Five Super Servers for SMBs

by Nathan Eddy

The PowerEdge R300, a rack server, is designed to consume less power and include system management tools to better manage IT tasks. The server runs on quad-core Xeon processors with redundancy features. The servers come with hot-pluggable hard drives, which allow hard drives to be replaced without powering down the server, a great feature that lets you keep business moving at all times.

The Synology RS408 comes as a bare case, which allows you to buy the disks that fit your business best. Online storage expansion, dual Gigabit Ethernet ports and a user-friendly Web-based interface make this an attractive option–just make sure you factor in the price of the disks.

Known for flawless integration into Linksys One networks, this NSS (Network Storage System) gives administrators the flexibility when determining capacity and a company’s storage and sharing needs. The NSS4100 includes four 250GB hard drives and supports up to 15 concurrent, connected CIFSes (Common Internet File Systems). On the downside, some reviewers complain of noisy fans.

The ProLiant DL300 server series is ideal for edge applications such as Web, firewall and mail servers. Designed specifically for SMBs, the DL300 series steps up the fault tolerant in a dense platform with redundant power, redundant fans, mirrored memory or online spare memory, and embedded RAID capability. The DL300 series is a practical solution for SMB owners tight on space and offers powerful Intel Xeon processing power.

Ideal for midsize businesses, the 410 provides up to 4TB of storage needs, along with strong performance and ease of use. It’s housed in a 1U rack-mount NAS (network-attached storage) server and is configured with four hot-swappable, enterprise-class SATA II drives. In addition, the 410 can be remotely monitored and managed, and Snap’s available replication software ensures data can be continuously, securely and efficiently moved between sites.