Modular Server Control
Intel's Modular Server Control is a Web-based administration interface that runs off of the MFSYS25's management module. It offers the administrator a well rounded set of tools to manage, configure, and monitor the many different modules and services running on the modular server. This includes the compute modules, networking, storage, and power.
After logging into Intel's Modular Server Control, you’re presented with a straightforward interface split into two main screens.
On the left-hand side is a Navigation menu that provides shortcuts to the servers, storage, and switch interfaces. It’s from these views that the admin can power on the compute modules, create virtual drives, or configure the external ports on the Ethernet switch module. You can also access reports that provide storage layouts, system events, and system diagnostics. The final set of objects in the Navigation menu are some of the system settings needed to setup the modular server, including the network configuration for the management module, firmware updating tools, and as mentioned before, additional feature activation.
On the right hand side are tabbed shortcuts to many of the items in the Navigation menu. By default, the first tab that comes up after logging into the Modular Server Control is the Dashboard. The Dashboard provides a general overview of the MFSYS25 and gives the admin a quick look at the current state of the overall system. Environmental diagnostics for the power and temperature are given in an easy-to-read graphical format as well as the general system’s health and a quick view of the critical-system events. Three other tabs have great graphical tools that let you look at the machine as if you were standing right in front of it. The Chassis Front tab shows all the installed compute modules, disk drives, and their corresponding lights, while the Chassis Back tab shows all the rear-mounted components and their current states as well. The Storage tab is just as graphical as the other two tabs, providing a nice visual picture of the storage configurations running in the MFSYS25.
The particular feature that stands out most for me is the built-in Remote KVM (keyboard/video/mouse)
and CD feature. Intel’s inclusion of a built-in KVM is great because you don’t have to go out and buy a separate device to access the compute modules’ keyboard, video, and mouse controls.
Located in the Servers section of Modular Server Control, Intel’s KVM lets you work on your servers as if though they were right in front of you. You can also use the Remote CD feature to load ISO files onto the virtual CDROM and install operating systems from your desk. By simply launching KVM, you can control your remote servers using your desktop mouse, keyboard, and monitor with the same browser connection.
While RDP is a great tool for Windows users, you still don’t get the full functionality as you would with direct console access. If the server can’t talk over the network anymore, RPD won’t connect and you need to wait for a solid network connection before you can even get back on the machine. With KVM, I get to see what comes up during the boot process. With Linux, for example, I like to review and catch any red flags that might concern me as the operating system starts up. If not for the KVM, a blind restart of the server would hide important information from the admin that he or she would know about when working on a problem server locally, defeating the purpose of remote administration.
Another feature worth mentioning is the Server Failover function used to “move” a compute module’s assigned virtual disks from one server to another. Done while either the source server is running or not, with a couple of clicks of a button you can transfer its running drives to a different destination server in the chassis. The Server Failover can come in handy for repairs, especially if you need to replace faulty hardware on a compute module. I’ve successfully failed over storage from one server to another in both with the servers running and powered off.
However, I got a warning message recommending that the source server be powered-off first. The help file explains that there may be processes running in the operating system that may not like the failover and de-stabilize the running machine.
And the point of this is...?
How much did intel pay for this advert?
Im not too sure if the readers of TomsHardware UK would be much interested in a Intel 24-Core, 14-Drive Modular Server
I agree, its just a big dirty advert!!
Very interesting .. I take it you guys dont really work with servers that much .. ??
I bet it wont even play CRYSIS!!!
Why do people only care about articles based on games?
If the topic of an article doesn't interest you don't read it. Nobody is forcing you. Do you call your radio station or tv channel to tell them that the program they have on doesn't interest you?
God !!! I'm surrounded by morons !!!
Well i wud if they broadcast porn on a family show just cos its relevant to the dad..
God!! i am surrounded by geeks!!
Aye it won't play Crysis because its a SERVER! Hehe. To be honest I thought it would be funny to try and install Diablo 2 on a Server 2003 system. It kinda went TILT and gave me the finger.
Joking aside, I quite like this sort of geeky stuff as I work with networks everyday. Good to keep up with what's new and what to blow my budget on.
Its a nice bit of kit for sure, that setup with virtualisation would probably half the size of many companies server rooms. However it only makes sense if your going to fill the sysem with the maximum of servers and hard disks and need the capacity.Its perfect for a building
a powerfull server cluster.
obvious advert is obvious
however advert does go in depth and while it may not play crysis at full spec (what the hell will?) it does shine the noble light yet again out of intels a$$ to show that yet again they are trying to corner every market they can
as this is a ardware and occasional software site im not suprised this article is here a little less advert and a bit more under the hood and more in detail what we can do to it would be nice but meh
u pay for what u get and last time i checked im not paying for this site (just my interwebs bill)
Toms have always been intel biased, it sucks
It's nice to see some server reviews once in a while... don't listen to those gaming worshipers, to them virtualization doesn't compute because it cannot run Crysis.
Intel does some pretty good servers, it's sad that some of us have to search hard for proper reviews
You guys are like someone who watches the car reviews program and says 'I'm going to complain to the broadcaster, I don't like cars.'
I don't see that reviewing something from Intel shows 'intel bias' unless you can say how they've managed to tilt the playing field in Intel's favour.
Historically, Intel architecture has dictated that multi-core solutions connect via the FSB, limiting CPU-CPU bandwidth. AMD's solution was streets ahead (and competitively priced) and even now, it would take a lot of convincing for me to go back to Intel. I'm sure each person has their own reasons for choosing a particular setup, however.
Given that toms has never reviewed a server product such as this one ever before(and that there has been such products available through multiple products for many years); that this article makes no attempt to make a quality or critical review by using real world benchmarks, extensive and varied testing; there is no real attempt to compare this product to many other simillarily configured systems and finally that the reviwer seems content to offer nothing more than superfical and trite crtitism such as "this remote access server product has no power button"- I think its more than fair for the readers of toms to asume that intel had a hand in suggesting this review for marketing.
What a nice change to find a hardware site talking about new Industry HARDWARE, rather than just new gaming ware.
It's just a shame that some of the readers commenting on here think that they know all about hardware because they've built or overclocked a system at home, least of all those that then start throwing around insults directed at TOMS because it's not applicable to them.
But IBM BladeCenter QS22 Still much stronger .
see Roadrunner Supercomputer in wikipedia .
and NASA test it and found the 'Cell C' are 8 times faster then 'Xeon5150'.that's Cell C
and 'IBM PowerXCell 8i' use new article "40nm" in the
BladeCenter QS22 server .and it have two 'PowerXCell 8i' this mean at less 16 times faster the Intel crap Xeon .
X86 are really out the range now "they use it basically in late 70s to save the money on the DRAM because 1M cost that days about $5,000.!
Awesome review, am atm searching for some modular stable solution for our client, something like this should be enough fail-safe to provide 99% stability.
to trolls talking crap about shitty reviews:
go to your mommy ask for money for a gaming machine and go play crysis 2, scrubs.