Lenovo ThinkSystem ST550
Lenovo's 2-socket tower server (machine types 7X09/7X10) for 1st and 2nd Gen Intel Xeon Scalable processors up to 125 W, with 12 DIMM slots (up to 768 GB), up to 20 × 2.5-inch or 8 × 3.5-inch (+4 × 2.5-inch) drives, two 5.25-inch media bays and six PCIe 3.0 slots; it converts to a 4U rack server. Aimed at small and medium businesses, branch offices, retail and education.
Memory
- Slots
- 12 DIMM (6 per processor; 6 channels per CPU, 1 DIMM per channel)
- Types (2nd Gen CPUs)
- TruDDR4 RDIMM: 8/16/32/64 GB 2933 MHz and 16/32 GB 2666 MHz
- Types (1st Gen CPUs)
- TruDDR4 2666 MHz RDIMM (8/16/32 GB) or 64 GB 2666 MHz LRDIMM
- Speed
- Up to 2933 MHz with 2nd Gen CPUs, 2666 MHz with 1st Gen; runs at the lowest of DIMM and CPU speed; 2666 and 2933 MHz DIMMs can be mixed (all run at the lower speed)
- Max
- 768 GB (12 × 64 GB RDIMM with 2nd Gen; 12 × 64 GB LRDIMM with 1st Gen); 384 GB with RDIMMs on 1st Gen
- Min
- 8 GB
- Rules
- RDIMMs and LRDIMMs cannot be mixed; x4 and x8 DIMMs can be mixed; populate 6 DIMMs per CPU for best performance
- Protection
- ECC, SDDC (x4 DIMMs), ADDDC (x4 DIMMs, Gold/Platinum CPUs), memory mirroring, rank sparing
- Persistent memory
- Intel Optane DC Persistent Memory is not supported
Storage
- 2.5" configurations
- 8, 16 or 20 × 2.5" SAS/SATA hot-swap (8-bay backplanes; the 20-bay layout adds a 4-bay cage in place of the 5.25" media bays)
- NVMe
- Up to 4 NVMe drives (bays 4-7) with the 8-bay AnyBay backplane plus the ThinkSystem 1610-4P NVMe Switch Adapter in slot 2; PCIe 4.0 NVMe drives run at PCIe 3.0 speed
- 3.5" configurations
- 4 or 8 × 3.5" SAS/SATA hot-swap, 8 × 3.5" + 4 × 2.5" hot-swap (media bay conversion), or 4 or 8 × 3.5" SATA simple-swap
- Media bays
- 2 × 5.25" half-height bays (not in 20-bay or hybrid layouts): DVD-ROM or DVD-RW, one internal LTO Gen6/7/8 SAS tape drive or one RDX USB 3.0 dock
- Max capacity
- 614.4 TB (20 × 30.72 TB 2.5" SSD); 160 TB (8 × 20 TB 3.5" HDD)
- Onboard SATA
- 6 Gb SATA AHCI or Intel RSTe software RAID for the simple-swap bays (RSTe not supported with hypervisors)
- HBAs
- 430-8i, 430-16i, 440-8i, 440-16i, 4350-8i SAS/SATA 12 Gb
- RAID adapters
- RAID 530-8i, 540-8i, 5350-8i, 730-8i 1GB/2GB, 930-8i 2GB, 9350-8i 2GB, 930-16i 4GB/8GB, 930-24i 4GB, 940-8i 4GB, 940-16i 4GB/8GB, 940-32i 8GB (up to two 8i adapters, or one 16i/24i/32i)
- External SAS
- 430-8e and 440-8e SAS/SATA 12 Gb HBAs; RAID 930-8e and 940-8e 4GB (up to 4, limited by supercap mounts); X30 and X40 families cannot be mixed
- M.2 boot
- Dedicated M.2 slot: M.2 Enablement Kit (1 SATA M.2 drive) or M.2 with Mirroring Enablement Kit (2 drives, RAID-1 by default)
- External optical
- ThinkSystem External USB DVD RW option
Graphics
- Onboard
- G200 graphics (16 MB, 2D accelerator) in the XClarity Controller, max 1920×1200 at 60 Hz, 32 bpp
- GPU options
- NVIDIA Quadro P600, P620, P2000, P2200, P4000, RTX 4000, P6000 (double-wide); all withdrawn from marketing by June 2023
- Limits
