Cubix HostEngine 2U User Manual

HostEngine 2U Host
Computer User Guide

HostEngine 2U computer features
Intel® Xeon® 3.2GHz or lower-speed
single- or dual-processor(s) with the
Intel C602 chipset. HostEngine 2U
provides four PCI Express (PCIe) Gen

3.0 x16 expansion slots. Each slot can
accommodate a half-height, half-length
controller such as the Cubix Host
Interface Controller (HIC) that
connects to Cubix Xpander products.
Each HIC connects to multiple slots
within an Xpander Rackmount 8 or
other Xpander products (see the block
diagram at the right).

By connecting HostEngine to GPU­Xpander Rackmount 8, you can add
eight double-wide GPUs such as
NVIDIA® Quadro K5200 or M6000 to
the HostEngine 2U computer for
running Autodesk® 3ds Max or
Bunkspeed® Shot with Mental
Images® iray on Microsoft® Windows® 7. You can also run BlackMagic Design® DaVinci
Resolve® 9.0 for Linux or Windows on HostEngine 2U computer.

Connecting to Xpander Rackmount 8 also enables you to connect to GPU Compute Engines
such as NVIDIA Tesla K40 / K80 or AMD Firepro S9100 / 9150 / 9170 for HPC applications,
Grid K2 for virtual desktop projects or multiple Intel Xeon Phi coprocessors for parallel
processing.

HostEngine 2U standard configuration provides one or two 2.5-inch SATA 3 solid-state drives
(SSDs). HostEngine 2U accommodates four full-height, half-height, half-length HICs.

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Technical Specifications

Central Processing Unit (CPU)

Intel® Xeon E5-2600v3 Series

Number CPUs

2 with identical revision, core voltage and bus (core) speed

Socket

2011-pin R3 LGA

Speeds / Cores / Threads

2.9GHz and lower / up to 14 cores / up to 28 threads

Intel Smart Cache

Up to 35MByte

64-bit computing

Yes

Quick Path Interconnect

Up to 9.6 GigaTransactions/second (GT/s) across 2 QPI links

Chipset

Intel C612

Front Side Bus Speed

2133MHz

System Memory Sizes

1GByte, 2GByte, 4GByte, 8GByte and 16GByte

Type

Standard ECC Registered DIMMs (RDIMMs)
Optional Load-Reduced DIMMs (LRDIMMs)

Configuration

DDR4-2133MHz, 1866MHz, 1600MHz, 1333MHz

Maximum Size

1TByte using 16 x Load-Reduced DIMMs (LRDIMMs)
512GBytes using 16 x ECC Registered DIMMs (RDIMMs)

PCI Express expansion slots

4 x Gen 3.0 x16

System BIOS

AMI®

Ethernet ports (standard)

2 x Intel RJ-45 ports

Controller

Dual Intel i350 network controllers

Support

10BASE-T, 100BASE-TX, and 1000BASE-T

Ethernet port (management)

RJ-45 port for management only

Controller

Aspeed 2400 BMC with dedicated IPMI

Support

10BASE-T, 100BASE-TX, and 1000BASE-T

Serial ATA (SATA)

2 x SATA 3 connectors

Drive Format

2.5-inch (63.5mm) solid-state drive (SSD)

Transfer Rate

6.0GByte / second (theoretical)

Number of drives / Capacity

1 standard or 2 optional

Graphics Controller

Aspeed AST2400 BMC

Audio

High-Definition (HD) 7.1 with SPDIF-input digital header

Serial port

COM1 (DB-9)

Universal Serial Bus (USB)

Version 3.0

Ports

4: 2 x USB 3.0 and 2 x USB 2.0

AC Power Supply

One single-phase, auto-ranging, 90-240VAC, 6-3Amps, 50/60Hz;
total output power is not to exceed 750Watts

Operating Environment

0° to 30° Celsius (32° to 86° Fahrenheit) temperature
5% to 80% non-condensing humidity

Altitude

Maximum

Operating

10,000ft (3,050meters)

Storage

50,000ft (15,240meters)

Dimensions

3.50” H x 19.00” W x 25.50” D (8.86 cm H x 48.26 W x 64.77CM D)

