Dell Poweredge R310 Highly Scalable Advantage
In 2010 Dell was kept busy overhaul its family of PowerEdge servers to take benefit of Intel's latest Xeon processors. The result, in the main, was the latest and highly scalable products, mostly aimed at the large enterprise market. By contrast, the PowerEdge R310 which has designed to request to buyers of much more modest means.
Given that the cost tag is similar to that of a decent desktop, some compromises have indeed been made the most obvious being the Dell R310's single processor socket. Still, the device can take a range of Dell quad-core Intel Xeon 3400 processors, explicitly designed to run in entry-level servers. Moreover, with upto 32GB of DDR3 memory, the R310 can be configured to handle a selection of small-business or departmental workloads, from standard file and print sharing through specialist server hosting to more demanding virtualization duties.
Naturally, the processor you select will affect the cost, although not hugely. Indeed just between the slowest and quickest on tender: our review system shipped with a mid-range 2.66GHz Xeon X3450, costing more than the entry-level 2.4GHz X3430. For another, you can specify the 2.93GHzX3470, although for reasons best known to itself Dell has omitted the even quicker 3.06GHzX3480 from the choice list. You can, however, select a low-power 45W variant, the 1.86GHz L3426 — and, again, it's not costly, adding to the base cost.
You get only six DIMM slots but on a system the type that shouldn't be a problem. You get with 16GB of ECC-protected memory configured as usual which can be doubled to 32GB if you want. Unfortunately, that will push the cost up pretty a bit as you have to switch to RDIMM module to go further 16GB, and that can be pricey.
The PowerEdge R310 has the create the quality of its more expensive stablemates
That's about it as far as apparent compromises are concerned and, regardless of the PC-level starting cost, the R310 is as well-engineered as much more costly PowerEdge server. The all-metal 1U chassis, for example, have a lift-off lid for entry and there's the selection for dual redundant power supplies to assist things running no matter what. The interior is neat and organized, too, with five twin-rotor fans in the middle to stay everything fresh; there's room at the front for four hard disks, with the alternative of either fixed or hot-swappable bays.
To fill the drive bays, there's the option of SATA and SAS disks up to 2TB per spindle, also withhold for solid-state drives. The latter can be extremely classy, though: Dell currently charges a bit high for 100GB SSDs.
Our analysis unit came with a more modest pair of 2.5in. 146GB SAS drive. Because the onboard controller can only handle SATA, it also shipped with a Dell PERC H200A RAID controller. Besides, SAS the adapter also adds support for hot-swapping, with a choice of other storage HBAs accessible along with two PCI Express expansion slots to accommodate them.
Finishing off the specification are two Broadcom GB Ethernet interfaces and a Dell iDRAC6 Express remote management controller, the analysis system shipping with the iDRAC6 Enterprise update, adding full graphical remote control and with the dedicated management port. And finally, Dell unique Lifecycle controller is also included, making for standard configuration without the need to hunt about for driver disks all time.
Dell's management console that included with the PowerEdge R310.
Software, indeed, will also add to the cost with, at the time of our study, Dell providing to preload the 5-user version of Windows Small Business Servers 2008. Other Window versions can be employed if preferred; also loading up Windows, we also used the Dell R310 as a testbed to review the new release of the Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL6).
Windows and Linux both installed without any issues, and performance levels show respectable throughout our tests. The speed is nothing like what you would expect to get on bigger PowerEdge servers. Still, it is excellent for this type of entry-level solution and more than enough for most general business and departmental needs. That said, most buyers will pay more than that desktop-level to obtain a workable solution. Still, it is worth it, and you're unlikely to break the bank no matter what specification you end up buying.
