HPE ProLiant

Gen9 and Gen10 look alike from the front and both use the SmartCarrier drive caddy, so drives such as the HPE 960 GB SAS SSD fit either. If the label is unreadable, the processor and the iLO version give the generation away. Older Gen8 systems with DDR3 rarely make sense for new projects.

iLO and Smart Array

HPE's remote management is called iLO: iLO 4 on Gen9, iLO 5 on Gen10 and Gen10 Plus. The basics – sensors, logs, power control – are always there; the graphical console once the OS is running and further features depend on the Advanced licence. iLO 5 also checks the firmware at boot against a signature anchored in hardware. Licence tiers and a comparison with Dell and Lenovo are in our guide Remote management: iDRAC, iLO and IPMI.

HPE's RAID controllers are called Smart Array. On Gen10 the name gives the class: S for software RAID via the chipset, E for entry controllers without cache, P for performance models with flash-backed cache. The i means internal ports, -a a module for the dedicated controller slot, -p a standard PCIe card. A common choice is the P408i-a with 2 GB cache. For ZFS or Ceph, pass the drives through in HBA mode; more models are under RAID controllers.

BladeSystem c7000 with BL460c

The BladeSystem c7000 is a 10U enclosure with 16 bays for half-height blades such as the BL460c Gen10. Six power supplies and ten fans serve all blades together, and up to two Onboard Administrators manage the enclosure. Eight interconnect bays at the rear hold switches or Virtual Connect modules that link every blade to the network through the midplane. That saves cabling and rack units, but only pays off once you run a good number of nodes.

You can extend existing blade estates with Gen9 and Gen10 blades, and we buy decommissioned enclosures and blades through our buyback service.