power consumption.
Idle power enables Dell servers to run as efficiently when idle as when at full workload.
With the thermal design and reliability of Dell products, you can have the capability to operate at excursion-based temperatures beyond the industry standard of 35°C (95°F) without impacting your availability model. This solution takes into account servers, networking, storage, and other infrastructure. Find additional information at Dell.com/FreshAir .
Dell offers some of the industry’s highest-efficiency power infrastructure solutions, including:
Power distribution units (PDUs)
Uninterruptible power supplies (UPS)
Energy Smart containment rack enclosures
Find additional information at http://content.dell.com/us/en/enterprise/ power-and-cooling-technologies-components-rack-infrastructure.aspx
.
Find additional information at Dell.com/PowerAndCooling and Power.com/PowerCenter .
Energy Smart power supplies (redundant PSUs only) have intelligent features, such as the ability to dynamically optimize efficiency while maintaining availability and redundancy. Also featured are enhanced power-consumption reduction technologies, such as high-efficiency power conversion and advanced thermal-management techniques, and embedded power-management features, including high-accuracy power monitoring.
The R420 power supply subsystem consists of one non-redundant or up to two redundant AC-DC power supplies. The power supply provides +3.3V/5V/12V and +12Vaux for non-redundant design and provides 12V and 12Vaux for redundant design. There are several voltage regulators in the system to supply different voltage levels needed by different logic devices. The redundant power supplies are managed through a PMBus interface.
The following power supply options are available for the R420:
550W AC, non-redundant
350W AC, hot-plug redundant
550W AC, hot-plug redundant
Figure 7 shows a 550W power supply unit extended from the R420 chassis.
The PowerEdge R420 supports up to two AC PSUs with 1 + 1 redundancy, auto-sensing, and auto-switching capability. The 350W redundant PSU (1 or 1 + 1) is recommended for a one-processor configuration; the 350W PSU in a two-processor configuration may not provide sufficient power, which may impact system performance.
To support the Intel turbo boost feature (default enabled in BIOS), a system with 95W processors
(8-core or 6-core) and a 550W non-redundant PSU may not sufficiently support feature rich configurations. Using a 550W hot-plug redundant PSU for feature rich configurations is recommended. To verify this and other possible system configurations, use the Dell Energy Smart
Solution Advisor at Dell.com/ESSA .
Dell PSUs have achieved Platinum efficiency levels as shown in Table 17.
Form factor Output
Redundant 51.3mm
350W AC
550W AC
Non-redundant 550W AC
Class
Platinum
Platinum
Silver
10%
82.0%
82.0%
N/A
Efficiency targets by load
20%
90.0%
90.0%
85.0%
50%
94.0%
94.0%
88.0%
100%
91.0%
91.0%
85.0%
Optimized thermal management makes the PowerEdge R420 cool and quiet. Benefiting from smart cooling fan speed control, the R420 can keep both high performance and good acoustics across a wide range of ambient temperatures from 10°C to 35°C (50°F to 95°F) and to extended ambient
temperature ranges (see Table 26). Operating environments for the R420 can vary from the data
center to general-use spaces. In a typical configuration, the R420 is suitable for an open office environment.
The thermal design of the PowerEdge R420 reflects the following:
Multiple sensors are monitored for thermal feedback control: The PowerEdge R420 dynamically controls system cooling fan speed based on responses from component
temperature sensors, including processors, hard disk drives, DIMMs, storage cards, and the inlet ambient temperature. Thermal control detects and responds to hardware configuration. Thermal management adjusts cooling according to what the system really needs, and draws lower fan power draw and generates lower acoustical noise levels than servers without such controls.
User-configurable settings: An R420 thermal control design target is to minimize the contribution of fan power to overall system power. However, with the understanding and realization that every customer has a unique set of circumstances or expectations of the system, in this generation of servers, we are introducing limited user-configurable settings in the iDRAC7
BIOS setup screen. For more information, see the
Dell PowerEdge R420 Systems Owner’s
Manual
on Support.Dell.com/Manuals and “Advanced Thermal Control: Optimizing across
Environments and Power Goals” on Dell.com
.
Fan fault tolerance: The R420 allows continuous operation with a motor failure in the system.
The base configuration of the R420 has four fans. Additional fans are needed when using redundant power supplies and a second processor. The fault tolerance feature allows one motor fan to fail at a time allowing a fan replacement within 360 hours of a fan failure.
Environmental specifications: The optimized thermal management makes the R420 reliable under a wide range of operating environments as shown in the environmental specifications in
Table 26. Many configurations are also compliant under expanded operating temperature
environments, but a few are not.
The acoustical design of the PowerEdge R420 reflects the following:
Versatility: The PowerEdge R420 saves you power draw in the data center, but it also is quiet enough for the office environment in typical and minimum configurations. Compare the values
for LpA in Table 18 for these configurations, and note that they are lower than ambient
measurements of typical office environments.
