Product Reviews

Demand for low-profile rack mount servers shows no signs of slowing down, and most vendors are now jumping on the bandwagon to get a piece of the action. However, although IBM was one of the first to market over a year ago with the Netfinity 4000R (reviewed enterprise, issue 69, p10), there have been many latecomers to the party.

HP only released its NetServer LP1000r (reviewed enterprise, issue 79, p239) this year, and Dell is another late arrival. Dell's move into the 1U-high server arena has been signalled by the release of two products - the PowerEdge 350 and the PowerEdge 1550. The former is a budget box that supports a single processor and EIDE drives, whereas the 1550 on review delivers a far higher hardware specification with support for dual processors and a SCSI disk subsystem.

One of the most striking features of the 1550 is that its front panel has been carefully designed to allow three drive bays to be squeezed in. The majority of 1U-high servers only have enough room for a pair of drives, so if you want a RAID array you're limited to levels 0 or 1. The three bays expand your options to include a RAID-5 array for maximum fault tolerance combined with good performance, a feature also found in the LP1000r. Dell certainly put this to good use on the review system as it came fitted with Dell's PERC 3/DCL RAID controller card teamed up with 64Mb of cache memory and configured in a RAID-5 array.

Even though three drive bays have been shoe-horned in, Dell still found room for a 24-speed EIDE CD-ROM and floppy drive, and even monitor and mouse/keyboard ports have been conveniently duplicated on the front panel. If you use these ports, the rear ones will be automatically disabled.

The method used to remove the top panel is unusual as it's held in place with a couple of thumbscrews at the front, and releasing these allows the top to be slid backwards supported by two bracing bars. This makes more sense in a high-density rack environment, as the unit doesn't have to be completely removed from the rack to perform maintenance and upgrades.

Inside, you'll find a tasty specification. Unlike HP and Fujitsu Siemens, Dell still uses its own motherboards, and the 1550 comes equipped with the very latest ServerWorks ServerSet III HE-SL core logic chipset. Introduced in SuperMicro's i-Server - which took a well-deserved Recommended award in the rack mount server group test (see enterprise, issue 78, p207) - the HE-SL chipset supports PC133 SDRAM but boosts performance by using a two-way interleaved memory subsystem, which provides a 144-bit memory bus as opposed to a 72-bit bus. This

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arrangement requires memory modules to be installed in pairs, and they must be the same type, brand and speed. The chipset also supports PC100 memory modules, but these will require the front side bus speed to be dropped to 100MHz using a jumper switch.

The internal layout of the 1550 is impressively tidy. The three drive bays are covered with a separate protective panel, and each came fitted with a 9.1Gb Ultra160 Seagate Cheetah hard disk. The hot-plug backplane stretches across the entire width of the chassis behind and incorporates the CD-ROM and floppy interfaces to reduce cable-related clutter considerably. This is accompanied by a plastic panel holding four cooling fans that direct air from the front grill and out across the entire motherboard. Two FC-PGA sockets are located near the front of the main board, with one occupied by a Pentium III/933 module. Alongside are four DIMM sockets canted over at around 25 degrees, with two holding 256Mb memory modules. Standard SCSI services are provided by an integrated Adaptec AIC-7899G Ultra160 chipset, but the addition of the RAID controller makes this largely redundant.

Graphics are delivered by an embedded ATi Rage XL chipset supported by 4Mb of memory, and the 1550 also offers a pair of embedded Intel Pro100+ network adaptors. Two 64-bit, 66MHz PCI slots are provided, with the RAID controller stealing one, and Dell decided an extra 32-bit PCI Intel server adaptor would be a good idea, so there's no room for additional expansion cards should you need them. It's also worth noting that the two embedded adaptors don't use the latest Intel 82559 chipsets, so adaptor teaming for fault-tolerant links isn't supported.

The same comprehensive package of management and monitoring used by the vast majority of PowerEdge servers is also bundled with the 1550. Installation is assisted ably by Dell's Server Assistant, which aids with system configuration and operating system installation, while server monitoring and management are handled by Dell's OpenManage software suite. Dell's motherboard is equipped with a full array of embedded sensors providing information on operating temperatures and voltages, along with cooling fan activity and power status. The browser-based IT Assistant is used to access this information and can also configure, manage and monitor local and remote systems, which include Dell workstations and laptops that have the management software installed. Version Assistant could prove useful for support departments as it allows them to manage and control BIOS and driver versions on PowerEdge servers. The RAID controller has its own FAST management utility that keeps a close eye on the array and can be used to manage remote controllers as well.

Although it's taken Dell longer than most to enter the low-profile rack server market, the PowerEdge 1550 shows that the wait was worthwhile as it offers a top-notch specification that includes the latest ServerWorks HE-SL chipset and packs it all into a well-designed chassis. Along with HP and Fujitsu Siemens, it's also the only other 1U-high system we've seen with room for up to three hard disks. So, if you want plenty of RAID options, the 1550 is well worth considering.