Dell PowerEdge VRTX Enclosure CTO

Every PowerEdge server is made with a cyber-resilient architecture, delivering security into all parts of a server’s life cycle. Dell EMC considers each part of system security, from design to end of life, to ensure trust and deliver worry-free systems.

• Maintain data safety with cryptographically signed firmware packages and Secure Boot.
• Prevent unauthorized or malicious change with Server Lockdown.
• Wipe all data from storage media including hard drives, SSDs and system memory quickly and securely with System Erase.
• Add another layer of protection with optional FIPS-certified self-encrypting drives (SED).

Dell EMC Chassis Management Controller (CMC) lets you manage server nodes, shared storage, networking and power in a single console. Access CMC through an easy-to-use web interface that works with a variety of Dell EMC OpenManage tools including iDRAC with Lifecycle Controller. Choose to manage your VRTX with embedded agent-free management or inband.

• Use the OpenManage Mobile app to receive and take action on hardware alerts at the server or from anywhere, at any time.
• Streamline management in virtualized environments with OpenManage Integrations for VMware vCenter or Microsoft System Center.
• Get rapid, at-a-glance identification of remote system locations and health status with Geoview.

This 5U Rackable Tower Server holds up to 6 hot-swappable internal Fans that have an Air Shroud above them to keep the air flowing through the system.

To provide increased cooling to the storage and PCIe components in the chassis, you can set the fan configuration to Fan Offset in the CMC web interface.

At the Rear of the system there are 4 extra hot-swappable Blower systems to help expel the hot air from the system.

The system can support both SW and DW GPUs. The main thing to know is that the Riser Cage is different for each. The VRTX has 5 System board PCIe slots and 1 Riser that holds another 3 Slots. This riser can be a Double Wide Riser or a Single Wide Riser.

Please view the Installation Manual for more details about the Expansion slots on the Dell VRTX Modular Server.

Your system includes two dedicated expansion card slots on the system board for up to two integrated controller cards that provide the integrated storage subsystem for the internal hard drives in your system.

The storage controllers support SAS hard drives and also enable you to set up the hard drives in RAID configurations as supported by the version of the controllers included with your system.

The Dell Shared PowerEdge RAID Controller (PERC) 8 card allows four server modules to access local storage. Each server module loads a Virtual Function (VF) driver that allows the server module to communicate with the Shared PERC 8 firmware. Virtual disks located on the shared storage can then be mapped to a server module. From a single server module, you can only access the virtual disks that are mapped to that server module.

The PERC card extends storage capacity by allowing access to up to two external MD1200 or MD1220 JBOD through PCIe slots 5 and 6.

The VRTX Fabric A is identical to the style of Fabric A found in the M1000e system. Every Sled/Blade servers LOM/bNDC get mapped to the Fabric A Module in the back of the VRTX. Dual Port LOMs get mapped to 1 Fab A port while the Quad Port LOM/bNDC gets mapped to two Fabric A ports at speeds of 1GbE to 10GbE.

You can view a port Mapping image above.

The VRTX Fabric B and C are different than the M1000e Fabric B and C.

You can use the CMC to assign PCIe slots to server nodes -up to four PCIe slots to a single server node. Slots can be configured during initial setup so that any PCIe slot may be assigned to any server node, and the assignment may then be reassigned.