Adherence to Dell’s high sound quality standards: Sound quality is different from sound power level and sound pressure level in that it describes how humans respond to annoyances in sound, like whistles and hums. One of the sound quality metrics in the Dell specification is prominence
ratio of a tone, which is listed in Table 18.
Noise ramp and descent during bootup from power off: Fan speeds and noise levels ramp during the boot process (from power off to power on) in order to add a layer of protection for component cooling in the case that the system were not to boot properly. To keep bootup as quiet as possible, the fan speed reached during bootup is limited to about half of full speed.
Noise level dependencies: If acoustics is important to you, you may want to make the following configuration choices and settings for the PowerEdge R420 for quieter operation:
-
-
-
In the BIOS, select the power-optimized DAPC rather than performance-optimized for the system thermal profile
Turn hot spare feature off in PSU
Since hard drive noise is highly dependent on spindle speed, the 7200-rpm SATA hard drive will have the quietest hard drive operation
However, some components cause significant but not necessarily intuitive increases in loudness when they are installed in the R420. Contributors to acoustical output can include:
-
-
More than one processor
PERC H710 mini, PERC H710P mini, or PERC H810
Table 18 details the acoustical performance for the R420.
Configuration
(23 ± 2°C ambient)
CPUs
Hard drives
Power supply unit
Memory
PCI card/HDD controller
Operating mode
L
WA
-UL 1
(bels)
L pA
2
(dBA)
Prominent tones 3
Typical x4 hot-plug
HDD chassis
Feature rich
X8 hot-plug
HDD chassis
2
(95W)
2
(95W)
3 x 3.5“
300GB
SAS
(15K)
6 x 2.5“
300GB
SAS
(15K)
2 x
550W
2 x
550W
6 x 4GB
1333Hz
1 x Dual
Port 1GbE
NIC
1 x PERC
H310 mini
8 x 8GB
1600Hz
1 x Quad
Port 10GbE
NIC
1 x PERC
H710 mini
Idle
Idle
4
Stress
4
Stress
5
5
5.1
5.1
5.2
5.5
32
33
32
33
None
None
None
None
1 L
WA
-UL is the upper limit sound power levels (L accordance to ISO 7779 (2010).
WA
) calculated per section 4.4.1 of ISO 9296 (1988) and measured in
2
L pA
is the average bystander position A-weighted sound pressure level calculated per section 4.3 of ISO 9296 (1988) and measured in accordance with ISO 7779 (2010). The system is placed within a rack enclosure (base of system is 75 cm above floor).
3 Prominent tone: Criteria of D.6 and D.11 of ECMA-74 11th ed. (2010) are followed to determine if discrete tones are prominent. The system is placed inside rack in 75 cm height and acoustic transducer, binaural head, is at front bystander position, ref ISO 7779 (2010) Section 8.6.2.
4
Idle: Reference ISO 7779 (2010) definition 3.1.7; system is running in its operating system but no other specific activity.
5 Stress: An operating mode per ISO 7779 (2010) definition 3.1.6. The software SPECPower at 50% is activated to stress the processors and DIMM.
For more information on Dell’s acoustical design, see the Dell Enterprise Acoustics white paper.
The sliding and static rail systems for the Dell PowerEdge R420 provide tool-less support for 4-post racks with square or unthreaded round mounting holes. Both rail systems also support tooled mounting in 4-post threaded racks, and the static rails support tooled mounting in 2-post (Telco) racks as well for added versatility.
Compared to the R410 sliding rails that required the use of adapter brackets, the sliding rails for the
R420 now offer support for threaded hole racks with the ReadyRails II mounting interface. The optional cable management arm (CMA) can be mounted on either the left or right side of the sliding rails without the use of tools for fast and easy deployment.
The R420 supports both sliding rails and static rails. Both rails have a new slim rail design that supports the wide system chassis. The rails ship in the tool-less mounting configuration, but can be converted to the tooled configuration very quickly and easily.
Sliding rails include a self-adjusting feature to allow the rails to be shared across multiple systems and accommodate various chassis depths. The sliding rail system allows you to fully extend the server out the rack for easy access for service. The sliding rails are available with or without the
optional CMA. Figure 8 shows the sliding rails with the CMA.
support serviceability in the rack and are therefore are not compatible with the CMA.
One key factor in selecting the proper rails is identifying the type of rack in which they will be installed. Both the sliding rails and the static rails support tool-less mounting in 19”-wide, EIA-310-E compliant square hole and unthreaded round hole 4-post racks. Both also support tooled mounting in threaded hole 4-post racks, but only the static rails, as the more universal solution, support mounting in 2-post (Telco) racks.
