Key Features - IBM x3250 M4 Product Manual

Key features

Often small-to-medium sized businesses (SMBs) have limited IT budget and resources, and rely on
partners or multitalented employees to help manage the company's network. Business needs for
efficiency improvement and retention of critical data require the use of a server that is easy to get up and
running quickly and is dependable. You need to squeeze as much as possible out of your IT dollars, while
saving cost on features not needed in an SMB environment. The IBM System x3250 M4 is an ideal first
server to meet those business needs. It was built for speed, yet eliminates costly design features found in
general-purpose servers that are unnecessary for smaller businesses.
Scalability and performance
The x3250 M4 offers numerous features to boost performance, improve scalability, and reduce costs:
The single-socket x3250 M4 supports the new quad-core Intel Xeon Processor E3-1200 v2 family of
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processors ("Ivy Bridge") in a compact 1U rack design.
Choice of processors with up to 4 cores to enable the effective use of multi-threaded applications.
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Intel Xeon Processor E3-1200 v2 family supports Intel Hyer-Threading Technology (except the Xeon
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E3-1220L) and Intel Turbo Boost Technology 2.0 to maximize performance.
Up to 32GB of high-speed DDR3 system memory with four DIMM sockets.
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Memory speeds up to 1600 MHz supported on models with Xeon Processor E3-1200 v2.
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Two available high-performance PCI Express expansion slots, one PCIe 3.0 slot and one PCIe 2.0
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slot.
Two internal 3.5-inch simple-swap SATA II drive bays or four 2.5" hot-swap SAS/SATA drive bays

(model dependent) offer low-cost/high-capacity enterprise-class storage. Up to 8TB of internal
storage. Configurations with four 2.5" simple-swap drive bays available via CTO.
Integrated ServeRAID C100 software RAID controller supports RAID 0, 1 and 10. Some models offer
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ServeRAID BR10il V2 or H1110 hardware RAID controller standard. Other hardware RAID options
available.
Integrated dual-port Gigabit Ethernet provides increased network throughput and redundancy with
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efficient slot-saving integration.
An optional optical drive for installing software or backing up data.
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Seven USB 2.0 ports, two on the front, four on the back, and one internal for a embedded hypervisor
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Availability and serviceability
The x3250 M4 provides many features to simplify serviceability and increase system uptime:
ECC memory provides error correction not available in PC-class "servers" that use parity memory.

Avoiding system crashes (and data loss) due to soft memory errors can mean greater system uptime.
Hot-swap drives supported on some models enable failed disk drives to be replaced without powering

off the server.
Hot-swap redundant power supplies available on some models maximizes system uptime even when

one power supply fails.
Tool-less cover removal provides easy access to upgrades and serviceable parts, such as CPU,
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memory, and adapter cards.
The Predictive Failure Analysis (PFA) detects when system components (for example, processors,

memory, hard disk drives) operate outside of standard thresholds and generates pro-active alerts in
advance of possible failure, therefore increasing uptime.
IBM System x3250 M4 2