SHOPPING GUIDE - SERVERS Part 2

Server buying guide: format, manufacturer and where to buy

• Which format is best based on your needs
• Most Important Differences Between Rack, Blade, and Tower Servers
• Manufacturer Differences for Product Support and Post-Purchase

What is Server Platform?

The term platform used in this article describes the physical form factor of the chassis and housing of the server hardware. In addition to size and shape, each format has its own unique housing, maintenance, and usage requirements. After reading this article, you will be able to choose the server format that is best suited for your datacenter or business needs.

What we will review

Rack Servers

Overview

Rack servers are a sophisticated, easily expandable type of server that can be mounted vertically in physical cabinets called racks. Both the servers and the racks that support them follow standardized sizes called rack units (abbreviated as U or RU), which measure 1.75 inches (44.45 mm) tall. Although they are available in various sizes, the most common height for a  standard full rack cabinet  is 42U – just over six feet, conceptually you can think of a 42U rack with the following features:

• 42 Dell R630 1U rack servers
  
• 21 Dell R730 2U rack servers

• 10 Dell  R930 4U Rack Servers

Most IT professionals managing mid-to-large data centers will opt for 2U (or higher) servers because the larger physical volume of the taller chassis allows for better airflow and larger, more powerful cooling fans, which results in greater heat dissipation. Along with improved cooling, the larger chassis size of 2U (and higher) servers means they can accommodate more drive bays and expansion cards, which increases overall server capabilities. Lastly, the power consumption of more U's servers is many times lower than would be a comparable number of single U's servers when mounted in a single rack.

Rack servers offer high performance, moderate pricing, and are equipped to function as a stand-alone system. Perfect for large offices, data centers, and co-location facilities

What is a socket?

A socket indicates the maximum number of central processing units (CPUs) that a rack server can be configured with. A 1-socket server supports a single processor, a 2-socket server supports up to two processors, a 4-socket server supports up to four processors, an 8-socket server supports up to eight processors, etc. While it's true that dual- and quad-socket motherboards such as Intel's super popular Xeon line offer significant performance benefits over single-CPU motherboards, the more recent advent of CPUs with extremely high core counts, such as  AMD's 32-core EPYC/Threadripper line  , has resulted in a growing popularity of single-socket CPUs for their overall value for money.

Advantages of rack servers

• Fully Functional: Unlike blade servers, which work best when paired and often require shared components like power and cooling, rack servers contain all the components needed to function by default – including storage and memory – which makes them ideal for operating as standalone, units, or paired data centers.
• Convenience: The ability to mount multiple servers in a single rack makes it easy to install and maintain, and saves space in data centers.
• Cost-effective as stand-alone units: While rack servers can be clustered, they don't have to be, which makes them much more cost-effective to own and operate – even if you only need a few units for the desired applications.

Disadvantages of rack servers

• High power requirement: While overall power consumption can be reduced somewhat by utilizing 2U and higher configurations, a  full rack of servers will require a large amount of power to operate. Also, when the rack is densely populated, the racks will need more cooling units. This will increase energy costs and increase the risk of overheating when many servers are stored close to each other.
• Time-consuming: Locating the source of a problem in a rack server system can be time-consuming. You may need to invest in a unique cooling system to prevent problems from arising.

Tower Servers

Overview

A tower server, which has a chassis that resembles the size and shape of a standard desktop PC, is actually the most common type of server. Like rack servers, tower servers are fully self-contained units and do not share components such as storage, cooling, or power. While highly customizable, tower servers often come with minimal hardware components and preloaded software, as they are suitable for plug-and-play administrators and the needs of small and medium-sized offices. The physical area of a tower server is quite large relative to the available computing power, so organizations considering this type of server need to ensure that they have enough space to dedicate. Tower servers are highly customizable and can be configured for a variety of purposes, including web, networking, communication, or general use.

Who are tower servers best suited for?

Tower servers are perfect devices for small businesses, law firms, or healthcare organizations that need a server that can be easily set up and managed without a dedicated team of IT administrators at all times. Tower servers can be used to run internal applications, serve public websites, or store sensitive customer data. Compared to rack and blade alternatives, tower servers are also much easier and more time-consuming to customize and configure based on the specific needs of the business.

Tower servers are the cheapest and highly configurable, but they offer low processing density and greater physical space. Perfect for small offices, healthcare organizations, and law firms.

Advantages of tower servers

• Ease of use: Tower servers come with minimal configuration required, so small IT teams with fewer resources can easily customize and upgrade based on business needs
• Cost: While tower servers never have the computing power or density of racks or blades, as single, stand-alone devices – they are usually cheaper to purchase
• Low cooling cost: The large floor space of tower servers inherently means that they have a much lower component density than blade or rack servers. A lower component density requires much less cooling

Disadvantages of tower servers

• Large floor space: Tower servers are not designed to be stacked or assembled in an orderly manner, so if multiple servers are required to operate, the floor space they occupy will increase rapidly
• Low compute density: Tower servers can be fantastic standalone devices and can be configured to be quite powerful. However, their large footprint and the inability of multiple towers to pool their computing power make them a poor choice for large enterprises and data centers.

Peripheral management issues: In environments where multiple tower servers are operating together, IT administrators may have to invest in additional cables and switches or even reconnect external devices on each separate server, which can quickly become confusing and difficult to maintain over time.