Table 19 lists the rack types that the R420 supports. The R420 is backward compatible with the R410
rails and CMA.
Product
R420
Rail
Identifier
A7
A8
Mounting Interface
ReadyRails II
ReadyRails
Rail Type
Sliding
Static
Rack Types Supported
4-Post 2-Post
Square Round Thread Flush Center
X
X
Other key factors governing proper rail selection include the spacing between the front and rear mounting flanges of the rack, the type and location of any equipment mounted in the back of the rack such as power distribution units (PDUs), and the overall depth of the rack. Due to their reduced complexity and lack of need for CMA support, the static rails offer a greater adjustability range and a smaller overall mounting footprint than the sliding rails.
For detailed information about static and sliding rails, see the Rack rail specifications section in
Appendix A. For more information on installing the R420 in a rack, see the
Rack Installation
Instructions
on Support.Dell.com/Manuals .
The optional CMA organizes and secures the cords and cables exiting the back of the server and unfolds to allow the server to extend out of the rack without having to detach the cables. Some key features of the R420 CMA include:
Large U-shaped baskets to support dense cable loads
Open vent pattern for optimal airflow
Ability to be mounted on either side
Use of hook-and-loop straps rather than plastic tie wraps to eliminate the risk of cable damage during cycling
Low-profile fixed tray to both support and retain the CMA in its fully closed position
Ability to mount the CMA and tray without the use of tools, due to snap-in designs
The Dell PowerEdge R420 supports a wide range of industry-standard operating systems and virtualization software.
Table 20 lists the primary operating systems supported on the R420. For the latest information on
supported operating systems, see Dell.com/OSsupport.
Operating System Platform Edition
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.8
1
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.2
2
Red Hat Enterprise Linux for HPC
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 11 SP2 x32 x64 x64
X64 x64
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 SP4
Microsoft Windows Small Business
Server 2011 x64 x64
N/A
Standard
Premium Add-on
Microsoft Windows Server 2008
R2 with SP1 x64
(with Hyper-V role enabled)
1 RHEL 5.7 is the minimum supported version. Current drop in box option is RHEL 5.8.
2 RHEL 6.1 is the minimum supported version. Current factory install is RHEL 6.2.
Web
Standard
Enterprise
Datacenter
One of the key features for virtualization on the PowerEdge R420 is the support for a fail-safe hypervisor. By running a hypervisor on an optional SD card and installing a backup copy on the other mirrored SD card, you can protect against hardware failure and maximize virtualization uptime.
Table 21 highlights the virtualization support for the R420.
Operating systems vSphere v4.1 U2
Version
ESX Classic
Options
DIB
Vmware 1 vSphere v4.1 U2 vSphere v4.1 U2
ESXi Installable
ESXi Embedded vSphere v5.0 U1 ESXi (one version)
Citrix XenServer 6.0 N/A
Red Hat 2 Enterprise Virtualization 3.0 N/A
1
FI = factory install; DIB = drop in box
2 vSphere Fault Tolerance is supported with these versions
No OpenManage support; drop in box license registration card only.
DIB
FI
FI/DIB
DIB
DIB
Whether your IT environment consists of a few servers or a few thousand servers,
Dell OpenManage systems management solutions provide comprehensive management for evolving IT environments. OpenManage is based on open standards and provides agent-based and agent-free server lifecycle management functionality for Dell PowerEdge servers. OpenManage solutions help you automate and streamline essential hardware management tasks.
The advanced management capabilities of Dell OpenManage also integrates into offerings from other popular systems management solutions that you may already use, making Dell platforms easy to manage and deploy in any IT environment. This ensures your IT services are available when your business needs them. If you have already standardized on offerings from industry leaders, such as
BMC Software, Microsoft, Symantec™, VMware, or other vendors, you can leverage OpenManage integration and connections developed to use with your existing systems management framework to efficiently manage Dell servers, storage, business-client PCs, and network devices.
Start with a firm foundation for efficient hardware management using OpenManage tools, utilities, and management consoles. OpenManage systems management solutions consist of a combination of embedded management features and software products that help you automate and simplify the entire server lifecycle: deploy, update, monitor, and maintain. OpenManage solutions are innovatively designed for simplicity and ease of use to help you reduce complexity, save time, achieve efficiency, control costs, and empower productivity.
Dell systems management solutions include a wide variety of tools, products, and services that
enable you to leverage an existing systems management framework. As shown in Figure 10, Dell
systems management solutions are centered around OpenManage server management, featuring iDRAC with Lifecycle Controller.
The Dell OpenManage systems management portfolio includes powerful hardware and software management tools and consoles. OpenManage simplifies the lifecycle of deploying, updating, monitoring, and maintaining your Dell PowerEdge servers.
