POWERSCALE F900

HARDWARE
INSTALLATION AND
MAINTENANCE

PARTICIPANT GUIDE

PARTICIPANT GUIDE
Table of Contents

F900 Overview ............................................................................................................ 2

Gen 6.5 Overview ................................................................................................................ 3
F900 Overview ..................................................................................................................... 4

F900 Hardware ........................................................................................................... 6

Hardware Specifications ...................................................................................................... 7
Front View............................................................................................................................ 9
Rear View .......................................................................................................................... 10
Top View ............................................................................................................................ 11
Back-End Network ............................................................................................................. 13
NVMe/PCIe Configuration .................................................................................................. 14

F900 Maintenance .................................................................................................... 15

Safety Precautions and Considerations ............................................................................. 16
Field Replaceable Units (FRUs) ......................................................................................... 17
Customer Replaceable Units (CRUs) ................................................................................. 18

Key Summary ........................................................................................................... 19

Key Summary .................................................................................................................... 20

PowerScale F900 Hardware Installation and Maintenance-SSP

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 F900 Overview

PowerScale F900 Hardware Installation and Maintenance-SSP

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F900 Overview

F900 Overview

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 F900 Overview

Gen 6.5 Overview

Gen 6.5 family consists of three node types: F200, F600, F900. These node types
are part of the PowerEdge-based storage solutions.

Gen 6.5 is built to support high-performance workflows with faster data access
drives, such as: entry SAS SSD, entry NVMe SSD, and high-end NVMe SSD.

F200 F600

F900

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F900 Overview

F900 Overview

The F900 is a high-end all-flash array that uses NVMe SSDs and a dual-CPU 2U
PowerEdge platform (R740xd). F900 has the flexibility to add nodes individually, as
opposed to Gen 6 where nodes are added in node pairs.

F900 three node minimum cluster (support upto 252 node cluster).

• Features
− It is a 2U form factor.
− A single-node solution that provides front-end networking, back-end
networking, compute, storage, and journal.
− NVMe all-flash SSD Capacity Options1

124 x 2.5” NVMe SSDs (1.92 TB, 3.82 TB, 7.68 TB, 15 TB) starts at 42 TB, 92 TB,
148 TB to 360 TB per Node.

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 F900 Overview

− Connectivity2
− Inline software data reduction
• Use Cases
− Performance workflows (M&E3, EDA4, HPC5, Life sciences, and others)
− Less cost sensitivity
− Demand for high capacity
• Advantages

− Compatibility with previous generation clusters

− 30% higher performance over F8006

2Ethernet: Front-end 10/25 GbE or 40/100 GbE and Back-end 100 GbE
connectivity. InfiniBand (IB) back-end connectivity option to previous generations.

3 Media and Entertainment

4 Electronic Design Automation

5 High-Performance Computing

6F900 provides faster 100 GbE FE/BE networks. It has additional CPU cores,
memory, 24 NVMe devices per node. It delivers linear scaling for streaming
workloads.

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F900 Hardware

F900 Hardware

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 F900 Hardware

Hardware Specifications

Attribute F900

Chassis Dell EMC PowerEdge 2U R740XD OEM XL 24x2.5”

Chassis

CPU Dual Socket Intel Cascade Lake 6240 R (2.4 GHz,

24C)

Memory 736 GB (23x32GB Dual Rank DDR4 RDIMMs)

Journal 16 GB (1x16GB Single Rank DDR4 NVDIMM-N)

memory Slot B12

IDSDM 1x32GB microSD (for Receipt and Recovery boot

image)

Storage 24x2.5” NVMe SSD drives.

Storage Controller N/A - NVME backplane on 740XD does not require

HBA

Front-end ports Slot 8:

2x10/25GbE (CX4)
2x40/100GbE (CX5)

Back-end ports Slot 1:

2x100GbE CX5
2x IB or 10/40GbE CX3 VPI

rNDC Broadcom 5720 Quad Port 1 GbE BASE-T, rNDC

(540-BBBW)
No 100 GbE rNDC - Need to support PXE in factory -
a rNDC only feature in 14G

Bezel PowerScale 2U LCD

Risers Riser Config 9, 3x8, 4x16 slots

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F900 Hardware

PowerSupply Dual Redundant 1100 W 100 V – 240 V, 50/60Hz

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 F900 Hardware

Front View

The F900 supports 24 x 2.5” front-accessible, hot-plug hard drives that are secured
by a removable front bezel.

1 2 3

1: Left control panel: Contains system health and system ID, and status LED.

2: Drive slots: Enable you to install drives.

3: Right control panel: Contains the power button, VGA port, iDRAC Direct micro
USB port, and USB 3.0 ports.

