Current Revision posted to TechCenter Chats - Wiki by DELL-Amol B on 1/19/2017 2:24:48 PM
Take a deeper dive into the Dell™ PowerEdge™ 11th-generation servers and talk with the experts and engineers of the Dell PowerEdge T610, PowerEdge R710, PowerEdge M610, and PowerEdge M710 servers.
Technical Community - Background Reading
Chat Transcript
| Mark_from_Veeam | Man, I am excited about 11G |
| erson | Lots of new technology compared to previous generations |
| erson | Found this today: www.learndell.com/courses/prosupport/teardowns//poweredge_r710/per710/index.htm |
| DELL-ScottH | Hey guys, what's up? |
| erson | Trying to get my request for quote together. EqualLogic (not really sure what version I need for virtualization), 2x R710 (or perhaps MD1000e+2x M710), 3x 6248 and a server for Microsoft Scdpm (maybe R710 with MD1000) |
| erson | Dell-scotth: should that URL I posted really be available without login? |
| DELL-ScottH | Yeah, was just looking at that, probably not :-) |
| DELL-ScottH | How did you find it? Google? |
| erson | Yup |
| DELL-ScottH | Brb. Going to shutdown the Internet :-) |
| erson | Was trying to find some more information on vFlash, so searched for "dell vflash" and that link popped up |
| erson | /me downloads site quickly before Scotth pulls the plug... :) If you ask me, that kind of material should be available on the manual page |
| DELL-ScottH | Hello Armando and Khsieh! Just sent the word out; people should start to trickle in, in the next few minutes |
| Armando75 | Sounds good |
| Mark_from_Veeam | Back after rebooting the Internet since Scotth gave little warning |
| DELL-ScottH | Such power I wield! |
| Mark_from_Veeam | I use Dell servers primarily for VMware. Are there any enhancements in 11G that help with my ESX server farms? |
| DELL-ScottH | welcome lfoutch |
| DELL-ScottH | Great enhancements with Nehalem processors and amount of memory and performance; see the chat from two weeks back...and just released ESX update 4 with OpenManage integration |
| Mark_from_Veeam | Did the memory increase enough to run Exchange and SQL in VMs? |
| erson | Sure |
| DELL-ScottH | We'll give a few minutes before the official start |
| erson | Up to 144 GB on R710 and M710; 18 slots on 8 GB RDIMM at 800 MHz |
| DELL-ScottH | Dude! We've been running Exchange on VMs for over a year |
| Mark_from_Veeam | Wow, that's powerful |
| DELL-ScottH | Hello joraye |
| erson | I/O dropped quite a lot with Exchange 2007, so it should make it a good candidate for VM |
| DELL-ScottH | welcome lynxbat |
| lynxbat | Hola! |
| joraye_knight | Hi Scott! |
| erson | And Exchange 2010 should be released in ~October |
| Mark_from_Veeam | Any white papers on performance re: I/O? |
| DELL-ScottH | Welcome Karim |
| Karim | Evening all, thanks, Scott |
| DELL-ScottH | Alright, let's officially kick it off and others can catch up... |
| erson | Truly droolworthy topic today |
| DELL-ScottH | Welcome again to this week’s chat session. Today we will cover the Dell PowerEdge 11th generation of servers. Joining us today is Armando from the Dell team to help out with any questions |
| erson | Mark_from_veeam, this post is from the official Exchange blog; should explain it: http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2006/09/08/428860.aspx |
| DELL-ScottH | Say hello to Armando! |
| erson | Hi Armando |
| DELL-ScottH | Couple of quick things |
| Armando75 | Hello All |
| Mark_from_Veeam | Thanks, Erson ;) |
| DELL-ScottH | Right-click links, and you can avoid being excited from the chat |
| Karim | Hi armando |
| Mark_from_Veeam | Scott, we are always excited in this chat |
| lynxbat | Too funnny, "right cliick on links and you can avoid being excited from the chat" |
| erson | /me left-clicks on links and they pops up in a new window |
| Mark_from_Veeam | I just right-clicked and made myself dull |
| DELL-ScottH | And, as always, use Action, Recent Room History to catch up if you accidentally exit the chat |
| DELL-ScottH | This session is recorded, so don't worry about writing down URLs. You can click on them later in the transcript, which is available on the same link that got you to this page. And ask questions at any time; don't worry about interrupting. It's not rude in a chat |