The Integrated Dell Remote Access Controller 7 (iDRAC7) with Lifecycle Controller is the heart of the second generation of Dell PowerEdge server embedded management functionality. In addition to enabling agent-free management, iDRAC7 with Lifecycle Controller provides remote access to the system—whether or not there is a functioning operating system running on the server. These
and benefits of iDRAC7 with Lifecycle Controller.
Feature Function Benefit
Out of band
(OOB) iDRAC7 offers real-time OOB discovery, inventory, deployment monitoring, alerting and updates for servers and internal storage
Single code base
All server types have the same embedded management hardware and firmware
Dedicated
GigE port
(PowerEdge rack and tower systems)
Gigabit Ethernet replaces 10/100 on predecessor iDRAC6
Manage servers independent of the OS type or status—even if an OS is not installed
Simplified and consistent maintenance across server platforms
Fast throughput for better performance; compatibility with setup for switches
Email alerts vFlash media
Enhanced power management
Simplified, more informative, and expanded coverage than previous versions of iDRAC
Enabled with iDRAC7 Enterprise
Integration with Intel Node Manager provides data center level power monitoring and capping
(requires iDRAC7 Enterprise)
More detail allows IT administrators to be more efficient in diagnosing and remediating an issue; alerts include a direct, embedded
URL in the email notification to further speed resolution
Allows for use of a non-Dell SD card
Fine tune data center power policies, capping, and usage; report on historical power usage by rack, row or room using
Power Center Manager (new)
Feature
Electronic licensing
Function Benefit
Upgrades to iDRAC7 Express or iDRAC7 Enterprise by software licensing key and license portal (may require installation of hardware option for 300-500 series servers)
If iDRAC7 Express or iDRAC7 Enterprise is ordered during initial point of sale, license key is installed. If Basic Management is ordered during initial point of sale, customer must request a license key through the Dell
Licensing Portal.
For most server models, embedded server management and electronic licensing enables feature enhancements that do not require installation of additional hardware or system downtime.
The systems management default for the R420 is basic management with an upgrade option for iDRAC7 Express or iDRAC7 Enterprise. A detailed feature comparison of basic management, iDRAC7
Express, and iDRAC7 Enterprise is shown in Table 23.
Feature (function)
Local configuration with Lifecycle Controller GUI
IPMI 2.0
Embedded diagnostics
Local OS install
Local updates
Driver pack
Shared NIC (LOM) 1
Remote update
Power control
Power monitoring
Encryption
IPv6
Auto-discovery
Auto-recovery
Web GUI
∞
∞
∞
∞ 2
∞ 2
∞
∞
∞
∞
Basic management iDRAC7
Express iDRAC7
Enterprise
∞
∞
∞
∞
∞
∞
∞
∞
∞
∞
∞
∞
∞
∞
∞
∞
∞
∞
∞
∞
∞
∞
∞
∞
∞
∞
∞
∞
∞
∞
Feature (function)
Remote CLI
Local/SSH CLI
Serial redirection
Remote config
Email alerts
SNMP alerts
Comprehensive monitoring
Crash screen capture 3
Dedicated NIC 1Gbps (100MB in iDRAC6)
Part replacement
Backup and restore configurations
Virtual console (4 user)
Virtual console chat
Support for customer supplied SD cards for vFlash media
Virtual flash partitions
Virtual media
Virtual folders
Remote file share
Crash video playback
Boot record/playback
Power capping
Enterprise group power management
Directory services (AD, LDAP)
PK authentication
Two-factor authentication 4
1
Rack and tower systems only
2
Feature available with IPMI, not web GUI
3
Requires OMSA agent on target server
4 Uses Microsoft ActiveX ® on Internet Explorer ® only
Basic management iDRAC7
Express iDRAC7
Enterprise
∞
∞
∞
∞
∞
∞
∞
∞
∞
∞
∞ 4
∞
∞
∞
∞
∞
∞
∞
∞
∞
∞
∞
∞
∞
∞
∞
∞
∞
∞
∞
∞
∞
∞
Most systems management solutions require pieces of software, called agents, to be installed on each node in order to be managed within the IT environment. Additionally, the same agent is often used as a local interface into the hardware health and may be accessed remotely as a management interface, typically referred to as a one-to-one interface. For customers that continue to use agentbased solutions, Dell provides OpenManage Server Administrator.
The Dell OpenManage Server Administrator (OMSA) agent gives you a comprehensive, one-to-one systems management solution for both local and remote servers and their storage. OMSA can help simplify single-server monitoring with a secure command-line interface (CLI) or Web-based management graphical user interface (GUI). It can also be used to view system configuration, inventory, health, and performance.
Because Dell PowerEdge servers have embedded server lifecycle management, in many cases, there is no need to install an OpenManage systems management software agent into the operating system of a Dell PowerEdge server. This greatly simplifies and streamlines the management footprint.
