April 17, 2014 at 10:15Meet LenovoEMC PX4-300r NAS
Good afternoon, dear readers of Habr!
So I present to your attention - LenovoEMC PX4-300r network storage system , at first glance you will say that it doesn’t have such a special feature in others. Yes, I think, I will give you dear Khabrovites a simple but comprehensive answer in the form of a review.
Products from LenovoEMC appeared on sale in Russia last year, but they were rarely enough where they could be found on sale. But to date, everything has changed dramatically, there are already official certified partners who can offer a full range and give quality advice on the LenovoEMC and ThinkServer product line.
Rack-mount device from LenovoEMC: - A network storage system of corporate standard data PX4-300r NAS, 1U high (one unit), accommodates up to 16 terabytes of data, in a ratio of 4 disks of 4 terabytes each. (This is for today, we will sincerely believe that in the future larger volumes will be available on disk). The PX4-300r storage system comes with either standard disks or no disks, enabling its future owner to independently organize the disk subsystem according to his needs.
The appearance of the packaging is quite neat, the box has all the logos and stickers with the necessary information. The package size is not very large, length 72 cm - width 60 cm - height 17 cm. But when ordering equipment I recommend using delivery.
Despite the fact that we have LenovoEMC PX4-300R without disks in our hands , we selected disks from the list of compatible and manufacturer-certified Western Digital HDD SATA-III 3000Gb Red for NAS WD30EFRX, IntelliPower, 64MB buffers in the amount of 4 pcs.
The Western Digital HDD SATA-III 3000Gb Red for NAS is specially designed for network storage systems, in particular, it has firmware for working in the NAS, as well as disabled head parking and TLER technology (limited time to fix the error).
Installing the disks in the PX4-300r skid did not take much time, the bolts were easily screwed in, and the disks were installed. In the photo below px4-300r with disks.
I have never encountered a rack- mounted NAS of this level before, so I can say that in my experience the LenovoEMC PX4-300r looks like a simple single- server server with four hot-swap drive bays.
On the front part there are indicators of the status of the button ports. Information on their state and value I had to peek in the user manual.
1) The button and the power indicator of the device are aligned when the device is on, the power button is on.
2) Two indicators of the status of the system, displaying the current state of affairs.
a. The upper indicator displays the current system status:
b. The lower indicator displays the status of the QuikTransfer copy job:
3) LCD display - by scrolling, you can view the device name, free disk capacity, IP address, date and time. On the LCD, you can run the QuikTransfer copy job and view or close the error messages or warnings of the px4-300r without turning on the computer.
4) Select or cancel button - by pressing the select or cancel button, you can select a menu item on the LCD or close the current message.
5) Next button - by clicking the Next button, you can scroll to the next
information screen px4-300r.
6) Disk activity indicator - displays the current state of disks in px4-300r.
7) Latch for the drive slide - press the release button and pull the latch to release the drive slide.
8) Reset button - press and hold the RESET button for 4 seconds to reset the current security settings and network settings. This allows you to save access to the device in case of incorrect network settings or loss of a password.
9) USB connector - supports devices such as USB storage devices and printers.
There are four hard drive bays in the lower front part, with hot-swap function. I note that bundled with the device are already baskets for disks that allow you to install third-party disks, which gives freedom of choice in organizing disk space for your future data storage system.
Since the device is rack-mount, it is mounted on rails for installation in a rack, and on the sides has ears with the possibility of fixation, for convenient installation in a rack.
On the back of the Lenovo PX4-300r there are all the necessary input and output ports to start working with the device. One power supply is by default, the second one for backup can be purchased separately and installed before. There are two USB 2.0 connectors for connecting USB storage devices and printers. Two gigabit Internet ports with automatic detection of network connection speed 10/100/1000 Base-T. One serial port for PX4-300r maintenance .
The entire case is perforated (means: - it has through holes) from the front and back, which affects the cooling of the device, as air passes through it.
The internals of the device also resemble a single-processor server, there is one Intel Celeron E1500 2.2 Ghz processor with a passive cooling radiator, two memory slots of the DDR3 standard of 1Gb each, for me it would be normal for 4Gb for the device. It is possible to install a backup network card in an additional slot, which will allow you to reserve an additional channel in the event of a primary failure.
I really liked how the device’s motherboard is soldered, everything is done neatly, without too much piling. The wiring of all the wires was surprisingly correct, so that the wires would not interfere with the cooling system, and simply pleased the eye.