| brennels | Great Job moderating last week Scott, thanks |
| DELL-ScottH | And thanks, Mark, we are all excited that I can't type :-) |
| DELL-ScottH | Okay, so I think I'm going to start off with some general stuff, and then let the questions drive this chat |
| DELL-ScottH | First, here's a good general overview into 11G: www.dell.com/11g ...marketing stuff, but gets you in the right direction |
| DELL-ScottH | Ha, caught one! |
| lynxbat | Lol |
| Armando75 | You can also visit DELL.COM/Switch |
| jbarton | Nice |
| DavidSzp | Ha ha |
| erson | /me likes the manuals in http://support.dell.com/manuals |
| DELL-ScottH | One of the biggest things we've done in the new server line is the embedding of the systems management |
| DavidSzp | /me likes the R710 link earlier :-) |
| DELL-ScottH | There is a topic next week to go in more depth, but I'll give you a preview |
| brennels | Very cool |
| DELL-ScottH | www.delltechcenter.com/page/lifecycle+controller |
| DELL-ScottH | Hey Brace ! |
| michaelsainz | So what changed in the systems management stuff? |
| DELL-ScottH | Erson, what was that link you gave earlier for the R710? |
| joraye_knight | Unified Server Configurator is so amazing |
| Armando75 | Dell has actually embedded systems management into the system |
| DELL-ScottH | Ys, doing some demos on it; one is on that Life Cycle controller link I just gave |
| erson | www.learndell.com/courses/prosupport/teardowns/poweredge_r710/per710/index.htm |
| DavidSzp | Erson: Shhh, don't tell; I'm not done downloading yet :-) |
| Armando75 | No need for media to deploy |
| DavidSzp | Winhttrack Ftw :-) |
| DELL-ScottH | Yeah, not sure if that link Erson just gave is supposed to be public, but great teardown and details |
| erson | Davidszp: me too :) |
| erson | www.learndell.com/courses/prosupport/teardowns/poweredge_r610/per610/index.htm |
| brennels | Looks like it was tailor made for cloud architecture |
| DELL-ScottH | Doh, he's on a tear! |
| erson | www.learndell.com/courses/prosupport/teardowns/poweredge_t610/pet610/index.htm |
| Armando75 | With Life Cycle Controller, Dell provides a tool for complete life cycle management of the product from deployment to update |
| erson | Is the life cycle controller actual hardware? The iDRAC certainly is, but can't find any manual on the life cycle controller |
| atxtraveler_on_twitter | Is that different from a BMC? |
| joraye_knight | Life Cycle Controller = Unified Server Configurator, right Scott? |
| DELL-ScottH | For those familiar with the PowerEdge 1950 and PowerEdge 2950, PowerEdge R610 = PowerEdge 1950 and PowerEdge R710 = PowerEdge 2950. Will help you make the leap in your head to the new machines |
| Armando75 | Yes, life cycle controller is the actual persistent storage that houses all the drivers, BIOS, firmware, and updates |
| erson | Okay, so the 1 GB persistent storage then |
| Armando75 | Unified Server Configurator is the GUI powered by Life Cycle controller |
| erson | Press F10 when the server boots, etc. |
| DELL-ScottH | So life cycle controller is the hardware that is accessed using the Unified Server Configurator, which is the GUI...makes sense |
| Armando75 | Correct |
| michaelsainz | Ahhh |
| DELL-ScottH | You can get an overview demo here: www.delltechcenter.com/page/lifecycle+controller |
| erson | And what about vFlash that you can use with iDRAC 6 Enterprise. what can I do with that? |
| DELL-ScottH | More details on that next week |
| Armando75 | The USC is built from UEFI standards |
| Karim | The iDRAC series now is replacing the BMC modules (if I remember right); iDRAC Express will give you the bare-bone BMC/IPMI usage and Enterprise will be a fully fledged DRAC card |
| joraye_knight | Okay, so the USC is the software, the life cycle controller is the hardware/flash storage portion |
| DELL-ScottH | @erson, right now, not much...just 256 MB blank storage to put whatever you want on it |
| DELL-ScottH | @joraye , correct |
| erson | User customization: Bootable and managed 256 MB persistent storage for logs, service images, crash dumps, etc. This data is accessible out of band through iDRAC Enterprise UI even when the system is on standby power |