The central console in a systems management solution is often referred to as the one-to-many console. The central console provides a rapid view and insight into the overall health of all systems in the IT environment. The Dell systems management portfolio includes several powerful consoles, depending upon your needs, including the following:
Dell OpenManage Essentials—OpenManage Essentials (OME) is a recently released systems management console that provides a comprehensive view of Dell systems, devices, and components in an enterprise network. It is used to monitor Dell PowerEdge servers,
EqualLogic™ and PowerVault™ storage, and PowerConnect™ switches; to update and configure
Dell servers; and to create asset reports. OpenManage Essentials also communicates health status alerts for Dell servers, storage, and network devices to the Dell KACE™ K1000 service desk.
OpenManage Essentials is available as a no-charge software download from Support.Dell.com
.
Dell Management Console—Dell Management Console (DMC) offers sophisticated data center management capabilities with comprehensive reporting features. DMC can perform basic hardware management and can manage operating systems and applications using various plug-ins from Symantec.
Dell IT Assistant—Dell IT Assistant (ITA) is a console for managing Dell servers, storage arrays, and other components distributed throughout a network. Dell IT Assistant allows for easy identification of system issues through alerts, helping to reduce system downtime. Systems administrators can easily monitor systems anywhere within their network using ITA. ITA is supported on the R420, however, enhanced functionality is now available with OpenManage
Essentials.
Dell OpenManage systems management tools and utilities consist of the following:
Dell Repository Manager—The Dell Repository Manager (RM) is a standalone GUI-based productivity tool that helps simplify the process of managing downloads and baseline BIOS, firmware, and driver updates. Repository Manager can create deployment disks as well as create and manage customized repositories.
Dell OpenManage Server Update Utility—The Dell Server Update Utility (SUU) is a DVD-based application for identifying and applying BIOS and firmware updates to your Dell PowerEdge servers.
Dell OpenManage Systems Build and Update Utility—The Dell System Build and Update Utility
(SBUU) provides one-to-one and one-to-many deployment and single-server update capabilities in the pre-operating system environment.
Dell Update Packages—The Dell Update Packages (DUP) is a self-contained executable in a standard package format that updates a software element on a Dell server such as the BIOS, a driver, firmware and other software updates.
Dell OpenManage Deployment Toolkit—The Dell OpenManage Deployment Toolkit (DTK) is a
CLI-based tool that includes a set of utilities for configuring and deploying Dell PowerEdge systems, and can be used to build scripted, unattended OS installations to deploy large numbers of servers in a reliable fashion.
RACADM—The RACADM command-line utility provides a scriptable interface that allows you to locally or remotely configure iDRAC7.
IPMITool—IPMITool includes scriptable console application programs used to control and manage remote systems using the IPMI version 1.5 and later protocol.
Dell OpenManage easily integrates with several leading third-party consoles, including:
Dell Server Management Pack Suite for Microsoft System Center Operations
Manager (SCOM)—This suite of server management packs enables several functions through
System Center Operations Manager, including in-band discovery and monitoring of racks and towers, out-of-band discovery and monitoring through iDRAC with Lifecycle Controller, as well as performance and advanced monitoring.
Dell Lifecycle Controller Integration (DLCI) for Microsoft System Center Configuration
Manager (SCCM)—This pack contains Dell Lifecycle Controller Integration (DLCI), which integrates OpenManage functions in SCCM to manage the Dell PowerEdge servers, including auto-discovery, operating system deployment and configuration of hardware elements, (RAID,
NIC, BIOS, iDRAC), OS and hypervisor agnostic updates, firmware management, and system viewer utilities.
Dell Server PRO Management Pack for Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine
Manager (SCVMM)—This pack manages Dell physical servers and hosts of virtual machines (VMs) by using Microsoft System Center Operations Manager/System Center Essentials (SCOM/SCE) and System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM). It provides guidance for remedial actions based on alerts to best manage virtual machines and handle the impacts appropriately.
Dell Management Plug-in for VMware vCenter—This plug-in allows IT administrators to monitor, provision, and manage the physical PowerEdge server hardware and firmware from a dedicated
Dell menu accessed through the VMware vCenter console using the same role-based access control model as vCenter, combining physical server management.
BMC Software—Dell and BMC Software work together to simplify IT by ensuring tight integration between Dell server, storage, and network management functionality and the BMC Software process and data center automation products.
Dell OpenManage provides connections with many third-party consoles, including:
Dell OpenManage Connection for Computer Associates Network and
Systems Management—This connection allows you to monitor PowerEdge servers and
PowerVault storage arrays from within the Computer Associates Network and Systems
Management (CA NSM) console.
Dell OpenManage Connection for HP Operations Manager—This connection enables several functions through HP Operations Manager, including auto-grouping, SNMP trap reception, global health monitoring, and a context-sensitive launch of OpenManage Server Administrator.
