HP Server Buying Guide 2010-2011
Not so long ago, HP outstripped IBM in server sales, slightly, but outstripped. This leap is driven by the company's very hard work over the past year, and the complete renewal of the Integrity and ProLiant lines played an important role in this.
HP has actively invested in the development of a control system for various chip architectures and operating systems & ndash; says Dan Olds, an analyst at Gabriel Consulting Group - and the company's new proposals on the market, which did not find sane competition, caused a corresponding resonance among users. ''
ProLiant Servers
HP ProLiant servers are currently HP's main strength. The company owns more than one third of the x86 server market, so it's hard to compete in this regard. According to Olds, heavyweight HP (NYSE: HPQ) holds 35% of the server pie (x86), compared with Dell (NASDAQ: DELL), which owns 21%.
Thanks to HP, users have a wide choice - the company offers products for almost any niche of the x86 server market. And new models appear constantly - almost every month. Let's see what models this series is currently represented by.
In March, for example, HP added the following blade server models: BL280c, BL2x220c, BL460c, BL490cG6, and WS460c G6 workstation (also based on blades). Moreover, new so-called "pizza boxes" (servers dedicated to racks) have been added - DL160, DL170h, DL180, DL320, DL360 and the HP proliant DL380 G6 server. The ProLiant ML330 and ML350 G6 tower servers were also released for small business applications, along with the SL160z, SL170z and SL2x170z G6 for scalable environments.
“In March, HP announced the next generation of HP ProLiant servers (HP ProLiant DL165, DL385, and SL165z G7), offering significant performance improvements as well as lower power consumption over previous generations,” says Lorraine Bartlett. Lorraine Bartlett, VP of Marketing, Business Critical Systems, HP. “The new HP ProLiant G7 Servers with AMD Opteron 6100 series processors deliver significant efficiency gains.
According to Bartlett, G7 servers built with AMD Opteron 6100 processors are 27 times more efficient (performance per watt) than previous models.
The G7 portfolio was expanded again in May with ProLiant DL360 and DL380 machines. Bartlett reports that these servers increase the consolidation ratio to 20-to-1, reducing the server footprint in the datacenter.
In June 2010 HP is expanding the G7 line again with the BL465c, BL685c, BL2x220, BL460c, BL620c and BL680c G7 models, as well as three rack systems (for standard rack mounting) - DL580, DL585 and DL980 G7 .
Users who prefer blades or racks have a huge choice: from simple cheap models to high-end servers with all possible "personal belongings". Likewise, in the tower server category, HP offers a range of options. In the table below we have listed the full range of models available - see for yourself how wide HP has to offer for those looking to buy a server.
Those thinking of mixing different types of ProLiant servers — towers, racks, and blades within, say, a datacenter — will experience the benefits of HP Converged Converged Infrastructure, which aims to reduce the cost and complexity of server management by combining the series ProLiant.
It also makes sense to get rid of old and acquire new servers. For example, many ProLiant G5 machines will be discontinued, including DL165 G5, DL185 G5, ML110 G5, ML115 G5, BL2x220 G5, BL460c G5, proliant DL380 G5, DL580 G5, DL385 G5, and ML370 G5. Already, 5th generation servers are disappearing from sale, for example, it is already difficult to buy an hp proliant dl580 g5 server.
“HP's strategy of popularizing blade servers is paying off, and in this weight category, the company is already difficult to compete with,” says Olds. “They also benefited from the simultaneous collaboration with both Intel and AMD, enabling Hewlett-Packard to introduce a wide range of products.”
Integrity Servers
But at the same time, Olds says that HP pays unfairly little attention to its line of Integrity servers based on Intel Itanium processors. “The dominance of x86 and blade architecture has overshadowed the Integrity series, hence a corresponding shift in investment and marketing focus,” he says. “Anyway, HP is making good headway in the direction of Unix servers as well. Not bad - to put it mildly, because HP currently ranks second in this market after the IBM Power brand. ”
HP is extremely strong in certain segments of the Unix market. Systems running the proprietary HP-UX operating system, for example, are much more commonly used for SAP than systems from IBM or Oracle (Sun). Olds also added that the (repeatedly delayed) release of the new Itanium Tukwila processor and new revisions of the HP-UX operating system gave HP Unix users a reason to consider upgrading their systems.
