Dell R540 Technical Guide

Dell EMC PowerEdge R540 System

Technical Guide

March 2021

Rev. A04

Notes, cautions, and warnings

NOTE: A NOTE indicates important information that helps you make better use of your product.

CAUTION: A CAUTION indicates either potential damage to hardware or loss of data and tells you how to avoid the problem.

WARNING: A WARNING indicates a potential for property damage, personal injury, or death.

© 2017 - 2021 Dell Inc. or its subsidiaries. All rights reserved. Dell, EMC, and other trademarks are trademarks of Dell Inc. or its subsidiaries. Other trademarks may be trademarks of their respective owners.

Contents

Figures..........................................................................................................................................	5
Tables...........................................................................................................................................	6
Chapter 1: System Overview..........................................................................................................	7
Introduction...........................................................................................................................................................................	7
New technologies................................................................................................................................................................	7
Chapter 2: System features..........................................................................................................	9
Product comparison............................................................................................................................................................	9
Technical specifications...................................................................................................................................................	10
Chapter 3: Chassis overview........................................................................................................	12
Front view of the system.................................................................................................................................................	12
Left control panel view...............................................................................................................................................	13
Right control panel view.............................................................................................................................................	16
Back panel features...........................................................................................................................................................	17
Inside the system...............................................................................................................................................................	19
Security features................................................................................................................................................................	21
Chapter 4: Processors.................................................................................................................	23
Supported processors......................................................................................................................................................	23
Chipset.................................................................................................................................................................................	25
Chapter 5: System memory.........................................................................................................	26
General memory module installation guidelines..........................................................................................................	27
Chapter 6: Storage......................................................................................................................	29
IDSDM with vFlash card..................................................................................................................................................	29
Optical Drives.....................................................................................................................................................................	30
Tape Drives.........................................................................................................................................................................	30
Boot Optimized Storage Subsystem............................................................................................................................	30
Chapter 7: Networking and PCIe..................................................................................................	32
LAN on Motherboard(LOM)...........................................................................................................................................	32
PCIe Expansion cards.......................................................................................................................................................	32
Chapter 8: Trusted platform module ...........................................................................................	34
Chapter 9: Video specifications...................................................................................................	35
Chapter 10: Power, Thermal, and Acoustics.................................................................................	36
Power consumption and energy efficiency.................................................................................................................	36
Power supply units............................................................................................................................................................	37

Contents 3

Thermal and Acoustics.....................................................................................................................................................	37
Thermal design.............................................................................................................................................................	37
Acoustical design.........................................................................................................................................................	38
Chapter 11: Rack rails..................................................................................................................	39
Chapter 12: Dell EMC OpenManage systems management...........................................................	49
iDRAC with Lifecycle controller.....................................................................................................................................	50
Server and Chassis Managers........................................................................................................................................	56
Dell EMC consoles............................................................................................................................................................	56
Automation Enablers........................................................................................................................................................	56
Integration with third-party consoles...........................................................................................................................	57
Connections for third-party consoles...........................................................................................................................	57
Dell EMC Update Utilities................................................................................................................................................	57
Dell resources.....................................................................................................................................................................	57
Chapter 13: Appendix A. Additional specifications.......................................................................	58
PSU specifications............................................................................................................................................................	58
System dimensions...........................................................................................................................................................	59
Chassis weight...................................................................................................................................................................	59
Environmental specifications..........................................................................................................................................	59
Chapter 14: Appendix B. Standards compliance...........................................................................	60
Chapter 15: Appendix C Additional resources...............................................................................	61
Chapter 16: Appendix D. Support and deployment services..........................................................	62
Dell EMC ProDeploy Enterprise Suite .........................................................................................................................	62
Dell EMC ProDeploy Plus...........................................................................................................................................	62
Dell EMC ProDeploy....................................................................................................................................................	63
Dell EMC Basic Deployment......................................................................................................................................	63
Dell EMC Residency Services...................................................................................................................................	63
Deployment services........................................................................................................................................................	63
Dell EMC Remote Consulting Services........................................................................................................................	63
Dell EMC Data Migration Service..................................................................................................................................	63
ProSupport Enterprise Suite..........................................................................................................................................	63
ProSupport Plus.................................................................................................................................................................	64
ProSupport..........................................................................................................................................................................	64
ProSupport One for Data Center..................................................................................................................................	64
Support Technologies......................................................................................................................................................	65
Additional professional services.....................................................................................................................................	66
Dell Education Services...................................................................................................................................................	66
Dell EMC Global Infrastructure Consulting Services................................................................................................	66
Dell EMC Managed Services..........................................................................................................................................	66

