Today we have on the table a new fifth generation Cisco UCS C240 rack server.
What makes this particular Cisco server interesting for unboxing, given that we already have its fifth generation in front of us?
First, Cisco servers now support the latest generation of XNUMXnd generation Intel Scalable processors. Secondly, you can now install Optane Memory modules to use multiple NVMe drives.
Reasonable questions arise: can't other vendors' servers do this? What's wrong with that, it's just an x86 server? About everything in order.
In addition to the tasks of a stand-alone server, the Cisco C240 M5 can become part of the Cisco UCS architecture. Here we are talking about connecting to FI and full server management by UCS Manager, including Auto Deploy.
So, we have a “iron” Cisco server, its fifth generation, more than 10 years on the market.
Now we will roll back to the basics, remember what components the server consists of, and what makes the Cisco C240 M5 not just modern, but truly advanced.
Let's see what's included in the package.
Contents of the box: server, KVM Dongle, documents, disk, 2 power cables, mounting kit.
We remove the cover. Click, move and that's it. No screwdrivers or loose bolts.
Green labels immediately catch your eye. All elements that support hot swapping have them. For example, you can easily replace fans without turning off the power of the entire server.
We also see massive heatsinks, under which the new Intel Scal 2 Gen processors are hidden. Note that this is up to 56 cores per 2U server without any cooling issues. Plus more memory is supported, up to 1TB per processor. The supported memory frequency has also increased to 2933 MHz.
Next to the CPU, we see 24 slots for RAM - you can use brackets up to 128 GB or Intel Optane memory up to 512 GB per slot.
Intel Optane gives us crazy processing speeds. For example, it can be used as a super fast local SSD drive.
Now more and more requests from customers begin with the words: “I want more disks, more NVMe drives in one system.”
On the front side we see 8 2.5 inch drive slots. Also available to order is a platform option for standard 24 slots from the front panel.
Depending on the modification, up to 8 NMVe drives in the U.2 form factor can be installed in the first slots.
The C240 platform is generally very popular with big data customers. Their main request is the ability to have locally bootable drives and preferably a hot pluggable.
Cisco's decision to add two hot-swap drive slots to the back of the server in the C240 M5 was the answer to this request.
They are located to the right of the expansion slots to the power supplies. Drives can be anything: SAS, SATA, SSD, NVMe.
Nearby we see 1600W power supplies. They are also Hot Pluggable and come with green labels.
To work with the disk subsystem, you can install an LSI RAID controller with 2 GB of cache in a dedicated slot, or an HBA card for direct forwarding.
For example, this approach is used when building a Cisco HyperFlex hyperconverged solution.
There is another type of customer who does not need disks at all. They don't want to put an entire RAID controller under the hypervisor, but they like the 2U chassis for serviceability.
For them, Cisco also has a solution.
Introducing the FlexFlash module:
Two SD cards, up to 128 GB, with mirroring support, for installing a hypervisor, such as VMware ESXi. It is this option that we at ITGLOBAL.COM use when building our own sites around the world.
For those customers who need more space to boot the OS, there is a module option for two "satash" SSD drives in M.2 format, with a capacity of 240 or 960 GB each. The default is software RAID.
For 240 GB drives, there is an option to use the Cisco Boot optimized M.2 Raid controller - a separate hardware RAID controller for these two SSD drives.
All this is supported by all operating systems: both VMware and Windows, and various Linux operating systems.
The number of PCI slots is 6, which is typical for a 2U platform.
There is enough space inside. It is easy to install two full-fledged graphics accelerators from NVidia into servers, for example, TESLA M10 in virtual desktop implementation projects or the latest 100GB V32 edition for artificial intelligence tasks. We will use it in the next unboxing.
Ports work like this:
- Console port;
- Gigabit dedicated management port;
- Two USB 3.0 ports;
- Integrated 2-port network card Intel x550 10Gb BASE-T;
- Optional mLOM card, Cisco Vic 1387 40 GB dual port adapter.
The mLOM slot accepts only Cisco VIC cards, which are efficient for both LAN and SAN traffic. When using a server as part of the Cisco UCS factory, this approach allows you to organize connection to LAN and SAN networks in a unified way without the need to use a separate fc adapter.
Let's install the Nvidia V100 video accelerator. We remove the second riser, remove the plug, insert the card into the PCI slot, close the plastic and then the plug. We connect additional food. First to the map, then to the riser. Put the riser in place. In general, everything goes without the use of screwdrivers and hammers. Fast and clear.
In one of the following materials we will show its primary installation.
We are also ready to answer all your questions. or in the comments.
Source: habr.com