Advantages: Very versatile mid range server
Disadvantages: support web site can be awkward to navigate

...management from boot up (although I think this card is quite expensive (about £450.00 but don't quote me as I have never bought one). As with all IBM servers it comes with the ServerGuide startup CD which allows you to quickly configure your disks, create a utility partition (containing all the relevant drivers) and automatically install your OS. The only thing that takes a little time is synch'ing the arrays but I normally kick it off then go and do something else for a couple of hours then come back and do the OS setup part of it. You also get the IBM Director CD (see my X226 review) which allows for complete monitoring and reporting in the event of warnings, errors or predictive failure. Overall I think this is an excellent server. You could buy it at base level with a couple of GBs of RAM and a pair of mirrored drives. As your business... Read review

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Advantages: good build quality - rarely break down - It's an IBM!
Disadvantages: support website can sometimes be awkward to navigate.

...that once the initial information has been entered it's pretty much an automated process. Once your up and running you can install the included IBM Director software (it is included with all the servers I have ever bought but I don't see it on the kit list so might be wise to check, although even if it isn't you can download it from the IBM website. The easiest way to find it is search the IBM website or Google for e1cd1.iso. You should also download the serveraid windows agent as well ) which monitors the state of all your hardware and can be configured to send E-Mail or pager alerts in the event of warnings errors or security breaches. As a terminal server it should be good to go for up to 15 users (maybe 20 with plenty of RAM and if only using office docs) but I would probably go for an X236 if you want to do much more than that or have... Read review

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Advantages: Very low cost
Disadvantages: No potential

...If you are two users working from home, or you require a small good value box to act as a small scale scanned document server then this is the one for you, load it up with your favourite operating system, chuck it in the corner and away you go. i would however advise that you put in a second hard drive and at the very least run on a mirrored pair. At least that way if one drive fails you can carry on working whilst you wait for the replacement. When I think of server I think SCSI hard drives, fault tolerence and expandability of which this server has none by default and whilst IBM products are generally built to a high specification I have never been a big fan of using SATA drives where constant disk access is required. Likewise the celeron processor does not easily lend itself to blistering performance but, on the other side... Read review

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Advantages: Hugely versatile system
Disadvantages: Not as well known as it should be

...'native RPG' based applications were often far more efficient and easier to manage. Hardware was developed which allowed multi-processor systems to operate Logical Partitions (LPARs) - rather like mainframes, in which parts of the system could be set up as 'virtual machines' operating independently of each other. Version 4 saw further refinements, and the introduction of the 'Portable Application System Environment' (PASE) allowed commercially developed AIX (IBM's own form of UNIX) applications to run under the covers. They also introduced native DOMINO (the server portion of Lotus Notes) servers as well as XML. - alongside this came revisions to the Web Server and a public domain version of PEARLE. Version 5 of the operating system saw a fundamental change in direction for OS/400 - the emphasis was switched to true multi... Read review

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Advantages: Powerful - impressive - cutting edge
Disadvantages: Like a big filing cabinet on wheels

...of which will hold 4 sticks of up to 4GB PC3200 chipkill memory. The server can accommodate four of these boards giving a total of 64GB of memory if necessary. All of this is pumped through the new Hurricane memory processor and X3 architecture which basically means blistering throughput of data. Further back and to the left and down as well if I remember rightly (it's quite big) are all of your expansion slots and where the RAID card plugs in. It is secured front and back by some nicely fitting clips that click reassuringly into place (don't forget to connect the battery). At the back you will find the two hot swap power supplies with room for a third once you unclip the metal cover blocking the empty space where it should go. As a nice final touch the the fault panel that is normally attached to the side of the X236 is housed... Read review

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Advantages: power,redundancy,expandibility
Disadvantages: Price

