PowerEdge R720 and R720xd Technical Guide Built to run complex workloads using highly scalable memory, I/O capacity and flexible network options.
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, 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.
Table of contents 1 System overview ................................................................................................................................................................. 6 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................................................ 6 Key technologies ...............................................................................................................
USB peripherals ................................................................................................................................................................ 59 Appendix B. Standards compliance ............................................................................................................................. 60 Appendix C. Additional resources.................................................................................................................................
Figure 10. R720xd LED panel ...............................................................................................................................................18 Figure 11. QRL code inside chassis.....................................................................................................................................18 Figure 12. Rack network daughter card (NDC) ................................................................................................................
1 System overview Introduction The Dell™ PowerEdge™ R720 and R720xd are Dell’s latest two-socket, 2U rack servers that are designed to run complex workloads using highly scalable memory, I/O capacity, and flexible network options. Both systems feature the Intel® Xeon® processor E5-2600 and E5-2600 v2 product families which offer up to 24 DIMMS, PCI Express® (PCIe) 3.0-enabled expansion slots and a choice of network interface card technologies.
OpenManage iDRAC with Lifecycle Controller integrates and connects to leading third-party systems management solutions (such as those from Microsoft, VMware and BMC Software), so users can maintain a single point of control and capitalize on an existing systems management investment. OpenManage simplifies the lifecycle of deploying, updating, monitoring, and maintaining Dell PowerEdge servers. Key technologies Key technologies featured on the PowerEdge R720 and R720xd systems are detailed in Table 1.
Key technologies Detailed descriptions DC power supply A new 1100W DC power supply option is available for the R720 and R720xd. Failsafe hypervisors The internal dual SD module enables Dell's unique Failsafe Virtualization architecture, ensuring uptime by providing failover capability for embedded hypervisors, such as ® ® VMware vSphere ESXi™. Fresh Air cooling Dell has tested and validated an integrated data center solution that enables you to operate at higher temperatures or even chiller-less.
2 System features Compared to the previous generation of Dell PowerEdge servers, the R720 and R720xd have more drive bay options, more PCIe slots, a larger memory footprint, flexible I/O, Express Flash PCIe solid-state drives, and advanced system management. The R720 also supports optional dual internal RAID controllers and up to four optional internal GPUs.
Feature PowerEdge R710 PowerEdge R720 PowerEdge R720xd Dell OpenManage Lifecycle Controller 1.x iDRAC6 (Express or Enterprise) with Lifecycle Controller 1.
Feature Specification Three x8 half-length, half-height Three x8 half-length, half-height One x16 full-length, full-height (optional) RAID controller Internal controllers: PERC S110 (software RAID; R720 only) PERC H310 PERC H710 PERC H710P Hard drives (hot-plug) R720 drive bay options: Up to 16 x 2.5“ Up to 8 x 2.5” + 8 x 2.5” (with dual RAID controllers) Up to 8 x 2.5” Up to 8 x 2.5” + 4 x 2.5” Express Flash Up to 8 x 3.5” R720xd drive bay options: Up to 24 x 2.5” (front) + 2 x 2.
Feature Specification Rack support Network and Systems Management iDRAC7 Express with Lifecycle Controller (standard option) - Upgrade to iDRAC7 Enterprise with Lifecycle Controller - Upgrade to 8GB vFlash media or 16GB vFlash media for iDRAC7 Enterprise with Lifecycle Controller - Trial evaluation available for IDRAC7 Enterprise with Lifecycle Controller ReadyRails™ sliding rails for tool-less mounting in 4-post racks with square or unthreaded round holes or tooled mounting in 4-post threaded hol
3 Chassis views and features The Dell PowerEdge R720 and R720xd implement a new chassis design which supports an increased number of DIMMs, PCIe slots, and hard drives, relative to their predecessor servers. The following sections provide external and internal views of the systems and describe the chassis features. For information on features and descriptions for these systems, see the Dell PowerEdge R720 and R720xd Owner's Manual on Dell.com/Support/Manuals.
