Sun Fire X4240 Server

Built for Longevity

Quick scalability with a very high ceiling

With the Sun Fire X4240 server, you can start by specifying just enough processing power as well as memory, storage, and I/O for your current needs. But when fast growth creates high demand, pack it full of capacity without removing the chassis. No changes to the OS, software, rack, network infrastructure, or storage connections.

Scalable for what?

The Sun Fire X4240 server is a general-purpose system designed for deployment in a wide range of architectures:

• Scale-out architectures: With 128 GB memory, over 4.8 TB storage, four Gigabit Ethernet ports and six high speed PCIe expansion slots, it is a remarkably dense resource for complex computing problems.
• Scale-up architectures: Scale-up architectures: With up to twelve cores available, these servers are well-suited for Web services, databases, and infrastructure services such as security, DNS, proxy, caching, firewalls, and gateways.
• Scale-within: Running Solaris 10 Containers and VMware, the Sun Fire X4240 server gives you the processing, memory, storage, and I/O to consolidate dozens of applications on a single platform.

Best-of-Class Performance

More disk drives

We gave this system over four terabytes of high-performance internal disk storage to make it the best 2RU server available for cycle-hungry horizontal databases and disk-intensive applications.

A clear advantage in virtualization

Sun's unique server architecture and technology allows you to consolidate multiple x64 servers onto one Sun Fire X4240, increasing server utilization. Lowering the number of servers you need can help reduce your TCO. It can also lower your risk of unplanned downtime, reduce system idle time, and ease of manageability with fewer components to manage.

No-penalty consolidation

The Sun Fire X4240 server consolidates Solaris, Linux, Windows, and VMware Virtual Infrastructure on x64 processors running your applications in native mode, at full processor speed. No time-consuming processor-set emulation here. And a choice of four operating system means flexibility and investment protection.

High Performance Computing for you

Using 12-core servers for very large HPC grids significantly reduces the complexity and costs while improving throughput using fewer switches and interconnects to manage, resulting in a lower TCO. You get faster deployment of proven, repeatable Sun HPC solutions. That's expected. But you'll also reduce your total cost for building and operating large HPC clusters compared to competitive x64 servers.

The most advanced OS for your datacenter

Sun Fire x64 servers and the Solaris 10 OS are an unbeatable combination. Together, they give you more:

• Extreme performance with dynamic tracing
• Optimal utilization with Solaris Containers
• Virtually unparalleled security, including process rights management and Solaris
• Cryptographic infrastructure
• Relentless availability with predictive self-healing
• No-compromise platform choice: optimized for AMD Opteron processors

Consolidating Servers and Applications - This guide shows users, system administrators, and developers how to consolidate applications onto a single server using Solaris Containers technology.

Choose the best OS for your apps

As you'd expect, Sun Fire servers are designed to run your applications on Solaris 10, Linux, Windows, and VMware, all fully supported by Sun.

Competitive Comparison

How does the Sun Fire X4240 server compare to the HP DL385 G5, IBM x3655, and Dell R805 servers?

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Higher performance goes a long way

The Sun Fire X4240 server can take you into the realm of High Performance Computing in just a 2RU size, saving on power and cooling all along the way.

Easy Manageability

Cut the cost of management

The Sun Fire X4240 server comes standard with Sun's Integrated Lights Out Manager for greatly simplified system management and monitoring at no extra cost.

Easy maintenance boosts the bottom line

Like all Sun Fire servers, this one is designed with redundant and hot-swappable components, such as cooling fans, power supplies and disk drives, making component replacement fast and easy.

Exceptional Resource Efficiency

More ways to save

With over four terabytes of storage, the Sun Fire X4240 server packs up to twice the storage power of competitive servers. That much onboard storage gives you the performance to handle large databases in a 2RU space, saving energy and cooling costs.