A well-organized cooling system. Earlier in the text, I said that the entire body is perforated and has through air penetration. Inside the device, 7 fans are responsible for the distribution of air flows. For the main, directed cooling of the processor and RAM, 4 fans with directional flows through the plastic duct are responsible. One fan is aimed at general cooling of the motherboard. And the two remaining propellers are responsible for cooling the power supplies, one for each power source. With such a directed cooling system and low power of the disk shelf, it does not seem that it can overheat.
After our external and internal analysis and our acquaintance with him, I would like to share with you the main characteristics and capabilities of the LenovoEMC corporate network NAS . Network storage in its main role is used to share files stored on it. In a corporate environment, many scenarios are possible for the useful operation of the device. We will consider the most common and important from a corporate point of view.
I would also like to note several key features of the disk shelf. Since there are unreliable resources in the open spaces of the network, infected data that can harm and violate the integrity of the information on the array, Lenovo has provided a solution to this issue by integrating the McAfee VirusScan Enterprise antivirus system with automatic scanning and removal of viruses and malicious files into the standard package of functions . So you can be calm, your data will be protected.
Small offices or representative offices of large companies will not be amiss to get the opportunity to organize video surveillance. The built-in support for video surveillance systems can help: the Milestone Arcus firmwarefrom Milestone Systems and is fully compatible with Axis Video Hosting Solution (AVHS) for storing and managing video recordings from cameras both locally and through hosting in the cloud. LenovoEMC PX4-300R supports a large number of IP cameras, I will provide a link to the list, you may want to move to a new level of video surveillance and information storage. In the near future we will consider this solution in full with examples.
Recently, a rather important, but quite significant module was released that expanded the functionality of all older LenovoEMC solutions. Now you can install your web serveron the device, which gives many advantages in its operation. Medium and small businesses will be able to fully use it to deploy their own sites or corporate portals. The module is called MYSQL SERVER FOR PX and is available for additional installation through the system management console.
There are many more advantages that are clearly expressed in the capabilities of this device. It’s straight and you won’t catch up with everything that I told just a small part. To cover all the intricacies and aspects of the network solution of the PX4-300r series, I personally will not be enough as an author, and you probably will not have the patience for a long review sheet.
After we looked under the “hood” and highlighted the main functions and capabilities of a simple storage system, I really hope that you noticed the points that you personally are interested in that will warm up your interest in the device. The initial installation is surprisingly elementary and does not require specific knowledge, which makes working with the device quite convenient. Personally, it took me just 7 minutes to integrate into a regular network with setting up backup of working documents. Of course, a lot of important points were omitted, but still, if you approach the organization of backup and system settings thoroughly, I can safely conclude that it will not take you much time.
So, let's start from the beginning:
I think that it’s not necessary to describe the connection to the networks in the review, although I can cut the “Plug into the system, then into the 220v outlet” grass, the patch cord (Enternet wire with RJ-45 connector) into the storage system on the back side, and there in a network switch or router, as practice shows, everything is different for everyone. If you do not have a network and you need to configure the Lenovo PX4-300r locally, you just need to connect the Enternet cable to the network card slot and configure all IP and DNS by default. Then just go to “Start, Computer, Network. In the Other devices section, the px4-300r device should be displayed, if you double-click the px4-300r device, you can see the "LenovoEMC px4-300r Management Console" for the px4-300r. In the case of working through a local network, we can use several ways, the first: the program is the client of LenovoEMC System Manager (LSM), which will help to initially configure the system, and the second: for quick direct access to the device, just enter the model name “px4-300r” in the browser window, in the case of the MAC you need to enter “px4-300r.local", this type of connection applies to all LenovoEMC products . Next, you will be taken to the page of the storage management and configuration console.
After installing and updating the system, you find yourself in a pleasant web interface of the EMC LifeLine operating system. I specifically did not describe the EMC LifeLine OS in full, as there is an idea to devote a separate topic to it, it is already very good. On the animated game from the bottom, I brought her working condition.
(LenovoEMC px4-300r Management Console: 10 frames, 2 seconds per frame)
I, as a pioneer, didn’t bother much with building and configuring RAID, I was interested in building it based on 10 RAID, which I did.
LenovoEMC has a small cheat sheet. Calculation of the capacity of a RAID array after construction. It fully answers the necessary questions related to the number of disks, useful capacity before and after. I will share it with pleasure:
The LenovoEMC px4-300r Management Console has a dedicated system monitor which I noted as important. It allows you to monitor the system and its components. see screen below:
(LenovoEMC px4-300r Management Console: Status System 4 frames, 2 seconds per frame)
LenovoEMC also has a free application for mobile devices that allows you to manage and monitor the LenovoEMC Link network storage system, available for iOS & Android, although even Without an application, you can always configure and get comfortable access through a mobile browser.
