Dell PowerEdge FX2s Modular 2U Chassis

Description

The Dell PowerEdge FX2s offers a modular foundation for a converged architecture where management, power, and cooling are supported by the enclosure, consolidating resources and reducing cost. The Dell FX2s offers a "switched" architecture and has eight warm-swap PCIe modules to support combinations of quarter-width, half-width, and full width compute and storage modules. The PowerEdge FX2 chassis, without the "s" is an "unswitched" configuration that does not have integrated PCIe slots and offers a lower-cost alternative to the switched FX2s configuration. The FX2 without the "s" is also not compatible with the FD332 storage module. Compute, storage, and networking are shared in the 2U space and expansion is easily accomplished by adding more compute and storage nodes or additional FX2s enclosures. The modular FX2s supports several different compute nodes providing a flexible platform that's ideal for data centers and highly virtualized environments.

The FX2s supports the following compute modules including the quarter-width PowerEdge FC430, the half-width PowerEdge FC640 and PowerEdge FC630, the full-width PowerEdge FC830, and the half-width PowerEdge FD332 storage module. The half-width PowerEdge FM120x4 server node has four discrete servers in each node and is designed specifically for the unswitched FX2 chassis without integrated PCIe slots and is not compatible with the FD332 storage module.

Performance

The compute modules supported on Dell's FX2s are powered by the latest generation Intel Xeon E5-2600 v3 or E5-2600 v4 processors and support DDR4 memory modules. The exceptions are the FC430 which also supports a single E5-1600 v3 CPU, the FM120x4, which supports four Atom processors, and the newest addition, the FC640 with dual 1st or 2nd generation Intel Xeon Scalable processors. Processors, memory, and storage are handled by the compute and storage modules while power, cooling, and networking are handled by the FX2 or FX2s chassis. The backplane automatically maps the compute modules to the PCIe 3.0 hot-swap modules located on the FX2s. The FC430. FC640, and FC630 support up to two CPUs, and the FC830 supports up to four CPUs.

Memory

Memory is provided by the individual server nodes, which can support various levels. Supported capacity is dependent on the installed memory, memory configuration, and supported processor.

Storage

Each compute chassis provides some storage. However, the Dell EMC PowerEdge FD332 storage module has a capacity of 16x 2.5-inch storage drives, that can be accessed by the installed compute sleds or used as direct attached storage by other servers on the network.

Expansion

There are eight PCIe 3.0 expansion modules on the FX2s that automatically map to the installed compute sleds through the backplane. Two FN I/O modules or aggregators can be installed on the system for enhanced network connectivity and support up to eight 10GbE ports. The aggregators replace the standard network interface, simplifying cable management and optimizing "east/west" server to server traffic within the FX2s and LAN/SAN convergence. There are three different Aggregator modules to choose from. Two that support four ports with either copper or fiber optic cables, and a third aggregator module that offers a combination of four 10GbE ports and two fiber channel 2 plus 2 ports of SFP with 10GbE.

Management

The FX2s can use Dell's Chassis Management Controller to manage nodes and system resources from a web interface. Two RJ-45 ports on the back of the system above the Aggregator modules connect to the external management network and also allow up to 20 FX2s to be daisy-chained together for access to more shared resources. The OpenManage portfolio supports local and remote management for the FX2s enclosure. All compute modules supported on the FX2 enclosure feature Dell's iDRAC8 with Lifecycle Controller. Both iDRAC8 and CMC are embedded components that can be upgraded to support additional management features with Express or Enterprise licensing.

Summary

Featuring dense storage, and capable of supporting up to 16 processors in a single chassis, the Dell FX2s offers powerful performance in a 2U space. The FX2s enclosure is a highly scalable, and flexible platform suitable for a number of different workloads depending on your choice of compute modules and storage.

Supported Compute & Storage Modules

FC430 Compute Module

The Dell PowerEdge 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 PowerEdge FC430 compute modules can be installed in the FX2s for a maximum of 2TB of memory in a 2U space! The FC430 can also be used along with the other compute modules or the Dell PowerEdge FD332 storage sled supporting 16 drives. Two 1.8-inch bays up front support 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. Each sled has access to one PCIe 3.0 slot on the FX2s chassis. With an optimal balance of memory and storage, the FC430 server is perfect for mainstream enterprise workloads that require high-speed I/O, mid-sized virtualization, and database environments. The low-latency Infiniband configuration is ideal for High Frequency Trading (HFT) and High Performance Computing (HPC).

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FC630 Compute Module

The Dell PowerEdge FC630 is a half-width, two-socket compute module that can support a maximum of two Xeon E5-2600 v3 or E5-2600 v4 processors. Up to four FC630s can be installed in the FX2s and each automatically connects maps to two of the eight PCIe modules. The FC630 can also be used in conjunction with other compute modules or the PowerEdge FD332 storage module for dense direct attached storage. The FC630 has 24 DIMM slots that can provide up to 1.5TB of memory. With four FC630 sleds installed in the FX2s enclosure, a maximum of 6TB of memory is available. Up front there's room for two 2.5-inch drives or another FC630 chassis 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 processors. Like the other compute modules, with the exception of the FX120x4, the FC830 can be used in conjunction with the other compute modules or with the FD332 for Direct Attached Storage. The FX2s can support two full-width FC830 compute sleds or a single FC830 node with either four FC430s, 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 8 x 2.5-inch drives or an optional configuration with 16 x 1.8-inch SAS or SATA HDDs or SSDs. The FC830 is ideal for the database tier of web tech, HPC environments and 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. Each FD332 supports up to 16 hot-plug direct attached SFF drives either SAS or SATA SSDs or HDDS. An optional configuration with dual RAID controllers provides split access to the supported drives. Depending on configuration, up to three FD332s can be installed on the system with either two FC430s or a single FC630 compute sled, for dense scalable direct attached storage (DAS).

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FM120x4 Compute Module (for the FX2 chassis with no PCI module slots)

The FM120x4 is a half-width compute module designed specifically for the FX2 enclosure without any PCIe slots and is not compatible with the FX2s that supports up to eight low-profile PCIe 3.0 expansion slots.

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