There are plenty of options for small organizations in need of shared storage, from subscription-based totally cloud offerings to all way of NAS gadgets. However, in terms of versatility, ease of upgrading and the capability to feature software program features, your very own server is regularly the nice of all worlds. The Dell PowerEdge T20 is an entry-degree version, aimed typically at small groups that need to organise and consolidate their records right into a unmarried storage location.
The Dell T20 is priced and distinctive consequently, and is presently to be had from as little as £219, except VAT and delivery. That’s a low charge, but you have to think about the components you pick, as the base specification doesn’t include difficult disks.
OPTIONS DELL PowerEdge T20
Our assessment device is unique a little more enormously. We unique hard disks, for example, in order that we may want to create a RAID array and protect our records. If one pressure fails the records might be preserved on the second one. When you update the damaged power, its contents might be synchronised with the last disks for your array. If you are the usage of a server for vital statistics and projects, RAID is a crucial element in shielding you towards information loss via hardware failure. Our server’s two 1TB tough disks may be mixed into a 1TB RAID extent.
We additionally opted for a quad-core three.1GHz Intel Xeon E3-1225 processor. A faster processor frequently produces quicker file switch speeds, and the Xeon E3-1225 opens up a extensive variety of alternatives for use and the working systems you can run easily. A quad-middle processor, as an instance, is right for virtualisation. If you put in VMware ESX for your server, you could then run one or extra virtualised running systems so you can run more than one virtual servers from a unmarried system. The ease with which you could move and copy digital servers, that are hardware impartial with the aid of definition, has made them more and more popular.
Our overview server is geared up with simply 4GB of RAM, though, and we’d decide on greater as 4GB isn’t sufficient memory to run ESX or maybe Microsoft's Small Business Server with no trouble. However, famous Linux server distributions inclusive of Novell OpenSUSE and Ubuntu Server paintings properly with 4GB. You can specify your server at the time of buy with 4GB or 8GB of ECC RAM, and it may take a maximum of 32GB. Unlike normal computing device reminiscence, ECC (Error Checking & Correction) memory can detect and accurate unmarried- and multi-bit errors that would doubtlessly crash a server or corrupt information. ECC RAM is essential if you want your server to paintings as reliably as possible and live working, so is probably worth the funding.
Internals Dell T20
The T20's mini tower case seems very smart. It's a loose-status server of basically the equal sort of chassis design as you'll find in a computer gadget, but its near-silent rear and CPU cooling lovers make it very quiet all through maximum operations. Even the lovers' initial spin-up to full pace is just a muted whirr as opposed to the jet-turbine roar associated with many servers. The case echoes and magnifies the sounds of disk activity, however no longer to deafening a degree.
The interior is properly laid out, however the finish on some of the case’s bare metallic innards turned into a bit rough. Instead of a couple of 5 1/4in pressure bays at the top, there are vacant three 1/2in bays. There are every other two 3 1/2in bays, every loaded with a 1TB hard disk, at the bottom. Optional mounting brackets are available in case you specify 2 1/2in disks together with your server, however not included by default. There's additionally area for a slimline disc pressure at the very pinnacle of the front panel.
Our evaluation device got here fitted with a 1TB Seagate Barracuda hard disk and a 1TB Western Digital Caviar Blue disk. Neither is company-elegance with regards to durability, however one of the benefits of a RAID array is that you do not must worry too much about anybody disk failing. It’s well worth noting that Dell does not guarantee any particular brand whilst you buy disks, even though, simply the first-class and velocity.
Although the case is deeper than your average desktop midi tower, the site of the MicroATX motherboard relative to the lowest power cage means you won't be capable of take gain of the greater intensity. PCI-E cards have 265mm of space earlier than they grind towards the cage, which regulations out full-length hardware telephony cards and the usage of giant graphics playing cards to run high-velocity calculations.
The E93839 motherboard has PCI-E x16 slots, one of which is full velocity and different of which runs at x4, as well as PCI-E x1 slot and a PCI slot. PSU is a basic 290W model, so endure that during mind before making plans any electricity-hungry improvements.
There are 4 DDR3 memory slots, certainly one of which is in use, four SATA2 ports and two SATA3 ports. The mid-board USB3 header is attached to multiple USB3 ports at the the front panel. You'll additionally find more USB3 ports on the rear, along with 4 greater USB2 ports. There are PS/2 mouse and keyboard ports for older peripherals. Importantly, there’s a single Gigabit Ethernet port, as well as a serial port, the latter being useful if you want your server to communicate with legacy hardware.
Graphics output is handled by a couple of full-sized DisplayPort connections and a legacy VGA port. Unless you have offered a high-cease commercial enterprise screen recently, you will need to apply the VGA. There’s little factor demanding about the show output, however, as once the T20’s set up you may get admission to your server remotely. Dell’s general warranty gives you one year of elements-simplest cover, however a variety of prolonged assurance alternatives are available, up to a few years of next commercial enterprise day onsite support for £eighty four.