Of course, you can scold me a little, because I did not provide a single measurement of speed when working on examples and in life. I want to say about this that in front of us there are still a lot of reviews, both commercial and human, as well I will conduct tests of equipment in direct tasks and their solutions based on server and network equipment Lenovo and LenovoEMC.
When testing a device with a corporate bias, I did not notice obvious disadvantages. I experienced great pleasure with the work and tuning of the system. I emphasized several obvious advantages (the list of advantages is very, very long), in general, I recommend this device to everyone to work and protect your data in a corporate environment.
You can buy LenovoEMC PX4-300R from certified partners with a specialcertificate , the price of a device without disks is an average of 57,000 rubles, although it can vary both up and down.
PS: Thank you all for your attention to this review, in the following materials we will reveal even more information about storage systems and servers. We will prepare targeted solutions and describe in detail their component.
Thanks a lot, ServerMan was with you
So I present to your attention - LenovoEMC PX4-300r network storage system , at first glance you will say that it doesn’t have such a special feature in others. Yes, I think, I will give you dear Khabrovites a simple but comprehensive answer in the form of a review.
Products from LenovoEMC appeared on sale in Russia last year, but they were rarely enough where they could be found on sale. But to date, everything has changed dramatically, there are already official certified partners who can offer a full range and give quality advice on the LenovoEMC and ThinkServer product line.
Rack-mount device from LenovoEMC: - A network storage system of corporate standard data PX4-300r NAS, 1U high (one unit), accommodates up to 16 terabytes of data, in a ratio of 4 disks of 4 terabytes each. (This is for today, we will sincerely believe that in the future larger volumes will be available on disk). The PX4-300r storage system comes with either standard disks or no disks, enabling its future owner to independently organize the disk subsystem according to his needs.
Packaging and equipment
The appearance of the packaging is quite neat, the box has all the logos and stickers with the necessary information. The package size is not very large, length 72 cm - width 60 cm - height 17 cm. But when ordering equipment I recommend using delivery.
Ergonomically includes the entire equipment of the device:
- Network Storage LenovoEMC PX4-300r.
- Rack mount rails, and mounting hardware.
- Network cable for connection and configuration.
- Documentation.
Despite the fact that we have LenovoEMC PX4-300R without disks in our hands , we selected disks from the list of compatible and manufacturer-certified Western Digital HDD SATA-III 3000Gb Red for NAS WD30EFRX, IntelliPower, 64MB buffers in the amount of 4 pcs.
Characteristics of the disk.
- Manufacturer: Western Digital
- Series: Red NAS
- Model: WD30EFRX
- 3.5 "Drive Form Factor
- Volume: 3000 GB
- Drive Buffer: 64 MB
- Interface: SATA 6Gb / s
- MTBF: 1 million hours
- Dimensions: 147 x 101 x 26 mm
- Weight: 640g
The Western Digital HDD SATA-III 3000Gb Red for NAS is specially designed for network storage systems, in particular, it has firmware for working in the NAS, as well as disabled head parking and TLER technology (limited time to fix the error).
The following are small disk tests when connecting a disk to a computer:
Installing the disks in the PX4-300r skid did not take much time, the bolts were easily screwed in, and the disks were installed. In the photo below px4-300r with disks.
Appearance and inside view
I have never encountered a rack- mounted NAS of this level before, so I can say that in my experience the LenovoEMC PX4-300r looks like a simple single- server server with four hot-swap drive bays.
On the front part there are indicators of the status of the button ports. Information on their state and value I had to peek in the user manual.
1) The button and the power indicator of the device are aligned when the device is on, the power button is on.
2) Two indicators of the status of the system, displaying the current state of affairs.
a. The upper indicator displays the current system status:
- Off - the system is turned on and ready for operation.
- Flashing white - px4-300r is rebuilding a RAID array.
- Flashing red - system or disk error; an error message is displayed on the LCD or in the system software.
- Solid red - system error during boot.
b. The lower indicator displays the status of the QuikTransfer copy job:
- Off: There are no working or specific QuikTransfer copy jobs.
- Solid blue - copy jobs are configured; also applies to external connected USB drives with customized copy jobs.
- Flashing blue - data is being transmitted.
- Blue, blinking according to the scheme - indicates an error during data transfer; an error message is displayed on the LCD or in the system software.