R720xd front views The R720xd supports up to 24 2.5-inch or up to 12 3.5-inch front-accessible, hot-plug hard drives that are secured by a removable front bezel. Other front-panel features include an LED control panel, a USB connector, and a video connector. Figure 3. Figure 4. R720xd front view (with bezel) R720xd front view (2.
R720xd back view In addition to the R720 back-panel features, the R720xd also includes 2 optional 2.5-inch hot-plug drives in the back of the system. Figure 6. R720xd back view Internal chassis views The chassis design of the R720 and R720xd is optimized for easy access to components and for airflow for effective and efficient cooling. The R720 and R720xd support up to 24 DIMMs, 2 processors, hot-plug redundant fans, and many other components and features that are described in this guide. Figure 7.
Figure 8. R720xd internal chassis view For additional system views, see the Dell PowerEdge R720 and R720xd Owner’s Manual on Dell.com/Support/Manuals. Chassis features Table 4 lists the chassis features for the R720 and R720xd systems. For additional information on these features, see the Dell PowerEdge R720 and R720xd Owner’s Manual on Dell.com/Support/Manuals. Table 4.
Feature Description LCD control panel Provides user access to buttons, display and I/O interfaces (R720 only) LED panel Indicates the status of system conditions (R720xd only) Hard drives Front-accessible, hot-plug hard drives plus two optional back-accessible hot-plug hard drives (R720xd only) Optical drive (optional) The R720 supports one optional slimline SATA DVD-ROM drive or DVD+/-RW drive; R720xd does not support an internal optical drive System identification panel Slide-out label panel fo
LED panel (R720xd) The R720xd LED panel is located on the front of the chassis to indicate the status of system conditions. For more information on the R720xd LED panel, see the Dell PowerEdge R720 and R720xd Owner's Manual on Dell.com/Support/Manuals. Figure 10. R720xd LED panel Quick Resource Locator A useful feature included with Dell PowerEdge 12th generation servers is the Quick Resource Locator (QRL)—a model-specific Quick Response (QR) code that is located on the server (shown in Figure 11).
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.
4 Processors Dell PowerEdge R720 and R720xd servers feature the exceptional performance, value and power efficiency of the Intel Xeon processor E5-2600 v2 product family. With up to 12 cores and 30MB cache, E5-2600 v2 processors have the capacity to deliver performance gains of up to 40% over previous-generation E5-2600 processors.
Supported processors The R720 and R720xd support up to two processors with up to eight cores per processor. Table 6 lists the Intel Xeon E5-2600 v2 processors supported by the PowerEdge R720 and R720xd. For the latest information on supported processors, visit Dell.com/PowerEdge. Table 6. Model Speed Cache QPI Cores Turbo TDP E5-2697 v2 2.7Ghz 30M 8.0GT/s 12 Yes 130W E5-2695 v2 2.4Ghz 30M 8.0GT/s 12 Yes 115W E5-26901 2.9GHz 20M 8.0GT/s 8 Yes 135W E5-2690 v21 3.0GHz 20M 8.
Model Speed Cache QPI Cores Turbo TDP E5-2620 2.0GHz 15M 7.2GT/s 6 Yes 95W E5-2620 v2 2.1GHz 15M 7.2GT/s 6 Yes 80W E5-2609 2.4GHz 10M 6.4GT/s 4 No 80W E5-2609 v2 2.5GHz 10M 6.4GT/s 4 No 80W E5-2603 1.8GHz 10M 6.4GT/s 4 No 80W E5-2603 v2 1.8GHz 10M 6.4GT/s 4 No 80W 2 2 1 Not supported on the R720xd 3.5-inch chassis. 2 Model available for the life of the system.
Two double-wide GPUs require the optional riser 3 with a single x16 slot Four single-wide GPUs cannot occupy optional riser 3 with a single x16 slot Dell PowerVault RD1000 backup unit not supported External GPU support For external GPU support, the R720 connects to the PowerEdge C410x through a host interface card (HIC) and an iPass cable. Both the NVIDIA® and Dell x16 HIC require one x16 PCIe slot.
