Dell PowerEdge R420xr Technical Guide

PowerEdge R420xr
Technical Guide
The ruggedized, short

depth PowerEdge R420xr
1u 2-socket server delivers
a world-class enterprise
experience in harsh
compute environments.
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February 2016 | Version 1.3
ii PowerEdge R420xr Technical Guide

Table of contents
1 System overview ..................................................................................................................................................................... 5
Introduction............................................................................................................................................................................. 5
Technologies........................................................................................................................................................................... 6
2 System features ....................................................................................................................................................................... 7
Comparison of PowerEdge systems .................................................................................................................................. 7
Specifications .......................................................................................................................................................................... 7
3 Chassis views and features ................................................................................................................................................. 10
Chassis views......................................................................................................................................................................... 10
Chassis features .................................................................................................................................................................... 11
4 Processor ................................................................................................................................................................................ 14
Supported processors ......................................................................................................................................................... 14
Chipset.................................................................................................................................................................................... 14
5 Memory ................................................................................................................................................................................... 15
Supported memory.............................................................................................................................................................. 15
Memory configurations ...................................................................................................................................................... 16
Memory speed ...................................................................................................................................................................... 17
Memory RAS features .......................................................................................................................................................... 18
6 Storage .................................................................................................................................................................................... 19
Internal storage ..................................................................................................................................................................... 19
External storage .................................................................................................................................................................... 19
Storage controllers .............................................................................................................................................................. 19
Optical drive .......................................................................................................................................................................... 21
Tape drive .............................................................................................................................................................................. 21
7 Networking and PCIe ...........................................................................................................................................................22
Embedded NIC controller ..................................................................................................................................................22
PCIe expansion .....................................................................................................................................................................22
8 Power, thermal and acoustics .......................................................................................................................................... 24
Power consumption and energy efficiency .................................................................................................................. 24
Power supply units ...............................................................................................................................................................25
Thermal and acoustics ....................................................................................................................................................... 26
9 Rack rails ................................................................................................................................................................................ 29
Sliding and static rail systems ........................................................................................................................................... 29
10 Operating systems and virtualization ............................................................................................................................... 31
Supported operating systems............................................................................................................................................ 31
11 Management ..........................................................................................................................................................................32
Systems management solutions .......................................................................................................................................32
OpenManage systems management ...............................................................................................................................33
Dell server management operations............................................................................................................................... 38
Appendix A. Additional specifications ............................................................................................................................ 40
Chassis dimensions and weight ....................................................................................................................................... 40
Video specifications ............................................................................................................................................................ 40
Environmental specifications ............................................................................................................................................ 41
Power supply specifications ............................................................................................................................................. 42
Rack rail specifications ....................................................................................................................................................... 42
USB peripherals ................................................................................................................................................................... 43
Appendix B. Standards compliance ................................................................................................................................ 44
Appendix C. Additional resources ................................................................................................................................... 45
Appendix D. System board block diagram .....................................................................................................................47
iii PowerEdge R420xr Technical Guide

Tables
Table 1. Technologies ............................................................................................................................................................. 6
Table 2. Comparing the PowerEdge R420 to PowerEdge R420xr ............................................................................... 7
Table 3. Technical specifications .......................................................................................................................................... 8
Table 4. Chassis features ...................................................................................................................................................... 11
Table 5. Security features ..................................................................................................................................................... 13
Table 6. Supported processors ........................................................................................................................................... 14
Table 7. Memory technologies supported ....................................................................................................................... 15
Table 8. DIMMs supported ................................................................................................................................................... 16
Table 9. Memory speed capabilities ................................................................................................................................... 17
Table 10. Memory RAS features ............................................................................................................................................ 18
Table 11. Supported hard drives ........................................................................................................................................... 19
Table 12. Supported RAID controllers ................................................................................................................................ 20
Table 13. Hard-drive backplane options ............................................................................................................................ 20
Table 14. PCIe slot configurations........................................................................................................................................22
Table 15. Supported NICs and HBAs ....................................................................................................................................23
Table 16. Power tools and technologies............................................................................................................................ 24
Table 17. Power supply efficiency ....................................................................................................................................... 26
Table 18. Acoustical performance ....................................................................................................................................... 28
Table 19. Supported rack types ............................................................................................................................................ 30
Table 20. Primary operating system support...................................................................................................................... 31
Table 21. iDRAC7 with Lifecycle Controller functions and benefits .............................................................................33
Table 22. Feature comparison for basic management, iDRAC7 Express and iDRAC7 Enterprise ......................... 34
Table 23. One-to-one and one-to-many operations..................................................................................................... 39
Table 24. Supported video modes ........................................................................................................................................ 41
Table 25. Environmental specifications ............................................................................................................................... 41
Table 26. Power supply specifications ................................................................................................................................ 42
Table 27. Rail adjustability range .......................................................................................................................................... 43
Table 28. Industry standards documentation ................................................................................................................... 44
Table 29. Additional resources ............................................................................................................................................. 45
Figures
Figure 1. Front view without bezel ...................................................................................................................................... 10
Figure 2. Front view with bezel............................................................................................................................................. 10
Figure 3. Back view.................................................................................................................................................................. 10
Figure 4. Internal view ............................................................................................................................................................ 11
Figure 5. LCD control panel .................................................................................................................................................. 12
Figure 6. 550W power supply unit ...................................................................................................................................... 26
Figure 7. Rugged sliding rail ................................................................................................................................................. 29
Figure 8. Dell systems management solutions .................................................................................................................32
Figure 9. Systems management server lifecycle ............................................................................................................. 38
Figure 10. System dimensions ............................................................................................................................................... 40
Figure 11. R420xr system board block diagram .................................................................................................................47
iv PowerEdge R420xr Technical Guide

1 System overview
Introduction
The PowerEdge R420xr is an enterprise-class, short-depth, 1U 2-socket rack server ruggedized for
military, telecom and other uses. R420xr is designed for harsh environments that are constrained by
size, weight and power. Along with its small footprint, R420xr boasts powerful performance and
scalability, hot-swappable power supplies and industry-leading management..
Ruggedized durability
The R420xr is built for demands of Military, Telecom and other harsh environments. It is capable of
operation in elevated temperatures and comes with an optional filtered bezel for dusty, dirty
environments. To prove its rugged nature, the R420xr has been tested to MIL-STD 810G, NEBS
Level 3 and ETSI
Right-sized performance
The R420xr features the extensive performance of two Intel® Xeon® E5-2400 v2 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 R420xr 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 R420xr fits well. To protect your virtualized workloads, the R420xr offers
dual, redundant SD media making your hypervisors redundant and failsafe. Other reliability and
availability features include up to four 2.5-inch hot-plug hard drives, both hardware and software
RAID options and redundant, hot-plug power supplies. All of this performance comes in a 20” rack
depth for depth contrained deployments or for easy mobility in a transit case.
Comprehensive systems management, without compromise

