InformationWeek: The Business Value of Technology

I envisioned a departmental server being used to run client-server applications such as DB2, Lotus Notes, Oracle, or SQL Server, or to be used as an intranet HTTP server. Those tasks would require hefty internal storage and powerful multiprocessing, with room for expansion as the department's needs evolve. Remote management was also a criterion.

I specified four-way-capable Pentium III Xeon servers, populated with two processors to leave room for expansion. All the vendors shipped two 500-MHz processors with 512 Kbytes of L2 cache and 512 Mbytes of RAM. All support up to 4 Gbytes of RAM.

I asked the vendors to preinstall Windows NT 4 and NetWare 5 on separate boot disks, and asked that the operating systems include all appropriate management software. I also requested a RAID 5 configuration containing three 9-Gbyte drives, at least two hot-swappable power supplies, and a remote-management solution--a typical requirement set.

This test was focused on examining each machine's manageability, ability to scale, and serviceability, as well as judging its high-availability features.

I did not run formal benchmarks or otherwise attempt to measure the relative speed of the servers. To create a workload for the systems under NetWare 5, I configured four PCs on the LAN to write and rewrite files continuously, in multiple sessions, to each server for a two-day period. That was the extent of the NetWare 5 testing. All the servers passed this test.

For the Windows NT Server 4 evaluation, all the servers were set up with Service Pack 5 and Internet Explorer 5. I configured the servers as file servers, with continual file writing by clients, and also ran Internet Information Server 5 and SQL Server 7.

I caused failures in the power supplies and also removed a RAID drive, let it spin down, and then reinserted the drive to see if rebuilding would be automatic. During these tests, I monitored the servers using the tools provided by the vendor. I performed as many functions as possible from a remote workstation on the LAN.

When the proverbial smoke cleared, Hewlett-Packard's NetServer LH4 and IBM Netfinity 5500 M20 shared highest honors, while the Acer Altos 21000 and Compaq ProLiant 5500 Ultra2 each offered its own mix of features and value, but didn't show as well.

Acer Altos 21000
Acer's Altos 21000 server is a worthy entry by a new player in the server market. Offering the lowest price in our roundup, it also offered a combination of strong availability and scalability features, but fell short in management tools.

The review unit had two 430-watt power supplies, with a hot-swappable fan loaded into the third power-supply bay. Only the Acer and the HP NetServer LH4 allowed for more than two power supplies as an N+1 availability option. The Acer is serviced by removing the left-side panel. Inside, it presents a tidy, spacious appearance, with spare cables neatly tucked into holders. It provides seven PCI slots (one occupied by the RAID controller).