4 Contents

Figures

1	Dell EMC PowerEdge R540.....................................................................................................................................	7
2	Front view of 12 x 3.5 inch drive system............................................................................................................	12
3	Front view of 8 x 3.5 inch drive system.............................................................................................................	12
4	Left control panel without optional iDRAC Quick Sync 2.0 indicator..........................................................	13
5	Left control panel with optional iDRAC Quick Sync 2.0 indicator................................................................	14
6	iDRAC Quick Sync 2 indicators.............................................................................................................................	15
7	Right control panel...................................................................................................................................................	16
8	Back panel features of 12 x 3.5 inch + 2 x 3.5 inch (rear) drive system....................................................	17
9	Back panel features of 12 x 3.5 inch + 2 x 3.5 inch (rear) drive system....................................................	17
10	Back panel features of 12 x 3.5 inch drive system with butterfly riser.......................................................	18
11	Inside the system without rear drive cage........................................................................................................	20
12	Inside the system with rear drive cage...............................................................................................................	21
13	Boot Optimized Storage Subsystem (BOSS)....................................................................................................	31
14	Configuration A: LOM riser + 3 x low profile slot + riser blank....................................................................	32
15	Configuration B: LOM riser + Right riser + 2 x 3.5 inch rear hard drive....................................................	32
16	Configuration C: LOM riser + Left riser + Right riser + 2 x 3.5 inch rear hard drive..............................	33
17	Configuration D: LOM riser + Butterfly riser + 3 x low profile slot.............................................................	33
18	Sliding rails with optional CMA.............................................................................................................................	39
19	Static rails..................................................................................................................................................................	40
20	Static rails in 2-post center mount configuration.............................................................................................	41
21	Sliding rails with CMA.............................................................................................................................................	42
22	Pull out inner rail......................................................................................................................................................	44
23	Rail standoffs seated in J-slots............................................................................................................................	44
24	Slide system into the rack.....................................................................................................................................	45
25	Pull out the intermediate rail.................................................................................................................................	46
26	Attach the inner rails to the system....................................................................................................................	47
27	Install system into the extended rails..................................................................................................................	48
28	Slide system into the rack.....................................................................................................................................	48
29	Dell EMC OpenManage Portfolio.........................................................................................................................	49
30	Dimensions of the PowerEdge R540 system....................................................................................................	59
31	ProDeploy Enterprise Suite capabilities..............................................................................................................	62
32	ProSupport Enterprise Suite.................................................................................................................................	64
33	ProSupport One for Data Center model............................................................................................................	65
34	SupportAssist model...............................................................................................................................................	65

Figures 5

Tables

1	New technologies.......................................................................................................................................................	7
2	Feature comparison...................................................................................................................................................	9
3	Technical specifications..........................................................................................................................................	10
4	R540 chassis options...............................................................................................................................................	12
5	Features available on the front of the system..................................................................................................	13
6	Left control panel.....................................................................................................................................................	14
7	Status LED indicators and descriptions..............................................................................................................	14
8	iDRAC Quick Sync 2 indicators and descriptions.............................................................................................	15
9	Right control panel...................................................................................................................................................	16
10	iDRAC Direct LED indicator codes.......................................................................................................................	17
11	Back panel features of R540.................................................................................................................................	18
12	Security features......................................................................................................................................................	21
13	Supported Processors for R540..........................................................................................................................	23
14	Supported Memory.................................................................................................................................................	26
15	DIMM Performance Details...................................................................................................................................	26
16	Supported RAS features........................................................................................................................................	27
17	PERC series controller offerings..........................................................................................................................	29
18	BOSS RAID controller features.............................................................................................................................	31
19	Supported video resolution options....................................................................................................................	35
20	Power tools and technologies...............................................................................................................................	36
21	Acoustical reference points and output comparisons.....................................................................................	38
22	Static, Sliding, or Stab-in/Drop-in sliding rails..................................................................................................	41
23	Rail Adjustability Range and Rail Depth..............................................................................................................	42
24	Rail component.........................................................................................................................................................	46
25	iDRAC feature comparison....................................................................................................................................	50
26	Dell resources...........................................................................................................................................................	57
27	PSU specifications...................................................................................................................................................	58
28	Dimensions of the PowerEdge R540 system....................................................................................................	59
29	Chassis weight.........................................................................................................................................................	59
30	Industry standard documents...............................................................................................................................	60
31	Additional resources.................................................................................................................................................	61

