http://www.viewpoints.com/Servers Sun, 13 Jul 2008 02:25:25 GMT Reviews about Servers http://www.viewpoints.com/Dell-Poweredge-R900-review-eb881 Qualifications: I am the manager (Network Administrator) of a medium-sized server farm in the Mid-West, which consists of some 250+ Dell PowerEdge servers of various models and designs.  These models include 1750, 1850, 1950, 2650, 2850, 2500, 2600, 2850, 2950 and R900 servers, running Windows 2003 Standard Server or Windows 2003 Standard and Enterprise Edition(s) x64-bit. In my capacity as a network administrator I have worked on and administered all manner of server platforms from all of the major vendors: IBM, Hewlett Packard, Compaq, and Dell.  But for the last four years I have worked almost exclusively with Dell server platforms of all sizes, from the small 1U's to the larger 6U multi-hard drive, multi-processor rack mountable boxes.  So I have lived through the evolution of the Dell 2000 series of 2U rack mount servers, to the latest to enter our data center; the PowerEdge R900, a few of which I have installed and configured. — Dell designed the (4U)... Sun, 13 Jul 2008 02:25:25 GMT http://www.viewpoints.com/Dell-Poweredge-R900-review-eb881 TheBard 4 http://www.viewpoints.com/LocalNet-com-Internet-Service--152461-review-4f052      My family had decided to go with a dial-up service for the internet.  We were using my old laptop computer.  We searched for a local server with a reasonable price.  We found, and decided to use, "Localnet.com".  This was such a huge mistake.  I wish we'd searched for more info about this server before attempting to utilize their service.  We had problems establishing and maintaining a connection, from day 1.  Then there were the viruses that our laptop contracted while we used them.  Sure, dial-up is slow, but molasses in our motherboard would have moved faster.  Now we have a quicker server, (not dial up), and are much happier.  Only one problem...Localnet refuses to cancel our service with them, and stop charging us.  This, after we have tried in all three of their recommended ways, to cancel.  They've charged my bank account... Tue, 20 May 2008 19:56:33 GMT http://www.viewpoints.com/LocalNet-com-Internet-Service--152461-review-4f052 Desylvan 1 http://www.viewpoints.com/Hewlett-Packard-MediaSmart-Server-EX475-review-def7 If you have either a wired or wireless home network, the HP MediaSmart Server is an excellent investment for several reasons. While there are many software products that back up your computer(s), I've never had complete success with a back up product where I didn't lose something. I recently tried to revert to an earlier system restore point in Windows and something happened that corrupted the SAM security files in the Windows System 32 directory which made logging in to my computer impossible. Having purchased the HP EX475 in January 2008, I was able to use a system backup to restore the complete system drive in about 20 minutes.  It was amazing! — There are 2 current models of the HP MediaSmart Server, the EX470 and EX475, the difference being the second preinstalled 500 GB HDD. — The server has these additional features. The sleek, quiet MediaSmart Server EX475 provides remote access to files(*1) on the server, automatic backup of all networked PCs, media... Thu, 21 Feb 2008 20:00:56 GMT http://www.viewpoints.com/Hewlett-Packard-MediaSmart-Server-EX475-review-def7 jmdr 5 http://www.viewpoints.com/IBM-eServer-BladeCenter-HS20-884325U-Server-review-e1140 We have experienced some problems with IBM blades, both HS20 and HS40, running a fairly large 33,000 mailbox Exchange system.  We have experienced some hardware failures, CPU replacements mostly.  IBM has been good to work with on the hardware replacements although on one of the replacements the technician had to come back 3 times before finally replacing the motherboard to resolve all of the problems.  My greatest difficulty with the blade servers has been in troubleshooting fibre connectivity issues.  The fibre passthrough modules make if difficult to isolate connectivity issues.  Part of our problem is that the person that configured and got the servers online left the company and the rest of us had to try to figure out how things were configured.  