Acer Altos 12000

Acer Altos 12000

PRO: Large drive capacity, roomy interior, good all-around performance

CON: Drive carriers jam easily

As you might expect, the dual-PIII-550-Xeon­based Altos 12000 turned in an outstanding score in the SQL database test (see "Test Report: Gas It Up"), just barely nosed out for the fastest mark by Xi's 1100X NetRAIDer. Unfortunately, despite an admirable file service speed, it trundled to a sixth-place finish in our network test, dropping the system to third in overall performance.

The Altos 12000 is physically imposing: 12 inches wide, 17 inches high, and 24 inches deep. Behind the front door await eight hot-swap, 3.5-inch drive bays--the most of any server in this roundup (three of the bays were occupied by 9.1GB drives in the unit we tested). In addition, our configuration came with two open 5.25-inch bays, accessible from the front of the server. Removing a hot-swappable drive posed no problem, but reinserting drives was complicated by the Acer's poor drive carrier and bay design. The aluminum drive trays ride on a simple flange in the drive cage, so if you don't push the drive in exactly straight, the tray can bind and become jammed in the cage.

The Altos accommodates plenty of power, with room for up to three hot-swappable power supplies, which can be replaced without opening the case. Two power supplies came with our test unit; the unoccupied bay was plugged with a drop-in fan module. Four additional system fans kick in with ample cooling.

To open the Altos 12000, you remove two small screws securing the left panel. Once you're inside, the benefit of the large system case becomes obvious: The interior is spacious and easy to work in. The RAID controller and two network cards (which are included although a network interface is integrated into the motherboard) occupy three of the six PCI slots.

The Acer packs a good selection of management software, including Remote Diagnostic Manager, which comes with a microprocessor card attached to the motherboard. RDM continuously monitors the system's "heartbeat" and alerts you if certain events occur. Unlike the Micron's software (Baseboard Management Controller), however, it lacks a battery backup.

The Altos 12000 impressed us with strong showings in every category, and it affirms Xeon's power. It's a great all-purpose server for workgroup networking.