3) LCD display - by scrolling, you can view the device name, free disk capacity, IP address, date and time. On the LCD, you can run the QuikTransfer copy job and view or close the error messages or warnings of the px4-300r without turning on the computer.
4) Select or cancel button - by pressing the select or cancel button, you can select a menu item on the LCD or close the current message.
5) Next button - by clicking the Next button, you can scroll to the next
information screen px4-300r.
6) Disk activity indicator - displays the current state of disks in px4-300r.
- Solid blue - on and ready to go.
- Flashing blue: Data is being transmitted.
- Blue, flashing in a certain pattern: data is being transmitted.
7) Latch for the drive slide - press the release button and pull the latch to release the drive slide.
8) Reset button - press and hold the RESET button for 4 seconds to reset the current security settings and network settings. This allows you to save access to the device in case of incorrect network settings or loss of a password.
9) USB connector - supports devices such as USB storage devices and printers.
There are four hard drive bays in the lower front part, with hot-swap function. I note that bundled with the device are already baskets for disks that allow you to install third-party disks, which gives freedom of choice in organizing disk space for your future data storage system.
Since the device is rack-mount, it is mounted on rails for installation in a rack, and on the sides has ears with the possibility of fixation, for convenient installation in a rack.
On the back of the Lenovo PX4-300r there are all the necessary input and output ports to start working with the device. One power supply is by default, the second one for backup can be purchased separately and installed before. There are two USB 2.0 connectors for connecting USB storage devices and printers. Two gigabit Internet ports with automatic detection of network connection speed 10/100/1000 Base-T. One serial port for PX4-300r maintenance .
The entire case is perforated (means: - it has through holes) from the front and back, which affects the cooling of the device, as air passes through it.
The internals of the device also resemble a single-processor server, there is one Intel Celeron E1500 2.2 Ghz processor with a passive cooling radiator, two memory slots of the DDR3 standard of 1Gb each, for me it would be normal for 4Gb for the device. It is possible to install a backup network card in an additional slot, which will allow you to reserve an additional channel in the event of a primary failure.
I really liked how the device’s motherboard is soldered, everything is done neatly, without too much piling. The wiring of all the wires was surprisingly correct, so that the wires would not interfere with the cooling system, and simply pleased the eye.
A well-organized cooling system. Earlier in the text, I said that the entire body is perforated and has through air penetration. Inside the device, 7 fans are responsible for the distribution of air flows. For the main, directed cooling of the processor and RAM, 4 fans with directional flows through the plastic duct are responsible. One fan is aimed at general cooling of the motherboard. And the two remaining propellers are responsible for cooling the power supplies, one for each power source. With such a directed cooling system and low power of the disk shelf, it does not seem that it can overheat.
Characteristics and basic properties
After our external and internal analysis and our acquaintance with him, I would like to share with you the main characteristics and capabilities of the LenovoEMC corporate network NAS . Network storage in its main role is used to share files stored on it. In a corporate environment, many scenarios are possible for the useful operation of the device. We will consider the most common and important from a corporate point of view.
- LenovoEMC PX4-300r supports up to 150 simultaneous connections, which gives a wide choice of its application. Full integration into the existing IT environment of the enterprise with all the ensuing consequences:
- Useful data capacity up to 16 terabytes. (below is a table of useful data when building a raid of arrays)
- Support RAID 0, 1, 10, 5 with hot-swap drives, as well as JBOD
- Support for AD (active directory), ADHA the ability to work with multiple domain groups.
- Backing up volumes with the function of snapshots (Active Snap), full support for modern virtualization systems and their virtual machines, also uses .VSS and .VDS for compatibility with Windows and VMware hosts
- The ability to use SSD drives to organize fast Cash`a
- The most common and commonly used network file protocols are supported: CIFS / SMB / Rally (Microsoft), NFS (Linux / UNIX), AFP / Bonjour (Apple), FTP, SFTP, TFTP, HTTP, HTTPS, WebDAV, Windows DFS, SNMP.
- Ability to aggregate network interfaces for load balancing.
- ISCSI, iSCSI Target support provides a block access level for backup.
- Redundant power supplies for reliable operation.
- Corporate warranty 3 years .
I would also like to note several key features of the disk shelf. Since there are unreliable resources in the open spaces of the network, infected data that can harm and violate the integrity of the information on the array, Lenovo has provided a solution to this issue by integrating the McAfee VirusScan Enterprise antivirus system with automatic scanning and removal of viruses and malicious files into the standard package of functions . So you can be calm, your data will be protected.