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 installed.
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.
5 PowerEdge R420xr Technical Guide

Technologies
Table 1 summarizes the latest technologies used in the Dell PowerEdge R420xr rack server.
Table 1. Technologies
New technology Detailed description

Intel Xeon processor
This new family of Intel processors has embedded PCIe lanes for improved I/O
E5-2400 v2 product
performance. See the Processor section for details.
family
The Intel Platform Controller Hub (PCH) chip is implemented on the R420xr
Intel C600 series chipset
server.
Certain models of the Intel Xeon processor E5-2400 product family support
1600MT/s DDR3
1600MT/s memory. The R420xr supports two DIMMs per channel at 1600MT/s
memory
with certain models. See the Memory section for details.
Next-generation PERC The R420xr supports the new PERC controller cards with improved functionality
options and faster performance. See the Storage section for details.
Dell’s embedded systems management solution for Dell servers features hardware
iDRAC7 with Lifecycle and firmware inventory and alerting, in-depth memory alerting, faster
Controller performance, a dedicated gigabit port and many more features. See the
Management section for details.
The R420xr supports advanced power monitoring and power capping tools that
Advanced power
can help manage power consumption. See the Power, thermal and acoustics
management
section for details.
Dell has tested and validated an integrated data center solution that enables you
Fresh Air cooling to operate at higher temperatures or even chiller-less. See the Power, thermal and
acoustics section for details.
The internal dual SD module enables Dell's unique failsafe virtualization
architecture, ensuring uptime by providing failover capability for embedded
Failsafe hypervisors
hypervisors, such as VMware® vSphere® ESXi™. See the Error! Reference source
not found. for details.
Failure of one fan rotor is tolerated with degradation in performance through
Fan fault tolerance 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.

2 System features
Compared to the Dell PowerEdge R420 server, the R420xr has a shorter rack depth, is MIL-STD-
810G compliant and has a longer lifecycle. Table 2 compares some of the features of the R420xr to
the R420. Table 3 lists all of the R420xr specifications.
Comparison of PowerEdge systems

The R420xr is a ruggedized, short depth PowerEdge server based off of the R420.
Table 2. Comparing the PowerEdge R420 to PowerEdge R420xr
Feature PowerEdge R420 PowerEdge R420xr

MIL-STD-810G
No Yes
Compliant
1U rack 1U rack
Chassis
24” rack depth 20” rack depth
Intel Xeon processor E5-2400 and E5- Intel Xeon processor E5-2400 v2 product
Processors
2400 v2 product family family
12 x DDR3 RDIMM and UDIMM 12 x DDR3 RDIMM and UDIMM
Memory1
Up to 384GB Up to 384GB
Up to 4 x 3.5” cabled or hot-plug
Hard drive bays
Up to 8 x 2.5” hot-plug Up to 4 x 2.5” hot-plug SSD (SATA or SAS)
(hot-plug)
SAS, SATA or SSD
RAID controller S110, H310, H710, H710P, H810 (ext) H310, H710, H710P, H810 (ext)
PCI slots 2 PCIe 3.0 slot 2 PCIe 3.0 slots
Embedded NIC Dual Port 1GbE LOM Dual Port 1GbE LOM
Power supplies 350W and 550W AC Dual Hot Plug Redundant 550W AC
Management Dell OpenManage Dell OpenManage

Lifecycle Controller 2.x Lifecycle Controller 2.x
iDRAC7 iDRAC7
Remote management
(Express/Enterprise) (Express/Enterprise)
Hot-plug drives Hot-plug drives
Hot-plug redundant PSU Hot-plug redundant PSU
Availability Internal Dual SD support Internal Dual SD support
Fan Fault Tolerance Fan Fault Tolerance
ECC memory ECC memory
Geo availability Worldwide Worldwide, except China and Russia
Estimated end of sales
Q2CY15 Q2CY17
life
1GB means 1 billion bytes and TB equals 1 trillion bytes; actual capacity varies with preloaded material and operating
environment and will be less.
Specifications
Table 3 summarizes the specifications for each of the PowerEdge R420xr features. All of these
features are MIL-STD-810G compliant.

Table 3. Technical specifications
Feature PowerEdge R420xr technical specification
1U rack
Form factor
20” rack depth
Intel Xeon processor E5-2470 v2, E5-2450 v2, E5-2430L v2, E5-2430 v2 or E5-2407
Processors
v2
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 Intel C602
Memory Up to 384GB (12 DIMM slots): 4GB/8GB/16GB/32GB1 DDR3 up to 1600MT/s
2 PCIe slots
With 2 processors:
 1 x16 slot with x16 bandwidth, 3.0, half-height, half-length
PCIe slots  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: External HBAs (RAID):

PERC H310 PERC H810
RAID controller
PERC H710 External HBAs (non-RAID):
PERC H710P 6Gbps SAS HBA
Hard drives Up to four 2.5” hot-plug SSD (SATA or SAS)
Embedded NIC Broadcom® 5720 Dual Port 1GbE LOM
1Gb Ethernet:
Broadcom 5720 Dual Port 1Gb NIC1
Broadcom 5719 Quad Port 1Gb NIC
Intel I350 Dual Port 1Gb stand-up adapter
Intel I350 Quad Port 1Gb stand-up adapter
I/O adapter options 10Gb Ethernet:
Intel X520 Dual Port 10Gb DA/SFP+ server adapter
Intel X540 Dual Port 10Gb Base-T adapter1
QLogic® QLE8262 Dual Port 10Gb DA/SFP+1
FC8/FC4 HBA:
QLogic QLE2562 8Gb Dual Port FC HBA1
Power supply Dual redundant 550W AC power supply
High-efficiency, hot-plug redundant power supplies; hot-plug hard drives; TPM;

Availability dual-internal SD support; fan fault tolerance; optional bezel; information tag; ECC
memory; extended power range; ENERGY STAR® compliant
 Basic management (standard option)

Remote Management
— Upgrade to iDRAC7 with Lifecycle Controller (Express or Enterprise)

Feature PowerEdge R420xr technical specification
— Upgrade to 8GB vFlash media or 16GB vFlash media for iDRAC7 Enterprise
with Lifecycle Controller
 OpenManage Essentials
 OpenManage Mobile
 OpenManage Power Center (requires iDRAC7 Enterprise with Lifecycle
Controller)
Dell OpenManage  Dell OpenManage Integrations:
Systems Management o Dell OpenManage Integration Suite for Microsoft
(Agent-free or with  System Center
OMSA agent) o Dell OpenManage Integration for VMware® vCenter
 Dell OpenManage Connections:
o HP Operations Manager, IBM Tivoli® Netcool®, and CA
 Network and Systems Management
o Dell OpenManage Plug-in for Oracle® Database Manager
 Rugged sliding rails for use in transit cases or standard

 ReadyRails static rails for tool-less mounting in four-post racks with square or
Rack support options
unthreaded round holes or tooled mounting in four-post threaded and two-
post (Telecom) racks
Microsoft® Windows Server® 2012 (embedded option available)

Microsoft Windows® Server® 2012 R2
Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 (embedded option available)
Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 (embedded option available)
Novell® SUSE® Linux Enterprise Server (embedded option available)
Red Hat® Enterprise Linux® (embedded option available)
Operating systems
Virtualization options (available on Dell-branded systems):
Citrix® XenServer®
VMware vSphere including ESXi™
Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization®
For more information on the specific versions and additions, visit
Dell.com/OSsupport.
Harsh environment Military Standard 810G tested for temperature, shock, vibration and altitude
testing NEBS level 3 and ETSI tested
Branding options Dell-branded and OEM-ready options available

1Not all features were tested for NEBS level 3 and ETSI compliance. These features were not NEBS Level 3
and ETSI tested.

