Dell PowerEdge T20 review

Dell’s PowerEdge T20 claims to be the perfect first server for small businesses and SoHos. This compact desktop system packs lots of potential into a tiny, affordable package, making it a rival to HP’s ProLiant MicroServer Gen8.

Unlike the beefier PowerEdge T110 II, Dell offers the T20 in three fixed processor configurations. For only £219, the entry-level model has a 3GHz Pentium G3220 CPU, 4GB of UDIMM memory and no hard disks. The next model costs £259 and adds a 500GB SATA hard disk. We reviewed the top model, which costs £389, and has a quad-core 3.2GHz E3-1225 v3 Xeon, 4GB of memory and a 1TB SATA hard disk.

Bear in mind that all these prices include only the most basic parts-only warranty. If you want to upgrade from the standard RTB, carry-in, or collect and return warranties, you can do so at the time of purchase. A three-year ProSupport on-site NBD warranty adds only £84 exc VAT to the overall cost.

You can also upgrade all three servers by adding various customer kits. Dell offers 4GB and 8GB memory kits and a choice of extra SATA LFF and SFF hard disks or SSDs. A DVD drive costs a further £35, but, rather stingily, doesn’t include a SATA cable.

As standard, the T20 comes with two internal drive cages, which each support a pair of LFF hard disks. The lower cage is easily accessed: the drives slide out at the side, and the upper cage can be released and removed through the front panel. All the power and SATA cables are ready for the addition of extra drives, and the cages have plastic carriers and mounting screws installed, too. If you don’t need an optical drive, you can repurpose the tray on the upper drive cage to fit two SFF SATA drives.

You can fit a maximum of four LFF and two SFF drives, but since the motherboard has only four SATA ports, you’ll need an additional controller card plus SATA and power extension cables. The two lower SATA ports run at 6Gbits/sec, the upper pair runs at 3Gbits/sec, and the Intel C226 chipset supports RAID mirrors and stripes.

The server has plenty of USB ports. There are eight USB 2 and four USB 3 ports, which are separated into four groups – a useful security feature is the ability to enable or disable any or all of the groups in the BIOS.

General build quality is very good, and the removable steel side panel can be padlocked shut. Internally, the server is very tidy, with easy access to all components. Cooling is handled by an active heatsink on the CPU, backed up by a 90mm chassis fan at the rear. Noise levels are extremely low, so the T20 is a fine choice for small offices.

The T20 touts greater storage potential and a more powerful CPU than HP’s MicroServer Gen8, but it’s beaten soundly for remote management. Dell’s preferred remote-management solution for the T20 is Intel’s Active Management Technology (AMT), which is available only on the Xeon model with vPro support.

To take advantage, you need to configure the Intel Management Engine BIOS Extension (MEBx). This provides basic browser access to the server, where you can monitor critical hardware and directly control power. If you want more control, you’ll need to install a compatible app – we use Intel’s Manageability Developer Tool Kit and Commander Tool.

Unfortunately, Dell’s free OpenManage Essentials is far too demanding for this server. Its list of installation prerequisites is excessive; we found that the current v1.2 software doesn’t even support installation on Windows Server 2012 R2. If you want a simpler means of monitoring the T20, then Dell’s free OpenManage Server Administrator is a good option. It’s easy to install, works with Server 2012 R2, and provides reasonable levels of system information, plus a basic fault-alerting system.

All told, the PowerEdge T20 is more powerful than the MicroServer Gen8, but if you want the best remote-management features, then the pint-sized MicroServer Gen8 edges in front. The PowerEdge T20 is still a fine choice as a first server, though. It’s good value, quiet, and has ample storage capacity.

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