Lenovo ThinkServer RD650 Rack Server

Description

The ThinkServer RD650 is a powerful 2U, 2-socket rack server and was released in September of 2014 to coincide with Intel's much anticipated E5 v3 processor family. Offering an abundance of memory and storage, built-in RAID options and three different chassis, the RD650 provides a scalable, flexible platform for just about any business-critical application.

Performance

The RD650 offers high-level computing performance. Two Intel Xeon E5-2600 v4 or E5-2600 v3 processors can be installed. DDR4 memory provides a significant increase in performance while reducing power consumption over the previous generation DDR3 memory modules. This system is designed to operate reliably at higher temperatures up to 45 degrees Celsius or 113 degrees Fahrenheit, which can significantly reduce operational costs.

Memory

24 DDR4 DIMM slots provide an impressive 1.5TB of memory in a two processor configuration using 64GB LRDIMMs and can support memory speeds up to 2133MHz using 3 DIMMs per channel. With one or two DIMMs per channel the system will support memory speeds of up to 2400MHz with the appropriate E5 v4 processor. Both RDIMM and LRDIMM modules are supported but cannot be mixed.

Storage - Three Different chassis

There are several chassis configurations depending on your storage and performance requirements. Up to 100TB of storage is available using 12 x 3.5-inch drives. A second chassis configuration offers tiered storage for ZFS and SAN applications with both 3.5-inch and 2.5-inch drives for a total storage capacity of 63.2TB. The third chassis supports up to 24 x 2.5-inch front mounted drives with two rear mounted 2.5-inch SSDs for a total of 26 drives for superfast access. An optional tape drive is also available on certain chassis configurations, and optional M.2 SSDs and flash SD cards can be installed for fast booting and hypervisor support. M.2 SSD slots or 2x 2.5-inch rear drive bays can be selected in the configuration, but not both.

Expansion

The RD650 has eight PCIe slots to cover a wide range of external devices including HBAs, NICs and hard drive controllers. Two expansion bays, or riser cards, allow for up to three full height, full width expansion cards each. RAID is handled with an internal AnyRAID controller located between the hard drive backplane and the hot-swap fans saving your PCIe slots for other accessories. An optional Flash module mounts on the AnyRAID controller for additional cache. A dedicated AnyFabric network connection, accessed from the back of the system, preserves PCIe slots and supports several common external devices-NICs, FiberChannel HBA, and CNA.

Management

Installing the OS and drivers is easy with Lenovo's ThinkServer Deployment Manager (TDM) accessible at boot-up from the BIOS. The TDM helps configure volume selection, BIOS settings, and RAID options. Lenovo's ThinkServer System Manager (TSM) is a chip mounted on the system board to enable remote management of the server and can be accessed through the network to provide system health status. Additional premium management features enable diagnostics, energy management, and power planning.

In summary

The Lenovo RD650 is a highly adaptable and scalable platform capable of handling a wide range of business critical applications. Three different chassis configurations combined with generous memory, storage, and PCIe slots allow Lenovo's RD650 to perform a variety of tasks. Lenovo's superb cooling will also significantly reduce operational costs compared to the previous generation server.

If you still want the performance but don't need as much storage, check out Lenovo's RD550.