Dell PowerEdge 2600 Server; A Reliable, Affordable, Expandable File Server.
Written: Apr 06 '04
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Reliable, affordable, versatile, expandable server.
Cons: None that I can see.
The Bottom Line: If you are looking for a reliable, versatile, reasonably priced file server, look no further than the Dell PowerEdge 2600 server.
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| vemartin's Full Review: Dell PowerEdge 2600 Server |
Qualifications: I am the manager (Network Administrator) of a medium-sized server farm at a government agency, which consists of some 25 Dell PowerEdge servers of various models and designs. Those models include 6400’s, 6450’s 2500’s & 2600’s, running Windows 2000 Advance Server or Windows 2003 Enterprise Edition.
Disclaimer: This review is intended for those with intermediate or advanced server knowledge, or those individuals seeking in-depth information on Enterprise caliber server equipment. Few if any of the terms used throughout the review are expounded upon.
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. In two racks directly ahead of me sits a row of three brand new Dell PowerEdge 2600 tower servers, the blue Dell call letters illuminating their black chassis’s like a homing beacon…
The Product:
Dell introduced the PowerEdge 2600 server to support the latest generation of Intel Xeon microprocessors, operating from 2.0GHz – 3.2GHz, all boosting a 533Mhz FSB, and featuring from 512KB – 2.0MB of cache. The PowerEdge 2600 can support up to two Xeon processors with and up to 12GB DDR 2100 SDRAM. The Intel Xeon processor incorporates innovative advancements in dual processor server technology, such as hyper-threading, that allow multiple tasks to run simultaneously, thereby enhancing the level of performance.
In addition, the Intel E7505 chipset improves performance with NetBurst micro-architecture, which provides a 533MHz quad-pumped system bus allowing for 4.3GB per second data transfer rates, ideal for multithreaded applications or multitasking environments. The chipset also offers two-way memory interleaving allowing for dual operation of memory if installed in identical pairs. This allows the PC2100 DDR SDRAM memory to transfer data at a maximum bandwidth of 4.3GB/s. The PowerEdge 2600also features the next generation I/O PCI-X that provides high bandwidth, low latency and dedicated hardware interfaces between internal chips and peripheral cards. Additionally, the PowerEdge 2600 server includes an embedded Gigabit Ethernet1 NIC.
The PowerEdge 2600 ships with seven PCI I/O slots and up to eight hot-pluggable SCSI Ultra 320 hard drives in sizes ranging from 36GB – 146GB, allowing for maximum storage space up to 1.168TB of internal hard disk storage depending on RAID configuration. For backup and archiving vital system and data files, the PowerEdge 2600 has the capacity to interface with Dell’s PowerVault Internal/External SCSI storage units and Dell/EMC Fibre Channel storage. This flexibility enables you to deploy the PowerEdge 2600 in a number of rolls from medium-sized data center data applications server to small workgroup file server.
The PowerEdge 2600 offers many high availability features to help minimize server downtime; for instance, the PowerEdge 2600 features hot-swappable (the drives can be replaced without powering down the server) hard drives, power supplies and redundant cooling fans for increased availability. And the PowerEdge 2600 makes data fault tolerance through Redundant Array of Independent (or Inexpensive) Disks (RAID) effortless and affordable by providing an optional high performance embedded PERC4/Di RAID subsystem that includes 128MB of battery backup cache which enhances availability.
Dell has given the PowerEdge 2600 many unique design features that make it easy to deploy, service, and manage locally or remotely, thereby helping to lower the total cost of ownership. The PowerEdge 2600 features a tool-less chassis, which enables you to quickly and simply reach components for easy maintenance. Dell’s Open Manage suite of software enhances manageability, from initial server start-up through everyday operations by allowing for server hardware management via a web interface. Combining performance, availability and configuration flexibility, the PowerEdge 2600server is an ideal solution for small-to-medium businesses and remote sites that require robust internal storage, PCI expandability and high availability features.
Installation and Performance:
My PowerEdge 2600 Configuration:
• Processor(s):
(2) Intel Xeon 2nd Processors @ 3.06GHz/512K 533MHz FSB Xeon.
• Memory:
6GB DDR SDRAM 266MHZ (6X1GB).
• Hard Drive(s):
6 X 36GB 15K RPM Ultra 320 SCSI Hard Drive.
• Hard Drive Controller:
PERC4/Di 128MB (2 Internal Channels).
• Floppy Disk Drive:
Floppy Drive,1.44M, TEAC2.
• NIC:
On board Gigabyte Network Adapter.
• TBU:
PowerVault 110T,DLTVS80, 40/80G,Tape Backup,Half Height, Controller Included, Internal.