5 Memory More memory options are available than ever before with the Dell PowerEdge R720 and R720xd— greater capacities, higher frequencies, and more flexibility. The R720 and R720xd support up to 768GB of memory (24 DIMMs) and speeds up to 1866MT/s, providing high performance in a variety of applications. High memory density means there is no compromise when it comes to virtualization.
Table 8 lists the DIMMs supported on the R720 and R720xd. For the latest information on supported memory, visit the PowerEdge memory page on Dell.com. Table 8. DIMMs supported Onl Capacity (GB) Speed (MT/s) Type Ranks per DIMM Data width SDDC support Voltage 4 1866 RDIMM 1 X8 Advanced ECC 1.5 4 1600 RDIMM 1 x8 Advanced ECC 1.35 4 1600 UDIMM 1 X8 Advanced ECC 1.35 8 1866 RDIMM 1 x4 All modes 1.5 8 1600 RDIMM 1 x4 All modes 1.
Table 9 illustrates the maximum achievable speed of the Intel Xeon processor E5-2600 and E52600 v2 product families based on memory loads. Green boxes are defaults for performance per watt White boxes (with lower voltage) can save power but will run at slower speeds White boxes (with higher voltage) can be custom configured in the bios Table 9. DIMM type Memory speed capabilities DIMM rank Intel Xeon processor E5-2600 and E5-2600 v2 product families DIMMs per channel (DPC) 1 DPC 1.35V 1.
Feature Description Memory mirroring: intra-socket 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 This feature provides the ability to detect transient errors on the address lines of the DDR channel.
6 Storage The Dell PowerEdge R720 and R720xd provide storage expandability that allows you to adapt to your workload and operational demands. With comprehensive storage options, the R720 and R720xd offer various drive types, internal and external storage controllers, and different chassis and backplanes for varied numbers of drives.
Supported hard drives Table 12 lists the internal hard drives supported by the R720 and R720xd. For the latest information on supported hard drives, visit Dell.com/PowerEdge. Table 12. Form factor 3.5” 2.5” Supported hard drives Type Speed (rpm) Capacities SATA 7.2K 250GB, 500GB, 1TB, 2TB, 4TB Nearline SAS 7.2K 1TB, 2TB, 3TB, 4TB SAS 15K 300GB, 600GB SATA 7.2K 250GB, 500GB, 1TB Nearline SAS 7.2K 500GB, 1TB, 1TB (SED) SAS 10K 300GB, 600GB, 900GB, 900GB (SED), 1.
External storage The R720 and R720xd support the external storage devices types listed in Table 13. For more storage information, see Dell.com/Storage. Table 13.
Table 14 lists the RAID controllers supported on the R720 and R720xd. Table 14.
Optical drives The PowerEdge R720 supports one of the following internal optical drive options: DVD-ROM DVD+RW The R720xd does not support an internal optical drive. Tape drives The R720 supports the Dell PowerVault RD1000 internal backup device on the 2.5-inch chassis only. Internal tape drives are not supported on the R720, and the R720xd does not support any internal backup device.
7 Networking and PCIe The Dell PowerEdge R720 and R720xd offer balanced, scalable I/O capabilities, including integrated PCIe 3.0-capable expansion slots. Dell Select Network Adapters, Dell’s network daughter cards, let you choose the right network fabric without using up a valuable PCI slot. Pick the speed, technology, vendor, and other options, such as switch independent partitioning, which lets you share and manage bandwidth on 10GbE connections.
Table 15 lists available features of numerous supported Select Network Adapter options for the R720 and R720xd. For a complete list of supported Select Network Adapters, visit Dell.com/PowerEdge. Table 15.