Dell OpenManage Connection for IBM Tivoli Netcool/OMNIBus—This connection provides event monitoring capabilities to monitor Dell PowerEdge servers and Dell EqualLogic systems. It allows event monitoring, automatic event correlation, and launching device consoles from the
Netcool/OMNIbus console.
Dell OpenManage systems management is centered on automating the server management lifecycle—deploy, update, monitor, and maintain. To manage an infrastructure properly and efficiently, you must perform all of these functions easily and quickly. iDRAC7 with Lifecycle
Controller technology provides you with these intelligent capabilities embedded within the server infrastructure. This allows you to invest more time and energy on business improvements and less
on maintenance. Figure 11 illustrates the various operations that can be performed during the
server’s lifecycle.
Table 24 lists the products that are available for one-to-one and one-to-many operations, and
when they are used in the server’s lifecycle.
Operation
Deploy
One-to-one
Lifecycle Controller GUI
DTK
SBUU
One-to-many
Symantec Deployment Server
Dell Management Plug-in for
VMware vCenter
KACE K1000 Appliance
Lifecycle Controller Remote
Services
BMC BladeLogic integration with Lifecycle Controller
Dell Server Deployment Pack
(DSDP) for Microsoft System
Center Configuration Manager and
Dell Lifecycle Controller
Integration (DLCI) for Microsoft
System Center Configuration
Manager
Update
Monitor
Maintain
iDRAC7 with LifeCycle
Controller
Lifecycle Controller GUI
Repository Manager
DUP
SUU
SBUU
Dell Management
Plug-in for VMware vCenter
iDRAC7
OMSA
Dell OpenManage Essentials
Dell OpenManage ITA
Dell Management Console
Lifecycle Controller Remote
Services
Dell OpenManage Essentials
Dell OpenManage ITA
BMC ProactiveNet
Performance Management
Dell OpenManage Power
Center
Dell Management Console
IPMI
iDRAC7
Lifecycle Controller GUI
Lifecycle Controller Remote
Services
Dell Update Catalogs for Microsoft
System Center Configuration
Manager
Dell Lifecycle Controller
Integration (DLCI) for Microsoft
System Center Configuration
Manager
Dell Management Plug-in for
VMware vCenter
BMC ProactiveNet
Dell Server Management Pack Suite for Microsoft System Center
Operations Manager (SCOM)
Remediate:
Dell Server PRO Management Pack for Microsoft System Center Virtual
Machine Manager (SCVMM)
Replace parts:
Dell Lifecycle Controller
Integration (DLCI) for Microsoft
System Center Configuration
Manager
For additional detailed information on Dell’s systems management portfolio, see the
Dell Systems
Management Overview Guide
on Support.Dell.com/Manuals .
Figure 12 details the dimensions of the Dell PowerEdge R420 chassis.
Xa Xb Y
Za with bezel
Za without bezel
Zb 1 Zc
625.2mm with nonredundant PSU
482.4mm 434.0mm 42.8mm 35.0mm 21.0mm 607.0mm
642.3mm with redundant PSU
1
Zb goes to the nominal back wall external surface where the system board I/O connectors are located.
The R420 chassis at maximum configuration is 19.9 kg (43.87 lb).
Table 25 lists power supply specifications for the PowerEdge R420.
Specification
Current consumption
Supply voltage
Frequency
Heat dissipation
(BTU/hr max)
1
Auto-ranging
Redundant 350W
4.8A-2.4A
100–240 VAC 1
50/60Hz
1356
Non-redundant 550W
7.4A-3.7A
100–240 VAC 1
50/60Hz
2317
Redundant 550W
7.4A–3.7A
100–240 VAC 1
50/60Hz
2133
Table 26 details the environmental specifications for the R420. For additional information about
environmental measurements for specific system configurations, see
Dell.com/environmental_datasheets .
Fresh Air: temperature, humidity, altitude de-rating
Continuous operation
Expanded operation
10°C to 35°C (50°F to 95°F) at 10% to 80% relative humidity with 26°C (78.8°F) maximum dew point (maximum wet bulb temperature). De-rate maximum allowable dry bulb temperature at 1°C per 300m above 950m (1°F per 547 ft above 3117 ft).
When operating in the expanded temperature range, system performance may be impacted, and ambient temperature warnings may be reported on the LCD and in the System Event
Log.
≤ 10% of annual operating hours: 5°C to 10°C and 35°C to 40°C (with no direct sunlight on the equipment) at 5% to 85% relative humidity with 26°C dew point (maximum wet bulb temperature). Outside the standard operating temperature (10°C to 35°C), the system can operate down to 5°C or up to 40°C for a maximum of 10% of its annual operating hours. For temperatures between 35°C and 40°C (95°F to 104°F), de-rate maximum allowable dry bulb temperature by 1°C per 175m above 950m (1°F per 319 ft above 3117 ft).