3 Chassis views and features
The Dell PowerEdge R420xr is a 1U, 2-socket rack server, available Dell branded or unbranded. For
additional system views and features, see the Dell PowerEdge R420xr Systems Owner’s Manual on
Dell.com/Support/Manuals.
Chassis views
Figure 1 shows the features on the front of the R420xr chassis including four 2.5-inch hard drives,
control panel, USB connectors, and many other components and features described in this guide.
Figure 1. Front view without bezel
Figure 2 shows the optional locking bezel on the front of the R420xr chassis.
Figure 2. Front view with bezel
Figure 3 shows the features on the back panel of the R420xr including USB connectors, Ethernet
connectors, serial connector, video connector, PCIe slots, power supplies and many other
components and features described in this guide.
Figure 3. Back view
The chassis design of the R420xr is optimized for space constrained and/or harsh environments, and
easy access to components and for airflow for effective and efficient cooling. The R420xr supports
up to 12 DIMMs, two processors, hot-plug redundant power supplies and many other components
and features described in this guide.

Figure 4. Internal view
Chassis features
Table 4 lists the features on the R420xr chassis. For additional information, see the Dell PowerEdge
R420xr Systems Owner’s Manual on Dell.com/Support/Manuals.
Table 4. Chassis features
Feature Description
Power button ACPI-compliant power button with an integrated green power LED
Covers the system’s front-loading hard drives, includes a
Front bezel
washable/replaceable filter
Used to troubleshoot software and device driver errors; use only if directed
NMI button 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
System identification button
center environment
Hard drives Up to four 2.5-inch drives
USB connectors Connects USB devices to the server
Information tag Slide-out label panel for recording system information

Feature Description
Video connector Connects a monitor to the server
Displays system ID, status information and system error messages; two
LCD panel and buttons navigation buttons to scroll through the menu on the LCD and one select
button
Power supply units Supplies power to the server
Power supply indicators Indicates whether server has power
NIC indicators Indicates network activity and status
PCIe slots Connects PCIe expansion cards to the server
Ethernet connectors Connects integrated 10/100/1000 NICs to the server
Serial connector Connects a serial device to the server
iDRAC7 Enterprise port Dedicated management port for optional iDRAC Ports card
Front control panel

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 Dell PowerEdge R420 Systems Owner’s Manual on
Dell.com/Support/Manuals.
Figure 5. LCD control panel

Security features
The latest generation of PowerEdge servers has the features listed in Table 5 to help ensure the
security of your data center.
Table 5. Security features
Security feature Description

Cover retention The top cover is retained with two self-retaining thumb screws.
An optional metal, filtered bezel is mounted to the chassis front to provide
Bezel protection in harsh environments. 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
TPM 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 An internal switch is used to detect chassis intrusion.
BIOS has the ability to enter a secure boot mode through system setup. This
Secure mode mode includes the option to lock out the power and NMI switches on the
control panel or set up a system password.

4 Processor
The Dell PowerEdge R420xr features the Intel Xeon processor E5-2400 v2 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.
For more information on the Intel Xeon processor E5-2400 v2 product family, visit Intel.com.
Supported processors
Table 6 lists the Intel Xeon processors supported by the PowerEdge R420xr.
Table 6. Supported processors
Max
Cores/
Model Speed TDP Cache QPI memory Turbo
threads
speed
E5-2470 v2 2.4GHz 95W 25MB 10C/12T 8.0GT/s 1600MT/s Yes
E5-2450 v2 2.5GHz 95W 20MB 8/8 8.0GT/s 1600MT/s Yes
E5-2430L v2 2.4GHz 60W 15MB 6/12 7.2GT/s 1600MT/s Yes
E5-2430 v2 2.5GHz 80W 15MB 6/12 7.2GT/s 1600MT/s Yes
E5-2407 v2 2.4GHz 80W 10MB 4/4 6.4GT/s 1333MT/s N/A
For information on processor installation and configuration, see the Dell PowerEdge R420xr
Systems Owner’s Manual on Dell.com/Support/Manuals.
Chipset
The Intel C602 chipset is implemented on the PowerEdge R420xr. For more information, visit
Intel.com.

5 Memory
The large memory footprint of the Dell PowerEdge R420xr offers greater capacities, higher
frequencies and more flexibility. The R420xr supports up to 384GB of memory (12 DIMM slots) and
speeds of up to 1600MT/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.
Supported memory
The R420xr supports the memory technologies shown in Table 7.
Table 7. Memory technologies supported
Feature UDIMM RDIMM
Register No Yes
Buffer No No
Frequencies* 800, 1066, 1333 or 1600MT/s 800, 1066, 1333 or 1600MT/s
Ranks supported 1 or 2 1, 2 or 4
Capacity per DIMM 4 or 8GB 4, 8, 16 or 32GB
Maximum DIMMs per channel 2 2
DRAM technology x8 x4 or x8
Temperature sensor Yes Yes
Error Correction Code (ECC) Yes Yes
Single Device Disable Code

Yes (with advanced ECC mode) Yes
(SDDC)
Address parity Yes Yes
*Although the R420xr supports DIMM speeds of 800MT/s and 1066MT/s, you can only purchase this system
with DIMM speeds of 1333MT/s and 1600MT/s.

The R420xr supports the DIMMs listed in Table 8. For the latest information on supported memory,
visit Dell.com/PowerEdge.
Table 8. DIMMs supported
Capacity Speed Ranks per Data
Type SDDC support Voltage
(GB) (MT/s) DIMM width
4 1600 RDIMM 1 x8 Advanced ECC 1.35
4 1600 RDIMM 2 x8 Advanced ECC 1.35
8 1600 RDIMM 1 x4 All modes 1.35
Memory configurations
Flexible memory configurations are supported on the R420xr, ranging from capacities of 4GB to
384GB. The system supports up to six DIMMs per processor (up to 12 DIMMs in a two-processor
configuration). The R420xr has three memory channels per processor, with each channel
supporting up to two DIMMs.
The R420xr 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 R420xr:

 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 R420xr Systems Owner’s
Manual on Dell.com/Support/Manuals.

