Rather than use a USB port, the R815 can be booted into an embedded hypervisor using Dell's optional internal SD memory card controller, which is well worth the additional 60 cost. It provides two SD card slots and automatically keeps an onboard copy of the primary boot media in case of failure. The R815 also has a Lifecycle Controller' with 1GB of NVRAM to ease operating system installation it allows the server to be booted into Dell's UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) environment and deploy an OS without needing to use any boot media.
Two remote management options are available and the price shown here includes the full iDRAC6 Enterprise snap-in module that provides a dedicated network port and full remote access to the server. Note that the cheaper iDRAC6 Express module doesn't support full KVM-over-IP remote control or virtual media services, though.
AMD's main competition for its Opteron 6000 processors has always been Intel's Xeon 5600 and it beats them hands-down for the sheer core count. It's also a lot better value and more power efficient that current four socket Xeon 7500 systems. Intel's Xeon E5 is due to be announced at the beginning of March but for the moment, AMD has the upper hand in the server core wars and its Opteron 6200 makes Dell's PowerEdge R815 a fine choice for virtualisation and server consolidation duties.
Verdict
With its quartet of 16-core Opteron 6200s and high memory capacity, the PowerEdge R815 is a particularly good candidate for virtualisation and as a server consolidation platform. It packs a lot of useful features into its compact 2U chassis, has a high expansion potential, and is more power efficient and far better value than Xeon 7500 based systems.
Chassis: 2U rack
CPU: 4x 2.1GHz 16-core AMD Opteron 6272
Memory: 128GB DDR3 LV RDIMM expandable to 512GB
Storage: 6x 73GB Dell 15K SFF 6Gbps SAS hard disks in hot-swap carriers
RAID: Dell PERC H700 with 512MB cache and BBU
Array support: RAID 0, 1, 10, 5, 50, 6
Expansion: 6x PCI-e 2.0
Network: 4x Gigabit
Power: 2x 1100W hot-plug supplies
Management: iDRAC6 Enterprise with VFlash/SD Card slot and 10/100 port
Software: Dell Management Console
Warranty: 3-year ProSupport on-site NBD
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