HPE ProLiant Apollo 6500 Gen9 CTO Rack Server

Do you need to rapidly transform massive data streams?

The HPE Apollo 6500 System provides the tools and the confidence to deliver high performance computing (HPC) innovation. The system consists of three key elements: the HPE ProLiant XL270d Gen9 Server tray, the HPE Apollo d6500 Chassis, and the HPE Apollo 6000 Power Shelf.

The XL270d Gen9 Server provides up to 56 Tflops of single precision performance per server with eight NVIDIA Tesla M40 GPU and two Intel Xeon E5-2600 v4 processors in a 2U server. With a configurable internal PCIe Gen3 fabric, choose to optimize the GPU topology to match your specific needs. High-bandwidth, low-latency networking is tightly coupled to the accelerators allowing you to take full advantage of your network. Two x16 PCIe Gen3 slots for your choice of high speed fabrics.

The Apollo 6500 System: Your next accelerated computing solution.

What's New for Apollo 6500 System

• Solve problems faster with up to 56 Tflops of single precision performance per 2U node.
• Optimize accelerator configurations to match your workload.
• Faster communications between nodes with two PCIe Gen3 x16 slots to enable your choice of high speed fabrics.

Flexible Configuration for the Most Demanding High-performance Computing Workloads

The HPE Apollo 6500 System supports up to eight 300W GPU or coprocessors delivering increased performance.

For workloads optimized for high peer to peer communication among the accelerators, place four (4) GPU on a single high speed PCIe switch, and two banks to a CPU for eight (8) GPU per CPU.

For workloads requiring higher CPU to GPU communications, choose our four (4) GPU per CPU configuration.

The HPE ProLiant XL270d Gen9 Server supports industry standard Intel Xeon E5-2600 v4 processors, solid state drives (SSD) with 12 G SAS and up to 1024 GB DDR4 2400 MHz memory for blazing performance.

Up to 16 HPE DDR4 2400 MHz Memory Modules per HPE ProLiant XL270d Gen9 Server for faster performance with data-intensive application workloads.

High-bandwidth, Low-latency Networking Between Accelerator Nodes

The HPE Apollo 6500 System includes two low profile PCIe Gen3 x16 slots to enable your choice of high speed fabrics..

In the 8:1 GPU to CPU topology, networking is directly attached to the PCIe Gen3 fabric of the GPU for reduced latencies between GPU nodes.

Supports GPUDirect with four (4) GPUs per HPE InfiniBand Adapter.

HPE Apollo 6500 Gen9 Base Knowledge
The Apollo 6500 chassis requires that the two (2) server tray slots be populated with either an HPE ProLiant XL270d (845628-B21), server or an HPE Apollo 6500 Server Node Blank Kit (850887-B21). Each XL270d Server Tray supports 2 Intel Xeon E5-2600v4 CPUs and 16 DDR4 DIMMs. This system has a total of 10 PCIe slots, 8 of which are used for GPUs and 2 are low-profile slots in the front of the chassis. The system has two GPU topologies to choose from. The 8:1 GPU to CPU or the 4:1 GPU to CPU. If you choose the 4:1, you will need a second processor installed. Along with the 16 DIMMs the XL270d Server Tray supports up to 8 SFF drives. If you install SAS drives, you must install a storage controller because the system board only has two SATA ports. Each port holds 4 SATA Drives.

16 DIMM Slots Available
Maximum (LRDIMM) (per server tray) 1024GB (16 x 64GB)

LRDIMM and RDIMM are distinct memory technologies and cannot be mixed within a server.

Maximum Internal Storage
Hot Plug SFF SAS 7.2k 8TB 8x 1.0TB
Hot Plug SFF SAS 10k 14.4TB 8x1.8TB
Hot Plug SFF SAS 15k 4.8TB 8x600GB
Hot Plug SFF SATA 8TB 8x1TB
Hot Plug SFF SATA SSD 30.7TB 8x3.84TB
Hot Plug SFF SAS SSD 15.4TB 8x1.92TB

HPE Smart Storage Controllers
The XL270d comes with an embedded Software RAID controller, the HPE Dynamic Smart Array B140i Controller (SATA Only). The embedded B140i will operate in UEFI mode only. For legacy support, AHCI mode is required.
The preferred RAID controller for SAS or SATA drives is the HPE Smart Array P542D (851508-B21). This Smart Array has a unique PCIe connection that has been designed into the XL270d for this RAID controller. If you use any other RAID controllers will need to use one of the Low Profile PCIe slots that are typically used for fabric interconnects. On a Full Apollo 6500 Rack server, you will have 4 PCIe slots. 2 Slots per server in a 2 socket configuration. Each controller requires a matching cable kit.