Memory speed
The R420xr 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 R420xr based on the population
of the number and type of DIMMs per memory channel.
Table 9. Memory speed capabilities
Number Speed (MT/s)

DIMM type DIMM 0 DIMM 1 of
DIMMs 800* 1066* 1333 1600
SR 1 ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞
DR 1 ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞
QR 1 ∞ ∞ ∞
SR SR 2 ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞
RDIMM SR DR 2 ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞
DR DR 2 ∞ ∞ ∞ ∞
QR SR 2 ∞ ∞
QR DR 2 ∞ ∞
QR QR 2 ∞ ∞
*Although the R420xr supports DIMM speeds of 800MT/s and 1066MT/s, you can only purchase this system
with DIMM speeds of 1333MT/s and 1600MT/s.

Memory RAS features
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 R420xr.
Table 10. Memory RAS features
Feature Description
Dense configuration Increased memory reliability can be a result from this selectable platform profile
optimized profile that adjusts parameters to reduce faults regarding refresh rates, speed,
temperature and voltage.
Memory demand and Demand scrubbing is the ability to write corrected data back to the memory
patrol scrubbing once a correctable error is detected on a read transaction. Patrol scrubbing
proactively searches the system memory, repairing correctable errors.
Recovery from single Recovery from Single DRAM Device Failure (SDDC) provides error checking and
DRAM device failure correction that protects against any single memory chip failure as well as multi-
bit errors from any portion of a single memory chip.
Failed DIMM isolation 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: Memory mirroring is a method of keeping a duplicate (secondary or mirrored)

intra-socket 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 This feature provides the ability to detect transient errors on the address lines of
protection the DDR channel.
Memory sparing (rank) 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 This feature helps to optimize power and performance and can also be used to
throttling prevent DIMMs from overheating.
For information on memory mirroring and sparing configurations, see the Dell PowerEdge R420xr
Systems Owner’s Manual on Dell.com/Support/Manuals.

6 Storage
The Dell PowerEdge R420xr supports internal and external storage options and controllers, different
drive types, and different chassis configurations for a varied number of drives.
Internal storage
R420xr has supports a 4 x 2.5-inch drive-bay option.
Supported drives
The R420xr supports up to four 2.5-inch solid-state drives. Table 11 lists more information about
these drives.
Table 11. Supported hard drives
Form Type Capacities

factor
SAS SSD, Read Intensive MLC 800GB, 1.6TB
SAS SSD, Mixed Use MLC 200GB, 400GB, 800GB, 1.6TB
SAS SSD, Value SLC 200GB, 400GB, 800GB
SATA SSD, Read Intensive MLC 120GB, 160GB, 300GB, 480GB, 800GB, 960GB
2.5” SATA SSD, Read Intensive TLC 480GB, 960GB
SATA SSD, Mixed Use MLC 200GB, 400GB, 800GB, 1.6TB
SATA SSD, Value MLC 100GB, 200GB, 400GB, 800GB
SATA SSD, Boot MLC 120GB
SATA SSD, Write Intensive MLC 200GB, 400GB, 800GB, 1.6TB
External storage
External storage for the R420xr is available through optional HBAs for SAS and iSCSI. For more
information, see Dell.com/Storage.
Storage controllers
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.
Supported RAID controllers

The R420xr supports the PERC 8 (PowerEdge RAID Controller) family of 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 default PERC for the R420xr is a mini-type PERC. The R420xr requires a PERC card to be
installed. The R420xr supports the PERC cards listed in Table 12. For more information about the
latest PERC offerings, see Dell.com/PERC.
Table 12. Supported RAID controllers
RAID
Usage
Controller Description Features modes Form factor
model
supported
Includes 1GB NV DDR3

cache, premium
8-port, external and
PERC H810 performance and 0, 1, 10, 5, Premium
6Gp/s PCIe RAID Adapter
External feature set, security 50, 6, 60 performance
controller
SED/EKMS, and SSD as
cache
Includes 1GB NV DDR3
cache, premium
PERC
8-port, internal 6Gb/s performance and 0, 1, 10, 5, Integrated Premium
H710P
PCIe RAID controller feature set, security 6 mini-type performance
Internal
SED/EKMS, and SSD as
cache
Includes 512MB NV
PERC H710 8-port, internal 6Gb/s DDR3 cache, advanced 0, 1, 10, 5, Integrated
Performance
Internal PCIe RAID controller feature set, security 6 mini-type
SED/EKMS
Supports hot-plug
PERC H310 8-port, internal 6Gb/s Integrated
drives, expansion, pass- 0, 1, 10, 5 Value
Internal PCIe RAID mini-type
through
Table 13 lists the storage matrix for the R420xr hard drives, backplanes and Dell PERC cards.
Table 13. Hard-drive backplane options
Backplane options Controller Drive types
4 x 2.5" hot-plug PERC H3101, H7101, H710P1 2.5” SSD

1Mini-type PERC

Optical drive
The R420 supports external USB optical drives.
Tape drive
The R420xr does not support internal tape drives.

7 Networking and PCIe
The Dell PowerEdge R420xr offers balanced, scalable I/O capabilities, including integrated PCIe 3.0
capable expansion slots. The R420xr supports up to two PCIe slots.
Embedded NIC controller

The R420xr 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 14th generation 10/100/1000 Base-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 5GT/s or 2.5GT/s x2 link width.
PCIe expansion
The R420xr provides expanded PCIe slot capability, made possible by the 24 PCIe lanes available
from each processor in the system. Dell designed the R420xr to be PCIe 3.0-compliant in order to
take full advantage of the processor capabilities.
PCIe slots
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 R420xr.
Table 14. PCIe slot configurations
One processor Two processors
PCIe slot 1 PCIe x8 connector with x4 bandwidth; PCIe x16 connector with x16 bandwidth;
half-length, half-height, 2.0 half-length, half-height, 3.0
(from PCH) (from CPU2)
PCIe slot 2 PCIe x16 connector with x16 bandwidth; PCIe x16 connector with x16 bandwidth;
half-length, full-height, 3.0 half-length, full-height, 3.0
(from CPU1) (from CPU1)
Storage slot Storage slot for PERCs H310, H710, or Storage slot for PERCs H310, H710, or
H710P H710P

PCIe expansion cards
The R420xr supports a variety of PCIe expansion cards. Table 15 lists the supported add-in NICs and
HBAs for the R420XR.
Table 15. Supported NICs and HBAs
Type Adapter
Broadcom® 5720 2x1Gb
Broadcom® 5719 4x1Gb
Intel® I350 2x1Gb
1Gb/10Gb NICs Intel® I350 4x1Gb
Intel® X520 2x10Gb SFP+
Intel® X540 2x10Gb Base-T
QLogic® QLE8262 2x10Gb SFP+
FC4/FC8 HBAs QLogic® QLE2562 8Gb
GPU and HIC cards

The R420xr has limited support for external graphics processing unit (GPU) technology and interface
card solutions through the PowerEdge C410x series 3U external PCIe utilizing a hardware interface
card (HIC). An external GPU is available through certified factory installation (CFI) or field upgrade
only.