It just seems like it could be more straight... Mon, 24 Dec 2007 15:56:45 GMT http://www.viewpoints.com/IBM-eServer-BladeCenter-HS20-884325U-Server-review-e1140 Sackosugar 2 http://www.viewpoints.com/Dell-PowerEdge-2800-Server-review-e5e41 This box is heavy. It is solid. It could be a little quieter and cooler but for what it does, it is awesome. Raid 5 with hatspare and forget it. The boards are long lasting, the drives have good airflow. Up to 8 drives in a raid config. Purchasing raid later is a small pain but configured right the first time you will love it. For the average office file server, SAS drives are fine. For an office with Exchange, file and print services, get SCSI drives. Either way, expect it to last in this... Tue, 20 Nov 2007 06:27:33 GMT http://www.viewpoints.com/Dell-PowerEdge-2800-Server-review-e5e41 rbrake2000 5 http://www.viewpoints.com/Dell-PowerEdge-6850-Server-review-a6220 Bottom-Line: If you are looking for a powerful, reliable, versatile, reasonably priced file server, the medium-footprint Dell PowerEdge 6850 Enterprise-class application server will most certainly fit the bill.  — A business, any business, runs on information, and applications, internal and external.  Increasingly applications-especially those offered by external vendors-have become more and more complicated, and need to be phased into the production environment over time, taking into account the applications affect on the current environment.  This means testing the application before it enters production.  More applications mean more testing; we recently started testing x64-bit servers and applications and use Microsoft's Virtual Server 2005R2 x64-bit to simulate our production environment of the future.  But 64-bit application need a powerful x64-bit server to run in a virtualized environment; enter the Dell PowerEdge 6850 4U rack mountable... Sat, 10 Nov 2007 13:37:38 GMT http://www.viewpoints.com/Dell-PowerEdge-6850-Server-review-a6220 TheBard 5 http://www.viewpoints.com/Dell-PowerVault-120T-DLT-7000-review-e422 The PowerVault 120T DLT-7000 is a fully automated, high-performance, high-capacity, seven-tape, random access autoloader/mass storage system designed to provide unattended and on-line/off-line data storage, archiving, backup, and restoration of vital system files and data.  The PowerVault 120T DLT-7000 is designed to be used with low and mid-range servers and networks.  The PowerVault 120T DLT-7000 is compatible with operating systems (OS) and environments that support the SCSI Ultra Wide (UW) interface, requiring either direct OS support, or a suitable application program; i.e. tape backup program such as Veritas Backup Exec, or Computer Associates ARCServe. — — The PowerVault 120T DLT-7000 is a High Voltage Differential (HVD) device, and must have an HVD SCSI adapter such as the Adaptec 2944UW or Adaptec 3944UW. Connection of low voltage differential (LVD) or single-ended SCSI devices to the adapter will cause the bus and/or devices to become nonfunctional.... Tue, 21 Aug 2007 16:26:12 GMT http://www.viewpoints.com/Dell-PowerVault-120T-DLT-7000-review-e422 TheBard 3 http://www.viewpoints.com/Dell-PowerEdge-6600-Server-review-27f4 Bottom Line: If your organization is looking for very powerful, reliable, versatile, application and or file platform, the reasonably priced Dell PowerEdge 6600 enterprise-class server for medium-to-large organizations might be for you.   — The previous company I worked for purchased two brand spanking new Dell PowerEdge 6600 enterprise-class application servers to replace the businesses older-still reliable-but increasingly storage challenged, PowerEdge 6450's, which housed a number of developmental and production databases centered on Microsoft's SQL platform.  — Why the PowerEdge 6600?  The choice was the result of balancing cost, performance, storage, flexibility, service, and reliability.  Since Dell was the current server vendor, I needed to research and spec a pair of servers that would stay within the businesses budget, including maintenance agreements, but still offer the power, storage, and flexibility needed to run our growing database... Mon, 20 Aug 2007 13:52:29 GMT http://www.viewpoints.com/Dell-PowerEdge-6600-Server-review-27f4 TheBard 4 http://www.viewpoints.com/Dell-PowerEdge-1850-Server-review-f62b Bottom-Line: If you are looking for a powerful, reliable, versatile, reasonably priced file server, the small-footprint Dell PowerEdge 1850 Enterprise-class application server will most certainly fit the bill.  — A business, any business, runs on information, both gathered and produced for dissemination to clients and employees.  Increasingly this information is gathered and disseminated via the Internet and that means web application servers with all manner of hooks and add-ins that require raw processor power more than storage capacity.  These "Front-end" servers usually have at least two processors and up to 16GB of DDR Ram.  Enter the Dell PowerEdge 1850 1U rack mountable server. — The Dell PowerEdge 1850 is the follow-on the very successful PowerEdge 1750 server box.  Like the PowerEdge 1750, the PowerEdge 1850 is small; indeed the server is designed to fit into a 1U rack space, the smallest rack mountable footprint available.  As a... Wed, 15 Aug 2007 13:54:20 GMT http://www.viewpoints.com/Dell-PowerEdge-1850-Server-review-f62b TheBard 4 http://www.viewpoints.com/Dell-PowerEdge-1750-Server-review-116f0 Bottom-Line: If you are looking for a reliable, versatile, reasonably priced file server, the small-footprint Dell PowerEdge 1750 departmental application server will admirably fit the bill.  — The first thing you'll notice about the Dell PowerEdge 1750 is its small size; indeed the server is designed to fit into a 1U rack space.  As a result everything about the sever is compact, but amazingly easy to access; the top cover comes completely off the unit exposing the motherboard and other innards.  — The Dell PowerEdge 1750 was designed as a general purpose application, highly available server. The PowerEdge 1750 1U server supports dual Intel Xeon processors with clock speeds of up to 3.2GHz.  The PowerEdge 1750 features the ServerWorks GC-LE chipset that supports five peer PCI buses, a maximum 8GB of DDR RAM in four slots and embedded dual-channel RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Drives) with 128MB cache and battery backup. — The PowerEdge... Tue, 14 Aug 2007 14:11:15 GMT http://www.viewpoints.com/Dell-PowerEdge-1750-Server-review-116f0 TheBard 4 http://www.viewpoints.com/Compaq-Compaq-ML370-G4-Server-review-accd Bottom-Line: If you are looking for a robust (expandable) 5U rack mount (or tower) server with plenty of storage potential, the HP Compaq ML370 (G4) might very well fit the bill. — The HP Compaq ML370 (G4) continues Hewlett Packard/Compaq's long tradition of building quality enterprise-class server platforms.  HP builds the HP Compaq ML370 in several different configurations; 3U and 5U chassis designs.  The 5U chassis design incorporates an HP StorageWorks DAT-72 Tape Backup Unit (TBU) into the design, while the base unit looks very similar to the Dell PowerEdge 2800 series 3U rack servers.  We currently have two 5U HP Compaq ML370's installed.  The server can also be bought as a standard tower design.  — The 5U rack-mount ML370 chassis design moves the six-disk hot-swap cage to the far left hand side of the box and stacks them on top of one another, leaving room in the center of the box for up a DAT-72 TBU, 5.25 inch CD-ROM/DVD-ROM, and more... Sun, 12 Aug 2007 00:53:03 GMT http://www.viewpoints.com/Compaq-Compaq-ML370-G4-Server-review-accd TheBard 4 http://www.viewpoints.com/Hewlett-Packard-HP-Compaq-DL-380-Generation-4-G4-Server-review-d296 Bottom-Line: If you are looking for a robust 2U rack mount server with plenty of storage potential, the HP Compaq DL380 (G4) might very well fit the bill. — The 2U HP Compaq DL-380 Generation 4 (G4) rack-mount server is a traditional chassis design that incorporates (6) Ultra320 hot-swap hard drives into a neat package.  If one of the drives is omitted, a DAT-72 TBU, can be put in it place.  On top of the drive bay cage HP placed the floppy and CD-ROM/DVD-ROM drives.  One the far right of the chassis you will find the power switch, several LED indicator lights, including status lights for Ethernet activity, as well as power supply status indicators.  All of the Ultra320 SCSI drives come mounted in industrial-strength metal carriers, and the maximum (native) storage is 1.8TB utilizing 6x300GB Ultra320 15,000rpm drives. — Access to the inside of the DL380 (G4) is via an easy to remove to latched access panel.  