Storage

Looking at the storage front, the 2U Promise Vtrak E310f looks a lot like the VTrak J300s (a 2U 12 disk JBOD system). Looks can deceive of course: the E310f is an RBOD which has built-in failover/failback RAID 6 dual SAS controllers. The VTrak E310f connects to your SAN Switch via 4Gb fiber channel ports. The price of the 310f is around 4000 Euro (probably about $4500).

It is one of the first RBODs to use the Intel IOP341 CPU. This is a highly integrated, system-on-a-chip I/O processor incorporating the low-power Intel XScale processor, which runs at clock speeds of about 800 MHz. The IOP341 has also a rather large 512 KB L2 for an embedded chip. The XScale chip provides "pure hardware" or IOP-based RAID, including support for RAID 6. RAID 0, 1, 1E, 5, 10, 50, 60 are also supported. No less than 512MB cache is available (with a maximum of 2GB).


Up to four VTrak J-Class JBOD systems can be daisy chained via the SAS port to provide more storage space. The RBOD can be completely configured via a comprehensive remote management web server interface.


This kind of RBOD still needs a third party SAS controller from Adaptec or LSI. Promise offers only SAS controllers with internal ports.

AMD MSI and Fujitsu Siemens
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  • BikeDude - Tuesday, April 10, 2007 - link

    I've tried to use SuperMicro's management software in the past and quite frankly it is pure and utter c---.

    Last week I tried HP's management software, and could install the entire OS from a remote location. I could map a .iso image to the blade in question and it booted right up.

    OTOH, as I recall, SuperMicro's remote desktop solution is based on VNC. Where HP lets you remotely access the console from before POST is even run, SuperMicro forces you to first install the OS.

    (We have lots of Tyan and SuperMicro servers, but of course we might've missed something fundamental along the way -- but... HP has a very nice package once the hardware has been hooked up to the power outlet and your network switch)
  • Xenoterranos - Friday, March 30, 2007 - link

    "Enermax showed how much hardware its Galaxy 1000W can power. According to Enermax, the PSU delivered 933 W to 24 80GB hard disks, four Opteron 8212 CPUs, four 3Ware 9650 drive controllers, a GeForce 7600GX and 8GB of RAM (16 x 512MB)."

    ...or 2 GeForce 8800's.
  • yyrkoon - Friday, March 30, 2007 - link

    quote:

    The only thing missing is an internal SAS controller; the internal disk bays only support SATA. A positive is the fact that two USB ports are available on the front of the server.


    So now we 'need' usb ports on the front of a rack mount server ?! I'd rather have onboard SAS to be honest ;)

    Interresting toys, no doubt.
  • JohanAnandtech - Friday, March 30, 2007 - link

    Well, I find sometimes very handy for installing quickly a driver or a small testprogram etc. Or in some cases to add a USB CDROM, or to make a quick backup on a USB harddisk.

    Do you feel that USB has no use on the front of a server?
  • neogodless - Thursday, March 29, 2007 - link

    I've heard of Home Theatre PC (HTPC) but HPC... is...?
  • laok - Thursday, March 29, 2007 - link

    High Performance Computing
  • Desslok - Thursday, March 29, 2007 - link

    Tyan should have taken the silica bag off that system before showing it off.
  • AnandThenMan - Thursday, March 29, 2007 - link

    Hellz no! The silica bag and the inanimate carbon rod are the main reasons people flock to these shows.
  • ravedave - Thursday, March 29, 2007 - link

    So the Barcelona is no longer known as the K8L and is now again being called the K10? When is the launch for this part? Last I saw it was Q1, which is almost over...

  • JohanAnandtech - Thursday, March 29, 2007 - link

    AFAIK, the K8L name was never used by AMD: it was invented on the Internet. THe K10 will be launched mid 2007 (that is all AMD says), probably the Summer of 2007

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