8 Power, thermal and acoustics
Lower overall system-level power draw is a result of breakthrough system design. The Dell
PowerEdge R420xr server maximizes performance per watt through a combination of power and
cooling, energy-efficient technologies and tools. Additionally, the PowerEdge R420xr has an
extensive collection of sensors that automatically track thermal activity, which helps regulate
temperature thereby reducing server noise and power consumption.
Power consumption and energy efficiency

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.
Table 16. Power tools and technologies

Feature Description
Power supply unit (PSU) Dell’s PSU portfolio includes intelligent features such as dynamically
portfolio (redundant PSU optimizing efficiency while maintaining availability and redundancy. Find
only) 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
Tools for right-sizing 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. Learn more at Dell.com/ESSA.
Dell’s servers are compliant with all relevant industry certifications and
Industry compliance
guidelines, including 80 PLUS, Climate Savers and ENERGY STAR.
PSU power monitoring improvements include:
Power monitoring  Dell’s power monitoring accuracy is currently 1%, whereas the industry
accuracy (hot-plug PSU standard is 5%
only)  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
Power capping (hot-plug
consumption. Dell is the first hardware vendor to leverage Intel Node
PSU only)
Manager for
circuit-breaker fast capping.
iDRAC7 Enterprise provides server-level management that monitors,
reports, and controls power consumption at the processor, memory and
Systems management system level.
(redundant PSU only) 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
Intel Node Manager: 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. Intel Node Manager is an embedded technology that provides
Active power individual server-level power reporting and power limiting functionality.
management
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
Dell Fresh Air cooling
standard of 35°C (95°F) up to 45°C (113°F) for excursionary periods of time
(dual PSUs are required) and up to a 26°C dew point at 90% relative humidity; without impacting
your availability model. Find additional information at Dell.com/FreshAir.
Dell offers some of the industry’s highest-efficiency power infrastructure
solutions, including:
 Power distribution units
Rack infrastructure
 Uninterruptible power supplies
 Energy Smart containment rack enclosures
For more information about power and cooling, go to Dell.com/PowerAndCooling and

Power.com/PowerCenter.
Power supply units

Energy Smart power supplies (hot-plug 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 R420xr power supply subsystem consists of one non-redundant or up to two hot-plug 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 R420xr:
 550W AC, hot-plug redundant

Figure 6 shows a 550W power supply unit extended from the R420xr chassis.
Figure 6. 550W power supply unit
The PowerEdge R420xr supports two AC PSUs with 1 + 1 redundancy, auto-sensing and
auto-switching capability.
Dell PSUs have achieved efficiency levels as shown in Table 17.
Table 17. Power supply efficiency
Efficiency targets by load

Form factor Output Class
10% 20% 50% 100%
Redundant 550W AC Platinum 82.0% 90.0% 94.0% 91.0%
Thermal and acoustics

Optimized thermal management makes the PowerEdge R420xr cool and quiet. Benefiting from
smart cooling fan speed control, the R420xr 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) (see Table 25).
Thermal design
The thermal design of the PowerEdge R420xr reflects the following:
 Multiple sensors are monitored for thermal feedback control: The PowerEdge R420xr
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 R420xr 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 R420xr
Systems Owner’s Manual on Dell.com/Support/Manuals and “Advanced Thermal Control:
Optimizing across Environments and Power Goals” on Dell.com/PowerEdge.
 Fan fault tolerance: The R420xr allows continuous operation with a motor failure in the
system. The base configuration of the R420xr has five fans. An additional fan is needed when
using 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 R420xr
reliable under a wide range of operating environments as shown in the environmental
specifications in Table 25.
Acoustical design
The acoustical design of the PowerEdge R420xr reflects the following:
 Versatility: The PowerEdge R420xr 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 R420xr for quieter
operation:
o In the BIOS, select the power-optimized DAPC rather than performance-optimized
for the system thermal profile
o Turn hot spare feature off in PSU
However, some components cause significant but not necessarily intuitive increases in loudness
when they are installed in the R420XR. 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 R420xr.
Table 18. Acoustical performance

Configuration Power PCI LWA-UL1 LpA2
Hard Operating Prominent
(23 ± 2°C CPUs supply Memory card/HDD
drives mode (bels) (dBA) tones3
ambient) unit controller
1 x Dual
3 x 2.5“ Port 1GbE Idle4 5.1 32 None
Typical
2 800GB 2x 6 x 4GB
x4 hot-plug NIC
(95W) SATA 550W 1600Hz
HDD chassis SSD 1 x PERC Stress5 5.1 33 None
H310 mini
1 x Quad
4 x 2.5“ Idle4 5.2 32 None
Feature-rich Port 10GbE
2 800GB 2x 8 x 8GB
x4 hot-plug NIC
(95W) SAS 550W 1600Hz
HDD chassis 1 x PERC Stress5 5.5 33 None
SSD
H710 mini
1LWA-ULis the upper limit sound power levels (LWA) calculated per section 4.4.1 of ISO 9296 (1988) and measured in
accordance to ISO 7779 (2010).
2LpA
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).
3Prominent 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.
4Idle: Reference ISO 7779 (2010) definition 3.1.7; system is running in its operating system but no other specific activity.
5Stress:
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.

9 Rack rails
The static ReadyRail for the Dell PowerEdge R420xr provides tool-less support for four-post racks
with square or unthreaded round mounting holes. The R420xr is available with optional rugged
sliding rails for applications in high vibration and shock environments. Both rail systems also support
tooled mounting in four-post threaded racks, and the static rails support tooled mounting in two-
post (Telco) racks as well for added versatility.
The sliding rails for the R420xr offer support for threaded hole racks with the ReadyRails II mounting
interface.
Sliding and static rail systems

The R420xr supports both sliding rails and static rails. Both rails have a new slim rail design that
supports the wide system chassis.
Rugged sliding rails include an adjusting bracket which allows rails length to be adjusted for different
depth racks. The sliding rail system allows you to fully extend the server out the rack for easy access
for service. Figure 7 shows the sliding rails.
Figure 7. Rugged sliding rail

One key factor in selecting the proper rails is identifying the type of rack in which they will be
installed. Static rails support tool-less mounting and rugged sliding rails require a tool for installation
in 19”-wide, EIA-310-E compliant square hole and unthreaded round hole four-post racks. Both also
support tooled mounting in threaded hole four-post racks, but only the static rails, as the more
universal solution, support mounting in two-post (Telco) racks.
Table 19 lists the rack types that the R420xr supports.
Table 19. Supported rack types

Rack types supported
Rail
Product Mounting interface Rail type 4-post 2-post
identifier
Square Round Thread Flush Center
n/a Rugged rails Sliding    x X

R420xr
A8 ReadyRails Static     
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, 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 R420xr in a rack, see the Rack Installation
Instructions on Dell.com/Support/Manuals.

