Midsized servers are still the backbone of the enterprise, despite all of the hype surrounding 1U and blade servers. After all, larger 4U and 5U boxes offer plenty of room for internal storage and add-ons. They take lots of additional rack space, but that isn?t an issue for most businesses, which are typically happy to trade a few Us for easy expandability and smooth servicing.
HP?s new ProLiant DL580 G2, built on a 4U chassis and running up to four Xeon MP processors, illustrates wonderfully what can happen when a server is designed to be as expandable and serviceable as possible. HP?s designers appear to have left no stone unturned in making this server easy to work with. State of the art in most respects, it?s a good fit for large datacenters.
MPC?s NetFrame 3610, a 5U server with dual Xeon DP processors, is aimed at smaller enterprises where having the ultimate in serviceability and manageability is less important, but where performance at a reasonable cost is the prime concern. It hits the mark dead on.
Master of management
With nearly tool-free access to HP?s ProLiant DL580 G2, you can slide the top cover off while the server is still in the rack, and virtually every component is hot-swappable. Even components such as CD-ROM drives can be replaced by simply pressing a latch. Internal components are easy to reach as well. If a fan or power supply fails, a redundant one will take over, and you can replace the failed device in seconds.
Even items that are normally difficult to service, such as processors, can be replaced without tools. In the case of the DL580, which can be ordered in a single-processor configuration and outfitted with as many as four 3GHz Xeon MP CPUs, this means that processors can be effortlessly added as needed. The machine I tested contained a pair of 2.5GHz Xeon MP processors.
Some of the DL580?s impressive management features, such as HP?s ILO (Integrated Lights-Out) remote management, have been covered previously in InfoWorld. The version that came with the DL580 works as well as prior versions we?ve tested, providing effective remote management even when the server upon which it resides is shut down. You can, among other things, use ILO to power up, restart, or power down the DL580 via Web browser.
HP includes its Systems Insight Manager with the DL580. This application handles asset and configuration management of the server and many other devices on your enterprise network. It?s generally useful, but strangely deficient in a few areas. For example, it was unable to identify the existence of Cisco switches on the test network, even though the SNMP information returned by the switches disclosed their identity correctly.
Physically, the DL580 is a dream machine for IT workers. You can service nearly anything with the server in the rack. Four of the six PCI-X slots are hot pluggable. All four of the Ultra320 SCSI disks are hot swappable from the front of the server, as are the two power supplies. But there is no USB port on the front of the machine; the two USB ports are inconveniently located on the rear panel.
Overall, with but a few minor problems, the HP ProLiant DL580 G2 proved to be a server that would fit well into the biggest enterprise and not add significantly to the workload of the staff.
HP ProLiant DL580 G2
Hewlett-Packard, hp.com
Excellent 8.6
Criteria Score Weight
Scalability 9 25 percent
Availability 9 20 percent
Performance 8 20 percent
Management 8 15 percent
Serviceability 9 10 percent
Value 8 10 percent
Cost: US$13,494 as tested with two 2.5GHz Xeon MP processors, 2GB of RAM, and 146GB of hard disk storage
Platforms: Supports Windows 2000, Windows Server 2003, Red Hat Linux, Sun Solaris, Novell NetWare
Bottom line: HP"s DL580 G2 is aimed squarely at the enterprise data center where manageability and serviceability are a must. Its lights-out management vastly simplifies a manager?s tasks, and a host of redundant and hot-swappable components maximize availability.
MPC NetFrame 3610
MPC, buympc.com
Very good 8.5
Criteria Score Weight
Scalability 8 25 percent
Availability 8 20 percent
Performance 8 20 percent
Management 8 15 percent
Serviceability 8 10 percent
Value 9 10 percent
Cost: $6,006 as tested with two 3.06GHz Xeon DP processors, 2GB of RAM, and 2TB of hard disk storage
Platforms: Windows 2000, Windows Server 2003, Red Hat Linux, SuSE Linux, Novell NetWare
Bottom line: The NetFrame 3610 aims for the smaller enterprise, where datacenter conditions are less crowded and high availability isn"t quite as critical, but where performance is still key. MPC has gained new ground in management and serviceability, but still has a way to go to catch HP.