Weight

46.0 lbs. (20.86kg)

Warranty / Period

Parts & labor return to manufacturer / 1 year

Ext. Warranty Period

Optional 2, 3 or 4 years

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Memory Configuration

DIMM Configurations for CPU1 Only

# DIMMs

Location

Memory Scheme

4

P1-DIMMA1
P1-DIMMB1
P1-DIMMC1
P1-DIMMD1

Interleaved

DIMMs must be identical

type and speed

8

P1-DIMMA1
P1-DIMMB1
P1-DIMMC1
P1-DIMMD1
P1-DIMMA2
P1-DIMMB2
P1-DIMMC2
P1-DIMMD2

DIMM Configurations for CPU1 and CPU2

16

P1-DIMMA1

P1-DIMMB1
P1-DIMMC1
P1-DIMMD1

P1-DIMMA2

P1-DIMMB2
P1-DIMMC2
P1-DIMMD2

P2-DIMME1

P2-DIMMF1
P2-DIMMG1
P2-DIMMH1

P2-DIMME2

P2-DIMMF2
P2-DIMMG2
P1-DIMMH2

Interleaved

DIMMs must be identical

type and speed

PCIe Gen 3 Slots

When installing a HIC in HE2U, make sure you seat it in one of the PCIe Gen 3 x16 slots, which
are numbered CPU1 Slot2, CPU1 Slot 4, CPU2 Slot 6 and CPU2 Slot 8. HE2U also supports
one to four 2.5-inch SATA 3 solid-state drives (SSDs) to boot the operating system (OS).
HostEngine 4U also accommodates PCIe flash / SSDs. Install PCIe flash or SSD cards in CPU1
Slot 10 and / or CPU2 Slot 11, if available. See page 4 for details.

Access

HostEngine can be removed and replaced from the front once you remove power.
Remove / Replace HostEngine

 Power down gracefully using the OS or the front-panel on / off switch.
 Wait for the power to shut off.
 Disconnect power and all other cables from HostEngine.
 Loosen the two retention screws on the HostEngine front panel.

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 Gently tug the HostEngine handles toward you.

Note

Disconnect HostEngine power before removing any of its PCIe devices.

 Extract the HostEngine while supporting its weight.
 Slide the replacement HostEngine into the rack mount slide mounts.
 Slide HostEngine into the cabinet.
 Replace and tighten the retention screws.
 Connect power and all other cables to HostEngine.
 Power up HostEngine.

Remove and replace PCIe devices
PCIe devices can be removed and replaced from the top once you power down HostEngine and
remove the cop cover. See the image below for the PCIe devices to install in each slot.

 Power down gracefully using the OS and wait for the power to turn off
 Loosen the two retention screws on the HostEngine front panel.
 Gently tug the HostEngine handles toward you.
 Remove the screws holding the top cover and set it aside.
 Disconnect auxiliary power cables from the PCIe devices such as accelerators, if needed.
 Remove / replace the PCIe devices and re-connect the drive power and data cables.
 Replace the top cover and its retaining screws.
 Slide HostEngine into the cabinet.
 Replace and tighten the retention screws.
 Power up HostEngine.

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Remove and replace a SATA drive

Note

Power down HostEngine before removing it or its hard disk drive.

SATA SSD drives are removable from the top once you power down HostEngine and remove
the top cover.
 Power down gracefully using the OS or the power on/off button on HostEngine front panel

and wait for the power LED to turn off

 Loosen the retention screw on the LaserBlade drive mounting bracket
 Gently tug the drive mounting bracket handle.
 Disconnect the drive power and data cables.
 Remove / replace the drive and re-connect the drive power and data cables.
 Slide in the drive mounting bracket and tighten the retention screw.

Connections, Controls and Indicators

Connections
On the rear panel, HostEngine provides four USB 2.0 ports, two Gbps Ethernet ports, a COM
port and an IPMI 2.0 GbE port. The AC power receptacle is also on the rear panel.