10 Operating systems and virtualization
The Dell PowerEdge R420xr supports a wide range of industry-standard operating systems with
both standard and embedded options.
Supported operating systems

Table 20 lists the primary operating systems supported on the R420xr.
Table 20. Primary operating system support
Operating system
Red Hat Enterprise Linux

SUSE Linux Enterprise Server
Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2
Microsoft Windows Server 2012
Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 with SP1
Microsoft Windows Server 2008 SP2

11 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.
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.
Systems management solutions

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 8, Dell
systems management solutions are centered around OpenManage server management, featuring
iDRAC with Lifecycle Controller.
Figure 8. Dell systems management solutions

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. 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
embedded features improve all aspects of a typical server lifecycle. Table 21 describes the functions
and benefits of iDRAC7 with Lifecycle Controller.
Table 21. iDRAC7 with Lifecycle Controller functions and benefits
Feature Function Benefit
iDRAC7 offers real-time OOB

Out of band discovery, inventory, deployment Manage servers independent of the OS type
(OOB) monitoring, alerting and updates for or status — even if an OS is not installed
servers and internal storage
All server types have the same

Simplified and consistent maintenance
Single code base embedded management hardware
across server platforms
and firmware
Dedicated
GigE port
GbE replaces 10/100 on predecessor Fast throughput for better performance;
(PowerEdge
iDRAC6 compatibility with setup for switches
rack and tower
systems)
More detail allows IT administrators to be

Simplified, more informative and more efficient in diagnosing and remediating
Email alerts expanded coverage than previous an issue; alerts include a direct, embedded
versions of iDRAC URL in the email notification to further speed
resolution
vFlash media Enabled with iDRAC7 Enterprise Allows for use of a non-Dell SD card
Integration with Intel Node Manager Fine tune data center power policies,
Enhanced power provides data center level power capping and usage; report on historical
management monitoring and capping power usage by rack, row or room using
(requires iDRAC7 Enterprise) Power Center Manager (new)

Feature Function Benefit
If iDRAC7 Express or iDRAC7 Enterprise is

ordered during initial point of sale, license
key is installed. If Basic Management is
Upgrades to iDRAC7 Express or ordered during initial point of sale, customer
iDRAC7 Enterprise by software must request a license key through the Dell
Electronic
licensing key and license portal (may Licensing Portal.
licensing
require installation of hardware option For most server models, embedded server
for 300–500 series servers) management and electronic licensing
enables feature enhancements that do not
require installation of additional hardware or
system downtime.
Feature comparison
The systems management default for the R420xr 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 22.
Table 22. Feature comparison for basic management, iDRAC7 Express and iDRAC7 Enterprise
Basic iDRAC7 iDRAC7

Feature (function) management Express Enterprise
Local configuration with Lifecycle Controller GUI ∞ ∞ ∞
IPMI 2.0 ∞ ∞ ∞
Embedded diagnostics ∞ ∞ ∞
Local OS install ∞ ∞ ∞
Local updates ∞ ∞ ∞
Driver pack ∞ ∞ ∞
Shared NIC (LOM)1 ∞ ∞ ∞
Remote update ∞2 ∞ ∞
Power control ∞2 ∞ ∞
Power monitoring ∞ ∞
Encryption ∞ ∞
IPv6 ∞ ∞
Auto-discovery ∞ ∞
Auto-recovery ∞ ∞
Web GUI ∞ ∞
Remote CLI ∞ ∞
Local/SSH CLI ∞ ∞

Basic iDRAC7 iDRAC7
Feature (function) management Express Enterprise
Serial redirection ∞ ∞
Remote config ∞ ∞
Email alerts ∞ ∞
SNMP alerts ∞ ∞
Comprehensive monitoring ∞ ∞
Crash screen capture3 ∞ ∞
Dedicated NIC 1Gbps (100MB in iDRAC6) ∞4
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 authentication4 ∞
1Rack and tower systems only

2Featureavailable with IPMI, not web GUI
3Requires OMSA agent on target server
4Uses Microsoft ActiveX® on Internet Explorer® only
Agent-based management
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 agent-
based solutions, Dell provides OpenManage Server Administrator.
OpenManage Server Administrator

The Dell OpenManage Server Administrator 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.
Agent-free management
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.
Dell OpenManage 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. The Dell systems management portfolio includes several powerful consoles,
depending upon your needs, including the following:
 Dell OpenManage Essentials: OpenManage Essentials (OME) 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 Dell Networking 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 Dell.com/Support.
OpenManage systems management tools and utilities

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.

OpenManage Integration with third-party consoles
Dell OpenManage integrates iDRAC with Lifecycle Controller functionality with several leading third-
party consoles, including Microsoft System Center, VMware vCenter and BMC Software BladeLogic
and ProactiveNet Performance Management.
Microsoft System Center offers management of applications, services, physical resources,
hypervisors, software defined networks, configuration and automation in a single comprehensive
platform. For customers with existing investments in MS System Center, Dell offers the OpenManage
Integration Suite for Microsoft System Center, a portfolio of software tools that streamline and
optimize the efficiency and effectiveness of managing Dell hardware with System Center.
Dell OpenManage Integration Suite for Microsoft System Center includes:
 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 with PRO-Tips for Microsoft System Center Virtual
Machine Manager (SCVMM): This pack integrates Dell PowerEdge server knowledge with
Microsoft System Center 2012 Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM) and Operations Manager
(SCOM). Dell Server PRO Management Pack provides effective management of Dell physical
servers that host virtual workloads running on Microsoft Windows Server Hyper-V by monitoring
the health of the host system and enabling recommendations and remedial actions (PRO-Tips)
when a compromised system is identified.
 OpenManage Integration 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. IT Administrators use the same role-
based, access-control model within vCenter to combine physical and virtual server
management.
 BMC Software: BMC offers best-in-class integration of OpenManage iDRAC with Lifecycle
Controller technology within select BMC Enterprise Systems Management (ESM) portfolio
products.
OpenManage connections with third-party consoles

Dell OpenManage Connections are designed specifically for monitoring Dell server and storage
platforms within infrastructures managed by HP Operations Manager, IBM Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus
or Computer Associates (CA) Network and Systems Management (NSM). OpenManage Connections
improve operational efficiency and flexibility in managing Dell hardware in large heterogeneous data
center environments.
 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 server management operations

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 9 illustrates the various operations that can be performed during the server’s
lifecycle.
Figure 9. Systems management server lifecycle

Table 23 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 23. One-to-one and one-to-many operations