6 Tables

1

System Overview

R540 Overview

Power your applications with a versatile 2-socket, 2U general-purpose rack server. Support various applications such as virtualization, video streaming, web tech, data analytics, and mail and messaging with the flexible Dell EMC PowerEdge R540. Its balanced combination of resources, expandability, and affordability adapt to the changing demands of a modern data center. Optimize your application performance with one-button tuning. Scale for future requirements with up to 14 x 3.5" drives. Embedded diagnostics and SupportAssist help to maximize uptime without added effort, in a worry-free environment.

Figure 1. Dell EMC PowerEdge R540

Topics:

•Introduction

•New technologies

Introduction

The PowerEdge R540 is a general-purpose platform with highly expandable memory - up to 512 GB with single processor and up to 1 TB with dual processors, and impressive I/O capabilities to match.

NOTE: 768 GB max memory is recommended for performance optimized configurations. The R540 features:

●The 2nd Generation Intel® Xeon® Scalable processors product family (with up to 20 cores and two threads per core)

●Up to six channels with two DIMMs per channel per CPU and 16 DIMMs (supports DDR4 RDIMM)

●PCI Express (PCIe) 3.0 enabled expansion slots (with up to 48 lanes per CPU)

●M.2 based Boot Optimized Storage Solution module

●Modular storage and PCIe riser options

New technologies

The following are the new technologies that are featured on the PowerEdge R540:

Table 1. New technologies

New technology	Detailed description
The 2nd Generation Intel® Xeon® Scalable processor	The 2nd Generation Intel® Xeon® Processor product family
	has advanced features such as, embedded PCIe lanes

System Overview

7

Table 1. New technologies (continued)

New technology	Detailed description
	for improved I/O performance that delivers exceptional
	performance and value.
	For details, see the Processor section.
Intel C620 series chipset	The R540 system uses the Intel C620 chipset. It is a 2 chip
	platform - CPU and PCH.
2666 MT/s DDR4 memory	The Intel® Xeon® Scalable processor product family supports
	2666 MT/s memory and sixteen 288-pin DIMMs.
	The R540 system supports:
	● 6x DDR4 Channels per socket, 2 DIMMs per channel
	● Up to 2666 MT/s (configuration-dependent)
	● RDIMMs up to 32 GB, LRDIMMs 64 GB
	For details, see the Memory section.
iDRAC9 with Lifecycle Controller	The new embedded systems management solution for the
	Dell EMC systems features hardware and firmware inventory
	and alerting, data center level power monitoring, and faster
	performance.
	For details, see the Dell EMC OpenManage systems
	management section
PERC S140	This new software RAID solution supports:
	● RAID 0, 1, 5, and Non-RAID
	● SATA hard drive and SSD devices only
	● Up to eight 3.5 inch and 2.5 inch hot-plug SATA HDDs or
	SSDs
	● Software RAID is through the Intel Lewisburg chipset
	● Software RAID solution is supported on Linux and
	Windows
	For details, see the Storage section.
LCD bezel	The PowerEdge R540 LCD control panel is embedded in an
	optional front bezel for easy access and management.
Wireless Management	The Quick Sync 2 BLE/WiFi module offers secure, wireless
	access to the embedded iDRAC, SupportAssist Collections,
	remote RACADM, and VNC remote console connectivity.

8 System Overview

2

System features

Compared to previous generations, the PowerEdge R540 offers faster processing power and advanced system management. The PowerEdge R540 also provides extraordinary storage capacity options, making it well-suited for data-intensive applications that require greater storage, while not sacrificing the I/O performance.

