by Greg Reuter
The RD640 is a server computer that Lenovo designed for business critical applications and virtualization and to be highly configurable. It is meant for medium to large enterprises.
Servers are computers designed to serve up and store data, such as CAD files and network-compatible software. Their main purpose is to be reliable, fast and store lots of data. To be reliable, they are well-built using high-quality components and feature redundancy in the areas that tend to fail the most, such as hard drives (through data mirroring) and power supplies (replaceable while the computer is running).
To be fast, they offer one or more Xeon-class CPUs, the fastest available from Intel and can have lots of RAM installed (to minimize the time spent accessing the slower hard drives). To store lots of data, they have room for lots of hard drives, up to 16 for the Lenovo being reviewed here.
Often servers come in a case that is meant to be mounted in a rack, and so they usually include no keyboard, mouse, or monitor. If necessary, these peripherals can be plugged in temporarily, or the server can be accessed remotely; usually, however, servers are so reliable that that they just hum along day after day unattended. Usually Windows Server or a variant of Linux is installed as the operating system.
The Lenovo unit is sized as 2U, just 3.5” tall. While it is possible to put high-power graphics boards, such as AMD FirePros or NVIDIA Quadros, in servers, the Lenovo server lacks the PCI Express slots they need. The RD640 server is not viable for running CAD; instead, it is suitable for private clouds and vault systems, such as Autodesk Vault.
Comparing the Lenovo to Competitors
For this review of the Lenovo RD640, I’ll compare it with similar servers from Dell (their R720 model) and from HP (the ProLiant DL380p Gen8 model). To see how they stack up, let’s take a look at the set of most significant of specifications. (See Figure 1.)
Similar Specification |
|||
|
Lenovo ThinkServer RD640 |
Dell PowerEdge R720 |
HP ProLiant DL380p Gen8 |
Base Price (excluding operating system) |
$2,158 |
$1,689 |
$2,528 |
Price configured like Lenovo RD640 |
$5,700 |
$6,958 |
$8,066 |
|
|||
Processor |
One Xeon E5-2690 V2 CPU |
One Intel Xeon E5-2690 |
One Intel Xeon E5-2690 |
Memory |
32GB RAM |
16GB RAM |
8GB |
Drives |
Four 1TB 7200 RPM Western Digital drives |
One 1TB hot-plug hard drive One DVD-RW drive |
Four 1TB hard drives |
Power Supply |
One 800 Watt power supply |
One 750W hot-plug |
One 750W hot-plug |
Operating System |
None |
None |
None |
Figure 1: Comparison of similar specifications between servers
At first glance, the RD640 seems to be in an unfair fight spec-wise, but a deeper look shows it is fair after all. All three servers are highly configurable, but the value depends on your use-case. The Lenovo servers are less expensive and this shows up when comparing the maximum capabilities of each model. (See Figure 2.)
Maximum Specifications |
|||
|
Lenovo ThinkServer RD640 |
Dell PowerEdge R720 |
HP ProLiant DL380p Gen8 |
Processor |
Two Xeon E5-2690 V2 processors, maximum |
Two Xeon E5-2697 V2 processors, maximum |
Two Xeon E5-2697 V2 processors, maximum |
Memory |
320GB RAM maximum |
1.5TB RAM |
768GB RAM maximum |
Drive Capacity |
Up to eight 3.5” drives or sixteen 2.5” drives |
Up to eight 3.5” drives or sixteen 2.5” drives |
Up to twelve 3.5” drives |
Power Supply |
Up to two redundant 800W power supplies |
Up to two redundant 1100W power supplies |
Up to two redundant 1200W power supplies |
Size |
2U form factor |
2U form factor |
2U form factor |
Expansion Capability |
Up to six slots |
Up to seven slots |
Up to six slots |
Figure 2: Maximum specs for each system
I should admit straight up that I am a Dell R720 fan, because for a dual processor machine I don’t think there are a lot out there that can beat it. (I am also not a fan of HP due to the poor level of customer service.) So, will Lenovo change my opinion? Let’s take a look. (See Figure 3.)
Figure 3: The inside of the Lenovo RD640 server
The Lenovo RD640 can fit two Intel Xeon E5-2690 V2s, compared to dual E5-2697 V2s the competitors bring to the table. The difference is that the 2690 CPU has 10 cores, while the 2697 CPU sports 12. The two extra cores could provide you with a higher virtual machine density, or more database transactions per second before the server is saturated. It is possible to upgrade the Xeons to an E5-2697 V2 on the RD640 if owner of the device is willing to install the CPUs from an upgrade kit, as described by the following link: http://www.cdw.com/shop/products/Intel-Xeon-E5-2697v2-2.7-GHz-processor/3367653.aspx?enkwrd=0c19546
Memory-wise, the Lenovo supports less than half of the memory that the HP can hold, and less than a quarter of the Dell.
The Lenovo power supplies run at only 80% efficiency. Compared to the 92% efficiency of the HP, RD640 will produce more heat per watt, resulting in more air conditioning for the data center and more power per server core. In data centers where sufficient power is an issue, the lower efficiency could determine which hardware to choose.
Virtualization
Let me take a look at possible use cases, and see how each server may fill the role.
