Dell PowerEgde R740xd Power supply

Question

Hi Guys,   Quick question. we have a Dell PowerEdge R740xd with a setup of 12x 3.5inch HDD drives on the front bay, we want to add a midbay that will run 4x 2.5inch SSD drives.  My question is the server at the moment has 2x 1100W PSUs installed will these 2 PSUs be enough to run the added midbay as well

DELL-Shine K · Accepted Answer

Converting one chassis configuration to another chassis configuration is not recommended as it may required multiple parts changes and you may face some fitment issues. To install a mid bay you may need to change the heatsink and air shroud. You can refer below link for the same

https://www.dell.com/support/manuals/en-us/poweredge-r740xd/per740xd_ism_pub/mid-drive-tray-details?guid=guid-9d3f0c14-e117-403f-98fa-60e75ed41fa3&lang=en-us

you also need to ensure you are having a supported configuration. Connecting mid bay without rear bay is not supported. You can refer below link for supported backplane configuration.

https://www.dell.com/support/manuals/en-us/poweredge-r740xd/per740xd_ism_pub/backplane-details?guid=guid-5d119b25-5363-4be0-b451-e30ae7ca3f5b&lang=en-us

To check power required for the config you can use "Enterprise Infrastructure Planning Tool" tool Link for same mentioned below.

https://dell-eipt-eol.azurewebsites.net/?dgc=SM&cid=376139&lid=spr8347689038&refid=sm_LITHIUM_spr8347689038&linkId=192359541#/

DELL-Shine K · Answer

As front with mid backplane is not a supported configuration, I can not guarantee that whether it will work. You can also wait for another Community member who tried this combination to share their experience.

Jacques1012 · Answer

Hi Thanks for the response.

why would a front and rear bay configuration be supported but not a front and mid bay?

What would happen on a front and midbay configuration? will the server fail to boot or just throw errors.

Jacques1012 · Answer

Thanks Shine,

I hope someone who has tried this can confirm, as the company bought the mid bay setup with all necessary replacement parts for this setup, and instructed me to do the installation. Components took quite a while to arrive and processing deadlines have been missed, wont be a nice convo to have to advise they will need to wait another 6-8 weeks for the rear drive assembly as well.

If this configuration can somehow work it would be awesome but if the configuration has limits i.t.o the midbay somehow "Needs" the rear bay to function at all then it's a different story.

Jacques1012 · Answer

Hi Guys,

Just a follow up question. When connecting/installing the mid and rear drive bays do they only require SAS connection from their backplanes to the front backplane, or does the mid and rear bay also require signal and power connection?

I see the dell documentation only shows SAS connection from the mid bay to the front bay backplane (BP: A1 BP SAS to mid BP: J_SAS_A1, J_SAS_B1)

and SAS connection from rear bay backplane to front backplane (BP: A2 BP SAS to rear BP: J_SAS_1)

Front bay is running 12x 3.5inch drives

Dell-Dheeraj · Answer

Hi @Jacques1012,

You are absolutely right. You only need SAS connectivity from the mid/rear drive bay backplanes to the front backplane.

This is how it goes.

SAS cable (BP: A1 BP SAS to mid BP: J_SAS_A1, J_SAS_B1)
SAS cable (BP: A2 BP SAS to rear BP: J_SAS_1)

DELL-Shine K · Answer

Mid and Rear backplane need Power and Signal cables also along with SAS cable.

Jacques1012 · Answer

Dell-Shine K thanks.   does it matter in which signal and power connectors you connect the bays?  J_BP_SIG2 / J_BP2  VS J_BP_SIG0 / J_BP20

PowerEdge Hardware General

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