HostEngine also provides access for Cubix HICs that connect to GPU-Xpander Rackmount 8 or
other Xpander enclosures using external PCIe x16 cables, if needed. With these connections,
you can mount HostEngine immediately above or below GPU-Xpander Rackmount 8. You can
also install PCIe cards inside HostEngine 4U. For example, install 4 x full-length, full-height,
double-wide GPUs inside HostEngine 4U.

Controls
The front panel provides the power on/off button and the
reset button. Pressing and releasing the power button
during operation will provide a graceful shutdown of the
operating system. Pressing and holding the power button
for 4 seconds or more forces HostEngine to power off.
See the image at the right.

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Indicators
Indicators (LEDs) for power (steady green), hard drive activity (flashing green), reset (flash
green once), management (steady green) and identification (steady blue if enabled) are also on
the front panel.

Install HostEngine in a Rack Mount Cabinet

Cubix ships HostEngine with the slide mounts installed on the enclosure.

Within packaging, you will find four brackets that
mount within your rack mount cabinet as well as
screws, nuts and G-nuts for use in mounting
HostEngine. See the image at right.

Mount HostEngine close enough to GPU-Xpander
Rack Mount 8 so that the standard 2meter cables will
reach. Mount GPU-Xpander Rack Mount 8 enclosure
immediately above or immediately below HostEngine
in the rack mount cabinet. For this procedure, use a
Philips #2 screwdriver, a flat-blade screwdriver and a
3/8” wrench or socket and drive.

1. Shut down HostEngine normally.

2. Disconnect all data and power cables.

3. Remove the two slide mounts—one slide mount
from each side of the HostEngine enclosure. To
release each slide mount, slide it toward the rear of
the enclosure until it stops. Press the catch to
release and remove the slide mount as you can
see in the image at the right.

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4. Mount the HostEngine mounting brackets and

Warning

Before you lift a HostEngine into place, ask for assistance.

slide mounts in your cabinet. Allow vertical space
for 2U or 4U as appropriate for your enclosure.

5. Mount the front and rear mounting brackets in the
left side of your cabinet. Make sure all four line
up so that HostEngine is level within the cabinet.
See the image at the right.

6. Mount each of the two sliders into the front and
rear mounting brackets (Part # S18500A) and
slider assembly with the bolts and G-nuts provided in the packaging. Use the Philips #2
screwdriver and the 3/8” wrench or socket to secure snugly but not tightly each slider to the
front and rear mounting brackets. Check to make sure the mounting brackets and slide rails
are level from front to rear before tightening the screws and nuts. Align the front of the slider
with the front of the cabinet.

7. Repeat the process for the other two front and two rear mounting brackets and slider
assembly on the right side of the cabinet.

8. Check to make sure that the slide rails are level,
both from front to back and from right to left. Once

you’re sure the slide rails are level, you’re ready

to tighten the mounting screws. See the image at
the right.

9. Tightly secure the screws holding the sliders to
the front and two rear mounting brackets on each side of the cabinet.

10. Extend the slide rails almost all the way out the front of the cabinet.

11. Lift the HostEngine, line it up carefully and slide it into place. Before lifting the HostEngine
into place, ask for assistance.

12. Try sliding the HostEngine in and out slightly to make sure it moves freely.

13. Connect the AC power cords into the HostEngine rear receptacle.

14. Connect the PCIe x16 external cables to GPU-Xpander Rack Mount 8.

15. Power up HostEngine.

Access the HostEngine Interior

For this procedure, use a Philips #2 screwdriver. For accessing HostEngine to add, move or
replace memory, HICs, GPUs or other adapters, use the following procedure.

1. Shut down gracefully HostEngine.

2. Remove the power cord.

3. Gently pull the HostEngine toward you a foot or so.

4. Remove the screws holding in place the HostEngine front top cover, remove the top cover
and the top end-bracket panel and set them aside.

5. Add, remove or replace the memory, HICs or other cards, making sure to seat each firmly in
the socket or slot, secure the end bracket screws and to connect aux power cables, if
necessary.

6. Replace the HostEngine front top cover and replace the screws holding it in place.

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7. Gently slide HostEngine back in place.

8. Connect the AC power cord into the HostEngine rear receptacle.

9. Power up HostEngine.

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