HPE Cloudline CL3150 Gen10 Server Review
October 14, 2020The HPE Cloudline CL3150 Gen10 server (SHOP HERE) is a 1U platform that offers high-density NVMe storage and is outfitted with a single AMD EPYC 7000 series processor. It has a no-nonsense exterior that barely identifies it as a member of the HPE family. Even so, it embodies the aesthetic we’ve come to expect from HPE. This system is definitely all business.
What is Cloudline?
First off, what is Cloudline? We’re all familiar with storing your cat gifs in the “cloud.” It’s that place they want to bill you for using digital storage for say… your phone. And then there are businesses whose entire business is on the cloud. Basically, it’s a data center and this is the type of hardware you’ll find there. HPE seamlessly integrates with other third-party vendors, lots of them. Some of these include Dell, Supermicro, Tyan and friends.
Like HPE’s other Cloudline servers, the CL3150 Gen10 is focused on reduced cost, ease of maintenance, extreme flexibility, and scalability for large deployments.
This system is perfect for in-memory data-base applications like big data, high-performance database management, predictive analysis, plus machine learning, and deep learning workloads. So, what’s the best part of this system? Since it holds a single AMD processor, you’re also going to save on costs if software licensing fees are calculated on a per socket model. Who doesn’t love to save money!
Front and Rear Ports
A single UID LED is on the front of the perforated panel. On the back of the system, you’ll see two power supply units for redundancy, which in this case are 1600W.
On the back of the unit you’ll find: an UID button, RJ45 NIC port for access to integrated platform management interface, and two USB 3.0 ports. Below that you’ll find an Open Compute Project (OCP) mezzanine card that can be swapped out to support other network connection speeds like 10GbE, 25GbE, and 50GbE.
Features
If you need a faster network connection, a PCIe NIC card that goes in that slot above can support network connection speeds of up to 100GbE thanks to their new partner Mellanox! Right below that, there is a VGA port, and RJ45 port for a serial console, and finally, the power ON button.
Positioned towards the back of the server, the single socket supports an AMD EPYC 7000 series Gen1 processor with 8 to 32 cores and up to 64 threads. Most of the supported CPUs on this system offer 64MB of L3 cache, except the EPYC 7251 with only 32MB of L3 cache.
There are a few other CPUs supported on this system. Our installed AMD EPYC 7251 has 8 cores and 16 threads, plus support for up to 128 PCIe lanes. By the way, all of the AMD EPYC CPUs have 128 PCIe lanes.
Check out our review for the HPE ProLiant DL325 Gen 10 Server with AMD EPYC Processor!
Memory
All EPYC processors also have 8x memory channels. In this instance, there are 8x memory module slots total, conceivably offering up to 1TB of memory given the specs on the CPU. However, the system specs state it only supports 16, 32, or 64GB memory modules for a total of 512GB total.
With a single memory module in each memory channel, memory performance is optimized. Both Registered and load reduced DDR4 DIMM modules are supported at speeds of up to 2666 MHz. DIMMs of different speeds can also be mixed in any order and the system will select a common optimal speed (that means the slowest speed).
Storage
A bank of 8x high-performance fans separates the motherboard, CPU sockets and memory from the storage section. This chassis has room for up to 22 NVMe drives in a stacked configuration creating some impressive storage density, while maintaining a 1U form factor. Two more drives, either NVMe or SATA III can be installed, for a total of 24 drives. Total storage supported on the system is listed at 76.8TB using 24x 3.2TB NVMe drives.
RAID Controller
If you go with two SATA III instead of NVMe for those last two slots then you get slightly more storage using 3.84TB drives. All drive cables route directly to the motherboard. If you do choose to install two SATA III drives, they will connect to that HBA/RAID controller that we only have a picture of for a hardware RAID. It will have nothing to do with those NVMe SSDs, which are handled directly by some of those 128 PCIe 3.0 lanes.
Only one x16 PCIe 3.0 slot can be populated with either a 100GbE Melanox PCIe card with one or two SFP+ ports or to support an HBA RAID controller. There’s also 2x dedicated OCP NIC ports with 10GbE and 25GbE, or one 50GbE port depending on your business needs. The RAID controller is only useful if you plan on installing these 2x SATA III drives.
ASPEED 2500
We don’t have integrated Lights Out (iLO) on the HPE CloudLine CL3150. Instead infrastructure management is handled by an integrated platform management interface (IPMI), which is an open-industry standard interface. iLO is based off this standard as well, but this is a more basic version. This management setup is found on many other brands, specifically to ensure compatibility over a wider range of platforms over a network. It provides access to the ASPEED 2500 base management controller. The ASPEED 2500 also provides integrated graphics for a crash cart monitor, reporting, system monitoring, and a host of other things including the ability to restart your system out of band.
As part of the Cloudline architecture, the HPE Cloudline CL3150 Gen10 is more of a modular storage component for easy scale-out of your existing network. Best of all, with open management tools it’s compliant with other third-party hardware and Intel-based systems that may already be a part of your infrastructure. With super-fast network connections and PCIe NVMe drives, this system is perfect for enhanced virtualization and has the flexibility to support LAN and SAN networks.
In conclusion, if you are interested in owning a piece of the cloud, and we’re not talking about that fluffy white stuff, then give us a call! The HPE Cloudline CL3150 storage server is just one of many systems, parts and components that we have in stock.
If you’re interested in purchasing this server, click here! Or, if you’re interested in other servers or components, click here for IT Creations’ homepage.