The internal design of the DL380 (G4),... Fri, 10 Aug 2007 23:23:52 GMT http://www.viewpoints.com/Hewlett-Packard-HP-Compaq-DL-380-Generation-4-G4-Server-review-d296 TheBard 5 http://www.viewpoints.com/Hewlett-Packard-HP-Compaq-DL360-G4-Server-review-93a9 Bottom-Line: If you are looking for a robust 1U rack mount server with powerful processing potential the HP Compaq DL360 (G4) might very well fit the bill. — I have worked with all manner of server from all of the major server vendors; IBM, Hewlett Packard, Dell, and Compaq, and all offer a variety of servers to fit individual needs.  We have a number of legacy applications that run on HP Compaq 1U, 2U and 5U servers including the HP Compaq DL-360 (G4) 1U rack mountable server.       The HP Compaq DL360 (G4) continues Hewlett Packard/Compaq's long tradition of building quality enterprise-class server platforms; indeed the DL360 line of server is one of the companies most popular and is aimed squarely at Dell's PowerEdge 1750 line of servers.  — The 1U rack-mount DL360 (G4) is optimized for space-constrained data center installations. The rack mount DL360 (G4) can be configured with up to (2) 3.4GHz Intel Xeon... Thu, 09 Aug 2007 09:42:49 GMT http://www.viewpoints.com/Hewlett-Packard-HP-Compaq-DL360-G4-Server-review-93a9 TheBard 4 http://www.viewpoints.com/Hewlett-Packard-HP-Compaq-DL320-Server-review-abe0 Bottom-Line: If you are looking for a 1U rack mount single-purpose server with powerful processing potential the HP Compaq DL320 (G3) might very well fit the bill. — I have worked with all manner of server from all of the major server vendors; IBM, Hewlett Packard, Dell, and Compaq, and all offer a variety of servers to fit individual needs.  We have a number of legacy applications that run on HP Compaq 1U, 2U and 5U servers including the HP Compaq DL-320 (G3) 1U rack mountable server.       The (G3) in the description of this server stands for third generation of the DL320 (G3) server.  Proceeding generations of the server have sported Pentium II and III processors, and have been free standing as well as rack mountable.  The DL-320 (G3) is available in only in rack-mountable configuration.    The 1U rack-mount DL320 (G3) is optimized for space-constrained data center installations and was... Tue, 07 Aug 2007 20:10:26 GMT http://www.viewpoints.com/Hewlett-Packard-HP-Compaq-DL320-Server-review-abe0 TheBard 4 http://www.viewpoints.com/Dell-PowerEdge-6650-Server-review-ec7b Bottom-Line: If you are looking for a powerful, reliable, versatile, reasonably priced file server, the medium-footprint Dell PowerEdge 6650 Enterprise-class application server will most certainly fit the bill.  — A business, any business, runs on information, and applications, internal and external.  Increasingly applications-especially those offered by external vendors-have become more and more complicated, and need to be phased into the production environment over time, taking into account the applications affect on the current environment.  This means testing the application before it enters production.  More applications mean more testing; we use Microsoft's Virtual Server 2005 to simulate our real-world production environment, but that application requires robust hardware in order to run.  Enter the Dell PowerEdge 6650 4U rack mountable server.       The Server — The Dell PowerEdge 6650 is the little... Sun, 05 Aug 2007 16:30:43 GMT http://www.viewpoints.com/Dell-PowerEdge-6650-Server-review-ec7b TheBard 4 http://www.viewpoints.com/Dell-PowerEdge-2850-Server-review-2651 Bottom-Line: If you are looking for a powerful, reliable, versatile, reasonably priced file server, the medium-footprint Dell PowerEdge 2850 Enterprise-class application server will most certainly fit the bill.  — Open the door to any modern Network Operations Center (NOC) and you are liable to find all manner of rack mounted servers contently humming away within.  From the small 1U's to the power hungry and space happy 6U's servers are the life's blood of the NOC; in fact they are the only reason such facilities exist at all.  Dell offers a large variety of rack mountable boxes, including the 2U workhorse, the Dell PowerEdge 2850 rack mountable server.       The Server — Dell designed the PE 2850 for high-availability, 24/7 NOC operations.  The server features hot-pluggable 15,000-rpm SCSI hard drives, internal cooling fans, power supplies, and memory banks. The PE 2850's dual Nocona-based 3.6-GHz Xeon-based... Fri, 03 Aug 2007 10:09:56 GMT http://www.viewpoints.com/Dell-PowerEdge-2850-Server-review-2651 TheBard 4 http://www.viewpoints.com/Dell-PowerEdge-2800-Server-review-a8a7 Bottom-Line: If you are looking for a stand-a-lone reliable, versatile, powerful and reasonably priced file or application server, (5U), (Tower) Dell PowerEdge 2800 server will most certainly fit the bill.  — The branch server; they are as ubiquitous now as the cash register.  They are most often stuck in a back room, or worse a closet with poor ventilation, lighting and room.  The branch server is often overlooked and overworked, and yet it is as vital to any operation as a well pampered Network Operations Center (NOC) server.  I have worked with all manner of server from all of the major server vendors; IBM, Hewlett Packard, and Dell, and all offer a variety of servers to fit individual needs, but Dell seems to offer the largest variety of multi-purpose server, including the flexible 5U Tower workhorse, the Dell PowerEdge 2800.         The Server: — Dell designed the PE 2800 for high-availability,... Fri, 03 Aug 2007 09:55:54 GMT http://www.viewpoints.com/Dell-PowerEdge-2800-Server-review-a8a7 TheBard 4 http://www.viewpoints.com/Dell-Poweredge-2650-Server-review-8939 When you open the door to any modern Network Operations Center (NOC) and you are liable to find all manner of rack mounted servers contently humming away within.  From the small 1U's to the power hungry and space happy 6U's servers are the life's blood of the NOC; in fact they are the only reason such facilities exist at all.  I have worked with all manner of server from all of the major server vendors; IBM, Hewlett Packard, and Dell, and all offer a variety of servers to fit individual needs, but Dell seems to offer the largest variety of rack mountable boxes, including another 2U workhorse, the Dell PowerEdge 2650 rack mountable server.       Dell designed the PE 2650 for high-availability, 24/7 NOC operations.  The 2U rack mountable, five drive server, features dual Intel Xeon processors with a 533MHz Front Side Bus (FSB), and up to 2MB of L2 level cache.  The PE 2650 is well suited for computing and memory-intensive... Tue, 31 Jul 2007 13:02:32 GMT http://www.viewpoints.com/Dell-Poweredge-2650-Server-review-8939 TheBard 5 http://www.viewpoints.com/Dell-Poweredge-2500-Server-review-97ff I open the door to the computer lab and the air still, dark, and cool rolls like an unseen cloud forcefully through the opening giving rise to goose bumps along the surface of my exposed skin.  The hum of the three HVAC cooling units mixes with that of the small cooling fans of over two hundred severs mounted in more than 30 industry standard server racks.  The darkness is punctuated by the glow of hundreds of glowing green, yellow, orange, and red lights, some steadily on, some blinking in unison with those of hard drive indicators as data is pulled to and from to the servers.  And there in the corner still resting in the boxes they were shipped in are two brand new, virginal Dell PowerEdge 2500 servers, beckoning to me to free them from their cardboard and wood prison... The Server — Dell designed the PowerEdge 2500 as a replacement for the aging PowerEdge 2400 series of departmental and workgroup servers.   The PowerEdge 2500 is a direct replacement... Sun, 22 Jul 2007 00:26:51 GMT http://www.viewpoints.com/Dell-Poweredge-2500-Server-review-97ff TheBard 4 http://www.viewpoints.com/Dell-Poweredge-2600-Server-review-cb1e The branch server is now as ubiquitous as the cash register in most branch offices and convenience stores.  They are most often stuck in a back room, or worse, a closet with poor ventilation, lighting and room.  The branch server is often overlooked and overworked, and yet it is as vital to any operation as a well pampered Network Operations Center (NOC) server.  The business I work for has a multitude of branch servers scattered throughout the Chicagoland area, most connected via T1 lines.  I have worked with all manner of server from all of the major server vendors; IBM, Hewlett Packard, and Dell, and all offer a variety of servers to fit individual needs, but Dell seems to offer the largest variety of multi-purpose server, including the flexible 5U Tower workhorse, and predecessor of the Dell PowerEdge 2800, the Dell PowerEdge 2600.         Like the more capable PE 2800, Dell designed the PE 2600 for... Sat, 21 Jul 2007 23:53:16 GMT http://www.viewpoints.com/Dell-Poweredge-2600-Server-review-cb1e TheBard 5