State O' The art Applications Server

Qualifications: I am the manager of a large software development lab at a major communications company, which consists of some 125 Compaq Proliant servers of various models and designs. Those models include 6500’s, 1600R’s, 1850R’s, DL360’s, DL380’s, DL580’s and ML350’s, with the Proliant 1850R’s being the most prevalent.

Disclaimer: This review is intended for those with intermediate or advanced server knowledge, or those individuals seeking in-depth information on Enterprise caliber server equipment. Few if any of the terms used throughout the review are expounded upon.

The Compaq ProLiant DL380 a 133 MHz FSB server, that conforms to the 3U form factor, which enables up to 14 servers to be installed in an industry standard 42U rack. The ProLiant DL380 offers support for up to 2 Pentium III processors at 677 MHz - 1.0 GHz/256 L2 cache, and is an ideal platform for a stand-alone application server, in a non-clustering environment. In addition, the DL380 boosts to following features:

· Supports 133MHz ECC memory expandable to 4GB (128 MB standard).
· 10/100 Mb/s Ethernet NIC (33MHz).
· Smart Array Controllers (supports RAID 0, 1, 0+1, and 5).
· 4 x 1" Wide Ultra2/Ultra3-ready hot plug SCSI drive bays w/support for up to 218.4 GB.
· Support for 10,000 rpm Wide Ultra2 or Wide Ultra3 hot swappable hard drives for up to 145.6 GB of internal storage.
· 4 PCI slots: 3 64-Bit/33 MHz; 1 32-bit/33 MHz.
· A low profile CD-ROM.
· 1.44" floppy drive.
· Removable media bay supporting 2 half height or 1 full height device or optional 2 x 1" hot plug drive cage.

We have only four DL380’s installed in our development Lab. We are using them in test a new software package and to date all have performed as advertised. Installation, as in all Compaq servers is easy. I installed the server in the rack first thereby simplifying the installation of components into the server. Like the 4U designed servers, the DL380 can be locked into place on the rack and have work performed on it. Once the cover is removed, the first thing to note is the placement of the processors near the back of the server cabinet. The system memory is installed in four slots to the left of the processors and a foam cutout is placed between then and the processors. The hard drives can be installed in Standard Compaq 4 x 1” bays, and are easy to install and remove.

Once installation of components is complete, and the Drive Array and hard drives are configured, installation of Smart Start and the Network Operating System (NOC) can commence. As I stated in my reviews of the Proliant DL360 & DL580, Compaq Smart Start is a set of 2 CD’s, which include Compaq Management Agents, Compaq Insight Manager, and Compaq Insight Manger XE. Compaq ships a set of Smart Start CD’s with each server. Smart Start allows you the administrator to configure the hardware and install all the software needed to run the server including the NOS, but be ready to have to specific NOS CD’s ready, because Smart Start will ask for them during the installation process. We use Microsoft Windows NT Enterprise Server 4.0 on all of our servers and the installation of it and the 35 MB Compaq Configuration space take approx. 45 minutes to an hour to complete.

So far I have built four DL-380’s and I am poised to build more in the coming future. We went with ProLiant DL380 as a development platform because of Compaq’ reputations for building reliable servers and the proven performance of Compaq servers in our Lab environment. For ease of use, performance, and flexibility, your organization would be hard pressed to do better than the DL380.

Product Specifications

Form Factor
3U Rack

Processor
Pentium III 1GHz, 933MHz, 866MHz, 800MHz, 733MHz or 667MHz with integrated 256KB second level cache, dual processor capable

System Memory
128MB (expandable to 4GB) of 133MHz registered SDRAM ECC DIMM memory

System Bus
133MHz GTL Bus

System Architecture
Dual Peer PCI System Architecture

Internal Expansion Slots
4 Total full length Slots - 3 64-bit PCI slots, 1 32-bit PCI slot

Drive Controller
Integrated Smart Array Controller (Ultra2 controller)

Network Controller
Compaq NC3163 Fast Ethernet NIC Embedded 10/100 with WOL capability

Removable Media Bays
Four removable media bays - 2 open 5.25" half height bays + (1) diskette and (1) 24X Max IDE CD-ROM

Drive Bays
Support for up to four 1" Wide Ultra2/Ultra3 hot plug hard drives & for two additional Wide Ultra2/Ultra3 SCSI hot plug drives in removable media bay using optional 2 x 1" drive cage. Internal hot plug capacity up to 145.6 GB standard or up to 218.4 GB using optional 2 x 1" drive cage

Interfaces
Network (RJ-45), External Wide Ultra2 SCSI, parallel, dual serial, graphics, keyboard, and mouse

Power Supply
275 Watt - CE Mark Compliant, Optional Compaq Hot-Plug Redundant Power Supply

Thanks for taking the time to read my review

~The Bard~