Servers for Rs 1.5 lakh and less

There are so many different servers to choose from, which all look the same from outside, making the choice very difficult. So, before deciding on any particular type of server, you should first know your applications' hardware requirements. Then you should understand the various components that go into a server and how they can affect performance and availability of your applications.

To help you decide, we ripped apart eleven entry-level servers for their features, performance and price. However, these considerations are restricted to only these eleven entry-level servers. We have also included with this issue PCQ Insight , which will serve as a complete buying guide for servers. Plus, there's another story in this issue devoted to the absolute

high-end servers.

All servers that we received were based on single or dual CPUs, and we got very active participation from vendors all over the country. So much so that servers kept coming in even after we finished all the testing. Due to this, we were unable to include a few servers in the shootout, two of which were from HP and IBM. We would however, be reviewing some of these

servers in subsequent issues. Having said that, here are the parameters we considered in our evaluation.

Features

There are three important parameters to consider here for these servers. These include manageability, fault tolerance capabilities, and expandability. Within these, there are many things to consider, and here's what we considered for our evaluation.

CPU

Since a majority of servers we received were either Xeon or P4 based, we'll focus on those. While, P4 is meant for desktop systems, it can also be used for server applications. As a matter of fact in one of our benchmarks, a P4- based server managed to beat all other servers, notwithstanding the fact that some of them were based on dual Xeon CPUs, which is a mainstream server processor. So let's understand why this happened and which one out of the two CPUs one should buy.

The P4 and Xeon CPUs are available at the same clock speed and L2 cache. But, while the P4 can be used in only a single CPU configuration, the Xeon or to be precise, the Xeon DP, can be used in up to dual CPU configuration. Beyond that you have the Xeon MP processors. The P4 and Xeon also differ at the Front Side Bus (FSB) and memory frequencies. The highest FSB of the P4 is 800 MHz and memory frequency supported is 400 MHz. This gives it 6.4 GBps of system and memory bandwidth. On the other hand the Xeon has 533 MHz FSB and supports 266 MHz memory getting a total of 4.3GBps of system and memory bandwidth. Higher FSB and memory frequency means that the P4 can transfer more data to and from the RAM than the Xeon, giving it an edge in applications such as dynamic web serving where the server has to execute an application that generates the HTML content, which is served to the clients. But in many cases, a single CPU cannot handle the burden of so many clients. In those cases only a Xeon and not a P4 can help. So, a Xeon is definitely required if you want to expand the capabilities of your server and a server with Xeon gets more points here.

RAM

After CPU comes RAM, and there are different types available for servers. There is un-buffered and buffered, or registered RAM as it is more commonly called. Un-buffered is the normal RAM that is used in the desktops. Registered RAM uses extra registers (high speed electronic storage components) on the chip that act as a buffer for data transfer to and from it.

Registered RAM is required when there is heavy data movement to and from the RAM, like in servers but not on desktops, and may actually provide slower performance than un-buffered RAM. But, almost all Xeon based motherboards only allow you to use registered RAM and P4 boards to use un-buffered RAM, so you don't have much choice here. Then within each of these types you can have ECC (Error Correcting Code) and non-ECC RAM. ECC RAM provides more reliability to a system as they can correct single-bit errors in data transfer. RAM errors can corrupt data and/or crash system and applications. So in a server environment ECC RAM is more suitable. Registered RAM is almost all ECC, but un-buffered RAM is both available as ECC and non-ECC. For ECC to work the motherboard should also support it. Most P4-based server boards support both ECC and non-ECC un-buffered RAM. Servers with ECC RAM got more points than others in our evaluation.

Storage

Storage is the next thing to look for, while buying a server and is the most complex thing to decide. For a server, the most obvious choice is SCSI but some servers also prefer Serial ATA (SATA) disks. SATA disks are cheaper than SCSI disks but presently they are slower than SCSI disks in both the RPM of the disk drive and the data transfer rate. Within SCSI you have Ultra 160 SCSI and Ultra 320 SCSI giving transfer speeds of 160MBps and 320MBps respectively. Higher transfer rates are obviously better for applications like file serving. Most SCSI disk drives today have an Ultra320 interface, but to use their full potential you will need an Ultra320 SCSI controller, either integrated on the motherboard or as a

PCI-X card.

