Fujitsu Primergy RX300 S7 review

Fujitsu has always claimed its Primergy RX300 rack server is a virtualisation powerhouse, and in this exclusive review we bring you the first look at its latest seventh-generation model. Along with support for Intel’s new Xeon E5-2600 family of processors, it has a huge memory capacity and adds interesting storage permutations.

External chassis design hasn’t changed much from the RX300 S6 version, so the storage options are identical. Three hot-swap backplanes are available, and the review system came with eight bays. This leaves one four-drive bay free for a backup device and Fujitsu offers DDS-5 and RDX USB drives. If the media bay isn’t required, there’s a six-bay LFF drive option or a 12-bay SFF drive backplane.

On the front is a small control panel and, along with power and reset buttons, a server ID light, two USB ports and status lights for detected faults and drive and network activity. There’s the option to add a local service display (LSD), which comprises a hinged LCD panel and control pad.

The server comes as standard with an embedded iRMC S3 remote management controller. This provides a web interface with detailed status views of critical components and environmental values. Graphs showing power consumption for up to a year are available, and the price includes the Advanced upgrade, which adds KVM over IP remote control.

Fujitsu has improved internal design to make it tidier, and the motherboard is covered by an air shroud to direct airflow to critical components. The S6 used a large space for the dual-redundant power supplies, but this has been made smaller in the S7.

Fujitsu had to do this, otherwise it wouldn’t have had enough room to fit in 24 DIMM slots to allow memory to be boosted to 768GB. The motherboard now has a very neat design, with the two Xeon E5 sockets running down the centre, flanked on each side by four banks of six DIMM slots.