Dell PowerEdge T110 II

The PowerEdge T110 II server is Dell's gift to the SMB: a high-performance machine with enterprise capabilities at a very reasonable cost. The impressive PowerEdge T110 II hasn’t just appeared out of the blue: Dell has been cranking out a number of very good small-to-mid-sized business servers of late, such as the PowerEdge T310 and the PowerEdge R515. The T110 II is an option for smaller businesses that may not need the weightier hardware features of the T310 or R515 yet the T110 doesn’t lack the important features offered by its higher end cousins, such as management utilities and software or advanced features like RAID, built-in security, virtualization compatibility and more.

Specs
The PowerEdge T110 II is a tower server. It measures 16 inches by 7.5 inches by 17 inches (HWD) and weighs a little over 28 pounds with one SATA HDD installed. The unit shipped to me for testing featured an Intel Xeon E3-1220 @3.10 GHz quad-core processor, 4 GB 133 MHz single-ranked UDIMM memory and 1 TB HDD. It also has a DELL PERC H200a RAID controller. RAID 0, 1, 5, and 10 are supported (depending on the number of drives installed). For more on RAID, see my primer guide to RAID.

View Slideshow See all (5) slides

More

You can opt to go with the Intel Core i3-2100 family of processors instead of the Xeon. The T110 II also supports up to 32 GB of RAM.  Either choice features Intel's Virtualization Technology, so this server would be fine for consolidating physical servers into virtual machines.

The front panel has a DVD drive, two USB ports, and an LED control panel. The control panel is diagnostic which provide extensive information on system health and USB and drive activity. Also handy is the LED panel's ability to display color-coded errors during system startup.  Remember back when servers would usually emit an annoying series of beeps that you had to listen for whenever errors occurred? This is a much more effective diagnostics system.

There are several physical features in this server, features often lacking on some competing SMB servers. A lockable entry latch on the side cover, keeps the hard drives secures. An intrusion alert is set off should someone tamper with the cover. In addition, built-into the CMOS, is the ability to disable the power button. The T110 II uses TPM (Trusted Platform Module) security—a technology used to create encrypted keys to access a system. Dell's TPM technology integrates with Microsoft's BitLocker.

Inside the Chassis
We criticized the previous-generation T110 for being a bit cramped inside and hindering expandability or parts replacements. Not so with the T110 II.  A tool-less access and entry setting make getting inside the server a snap (a reason why the security alert features are so important!) 

I found the inside of the T110 II quite roomy and easy to remove and replace parts in. What's great is that the side panel has detailed charting of every internal component and how to get to the parts inside. There are four PCIe slots for expansion, and two internal USB ports on the motherboard. There are four drive bays— the hard drives are very simple to remove and install.