Product Reviews

Although many server manufacturers now include support for AMD in their product lines, Dell has remained Intel's staunchest supporter and shows no signs of wavering from total commitment. And this has resulted in a fine range of Intel-based servers covering every angle from the SME right up to the enterprise. Aimed at small businesses and applications such as remote office or workgroup services, the PowerEdge 830 is the latest to join this extended family and delivers support for Intel's dual-core Pentium D processor.

There are certainly plenty of entry-level servers to choose from, but the big differentiators at this level are always remote and local management facilities. The 830 is particularly good value in this respect. Along with a decent specification, this model has a wealth of remote management and monitoring features. These centre around the bundled OpenManage software suite, comprising Dell's Server Administrator, IT Assistant and Array Manager utilities. Installation is simple enough, as Dell supplies one CD-ROM to automatically set up a server to be managed and another to turn a networked system into a management console.

The server can be locally managed using the Server Administrator, which offers browser-based access to the server and provides plenty of information about motherboard sensors. All operational data is presented in tabular format and you can see the status of the processor, power, hard disks, chassis intrusion, temperatures and voltages. Alert management is particularly good, as any faults can be linked to actions such as network broadcasts, sending emails and running an application. The IT Assistant targets Dell-centric networks and can manage any of its servers, workstations and laptops running the appropriate agent software. It requires MSDE 2000, which is included on the product CD-ROM, and uses this to store basic inventory information about each system. Basic remote access is facilitated by the IPMI 1.5-compliant BMC (baseboard management controller) chip, which allows the server to be remotely accessed over the LAN or serial port regardless of its condition. However, unlike vendors such as Supermicro that provide a decent graphical interface for their IPMI controllers, all Dell offers is a simple command-line shell. It's

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limited in its capabilities, but it does allow you to control the server's power supply and flash the status LED on its front panel.

The review system as priced includes Dell's DRAC 4/P management card, which comes with its own processor, graphics chipset and network port. The server is accessed remotely via a secure browser session and security is provided via a user list that determines what can be accessed on the server. With full administrative access, you can shut down the OS, recycle power and turn off or switch the server back on. Full remote-control sessions allow the server and OS to be accessed, and virtual floppy and CD-ROM support means it can be booted from an image stored on another system. Note that HP, in contrast, offers only the latter features as optional extras with its integrated lights-out (iLO) controller.

Dell's build quality certainly isn't anything to sniff at. The 830 will easily handle the rigours of everyday office life. The chassis is made of solid steel and physical security extends to key-locking the front bezel, which also protects the side panel. Internal layout isn't the tidiest, as the IDE and power cables are left loose, although we found access to all key components wasn't hindered.

The system came supplied with a 3GHz Pentium D processor topped off with a mighty passive heatsink, while the memory contingent was made up of a pair of fast 512MB PC2-4200 modules. There's room to expand, as the motherboard supports up to 8GB of memory and also comes with plenty of expansion slots. This system is the SATA variant and the base server provides four basic embedded SATA ports, but RAID comes into the equation as the price includes Dell's CERC 1.5 six-channel controller card. This is an Adaptec-manufactured card equipped with 64MB of embedded cache memory and it supports all the usual RAID options.

The storage picture looks even better, as you have a trio of 74GB Maxtor SATA/150 drives included and pre-configured as a RAID5 fault-tolerant array. These are mounted in an easily removable disk cage with room for a fourth drive. Usefully, Dell has wired in the extra SATA and power cables ready to receive the extra drive. A large plastic shroud directs air through the front panel, over the hard disks and on to the processor heatsink, with a single 12cm fan at the rear looking after cooling. The 830 therefore looks a far better candidate for a small office than Supermicro's 733i pedestal chassis, as once the variable speed fan has settled down we found noise levels were very low.

The PowerEdge 830 impresses on a number of counts and offers a good hardware specification for the price. There's plenty of power under the bonnet, making this a good investment. But the remote management features really make this server stand out, as does Dell's excellent Gold support package included in the price.