Product Review: HP ProLiant DL380p Gen8

The HP ProLiant DL380p Gen8 is the eighth generation of HP's widely used ProLiant server line. It carries forward all the HP management features thatyou've come to expect, such as the Integrated Lights-Out (iLO) management system. It also includes a number of new features designed to make it easier toset up and manage, including the new tool-less case design, FlexibleLOM technology, and Active Health System.

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Specifications

The HP ProLiant DL380p provides an unprecedented amount of processing power in a very compact package. The unit that I tested was a two-socket system thatputs dual eight-core power into a small and rack-friendly 2U form factor. The system was equipped with:

In its maximum configuration, the ProLiant DL380p supports a total of 768GB of RAM and 16 Small Form Factor (SFF) SAS/Serial ATA (SATA) drive bays. Besides24 DIMM slots, it has 6 PCI Express (PCIe) expansion slots that are split between two removable riser boards.

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Interestingly, the ProLiant DL380p has an all-new interchangeable networking configuration that I hadn't seen before. It uses a networking technologycalled FlexibleLOM ports. Instead of having the RJ-45 Ethernet ports built directly into the motherboard, the FlexibleLOM port lets you change the system'snetworking configuration to suit your own needs. At the time of this review, HP supplies either a two-port 10GB FlexibleLOM or a four-port 1GB FlexibleLOM.The FlexibleLOM plugs into the motherboard and provides ports on the back of the unit.

Externally, the ProLiant DL380p provides a System Insight display on the front of the unit, letting you quickly view the system's status. The unit alsoprovides a front-mounted slim-line DVD-RW drive, two front-facing USB 2.0 ports, and a nine-pin VGA port. On the backside, the unit has four additional USB2.0 ports, another nine-pin VGA port, a nine-pin serial port, and an iLO remote management port. The unit also has two 750-watt hot-swappable redundantpower supplies. Notably, like many other new server systems I've tested recently, there are no PS/2 mouse and keyboard ports on the back of the server, butthis isn't really a problem because the ProLiant DL380p has plenty of USB ports. However, if you have older PS/2-style KVMs, this is something you shouldbe aware of. Figure 1 shows the ProLiant DL380p.

Figure 1: HP ProLiant DL380p Gen8 

Setup and Installation

The first new feature of the ProLiant DL380p that I experienced was the tool-free case. The test unit came with the two-port 10GB FlexibleLOM installed,but my infrastructure was all 1GB Ethernet. I needed to change to the four-port 1GB FlexibleLOM that was included in the shipment. The tool-freemaintenance lived up to its billing. The top metal panel came off simply by flipping a lever, which released the panel catch. The FlexibleLOM was installedusing two thumbscrews. Likewise, the two riser cages, each of which contained three PCIe slots, came out easily using two locking twist pins. I wasimpressed with the level of care taken to minimize and efficiently route all the internal wiring. This makes it easy to perform maintenance and improvesairflow.

Weighing in at around 61 pounds, the server is relatively easy for one person to install into the rack. One of the first things I noticed about theProLiant DL380p was that boot-up time is dramatically more responsive than the HP servers I've tested in the past. The previous ProLiant servers took quitea while to boot, and for some models, there was even a notable delay before the power-on self test (POST) screen displayed. In contrast, the ProLiantDL380p displays a graphical boot status screen almost immediately after power-on. The status screen shows you the progress of the system's start-up processand lets you easily enter the BIOS Setup, Intelligent Provisioning, or Boot Menu screen if necessary. Figure 2 shows the new boot-up display.

Figure 2: HP ProLiant DL380p Gen8 Boot-Up Display 

Management and Performance

Like other HP servers, the ProLiant DL380p's iLO lets you perform out-of-band (OOB) remote management. With iLO, you can power the server on and off, checkthe temperature and status of all system components, and remotely control the server using either a .NET or Java console.

To accommodate the growing trend of using mobile devices to manage servers, Google Android and Apple iOS apps available from their respective app storescan provide remote iLO for the ProLiant DL380p. The mobile device apps access the iLO web interface, letting you perform a number of actions, includingtoggling the system power, modifying the BIOS, and mounting ISO images.

A great addition to the ProLiant DL380p is the Active Health System, which acts like a black box flight recorder in airplanes. The Active Health Systemrecords configuration changes, as well as all other hardware activity, such as adding and moving DIMMs. The activity is logged to a NAND flash driveembedded on the motherboard. The ProLiant DL380p will save about two years' worth of information. For troubleshooting, you can remotely download the logsand export them to HP if needed.

The ProLiant DL380p provides better performance than its predecessors because of its improved storage architecture and algorithms. It has 2x more cachecapacity than previous models and in some cases can deliver 6x faster solid state storage performance and 85 percent faster overall storage performance. HPstates that OLTP applications can experience up to a 50 percent increase in transactional throughput with 88 percent less energy.

I first tested the ProLiant DL380p running Windows Server 2008 R2, then I upgraded to Windows Server 2012 (formerly code-named Windows Server 8). Both OSsran without any problems. I also built a test bed of 10 SQL Server virtual machines (VMs) on the system and ran 27 database queries. I experiencedexcellent performance, on par with the fastest systems I've tested. Notably, the ProLiant DL380p is extremely quiet for an SFF server, which needssignificant airflow to stay cool. The power supplies are 95 percent efficient, and they can communicate with HP Power Distribution Units (PDUs) for rackpower management.

Power Up with ProLiant DL380p

I highly recommend the ProLiant DL380p for businesses of all sizes. It represents the latest in rack-mounted server technology. More important, it providesan excellent level of performance and best-in-class manageability and maintenance.