| atxtraveler_on_twitter | Is this where the CIM/Smash data is communicated from? |
| erson | So pretty much that bullet from your page then? |
| Karim | Dell Remote Access Card, for those unfamiliar with the term DRAC ;) |
| Armando75 | iDRAC is not replacing the BMC; BMC is still standard on 11G |
| DELL-ScottH | Welcome halflinger, use Action, Recent Room History to catch up |
| atxtraveler_on_twitter | So BMC is where the sensors attach on the motherboard, and the iDRAC is the methodology of pulling information from the BMC? |
| joraye_knight | My favorite part of this, hopefully, no more SMTD, Installation and Server Management CDs, BUU, SUU, etc. The OS install can be done without additional media! |
| erson | Dell Unified Server Configurator Manual: http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/software/smusc/ |
| DELL-ScottH | @joraye, yes no more installation media (except for the OS). That's my next demo |
| erson | iDRAC 6 Manual: |
| DELL-ScottH | Erson is manual man today :-) |
| atxtraveler_on_twitter | Erson - FTW |
| erson | Some sneaky Dell employee hid the system management hardware under software...pretty evil :) |
| DELL-ScottH | I think the memory configurations will be the most confusing on these new systems |
| atxtraveler_on_twitter | I think it might be, Scotth |
| DELL-ScottH | Dr. Jeff Layton wrote a great blog post |
| erson | URL? |
| DELL-ScottH | www.delltechcenter.com/page/04-08-2009+-+nehalem+and+memory+configurations |
| JasonPowell | Where do we find the difference between the bare bones and Enterprise DRAC stuff? |
| DELL-ScottH | And he also had a very nice intro blog post to Nehalem: www.delltechcenter.com/page/04-06-2009+-+introduction+to+nehalem-ep |
| erson | Jasonpowell, in my URL above about iDRAC 6 |
| erson | Memory guidelines for R710: http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/per710/en/hom/html/install.htm#wp1193696 |
| JasonPowell | Is there a cliff notes version? |
| Armando75 | Not that I'm aware of |
| Halflinger left. | |
| erson | iDRAC 6 Enterprise adds support for RACADM, virtual KVM, virtual media features, a dedicated NIC, and virtual Flash (with an optional Dell vFlash Media card) |
| erson | From iDRAC 6 overview: http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/software/smdrac3/idrac/idrac10mono/en/ug/html/racugc1.htm |
| erson | /me is not on fire |
| DELL-ScottH | I'm working with marketing manager on the systems management stuff and hopefully will have a nice decoder ring on the TechCenter site to help with the free and pay stuff for the DRACs |
| JasonPowell | iDRAC Express is free? |
| erson | Yes |
| DELL-ScottH | Hey, Dr J! Was just pimping your blog posts... The doctor is In. Any questions from his posts? |
| Armando75 | Remote Access Controller Administrator. This interface allows customers to script their use of most iDRAC 6 features |
| Armando75 | iDRAC Express is $99 |
| DELL-ScottH | Welcome newcomers. Use Action, Recent Room History to catch up, or you can view the transcript tomorrow |
| DELL-ScottH | Any customers have an 11G in their hands yet? |
| DELL-ScottH | Welcome Roopa! |
| jbarton | Does anyone know why my Dell rep can give me a quote for a dual processor M610 full of 4 G DIMMs, but if I want a single processor, they only support 2 G DIMMs? |
| Dell-Roopa | Hi Scott |
| DELL-ScottH | Roopa is behind much of the systems management stuff—good contact :-) |
| erson | Regarding memory configuration for the R710, go with 8/12 4 GB modules and enjoy 1,066 MHz memory speed and advanced ECC. When 48 GB isn't enough you can't get advanced ECC, and you can go up to 72 GB by filling out the extra memory modules |
| JasonPowell | Can you get both ESXi or ESX embedded on 11G? |
| Armando75 | With the new Intel architecture there are over 4,000 combinations |
| erson | Jasonpowell, I think you can with the internal SD module, and Xen too |
| Dell-Roopa | Yes, ESXi and ESX are supported on 11G |
| Armando75 | ESXi is the embedded version, and yes it will be available |
| JasonPowell | So if I want VI 3/ESX, would I not get ESXi embedded? |
| joraye_knight | Isn't ESXi going to be on an SD-type card this time instead of a USB key? |