≤ 1% of annual operating hours: –5°C to 5°C and 40°C to 45°C (with no direct sunlight on the equipment) at 5% to 90% relative humidity with 26°C dew point (maximum wet bulb temperature). Outside the standard operating temperature (10°C to 35°C), the system can operate down to –5°C or up to 45°C for a maximum of 1% of its annual operating hours. For temperatures between 40°C and 45°C (104°F to 113°F), de-rate maximum allowable dry bulb temperature by 1°C per 125m above 950m (1°F per 228 ft above 3117 ft).
Expanded operation restrictions:
No cold startup below 5°C
Maximum altitude for the operating temperature must be 3050m (10,000ft)
Redundant power supplies required
Temperature
Operating
Storage
See Fresh Air for temperature information
–40 o C to 65 o C (-40 o F to 149 o F) with a maximum temperature gradation of 20 o C per hour
Relative humidity
Operating
Storage
See Fresh Air for relative humidity information
5% to 95% at a maximum wet bulb temperature of 33°C (91°F); atmosphere must be condensing at all times
Maximum vibration
Operating
Storage
0.26 Grms at 5Hz to 350Hz in all orientations
1.87 Grms at 10Hz to 500Hz for 15 minutes (all six sides tested)
Maximum shock
Operating
Storage
Half sine shock in all operational orientations of 31G +/– 5% with a pulse duration of 2.6ms
+/– 10%
Half sine shock on all six sides of 71G +/– 5% with a pulse duration of 2ms +/–10%; square wave shock on all six sides of 27G with velocity change at 235 in/sec or greater
Altitude
Operating
Storage
–15.2m to 3048m (–50 ft to 10,000 ft)
–15.2m to 12,000m (–50 ft to 39,370 ft)
Airborne contaminant level
Class G1 or lower as defined by ISA-S71.04-1985
The Dell PowerEdge R420 iDRAC incorporates an integrated video subsystem. The graphics controller is the 2D Matrox
RAM (256MB) device.
® G200. The video frame buffer (16MB) is contained within the iDRAC
The R420 system supports the 2D graphics video modes listed in Table 27.
Resolution
640 x 480
800 x 600
1024 x 768
1152 x 864
1280 x 1024
Refresh Rate (Hz)
60, 70
60, 75, 85
60, 75, 85
60, 75, 85
60, 75
Color Depth (bit)
8, 16, 32
8, 16, 32
8, 16, 32
8, 16, 32
8, 16, 32
Table 28 lists the spacing dimensions for the R420 sliding and static rails.
Rail adjustability range (mm)
Product
Rail identifier
Rail type
R420
A7
A8
Sliding
Static
Rail depth (mm)
Square Round Threaded
Min Max Min Max Min Max without
CMA with
CMA
681 868 667 861 681 883
608 879 594 872 604 890
720
622
845
—
The adjustment range of the rails is a function of the type of rack in which they are being mounted.
The min-max values listed above represent the allowable distance between the front and rear mounting flanges in the rack. Rail depth without the CMA represents the minimum depth of the rails with the outer CMA brackets removed (if applicable) as measured from the front mounting flanges of the rack.
USB peripherals are supported through the front and back USB ports on the R420. These ports are
USB 2.0 compliant.
The Dell PowerEdge R420 conforms to the industry standards listed in Table 29.
Standard
ACPI
Advance Configuration and Power
Interface Specification, v2.0c
Ethernet
IEEE 802.3-2005
HDG
Hardware Design Guide Version 3.0 for Microsoft Windows Server
IPMI
Intelligent Platform Management
Interface, v2.0
DDR3 Memory
DDR3 SDRAM Specification,
Rev. 3A
LPC
Low Pin Count Interface
Specification, Rev. 1.1
PCI Express
PCI Express Base Specification Rev.
2.0 and 3.0
PMBus
Power System Management
Protocol Specification, v1.2
SAS
Serial Attached SCSI, v1.1
SATA
Serial ATA Rev. 2.6; SATA II, SATA
1.0a Extensions, Rev. 1.2
SMBIOS
System Management BIOS
Reference Specification, v2.7
TPM
Trusted Platform Module
Specification, v1.2
UEFI
Unified Extensible Firmware
Interface Specification, v2.1
USB
Universal Serial Bus Specification,
Rev. 2.0
Windows Logo
Windows Logo Program System and
Device Requirements, v3.10
URL for information and specifications www.acpi.info
standards.ieee.org/getieee802/802.3.html www.microsoft.com/whdc/system/platform/pcdesign/desguide/serverd g.mspx www.intel.com/design/servers/ipmi www.jedec.org/download/search/JESD79-3C.pdf
developer.intel.com/design/chipsets/industry/lpc.htm
www.pcisig.com/specifications/pciexpress pmbus.info/specs.html
www.t10.org www.sata-io.org
www.dmtf.org/standards/smbios/ www.trustedcomputinggroup.org www.uefi.org/specs www.usb.org/developers/docs www.microsoft.com/whdc/winlogo/hwrequirements.mspx
Table 30 provides a list of documents and websites that provide for more information on the Dell
PowerEdge R420.