Topics:

•Product comparison

•Technical specifications

Product comparison

Table 2. Feature comparison

Feature	PowerEdge R540		PowerEdge R530
Processors	The 2nd Generation Intel® Xeon®		Intel® Xeon® Processor E5-2600 v3 or
	Scalable processor family		E5-2600 v4 product family
Chipset	Intel C620 series chipset		Intel C610
Memory	16x DDR4 RDIMM/LRDIMM		12 x DDR4 RDIMM/LRDIMM
Drive bays	12 x 3.5 inch SAS/SATA		12 x 3.5 inch SAS/SATA
	Rear: 2 x 3.5 inch SAS/SATA
PCIe Slots	Up to 5 x PCIe Gen3		Up to 3 x PCIe Gen3, and 2 x PCIe Gen2
RAID Controller	PERC 9/10		Mini-PERC 9
Backplane	● 14 x 3.5 inches or 2.5 inch SATA/SAS		● 8 x 2.5 inches or 3.5 inches SAS/
	● 8 x 3.5 inch SATA/SAS			SATA
	● 2 x 2.5 inches rear SATA/SAS
Embedded NIC	2x 1 Gb LOM and optional LAN on riser		4 x 1 Gb
	card:
	●	2X 1 GbE
	●	2X 10 GbE
	● 2X 10 GbE SFP+
Power Supplies	● 450 W AC Cable PSU		● 450 W AC Cable PSU
	●	495 W AC	●	495 W AC
	●	750 W AC	●	750 W AC
	● 750 W Mixed Mode HVDC (For China		●	1100 W AC
		Only)	●	750 W DC
	● 750 W Mixed Mode (DC input for
		China Use Only)
	●	1100 W AC
	● 1100 W Mixed Mode HVDC
Remote Management	iDRAC9		iDRAC8
TPM	TPM 2.0 China, TPM1.2, TPM2.0		TPM China, TPM1.2, TPM2.0
Rear USB 3.0 port	Two rear ports		One rear port
iDRAC Direct front port	Micro-AB USB		Micro-AB USB

System features

9

Table 2. Feature comparison (continued)

Feature	PowerEdge R540	PowerEdge R530
Cooling Fan	Up to 6 fan support	Up to 6 fan support
IDSDM Module	Internal Dual SD Module (IDSDM) and	Internal Dual SD Module (IDSDM)
	vFlash
BOSS Module	M.2 SATA interface	None
PERC	PCIe PERC 9 or PERC 10	Mini-PERC 9

Technical specifications

Table 3. Technical specifications

Feature	PowerEdge R540 technical specification
Form factor	2U rack
Processor	The 2nd Generation Intel® Xeon® Processor Scalable Family
Processor sockets	2 sockets
Internal interconnect	Up to 3 Intel Ultra Path Interconnect (Intel® UPI); up to 11.2 GT/s
Chipset	Intel C620 series Chipset
Memory	●	Supports DDR4 RDIMM
	● Up to 512 GB RDIMM and 1 TB LRDIMMs
	● 16 DIMM slots: 8 GB, 16 GB, 32 GB, DDR4 up to 2666 MT/s
I/O slots	Up to 5 x PCIeGen 3 slots plus a dedicated PERC and LOM slot
RAID controller	Internal - PERC S140, PERC H330, PERC H330, PERC H730P, PERC H740P
	External HBA - PERC H840P and 12 Gb/s SAS HBA(non-RAID)
Hard drives	12 x 3.5 inch + 2 x 2.5-inch rear drive bays (supports 2.5-inch drive using 3.5-inch
	adapter)
Embedded network adapter	LOM1: 2x1G
	LOM Riser: 2x1GbE, 2X10GbE, 2x10GbE SFP+
Power supply	Two hot plug PSUs or option for single cabled PSU
	● 495 W, 750 W, 1100 W hot plug PSU
	● Bronze efficiency 450 W cabled AC PSU
Supported operating systems	●	Canonical® Ubuntu® LTS
	●	Citrix® XenServer®
	● Microsoft Windows Server® with Hyper-V
	● Red Hat® Enterprise Linux
	● SUSE® Linux Enterprise Server
	●	VMware® ESXi
	For more information, go to www.dell.com/ossupport
Systems management	Dell EMC Systems management consoles and tools:
	●	OpenManage Enterprise
	●	OpenManage Mobile
	●	OpenManage Power Manager
	Embedded Management:

10 System features

Table 3. Technical specifications (continued)

