Dell PowerEdge 1650

Course Review

Objective 1- Accurately identify the features of the PowerEdge 1650, including basic system technology and product benefits

• Support for up to two Intel Pentium III processors (FC-PGA2 370 socket), up to 1.4GHz .
• Support for up to 4GB of ECC PC133 SDRAM
• Ultra rack-dense 1U (1.75-inch) tool-less chassis with Active ID and front/rear ports.
• Optional support for hot-plug redundant power
• Support for hot-plug redundant cooling (standard), including variable speed fans
• Up to 3 hot-pluggable 1" SCSI hard drives
• Dual embedded Intel Pro1000 Xt Gigabit NICs (I82544GC) that support load-balancing and failover

Objective 2- Accurately identify, configure and troubleshoot the PowerEdge 1650's factory-installed hardware components and features

• Processor and VRMs
  • Because terminator circuitry is already implemented on the system board, there is no need to populate an empty FC-PGA2 socket with a terminator module. This differs from implementations seen on older PowerEdge systems.
  • The PowerEdge 1650's VRMs are soldered onto the system board and cannot be removed separately, unlike previous PowerEdge systems.

• System Board (including chipset)
  • The PowerEdge 1650 uses the ServerWorks Corporation Champion North Bridge chipset for system memory, I/O and processor interfacing.
  • Both the CNB and CIOB chips require heatsinks for cooling.

• Memory
  • The PowerEdge 1650 has 4 168-pin DIMM sockets and supports 3.3V registered SDRAMs, rated at PC133 speed.
  • DIMMs must be installed in pairs.
  • The PowerEdge 1650 supports "set combining". This allows the system to treat four identical DIMMs as a single memory bank, which precludes the system from having to switch between separate banks in order to retrieve data

• Video
  • The PowerEdge 1650 uses an integrated video subsystem based on ATI's Rage XL device.
  • The PowerEdge 1650 has 8MB of SDRAM for video, allowing for resolution up to 1600 x 1200 at 256 colors.
  • The 8MB of video memory is not upgradeable.

• Network Interface Cards
  • The PowerEdge 1650 features dual embedded Intel® PRO/1000 XT Gigabit Ethernet Controllers
  • Each of the NICs supports:
    • Data rates of 10 Mb/s, 100 Mb/s, and 1000 Mb/s
    • Wake-on-LAN support (WOL)
    • Network traffic load-balancing
    • Failover support

• Integrated SCSI/IDE/RAID
  • The PowerEdge 1650 features one embedded dual-channel 7899W U160 SCSI controller. It provides two internal independent LVD U160)/Wide SCSI channels.
  • Also available on the system board are a standard 40-pin IDE connector and a 1x4 power header to support up to 2 IDE disks. A SCSI backplane will not be installed in this case.
  • The PowerEdge 1650 supports two RAID options:
    • PERC 3/Di for the internal SCSI drives
    • PERC 3/DC for connection to external SCSI storage.
    • The primary differences between the PERCs are that PERC 3/Di is a daughter board for internal drives only, while the standard PERC 3/DC can be attached to external SCSI storage and supports clustering.

• Backplane
  • The SCSI backplane will only operate in a 1x3 configuration with only one host adapter connection. It does not have the capability to be split.

• ERA
  • The PowerEdge 1650 is the first Dell system to feature ERA.
  • ERA integrates DRACIII remote management functionalities with the management functionalities of ESM3, without using a PCI slot
  • The ERA/O does not support an optional modem, battery back-up, or the AC adapter.

Objective 3- Accurately identify the correct procedures for using and/or updating PowerEdge 1650 firmware and software

• BIOS and System Setup program
  • The PowerEdge 1650 features a one-page system setup like that of the PowerEdge 1400 and PowerEdge 1550.
  • PXE
    • "PXE boot" allows networked computers that are not loaded with an operating system to be configured and booted remotely.
    • It is recommended that integrated NICs be used for PXE boot, as opposed to add-in NICs.
    • To enable a PXE boot on a Dell PowerEdge 1650, enter the System Setup and change the Network Interface Controller under Integrated Devices to the "On with PXE" setting.
  • Console Redirection
    • Console redirection allows a server to be maintained from a remote location by redirecting keyboard input and text output through the serial port, allowing tasks such as setting up a common BIOS configuration or setting up a RAID configuration to be completed.
    • To implement console redirection, you must have
      • An available COM port on the client system
      • An available COM port (COM port 1) on the server
      • A null modem cable to connect the server to the client system

• Dell Server Assistant CD support applications
  • Dell OpenManage Server Assistant (OMSA) version 7.0.1.
  • System Management CD version 3.0.1
  • Array Manager version 3.1.2
  • Dell Diagnostics
  • OpenManage Hard Drive Diagnostics (run through Windows 2000 Server Service Pack 1 or Windows NT Server Service Pack 6. )