New servers include Integrity blades such as BL860c i2, BL870c i2, and BL890c i2. Bartlett says they offer 2.5 times the component density of traditional racks. These blades use Intel Itanium 9300 series processors (two or four cores) and come in a variety of memory sizes. While the BL860c i2 comes with up to 96GB of RAM, the BL890c i2 comes with up to 384GB of RAM.
Integrity is not the only blades. For example, the new rx2800 i2 is a 2U 2U rackmount server aimed at SMB (Small and Medium Business) or branch office deployments. These machines offer increased memory, I/O, eight processor cores (two Itanium 9300 processors), and onboard disks. And at the very top of the line is the Integrity Superdome 2 monster, translated into an all-new, modular blade design for mission-critical applications.
“HP recently introduced a completely redesigned Superdome system that is modular yet capable of providing full UNIX functionality in a single operating environment,” says Olds. - “This is an impressive server, however, the market is not well aware of its benefits.”
Superdome 2 is packed with innovative solutions to deliver unmatched reliability and system availability. For example, the unique Crossbar Fabric technology provides guaranteed data transfer and intelligent routing between blade cells and I/O ports while providing full redundancy. Superdome 2 has a modular blade architecture, load balancing at all levels of the hierarchy, supports hot-swappable components and Superdome 2 Analysis Engine technology, which predicts and analyzes errors that occur. The server is also available in three different formats, each of which should meet the growing business needs. The server is available in 8-unit, 16-unit and 32-unit configurations.
“For more than 10 years, HP Integrity servers, including the Superdome, have been operating in the most mission-critical industries around the world — especially in the financial, medical, manufacturing and telecom industries,” says Bartlett. “81 percent of the Global 100 and 70 percent of the Fortune 100 use HP Integrity servers.
The servers listed in the table have been discontinued, so we recommend that you study our used servers buying guide .
HP server lineup
|
Server line |
ProLiant |
Integrity |
Other servers |
|
Description |
x86 architecture |
Itanium-based servers with HP-UX and NonStop OS fail-safe |
HP 9000, HP AlphaServer, Carrier-Grade Servers |
|
CPU type |
ML Series: Intel Xeon,
and AMD Opteron, Athlon,
|
Intel Itanium 9300 Processor Series
|
HP 9000 Servers: PA-8900 and PA-8800 |
|
DL Series: Intel Core 2,
and AMD
| |||
|
AlphaServer Systems: 64-bit Alpha EV7z, EV7, EV68 | |||
|
Blade - BL servers: Intel
and AMD
| |||
|
SL Series: AMD Opteron 6100
| |||
|
Carrier-Grade Servers: Xeon, Itanium 2 | |||
|
WS Series: Xeon 5600 | |||
|
CPU count |
ML Series:
DL Series:
BL Series:
|
Beginner level:
Medium:
High-end (Superdome):
Integrity Server Blades:
|
HP 9000 Servers: Entry Level: 1-2, 1-4, 2-8; |
| Integrity NonStop Servers: | |||
| Medium:
2-16, 2-32; | |||
| Starting level:
2-4 or 2-8; up to 2040 used clusters | |||
| Hi-End (Superdome): 4-32, 4-64, 12-128; | |||
| Middle level:
2-8; up to 2040 used clusters | |||
|
HP AlphaServer Systems: Beginner level:
Medium: 1-8; High-end: 2-64; Carrier-Grade:
| |||
| Hi-End:
2-16; up to 4080 used clusters | |||
|
OS |
Windows SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, Red Hat Enterprise Linux Novell Open Enterprise Server NetWare, Solaris 10 VMware ESX 3.x, VMware ESXi 3.5 HP Integrated Citrix XenServer |
Beginner/Intermediate/
Integrity Server Blades:
Integrity NonStop Servers :
|
HP 9000 Servers: HP-UX 11i
HP AlphaServer: OpenVMS, Tru64 UNIX
Carrier-Grade: HP-UX, Tru64 UNIX, OpenVMS, Windows, Linux |
|
Servers |
ML Series: ML115
DL Series: DL580 G5
BL Blade Series: BL465c G5
|
Beginner level: rx2660
Intermediate level: rx7640
Hi-End: Integrity Blade
|
HP 9000 Servers
|
Sergey Ivanovich Minaev
8/11.2010