Feature	PowerEdge R540 technical specification
	●		iDRAC9
	●		iDRAC9 Direct
	● iDRAC REST API with Redfish
	● Quick Sync 2 BLE/wireless module
	Dell EMC OpenManage Integrations :
	●		Microsoft® System Center
	●		VMware® vCenter™
	●		BMC Truesight
	● Red Hat® Ansible® Modules
	Dell EMC OpenManage Connections:
	● Micro Focus Operations Manager I
	● Nagios Core and Nagios XI
	●		IBM Tivoli® Netcool/OMNIbus
Dimensions and weight	●		Height: 86.8 mm (3.41”)
	● Width*: 434 mm (17.08”)
	● Depth*: 703.76 mm (27.71”)
	● Weight: 29.68 kg (65.43 lb)
			NOTE: *Dimensions do not include bezel.
Recommended support	Dell ProSupport Plus for critical systems or Dell ProSupport for premium hardware
	and software support for your PowerEdge solution. Consulting and deployment
	offerings are also available.
	Contact your Dell representative for more information. Availability and terms of Dell
	Services vary by region. For more information, go to Dell.com/ServiceDescriptions.

System features

11

3

Chassis overview

The PowerEdge R540 is a dual socket, 2U rack server with up to 16 DIMMs, storage capacity of up to 12 drive slots, and the 2nd Generation Intel® Xeon® Scalable Family processors.

Table 4. R540 chassis options

Chassis Options	Configurations
Eight drive chassis	Up to eight 3.5 or 2.5 inches in 3.5-inch adapter front accessible SAS/SATA drives.
Twelve drive chassis	Up to twelve 3.5 or 2.5 inches in front accessible SAS/SATA drives and two optional 3.5 inch
	rear accessible SAS/SATA drives.

Topics:

•Front view of the system

•Back panel features

•Inside the system

•Security features

Front view of the system

The front view displays the features available on the front of the system.

Figure 2. Front view of 12 x 3.5 inch drive system

Figure 3. Front view of 8 x 3.5 inch drive system

12 Chassis overview

Table 5. Features available on the front of the system

	Item	Ports, panels, and	Icon	Description
		slots
	1	Left control panel	N/A	Contains the system health and system ID, status LED, and the
				iDRAC Quick Sync 2 (wireless) indicator.
						NOTE: The iDRAC Quick Sync 2 indicator is available only
						on certain configurations.
				● Status LED: Enables you to identify any failed hardware
						components. There are up to five status LEDs and an overall
						system health LED (Chassis health and system ID) bar. For
						more information, see the Status LED indicators section.
				● Quick Sync 2 (wireless): Indicates a Quick Sync enabled
						system. The Quick Sync feature is optional. This feature
						allows management of the system by using mobile devices.
						This feature aggregates hardware or firmware inventory
						and various system level diagnostic and error information
						that can be used in troubleshooting the system. For
						more information, see the Integrated Dell Remote Access
						Controller User’s Guide at Dell.com/idracmanuals.
	2	Drive slots	N/A	Enable you to install drives that are supported on your
				system. For more information about drives, see the Technical
				specifications section.
	3	Right control panel	N/A	Contains the power button, USB ports, iDRAC Direct (Micro-AB
				USB), VGA port.
	4	Information tag	N/A
				The Information tag is a slide-out label panel that contains
				system information such as Service Tag, NIC, MAC address,
				and so on. If you have opted for the secure default access
				to iDRAC, the Information tag also contains the iDRAC secure
				default password.
	5	Optical drive (optional)	N/A	One optional slim SATA DVD-ROM drive or DVD+/-RW drive.
						NOTE: DVD devices are data only.

Left control panel view

Figure 4. Left control panel without optional iDRAC Quick Sync 2.0 indicator

Chassis overview

13

Figure 5. Left control panel with optional iDRAC Quick Sync 2.0 indicator

Table 6. Left control panel

Item	Indicator, button, or	Icon	Description
	connector
1	Status LED indicators	N/A	Indicate the status of the system. For more information, see the
			Status LED indicator section.
	System health and system		Indicates the system health.
2
	ID indicator
	iDRAC Quick Sync
3			Indicates if the iDRAC Quick Sync 2 wireless option is activated.
	2 wireless indicator		The Quick Sync 2 feature allows management of the system
	(optional)		using mobile devices. This feature aggregates hardware/
			firmware inventory and various system level diagnostic/error
			information that can be used in troubleshooting the system.
			You can access system inventory, Dell Lifecycle Controller
			logs or system logs, system health status, and also configure
			iDRAC, BIOS, and networking parameters. You can also launch
			the virtual Keyboard, Video, and Mouse (KVM) viewer and
			virtual Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM), on a supported
			mobile device. For more information, see the Integrated Dell
			Remote Access Controller User's Guide at www.dell.com/
			poweredgemanuals

Status LED indicators

NOTE: The indicators display solid amber if any error occurs.

