Dell PowerEdge r930 hardware guide

 ***Work in Progress, will continue to update until the project is finished****

Dell PowerEdge r930 is a 4U, four CPU system.  This is some notes from working on them.  Finding information on them was sparse, so hopefully someone else can benefit from my research.  The biggest help was this source: from Dell.  This link as well.

When using four CPU's the minimum RAM configuration is eight memory modules.  One stick of RAM in the #1 back of each of the eight memory riser cards.

It doesn't matter so much what hard drive controller is used, but it MUST bee in the very first slot.  Remove the I/O shield put it into slot one and use the lever to secure it down.   In this case it is a single Perch 730H.

To pull out the fan tray, just remove the outer four fans, then use the release to free up the handle.  In order to work on the CPU's or the back plane, all memory risers must be removed, the four fans, and the fan tray.

The network card is the same "form factor" as found on other r630/730's..it has the proprietary connection.  There is a special riser card that takes the special NIC and converts it to PCIe.  That card also has a special slot for one to install the SD memory card modules.

This is the network riser card without the NIC daughter board

ONE HBA/RAID card in a 24 drive system: the SAS cables from port A go to port A on the SAS Expander, as is the same for port B.  The top SAS port from the backplane goes into the furthest port on the SAS Expander.  The bottom SAS port on the backplane goes to the closest port on the SAS Expander.  Use the wrong cables or in the wrong spot, the system will complain.

The two back-plane cables are special (p/n: 085WG0 and 09HT8M) are special, even though they have an industry standard SAS connection, they are actually proprietary. Normal SAS cables will plug in, but not work. The cable from the SAS controller to the SAS expander is p/n: 0KN3YV.

These machines come standard with the ability to run four hard drives.  They can be converted to run twenty four.  It is a PITA, but very doable.  The first one I did took a few hours, the 2nd was a breeze.

Parts needed:

-backplane

-SAS expander

-backplane SAS cables

-SAS cables from HBA/RAID to SAS expander

-front bezel