Testing Dell PowerEdge T20
Although there are masses of server running structures to be had, we choose Ubuntu Server. We first of all hooked up Ubuntu 12.04, however encountered conflicts between the GRUB2 boot loader and the server's UEFI BIOS. This required a number of inconvenient workarounds if you wish to installation a software program RAID array and despite the fact that the UEFI has a legacy mode, using it didn’t help. Fortunately, while we examined with the modern day Ubuntu 14.04 our RAID configuration and installation went easily and the gadget booted first time.
Although the motherboard has a integrated Intel RAID controller, we pick the usage of software program RAID in the absence of a dedicated RAID controller card. This removes the threat of not being able to discover a substitute motherboard that could rebuild your array. You're much less in all likelihood to run into problems with server motherboards from a large manufacturer, but we decide on the safety of the use of software RAID for servers in this fee variety though.
The primary enterprise use of servers which include this one is to offer a extra flexible opportunity to a NAS, so read and write speeds are vital. In our wellknown SMB examine/write check throughout a network, each read and write speeds in our massive document take a look at were 109MB/s, whilst the T20 wrote and read greater tough small files at speeds of 17.7MB/s and 25.9MB/s respectively. This compares properly to heavy-responsibility business NAS gadgets including the Seagate Business Storage 8-Bay Rackmount NAS
We also ran the identical exams on an iSCSI goal that we created at the server and established on a remote client as even though it changed into a neighborhood disk. While SMB directories may be shared by a couple of customers, an iSCSI goal can handiest be set up with the aid of a single PC. Performance here is more dependent on the client device's processor energy, that is an advantage in case you're the use of an underpowered NAS, but in this instance produced a slower large report common of 104.2MB/s, and a small report average of 45.7MB/s. During a 5GB record transfer, we got a sustained write speed of 113MB/s, pushing the in-exercise limits of our Gigabit Ethernet community's skills and saturating the server’s community port.
We've also introduced a multiple-get entry to SMB switch take a look at, wherein three patron machines simultaneously carry out study/write study operations at the server, and we degree the performance of one of them. In our big report assessments, we got an average throughput of 39.8MB/s, at the same time as our small files wrote at 17.5MB/s and examine at 23.43MB/s for a median of 20.47MB/s.
We also ran our trendy software benchmarks, which typically test the capabilities of the Xeon E3-1225 processor whilst it comes with single-threaded responsibilities. We were given an usual rating of 88, which indicates that this CPU is capable of a ways more processor-extensive obligations than easy garage. Add a chunk of extra RAM, and it is nicely geared up to be used as a database server, even in case you're operating with exceptionally large information units.
Conclusion
Priced at just £444 apart from VAT, the PowerEdge T20 is compares nicely to the rate of many business-oriented 4-bay NAS devices. It's also a ways more versatile, scalable and powerful. You'll want to spend a bit longer configuring it than you will a NAS, but even in case you just want to apply it as a networked storage device, a small server like this is right price and destined to have an extended lifespan. If you assume looking a mail, database or telephony server within the future, then the ease of upgrading hardware and installing applications makes this small server an apparent Business Buy.
Basic
Specifications
Rating *****
Processor Intel Xeon E3-1225
Processor outside bus 100MHz (DMI)
Processor multiplier x31
Processor clock pace three.1GHz
Processor socket LGA1155
Memory four
Memory kind PC3-12800
Maximum memory 32GB
Motherboard Dell E93839
Motherboard chipset Intel C226
Ports
USB2 ports (front/rear) four/6
eSATA ports (front/rear) zero/zero
Wired community ports 1x 10/one hundred/1000
Wireless networking aid none
Internal
Expansion
Case mini tower
PCI-E x1 slots (loose) 1 (1)
PCI-E x16 slots (free) 2 (2)
Free Serial ATA ports four
Free reminiscence slots three
Free 3.5in pressure bays 2
Hard
Disk
Hard disk version(s) Western Digital Blue (WD10EZEX-75ZFA0) +
Seagate Barracuda (ST1000DM003-1CH162)
Interface SATA3
Graphics
Graphics card(s) Intel HD Graphics P3000
Graphics/video ports 2x DisplayPort, VGA
Sound
Sound Intel HD Audio
Sound outputs 2x three.5mm stereo line out, headphone, mic
Speakers none
Removable
Drives
Supported reminiscence playing cards none
Optical drive type(s) none
Display
Screen version none
Native resolution N/A
Screen inputs N/A
Other
Hardware
Keyboard N/A
Mouse N/A
Software
Operating device none
Operating gadget repair option N/A
Buying
Information
Warranty 365 days RTB (components most effective)
Price £444
Supplier http://www.dell.co.uk
Details www.dell.co.uk