Table 7. Status LED indicators and descriptions

Icon

Description Condition

Corrective action

Drive	The indicator turns solid amber if
indicator	there is a drive error.

Temperature The indicator turns solid amber indicator if the system experiences a

thermal error (for example, the ambient temperature is out of range or there is a fan failure).

Electrical	The indicator turns solid amber
indicator	if the system experiences an
	electrical error (for example,
	voltage out of range, or a failed
	power supply unit (PSU) or
	voltage regulator).

●Check the System event log to determine if the drive has an error.

●Run the appropriate Online Diagnostics test. Restart the system and run embedded diagnostics (ePSA).

●If the drives are configured in a RAID array, restart the system, and enter the host adapter configuration utility.

Ensure that none of the following conditions exist:

●A cooling fan has been removed or has failed.

●System cover, air shroud, or back filler bracket is removed.

●Ambient temperature is too high.

●External airflow is obstructed.

Check the System event log or system messages for the specific issue. If it is due to a problem with the PSU, check the LED on the PSU. Reseat the PSU.

14 Chassis overview

Table 7. Status LED indicators and descriptions (continued)

Icon Description	Condition	Corrective action
Memory	The indicator turns solid amber if	Check the System event log or system messages for the location of
indicator	a memory error occurs.	the failed memory. Reseat the memory module.
PCIe	The indicator turns solid amber	Restart the system. Update any required drivers for the PCIe card.
indicator	if a PCIe card experiences an	Reinstall the card.
	error.

iDRAC Quick Sync 2 indicator codes

iDRAC Quick Sync 2 module (optional) is located on the left control panel of your system.

Figure 6. iDRAC Quick Sync 2 indicators

Table 8. iDRAC Quick Sync 2 indicators and descriptions

iDRAC Quick Sync 2 indicator Condition code

Off (default state)	Indicates that the iDRAC Quick Sync 2
	feature is turned off. Press the iDRAC
	Quick Sync 2 button to turn on the
	iDRAC Quick Sync 2 feature.
Solid white	Indicates that iDRAC Quick Sync 2 is
	ready to communicate. Press the iDRAC
	Quick Sync 2 button to turn off.
Blinks white rapidly	Indicates data transfer activity.
Blinks white slowly	Indicates that firmware update is in
	progress.
Blinks white five times rapidly	Indicates that the iDRAC Quick Sync 2
and then turns off	feature is disabled.

Solid amber	Indicates that the system is in fail-safe
	mode.
Blinking amber	Indicates that the iDRAC Quick Sync 2
	hardware is not responding properly.

Corrective action

If the LED fails to turn on, reseat the left control panel flex cable and check.

If the LED fails to turn off, restart the system.

NA

NA

Check if iDRAC Quick Sync 2 feature is configured to be disabled by iDRAC. For more information, see Integrated Dell Remote

Access Controller User's Guide at www.dell.com/ idracmanuals or Dell OpenManage Server Administrator User’s Guide atwww.dell.com/ openmanagemanuals .

Restart the system.

Restart the system.

Chassis overview

15

Right control panel view

Figure 7. Right control panel

Table 9. Right control panel

Item	Indicator, button, or connector	Icon	Description
1	Power button		Indicates if the system is powered on or off.
			Press the power button to manually power
			on or off the system.
					NOTE: Press the power button to
					gracefully shut down an ACPI-compliant
					operating system.
	USB port
2			The USB ports are 4-pin, 2.0-compliant.
			These ports enable you to connect USB
			devices to the system.
	iDRAC Direct (Micro-AB USB)		The iDRAC Direct (Micro-AB USB) port
3
			enables you to access the iDRAC Direct
			(Micro-AB) features. For more information,
			see the iDRAC User’s Guide at Dell.com/
			idracmanuals.
	iDRAC Direct (Micro-AB USB) LED	N/A	The iDRAC Direct (Micro-AB USB) LED
4
			indicator lights up to indicate that the
			iDRAC Direct port is connected. For more
			information, see the iDRAC Direct LED
			indicator codes section.
	VGA port
5			Enables you to connect a display device to
			the system. For more information, see the
			Technical specifications section.

iDRAC Direct LED indicator codes

The iDRAC Direct LED indicator lights up to indicate that the port is connected and is being used as a part of the iDRAC subsystem.

