HPE ProLiant DL580 Gen9 4U Rack Server Review

Designed for highly virtualized environments, databases, large-scale transaction processing, and data center applications, the HPE Proliant DL580 is a performer and a perfect fit for business-critical workloads. This  4U rack server features Intel’s spanking new Xeon E7 v3 processor for enhanced productivity.

Today we’ll be looking at the top of the line, high-density HPE ProLiant DL580 Gen 9 Proliant rack server. This 4U rack server features Intel’s spanking new Xeon E7 v3 processor for enhanced productivity. Designed for highly virtualized environments, databases, large-scale transaction processing, and data center applications, the DL580 G9 is a performer and a perfect fit for business-critical workloads.

Inside the case, HPs tool-free design is evident with blue touch points to indicate removable components for easy maintenance and upgrade. Internal cabling is minimized to increase air flow. A CPU drawer on the front of the chassis allows easy access to the CPUs and the 8x memory cartridges without having to remove the unit from the rack. Most importantly, this is a two-handed operation as the drawer can weigh up to 50 lbs.

The DL580 features the Intel C602J chipset and supports up to 4 Xeon E7 v3 processors. Intel’s new E7 family of processors deliver up to 40% more performance than the E5 version, and 20% more cores. This platform introduces several new performance-enhancing technologies including:

• Accelerated Compute Performance for database and transactional workloads
• Cache Monitoring technology to improve resource utilization for virtualized and non-virtualized environments
• In-memory computing which combines a storage component with system memory for faster access speeds, making real-time analytics possible

Depending on your needs, choose from the E7-8800, or E7-4800 v3 processors which range from 4 to 18 cores and 1.9GHz to 3.2GHz. With all four sockets loaded with 18 core processors that add up to 72 physical cores and 144 virtual cores with Intel’s hyper-threading technology. To fully utilize the performance-enhancing features of the new processors, 96x DDR4 DIMM slots are available for an impressive 6TB of RAM.

Each processor supports two memory cartridges with 12x DIMM slots each for a total of 24x DIMM slots per processor. Memory performance is dependent on both the processor and memory configuration and can run at speeds of 1866MHz or 1600MHz.

The server can operate in two distinct modes depending on your needs and your choice of a processor—Lockstep or Independent channel mode.

Lockstep channel mode offers advanced memory protection, improved reliability, and availability. In other words, this mode will allow the system to continue to operate even with the complete failure of two RAM modules, but a minimum of 4x DIMMs per cartridge is required. All cartridges must be configured with an identical number of DIMMS.

On the other hand, independent channel mode offers an increased performance by allowing each channel to operate independently at twice the DDR4 speed of 2267 Mega Transfers per second max. For comparison, with lockstep mode, the transfer rate tops out at 1600 Mega Transfers per second.

LRDIMMs support higher densities and greater speeds than single and dual rank RDIMMs and increase bandwidth and system capabilities. LRDIMMs and RDIMMs are both supported but cannot be mixed. Similarly, HP memory from previous generation servers is also not supported.

HP’s DDR4 Smart Memory provides added benefits in performance, durability, and management through HP’s Active Health System. HP recommends using HP’s SmartMemory to realize the enhanced functionality and a 14% gain in performance.

The system supports several different storage controllers depending on your configuration, the HP Smart Array P830i/2G or the HP P830i/4G Flash Backed Write Controller are just two options. The HP Smart Array P830i SAS Controller provides 12 Gb/s access speeds to take full advantage of the inherent speed of the SAS SSDs and NVMe hard drives. Several other SAS storage controllers and Smart Bus Adapters are available. A maximum of 4 HP Smart Array Controllers can be installed.

The DL580 supports small form factor SAS and SATA hard drives. A maximum of 16TB of storage is available with 10 hot-plug 1.6TB SFF SAS/SSD hard drives, but you’ll need to install the optional SAS backplane kit to activate drives stored in bays 6-10.