| DavidSzp | Jason, ESX doesn't come embedded, but you can use VI 3/vCenter/etc. with the ESXi version |
| erson | Jbarton, the manual for the PowerEdge M610 confirms the things your Dell sales rep told you |
| DavidSzp | The whole point of ESXi was to have a firmware-like thing that could be embedded...and also installed |
| erson | Jbarton, scroll a bit down from: http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/pem/en/hom/html/blades.htm#wp1337283 |
| JasonPowell | Hmmm...something’s not clicking for me on the ESXi/ESX then |
| DavidSzp | Except for not having a service console, ESXi and ESX generally have the same capabilities once you add vCenter. ESXi is free by itself, but is about as powerful when paid for as full-blown ESX. |
| erson | Isn't VMware slowly moving away from ESX to ESXi? |
| DavidSzp | It kind of appears so, but that's not something I know about |
| DavidSzp | As far as I know the service console is really mainly useful for running backup agents and such. And Veeam Backup won't replicate to ESXi, just ESX for now, but it will backup ESXi just fine |
| Armando75 | In my opinion that is the way they would like to see |
| DELL-ScottH | Sorry, got caught...catching back up |
| JasonPowell | Sorry...still not clear :-) Oh well |
| erson | I have two friends as VMware, and they seem to hint that that is the long-term plan |
| DELL-ScottH | ESXi can be installable of embedded...same thing, just one is installed on drive D, other is embedded (SD, USB). ESX is the full blown with service console |
| atxtraveler_on_twitter | Davidszp, thanks for the Veeam plug, they have excellent utilities for people using ESXi as well as ESX |
| erson | Do I need to get a special SD from Dell or can I use any SD for vFlash? |
| JasonPowell | So if we're planning to buy VI 3 we'd not want ESXi embedded? |
| DELL-ScottH | another thing to know about the 11G servers is performance! We have benchmarks here: www.dell.com/benchmarks |
| Karim | Joraye, I think the SSD will be an add-on offer, but not sure on that. Armando, do you know? |
| atxtraveler_on_twitter | ESXi versus ESX is just the delivery method of the kernel |
| Karim | SD, sorry |
| atxtraveler_on_twitter | ESXi has no service console |
| erson | I got quite impressed by the HP equivalent of the PowerEdge R710 that was capable of up to 16x 2.5". Was there any talk about doing anything similar with the PowerEdge R710? |
| Armando75 | Currently you can use any SD card, but with future capabilities you will have to use a Dell branded |
| erson | The Swedish sell up on the 1 GB vFlash card is almost $100 :) And I thought robbery was forbidden… |
| Armando75 | At this time, there are no plans for 16 drives |
| Karim | Would be nice though, 16 drives, though I think that would be more along the lines of a PowerVault alternative if one came about |
| jbarton | So is there a requirement that in a single processor PowerEdge M610 you must use UDIMMs instead of RDIMMs? Isn't the only difference between the two of those power consumption? |
| Armando75 | RDIMMs offer more RAS capabilities and higher performance at high utilization rates |
| erson | RDIMM = Registered DIMM, UDIMM = Unbuffered DIMM |
| Armando75 | UDIMMs use less power |
| DELL-ScottH | Yes, but I think jbarton’s question is about why he can't get 4 GB in the single processor PowerEdge M610 |
| jbarton | Correct |
| erson | I agree that is odd |
| jbarton | I would like to be able to use 4 GB RDIMMs in a single processor PowerEdge M610 |
| erson | But the manual supported what his sales rep. told him |
| DELL-ScottH | I'm digging more, because I'm pretty sure I just ordered mine with 8 GB DIMMs |
| Armando75 | There are no limitations, it can be supported, but with 4,000 possible memory configurations, we couldn't validate them all |
| jbarton | My Dell rep offered to let me buy a PowerEdge M610 with 1 GB of memory, and then 6x 4 GB RDIMMs separately, and test myself :) |
| erson | RDIMM is supported with one CPU on the PowerEdge M710, so it should definitely work |
| jbarton | I understand they couldn't validate all of them, but seems like it makes sense to validate a single processor configuration with maximum memory |
