The HP Gen9 series of Proliant servers was released in 2014, and remains the brand’s standard for high powered server computing. While the new generation of Proliant servers offers some new features, it’s the boost in memory and processing capabilities that will attract the most attention from IT departments. And this additional performance comes with greater efficiency as well, compared to previous Proliant generations, so large businesses running enterprise applications will appreciate the reduced hit to their bottom line.
What’s new with the HP Gen9 servers?
As expected with every new server iteration, the boost in processing and memory capabilities is sizeable. Intel tends to align its processor releases with server releases from major vendors, and this is also the case with this new line of hardware. The Intel Xeon E5-2600 v3 is the latest addition to the company’s line of Haswell processors, and it can support 18 cores in some instances. That’s a lot of processing power, and it’s ideal for corporate level applications.
The DL380, for example, comes with 24 DIMM slots as well, allowing it to accommodate up to 1.5 TB of DDR4 RAM. And with its smaller form factor, it offers an incredible amount of punch.
While Proliant’s Density Line, or DL, brand has been the company’s primary product line in the past, there are several BL, or blade line, models to choose from as well. The HP Gen9 BL460c and BL660c are the primary products in the company’s blade line, and offer top performance in a scalable, compact form. Like all other blade servers, though, the BL line has to be incorporated into a proprietary blade enclosure that houses the servers and supplies power and cooling. While this means an additional expense, it also allows a company to keep their datacenter better organized and allows for greater control over the servers. The blade enclosure, for instance, allows for hot swappable capabilities, so the servers will remain online even when power or cooling units are being replaced.
One of the brand’s points of emphasis has always been server provisioning. Its Lights Out (iLO) software makes for easy system administration without being in immediate vicinity of the system. In this latest iteration of Proliant servers, the iLO can automate VSA storage installation, making it easier to set up the brand’s virtual storage applications.
Some of the beloved features from the previous generation also make it into the HP Gen9 servers as well. Among them is SmartMemory, which interacts with a number of other systems to better support supported memory. SmartMemory, for example, can reduce the power draw from memory sticks without loss of performance, and reducing power consumption at the DIMM level by about 20 percent. That’s a major cost savings for large businesses operating an enterprise-level datacenter.
Proliant’s new line of server represents the pinnacle of server computing, and can prop up heavy computing loads with ease.