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Memory mirroring mode installation order

Memory-mirroring mode provides full memory redundancy while reducing the total system memory capacity in half. Memory channels are grouped in pairs with each channel receiving the same data. If a failure occurs, the memory controller switches from the DIMMs on the primary channel to the DIMMs on the backup channel. The DIMM installation order for memory mirroring varies based on the number of processors and DIMMs installed in the server.

Memory mirroring guidelines:
  • Memory mirroring reduces the maximum available memory by half of the installed memory. For example, if the server has 64 GB of installed memory, only 32 GB of addressable memory is available when memory mirroring is enabled.

  • Each DIMM must be identical in size and architecture.

  • DIMMs on each memory channel must be of equal density.

  • If two memory channels have DIMMs, mirroring occurs across two DIMMs (channels 0/1 will both contain the primary/secondary memory caches).

  • If three memory channels have DIMMs, mirroring occurs across all three DIMMs (channels 0/1, channels 1/2, and channels 2/0 will all contain primary/secondary memory caches).

  • Partial Memory Mirroring is a sub-function of memory mirroring. It requires following the memory installation order of memory mirroring mode.

  • Before installing 24Gbit-based (96 GB) or 32Gbit-based (128 GB) memory module to the system, make sure to update the UEFI firmware to the latest version first, then remove all existing 16Gbit-based (16 GB, 32 GB) memory modules.

Table 1. Memory mirroring mode
Total DIMMsProcessor 0/1/4/5
D1D2C1C2B1B2A1A2E2E1F2F1G2G1H2H1
64 DIMMsD1C1B1A1E1F1G1H1
128 DIMMsD1D2C1C2B1B2A1A2E2E1F2F1G2G1H2H1
Total DIMMsProcessor 2/3/6/7
M1M2L1L2K1K2J1J2N2N1P2P1R2R1T2T1
64 DIMMsM1L1K1J1N1P1R1T1
128 DIMMsM1M2L1L2K1K2J1J2N2N1P2P1R2R1T2T1
Note
  1. DIMM configurations that support the Sub NUMA Clustering (SNC) feature, which can be enabled via UEFI. SNC is not supported if DIMM population does not follow the sequence indicated by the table above.

  2. DIMM configurations that support Software Guard Extensions (SGX), see Enable Software Guard Extensions (SGX) to enable this feature.