Fujitsu Primergy RX300 S6 review

If you want the maximum storage in a 2U rack server then check out HP's ProLiant DL380 G6, since this can handle up to 16 SFF drives. However, Fujitsu does beat Dell as the RX300 S6 can squeeze in 12 SFF drives, whereas the R710 can handle only up to eight.

Fujitsu offers three hot-swap backplanes for the server, with the review system fitted with an eight-bay version to leave room for a backup device in the centre of the front panel. If you don't want the media bay, you can have a six-bay option for 3.5in SATA and SAS drives, or a backplane for 12 SFF drives.

An LSI-based PCI Express card looks after RAID and has its two internal four- port connectors cabled through to the hard disk backplane. The card supports the latest 6Gbits/sec SAS drives, can be upgraded with a battery backup module, and can handle up to 12 drives using an integral SAS expander.

Even with the RAID controller installed, there's plenty of room for expansion: the server has seven PCI Express slots supporting low-profile cards. Power redundancy is available, as the 800W power supply in the review system can be partnered by a second, and these are 92% efficiency models.

Fujitsu's designs on energy efficiency look to have succeeded. Our inline power meter measured a draw of 136W in idle, which peaked at 270W with all 24 logical processor cores pushed to the limit by SiSoft Sandra.

The embedded iRMC S2 chip offers a smart web interface, and is on a par with HP's iLO2 controller as you can view the status of critical components, keep an eye on environmental values, and control power. The ServerView Suite is for server management only and, unlike the software offered by HP and Dell, doesn't try to manage everything else as well. It's easy to use and provides plenty of monitoring facilities plus inventory, remote firmware upgrade tools and extensive alerting features.

Price-wise, the Fujitsu RX300 is on a par with Dell's PowerEdge R710 and costs less than an equivalent HP ProLiant DL380 G7. It offers high storage potential plus low power consumption, and ties it all together neatly with quality remote management tools.

Author: Dave Mitchell