Servers are the core of any company’s IT infrastructure and choosing the right servers for a business can be a complex experience. The wrong decisions could lead to purchasing IT equipment not fit for purpose, or servers that are too powerful for actual business needs, ultimately wasting time and money.
Especially for smaller or expanding businesses, it can seem daunting with there being so many server types, components, and networking options out there. But with the right support and information, there are ways to smooth the process. When building or expanding your IT infrastructure, there are some key elements you can consider first that will allow you to choose the best options for your business needs.
Rack servers, blade servers, tower servers, and mainframes each provide different advantages – keep reading for the information to measure which one is best suited for your organization’s day-to-day operations.
Rack Server
A rack server, also known as a rack-mounted server, is a standard-size computer designed to be mounted in a server rack along with other rack servers or standard-size components, such as network or storage area network devices. A rack server is considered to be a general-purpose machine that can support a wide range of workloads.
Rack servers take up a lot less space than tower servers because they’re not encased in bulky cabinets and users can stack them in a single rack along with the other components. In addition, because providers have standardized the size of racks and rack servers, admins can easily add or replace servers if one should malfunction. The design also makes it simple to add components gradually to accommodate growing workloads. Best of all, the servers in the same rack don’t have to be the same model or come from the same vendor.
Blade Server
A blade server is a modular component -- blade -- that fits into a server chassis along with other blades. Each blade has its own processors, memory and integrated network controllers. The blade might also include a Fibre Channel host bus adapter, as well as other I/O ports. Blade servers offer more processing power in a smaller space than rack servers while providing a simplified cabling structure. Blade servers are chassis-based servers similar to rack servers, but the more stripped-down design allows for even more space efficiency than rack servers, among other key advantages. These server systems are comprised of individual server “blades”, thin dedicated server boards that each have individual processing power, memory capacity and a simple modular design that allows for easy configurability. Blade servers offer more processing power and ease of cable management than rack servers, but these advantages come with a larger price tag. If money isn’t a concern so much as efficiency and performance is, then blade servers are a very good option.
Tower Server
A tower servers are singular computers with the dedicated purpose of a server- they are housed in a standalone upright cabint, or “tower”, much like the tower of a personal desktop computer.
Towers provide their own unique adantages. Because of the low interior component density, they are easier to cool than rack or blade servers. The encased design allows room for more hardware or drive installation if necessary.
While blade servers and rack servers feature neat, modular rack designs, tower servers are much less space efficient. A set of tower servers will be much heavier and space-consuming than their thinner counterparts. Cable management can be complicated and bulky, and the air cooling from tower fans can be noisy.
Mainframe Server
A mainframe server is an extremely powerful computer; it’s about the size of a large refrigerator with high workload capacity. Today’s mainframes are much more compact and powerful and include sophisticated encryption capabilities, highly configurable as well as multiple layers of redundancy.
Generally, mainframes are utilized by industries with high data volume and a necessity for reliable and secure computing. Mainframes are still much bigger and bulkier than rack or blade servers, and a lot more expensive. However, mainframes are also much more powerful and reliable than anything else out there.
A mainframe is designed for high throughput; it can support a large number of simultaneous transactions and heavy I/O loads without affecting performance.
Because of their size and complexity, mainframe servers will require consistent upkeep from a dedicated server technician. Such maintenance costs may deter an organization, so it is important to assess the scale of your operations to determine if a mainframe server will be beneficial.
