(Warning – blast from the past! This was originally published by HAL-PC’s print magazine.  I’m copying it into a blog entry because I’m getting rid of my old review sections in my blog, and this was the only page still getting hits from 2002.  It’s funny to read in retrospect, but regular readers can just mark this as read and go on with their merry lives.)

We’ve talked about how to evaluate servers for small businesses, and now let’s take a look at a server marketed to small businesses. The Dell PowerEdge 1650 is a low-end rack server, but still very powerful, and it exhibits a lot of the features we discussed for reliability. First, we’ll look at the advantages and disadvantages of rack-mount servers in general, and then we’ll dive into more detail on the 1650 itself.

Rack-Mounted Servers Versus Towers

Dell’s PowerEdge line consists of both rack-mount and tower-based systems. Rack-mount systems (like this 1650) are designed to fit into a 42” wide rack, a lot like the stereo gear you carried around that summer when you toured as a roadie for the Rolling Stones. Rack-mount servers are as tough as Keith Richards: they’re designed to be in operation around the clock and take the worst kind of abuse. But just like Richards, they have their ups and downs.

On the plus side, rack servers are small. They allow you to fit a lot more firepower in a smaller area. The Dell 1650 is a typical 1u rack server, meaning it fits into 1 unit of rack space, about 1.75” high. Think about a large pizza box, and you’ve got a pretty good idea of the Dell 1650’s size.

Even with that small size, Dell manages to cram in a lot of redundancy. In my last column, I talked about how important it was to have redundant features in your server so that if any one part fails, your server doesn’t grind to a halt. The PowerEdge 1650 has four fans, two built-in network cards, and optional redundant power supplies. The model I evaluated didn’t have the redundant power supplies, but we do take advantage of the redundant network cards, hooking each one up to a separate switch in our network. In the event that a network switch dies (it’s happened to us before), the servers don’t go down – they’re still accessible via the other network cable.

On the minus side, rack servers are – well, small. Since they’re only 1.75” tall, there’s a limited amount of space inside the case – so limited, in fact, that you can only have three hard drives and two PCI cards. While that may seem like a lot if you’ve never bought servers, three hard drives doesn’t allow for much expansion. If you’ve got plenty of space for your servers, then you should consider a tower unit like the similar PowerEdge 2500, which allows for 6 or more hard drives and as many PCI slots.  Even with just three hard drives, you can still have a RAID (Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks). We won’t explore RAID in this particular article.

Dell PowerEdge 1650 Specs and Features

Enough about rack-mounts – now, let’s talk about the 1650’s specific features. If you decide that a rack-mount machine isn’t for your business, you can still get the same features in a normal tower case in the PowerEdge 2500.

This machine is built for tomorrow’s needs. Servers are a hassle to replace: if you have to take your network down for a day while you put a new server into place, then it costs you real money. Instead, you want a server that can easily be upgraded without changing operating system settings, reinstalling programs, and generally disrupting your business.

The PowerEdge 1650 can use dual Pentium 3 processors running at 1.4 GHz and up to four gigabytes of error-correcting (ECC) memory. This particular example has dual 1.26GHz processors and just one gigabyte of memory: there’s no sense in buying more hardware than you need, but it’s good to know the server will be able to grow when we need more power.

Buying For Tomorrow

Another example of buying for tomorrow: the 1650 has dual onboard Intel 10/100/1000 network cards. This machine is only connected to a 10/100 switch, because gigabit Ethernet switches are so expensive, but when the switches get cheaper this machine will be ready. Increasing network speed will be as simple as plugging the server into a new switch, rather than hassling with installing new network cards.

The concept of buying-for-tomorrow extends beyond hardware capacity: think about software capacity. What happens when you want to upgrade to a newer version of Windows? Just as Keith Richards extends his life with blood infusions, you need to be able to get more lifetime out of your server by getting fresh software. Dell uses industry-standard components, like Intel network chips, so it’s very easy to upgrade to future operating systems. We’ve already tested this by installing the beta versions of Windows .Net Web Server Edition onto this machine, and it went flawlessly. Dell’s planning paid off. Part of this is due to the next point…

Integrated Motherboard with Lots of Features

In the 1650, everything is integrated onto the motherboard. In your typical home computer, you’ll find a video card, a network card, a sound card, and so on. With serious servers, everything is integrated onto a single board (the motherboard) to minimize configuration problems. You don’t have to worry about conflicts between cards, because everything was designed to work together.

As we ordered it, this 1650 doesn’t have a single plug-in card. Everything we need is all onboard, and we don’t ever anticipate needing to add a card to this system. That’s helpful because we can do a backup of this system’s hard drive, and then easily restore it at any time without worrying if someone’s changed the video card or network cards.

A lot of people put generic $20 video cards into servers. The logic seems to be: “Nobody’s going to sit in front of this server and use it all day, so why should I care about the video card?” In a word: drivers. You want an industry-standard card that won’t give you problems with each new Windows version and service pack. Using an industry-standard video card integrated onto the motherboard helps this cause and makes your upgrade process easier. If you save $50 on the video card, and then it takes you an extra three hours to get the Windows upgrade done right, did you really save any money?

Monitoring Your 1650 with Dell OpenManage

You can check up on your 1650 from anywhere, over the web. When you’ve got a rack full of servers, you don’t want to waste time looking at each server to make sure the CPU fans are working or that a hard drive hasn’t failed. You want to be alerted when bad things happen. Dell’s OpenManage software, included with all PowerEdge servers, handles this – and you can use it from any web browser on your network.

In the OpenManage web console, you can get all kinds of useful information about your server’s health. You can see exactly how fast each fan is spinning, including the fan in the power supply. Of course, you don’t want to keep surfing the web to make sure your fans are spinning and your drives aren’t failing, so you can also set up alerts to be sent via email, network broadcast, or by simply beeping the server’s speaker. You can even update your server’s bios, check how many memory slots are in use, run diagnostic tests on any component, and more – all from a web browser.

Most major server manufacturers have similar programs with varying levels of power. When you’re spending server-level dollars, you’ll want to see these management programs in action – ask for a demo from your salesperson.

The Bottom Line: It’s a Great Value

The bottom line: price. Dell’s machines are built-to-order, and with the wide range of options available for the 1650, you can end up with a price tag anywhere from $2,000 to over $10,000. While that may seem like a lot for a small business server, concentrate on the lower end of the spectrum. You want to buy a server that you can grow with, and maxing out the options doesn’t make sense for a small business server. You wouldn’t buy it with dual CPU’s and 4 gigabytes of ram right away: instead, start with a single CPU and 512 megs of ram, and grow the server with your needs.