Reliability

A server is meant to keep users data safe and provide services without delay. However, hardware failure can cause both data loss and server downtime leading to business losses. To save yourself, you should look for some redundancy features which will safeguard your data and continue to run the server even if a component fails. For data protection the best solution is RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks). RAID level 5 is most suited for servers that store high value user data. A RAID 5 solution requires at least 5 disks. To have RAID on your system, you can buy a SCSI RAID card or some motherboards also have on-board RAID integrated with the SCSI controller. But while RAID can provide data protection against single disk failures, to replace the faulty disk you still have to shut down the server, disrupting the services it offers. A hot plug HDD cage can help in replacing faulty disks without shutting down the machine. You can add or remove disks while the machine is hot (working). Just like hot plug HDD, hot plug, redundant power supply also makes the server fault tolerant against power supply failures. In our evaluation, server with more reliability features got a higher ranking.

Expandability

You buy a server looking at your present requirements, but requirements may change after some time. So what do you do? Buy a new server. No. If your requirements are going to change after some time, then you should have room for upgradation so that you don't have to buy new. If at present you need a single CPU but tomorrow may need two CPUs, opt for a single CPU in a dual CPU capable server. Buy the second CPU whenever there is a need. Same goes for RAM, while most servers let you add up to 4GB of RAM, but going by the pace at which applications are becoming memory hungry, a server with support for up to 8 GB of RAM is a good option. Coming to increasing storage capacity, the best way is to add more disks.

But does your server allow you to do that. A SCSI channel can accommodate up to 15 devices, but then with more devices you will see a performance hit. So Ultra320 is even more important than Ultra160 now, when you have multiple disks. Unlike SCSI, SATA controllers provide limited expansion as far as number of disks is concerned. An external SCSI connector lets you connect external SCSI devices, like tape drives, easily without opening the server cabinet for doing it otherwise. For adding extra cards, like fibre channel and RAID cards, to your server, you need PCI-X slots, so you should have enough free slots on your motherboard to accommodate add-on cards. Here also, a server with more room for expandability was ranked higher.

ZCR

Suppose you go for a server with on-board SCSI today and want to add RAID functionality afterwards, then you can always buy an SCSI RAID card. But this card will make your motherboard SCSI controller useless. Zero Channel RAID (ZCR) is a way by which you can add RAID functionality to the existing motherboard SCSI channels. A ZCR card contains a RAID controller but not a SCSI channel or controller. With motherboards that support ZCR, when a ZCR card is put into the ZCR PCI-X slot, the on-board SCSI controller provides the control of the SCSI bus to the ZCR RAID controller, which now can provide RAID functionality to the existing SCSI bus. ZCR is a cheaper way than SCSI RAID card to add RAID functionality as it does not have any SCSI logic built into it. But in some cases the ZCR card can be slow in performance than the on-board SCSI controller. But then you have to compromise on something, either the cost or performance. In our evaluation, ZCR support meant more points for that server.

Manageability

Most servers come with some sensors on the motherboard and chassis, which collect important server information, like CPU temperature and cooling fan RPM, and pass on to software agents running on the server, which then pass it to remote management console. This is called in-band management where software agents can only work when the OS is running. A better way of management is when you can monitor and manage the server even if the OS is not up or is in the sleep state.

This is called out-of-band management. Out-of-band management requires a separate Baseboard Management Card (BMC) to be installed. The card comes integrated with some boards, whereas some boards come with a special connector for adding BMC. With the help of a BMC card and remote network management software, system administrators can monitor and control servers remotely irrespective of the OS state. There is another way to provide out-of-band manageability and it is called ASF (Alert Standard Format). Then in manageability comes management software, number of meaningful indicators, like error indicators, present on the server and tool free access to the server cabinet. All these issues were considered while evaluating the servers we got.

Performance

Since these are all entry-level servers, their usage would primarily be as file servers or application servers to handle Web or e-mail traffic in small organizations or departments in large organizations. We used the industry acclaimed Net Bench 7.0.3 benchmark to judge their file serving performance, and Web Bench 5.0 for testing their application performance. While the first benchmark stresses the server's I/O capabilities, the latter puts pressure on its computing capabilities. All servers were connected to each other through a D-Link DGS-1016TL Gigabit Ethernet switch. For testing one server, the rest of the servers worked as clients, running the benchmarks, and making hundreds of thousands of file and web requests per minute.

The test results are carried in a table in the following pages, but we have certain important observations to share from those.