| Karim | I'm possibly put this to the wild but if you think on it the way the new Intel processor is with the three channels per processor for the DDR3 memory, don't quote me on that one ;P |
| Armando75 | We are looking at adding configurations |
| jbarton | I am building a database environment where I need a lot of memory, but also have to worry about licensing based on processor |
| Armando75 | So please stay tuned |
| DELL-ScottH | Yeah, I'm looking at table 3-6 that Erson referenced, and it just says "examples" |
| DELL-ScottH | The internal configurator let me build a PowerEdge M610 with 8 GB DIMMs...that's the only memory sticks I ordered for the lab |
| erson | Send them to me when your done with them :) |
| DELL-ScottH | 4,000 possible combinations is like the number of drinks available at Sonic :-) |
| DELL-ScottH | By that time they will be a dime a dozen :-) |
| Armando75 | Yeah, it’s pretty amazing. It will make your head spin |
| DELL-ScottH | <-- realizes he has some studying to do on memory configurations |
| erson | Is the iDRAC 6 on the R-series identical to the one on the M-series? |
| erson | /me is going to begin with 12x 4 GB and top out at 72 GB when the time is right; 8 GB is too expensive to be worth it right now |
| erson | *cough* - you couldn't direct me to the PowerEdge M710 page on learndell? :) |
| DELL-ScottH | Armando, do you know if the iDRACs are the same? I don't know if they are exactly identical |
| Armando75 | Not the same exact series, but with similar features |
| jbarton | Scott, did the internal configurator allow 8 GB DIMMs on a single processor machine, or was it dual processor? |
| erson | /me dislikes the NIC hardware key to enable full NIC functionality |
| DELL-ScottH | @jbarton, it was dual processor; I don't have access to it right now to run the configurations, or I would |
| joraye_knight | One of the big differences I saw was the Express version shares a LOM port, Enterprise has a dedicated port |
| jbarton | Okay |
| erson | The big difference is KVM-over-IP with Enterprise and second virtual media |
| Karim | Hmmm, interesting. Looking at the manual for the PowerEdge R710, it allows 8 GB RDIMMs in single processor systems or 2 GB on the UDIMMs |
| erson | iDRAC 6 Express iDRAC6 Express [included in Price] iDRAC 6 Enterprise [add $349] iDRAC 6 Enterprise with vFlash 1 GB SD Card [add $448] |
| joraye_knight | Well, besides all the features, it was a physical hardware difference I noted |
| Karim | That’s with the quad rank DIMMs |
| erson | Those are the prices on DELL.COM for PowerEdge R710 in the SMB section |
| DELL-ScottH | @jbarton, yes strange, the online configurator only allows 2 GB DIMM choices if you just select one processor...pick second processor and the others show up |
| Karim | @erson http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/pet610/multlang/gsg/dao/dp884a01mr.pdf |
| erson | joraye_knight, on that piece of physical hardware you also get the SD slot for the vFlash |
| Karim | it4/,4d ant 610 |
| erson | Karim, what were you trying to say to me with that pdf? |
| Karim | sorry* meant |
| erson | Okay, regarding hard drives, what do you guys suggest? |
| DELL-ScottH | Coming up on the end of the hour (and have to run to a meeting). Want to thank everyone for joining, especially Armando. If we didn't get to your question, you can ask it directly on the page of the transcript. Everyone is welcome to stay on longer for as long as you like |
| Armando75 | Thanks for your time. Much appreciated |
| erson | Probably spent an hour today at work going back and forth between 2.5" and 3.5" |
| DELL-ScottH | appreciate everyone's time; sorry for having to run. You guys always know where to find me :-) |
| joraye_knight | Thanks Scott! |
| Karim | Thanks Scott |
| erson | Scotth: improv class? |
| DELL-ScottH | Ha, nope, real meeting today |
| erson | A welcome change for the unreal meetings I suppose :) |
| erson | So, any suggestions on 2.5" and 3.5" |
| erson | The setup is a Hyper-V physical host connected to an EqualLogic |
| Karim | Scott still looking for new bodies for the labs there (if my spelling didn't *** of course) |
| erson | So I'm going for a RAID-1 for the Windows 2008 R2 core |
| DELL-Mark | Have to run…ya'll take care |