It no longer is a secret that companies would like to reduce costs and increase manageability of their server infrastructure. For them, virtualization is a promising option. Assuming an organization is only considering 2U chasses, I believe there are three valid approaches to virtualization:
- A large quantity of smaller servers decreases the capital investment when adding compute resources; this approach reduces the risk of a catastrophic failure, because the hosts are running at a lower density that mitigates the effect of a failure.
- A medium number of mid-sized hosts fit somewhere in the middle.
- A small number of large hosts get much higher density, but increases the capital needed when adding compute resources. It may increase the risk of a large outage, because there are fewer hosts to migrate virtual machines.
The RD640 fits nicely in the small- to medium-host range because of its lower cost, as compared to HP, and similar cost to Dell. This is where I think Lenovo’s Think Server could really shine.
Applications and Databases
What if a company has a need for an application server? Backup servers that have tape drives attached are a good example, as LTO (linear tape-open ) 4, 5, and 6 tape drives can rip data quickly.
Now, some organizations may not have the network bandwidth to accommodate a drive of that performance, and some vendors do not support software on a virtual environment, or the server may house a database with an I/O (input/output) load that cannot be supported by the company SAN (storage area network).
Most applications out there do not require more than 320GB of memory or even two Xeon processors, and so the RD640 would fit this application nicely.
Unboxing and Using the Lenovo Server
Let’s get away from the paper specs and take a look at the demo model I was sent. Unboxing was pretty straight forward. It came in a big 2U server-sized box with ThinkServer across the side. Inside the box were the standard rails, power cord, instructions (no one reads), disks (everyone throws away), and of course, the nice looking 2U-size server neatly encased in foam.
Like the competitors, the rails are completely tool-less. A few snaps, and the server is ready to be placed in its rack. With a starting weight of 35 lbs, it can be racked by one person easily.
The one design feature I love on servers is the lack of a front cover. (See Figure 4.) Dell puts on a cover with a tiny latch that sometimes really hurt the fingers when it doesn’t latch perfectly; sometimes the opposite happens, and the cover doesn’t want to latch back onto the chassis. Lenovo’s lack of a pretty face more than makes up for its pure functionality.
Figure 4: The front panel of the Lenovo server
The inside of the Lenovo machine, I found six hot swappable fans, 20 DIMM slots for memory, two power supply bays, and two CPU sockets. The model I received had one CPU and one power supply installed. As the machine was running, I pulled one of the fans out to see how the server would react. The other fans ramped up to full speed, moving a ton of air as needed. This machine is pretty quiet when idling, but then gets loud when it needs to increase air flow. After I replaced the fan, the server took about five minutes to settle back down.
But then I discovered that one of the bays was housing a bad hard drive. It was 10:30pm when I called customer support, and was connected to a tech after a short time on hold. I told him about the bad drive and the few troubleshooting steps I’d taken. Without hassle, I was sent a new drive, and so I was impressed with the support offered by Lenovo. I have experienced issues with other brands where I spent an hour on the phone trying to get a hard drive replaced that I knew was bad. It was quite a refreshing change to have a drive sent to me after just 15 minutes on the phone.
Figure 5: The back of the U2-sized server
Benchmarking the Lenovo ThinkServer
The model I was sent is a good candidate for an applications server that does not need a lot of IOPS (input/output operations per second). The specs for my test unit are listed earlier in Figure 1, above.
The Xeon E5-2690 V2 CPU is a monster, and so should handle most applications plus some. This particular CPU ran a 16822 on a Passmark test, slightly below the 17304 value recorded on the Passmark Web site for the same server.
By comparison, the Xeon E5-2697 V2 processor fitted in the Dell and HP competitors got a score of 23822. For reference, the I7-3770K used in top-end consumer desktop computers is a measly 10385 compared to the mighty Xeons.
My test unit came with four 1TB Western Digital SATA (serial advanced technology attachment) devices spinning at 7200 RPM (revolutions per second) in a RAID 10 configuration (redundant array of independent disks). Using IOMeter, I got about 185 IOPS out of the four drives. Note that RAID 10 cuts the performance of the drives combined in half, and so I would expect about 70-100 IOPS should be expected out of each drive individually.
The same holds true for sequential reads and writes. These drives should read about 130 MB/s (megabytes per second) and the four in a RAID 10 configuration read at 264 Mb/s, according to CrystalDiskMark.
Conclusion
The RD640 is a solid small to mid 2U server. I really like the no-nonsense, purely functional engineering of the machine. There are, however, two features that I would like to see included by Lenovo: (1) some expansion bays capable of housing GPUs for virtual desktop infrastructure deployments (2) and an SD card option for running VMware’s ESX enterprise-level virtualization software. These two features really revolve around VDI and server virtualization which, on a small host setup, would give this server more of an edge due to its low price point.
So, did Lenovo manage to change my mind about the RD720? Partially. If I worked at a company that used smaller VMware hosts, or used physical servers for something other than hosting virtual servers and desktops, the RD640 would be a serious consideration.
This server delivers some serious value. The RD640 will give its competitors a hard time in the budget-minded market.
http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/servers/thinkserver/racks/RD640
[This article appears by permission of CADdigest.com]
Here is an upbeat video overview of the Lenovo RD640 ThinkServer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cr2Ca5YMkQQ
Posted by: Chris Rodinis | Jan 02, 2015 at 01:07 PM
In the publishing industry, we call the content of the video a "puff piece," because it provides no useful information beyond the vendor's own marketing materials.
Posted by: Ralph Grabowski | Jan 02, 2015 at 04:12 PM