DELL EMC PowerEdge with NVDIMM-N Persistent Memory Support

Products

VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

This article provides information about the byte addressable persistent memory (PMem) support on DELL EMC PowerEdge Servers. For more information, see Dell Persistent Memory Information.

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 6.7

Resolution

Server Architecture

DELL EMC 14th Generation of PowerEdge Servers with Intel® Xeon® Scalable processors

Dell EMC’s NVDIMM-N Persistent Memory is a disruptive Storage Class Memory technology that enables unprecedented performance improvement over legacy storage technologies. Each NVDIMM-N provides 16GB of nonvolatile memory and has the same form factor as a standard 288-Pin DDR4 DIMM. The NVDIMM-N resides in a standard CPU memory slot, placing data close the processor. With its ability to operate at 2666MT/s DDR4 data rates, the NVDIMM-N takes full advantage of the high bandwidth and extremely low latency that is characteristic of the memory bus.

Table 1 - Persistent Memory Component Modules

Persistent Memory Type	Module Description
NVDIMM-N Byte Addressable (PMem)	Dell 16GB NVDIMM-N

Note: For DCPMM support, refer to KB DELL EMC PowerEdge Servers with Intel® Optane™ DC Persistent Memory Module Support

Table 2- Server Model Support

Dell Server Model	Supported CPU Series	PMem Component Type	PMem Platform RAS NVDIMM Features	Certified MAX (GB)
PowerEdge R640	Intel Xeon Platinum 8200, Intel Xeon Gold 6200/5200, Intel Xeon Platinum 8100, Intel Xeon Gold 6100/5100	Dell 16GB NVDIMM-N	2	192
PowerEdge T640	Intel Xeon Platinum 8200, Intel Xeon Gold 6200/5200, Intel Xeon Platinum 8100, Intel Xeon Gold 6100/5100	Dell 16GB NVDIMM-N	2	192
PowerEdge R740	Intel Xeon Platinum 8200, Intel Xeon Gold 6200/5200, Intel Xeon Platinum 8100, Intel Xeon Gold 6100/5100	Dell 16GB NVDIMM-N	2	192
PowerEdge R740XD	Intel Xeon Platinum 8100, Intel Xeon Gold 6100/5100	Dell 16GB NVDIMM-N	2	192
PowerEdge R940	Intel Xeon Platinum 8200, Intel Xeon Gold 6200/5200, Intel Xeon Platinum 8100, Intel Xeon Gold 6100/5100	Dell 16GB NVDIMM-N	2	192
PowerEdge R840	Intel Xeon Platinum 8200, Intel Xeon Gold 6200/5200, Intel Xeon Platinum 8100, Intel Xeon Gold 6100/5100,	Dell 16GB NVDIMM-N	2	192
PowerEdge R940xa	Intel Xeon Platinum 8200, Intel Xeon Gold 6200/5200, Intel Xeon Platinum 8100, Intel Xeon Gold 6100/5100,	Dell 16GB NVDIMM-N	2	192
PowerEdge MX740c	Intel Xeon Platinum 8200, Intel Xeon Gold 6200/5200, Intel Xeon Platinum 8100, Intel Xeon Gold 6100/5100,	Dell 16GB NVDIMM-N	2	192
PowerEdge MX840c	Intel Xeon Platinum 8200, Intel Xeon Gold 6200/5200, Intel Xeon Platinum 8100, Intel Xeon Gold 6100/5100	Dell 16GB NVDIMM-N	2	192

Footnotes: The ACPI Specification 6.2, defines in section 5.2.20.4 the NVDIMM Platform Capabilities that are important to VMware customers using PMem.

Memory Controller Flush to NVDIMM Durability on Power Loss Capable

Indicates that platform provides mechanisms to automatically flush outstanding write data from the memory controller to persistent memory in the event of platform power loss. See Dell Server Behavior with NVDIMM-Ns [on] Shutdown.

Table 3- Additional Configuration Details

Component	Required Minimum Firmware Version
Component	T640, R640, R740, R740XD, R940 With Intel Xeon Platinum 8100 or Intel Xeon Gold 6100/5100	R940xa With Intel Xeon Platinum 8100 or Intel Xeon Gold 6100/5100	MX740c, MX840c With Intel Xeon Platinum 8100 or Intel Xeon Gold 6100/5100	R940xa,T640,R840,R740, R640, R940,MX740c With Intel Xeon Platinum 8200 or Intel Xeon Gold 6200/5200	MX840c with Intel Xeon Platinum 8200 or Intel Xeon Gold 6200/5200
iDRAC	3.15.15.15	3.19.19.19	3.20.20.20	3.34.34.34	4.22.00.00
BIOS	1.3.7	1.1.1	1.0.2	2.1.6, 2.1.8,2.1.11,2.2.11	2.8.2
NVDIMM-N	9324	9324	9324	9324	9532

Support Information
http://support.dell.com