HPE Smart Array controller kits do not include the HPE XL2xx 12W w/plg Smart Storage Battery (782961-B21), the backup power source necessary to protect the data on the Flash-backed Write Cache and should be purchased separately.

HPE Apollo 6500 Gen9 Plus PCI/GPU Risers
The XL270d supports two different GPGPU riser options. The first option HPE XL270d Gen9 8:1 Module Riser Kit (850500-B21) supports all GPGPUs and both low-profile PCI slots on CPU1. The second option HPE XL270d Gen9 4:1 Module Riser Kit (850508-B21) supports the connection of GPGPU slot 5-8 and low-profile slot 2 to CPU 2. Only one riser kit per server.

GPUDirect is not supported for more than 8 logical GPUs per CPU, and as the NVIDIA Tesla K80 contains two logical GPUs per card, the 8:1 configuration will not support GPUDirect. A second Processor is optional with the 8:1 riser kit.

GPU Modes.
For workloads that have a great deal of GPU-to-GPU communications, such as Deep Learning, the “HPE Peer to Peer GPU Mode FIO Kit (782400-B21)” is recommended. Most traditional HPC workloads have little GPU-to-GPU communications and the “HPE High-Performance GPU Mode FIO Kit (782402-B21)” configuration will optimize bandwidth back to the CPU and system’s main memory.

Networking Abilities
When you install the recommended Storage Controller for RAID the P542D, you leave both PCIe low-profile slots for Fabric and Networking options. From 1Gb to 100Gb options will greatly expand your networking capabilities.

HPE Apollo 6500 Gen9 Cooling
HPE Apollo d6500 Server Node Blank Kit (850887-B21) is Required for any non-populated slots in the chassis to prevent thermal-related issues and is required for Advanced Power Manager (APM) 1.2 or APM 2.0
HPE Apollo d6500 Fan Module Kit (852155-B21) One fan kit is required per Accelerator Tray.

HPE Advanced Power Manager
The HPE Advanced Power Manager (HPE APM) is an optional rack-level solution. HPE APM will automatically discover hardware components and enable server-level power on and off, server metering, aggregate dynamic power capping, configurable power-up dependencies, and sequencing, consolidated Ethernet access to all resident iLOs, and asset management capabilities. HPE APM features rack-level event logging, RADIUS authentication, integrated serial concentrator, up to 11 local user accounts, read-only service port, and supports SNMP, SSH, Syslogd, and telnet.

HPE Apollo 6000 Power Shelf
With all these powerful components in this Apollo 6500 Rack Server, you will need a very powerful PSU. This server must be paired with the Apollo 6000 Power Shelf (735131-B21). This is the only way to power the system and all 8 GPUs! You can choose the Power Shelf configuration between the Single Phase and Three Phase systems.

Single-phase power supplies are commonly used in residential, small commercial, and light industrial applications where the power demands are relatively low. They are suitable for powering household appliances, office equipment, and smaller-scale electrical systems. On the other hand, three-phase power supplies are prevalent in industrial settings, data centers, large-scale machinery, and other high-power applications.

If Three-Phase Power is selected, a minimum of 3 Power Supply Option Kits are needed. For full redundancy, 6 Power Supply Option Kits are required.


HPE Apollo 6500 Gen9 Lights Out! iLO
HPE iLO 4

HPE Integrated Lights-Out (HPE iLO) - Monitor your servers for ongoing management, service alerting, reporting, and remote management with HPE iLO.
UEFI - Configure and boot your servers securely with industry-standard Unified Extensible
Firmware Interface (UEFI).
RESTful API - iLO RESTful API is Redfish API conformance and offers simplified server management automation such as configuration and maintenance tasks based on modern industry standards..
Intelligent Provisioning – Hassle-free server and OS provisioning for 1 or few servers with Intelligent Provisioning.