1500W and 1200W AC common slot Platinum Plus power supplies are available and must be of the same power output and efficiency when installed in the system. A 1500W 48VDC unit is also available for Data Center applications. A minimum of two Power Supply Units are required, but up to 4 PSUs can be installed for N+N redundancy. In addition, the DL580 G9 is a complex system and HP recommends using their HP Power Advisor to determine the correct PSU for your server configuration.

This new generation DL580 offers enhanced I/O with 9x PCIe 3.0 slots available in a 4-processor configuration including 5 full-height, full-length PCIe slots. PCIe slot availability is dependent on the number of processors installed.

An integrated Matrox G200 video card is standard on this system, but the DL580 can support up to 5 full-length, full-height General Purpose Graphics Processing Units (GPGPU) including the NVIDIA Tesla K40C 12GB Computational Accelerator. But, because of the size of these cards, some of the I/O slots may be blocked if you decide to go with this configuration.

You can choose between several Flexible LOMs which offer 1Gb, 10Gb or 10Gb Base-T Ethernet or converged networking in the embedded adapter, depending on your needs.

To manage all this cutting-edge technology, HP offers a comprehensive set of management tools for On-Premise, On-System and On-Cloud management.

HP’s converged On-Premise management platform, OneView, coupled with iLO Advance, SmartArray storage controllers, Insight Online, and Smart Update Manager makes it easy to integrate with other management products from VMware, Microsoft and Redhat, increasing IT service delivery.

OneView accelerates service delivery by consolidating management of services providing a comprehensive view of the data center, managing hardware, software, firmware, and drivers.

In addition, Intelligent Provisioning, an enhancement to the iLO 4.0 interface, automates the installation of HP VSA storage software. HP’s Smart Update Manager ensures your system has the latest firmware and drivers.

On-Cloud management through HP Insight Online provides easy access to a customizable dashboard to track the health of your IT environment. Insight Online can also be accessed using HP’s Support Center Mobile App.

To achieve the reliability HP is known for, the ProLiant DL580 features several additional management and diagnostic features:

• HP Advanced Error Recovery
• HP Memory Quarantine
• HP Advanced Error Containment
• And HP Advanced Fault Resiliency which includes:
  • Double data Device Correction
  • Single data Device Correction
  • Online Memory Sparing
  • Memory Mirroring
  • Redundant Interconnects and Failover
  • Hot-plug redundant power supplies and hot-plug fans, featuring N+N redundancy for the power units and N+1 for the fans.

While not all of these features are available with all operating systems, Online Memory Sparing is available without operating system support and ensures against degraded DIMMs. Memory Sparing dedicates one rank in each channel for use as spare memory. In other words, in the event a memory error occurs, the server will automatically copy the contents of the failing module and transfer to the spare memory rank, then deactivate the failing memory modules. Memory Sparing is just one of the many features that enhance the reliability of this system.

On the front of the system you’ll find:

• (2) USB connectors
• A video connector
• Discovery Service connectors
• CPU memory drawer handle
• Drive bays 1 thru 5
• System insight display
• Health status LED
• Power on button
• UID button
• And to keep the system cool four hot-swap fans are also located on the front of the chassis.

On the back of the system you’ll find:

• A Serial connector port
• Video connector
• (4) USB connectors
• Dedicated iLO Connector
• PCIe expansion slots 1-9
• Power supplies 1-4
• And a FlexibleLOM slot which could be different than what we are showing here depending on your configuration.

Fully loaded with 10 hard drives, power supplies, 4 processors, and 96 DIMMs the system can weigh up to 116 lbs.

In a minimal configuration with one hard drive, two power supplies, two processors, and four DIMMS the system weighs about 70 lbs.

The system supports the following operating systems and virtualization software:

• Microsoft Windows Server
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL)
• SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES)
• VMware

The DL580 is a workhorse system for databases, big data analytics, large-scale virtualization, and handling large numbers of users and transactions. For Data Center applications, where space is an issue and cost is calculated over the long-term, the new technologies offer reduced power consumption with advanced fault management and diagnostics increasing reliability and mitigating initial purchase cost.

Click here for pricing and documentation on the HPE ProLiant DL580 G9 rack server, and if you have any comments or questions post them in the section below or give us a call at (800) 237-0402.