HPE ProLiant ML30 Gen11 Tower Server Review
August 28, 2025The HPE ProLiant ML30 Gen11 tower server offers enterprise-class performance, reliability, security and a few other adjectives. It is designed for small to medium-sized businesses, plus remote and branch offices, and those in need of an on-premise, hybrid cloud solution.
This little compact nugget of goodness can easily support general office workloads with just a single Intel Xeon 6300-series or E-2400-series processor with 4 to 8 cores. With that 14th generation processor, this system is definitely for entry-level workloads. But it can also be outfitted with a single double-wide performance GPU or 2x single-width 75W cards for computational acceleration or graphics applications.
We will mention that once this system completes its primary mission and your business grows so large you need more office space and a server room, then this system can be rack-mounted with an optional rack mount kit and cable management arm and for continuous operation supporting your next-level business goals.
The HPE ProLiant ML30 Gen11 includes a stylish security bezel. Starting at the top of the chassis, 2x media bays can each be outfitted with a SATA optical device, tape drive or USB RDX docking station, which offers removeable disk cartridges, also for back up, recovery, and archiving data.
Below that, a small control panel that includes; a USB 3.2 gen1 port next to an iLO service port. Then a few buttons and status LEDs, Unit ID button, NIC status LED, Health LED, and a Power ON button. Between those ports and the LEDs is a small knockout panel where an optional boot device can be installed.
That boot device is a turnkey solution and includes 2x NVMe M.2 drives that are recognized by the management interface as a single drive, not a RAID controller. It only operates in RAID 1 for redundancy and cannot be configured to support other RAID options. The boot device isolates the OS allowing the other upfront storage devices to be used for data storage exclusively.
Below all that, is the drive cage for either 2.5-inch or 3.5-inch SAS or SATA HDD or SSD drive types. The 3.5-inch chassis can be configured with up to 4x hot-plug or non-hot-plug storage devices. A 2.5-inch, hot-plug, 8-bay drive cage can also be installed in that same mid-chassis slot and offers hot-plug storage devices.
Around back, there are 2x options for the PSU. Either a single non-hot plug 350W non-redundant PSU or several Flex slot options with 1x or 2x PSUs for redundancy. For that last option, either 500W, 800W or 1000W. We will also mention that if you do install a GPU on this system that requires a GPU cable kit, then the 350W Platinum ATX PSU is not an option.
One of the selling points is the ability to share spare PSUs across multiple servers. Does that really happen? Theoretically we suppose… For security, there’s an actual pad lock loop, which doubles to hold the front bezel key. Kensington security slot below that. There is actually another little slot inside the bezel right at the bottom to keep that extra bezel key. That seems kind of like keeping your spare house key in the house in case you get locked out. Instead of hiding it under a rock or something.
Below that, ports galore! If this was a Bond movie we might say something different but it’s not. There are 4x 1GbE RJ45 LAN ports on this system, that top one of which is shared with iLO. Since this is a single system that could support your entire SMB, remote or branch office, you’re not going to waste that port on just remote management, if you don’t have to. Then, 4x USB 3.2 gen1 ports. Below all that, a VGA port, serial port, and then a display port 1.1a and dedicated iLO Network port. Looks like you’re not necessarily going to have to share that other LAN port…
It comes embedded with iLO Standard with Intelligent Provisioning, which does indeed allow you to access the system remotely using that integrated Lights Out port on the back of the system. HPE OneView Standard, which is available for download, provides more tools for monitoring, inventory, alerting, and reporting of hardware especially with other HPE systems like BladeSystem, Apollo and SuperDome X. For accessing advanced iLO features, like the remote console and virtual media, you will need Advanced licenses for both iLO and OneView, which can come bundled together. With the remote console, your management capabilities are enhanced along with the ability to troubleshoot remotely out of band.
The side panel on the HPE ProLiant ML30 Gen11 can be removed loosening the thumbscrew on the back. Inside, a plastic air baffle pulls air over the CPU and memory module slots using that rear-mounted system fan. Underneath the baffle, you can see the CPU has a heat sink with integrated fan pulling air, presumably from the front of the chassis, over the heat sink cooling fins and then out the back. Another optional fan in front at the base of the chassis is to keep the PCIe slots cool. Especially if you have a GPU installed, which do tend to add a bit of heat to the thermal equation.
This system can be outfitted with an Intel Xeon 6300-series processor, which is port of Intel’s Xeon 6 line of processors with a “P” suffix. That “P” suffix indicates performance cores or P-cores not the efficiency or E-cores. That said, what HPE seems to really be pushing on this system is the Intel Xeon E-2400-series CPU, which is still fairly new as of 2025. That, or they really haven’t had a chance to update their documentation. With either CPU option, you have a choice of 4, 6 or 8 physical cores, depending on the processor. Virtual threads are double the core count of the CPU, thanks to Intel Hyper-threading technology.
These CPUs offers dual-channel memory architecture, and with 4x memory module slots can support 2x DIMMs per channel. Full memory capacity for this system is 4x 32MB DDR5 UDIMM memory modules for up to 128GB. Only unbuffered memory modules are supported on this system. Using 1x DIMM per channel will provide the fastest memory speeds at up to 4800MT/s. We will mention there is also a single Intel Pentium processor listed.
There are 4x PCIe slots on the motherboard. Starting from the top down, a PCIe 5.0 x16 slot with x16 bus width, and then 3x PCIe 4.0 x8 slots, each with a x8 bus width. The upper most x8 full-height, full-length slot is from the CPU. The other 2x full-height, half-length slots on the bottom are from the PCH. For SAS drives, the system requires a storage controller, and there are options. An essential Gen 10 Smart Array controller or 3x Gen11 Tri-mode controllers. Two of them offer full RAID options with data cache and require a capacitor. In the event of a power failure the capacitor will power the system for up to 60 seconds to ensure successful cached data is captured.
There are a number of things you can install in those PCIe slots including additional network controllers with 1, 10 or 25 GbE. That PCIe fan at the bottom, front of the chassis and plastic baffle are optional but required when you install anything in the PCIe slots. You can hook up a monitor using that display port on the back. You can also install a discrete GPU for acceleration and video output. The only GPU listed in the QuickSpecs is the NVIDIA RTX 4000 Ada with 20GB of GDDR6 memory. It’s a single-width card featuring Ada Lovelace architecture that uses a PCIe 4.0 x16 interface. We think that opens the door for a bunch more options at the lower end of the GPU list as this card has a TDP of 130W. Quite sure you could add an NVIDIA T4 or an A2 but this system is not going to solve your AI needs, if any exist.
For hybrid cloud and or on-premise workloads, you may have a need for the HPE ProLiant ML30 Gen11 server tower. It offers enterprise-grade features tailored to the budget of a small business. Relatively expandable given its small size, this unit can support a number of common business workloads with ease. If you’re still shopping, then check out IT Creations. We have this system, and others, and can configure it to your specifications!
