Lenovo ThinkServer RD540 Server New Enterprise Standard

Good afternoon, dear Habr.

Today I am “ ServerMan ” writing a review of the new Aurora cruiser in the server industry Lenovo - ThinkServer RD540 . In particular, I have in my hands a single-unit server with two E5-2600 v2 processors with 12 cores each, and a gentleman's set of functions and options, but more on that later in the text. A distinctive feature of the server is its high fault tolerance and density. Ideal for data centers. As well as low cost of ownership, in comparison with other server solutions at this level.

Under a cat the server review, photos and Quest ThinkServer - only for HabraUzers.

Overview of packaging and delivery:

I will not breed verbal shurum burum, but let's get down to business immediately. as they say the meaning lies in the first lines.


The server comes in a proprietary ThinkServer box of impressive size. So here is my first advice, when buying a server, order delivery at least to the door, otherwise it is not very convenient with the server in the metro and public transport, I checked it myself.



The package includes: RD540 server , installation and rack mounting instructions, as well as application software for updating and installing software, two power cables with connectors for connecting to a PDU or uninterruptible power supply.

Server appearance:

Externally, the server has a stylish black design with a clear arrangement of power buttons, USB ports and an intelligent console for monitoring server status.

From the general ThinkServer RD540 series, we can add the fact that there are two options for completing a disk system in the format 3.5 (4 disks - photo above) and 2.5 (8 disks - photo below) - in our circles this is called Large Form Factor and Small Form Factor . Pay attention to both pictures, in the first case we can install 4 LFF + DVD discs, in the second case we have 8 SFF discs and there is no way to put the DVD in the case, so we recommend using external USB data sources.


On the back of the server we see: three RJ-45 ports (2 network interfaces, 1 remote control interface), 4 USB 2.0 ports, a VGA port and an RS-232 (COM) port. The ThinkServer RD540 also has two hot-swappable power supplies, in my case it is 800watt each.

Inside look:

Now we will consider its “insides”, and try to understand how it will be useful to us.

Like any other server, the RD540 has a cooling system, I highlighted it with the number 1 in the figure below. I note that the cooling system does not have a hot-swap fan unit, and there are 8 of them in the server. The fan units are installed immediately for the future upgrade of the system by the second processor, and thereby ensure the complete cooling of the entire case as a whole at the initial stage of operation.

Under the number 2 is the “server duct” - which provides the distribution of air flows to RAM, processors and the case as a whole. The server supports 2 PCI Express 3.0 x8 and PCI Express 3.0 x16 slots (number 3 in the figure above), which makes it possible to set additional options at your discretion. A raid controller for the disk subsystem is already installed in one of the slots.


In the figure above we can see:
1. CPU No. 1 - E5-2600 v2
2. 12 memory slots for CPU No. 1
3. CPU No. 2 (optionally on lower configurations) - E5-2600 v2
4. 8 memory slots for CPU No. 2 (for the second processor)

Since the user does not often, or even say very rarely, clogs all 12 channels of RAM to the processor, Lenovo engineers made the optimal decision to make a 4-channel mode on CPU1 and CPU2, it is displayed as follows:

What does this give the user? - The ratio of price, performance and scalability of solutions - better on platforms where 20 memory slots are used.

I will also give an example of a form of architecture for building server memory on intel E5-2600 v2 Series processors:


All servers are equipped with RAID controllers that are marked in the ThinkServer RAID specification sheet, below I will list the possible controllers and their main functions:




ThinkServer RAID 710 photo with battery and CacheCade Pro 2.0 option

All controllers support SAS - SATA - SSD drives. To build RAID`a 50 and 60, use a server with 8 SFF disks.


The Lenovo ThinkServer RD540 server has a crypto processor that stores cryptographic keys to protect information, as well as a generic name of the implementations of this specification - Trusted Platform Module 1.2 (TCG 1.2-compliant). Also in the figure you see additional USB ports, and the Avocent remote control module.

As we said above, the server has 3 RJ-45 ports, of which one (Intel 82574L) is given for remote control of the iKVM server, which is possible thanks to ASPEED's fourth generation AST2300 chip. Two other network interfaces based on Intel i350 are free for data transmission over the network and switching to the infrastructure.


A couple of 800watt power supplies each are responsible for powering the server, with support for hot-swap with a server running. They have a standard of 80 PLUS Certified Power Supplies.

For ease of management and server upgrades, software products are included that greatly simplify the life of staff:

1. Lenovo SmartGrid Manager - managing and distributing power both inside the server and on the ThinkServer server cluster
2. ThinkServer EasyStartup - simplifies initial startup and setup
3. ThinkServer EasyManage - Helps Manage Your Server
4. ThinkServer EasyUpdate - Helps Upgrade Firmware

The server officially supports software:

• Windows Server 2012 (Including Hyper-V)
• Windows Server 2008 (x64) (Including Hyper-V)
• Windows Server 2008 R2 (Including Hyper-V)
• Windows SBS 2011
• SLES 11 sp2
• RedHat 5.9 / 6.4
• VMware ESXi 5.1 U1
• Citrix XenServer 6.0.2 / 6.1

- This list is not final, and it will be expanded.

I will also bring to your attention a list of options and extensions for the Lenovo ThinkServer RD540 server :






If you yourself find it difficult to choose the package you need, then we recommend that you visit our resource configurator , where you can easily assemble the configuration of any Lenovo server you need to request a price and delivery time for a solution from our partner.

The issue of price, warranty and service.

The price of the Lenovo ThinkServer RD540 server is from 79 000 rubles. They are already on sale and in large quantities at the warehouses of our partners. We recommend buying Lenovo server hardware from authorized partners authorized for Lenovo ThinkServer and LenovoEMC products.

Warranty, support, service - 3 years, response time Next Business Day on-site service, it is also possible to expand the service package up to 5 years with a response of 4 hours / 24 hours a day / 7 days a week.

More about warranty

Warranty - I note the standard is carried out the day after the opening of the ticket.
ThinkServer servers:
- ACS are already open in 17 cities of Russia (Moscow, St. Petersburg, Vladivostok, Voronezh, Yekaterinburg, Kazan, Krasnodar, Krasnoyarsk, Novosibirsk, Omsk, Perm, Rostov-on-Don, Samara, Saratov, Tyumen, Ufa and Chelyabinsk) ;
- 1-3 years of standard warranty with an extension of up to 4-5 years;
- Various service packages;
- In these cities, Onsite warranty is valid, the response time of the ACS is within the next business day after registration of the application.
- For MSC and SPB , service pack options are possible with a reaction time of 4 hours 8/5, as well as 24/7.
- “Hot” technical support line in 9/5 mode: +7 (495) 967 80 73;

Quest ThinkServer - only for HabraUsers

Lenovo, and in particular I ( ServerMan, together with Saronit System Integrator , make a special offer for you on ThinkServer RD540 server solutions.

Conditions

• Find the site www.saronit.ru in Yandex or Google search results by queries: Lenovo server, Lenovo ThinkServer RD540 server, Lenovo RD540, buy Lenovo ThinkServer RD540.
• Select the server you need to complete.
• Register on the site and place an order, marked in the comments on the Quest ThinkServer order
• The result will be a discount price, and free delivery in Russia

PS: Thank you all for your interest in the article, soon we will give a targeted solution based on RD540.
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