4: Information tag: It is a slide-out label panel that contains system information

such as Service Tag, NIC, MAC address, and so on.

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F900 Hardware

Rear View

The graphic shows the rear view of the F900 node.

1 2

10

4 5 6 7 8 9

1: Back-end NIC

2: PCI Extender - CPU2

3: PCI Extender - CPU1

4: iDRAC RJ-45: Enables you to remotely access iDRAC.

5: VGA port: It enables you to connect a display device to the system.

6: USB Port 3.0: It enables you to connect USB to the system.

7: rNDC: The NIC ports that are integrated on the network daughter card (NDC)
provide front-end network connectivity.

8: Power Supply unit 1

9: Power Supply unit 2

10: Front-end NIC

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 F900 Hardware

Top View

The graphic shows the top view of the F900 node.

2 3 4 5 6

8 7 1 10 9 12
1

1: Front Drives

2: Hard Drive backplane

3: SAS Expander Card (N/A)

4: Cooling fan in the cooling fan assembly

5: Air Shroud

6: Expansion Card Riser 3

7: Integrated Storage Controller Card

8: NVDIMM-N Battery: The F900 uses a 16 GB NVDIMM for the journal. The
NVDIMM battery protects the journal in an unexpected power loss situation and
enables vault operations.

9: Expansion Card Riser 2

10: Motherboard/Planar

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F900 Hardware

11: Expansion Card Riser 1

12: Network Daughter Card (rNDC)

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 F900 Hardware

Back-End Network

Gen 6.5 nodes provide support for both Ethernet and InfiniBand back-end.

Gen 6.5 will use the same Mellanox7/NVIDIA dual-port VPI8 adapter, same
firmware, and OneFS Driver, as Gen6.

• VPI adapters use the same chipset and firmware as Gen 6.

• 56 Gbps IB, FDR
• 10/40GbE, QSFP+
• Supported switches/cables are the same matrix as Gen5 and Gen6.

7Mellanox CX3 MCX354A-FCBT (full-height) has committed to supporting this

adapter for the life of F900.

8 Virtual Protocol Interconnect

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F900 Hardware

NVMe/PCIe Configuration

The graphic shows a F900 and 12x NVMe details on CPU Mapping.

* slot 1 and slot 8 are x16 slots to use (off each CPU) for high speed networking cards such as
Mellanox IB or Intel Omnipath card.

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 F900 Maintenance

F900 Maintenance

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F900 Maintenance

Safety Precautions and Considerations

When working with PowerScale equipment, it is critical to ensure you adhere to the
following precautions.

Load Bearing: Nodes weigh 28.1 Kg (61.95 lb). Do not attempt to lift
the system without help.

Prevent the risk of electrical shock. Do not open or remove the

system cover while the system is powered on.

Do not operate the system without the cover for a duration

exceeding five minutes.

Keep hands clear off the rotating fan blades of the high-
performance fans. Ensure that the system is powered off before
servicing.

Use an anti-static mat and an anti-static wristband while working on

components inside the system.

All bays in the system and system fans must be always populated
with a component or a blank.

Warning: Many repairs may only be done by a certified service

technician. You should only perform troubleshooting and simple
repairs as authorized in your product documentation, or as directed by
the online or telephone service and support team. Damage due to
servicing that is not authorized by Dell is not covered by your
warranty. Read and follow the safety instructions that are shipped with
your product.

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 F900 Maintenance

Field Replaceable Units (FRUs)

Click each component to watch the replacement procedure videos.

• BOSS M.2 Card

• Cooling Fan
• Cooling Fan Assembly
• Expansion Card
• Hard Drive Backplane
• IDSDM and vFlash Card
• Integrated Storage Controller
• Left Control Panel
• Network Daughter Card
• NVDIMM Battery
• Right Control Panel
• System Battery
• System Board

Caution: Replacing FRUs requires opening a node. Replacements

are performed by Dell EMC partner and field personnel only.
Customers should never replace a FRU themselves.

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F900 Maintenance

Customer Replaceable Units (CRUs)

CRUs are designed for easy customer removal and replacement. Customers can
perform the replacements independently.

Click each component to watch the replacement procedure videos.

• Front Bezel
• Hard Drive
• Hard Drive and Carrier
• Power Supply

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 Key Summary

Key Summary

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Key Summary

Key Summary

• Hardware flexibility: Software defined architecture.

• Multi CPU server platform optimized with high density.
• Scalability with interoperability to add to existing PowerScale clusters.
• F900 is the highest performing node in the PowerScale portfolio.
• Best value realized with the OneFS performance gain and future incremental
performance improvements.

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