Small offices or representative offices of large companies will not be amiss to get the opportunity to organize video surveillance. The built-in support for video surveillance systems can help: the Milestone Arcus firmwarefrom Milestone Systems and is fully compatible with Axis Video Hosting Solution (AVHS) for storing and managing video recordings from cameras both locally and through hosting in the cloud. LenovoEMC PX4-300R supports a large number of IP cameras, I will provide a link to the list, you may want to move to a new level of video surveillance and information storage. In the near future we will consider this solution in full with examples.
Recently, a rather important, but quite significant module was released that expanded the functionality of all older LenovoEMC solutions. Now you can install your web serveron the device, which gives many advantages in its operation. Medium and small businesses will be able to fully use it to deploy their own sites or corporate portals. The module is called MYSQL SERVER FOR PX and is available for additional installation through the system management console.
There are many more advantages that are clearly expressed in the capabilities of this device. It’s straight and you won’t catch up with everything that I told just a small part. To cover all the intricacies and aspects of the network solution of the PX4-300r series, I personally will not be enough as an author, and you probably will not have the patience for a long review sheet.
Startup and initial configuration.
After we looked under the “hood” and highlighted the main functions and capabilities of a simple storage system, I really hope that you noticed the points that you personally are interested in that will warm up your interest in the device. The initial installation is surprisingly elementary and does not require specific knowledge, which makes working with the device quite convenient. Personally, it took me just 7 minutes to integrate into a regular network with setting up backup of working documents. Of course, a lot of important points were omitted, but still, if you approach the organization of backup and system settings thoroughly, I can safely conclude that it will not take you much time.
So, let's start from the beginning:
Installation
I think that it’s not necessary to describe the connection to the networks in the review, although I can cut the “Plug into the system, then into the 220v outlet” grass, the patch cord (Enternet wire with RJ-45 connector) into the storage system on the back side, and there in a network switch or router, as practice shows, everything is different for everyone. If you do not have a network and you need to configure the Lenovo PX4-300r locally, you just need to connect the Enternet cable to the network card slot and configure all IP and DNS by default. Then just go to “Start, Computer, Network. In the Other devices section, the px4-300r device should be displayed, if you double-click the px4-300r device, you can see the "LenovoEMC px4-300r Management Console" for the px4-300r. In the case of working through a local network, we can use several ways, the first: the program is the client of LenovoEMC System Manager (LSM), which will help to initially configure the system, and the second: for quick direct access to the device, just enter the model name “px4-300r” in the browser window, in the case of the MAC you need to enter “px4-300r.local", this type of connection applies to all LenovoEMC products . Next, you will be taken to the page of the storage management and configuration console.
First start
After installing and updating the system, you find yourself in a pleasant web interface of the EMC LifeLine operating system. I specifically did not describe the EMC LifeLine OS in full, as there is an idea to devote a separate topic to it, it is already very good. On the animated game from the bottom, I brought her working condition.
(LenovoEMC px4-300r Management Console: 10 frames, 2 seconds per frame)
I, as a pioneer, didn’t bother much with building and configuring RAID, I was interested in building it based on 10 RAID, which I did.
LenovoEMC has a small cheat sheet. Calculation of the capacity of a RAID array after construction. It fully answers the necessary questions related to the number of disks, useful capacity before and after. I will share it with pleasure:
The LenovoEMC px4-300r Management Console has a dedicated system monitor which I noted as important. It allows you to monitor the system and its components. see screen below:
(LenovoEMC px4-300r Management Console: Status System 4 frames, 2 seconds per frame)
LenovoEMC also has a free application for mobile devices that allows you to manage and monitor the LenovoEMC Link network storage system, available for iOS & Android, although even Without an application, you can always configure and get comfortable access through a mobile browser.
Final part
Of course, you can scold me a little, because I did not provide a single measurement of speed when working on examples and in life. I want to say about this that in front of us there are still a lot of reviews, both commercial and human, as well I will conduct tests of equipment in direct tasks and their solutions based on server and network equipment Lenovo and LenovoEMC.
When testing a device with a corporate bias, I did not notice obvious disadvantages. I experienced great pleasure with the work and tuning of the system. I emphasized several obvious advantages (the list of advantages is very, very long), in general, I recommend this device to everyone to work and protect your data in a corporate environment.
You can buy LenovoEMC PX4-300R from certified partners with a specialcertificate , the price of a device without disks is an average of 57,000 rubles, although it can vary both up and down.
PS: Thank you all for your attention to this review, in the following materials we will reveal even more information about storage systems and servers. We will prepare targeted solutions and describe in detail their component.
Thanks a lot, ServerMan was with you