Automation of firmware and driver version deployment upon component replacement Automatic monitoring of NIC status and notification on SNMP traps Local or remote reconfiguration of any NIC, physical or virtual PXE boot enabled on all LOM and NDCs for ease of use Boot from SAN (iSCSI, FCoE) configuration for networking devices through the Lifecycle Controller GUI PCIe expansion For information on card installation, requirements, and slot priorities, see the PowerEdge R720 and R720xd Owner
Type Adapter Intel X540 2x10Gb Base-T ® QLogic QLE8262 2x10Gb SFP+ ® Brocade BR1020 2x10Gb SFP+ Mellanox ConnectX-3 dual-port 40GbE QSFP+ Mellanox ConnectX-3 dual-port 10GbE DA/SFP+ QLogic QLE2460 4Gb QLogic QLE2462 4Gb QLogic QLE2560 8Gb QLogic QLE2562 8Gb FC4/FC8/F16 HBAs QLogic QLE2660 16Gb QLogic QLE2662 16Gb ® Emulex LPe12000 8Gb Emulex LPe12002 8Gb Brocade BR815 8Gb Brocade BR825 8Gb In addition to the NICs and HBAs listed in Table 17, the supported PCIe expansion cards for the R720 and R720xd a
Type Adapter NVIDIA GRID (VGX) K2 (double wide) AMD V7800P FirePro™ (single wide) AMD S7000 FirePro (single wide) AMD S9000 FirePro (double wide) GPU HICs (R720 only) NVIDIA HIC Dell PLX HIC ® ® Fusion-io IoDrive 640GB V1 PCIe SSDs Fusion-io PCIe SSD v2 Micron P420m (1.4TB and 700GB) PCIe bridge PCIe bridge adapter for front-accessible, hot-plug Express Flash PCIe SSDs For the latest information on supported PCIe expansion cards for the R720 and R720xd, visit Dell.com/PowerEdge.
8 Power, thermal, and acoustics Lower overall system-level power draw is a result of Dell’s breakthrough system design. PowerEdge servers maximize performance per watt through a combination of power and cooling, energy efficient technologies, and tools. Additionally, PowerEdge servers have an extensive collection of sensors that automatically track thermal activity, which helps regulate temperature thereby reducing server noise and power consumption.
Feature Description 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 iDRAC7 Enterprise and OpenManage Power Center that allows policy-based management of power and thermals at the individual server, rack, and data center level. Active power management Hot spare reduces power consumption of redundant power supplies.
Figure 13 shows a 750W power supply unit extended from an R720 system. Figure 13. 750W power supply unit The PowerEdge R720 and R720xd support up to two AC or DC power supplies with 1 + 1 redundancy, auto sensing, and auto-switching capability. For additional power supply specifications, see Table 32. Dell PSUs have achieved Platinum and Titanium efficiency levels as shown in Table 20. Table 20.
Comprehensive thermal management: The thermal control system regulates the fan speed based on several different responses from all system-component temperature sensors, as well as inventory for system configurations. Temperature monitoring includes components such as processors, DIMMs, chipset, the inlet air ambient, hard disk drives, NDC, and GPU.
> Hot spare feature of power supply unit: In the system default setting, the Hot Spare Feature is disabled; acoustical output from the power supplies is lowest in this setting. Table 21 and Table 22 detail the acoustical performance for the R720 and R720xd. Table 21. R720 acoustical performance (2.5-inch chassis) Configuration (23 ± 2°C ambient) Minimum Typical Power CPUs Hard drives supply unit 1 1 x 250GB SATA (7.
9 Rack rails and cable management The rack rail systems for the Dell PowerEdge R720 and R720xd provide tool-less support for 4-post racks with square or unthreaded round mounting holes, including all generations of Dell racks. Compared to the predecessor R710 sliding rails that required the use of adapter brackets, the sliding rails for the R720 and R720xd now offer native support for threaded-hole racks with the new ReadyRails II mounting interface.
The static rails (shown in Figure 15) support a wider variety of racks than the sliding rails, but do not support serviceability in the rack and are not compatible with the CMA. Figure 15. Static rails 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.
Cable management arm The optional cable management arm (CMA) for the R720 and R720xd 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.
10 Operating systems and virtualization The Dell PowerEdge R720 and R720xd support a wide range of industry-standard operating systems and virtualization software. Supported operating systems Table 24 lists the primary operating systems supported on the R720 and R720xd. For the latest information on supported operating systems, see Dell.com/OSsupport. Table 24.
Support of the operating systems listed in Table 25 is limited to a virtual environment as a guest operating system. Please contact the software vendor for additional support or questions about running the operating system in a virtualized environment. Table 25.