Operation One-to-one One-to-many
 iDRAC7 with LifeCycle  Symantec Deployment Server  Dell Server Deployment Pack
Controller GUI  OpenManage Integration for (DSDP) for Microsoft System
 DTK VMware vCenter Center Configuration Manager and
 SBUU  KACE K1000 Appliance Dell Lifecycle Controller
Deploy  Lifecycle Controller Remote Integration (DLCI) for Microsoft
Services System Center Configuration
 BMC BladeLogic integration Manager
with Lifecycle Controller
 iDRAC7 with LifeCycle  Dell OpenManage Essentials  Dell Update Catalogs for Microsoft
Controller  Lifecycle Controller Remote System Center Configuration
 Repository Manager Services Manager
 DUP  Dell Lifecycle Controller
Update  SUU Integration (DLCI) for Microsoft
 SBUU System Center Configuration
 OpenManage Manager
Integration for VMware
vCenter
 iDRAC7 with LifeCycle  Dell OpenManage Essentials  Dell Management Plug-in for
Controller  BMC ProactiveNet VMware vCenter
 OMSA Performance Management  BMC ProactiveNet Performance
Integration with Lifecycle Management Integration with
Monitor Controller Lifecycle Controller
 Dell OpenManage Power  Dell Server Management Pack Suite
Center for Microsoft System Center
Operations Manager (SCOM)
 IPMI  Lifecycle Controller Remote Remediate:

 iDRAC7 with Lifecycle Services  Dell Server PRO Management Pack
Controller GUI for Microsoft System Center Virtual
Machine Manager (SCVMM)
Maintain 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
OpenManage Systems Management Overview Guide on Dell.com/Support/Manuals.

Appendix A. Additional specifications
Chassis dimensions and weight
0 details the dimensions of the Dell PowerEdge R420xr chassis.
Figure 10. System dimensions
Za with Za without
Xa Xb Y Zb2 Zc
bezel bezel1
458.3mm 434.0mm 42.4mm 42.3mm 31.0mm 508.0mm 545.7mm
1Thisdimension is measured to the captive screw
2Zb goes to the nominal back wall external surface where the system board I/O connectors are located.
The R420xr chassis at maximum configuration is 19.9 kg (43.87 lb).
Video specifications
The Dell PowerEdge R420xr iDRAC incorporates an integrated video subsystem. The graphics
controller is the 2D Matrox® G200. The video frame buffer (16MB) is contained within the iDRAC
RAM (256MB) device.
The R420xr system supports the 2D graphics video modes listed in Table 24.

Table 24. 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 1024 60, 75 8, 16, 32
Environmental specifications
Table 25 details the environmental specifications for the R420xr. For additional information about
environmental measurements for specific system configurations, see
Dell.com/environmental_datasheets.
Table 25. Environmental specifications

Temperature and Humidity
Operating 5°C to 45°C (41°F to 113°F)
45°C continuous operation
50oC (122oF) excursion for up to 8 hours
Non-operating –40oC to 65oC (-40oF to 149oF)
Relative Humidity 5% to 95% at a maximum wet bulb temperature of 33°C (91°F); atmosphere must be non-
condensing at all times
Vibration
Operating 0.00220783 g2/Hz at 10-500 Hz (overall 1.04Grms), 1 hour per axis
MIL-STD-810G, Method 514.6, Figure 514.6D-9
Non-operating Vertical: 5-500 Hz at 1.04Grms, Transverse: 5-500 Hz at 0.204Grms, Longitudinal: 5-500 Hz
at 0.740Grms, 1 hour per axis
MIL-STD-810G, Method 514.6, Figure 514.6, Procedure I, Category 4, Figure 514.6C-1
(US highway truck vibration),
Shock
Operating 40G, 11 ms, saw tooth, 3 shocks, +/- per axis
MIL-STD-810G, Method 516.6, Procedure I
Non-operating 40G, 11 ms, saw tooth, 3 shocks, +/- per axis
MIL-STD-810G, Method 516.6, Procedure V
Packaged 36” all 6 sides and 1 corner
MIL-STD-810G, Method 516.6, Procedure IV,
Altitude
Operating 15,000ft (4572m) for 1 hour after stabilization
MIL-STD-810G, Method 500.5, Procedure II
Non-operating 40,000ft (12,192m) for 1 hour after stabilization
MIL-STD-810G, Method 500.5, Procedure I, (Storage, Air transport)
Airborne contaminant level
Class G1 or lower as defined by ISA-S71.04-1985

Power supply specifications
Table 26 lists power supply specifications for the PowerEdge R420xr.
Table 26. Power supply specifications
Specification Redundant 550W

Current consumption 7.4–3.7A
Supply voltage 100–240VAC1
Frequency 50/60Hz
Heat dissipation
2133
(BTU/hr max)
Maximum inrush current2 55A
1
Auto-ranging
2
Under typical line conditions and over the entire system ambient operating range, the inrush current may reach
55A per power supply for 10ms or less.
Rack rail specifications

Table 27 lists the spacing dimensions for the R420xr sliding and static rails.

Table 27. Rail adjustability range
Rail adjustability range (mm) Rail depth (mm)

Rail
Product Rail type Square Round Threaded without with
identifier
Min Max Min Max Min Max CMA CMA
Rugged
n/a 494 757 496 759 496 759 n/a n/a
Sliding
R420xr
A8 Static 608 879 594 872 604 890 622 —
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
USB peripherals are supported through the front and back USB ports on the R420xr. These ports are
USB 2.0 compliant.

Appendix B. Standards compliance
The Dell PowerEdge R420xr conforms to the industry standards listed in Table 28.
Table 28. Industry standards documentation

Standard URL for information and specifications
ACPI
Advance Configuration and Power acpi.info
Interface Specification, v2.0c
Ethernet
standards.ieee.org/getieee802/802.3.html
IEEE 802.3-2005
HDG
microsoft.com/whdc/system/platform/pcdesign/desguide/serverdg.msp
Hardware Design Guide Version 3.0
x
for Microsoft Windows Server
IPMI
Intelligent Platform Management intel.com/design/servers/ipmi
Interface, v2.0
DDR3 Memory
DDR3 SDRAM Specification, jedec.org/download/search/JESD79-3C.pdf
Rev. 3A
LPC
Low Pin Count Interface developer.intel.com/design/chipsets/industry/lpc.htm
Specification, Rev. 1.1
PCI Express
PCI Express Base Specification Rev. pcisig.com/specifications/pciexpress
2.0 and 3.0
PMBus
Power System Management pmbus.info/specs.html
Protocol Specification, v1.2
SAS
t10.org
Serial Attached SCSI, v1.1
SATA
Serial ATA Rev. 2.6; SATA II, SATA sata-io.org
1.0a Extensions, Rev. 1.2
SMBIOS
System Management BIOS dmtf.org/standards/smbios/
Reference Specification, v2.7
TPM
Trusted Platform Module trustedcomputinggroup.org
Specification, v1.2
UEFI
Unified Extensible Firmware uefi.org/specs
Interface Specification, v2.1
USB
Universal Serial Bus Specification, usb.org/developers/docs
Rev. 2.0
Windows Logo
Windows Logo Program System and microsoft.com/whdc/winlogo/hwrequirements.mspx
Device Requirements, v3.10

