Don't Let Their Consumer-Grade Products Scare You Off!
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
We utilize the Thinksystem SR590 and SR630's within our district as our virtual machine hosts. We are a mid-sized district, so budgetary concerns are always a leading cause behind our purchasing decisions. The Lenovo Thinksystem series is modular - so that it can be built to the specifications you need - so that you're not overpaying for hardware you won't utilize. VMWare also has a custom ISO for Lenovo-branded servers, so that the installation of ESXi doesn't run into any driver-related issues. It's fantastic, and makes deployment a breeze.
Pros
- Affordability
- Flexibility with custom builds
- SATA/SSD/M2/SD support for front-end caching or for an entire storage solution
- Allow x2 SD cards to be installed in a RAID0 setup, so that the host can run ESXi without any internal hard drives whatsoever. Also came with an internal battery for the RAID controller.
- Lenovo Support is very quick to respond to issues - either by phone or by email.
Cons
- A video tutorial on upgrading built-in firmware on their systems would be fantastic. As it was a bit difficult to navigate to find the download, and also the install process the last time I did so.
- The remote BIOS utility through the XClarity controller is difficult to reset a password on - if it's forgotten. I have yet to find a way to reset it on a host that has a password not working.
Most Important Features
- Affordability/Modular designs
- Compatibility with VMWare
- Large list of available hard drives that are "approved" for their server use - so you can use a brand you rely on/prefer
- Warranties available from 1, 3 and 5 years - with various response times for each duration.
Return on Investment
- Our uptime has increased from our old HP ProLiant servers from 8+ years ago.
- These servers are also cheaper than previous models we have deployed in the past
- XClarity controller allows for remote BIOS functionality - which we hadn't been able to utilize, previously.
Alternatives Considered
NETGEAR ReadyNAS
Other Software Used
VMware ESXi, Sophos Intercept X, Microsoft Windows, Mitel MiCollab