Insight Control software and ProLiant DL360 G7 and DL 380 G7 servers

Hewlett-Packard has announced updates to its server management software suite that improve system operations and efficiency throughout the server life cycle. The company has also introduced the ProLiant DL360 G7 and DL 380 G7 rack-optimised servers that are claimed to deliver up to a 20:1 consolidation ratio, reducing floor space and improving data centre capacity.

Offered as an essential building block for a converged infrastructure, the servers offer advanced management and energy efficiency. With a converged infrastructure, users can eliminate silos by integrating technology assets that deliver operational flexibility as business needs change.

The Insight Control software provides a single, integrated management solution for both physical and virtual servers and now includes the latest version of Integrated Lights-Out Advanced (iLO 3).

The iLO 3 remote console is eight times faster than the previous version, increasing administrator productivity. With simplified server set-up, power and thermal optimisation, as well as embedded system-health monitoring to lower administration costs, iLO 3 allows real-time control via a simple, unified console that enables clients to perform remote server management tasks faster, at any time and from anywhere in the world. Virtual Folders and Virtual Media Servers speed software installation and remote access by hosting commonly used files and configurations locally. Its simplified, intuitive management interface provides video recording and playback of issue discovery. iLO 3 also enables up to six users to collaborate remotely from anywhere in the world to troubleshoot issues. It also protects business data through strong, hardware-backed encryption that does not compromise performance.

The two servers integrate HP Thermal Logic technologies to reduce power consumption by as much as a claimed 96% through the company’s Sea of Sensors, Dynamic Power Capping and Power Advisor.

These energy-efficiency innovations in the two platforms, combined with the Intel Xeon 5600 series processors, are claimed to deliver a 27 times performance-per-watt increase.

Server innovations combined with the Thermal Logic technologies can help clients reduce the number of physical servers and software licences by up to 95%. The servers are architected to deliver the right balance of I/O for the compute and memory capacity of the server. The DL360 G7 server delivers double the networking bandwidth compared to the G6 version, providing better economics for users needing additional I/O capabilities without an additional option card. Both the DL360 G7 and DL380 G7 servers offer up to 192 GB max DDR3 memory, contain 18 DIMM sockets, provide four network ports and support memory speeds up to 1333 MHz. This balanced systems architecture enables clients to maximise server performance for virtualisation, business intelligence and database workloads.