The New SMB Must-Have: Intel's Modular Server

As the SMB blade movement gains steam, you're seeing names like IBM, HP, and Dell all jockeying for a piece of the emerging business. But sometimes it makes the most sense to go with a channel-only solution that plays to your unique, local touch strengths, especially if that channel-only play happens to have technical and value advantages not found anywhere else. When you have an SMB customer ready to consolidate present and future servers into the most compact, management-friendly form possible, check out the new Intel Modular Server.

The Modular Server stands 6U high in a rackmount setting but also features rubber feet on the bottom when needed as a stand-alone pedestal. The system is built for simple, mostly toolless assembly and maintenance, with up to six "compute modules" running down the right, hot-swappable drive bays on the left, and the whole enclosure bonded together with an active backplane. Each of the compute nodes features an Intel motherboard based on the 5000P chipset. This enables up to 32GB of ECC memory and support for a pair of Xeon processors up to the 1333 MHz front side bus 5400 series. That's eight cores per module accompanied by two Gigabit Ethernet connections—four with an optional mezzanine card—a PCI Express x8 port, and integrated remote management hardware. The Modular Server ships in a 14 x 2.5" drive configuration.

Behind the midplane, the Modular Server's storage controller module integrates a SAS expander and hardware-accelerated RAID (levels 0 through 60) controller. Essentially, this enables a SAS-based SAN contained to exist within the Modular Server—a big plus for those needing block-level data access and backup. System admins can create as many virtual drive volumes as they like and direct each server node to any given volume. If a server needs to be swapped out, simply remove the old node and insert the new one; the Modular Server automatically maps the replacement to the proper virtual drive.

You can add a second storage control module for redundancy or for load balancing. Each storage module features a mini four-lane external SAS port for connecting to an external RBOD enclosure and delivering more storage capacity to the compute nodes. Similarly, once you install the optional Modular Server mezzanine card, you can add a second Ethernet switch module for redundancy and more bandwidth.

Intel Modular Server:
THE RESPONSE, video

According to Intel, the Modular Server reaches price parity with similarly configured 1U servers at just under three servers and gets more advantageous with each server added from there. Mind you, that parity point ignores built-in Modular Server benefits like remote manageability, integrated KVM over IP, and a wall-to-wall system update comprised of simply executing one download, not dozens of patches across six separate servers. Backed by Intel's channel programs, support, training, and reputation, the Modular Server can open a lot of sales doors and actually reduce costs for resellers who find themselves managing servers in seconds from afar, not burning hours on support calls and truck rolls.

Adaptec's Series 5: Breakthrough Performance For All Storage Needs

The question of business-class storage is no longer one of "if" but "how much?" Admins that value ROI aren't going to swamp their server performance with software-based RAID. No matter what their size or applications, businesses want best-in-class speed, protection, simplicity, and scalability. Adaptec's new Series 5 line of SAS controllers delivers on all of these qualities.

Adaptec Series 5 Family

In fact, the Series 5 benefits are glaring when you compare against last year's comparable Series 3 models. Look at some of the benchmark data for examples. RAID 0 streaming writes deliver roughly a 24% improvement. RAID 0 streaming reads show a 35% improvement. RAID 0 media writes dazzle with over a 200% gain.

But RAID 0 is nothing exceptional these days, so let's look at higher-demand tests with a 16-drive RAID 6. Streaming writes on the Series 5 show a nearly 300% boost while media write scores reveal an almost ludicrous improvement of over 1,000 percent. The fact is that Series 5 cards are best of breed for server apps spanning file, email, media, Web, database, and more.