• CD-ROM or DVD-ROM Drive:
24X IDE CD-RW/DVD ROM Drive for PowerEdge Servers.
Our server arrived from Dell without a Network Operating System (NOS) installed; however using Dell’s Open Manage software I installed Windows 2003 Enterprise Edition on each Open Manage in turn. Open Managealso allows for the configuration of the Redundant Array of Independent (or Inexpensive) Disks (RAID) array; the servers came from Dell configured as RAID Level 5, which is how I wanted them configured.
Open Managemakes configuring the PowerEdge 2600 a fairly painless endeavor; all told it took me less then two hours to completely configure each server and install the NOS.
Once the NOS was installed, I completed the configuration of the hardware and installed the associated software components, including Veritas Backup Exec for Windows Server Version 9.1 (Dell PowerVault 110T), and Roxio EZ CD Creator (24X IDE CD-RW/DVD ROM Drive).
I purchased the PowerEdge 2600’s to act primarily as files servers and at this they excel. Actual, real world throughput (file transfers to and from the server), is outstanding. The redundant power supplies and hot swappable 36GB (15,000 rpm) Ultra 320 SCSI hard drives make our trio of PowerEdge 2600’s some of the most versatile servers in our inventory.
The addition of the PowerVault 110T DTL VS80 half-height Tape Backup Unit increases the versatility of the PowerEdge 2600 allowing for independent backup and archiving of vital system and data files. The inclusion of CD/RW drive only increases this versatility by allowing me to burn data files directly from the server, bypassing altogether the finicky performance of the network.
If you are looking for a reliable, versatile, reasonably priced file server, look no further than the Dell PowerEdge 2600 server.
PowerEdge 2600 Features:
• Processors: Up to two Intel XEON processors at 2.4GHz, 2.8GHz, 3.06GHz, 3.2GHz (1MB cache), and 3.2GHz (2MB cache)
• Front Side Bus: 533MHz
• Cache: 512K – 2MB L2
• Chipset: Intel E7505 chipset.
• Memory: 128MB/256MB/512MB/1GB registered PC2100 DDR in pairs for two-way interleaving. Six DDR DIMM sockets for support up to 6GB of main memory Configurable ECC memory with ChipKill support.
• I/O slots: Seven expansion slots; 2 x 64-bit/133MHz PCI-X; 4 x 64-bit/100MHz PCI-X; 1 x 32-bit/33MHz PCI.
• Drive controllers: Embedded LSI Logic 53C1030 dual integrated PCI Ultra320 LVD SCSI controller.
• RAID controllers: Embedded PERC4/Di (dual channel Ultra320 RAID with 128MB of battery-backup cache); optional PERC3/DC (dual-channel PCI RAID controller); optional PERC3/QC (quad-channel PCI RAID controller).
• Drive bays: Standard internal hard drive bays to support up to six 1” Ultra320 SCSI hard drives with Dell hot-plug drives; optional two 1” hot-plug drives in the external media bays; optional 2 x 3 split backplane.
• Hard drives: 18GB2, 36GB, 73GB and 146GB (10,000 rpm) hot-plug Ultra320 SCSI hard drives; 18GB and 36GB (15,000 rpm) hot-plug Ultra320 SCSI hard drives; maximum internal storage up to 1.168TB.
• Tape backup options:
o --Internal: PowerVault 100T DDS4 (20GB/40GB); PowerVault DLT VS80 (40GB/80GB); PowerVault 110T DLT7000 (35GB/70GB); PowerVault 110T LTO (100GB/200GB); PowerVault 110T SDLT (110GB/220GB)
o --External: PowerVault 120T DDS4 Autoloader (160GB/320GB); PowerVault 120T DLT1 Autoloader (280GB/560GB); PowerVault 128T LTO Mini-Library (2TB/4TB); PowerVault 128T SDLT Mini-Library (2.2TB/4.4TB); PowerVault 136T SDLT Library (6.6TB/13.2TB); PowerVault 136T LTO Library (7.2TB/14.4TB).
• Network interface card: Single embedded Intel 10/100/1000 Gigabit NIC.
• Cooling Five: hot-plug/redundant fans.
• Chassis: 5U tower or rack-mountable chassis.
• Dimensions: (H x W x D) Tower: 17.5” x 9.125” x 24.75” (44.5 cm x 23.0 cm x 62.5 cm)
• Graphics: Integrated ATI-Rage XL controller with 8MB of SDRAM.
• Optional software Factory Installed O/S: Microsoft Windows 2000 Server; Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server; Microsoft BackOffice Small Business Server 2000; Red Hat Linux 7.3 Professional.
Recommended:
Yes
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vemartin
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Member: Vincent
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