- Up to 2 identical GPUs (1 with one CPU) in slots 3 and 5; GPUs need fan 4 and 1100 W power supplies; up to 250 W TDP
- Chassis
- P4000 and RTX 4000 need the newer NVIDIA form factor 3.0 chassis (features B32J 8 × 3.5" / B32K 16 × 2.5"; parts SC87A19892 / SC87A19894)
Expansion
- Slot 1
- PCIe 3.0 x8 (25 W), full-height half-length (CPU 1)
- Slot 2
- PCIe 3.0 x16 (75 W), full-height half-length (CPU 1; the NVMe switch adapter goes here)
- Slot 3
- PCIe 3.0 x16 (75 W), full-height full-length, double-wide GPU capable (CPU 1)
- Slot 4
- PCIe 3.0 x16 (x8 wired, 25 W), full-height full-length (needs CPU 2)
- Slot 5
- PCIe 3.0 x16 (75 W), full-height full-length, double-wide GPU capable (needs CPU 2)
- Slot 6
- PCIe 3.0 x8 (x4 wired, 25 W), full-height full-length (CPU 1)
- M.2 slot
- One extra system-board slot reserved for the M.2 adapter
- Serial port
- Optional COM Port Upgrade Kit in a dedicated bracket position above the PCIe slots
- Internal USB
- One USB 3.0 port on the system board for the RDX dock
Networking
- Onboard
- 2 × 1 GbE RJ-45 on the Intel X722 in the chipset (no 10/100 Mb)
- Adapters
- PCIe 1 GbE (Broadcom 5719/5720, Intel I350), 10GBASE-T (Intel X550, X710-T4L, Broadcom 57416, QLogic QL41134), 10 GbE SFP+ (Intel X710-DA2, Emulex VFA5.2, OCe14104B-NX), 10/25 GbE SFP28 (Mellanox ConnectX-4 Lx, Broadcom 57414, QLogic QL41262, Intel XXV710-DA2)
- Fibre Channel
- Emulex 16 Gb Gen6 and QLogic 16 Gb Gen5, single or dual port
- Management
- 1 × RJ-45 10/100/1000 Mb XClarity Controller port
Power
- PSU options
- 450 W Gold fixed (CTO only); hot-swap 550 W Platinum, 750 W Platinum, 1100 W Platinum, 750 W Titanium (200-240 V only)
- Redundancy
- One or two hot-swap PSUs; two form a redundant pair; 240 V DC input in China only
- Config rules
- 450 W: CPUs of 85 W or less, and only 4 × 3.5" SS, 8 × 3.5" HS or 8 × 2.5" HS; 550 W: the same drive layouts; 750/1100 W: all layouts; GPUs need 1100 W
- Max input
- 0.722 kVA (550 W), 0.954 kVA (750 W Platinum), 0.906 kVA (750 W Titanium), 1.406 kVA (1100 W)
- Heat output
- Up to 4074 BTU/hr (1194 W)
- Cords
- PSUs take C13 cords (C13-to-C14 or C13-to-C20 rack cables, or country line cords); PSU options ship without a cord
- Cooling
- Up to 4 fans: 2 with one CPU, 3 with two CPUs or the media bay conversion; optional rear fan 4 gives N+1 redundancy (required with GPUs)
Ports
- Front
- 1 × USB 2.0 with XClarity Controller access, 1 × USB 3.0
- Rear
- 4 × USB 2.0, 2 × USB 3.0, 1 × VGA, 2 × 1 GbE RJ-45, 1 × XCC RJ-45, optional serial port; NMI button and system ID LED
- Internal
- 1 × USB 3.0 (for the RDX dock)
Physical
- Form factor
- Tower; 4U rack with the Tower to Rack Conversion Kit (7XH7A05901, ball-bearing slide rails, optional CMA 7XH7A05902)
- Tower dimensions
- 175.8 mm W (272 mm with feet extended) × 437.7 mm H with feet (425.5 mm without) × 666.4 mm D with PSUs
- Rack dimensions
- 482 mm W with rack latches (427.7 mm without) × 175.8 mm H × 670.2 mm D
- Weight
- Up to 36.9 kg (Lenovo Docs; the product guide says 36 kg fully configured)
- Machine types