Appendix C. Additional resources
Table 29 provides a list of documents and websites that provide for more information on the Dell
PowerEdge R420xr.
Table 29. Additional resources
Resource Description of contents Location
Dell PowerEdge This manual, available in PDF format, provides Dell.com/Support/Manuals

R420xr Systems information on the following:
Owner’s Manual
 Chassis features
 System setup program
 System messages
 System codes and indicators
 System BIOS
 Remove and replace procedures
 Troubleshooting
 Diagnostics
 Jumpers and connectors
Dell PowerEdge This guide, printed and shipped with the system, is also Dell.com/Support/Manuals
R420xr Getting available in PDF format on the Dell.com with detailed
Started Guide information about:
 Initial setup steps
 Key system features
 Technical specifications
Rack Installation This printed document is provided with the rack kits and Dell.com/Support/Manuals
Instructions provides instructions for installing the server in a rack.
Information This document, printed and shipped with the system, Dell.com/Support/Manuals
Update provides information on system updates. It is also
available in PDF format on Dell.com.
System The system information label documents the system Inside the system chassis
Information Label board layout and system jumper settings. Text is cover
minimized due to space limitations and translation
considerations. The label size is standardized across
platforms.
Operating system Provides updated information on which operating Dell.com/OSsupport

matrix for Dell systems are available on which PowerEdge systems.
PowerEdge
systems
Processor and Provides more information about the R420xr processors Intel.com
chipset and chipset.
Dell PowerEdge Provides more information about Dell PERCs. Dell.com/PERC

RAID controllers

Resource Description of contents Location
Power distribution Provides help selecting a rack-based power distribution DellPDU.com
unit unit.
Uninterruptible Provides help selecting an uninterruptible power supply DellUPS.com

power supply model.
Volatility Contact your Dell sales representative. Dell.com

information
Dell Enterprise White paper that explores the mechanisms of, people’s dell.com/downloads/global/
Acoustics reaction to, language of, and Dell’s work to control noise products/pedge/en/acoustic
from Enterprise products. al-education-dell-
enterprise-white-paper.pdf

Appendix D. System board block diagram
Figure 11. R420xr system board block diagram
Front Video
D D
I I
M M
M M
SATA Left* PCIe 1 0
Int. USB USB 2.0 USB 2.0 USB 2.0 in mini- x8 Conn.(x4)
2.0 IDSDM (2 Front) (2 Rear) SATA (1) D D
SAS(4) Slot 1 I I
Left* PCIe x16 Conn. x16
(option for 2rd CPU) CPU2 M M
PCIe Gen2 x4 2GB/s

PCIe Gen3 x16 16GB/s M M
Slot 1
x4 1 0
USB x2
USB x1
USB x1
USB x2
D D
I I
M M
SATA SATA PCIe x4 QPI M M
Coin 1 0
USB Cell
QPI 8.0 GT/s

QPI 8.0 GT/s
LPC South x4 DMI 2GB/s DDR3 Memory
DMI (1066/1333/1600 MHz)
Bridge
D D
I I
LPC
TPM PCIe Gen2 x2 1GB/s

DMI QPI M M
Right* PCIe M M
USB PCIE x1 x16 Conn. x16
Rear Video PCIe Gen3 x16 16GB/s 1 0
Front
x16
Slot 2
D D
x8
PCIE GEN 2 x1
I I
Panel PCIe x8 Conn.
for int. PERC
PCIe Gen3 x8 8GB/s
CPU1 M
M
M
M
USB
Serial Port UART LPC 1 0
SPI D D
Video I I
M M
USB
BroadCom M M
iDRAC 1GbE x 2
PCIe 1 0
MGMT
PDB+PIB for RDNT PSU
SD2 MAC
DVD/
System BP TBU
Power Power Power
RJ45 Conn. Conn. Conn.
IDRAC Port Card
1 2
FRU
Vflash RJ45 Power Supply 1 Power Supply 2

SD Conn. (w/
PHY)

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PowerEdge R420xr

The ruggedized, short

ii PowerEdge R420xr Technical Guide

iii PowerEdge R420xr Technical Guide

iv PowerEdge R420xr Technical Guide

Comprehensive systems management, without compromise

5 PowerEdge R420xr Technical Guide

New technology Detailed description

6 PowerEdge R420xr Technical Guide

Comparison of PowerEdge systems

Table 2. Comparing the PowerEdge R420 to PowerEdge R420xr

Feature PowerEdge R420 PowerEdge R420xr

Management Dell OpenManage Dell OpenManage

7 PowerEdge R420xr Technical Guide

Feature PowerEdge R420xr technical specification

Processor sockets 2 sockets

Cache 2.5MB per core with core options of 4, 6 or 8

Chipset Intel C602

Memory Up to 384GB (12 DIMM slots): 4GB/8GB/16GB/32GB1 DDR3 up to 1600MT/s

Internal controllers: External HBAs (RAID):

Hard drives Up to four 2.5” hot-plug SSD (SATA or SAS)

Embedded NIC Broadcom® 5720 Dual Port 1GbE LOM

Power supply Dual redundant 550W AC power supply

High-efficiency, hot-plug redundant power supplies; hot-plug hard drives; TPM;

 Basic management (standard option)

8 PowerEdge R420xr Technical Guide

 Rugged sliding rails for use in transit cases or standard

Microsoft® Windows Server® 2012 (embedded option available)

Branding options Dell-branded and OEM-ready options available

9 PowerEdge R420xr Technical Guide

Figure 1. Front view without bezel

Figure 2. Front view with bezel

Figure 3. Back view

10 PowerEdge R420xr Technical Guide

11 PowerEdge R420xr Technical Guide

Front control panel

Figure 5. LCD control panel

12 PowerEdge R420xr Technical Guide

Table 5. Security features

Security feature Description

13 PowerEdge R420xr Technical Guide

Table 6. Supported processors

14 PowerEdge R420xr Technical Guide

Table 7. Memory technologies supported

Feature UDIMM RDIMM

Frequencies* 800, 1066, 1333 or 1600MT/s 800, 1066, 1333 or 1600MT/s

Capacity per DIMM 4 or 8GB 4, 8, 16 or 32GB

Maximum DIMMs per channel 2 2

Temperature sensor Yes Yes

Error Correction Code (ECC) Yes Yes

Single Device Disable Code

Address parity Yes Yes

15 PowerEdge R420xr Technical Guide

The following additional memory population guidelines apply to the R420xr:

16 PowerEdge R420xr Technical Guide

Number Speed (MT/s)

17 PowerEdge R420xr Technical Guide

Memory mirroring: Memory mirroring is a method of keeping a duplicate (secondary or mirrored)

18 PowerEdge R420xr Technical Guide

Table 11. Supported hard drives