Lenovo ThinkSystem SR250
An affordable yet very credible rack server, with a great set of features and quality remote management
SCORE PRICE As reviewed, £ 1,155 exc VAT from uk.insight.com
If you’re an IT manager for a small, cash-strapped business, the first thing that will strike you about Lenovo’s ThinkSystem SR250 is the price. Even though it comes from a big name, it’s conspicuously cheaper than any other server this month. After that, you might notice its size: with a depth of only 555mm, it’s distinctly shorter than the average 1U rack server. Happily, this doesn’t come at the cost of features.
Indeed, the SR250 is a very flexible creature, which you can specify and expand to suit your needs. For a start, it’s available with up to ten SFF hot-swap drive bays – two of which can take high-speed PCIe NVMe SSDs, thanks to Lenovo’s clever AnyBay backplane. The only catch is that these drives will require Lenovo’s 1610-4P four-port NVMe adapter card, which pushes up the asking price by a hefty £630.
Businesses interested in sheer capacity can select the four-LFF-bay model we tested. The embedded C246 chipset and integrated Intel RSTe controller support cold-swap stripes, mirrors and RAID5 arrays, but again you have options: a choice of four SAS3/SATA RAID cards is available, with Lenovo’s high-end 930-8i bringing RAID6 and a batteryprotected flash cache into play.
You’re also free to choose from the whole family of Xeon E CPUs. Our system came with a low-end quadcore E-2124, which helps keep the price down, but you can pick a six-core version if you like.
One thing you’ll surely want to upgrade is the RAM. The four DIMM slots support up to 64GB, but the price includes just a single 8GB module. You will need to use Lenovo’s TruDDR4 RAM to keep your warranty and support contract intact; each stick has a unique signature that the server will verify.
There’s plenty more room for expansion under the lid. An embedded four-port mini-SAS backplane connector is partnered by four more SATA ports, and there are three PCIe slots (the bottom one dedicated to
“Hit F1 during boot and you can use the Provisioning Manager to configure the server, create RAID arrays and deploy an OS”
Lenovo’s RAID cards). A single 2242/2280 M.2 SATA SSD slot can be used for hypervisor duties.
While not as quiet as the Fujitsu, the ThinkSystem SR250 is relatively peaceful. Four cold-swap, dual-rotor fans sit in front of the motherboard, and the SPLnFFT app on our iPad measured a volume level of 42dB at one metre. The price includes a big 450W hotplug power supply with room for a second next door; the server drew 29W while idle, and peaked at 76W under heavy CPU load.
Remote management is a strength of the SR250. A dedicated Ethernet port gives access to the Standard edition of Lenovo’s XClarity Controller (XCC), which provides remote power controls, fan control, sensor monitoring, inventory and more. Moreover, you can view colourful graphs and charts showing historical power usage, fan and voltage status and temperatures.
Paying for the XCC Advanced Upgrade additionally enables remote KVM, virtual media services and remote OS deployment. Hit F1 during boot and you can use the XClarity Provisioning Manager to configure the server, create RAID arrays and deploy an OS. We used the remote console to mount a virtual Windows Server 2016 ISO, and then the guided installation option helped us create a mirrored RAID array and get the OS up and running in 30 minutes.
Despite its modest proportions and low price, the ThinkSystem SR250 has the credentials to handle a wide range of business applications. It has a capable specification, lots of potential for customisation and expansion as your requirements evolve, and classy server management tools. For many small businesses, there’s really no need to spend more.
SPECIFICATIONS 1U rack chassis 3.3GHz quad-core Xeon E-2124 8GB 2,667MHz DDR4 ECC (max 64GB) Intel C246 Intel RSTe supports RAID0, 1, 10, 5 2 x 1TB SATA LFF hard disks (max 4 LFF/10 SFF) 1 x M.2 SATA SSD slot (2242/2280) 3 x PCIe 3 2 x Gigabit Ethernet 450W hotplug PSU (max 2)
XCC Standard with Gigabit Ethernet 3yr on-site NBD warranty power consumption: 29W idle, 76W peak