HP ProLiant DL360 G7 review

In an effort to reduce costs, many businesses are turning to consolidation, where each new server is expected to take the place of multiple systems and be able handle all their workloads. This is a key area of interest for HP, and its latest ProLiant DL360 G7 aims to offer top performance in a small footprint, so you can make some big savings in rack space and running costs.

Energy efficiency is a top priority, and HP’s latest management tools offer some of the best power controls currently available. For starters, you have its new iLO3 embedded controller and the optional advanced upgrade activates the Power Meter feature, which provides real-time and historical graphs of consumption in Watts or BTU/hr.

You also get power regulation and capping controls in the iLO3 interface. The low power mode throttles back the CPU to its lowest power state, while the high performance mode throws all energy savings to the wind. The dynamic power-saving mode sets lower or higher p-states based on utilisation, while capping sets an absolute limit on power usage.

HP’s seventh generation of servers introduces its “sea of sensors” concept. Up to 32 embedded sensors on the motherboard keep a close eye on thermal activity and will automatically adjust the fans and processors to keep a balance between temperature and performance.

HP’s Insight Control software has an optional Power Manager plugin that monitors and controls power consumption and thermal output. You can apply settings such as capping from the Insight console and display graphs showing power usage, CPU performance and exhaust temperatures over hours, days or weeks.

The server sees some welcome improvements over the sixth-generation DL360, as HP has given it four embedded Gigabit ports to bring it in line with the competition. To free up some space at the back for these extra ports, it’s removed the PS/2 mouse and keyboard ports.

Internally, HP has redesigned the recalcitrant air shroud from the G6 version, making it more solid and much easier to remove and replace. In single-processor models, cooling is handled by three hot-plug modules, each with a pair of dual-rotor fans.

The second processor kit comes with a fourth cooling fan module that plugs in directly behind it. HP’s thermal sensors worked well during testing: we could hear the fan speeds constantly being adjusted, and operational noise levels were incredibly low.

Storage potential is among the best, as the four hot-swap drive bays in the standard DL360 can be upgraded to eight. There’s no need to add an extra RAID card either, as the embedded Smart Array P410i controller has a pair of four-port SAS interfaces and the spare one can be cabled directly to the extra backplane.

RAID options are extensive: the entry-level model has no cache memory and supports mirrors and stripes. The review system had the extra 256MB cache module fitted in a dedicated slot, which also brings RAID5 into play. Cache can be upgraded to 512MB or 1GB and a battery backup is available as well, but RAID6 isn’t an option on this server.

The review server was equipped with a single 460W power supply, but redundancy is supported since there’s room for two hot-plug supplies. HP offers 460W, 750W and high-power 1,200W models, and you can choose from any of them since they all share a common slot form factor.

Our system had a single 2.67GHz E5640 processor partnered by 6GB of DDR3 memory and, although this is a fairly basic specification, we found the server was easy on the power supply. It was measured drawing 80W with Server 2008 R2 Enterprise in idle, which peaked at only 148W under load from SiSoft Sandra.

The DL360 has virtualisation duties on its agenda: the motherboard has an embedded SD memory card slot that accepts either VMware or Citrix XenServer embedded hypervisors. There’s also an internal USB port, making this server the match of the A-Listed Dell PowerEdge R610.

Further expansion is facilitated by an internal riser that has a PCI Express slot on each side with one accepting a full-length card and the other having room for a low-profile card. HP’s tool-less design doesn’t extend to the riser since its supporting bracket is held firmly in place by four Torx screws.

Server deployment is helped along by the HP’s latest Insight Control 6 management software, which provides tools for migrating operating systems and applications. However, installing an OS on one server still requires it to be booted with the SmartStart DVD. The R610 offers Dell’s Lifecycle Controller and 1GB of NVRAM, which provides embedded OS installation tools, drivers and diagnostics.

The new DL360 G7 packs a lot into its compact chassis and its storage potential is among the best of the current crop of 1U rack servers. It can’t beat Dell for value, since a similarly specified R610 costs substantially less, but HP’s iLO3 controller and Insight Control software partnership offer the best remote system and power management tools on the market.

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