In the file serving benchmark, the Acer Altos G510, with 512 MB RAM and a 2.8 GHz Xeon gave the best performance, beating even some of the dual-Xeon CPU machines with 2 GB RAM. This may sound strange but its high performance could have been due to the 64 MB buffer memory present on its SCSI RAID (the disks were not configured under RAID) card to which the hard disks were connected. So, for file serving, which is a disk I/O intensive application, amount of buffer memory on the SCSI controller is more useful than amount of main memory or CPU speed. The results for the web serving benchmark were not less strange either. Here again some dual-Xeon based systems with 2 GB RAM were left behind by a mere P4 2.8 GHz server with 1 GB RAM, namely the RDG Tornado EL-WP server. But, like the Acer, Tornado also had a valid point in winning. First, Web Bench tests the server for both static and dynamic web serving, which is more CPU and RAM intensive than disk I/O intensive. So the parameters deciding web bench performance in order of their importance will be data transfer speed between CPU and RAM, CPU speed and amount of RAM. Second, as we have mentioned above, the P4s have higher memory bandwidth than Xeons. Faster memory access than Xeons coupled with the fact that RDG was the only server

with 1MB L2 cache on the CPU made it the highest scorer in this benchmark.

Pricing

Under pricing, we considered the cost of the server and the warranty. In warranty we looked at the number of years and type of warranty. The warranty can be comprehensive including parts and labour or limited covering only parts and not labour. Some vendors provide a mix of these two offering comprehensive for, say, one year and then limited for, say, the next two years.

Connoiseur Sky Runner

This server has two Xeon 2.4 GHz CPUs, 2 GB RAM and is based on the Intel SE7501BR2 motherboard. The Sky Runner comes with maximum fault tolerant features among all servers. It supports RAID 0, 1 and 5, has a hot plug HDD cage and comes with dual hot plug power supply. However, there is one problem. While the motherboard has on-board Ultra320 SCSI controller, the PCI-X SCSI RAID card has an Ultra160 interface. An Ultra320 SCSI RAID card would have been better. The RAID card has four external SCSI connectors to connect devices. For manageability it has an integrated BMC card and comes with Intel Server Management software. Great feature set combined with three-years comprehensive warranty and performance scores make it the Editor's choice for both file and web serving.

Edge Power BRIQ 51EL

This

has dual Xeon 2.8 GHz CPUs and 1GB RAM on an Intel SE7501BR2 motherboard. Though

it is not great on features when compared with Connoiseur or Acer, it gave the

second highest score in web serving test.It has got RAID levels 0 and 1 through

its on-board SCSI controller. It doesn't have hot plug HDD/power supply

capability but offers room for expandability with four free PCI-X slots and ZCR

support. For manageability it has an integrated BMC card and comes with Intel

Server Management software. It is the lowest priced dual-CPU server among all

and comes with three-years comprehensive warranty. The pricing combined with

features and great web serving performance make it a highly recommended for web

applications.

Acer Altos G510

This has Xeon 2.8 GHz and 512 MB RAM. The motherboard of this server, unlike the other servers we reviewed, is based on the ServerWorks GC-SL chipset. It supports RAID level 1 and 5 and has a hot plug HDD cage. Although the server supports redundant hot plug power supply, it comes with a single power supply unit only. It supports ASF (Alert Specification Format) for out-of-band manageability and comes with Acer Server Management suite. The server offers enough room for adding more disks and

PCI-X cards, has an external SCSI connector but the maximum supported RAM is 4 GB, which is less than the 8 or 12 GB of other Xeon servers. It performed the best in file serving benchmark, owing to its 64 MB SCSI RAID card buffer memory. The Web serving scores were not that great because of less RAM. The price of the server is almost equivalent to the Connoiseur but it comes with first year comprehensive and second and third year limited warranty only. It's the combination of features and file serving performance that make it a highly recommended file server.

Apple Xserve G5

While all other servers that came to us were based on either Intel Xeon or P4 CPUs this server from Apple is based on the Power PC G5 CPU. This was the only server with a 1U rack server design while the rest were pedestal servers. The Xserve comes with 512 MB RAM and has a SATA disk and no SCSI. Although it had no RAID features, the hard disks were hot

pluggable. An additional PCI-X RAID card can provide RAID functionality to the existing SATA channels. The server has room for adding one more CPU, up to 8 GB RAM, three disks and has one free

PCI-X slot. The Xserve supports in-band manageability with its server monitor software. Performance for file serving was below average. The price of the machine is higher than the rest of the machines, but it also includes the price of Mac OS X 10.3 with unlimited client license. The warranty provided is three-years.