You can configure iDRAC Direct by using a USB to micro USB (type AB) cable, which you can connect to your laptop or tablet. The following table describes iDRAC Direct activity when the iDRAC Direct port is active:

16 Chassis overview

Table 10. iDRAC Direct LED indicator codes

iDRAC Direct LED indicator code

Solid green for two seconds

Flashing green (on for two seconds and off for two seconds)

Turns off

Condition

Indicates that the laptop or tablet is connected.

Indicates that the laptop or tablet connected is recognized.

Indicates that the laptop or tablet is unplugged.

Back panel features

Figure 8. Back panel features of 12 x 3.5 inch + 2 x 3.5 inch (rear) drive system

Figure 9. Back panel features of 12 x 3.5 inch + 2 x 3.5 inch (rear) drive system

Chassis overview

17

Figure 10. Back panel features of 12 x 3.5 inch drive system with butterfly riser

1.	Serial port	2.	Drive (rear)
3.	Low profile riser right slot	4.	Low profile riser left slot
5.	Power supply unit (PSU)	6.	LOM riser ports
7.	Ethernet ports	8.	USB 3.0 ports
9.	iDRAC9 dedicated network port	10.	VGA port
11.	CMA power port	12.	System identification button
13.	Full height riser slot	14.	Butterfly riser slot

15. PCIe slot

Table 11. Back panel features of R540

Item	Features	Icon		Description
1	Serial port			Use the serial port to connect a serial device to the system.
				For more information about the supported serial port, see the
				Technical specifications section.
2
	Drive	N/A		Two optional rear drives supported for 12 x 3.5 inch system.
3	Low profile riser right slot	N/A		Use the card slot to connect half-height PCIe expansion card
				on low profile riser.
4	Low profile riser left slot	N/A		Use the card slot to connect half-height PCIe expansion card
				on low profile riser.
5	Power supply unit (PSU)	N/A		For information about supported PSUs, see the Technical
				specifications section.
6	LOM riser ports			Use the Ethernet or SFP+ ports to connect Local Area
				Networks (LANs) to the system. For more information about
				the supported Ethernet or SFP+ ports, see the Technical
				specifications section.
7	Ethernet ports (2)			Use the Ethernet ports to connect Local Area Networks
				(LANs) to the system. For more information about the
				supported Ethernet ports, see the Technical specifications
				section.
8	USB 3.0 port			Use the USB 3.0 port to connect USB devices to the system.
				These ports are 4-pin, USB 3.0-compliant.
9	iDRAC9 dedicated network			Use the iDRAC9 dedicated network port to securely access
	port			the embedded iDRAC on a separate management network, see
				the Integrated Dell Remote Access Controller User’s Guide at
				Dell.com/idracmanuals.
10	VGA port			Use the VGA port to connect a display to the system. For
				more information about the supported VGA port, see the
				Technical specifications section.
11	CMA power port	N/A		The Cable Management Arm (CMA) power port enables you
				to connect to the CMA.

18 Chassis overview

Table 11. Back panel features of R540 (continued)

Item	Features	Icon	Description
12	System identification button		Press the system ID button:
			● To locate a particular system within a rack.
			● To turn the system ID on or off.
			To reset iDRAC, press and hold the button for more than 15
			seconds.
					NOTE:
					● To reset iDRAC using system ID, ensure that the
					system ID button is enabled in the iDRAC setup.
					● If the system stops responding during POST, press and
					hold the system ID button (for more than five seconds)
					to enter the BIOS progress mode.
13	Full height riser slot		Use the card slots to connect full-height PCIe expansion cards
			on full height riser.
14	Butterfly riser slot		Use the card slots to connect full-height PCIe expansion cards
			on butterfly riser.
15	PCIe slot		Use the card slots to connect up to three half-height PCIe
			expansion cards on the system board.

Inside the system

NOTE: Components that are hot swappable are marked orange and touch points on the components are marked blue.

Chassis overview

19

Figure 11. Inside the system without rear drive cage

20 Chassis overview