11 Dell OpenManage systems management 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.
OpenManage systems management 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. iDRAC7 with Lifecycle Controller 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.
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) Digital license installed in factory; free 30day trial versions are available; uses a license management portal versus paper-based licenses and simplifies license management.
iDRAC7 Enterprise iDRAC7 Express Power monitoring ∞ ∞ Comprehensive monitoring ∞ ∞ 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 s
Dell consoles 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.
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.
Figure 17. Systems management server lifecycle Table 29 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: Table 29.
Operation One-to-one iDRAC7 with Lifecycle Controller OMSA Monitor One-to-many IPMI iDRAC7 with Lifecycle Controller GUI Dell OpenManage Essentials BMC ProactiveNet Performance Management integration with Lifecycle Controller Dell OpenManage Power Center Lifecycle Controller Remote Services Remediate: Dell Server PRO Management Pack for Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM) Replace parts: Dell Lifecycle Controller Integration (DLCI) for Microsoft System Ce
Appendix A. Additional specifications Chassis dimensions Figure 18 details the dimensions of the Dell PowerEdge R720 and R720xd chassis. Figure 18. Chassis dimensions Xa Xb Y Za (with bezel) Za (without bezel) Zb Zc 482.4mm 444.0mm 87.3mm 32.0mm 18.0mm 684.0mm 723.0mm Chassis weight Table 30 lists the weight of the R720 and R720xd chassis at maximum configuration as well as empty of any hardware. Table 30. Chassis weight Configuration R720 (2.5” chassis) R720 (3.5” chassis) R720xd (2.
Environmental specifications Table 31 details the environmental specifications for the R720 and R720xd. For additional information about environmental measurements for specific system configurations, see Dell.com/environmental_datasheets. Table 31. Environmental specifications Fresh Air: temperature, humidity, altitude de-rating Continuous 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).
Storage 5% to 95% at a maximum wet bulb temperature of 33°C (91°F); atmosphere must be condensing at all times Maximum vibration Operating 0.26 Grms at 5Hz to 350Hz in all orientations Storage 1.87 Grms at 10Hz to 500Hz for 15 minutes (all six sides tested) Maximum shock Operating Half sine shock in all operational orientations of 31G +/– 5% with a pulse duration of 2.
The R720 and R720xd systems support the 2D graphics video modes listed in Table 33. Table 33. Supported video modes Resolution Refresh rate (Hz) Color depth (bit) 640 x 480 60, 70 8, 16, 32 800 x 600 60, 75, 85 8, 16, 32 1024 x 768 60, 75, 85 8, 16, 32 1152 x 864 60, 75, 85 8, 16, 32 1280 x 800 (UI) — — 1280 x 1024 60, 75 8, 16, 32 1440 x 900 60 8, 16, 32 Rack rail specifications The rack rail adjustability ranges are listed in 1. 1.
Appendix B. Standards compliance The R720 and R720xd systems conform to the industry standards in Table 34. Table 34. Industry standard documents Standard URL for information and specifications ACPI Advance Configuration and Power Interface Specification, v2.0c acpi.info Ethernet IEEE 802.3-2005 standards.ieee.org/getieee802/802.3.html HDG Hardware Design Guide Version 3.0 for Microsoft Windows Server microsoft.com/whdc/system/platform/pcdesign/desguide/serverdg.
Standard URL for information and specifications Rev. 2.0 Windows Logo Windows Logo Program System and Device Requirements, v3.10 61 microsoft.com/whdc/winlogo/hwrequirements.
Appendix C. Additional resources Table 35 provides a list of documents and websites that provide for more information on the Dell PowerEdge R720 and R720xd. Table 35.
Resource Description of contents Location Energy Smart Solution Advisor (ESSA) The Dell online advisor console 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. Dell.com/ESSA Power and cooling technologies Provides details for improving energy efficiency in the data center. Dell.
Appendix D. System board block diagram Figure 19.
Figure 20. R720xd system board block diagram USB2.0 Key RJ45 DELL Select Network Adapter Front Video Rear Video Two Rear USB2.0 Ports USB2.0 IDSDM One Front USB2.