Resource Description of contents Location
This manual is provided in HTML format on the CD provided with the R420 system, and also in HTML and
PDF format at the Dell support site. A printed version is available in Asian languages as a customer-orderable option. This manual provides information on the following:
Chassis features
System Setup program
System messages
System codes and indicators
System BIOS
Remove and replace procedures
Troubleshooting
Diagnostics
Jumpers and connectors
This guide is printed and shipped with the system, and is also available in PDF format on the Dell support site. This guide provides information on the following:
Initial setup steps
Key system features
Technical specifications
This printed document is provided with the rack kits. The document provides the instructions for installing the server in a rack.
Support.Dell.com/Manuals
Support.Dell.com/Manuals
Support.Dell.com/Manuals
This printed document is provided with the CMA kits. The document provides the instructions for installing the cable management arm on the rails.
Support.Dell.com/Manuals
This document is printed and shipped with the system, and is also available in PDF format on the Dell support site. This document provides information on system updates.
The system information label documents the system board layout and system jumper settings. Text is minimized due to space limitations and translation considerations. The label size is standardized across platforms.
Support.Dell.com/Manuals
Inside the system chassis cover
Resource Description of contents
This code on the chassis can be scanned by a phone application to access additional information and resources for the server, including videos, reference materials, service tag information, and Dell contact information.
This tool uses infrastructure and thermal analysis to help maximize system efficiency.
Location
Inside the system chassis cover
Dell.com/EnergySmart
The Dell Energy Smart Solution Advisor (ESSA) enables easier and more meaningful estimates to help you determine the most efficient configuration possible. Use
ESSA to calculate the power consumption of your hardware, power infrastructure, and storage.
Provides details for improving energy efficiency in the data center.
Dell.com/ESSA
Dell.com/PNC
Provides information on Dell’s Fresh Air cooling solutions. Dell.com/FreshAir
Provides updated information on which operating systems are available on which PowerEdge systems.
Dell.com/OSsupport
Provides more information about the R420 processors and chipset.
Provides more information about Dell PERCs.
Intel.com
Dell.com/PERC
Provides help selecting a rack-based power distribution unit.
Provides help selecting an uninterruptible power supply model.
Contact your Dell sales representative.
DellPDU.com
DellUPS.com
Dell.com
White paper that explores the mechanisms of, people’s reaction to, language of, and Dell’s work to control noise from Enterprise products. www.dell.com/downloads/g lobal/products/pedge/en/ac oustical-education-dellenterprise-white-paper.pdf
Serial Port
Int. USB
2.0
Rear Video
Front Video
USB 2.0
IDSDM
TPM
DVD
USB 2.0
(2 Front)
USB 2.0
(2 Rear)
SATA (1)
SATA in mini-
SAS(4)
Left* PCIe x8 Conn.(x4)
Slot 1
UART
LPC
Video
SPI
USB iDRAC
PCIe
SD2
MGMT
MAC
IDRAC Port Card
FRU
Vflash
SD Conn.
RJ45
(w/
PHY)
Left* PCIe x16 Conn.
(option for 2rd CPU)
Slot 1 x16
PCIe Gen3 x16 16GB/s
Power Supply
CPU2 x4
SATA SATA PCIe x4
USB
LPC South
DMI
Bridge
Front
Panel
USB PCIE x1
Coin
Cell x4 DMI 2GB/s
QPI
1
I
D
M
M
0
I
D
M
M
DDR3 Memory
(1066/1333/1600 MHz)
PCIe Gen2 x2 1GB/s
1
RJ45
2
Right* PCIe x16 Conn.
x16
PCIe x8 Conn. for int. PERC x16
PCIe Gen3 x16 16GB/s x8
PCIe Gen3 x8 8GB/s
BroadCom
1GbE x 2
DMI
CPU1
System
Power
Conn.
Non-RDNT PSU
BP
Power
Conn.
DVD/
TBU
Power
Conn.
QPI
I
D
M
M
1
D
I
M
M
0
M
1
D
I
M
M
0
D
I
M
1
D
I
M
M
I
D
M
M
0
PDB+PIB for RDNT PSU
System
Power
Conn.
BP
Power
Conn.
DVD/
TBU
Power
Conn.
Power Supply 1
1
D
I
M
M
0
D
I
M
M
D
I
M
M
1
D
I
M
M
0
Power Supply 2
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