Lenovo System x3550 M5 Rack Server

Description

The System x3550 M5 can be adapted for use in many different common business applications, and with its 1U size, can be squeezed into a server enclosure with minimal available space.

Performance

Administrators can choose from either Intel's Xeon E5-2600 v3 or E5-2600 v4 processors. E5-2600 v4 processors will provide up to 22 cores of processing power at 2400MHz, while using v3 processors will provide up to 18 cores and transfer speeds at 2133MHz.

Storage

The system supports SAS and SATA drives: either eight 2.5-inch hot-swap, ten 2.5-inch hot-swap, or four 3.5-inch hot swap drives. Another configuration supports eight hot-swap 2.5-inch drives with two 2.5-inch non-hot-swap drive bays up front. Certain configurations also support an additional two SAS/SATA hot-swap or non-hot-swap drives mounted in back.

Memory

Each processor controls 12 memory slots for a total of 24 memory slots with two CPUs. Again, Administrators have options here with support for both registered DIMMs (RDIMM) and load reduced DIMMs (LRDIMM) DDR4 memory modules. In a dual processor configuration, using LRDIMM modules with three DIMMs per channel, will provide up to 1.5TB of memory with a bus speed of 2133MHz. With RDIMM modules, and dual processors in all three channels, the system will support a maximum of 768GB with a bus speed of 1866MHz. A higher memory bus speed of 2400MHz requires only two channels be used, and will reduce the maximum capacities stated above by half, respectively. Mixing memory types is not supported. Using Lenovo’s authenticated TruDDR4 memory provides extended memory performance features.

Expansion

In a two processor configurations there are four PCIe slots total; three external PCIe slots and one on the system board for a dedicated internal storage/RAID controller. The PCIe slots require riser cards to support PCIe cards and install in the PCIe slots on the motherboard. With two processors and two riser cards all PCIe slots are available for use and will support additional NICs and external storage controllers, and HBAs.

Management

An Integrated Management Module (IMM) provides out of band management of the system and helps diagnose problems, records the error, and provides alerts. And Advanced Upgrade module activates other features to help with remote viewing, access from a remote client, and provisioning. Light path diagnostics are standard on all models and includes the LEDs on the front of the system and adjacent to the components installed on the system board. An optional LED display panel is available but not supported on all system configurations. Lenovo XClarity Administrator is an optional management tool that can be downloaded and used at no extra charge. XClarity integrates easily with Lenovo x86 servers and provides agent-less discovery, monitoring, firmware updates, configuration management, and bare metal deployment of operating systems and hypervisors across multiple systems. For extended features there's also a Premium and Pro version.

Summary

Lenovo's System x3550 M5 is a very scalable and powerful addition to any network setting and offers powerful performance for a range of standard business and mission critical applications. Easy to deploy and provision, the system also features a number of management tools to increase up-time and increase reliability.