The Compaq Report

Revisiting the ProLiant 4500

In November, we reviewed the CompaqProLiant Server 4500. Since then, the Windows NT Magazine Lab staff hasbeen testing it thoroughly. We took it apart, put it back together, broke it,fixed it, reconfigured it, reinstalled, SQL-ed it, Exchange-ed it, and gave it ahard time.

We're happy to report that the 4500 has performed almost flawlessly. AndCompaq's technical support staff redeemed itself nicely (see, "You CallThis 'Support?'" October 1995), solving the few problems weencountered.

We started with a dual-processor 100-MHz Pentium system with 160MB of RAM,10GB of hardware-based RAID 5 disk (8GB effective, using Compaq's SmartSCSIarray controller), and an external storage chassis. At just under $32,000, thissystem is one of the largest to come through our lab--until we received a systemwith four 166-MHz Pentiums (only 128MB RAM--geez!).

The ProLiant 4500 is not inexpensive. (For a more affordable solution, lookat the ProLiant 1500, which has the same overall architecture. The 1500 is notas scaleable--it can take only two CPUs--and has only a shared 512KB Level 2cache, but it includes many of the same fault-tolerance options, such ashot-swappable drives, and is a good workgroup or file and print server.) The4500 is a heavy- duty machine. Aimed at the enterprise server market, the 4500is not for the meek (the quad-processor system is $37,499) and may beoverpowered for small corporate environments. This system is more difficult toconfigure and install than some other servers we've tested (such as the HPNetServer 5/166 LS4). The reason is the proprietary OEM version of NT you needfor the 4500 and its EISA-only bus requiring you to run the EISA configurationutility each time you install a card. However, even without PCI, this systemstill gives you plenty of room to grow.

Because the 4500 has 2MB of Level 2 cache per CPU, slowing this systemtakes effort. We tested the dual-processor system with Microsoft SQL Server 6.0and Exchange 1.0 running the Lab email system and the Windows NT MagazineWeb site's article and product databases. In that test, the 4500 barely tickedover. Perfmon shows barely 20% CPU usage even under the largest queries. We usedthe same box for tests of Lotus Notes, Collabra Share, and Microsoft Exchange,all of which ran simultaneously without a hitch. No doubt the 160MB of RAM hassomething to do with this stellar performance, but a good system architecturedoesn't hurt.

On the quad-processor system, performance got even better. In ongoing testsof 10Mbit (Mb) against 100Mb LAN scaleability, we can simulate 250 users on thissystem without weighing it down. It works as well at 250 as at 10.

We continue to test both systems for our biggest tasks, and you'll see moreon these machines soon. Also, look for the "Best Hardware for NT"roundup in November. We'll pit these machines against similar ones from HP,Intergraph, and Digital Equipment; you'll also see the new Pentium Pro-basedProLiant 5000, which gives even better performance at lower prices.

Yes, these are expensive units, but you have to pay for performance--andfor support. We encountered a few problems, and Compaq's staff came through.

The dual-processor system suffered a hardware failure on the external diskstorage cabinet. First, we had to work through a local service provider, whocompletely dropped the ball. Compaq called this provider to arrange a servicecall, and we went several days without hearing a word. I ended up taking theparts (which Compaq shipped directly to the Lab) and tearing into the unit withthe telephone-guidance of Compaq's technical support engineers. I heard from thelocal service provider's staff only when they picked up the old parts.Unfortunately, I never got the storage cabinet to work and had to send it backto Compaq for repair. My solution was to take out the drives and install them inthe main CPU cabinet.

The quad-processor had a BIOS/CPU problem, so we sent it back when itreported a failed initialization of the #1 CPU board. Hardware diagnosticsrevealed a cache failure. Compaq sent us a replacement CPU board, but the BIOSproblem meant that it was incorrectly reporting which CPU had the fault.

I'm impressed with these systems. The ProLiant series deservesconsideration for high-use environments. The systems make excellent database andresource servers.