Of course, there are almost as many different kinds of storage solutions as there are businesses to run them. So let's take three examples as some suggestions for where and how you might deploy these products. First, there's the basic small business system, something like a general-purpose pedestal server or souped-up consumer tower for 10 or 20 employees. This company needs a machine that's long on dependability and capacity but still easy on the bottom line. Adaptec's 5405 is a MD2 low-profile card with a x8 PCI Express slot, 256MB of cache, and four lanes of internal SAS connectivity through a single SFF-8087 port. Using the bundled 1-to-4 splitter cable, you can direct connect to up to four SAS or SATA drives. Take four enterprise SATA drives, something like Seagate's Barracuda ES.2, and use Adaptec's Storage Manager software to tie them into a RAID 6. That's double redundancy and enterprise-class drive dependability at a fraction of what most SAS drives would cost per gigabyte.

Now, most companies anticipate steady growth, and that means a constant need for more storage. One smart way for a small business to anticipate growth is with a controller like Adaptec's 5445, which is identical to the 5405 except that this unit steps up to 512MB of cache and adds a 4-lane SFF-8088 external SAS port for connecting out to a JBOD enclosure. Keep in mind that each SAS lane delivers up to 3 Gb/s of bandwidth, so a four-lane connection means 12 Gb/s, or roughly 1200 MB/s. A 12- or 16-drive array stuffed with SATA drives won't even get close to 1,000 MB/s of traffic, if only because you would hardly ever find all 12 or 16 drives doing read/writes at the same time.

For companies that have made the jump to rackmounting, the 5445 makes a great storage backbone in a 2U server, perhaps Intel's SSR212MC2, which requires low-profile add-in cards. The internal 4-port connector feeds to the server's backplane and its 12 attached drives while the external connector tackles an added JBOD or RBOD. This is when you start to appreciate that all Series 5 cards work with SAS expanders and daisy chaining to control up to 256 SAS or SATA drives.

For various reasons, not all storage-oriented servers use active backplanes. A company may want high drive counts at the lowest cost. In such cases, a chassis like Supermicro's SC836TQ makes total sense. This 3U box holds 16 hot-swappable 3.5" SAS or SATA drives. The unit's passive backplane interfaces with drives in the front while the flip side features 16 data connectors that tether back to four SAS ports. The go-to card for this job is Adaptec's 51645, a full height card that's still only half length so as to provide better system airflow. You still get the external SAS port, making 20 total SAS lanes, plus there are protection-minded features like enclosure management support and a battery backup interface. The backup battery serves to keep write data stuck between the system and the drive platters alive for up to 72 hours during a blackout until power can be restored.

Series 5 models support from four to 28 SAS lanes. Even with the ability to support over 200 drives from one controller, there could be times when the 2 GB/s of bandwidth in a x8 PCI Express bus becomes a bottleneck. No problem. Just add another Series 5 card. Adaptec's Storage Manager software will see both and consolidate them under one remotely manageable graphical interface.

This is the level of flexibility, reliability, and performance your clients need in a storage solution. Your system may be modest or massive, but if it's going to deliver what a customer needs today and provide almost unlimited scalability for the future, start that system with the Series 5.

According to IDC, Windows Server holds the top market share spot among server operating systems, and if you sell server systems, you've probably selling Windows Server 2003 on at least some of them. Well, Server 2008 is finally here, and so we can start a new round of the age-old question: Is it worth upgrading? And is it imperative to make the switch from 2003 to 2008 in your product lineup?

Yes and yes. Server 2008 is built on the same code base as Vista. Yes, we know Vista received a lukewarm reception, especially from business users. But silence those alarm bells for a moment. Because there's a lot of foundation shared between Vista and Server 2008, you'll notice functionality introduced alongside Windows Server 2008 that's optimized for a network of Vista-based clients. This is a tale of two operating systems that work better together. So not only are you looking at an opportunity to learn and make money with Microsoft's new server OS, but also a fresh angle from which to approach Vista sales.

With five years in the making, you can understand why any thorough sales pitch on Server 2008 is bound to be a long conversation. But sometimes you don't get an hour to make a first impression. If a customer only gives you two minutes to make a persuasive case, consider some of these key reasons on why Server 2008 is different and worth buying.

