Dell PowerEdge FX2 Modular 2U Chassis

Description

The converged architecture of the Dell FX2 means management, power, and cooling of the IT resources are centralized, like a mini blade server. While the FX2s chassis, with an "s", features 8 hot-swap PCIe modules, the FX2 (without the "s") does not have integrated PCIe modules. Compute, storage, and networking are shared in the 2U space and expansion is easily accomplished incrementally by adding more compute nodes or by adding additional FX2 enclosures.

Both chassis support the PowerEdge FC430, PowerEdge FC630, PowerEdge FC640, PowerEdge FC830, and the PowerEdge FD332 storage module. However, the FX2, without the "s" also supports the half-width PowerEdge FM120x4 server node featuring four discrete servers in each node. It should be noted that the PowerEdge FD332 storage module is not compatible with the FM120x4 server node. Dell calls the FM120x4 the world’s first enterprise-class micro-server. An expansion bus provides the connection between the FX2s enclosure, with PCIe slots, and the compute sleds. On the other hand, the FX2 does not support the expansion bus because there are no PCIe module slots on the system board of the FX2.

Performance

The compute modules supported on the Dell FX2 are powered by the latest generation Intel Xeon v3 and v4 processors and support DDR4 memory modules. The exception to this is the FM120x4, which features four Intel Atom C2000 processors, and the FC430, which also supports a single E5-1600 v3 processor.

The Dell FX2 supports these combinations of compute sleds (Note: The FD332, storage sled is not compatible with the FM120X4)

• Up to four half-width PowerEdge FC630 or PowerEdge FM120x4 compute sleds
• Up to four half-width PowerEdge FC640 compute sleds
• Up to eight PowerEdge FC430 compute sleds
• Up to two PowerEdge FC830 compute sleds
• Up to four PowerEdge FC430 compute sleds mixed with up to two PowerEdge FC630 compute sleds
• One PowerEdge FC830 compute sled mixed with up to two PowerEdge FC630 compute sleds

Expansion

The FX2 is a lower-cost alternative to the FX2s and does not support any PCIe slots. Two FN I/O modules or aggregators can be installed on the system for network connectivity and up to eight 10GbE ports. These replace the standard network interface, simplifying cable management and optimizing "east/west" server to server traffic within the Dell FX2 and LAN/SAN convergence. There are three different Aggregator modules to choose from. Two, the FN 410S I/O Module and FN 410T I/O Module, support four ports with either copper or fiber optic cables. And the third aggregator module, the FN2210S I/O Module, offers a combination of four 10GbE ports and two fiber channel 2 plus 2 ports of SFP and 10GbE. The chassis management controller (CMC) module located just above the aggregator or pass-through module slots, has two ports, one for management and one for stacking that can also be used for CMC redundancy.

Management

The FX uses the Chassis Management Controller (CMC) to manage nodes and system resources from a web interface. If you are familiar with the CMC on the PowerEdge M1000e or the PowerEdge VRTX shared infrastructure platform, then you should have no problems navigating CMC on the FX2 as the interface is practically identical. Two RJ-45 ports on the back connect to the external management network, the second port allows up to 20 chassis to be daisy-chained together for access to more shared resources. The OpenManage portfolio supports local and remote management for the FXs system. All compute modules supported on the FX2 feature Dell's iDRAC8 with Lifecycle Controller, so you can manage the servers individually without the CMC. However, using the CMC will allow a one-to-many interface to view all supported nodes in the chassis and in other connected chassis. Both iDRAC8 and CMC are available with Express and Enterprise licensing depending on your management needs.

Summary

The FX2 server offers powerful performance in a 2U space and is a highly scalable, and flexible platform suitable for a number of different workloads depending on your choice of compute modules and storage. The PowerEdge FX2's modular, blade-like configuration consolidates shared resources and its densely packed 2U form factor go a long way towards reducing operational cost.

