Fujitsu Siemens Primergy TX300 S2

General start-up assistance is provided by the ServerStart utility, while ServerView provides an SNMP interface from which you can access all systems on the network that have the relevant agents installed. From the main interface, it's possible to monitor areas such as processor temperatures, power supplies, fans and expansion cards. Failures will cause alarms to be generated that can be tied to notifications by email, network message or pager. The power settings may be remotely accessed so server power cycles can be scheduled, and a watchdog timer is able to reboot the server if no activity is detected for a specified time. The new Web Extensions bring server monitoring up to date, as ServerView can now be accessed remotely via a browser, where it provides all the same features along with secure access over HTTPS. LSI's GAM (global array manager) is probably the weakest link. Although this utility provides reasonable levels of information about the physical and logical disk layout, it has only recently been updated to support disk-failure alerting via pager, fax, email and running an application.

The Primergy range of servers has seen steady improvements, not least in build quality, and the TX300 S2 is a fine example. Remote management tools aren't as sophisticated as HP's, but it offers a better specification than the ML350 G4 for a little more cash, making this a good choice for SMEs looking to upgrade their IT services.

Author: Dave Mitchell