White Papers

6
The Dell OEM FRU implementation provides 1024 bytes of storage space. While most of the fields in the information areas below allow
variable string lengths, the overall size of the FRU would need to be kept within this 1024 byte limit. The Intel specification provides
some guidance in section 6 and 7 regarding the storage organization.
COMMON HEADER
This header is used to define which sections of the FRU are populated and is the starting point for populating and parsing the
information. It does not contain any string fields that need to be selected, but it needs to be set up correctly to reflect which areas are
being used.
The FRU tool described later in this white paper automatically generates the common header definitions based on the INI file
definitions.
INTERNAL AREA
Internal Area is typically used to hold private data for the FRU device or a Management Controller and does not follow any prescribed
format. The OEM is free to choose any format. Within the scope of the OEM FRU, it can be used to store any appliance specific details
such as licensing information.
CHASSIS INFO AREA
Chassis Info Area is reserved to describe the overall chassis that contains all components within a product.
The relevant fields within the Chassis Info Area that could be populated by an OEM customer are as follows:-
 Chassis Type (Possible values are defined in the SMBIOS specification v3.0.0 under table 17. A typical value for Dell EMC
PowerEdge rack mount servers is 17h = Rack Mount Chassis.)
 Chassis Part Number
 Chassis Serial Number
 Custom Chassis Info Fields (These are additional fields that can be populated with any information pertaining to the chassis
that does not fall into the above three fields.)
BOARD INFO AREA
The Board Info Area is most commonly populated for FRU devices and contains the typical details that pertain to the manufacture of the
FRU device. This includes:-
 Date of Manufacture
 Manufacturer’s Name
 Product Name
 Serial Number
 Part Number
 FRU File ID
 Custom Board Info Fields
PRODUCT INFO AREA
The Product Info Area contains very similar fields to the Board Info Area, but are more relevant for an OEM customer. The fields are:-
 Manufacturer’s Name