...The configuration I use is : 2x Xeon 3.6GHz/800MHz (1MB L2 Cache), 4x 512MB ECC 133MHz SDRAM,48x-20x IDE CD-ROM drive, Dual Broadcom 5721 Gigabit Ethernet, ATI Radeon 7000M, IBM 5U x 24in Tower To Rack Conversion Kit ,5x146.4 GB 10 000 rpm Ultra320 80-pin hard drive,Serveraid 7k SCSI raid card, Remote supervisor Adapter II card. Operating System provided by IBM as well ( part number 90P0221) Microsoft Windows 2003 Server, Standard Edition. Packaging and manuals: Server is very well packaged,rack conversion comes with explanation for conversion, but the whole conversion is not intuitive at all.Picture provided in installation instructions not very helpful. Bit and pieces included in the packages ,as keyboard and mouse for Server.IBM Director and Serveraid manager CD, plus OS CDin the box, OS pre-installed. Set-Up. Set up... Read review

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Advantages: reliable, customer service,expandable
Disadvantages: price,accessory

...The particular model my company own is an 8648-4AY It comes with: 1x Xeon 3.0GHz/800MHz (2MB L2 Cache), 1x 512MB PC2-3200 ECC DDR2 SDRAM RDIMM, No disks,1x Broadcom NetXtreme 5721 Gigabit Ethernet, 48x-20x IDE CD-ROM , 1x 530W Power Supply, SVGA (16MB) . What we have as accessories are: IBM ServeRAID-6M Ultra320 SCSI Controller( around £500) 3x146.8 GB 10 000 rpm Ultra320 SCSI hard drives( around £300 each) and a Remote Supervisor Adapter II card ( around £300 ). Packaging and User manual: The server comes with a very good package.User manual ( CD)and IBM Director software included. keyboard and mouse included.The user manual is very good and include details about connections,set up and enviromental set-up ( noise generated,heat and cooling requirement) Set-up: For our particular configuration , we had to create the disk... Read review

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Advantages: Reliable, fast, robust
Disadvantages: A bit heavy... but doesn't matter once it's in the rack

...between servers using just one mouse, keyboard and monitor. As with most newer servers, the x445 has Gigabit capability- so you can have transfer rates of up to 1Gbit /sec (1000Mbit/sec) to your core LAN switches if of course the switches are Gigabit-capable and you're using CAT6 wiring (CAT5e transfer rates are only 100Mbit/sec max). Sorry if that just suddenly went extemely techie, but there wasn't really another way of saying it- escept perhaps "It's got a really fast network connector at the back!" Without going into an obscene amount of technical detail, that really is the IBM x445 in a nutshell. Once installed, it works away quite happily and when the users aren't misusing it, it works very quickly indeed. It's a good bit of kit, and if you need something to install a heavy-duty enterprise operating system on, you could do a lot... Read review

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Advantages: Cheap, reliable, functional.
Disadvantages: Heavy. Takes a long time to start.

...Supermicro....Hmmm....Sounds a bit like "budgetpc" to my ears. After years of being a Dell corporate monkey at my old company it was with some trepidation that I arrived to see 2 beige beasts sitting in my server room. Because these were not Dell. No No. They were not IBM either....They were SUPERMICRO??? Alarm bells rang immediately. We all know we can buy ourselves a new unbranded PC and build it ourselves and still have change for the bus home but that is for Desktop PC's. You are taking a big risk when you scrimp on Server equipment as it needs to be Ultra reliable. Reason being? Well, it will probably be on 24/7. It will probably carry out all of your business critical data. If your Desktop blows up, you buy a new one. If you server blows up???Well, first you start crying and then contemplate the hell like task of sourcing... Read review

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Advantages: Reliable
Disadvantages: Pricey

...I was lucky enough to ckoose an Aptiva as my home PC around four years ago. I say lucky because I had considered various other machines, but went for the Aptiva in the end. While not the cheapest, or even the highest spec machine that I had to choose from, I was finally convinced by the fact that it was an IBM machine. IBM are a massive company, and working in the computer industry I know the vast amounts of money that they spend on research and development. This has been money well spent when it comes to the Aptiva series. In my workplace I have had three new machines since I bought the Aptiva for home use. The Aptiva has outshone all three in terms of reliability. Because the machine is now four years old I have had to make a few small upgrades. I have added more memory and a bigger hard drive. I also upgraded the processor recently... Read review

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