2U Rackmount Servers
Rack space is always a premium commodity in your corporate server room and Internet colocation facility. Here are some good options to take advantage of that limited space.
October 17, 2000 (updated)
by Eric Svetcov
As you might expect after reading my other articles, I will focus on four areas when considering servers:
- Stability
- Availability
- Price
- Performance
With servers, the needs are of course a little bit different than desktop computers. We are willing to sacrifice price for stability and performance. Additionally, we are usually willing to wait a little longer to get our server for two reasons: First, we usually are able to plan better for new servers (we usually create a project plan and are not at the mercy of forgetful managers who neglect to inform us about incoming newly hired personnel) and secondly, if the wait will allow us to have a more stable and higher performance platform, it is usually acceptable as long as the wait isn’t terribly long.
For this purposes of this series of articles, we will take a look at a single processor and a dual processor configuration. We will discuss the possible uses for each system. For each configuration, I will create both a “white box” server made up of generally available components and a system from a major manufacturer. I will also mention possible extensions to a possible configuration to improve either performance or capacity.
These systems will be Intel/AMD based solutions capable of running standard x86 operating systems: Linux, FreeBSD, Windows NT/2000, etc.
Note on pricing: All pricing can be found in one of three places. For the White Box systems I used the Monarch Computer web site or PriceWatch.com. For the Dell servers, I used the Dell web site.
Now onto the systems.
Click here for the Single Processor (1P) 2U Server