Dell EMC OpenManage Server Administrator

Memory

Use this window to view information about the memory arrays installed in your system.

User Privileges

Table 1. User Privileges
Selection ViewManage
Memory User, Power User, Administrator Administrator
NOTE: For more details on user privilege levels, see Privilege Levels In The Server Administrator GUI.

Random-access memory (RAM) is the system's primary storage area for program instructions and data. Each location in the RAM is identified by a number called a memory address. This requires your system to have addressable memory available to it when performing tasks. Any information stored in RAM is lost when you turn off your system.

The Memory window displays information about the following:

  • Memory Redundancy
  • Memory Operating Mode
  • Attributes of Memory Array <n>
  • Total of Memory Arrays
  • Details of Memory Array <n>
  • Memory Device

NOTE: The memory redundancy and memory operating mode is available only on 11G systems.

Reboot System Button

When you make changes to the Memory Redundancy Configuration and save those changes, a Reboot System button appears. If you click this button, you receive more messages confirming that you want to reboot your system. Rebooting your system gives effect to the Redundancy Configuration setting changes you have just made.

Memory Redundancy

NOTE: The memory redundancy is available only on 11G systems. This section may include information about memory redundancy features not supported by your system. Server Administrator supports this feature only if the managed server supports redundant memory.
NOTE: If your system supports memory redundancy and is set in any of the Redundancy modes, a memory redundancy failure does not trigger an alert action.
NOTE: Due to the limitations of the VMware ESXi operating system, the Setting Alert Actions feature is not available with this release of Server Administrator.

Redundant memory enables a server to switch to different memory modules if unacceptable errors are detected in the modules it is currently using. Server Administrator supports four redundant memory modes: Double Device Data Correction (DDDC), spare, mirroring, and RAID5. You can enable or disable redundant memory and specify which mode to use when enabled. Systems may support more than one redundant memory mode.

Redundancy Status Indicates the health of the current redundant memory mode. Values are Full and Lost.

Full indicates that a device may fail but the system remains functional. This status is reported if the spare, mirroring, or RAID5 is enabled but not in active use and all DIMMs have an OK status.

Lost indicates that the system is not redundant, and that an additional device failure will result in a system failure. This status is reported if spare, mirroring, or RAID5 is enabled and is in active use.

Fail Over State Indicates if spare, mirroring, or RAID5 is currently in use. Values are Active and Inactive.

Active indicates that the spare, mirroring, or RAID5 is in use.

Inactive indicates that the spare, mirroring, or RAID5 is not in use.

If Fail Over State is Active, Redundancy Status is Lost.
Redundancy Configuration Allows selection of the desired redundant memory mode, or disables redundant memory.
Disabled Indicates that the system is not to use other available memory modules if memory errors are detected.
Spare Disables a set of system memory in which a single-bit ECC error is detected, enables the spare set, and copies all the data from the original set to the spare set. Spare mode requires enough memory for the system to reserve a spare set; the amount of memory required for a spare set varies by system. The operating system does not recognize the spare set.
Mirroring Switches the system to a mirrored copy of the memory if the failing module has a multibit error. In mirrored mode, the operating system does not switch back to the original module until the system reboots. The operating system does not recognize half of the installed system memory in this mode.
RAID5 A method of system memory configuration. This is logically similar to the RAID5 mode used in hard drive storage systems. This memory mode gives you an extra level of memory checking and error recovery, at the expense of some memory capacity. The RAID mode supported is RAID level 5 striping with rotational parity.
DDDC The DDDC (Double Device Data Correction) mode option enables double device data correction. This ensures data availability after hard failure of x4 DRAM.

Memory Operating Mode

This menu allows you to configure the memory operating mode for your system.

NOTE: This operating mode is available only on 11G systems. This section may include information about memory operating mode features not supported by your system. Server Administrator only displays features that are supported on your system.
NOTE: If you select either Spare or Mirroring, you will be able to view the health status of the memory operating mode, as well as the redundancy status. The health and redundancy status are not displayed if you select the Advanced ECC or Optimizer options.
Optimizer When this mode is enabled, the DRAM controllers operate independently in 64-bit mode and provide optimized memory performance.
Spare When this mode is enabled, the available memory reported to the operating system does not include the spared memory.
Mirroring This mode switches the system to a mirrored copy of the memory if the failing module has a multi bit error. In mirrored mode, the operating system does not switch back to the original module until the system reboots.
Advanced ECC When this mode is enabled, the two DRAM controllers are combined in 128-bit mode and provide optimized reliability. Memory that cannot be teamed by the controllers is not reported to the OS.

Attributes Of Memory Array <n>

NOTE: Where n stands for array 1 or 2 or more. The attributes of memory array are displayed individually for each of the arrays available in the system.

This menu displays fields and values for a particular memory array that is installed on your system. Memory attributes include fields describing the maximum capacity versus the actual installed RAM of the system at a given point in time. Attributes and fields are listed for each memory array installed in the system.

Location Indicates the place where the memory array resides, for example, on the system board, or in an expansion card such as Industry Standard Architecture (ISA), Extended ISA (EISA), or Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI), NUBUS, or various types of PC-98 expansion cards.
Use Indicates the function to which this memory array is dedicated; for example, system memory, video memory, flash memory, nonvolatile RAM, or cache.
Installed Capacity Displays the amount of RAM that is presently installed in the system.
Maximum Capacity Displays the maximum RAM capacity of the system when all available sockets are occupied.
Slots Available Displays the total number of slots available in this memory array.
Slots Used Displays the number of slots that are populated with memory modules in this array.
Error Correction Identifies the error correction type that this memory can perform. For example, parity, single-bit, multibit, cyclic redundancy checking (CRC).

Total Of Memory Array(s)

This menu includes fields for installed memory, the amount of installed memory that is available to the operating system, and the maximum memory capacity if all memory slots are occupied.

Total Installed Capacity Displays the total memory installed in the entire system.
Total Installed Capacity Available to the OS Displays the total memory installed and available to the operating system.
Total Maximum Capacity Displays the total memory that can be installed in the entire system when all memory slots are occupied.

Details Of Memory Array <n>

This menu provides details about a specific memory array.

Status Normal, Prefailure, Unknown or Failure performance of the memory module.
Connector Name The alphanumeric text that uniquely identifies each memory slot, whether occupied or unoccupied.
Type The memory type on your system (like DDR3) will be reported here.

Synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM) chips operate fast enough to synchronize with the CPU clock, eliminating wait states. The SDRAM chip set has two cell blocks, allowing more efficient data access. In dynamic random access memory (DRAM) each bit of storage is built from a single transistor and capacitor, allowing more memory bits to fit in the same chip set area. However, DRAM has to be refreshed because the charge on the capacitor, which represents the stored bit value, decays with time. During a refresh, the memory module must read every bit and write it back at full strength.

Type1The memory type on your system (like DDR4) or NVDIMM will be reported here.

NVDIMM is a nonvolatile persistent memory device that combines NAND flash, DRAM and an power source via external battery or super capacitors (supercaps) into a single memory subsystem. The NVDIMMs supports data backup solutions on a host detected power outage scenarios due to power loss, system crash or normal shutdowns. Also provides data restore operation on the server boot initialization.

Size Capacity of the memory slot, expressed in MB.
For an explanation of other buttons present on Server Administrator Action pages, see Server Administrator Window Buttons.