I LOVE HP Servers

I’ve been using them since they were Compaq servers. HP has kept the servers and the parts that they use consistent enough, that you know what you need without doing a lot of research. And, if you do have to do research, their QuickSpecs datasheets on their servers are amazing. Very rarely do we ever order the wrong part for an HP server.

The Proliant G5 Series was Truly Amazing

The Proliant G5 Series was a stellar series of servers. It was the first generation of HP servers that included Intel’s processor with VT. That feature alone sold more servers for us than any other feature during 2008. Why? Because it was the first chip that supported our primary virtualization technology, Citrix XenServer. In order to virtualize on an HP platform, you needed a Proliant G5 series server. Period.

The HP Proliant DL360 G5 also had a pretty impressive feature with respect to hard drives;  it allowed for as many as six SAS drives. The G4 version only allowed two.

So, What’s New with the G6 Series?

If you want to read yourself to sleep, here is HP’s official Proliant G6 Website.

Here are the highlights:

• Intel’s new Xeon 5500 CPUs
• Power efficiency and cooling
• Shared power supplied across all G6 models

I planned to write a huge explanation of what was awesome. However, Scott Lowe did a great job on his blog. Why reinvent the wheel?

Take note of the section on the RAM slowing down as more is added. That’s something I never knew:

‘Among other things, QPI provides higher memory bandwidth—but how much higher depends on the amount of memory installed. That’s right: the more memory you install in the server, the slower your memory speed will be. This is a “dirty little secret” that many server vendors don’t want to disclose.’