Server Core

Server Core is a drastically pared-down version of Server 2008 that you can elect to deploy instead of the complete OS. In a Server Core installation, you're rolling out only the bare essentials. There's no Internet Explorer, no Media Player, not even a graphical user interface. Everything is controlled through command line or remote access. If you and your customer decide to go with a Server Core installation, you'll miss a lot of the other features Server 2008 introduces. But there are some distinct advantages to cutting the fat.

Streamlined Setup

Windows Server 2003 would tie installers to the keyboard for an hour or more. Because Windows Server 2008 is based on Vista, the installer is entirely GUI-driven. We got our hands on an RTM copy of Server 2008 to put its new installation routine to the test. Remarkably, the setup process only consisted of a couple clicks before a shockingly short 20-minute process in which the operating system unpacked files, restarted the machine a couple of times, and finished the install. It even let us skip right past the product key prompt with a mere warning that not entering a code down the road could lead to data loss. Gone are the days when you'd need all of your customer's information before rolling out Windows Server. Now you can enter that data on-site after installing the complete OS.

Ready for an enterprise technology pulled down into reach of SMBs? High availability services, otherwise known as fail-over clustering, ensure important applications stay online by means of redundancy. The dozens of screens that used to be needed in order to set up redundancy are now handled by two in Server 2008. Microsoft includes a Validation Wizard that runs tests on the selected servers, the LAN, and attached storage to determine if the infrastructure is suitable for a cluster. If so, a Cluster Setup wizard seals the deal in one step. You can even automate the process with a script. Better yet, clustering can now be geographically dispersed. A backup server can be placed in a branch office several states away in order to survive a natural disaster.

Terminal Services: Expanding Access

The idea behind Terminal Services is to make networked resources available to the people who need them—not just over the local LAN, but from anywhere. Windows Server 2008 takes the Terminal Services features you likely learned about through SBS 2003's Remote Desktop to an entirely new level of connectivity. When your customer connects to his corporate network from outside, he'll be greeted by a fully functional desktop that looks like his machine at the office. You enable that familiar environment through Microsoft's new Remote Desktop Connection 6.0 software. The package adds several new features: support for 16:9 and 16:10 displays, spanning across monitors, combined desktop resolutions of up to 4096 x 2048, and display data prioritization, a QoS measure that favors display bandwidth traveling over the network.

Terminal Services Gateway (TS Gateway) is a role service within Terminal Services that lets users connect to corporate assets remotely from any Internet-equipped device. In the past, you might have sold your customer an SSL or IPsec VPN router to enable secure connections from outside of the network. TS Gateway gives you the same type of functionality from within Windows, and it's safe. The TS Gateway Manager snap-in console lets you specify exactly who can connect remotely, whether they're from user groups on the server or groups in the Active Directory Domain Services. You can also set TS Gateway to use Network Access Protection (NAP) to further enhance security in an environment where you're deploying Vista on client machines. NAP technology verifies that machines connecting to your customer's network are healthy before they're granted permission to join up.

Virtualize This

Virtualization is an opportunity to engage your customers in consolidating their servers, cutting back on power usage, and simplifying management. Microsoft plans to make the production release of its virtualization platform, Hyper-V, available within 180 days of Windows Server 2008, so it isn't far off. Hyper-V will only work on 64-bit versions of Windows Server 2008. In turn, the hypervisor supports 64-bit guest operating systems (important if you're going to start consolidating server software) and the ability to allocate processing resources from dual- and quad-core CPUs. Hyper-V is unique in its ability to virtualize any device for which there is a Server 2008 driver, setting a new benchmark for hardware compatibility.

Dig In

We've covered only a handful of the must-haves contained in Server 2008. Get involved, learn the product, and amaze your customers with what you find. Microsoft makes it easier for resellers to deploy technologies that might have required an on-site specialist only a year ago. Demonstrate the software's benefits to clients (through the new Terminal Services, perhaps?) and profit accordingly.

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