- 7X09 (1-year warranty), 7X10 (3-year warranty)
- Environment
- ASHRAE A2 (10-35 °C); A3/A4 (up to 40/45 °C) with fan 4, two hot-swap PSUs, no NVMe, no GPUs and CPUs under 125 W
- Acoustics
- 33 dBA base, 43 dBA maximum (sound pressure)
- Security
- Lockable side cover, Kensington slot, optional lockable front door and intrusion switch
Management
- BMC
- Lenovo XClarity Controller (Pilot4 XE401), Standard; upgrades to Advanced (remote KVM) or Enterprise (virtual media, power capping)
- Interfaces
- IPMI 2.0 (over LAN disabled by default), SNMPv3, CIM-XML, REST/Redfish, HTML5 web UI
- Tools
- XClarity Provisioning Manager (F1), XClarity Administrator, Integrators, Energy Manager; XClarity Mobile via the front USB management port
- Security
- TPM 1.2/2.0, power-on/admin passwords, NIST SP 800-147B compliant firmware; TCM or Nationz TPM in China; Intel Transparent Supply Chain option
- Announced
- First product guide published 2017-07-11; 2nd Gen guide 2019-04-02
- Withdrawn
- 1st Gen CPU configurations 2021-02-02; server withdrawn from marketing worldwide 2025-07-23
Operating systems
- 2nd Gen CPUs
- Windows Server 2016/2019/2022; RHEL 7.6-7.9, 8.0-8.10, 9.0-9.5; SLES 12 SP4/SP5, 15-15 SP5; Ubuntu 22.04 LTS; VMware ESXi 6.5 U2 through 8.0 U3
- 1st Gen CPUs
- Adds Windows Server 2012 R2 and version 1709; RHEL 6.9/6.10 and 7.3-7.5; SLES 11 SP4, 12 SP2/SP3; ESXi 6.0 U3, 6.5, 6.5 U1, 6.7 (RHEL support ends at 9.2)
- Preloads
- VMware ESXi factory preload available in CTO (not with an NVIDIA GPU)
Processors
- Intel Xeon Bronze 3204
- Intel Xeon Bronze 3206R
- Intel Xeon Silver 4208
- Intel Xeon Silver 4209T
- Intel Xeon Silver 4210
- Intel Xeon Silver 4210R
- Intel Xeon Silver 4214
- Intel Xeon Silver 4214R
- Intel Xeon Silver 4214Y
- Intel Xeon Silver 4215
- Intel Xeon Silver 4216
- Intel Xeon Gold 5215
- Intel Xeon Gold 5215L
- Intel Xeon Gold 5215M
- Intel Xeon Gold 5217
- Intel Xeon Gold 5218
- Intel Xeon Gold 5218B
- Intel Xeon Gold 5218N
- Intel Xeon Gold 5218R
- Intel Xeon Gold 5218T
- Intel Xeon Gold 5220
- Intel Xeon Gold 5220S
- Intel Xeon Gold 5220T
- Intel Xeon Gold 5222
- Intel Xeon Gold 6209U
- Intel Xeon Gold 6222V
- Intel Xeon Gold 6226
- Intel Xeon Gold 6230
- Intel Xeon Gold 6230T
- Intel Xeon Gold 6238T
- Intel Xeon Platinum 8253
- Intel Xeon Platinum 8256
- Intel Xeon Bronze 3104
- Intel Xeon Bronze 3106
- Intel Xeon Silver 4108
- Intel Xeon Silver 4109T
- Intel Xeon Silver 4110
- Intel Xeon Silver 4112
- Intel Xeon Silver 4114
- Intel Xeon Silver 4114T
- Intel Xeon Silver 4116
- Intel Xeon Silver 4116T
- Intel Xeon Gold 5115
- Intel Xeon Gold 5117
- Intel Xeon Gold 5118
- Intel Xeon Gold 5119T
- Intel Xeon Gold 5120
- Intel Xeon Gold 5120T
- Intel Xeon Gold 5122
- Intel Xeon Gold 6126
- Intel Xeon Gold 6126T
- Intel Xeon Gold 6128
- Intel Xeon Gold 6130
- Intel Xeon Gold 6130T
- Intel Xeon Gold 6138
- Intel Xeon Gold 6138T
- Intel Xeon Platinum 8153
- Intel Xeon Platinum 8156
- Jintide C08101
- Jintide C10201
- Jintide C12301
- Jintide C14501
- Jintide C16401