Today GIGABYTE Technology announced a highly dense storage server with the ability to hit over 400TB in 2U, the GIGABYTE S251-3O0. In order to do this, the server has up to 26 drive bays and seven expansion slots. The S251-3O0 is an Intel Xeon-based server and is aimed at software-defined storage, big data, virtualization, and media & content storage.
Today GIGABYTE Technology announced a highly dense storage server with the ability to hit over 400TB in 2U, the GIGABYTE S251-3O0. In order to do this, the server has up to 26 drive bays and seven expansion slots. The S251-3O0 is an Intel Xeon-based server and is aimed at software-defined storage, big data, virtualization, and media & content storage.
The server is a single socket, leveraging either Intel Xeon or Intel Scalable processors up to 28 cores. The GIGABYTE S251-3O0 supports a mix of DDR4 RAM and/or Intel Optane PMem. There is plenty of room for expansion in the rear to add NICs, storage, or accelerators. And like most things GIGABYTE, users can utilize GMC for remote and multiple server management.
While it is good to know what the server provides in terms of hardware, storage is where the GIGABYTE S251-3O0 sets itself apart. The server has 24 3.5” drive bays in a 2U footprint with a unique design. 24 2.5” is pretty common and nearly standard but not seen in the larger drive bay format. The front of a 2U server only has enough physical room for 12 bays. So, GIGABYTE is using the sides. Lifting up flaps on either side reveals 12 3.5” SATA/SAS drive bays on each side. This is showing some real ingenuity for getting around restraints to beef up storage.
The back comes with two 2.5” bays standard. However, there are also several PCIe expansion slots, making the possibility of adding even more storage there. And finally, opening up the server we see an M.2 slot right by the chipset.
GIGABYTE S251-3O0 Specifications
| Form Factor | 2U |
| Motherboard | MU71-SU0 |
| CPU | 2nd Generation Intel Xeon Scalable Processors Intel Xeon Platinum Processor, Intel Xeon Gold Processor, Intel Xeon Silver Processor and Intel Xeon Bronze Processor Intel Xeon W-3200 Processor Family |
| Socket | 1 x LGA 3647 Socket P |
| Chipset | Intel C621 Express Chipset |
| Memory | 8 x DIMM slots DDR4 memory supported only 6-channel memory architecture RDIMM modules up to 128GB supported Supports Intel Optane Persistent Memory (PMem) 1.2V modules: 2933/2666/2400/2133 MHz |
| LAN | 2 x 1Gb/s LAN ports (Intel I210-AT) 1 x 10/100/1000 management LAN |
| Video | Integrated in Aspeed AST2500 2D Video Graphic Adapter with PCIe bus interface 1920×1200@60Hz 32bpp, DDR4 SDRAM |
| Storage | |
| Side-accessed | 24 x 3.5″ SAS/SATA hot-swappable HDD/SSD bays LSI SAS35x36R expander SAS card is required to enable 24 drive bays |
| Rear Side | 2 x 2.5″ SATA hot-swappable HDD/SSD bays, NVMe supported with optional CNV3022 NVMe Card |
| Default configuration supports | 2 x SATA drives in rear side |
| SATA | Supported |
| SAS | Supported via add-on SAS Card |
| Expansion Slots | |
| Total 7 x low profile PCIe Gen3 expansion slots | |
| Slot_7 | 1 x PCIe x16 (Gen3 x0 or x8 bus) slot |
| Slot_6 | 1 x PCIe x16 (Gen3 x16 or x8 bus) slot, shared with Slot_7 |
| Slot_5 | 1 x PCIe x16 (Gen3 x0 or x8 bus) slot |
| Slot_4 | 1 x PCIe x16 (Gen3 x16 or x8 bus) slot, shared with Slot_5 |
| Slot_3 | 1 x PCIe x16 (Gen3 x0 or x8 bus) slot, reserved for optional NVMe Card |
| Slot_2 | 1 x PCIe x16 (Gen3 x16 or x8 bus) slot, shared with Slot_3, reserved for optional SAS Card |
| Slot_1 | 1 x PCIe x4 (Gen3 x4 bus) slot |
| 1 x M.2 slot | – M-key – PCIe Gen3 x4 per slot – Supports NGFF-2280 cards |
| Internal I/O | 1 x M.2 slot 1 x CPU fan header 6 x System fan headers 1 x USB 3.0 header 1 x TPM header 1 x VROC connector 1 x Front panel header 1 x Buzzer |
| Front I/O | 2 x USB 3.0 1 x Power button with LED 1 x ID button with LED 1 x Reset button 1 x System status LED 1 x HDD activity LED 2 x LAN activity LEDs |
| Rear I/O | 4 x USB 3.0 1 x VGA 1 x COM 2 x RJ45 1 x MLAN 1 x ID button with LED |
| Backplane I/O | Left Side: CBPD2C0: 12 x 3.5″ SAS/SATA ports with expander Right Side: CBPD2C1: 12 x 3.5″ SAS/SATA ports Rear Side: CBPD020: 2 x 2.5″ NVMe/SATA hybrid ports |
| TPM | 1 x TPM header with SPI interface Optional TPM2.0 kit: CTM010 |
| Power Supply | 1+1 80 PLUS Platinum 1300W redundant PSU 80 PLUS Platinum |
| AC Input | – 100-240V~/ 12-7A, 50-60Hz – 200-240V~/ 8A, 50-60Hz |
| DC Input | 240Vdc/ 6.5A |
| DC Output | – Max 1000W/ 100-240V~ +12V/ 80.5A +12Vsb/ 3A – Max 1300W/ 200-240V~ or 240Vdc Input +12V/ 105.4A +12Vsb/ 3A |
| OS Compatibility | Windows Server 2012 R2 with Update Windows Server 2016 Windows Server 2019 Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.6 (x64) or later Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8.0 (x64) or later SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12.3 (x64) or later SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 15 (x64) or later Ubuntu 18.04 LTS (x64) or later Ubuntu 20.04 LTS (x64) or later VMware ESXi 6.0 Update3 or later VMware ESXi 6.5 Update2 or later VMware ESXi 6.7 Update1 or later VMware ESXi 7.0 or later Citrix Xenserver 7.1.0 CU2 or later Citrix Xenserver 7.5.0 or later Citrix Hypervisor 8.0.0 or later |
| Weight | Net Weight: 22.2 kg Gross Weight: 30.5 kg |
| System Fans | 6 x 60x60x38mm hot-swappable fan modules |
| Operating Properties | |
| Operating temperature | 10°C to 35°C |
| Operating humidity | 8-80% (non-condensing) |
| Non-operating temperature | -40°C to 60°C |
| Non-operating humidity | 20%-95% (non-condensing) |
| Dimensions (WxHxD, mm) | 438 x 87 x 880 |
GIGABYTE S251-3O0 Product page
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