Server Hardware Flashcards
form factors
- variety of sizes and configurations of physical servers/components
- increasing data center capacity is possible using smaller server form factors
- must keep inventory to be aware of the form factors in the system environment
- virtual servers don’t have form factors
tower servers
- all server components are housed within a single case that can sit directly on the floor or on a desk
- standalone computer
tower server advantages
- can be easily moved without removing screws or sliding out of rack
- components are easy to find
- adding physical components is easy because of the amount of space inside the case
tower server disadvantages
- don’t scale well
- take up a lot of space
- can’t be rack mounted
- don’t often come with redundant power supplies
- cable organization is challenging
best uses for tower servers
- smaller offices
- central IT office that preconfigures servers to be used in branch offices
MDFs
- main distribution frames
- cable racks that organize data cabling from IDFs
IDFs
- intermediary distribution frames
- organize cables plugged into equipment
rack-mounted equipment
- increases the potential server density in a server room or data center
- most racks have front/back doors that can be locked (increases security)
UID
- unit identification
- used to identify servers in rack
- LED on front/back of rack-mounted server will blink when the server is being remotely managed or when the UID button is pressed on the server
rack-mounted servers
- thin computers designed to be stacked vertically in a rack
- provides organization
- uses minimal space (scalable)
- normally have dual power supplies
- normally have at least 2 network cards/management ports
- all connections on back of device
- ports on front of server for attaching peripherals
racks
- server room/datacenter must be able to handle weight of racks
- should be balanced and bolted to floor
- most are 19 in wide
- come with rails for mounting equipment or rail kits are available
- good to place storage appliances, power sources, etc. in rack with servers
U
- rack units
- unit of measurement for height
- vertical distance between the holes in the rack to which rails/rack-mounted equipment are secured
- 1U up to 7U per rack-mounted device
- most racks have a max of 42U
1U
1 3/4 inches
2U
3 1/2 inches
4U
7 inches
PDUs
- power distribution units
- provide power outlets to racks in server rooms/data centers
- redundant PDUs should be plugged into separate circuits
- redundant server power supplies should plug into separate PDUs
- check PDU rating to ensure equipment doesn’t draw more power than the PDU’s load capacity
cable management arm
- metal/plastic folding component that is attached to the back of a rack-mounted device
- all cables from the device are placed into the arm
- arm expands when device is pulled from rack to avoid pulling out cables
- prevent blockage of fan intake
- zip tie cables together from a device
rack fillers
- blanking panels
- cover empty spaces in the rack
- prevent blockage of fan intake
- measured via the U system
- available with venting holes
blade servers
- circuit board containing its own processors, memory and network capabilities
- may include a small amount of storage
- no power supply
- no cooling mechanisms
- can’t run independently
- most have USB connector on front
advantages of blade servers
- increase server density (scalability)
- will likely replace rack-mounted servers
disadvantages of blade servers
- more expensive
- harder to expand
blade enclosure
- proprietary chassis that can house several blade servers from the same vendor
- measure from 6U to 12U
blade enclosures provide
- temperature control mechanisms i.e. fans
- power
- network connectivity
- storage connectivity
- server remote management connections
backplane
- connects server and I/O blades within enclosure
- some provide redundancy
I/O blades
- cards
- provide faster network connectivity
- provide storage for blade servers
- provide management capabilities
midplane
- printed circuit board (PCB)
- server blades that connect on front
- other components accessible on back
- different components may require a specific midplane
- some provide redundancy
firmware
- software stored in a chip
- needs to be updated periodically
- updating firmware may resolve OS instability
- be sure updating to correct version
UUID
- unique 128-bit universal unique identifier in firmware
- may be updated when updating motherboard firmware
MD5/SHA hash values
- provided to confirm that firmware downloaded from internet has not been changed
BIOS
- basic input-output system
- firmware built into circuit board or RAID disk controller
- checks critical hardware components when booting
- power on self test (POST)
- checks master boot record (MBR) to hand control over to OS
- configuring BIOS depends on manufacturer
disks are initialized on a computer as either:
- MBR
- GUID partition table (GPT)
- only 1 copy of the MBR on an MBR disk (sits on the 1st sector of the disk before the 1st partition)
- GPT stores multiple copies of the MBR throughout the disk for additional resiliency
max partitions MBR disk
4
max partitions GPT disks
- 128 on a Windows system
- booting from a GPT disk is possible as part of the POST on unified extensible firmware interface (UEFI) system
CMOS
- complementary metal oxide semiconductor
- specific configuration of hardware settings supported by the BIOS
UEFI
- unified extensible firmware interface
- new BIOS
- GUI with mouse support
- GPT hard-disk support (including booting from GPT)
- IPv6 support during boot
- support for secure boot
- support for new modules for additional functionality
secure boot
- prevents untrusted executable code from running before OS initializes
- digital signatures used to validate trusted code
some Linux distros don’t support secure boot
must disable UEFI Secure Boot from UEFI settings to install these distros
CPU
- central processing unit
- brain of server
- 1st version = step 0
- step value increases as manufacturer releases the same CPU with improvements
scaling up
adding more processing power to a server
scaling out
adding more servers
CPU architecture
- most modern CPUs have 64-bit data path
- may also see 32-bit
- newer server OSs support only 64-bit
max addressable memory limit 32-bit machines
4GB
max addressable memory limit of 64-bit machines
16EB (exabytes)
ARM processors
- advanced RICS machine processors
- used in modern mobile devices
- available in 64-bit or 32-bit
CPUs and virtualization
- CPU must support hardware virtualization
- AMD processors must support AMD virtualization (AMD-V)
- Intel processors must support Intel virtualization technology (Intel VT)
buses
- move data among various components
- every motherboard always includes several buses
- bus speed (MHz) is different from internal CPU speed
- determines how quickly data moves between system components
- used for expansion cards and embedded components