Supported Compute & Storage Modules

FC430 Compute Module

The FC430 is a quarter-width compute module that can support two Xeon E5-2600 v3 or E5-2600 v4 processors or a single E5-1600 v3 processor. Up to eight FC430 compute modules can be installed in the FX2 server for a maximum of 2TB of memory. The FC430 can also be used with the other compute modules or the FD332 storage sled supporting 16 additional drives. Two 1.8-inch bays up front supports either two 1.8-inch uSATA drives or an optional low-latency configuration that combines a 1.8-inch drive with two QSFP+ compact, hot-pluggable transceiver connectors for Ethernet or Infiniband connectivity. With an optimal balance of memory and storage, this module is perfect for high-speed I/O for mainstream enterprise workloads, including mid-sized virtualization and database environments. The low-latency Infiniband configuration is ideal for High Frequency Trading and High Performance Computing.

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FC630 Compute Module

The FC630 is a half-width, two socket compute module that can support two Xeon E5-2600 v3 or v4 processors. Up to four FC630s can be installed in the FX2 server, or the FC630 can be used in conjunction with other compute modules or the FD332 storage module for direct attached storage (DAS). 24 DIMM slots provide up to 1.5TB of memory. With four FC630 sleds installed in the FX2, a maximum of 6TB of memory is available. Up front there's room for two 2.5-inch drives or a version that supports up to eight 1.8-inch SSDs. This unit is deal for large databases or highly virtualized environments.

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FC640 Compute Module

Designed for use in Dell's FX2s and FX2 2U enclosures, the Dell EMC PowerEdge FC640 server is a half-width, two-socket compute module. It provides dual 1st or 2nd generation Intel Xeon Scalable processors with significantly improved performance, and up to 2TB of memory. You can install up to four of these compute sleds in the FX2 chassis supporting 2 processors each for eight processors total. With 4x of these half-width platforms installed the FX2 chassis will support a maximum of 8TB of memory—all in a 2U chassis. Each chassis is like a mini server cluster. Up to 20 individual FX2 chassis can be daisy-chained together providing an exceptionally scalable infrastructure. This system is ideal for a variety of high-performance applications.

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FC830 Compute Module

The FC830 is a four socket, full-width compute module that supports the Xeon E5-4600 v3 or E5-4600 v4 processor. It can be used in conjunction with the other compute modules or with the FD332 for Direct Attached Storage. The FX2 server can support two of the full-width FC830 compute sleds or a single node with four FC430s, or two FC630s, or two FD332 storage modules. Each FC830 has 48 DDR4 DIMM slots, 12 slots per processor, for 1.5TB of memory per sled with transfer speeds of up to 2400 MT/s. The FC830 also features generous, scalable on-board storage with either eight 2.5-inch drives or an optional configuration with 16 1.8" SAS or SATA HDDs or SSDs. The FC830 is ideal for the database tier of web tech, HPC environments or large-scale virtualization.

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FD332 Storage Module (This module cannot be used with the FM120x4 miniservers)

Each compute module features its own hot-plug storage, either SAS or SATA HDDs or SSDs. For more storage, Administrators can install up to three FD332 storage modules for dense, scalable DAS. Each FD332 supports up to 16 hot-plug direct attached SFF drives either SAS or SATA SSDs or HDDS. An optional dual RAID controller provides split access to the supported drives. Depending on configuration up to three FD332s can be installed on the system with either two FC430 modules or a single FC630 compute sleds.

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FM120x4 Compute Module for the FX2 chassis (no PCI)

The FM120x4 is a half-width compute module designed specifically for the FX2 enclosure without any PCIe slots. Offering a cost effective option, each compute sled features four micro-servers and with four modules installed on the FX2 server up to 16 micro-servers are available in each chassis. The FM120x4 is the only compute module that uses the Intel Atom C2000 System on a Chip (SoC) processor with up to eight cores. Each module supports four processors, and each processor supports two UDIMM modules for 8 DIMMS per sled. Each processor also supports one 2.5-inch HD or two 1.8-inch SSDs. Communications are handled by a maximum of two pass through modules, capable of 1Gb through the FX2 chassis. Only software RAID is supported. This system is a lower cost alternative to the FX2s and is ideal for static web hosting and light-weight processing.

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