Armari SR-X64DC

An embedded Adaptec dual-channel Ultra320 SCSI controller looks after storage and offers Adaptec's HostRAID feature, which can manage striped and mirrored arrays. However, the lower 66MHz PCI slot supports ZCR (zero-channel RAID) cards and is fitted with an Adaptec 2010S model, which improves the RAID outlook considerably. General fault tolerance is even better, as you have a trio of hot-swap power supplies. Management features centre around Supermicro's SuperO Doctor III utility, which provides a smart remote web-browser interface offering plenty of operational information and good alerting facilities. The RAID controllers are looked after by Adaptec's slick Storage Manager utility, while an extra slot above the PCI slots also accepts Supermicro's new IPMI 2 baseboard controller, allowing the server to be remotely accessed and managed.

The benefits of AMD's new Opterons are plain to see. Standard quad-processor servers are massive beasts, whereas the SR-X64DC is no larger than a normal dual-processor server. For the price, you're also getting an extremely good deal, with standard four-way systems costing nearly three times as much. Before you rush and buy, though, check with your software suppliers. One problem could be licensing. Some vendors have yet to decide how to treat these processors, while others are viewing dual-core chips as separate CPUs for licensing purposes.

Author: Dave Mitchell