Dell PowerEdge R740xd 2U Enterprise Barebone Server – 16-Bay Storage Configuration

The Dell EMC PowerEdge R740xd is a powerful 2U enterprise rack server designed for virtualization, high-capacity storage, databases, cloud infrastructure, backup, hosting and demanding data-center applications.

This particular barebone server features the highly flexible 16-drive configuration with 12 × 3.5-inch LFF hot-swap drive bays at the front and 4 × 2.5-inch SFF hot-swap drive bays at the rear. This combination makes the server especially attractive for applications that require large-capacity HDD storage together with dedicated SSDs for operating systems, caching, databases or high-performance workloads.

16 Hot-Swap Drive Bays

This R740xd is configured with a total of 16 drive bays:

• Front: 12 × 3.5-inch LFF hot-swap drive bays
• Rear: 4 × 2.5-inch SFF hot-swap drive bays
• Total: 16 hot-swap drive bays

Dell officially documents this as an R740xd 16-drive configuration, with twelve 3.5-inch SAS/SATA/Nearline SAS drives accessible from the front and four 2.5-inch SAS/SATA/Nearline SAS drives accessible from the rear.

12 × 3.5-Inch LFF Front Drive Bays

The front of the server provides twelve 3.5-inch Large Form Factor drive bays. These bays are ideal for high-capacity enterprise SAS or SATA hard drives, making the R740xd an excellent platform for storage servers, backup repositories, file servers and large RAID arrays.

Compatible 2.5-inch drives may also be usable with appropriate Dell 3.5-inch carriers/adapters, subject to the drive, carrier, backplane and controller configuration.

4 × 2.5-Inch SFF Rear Drive Bays

Unlike a standard 12-bay configuration, this server includes an additional 4 × 2.5-inch rear hot-swap drive cage. The four rear bays can accommodate compatible SAS or SATA HDDs/SSDs.

The rear bays are particularly useful for installing enterprise SSDs separately from the large-capacity front HDD array. For example, they can be used for operating-system drives, virtualization boot storage, application SSDs, database storage or dedicated high-speed RAID volumes.

Excellent HDD + SSD Hybrid Storage Platform

The 12-LFF + 4-SFF layout allows administrators to create a flexible hybrid storage architecture. Large-capacity 3.5-inch enterprise HDDs can be installed in the twelve front bays while enterprise SATA or SAS SSDs can be installed in the four rear bays.

For example, the front bays can be configured as a high-capacity RAID storage pool while the rear SSD bays can be used for the operating system, applications or a separate performance-oriented RAID volume.

Dual Intel Xeon Scalable Processor Platform

The PowerEdge R740xd is a dual-socket enterprise server supporting compatible Intel Xeon Scalable processors. Depending on BIOS and processor generation, the platform can support compatible first- and second-generation Intel Xeon Scalable processors.

The dual-processor architecture makes the R740xd suitable for high-core-count virtualization, database, storage and enterprise computing workloads.

24 DDR4 DIMM Slots

The R740xd provides 24 DDR4 DIMM slots across its dual-processor architecture. Compatible ECC Registered server memory can be installed according to Dell's supported memory population rules and the capabilities of the selected processors.

The large number of DIMM slots makes the platform particularly suitable for memory-intensive virtualization, database and enterprise applications.

Dell PERC H730P Hardware RAID Controller

This package includes a Dell PERC H730P hardware RAID controller for managing compatible SAS and SATA storage devices. The controller enables supported hardware RAID configurations for performance, redundancy and data protection.

The exact RAID configuration should be selected according to the number and type of drives installed and the required balance between usable capacity, performance and redundancy.

Dual 750W Hot-Plug Redundant Power Supplies

The server includes 2 × 750W hot-plug power supply units. The redundant PSU configuration is designed to improve system availability by allowing the server to continue operating if one power supply fails, provided the installed configuration remains within supported power requirements.

Two CPU Heatsinks Included

Two compatible Dell CPU heatsinks are included, preparing the system for installation of up to two compatible Intel Xeon Scalable processors.

Dell ReadyRails Included

A Dell ReadyRails rack rail kit is included, allowing the server to be installed in a compatible standard server rack. This is especially useful for data centers, enterprise server rooms, hosting facilities and professional rack deployments.

Original Front Bezel Included

The server package includes a Dell PowerEdge R740xd front bezel, providing a clean professional appearance and additional physical protection for the front drive area.

iDRAC9 Remote Management

The PowerEdge R740xd platform incorporates Dell iDRAC9 with Lifecycle Controller for server monitoring, configuration, troubleshooting and remote administration. The exact iDRAC license level installed on the individual server should be verified separately.

Typical Applications

• Enterprise Storage Servers
• High-Capacity RAID Storage
• Virtualization Servers
• VMware ESXi Hosts
• Proxmox Virtualization Servers
• Microsoft Hyper-V
• NAS and File Servers
• Backup and Archive Servers
• Database Servers
• Private Cloud Infrastructure
• Web and Application Hosting
• Data Center Infrastructure
• Enterprise Computing
• HDD + SSD Hybrid Storage

Package Configuration

Brand	Dell EMC
Model	PowerEdge R740xd
Generation	14th Generation PowerEdge
Form Factor	2U Rack Server
Server Type	Barebone Enterprise Server
Total Drive Bays	16 Hot-Swap Bays
Front Drive Bays	12 × 3.5-inch LFF Hot-Swap
Rear Drive Bays	4 × 2.5-inch SFF Hot-Swap
Front Drive Support	SAS / SATA / Nearline SAS
Rear Drive Support	2.5-inch SAS / SATA
CPU Sockets	2
Processor Platform	Intel Xeon Scalable
Memory	DDR4 ECC Server Memory
DIMM Slots	24
RAID Controller	Dell PERC H730P – Included
Power Supply	2 × 750W Hot-Plug Redundant PSU – Included
CPU Heatsinks	2 × Dell CPU Heatsinks – Included
Front Bezel	Included
Rail Kit	Dell ReadyRails – Included
Remote Management	iDRAC9 with Lifecycle Controller
CPU	Not Included
RAM	Not Included
HDD / SSD	Not Included

Package Includes

• 1 × Dell PowerEdge R740xd 2U Chassis
• 1 × Original Dell R740xd System Board
• 1 × 12-Bay 3.5-inch LFF Front Hot-Swap Backplane
• 1 × 4-Bay 2.5-inch SFF Rear Hot-Swap Drive Cage / Backplane
• 2 × Dell CPU Heatsinks
• 1 × Dell PERC H730P Hardware RAID Controller
• 2 × 750W Hot-Plug Redundant Power Supplies
• 1 × Dell PowerEdge R740xd Front Bezel
• 1 × Dell ReadyRails Rack Rail Kit Set

Not Included

• CPU / Processor – Not Included
• DDR4 RAM – Not Included
• 3.5-inch HDD – Not Included
• 2.5-inch HDD / SSD – Not Included

Ideal Custom Storage Server Platform

The combination of 12 × 3.5-inch front bays and 4 × 2.5-inch rear bays makes this R740xd particularly well suited for custom enterprise storage builds. Customers can populate the twelve front bays with high-capacity SAS/SATA HDDs and use the four rear bays for enterprise SSDs, creating a powerful combination of high storage capacity and fast solid-state storage within a single 2U server.