Global Infotech ServePRO 5212S

This is a Xeon 2.8 GHz with 1 GB RAM server based on the Intel SE7501BR2S motherboard. This has integrated BMC hardware for out-of-band manageability and comes with Intel Server Management software. It offers on-board SCSI RAID levels 0 and 1 but no level 5. It also does not have any hot plug HDD or power supply. It has enough room for expansion with four

PCI-X slots, ZCR support and support for adding another Xeon CPU. In performance it exhibited good file serving capabilities, with the scores equivalent to the overall best scorer, Edge. But in Web serving the scores were the poorest, the reason for which is the single Xeon CPU. The server is priced much below the

dual-Xeon servers and is equivalent to the Zenith Net Server (single Xeon), which it beats badly in file serving performance and features. The warranty offered is three-years comprehensive.

RDG Tornado EL-WP

The RDG Tornado has a P4 2.8 GHz with 1 GB RAM and is based on the Intel S875WP1 motherboard with the Intel 875P chipset. The server has limited expandability with no room for adding another CPU, the maximum memory limit is 4 GB, no

PCI-X slots, no ZCR support, but it has got two external SCSI connectors. The SCSI controller on the system is Ultra 160 with no RAID option. It supports only in-band management with no option of adding BMC hardware. In Web serving tests, it was the best performer because of the high

FSB, memory frequency and 1 MB L2 cache on its CPU. However, in file serving the score was only average. The price is one of the lowest of all and the warranty is first year comprehensive and limited for the second and the third year.

Supermicro SuperServer X7041L-8GM

This

dual-Xeon 2.4 GHz system with 1GB RAM, has a SuperMicro motherboard based on the Intel 7501 chipset. This is the only server to come with a ZCR card to provide RAID levels 0, 1, 5 and

JBOD. It also has a hot plug HDD cage with slots for up to seven disks, but you cannot identify the slots in which disks are present easily as it does not have

LEDs, which indicate the presence of hard disks in the cage. You come to know about it only when the

HDD-activity LED glows.

However, the LAN-activity LEDs on the front panel are useful. The server doesn't come with any BMC hardware but has a BMC connector. So, you cannot get out-of-band management, until you buy separate BMC hardware. In performance the file serving score was average but the Web serving score was good. The price of this server is lower than the Connoiseur and Acer servers but higher than the Edge server, but it also provides more features than the Edge. Warranty provided is two-years comprehensive.

Specifications' Table

Zenith Premium Data-Server

This server has a P4 2.8 GHz and 1 GB non-ECC RAM and is based on the Intel SE7210TP1-E motherboard with Intel 7201 chipset. Like the Apple server this has no SCSI but SATA disk. For fault tolerance it offers SATA RAID level 1. For expandability, you can upgrade the RAM to 4 GB and add only one more SATA disk. After that you will have to use normal IDE disks for increasing storage capacity. It has no PCI-X slots and no provision for adding another CPU. For manageability, it has got mini BMC hardware for out-of-band manageability. Performance in the file serving is just about average, but is good in Web serving. The price is second lowest of all servers and the warranty is one-year comprehensive.

Zenith Premium Net-Server

This server is the only one with a CPU above 3 GHz. It has a Xeon 3.06 GHz CPU and 1 GB RAM and is based on the Intel SE7501CW2 motherboard. For fault tolerance it doesn't offer RAID or hot plug equipment. It supports only in-band manageability and you can't add separate BMC hardware for out-of-band manageability. For expandability it has got only two free

PCI-X slots, no ZCR support, though you can add an extra Xeon CPU. It also has an external SCSI connector for connecting devices. The performance of the server is also below average in both file and Web serving. However, it is also priced lower than the other good performing servers. The price is equivalent to the Global Infotech server, to which it lacks in features and file serving but leads in Web serving because of a faster CPU. The warranty is one-year comprehensive.

Spice Net Supreme P4 and Spice Net Supreme XEON-DP

The Supreme P4 and Supreme XEON-DP are based on P4 2.8 GHz, 512 MB RAM and two Xeon 2.4 GHz, 2 GB RAM respectively. The P4 server has SATA RAID 0, 1 whereas the Xeon server has no RAID. The Xeon server, however, has a hot plug HDD cage. For out-of-band manageability the Xeon server has a connector for adding BMC hardware, while the P4 server doesn't have it. The P4 server offers limited expandability with no

PCI-X slots, no ZCR support and support for up to 4 GB RAM, but the Xeon server has three

PCI-X slots, ZCR support and support for up to 12 GB RAM. The performance of both the servers was below average in file serving, but in web serving the Xeon server was good while the P4 server was again a below average performer. The price of the P4 server is the lowest of the lot. The price of Xeon server is also very competitive with the other servers in its range. The warranty on both is one year comprehensive.

Performance Table