Windows Server 2003 on HP ProLiant Servers : Introduction to ProLiant Servers (part 2)

The Evolving ProLiant Server Product Line

It's impossible to overlook the rapid rate of change in the computer industry. ProLiant products are constantly being improved as technology moves forward. Covering the changes at the hardware level in detail in print is almost futile because processor, memory, and IO/bus speeds increase at such rapid rates that they become outdated quickly.

Core Technologies Within ProLiant Platforms

The ProLiant platform has always focused on delivering innovative technology based on advancing industry standards. This strategy has successfully driven down the cost of enterprise computing while pushing standards-based servers higher into the enterprise. HP is applying its approach to deliver HP's adaptive infrastructure strategy on ProLiant. For example, using intelligent management technologies and automated provisioning tools, an IT Administrator can rapidly deploy servers globally with a minimal amount of effort. After the servers are configured, integrated hardware and software minimize system downtime through redundancy and error-correcting mechanisms. Software updates can be automatically downloaded according to customer requirements. Administrators can keep resources continuously available by using management and monitoring tools that automatically identify and resolve fault conditions. When conditions change, the Administrator can pinpoint areas that need to be scaled up or down in response to changing business needs.

The following examples demonstrate how HP ProLiant products and technologies, available now, deliver core capabilities. Many products or solutions provide more than one core capability. For example, ProLiant servers include the capability to scale dynamically and provide intelligent fault management.

ProLiant Technologies for Continuous and Secure Operations

Fault tolerance features were built into the very first ProLiant server and have been a primary design element with a focus on continued improvement with each generation. These features are designed to provide the reliability and proactive reporting to maintain continuous operation.

• ProLiant server and component fault-management technologies: Fault tolerant SMP, Hot Plug RAID memory, SMART array controller RAID, Hot Plug drives, Hot Plug PCI slots, Hot Plug fans, Hot Plug power supplies, Network Fault Tolerant (NFT) network adapter teaming, and Automated System Recovery (ASR).

• ProLiant performance issue identification tools: System Insight Manager (SIM), Insight Manager 7, ProLiant Performance Analyzer, and Insight Agents.

• ProLiant clustering and failover: ProLiant DL380 Packaged Cluster; Recovery Server Option Pack; Modular Storage Array (MSA) 1000 SAN (Storage Area Network) HA F100, F200, and F500; and Microsoft Cluster Server (MSCS) Clusters.

ProLiant Technologies for Automated and Intelligent Management

ProLiant customers stress that the intelligent management capabilities of ProLiant servers have been a key factor in their choice. Remote and automated fault monitoring and reporting capabilities enable the fault and performance problems to be discovered and resolved before they impact availability or result in unplanned downtime. Each of the bulleted items below shows the HP and ProLiant tools that provide the automated and intelligent management for each technology:

• HP service-level management tools: HP Open View and HP Utility Data Center.

• System-level management: SIM, Insight Management Agents, SmartStart, Version Control Agents, and Version Control Repository Manager (VCRM).

• Lights-out management: Remote Insight Lights-Out Edition II (RILOE II) and integrated Lights-Out (iLO).

• Remote Management: iLO, RILOE II, Integrated Administrator, and KVM IP console.

• Automated installation: ProLiant Essentials Rapid Deployment Pack (RDP), ProLiant Essentials SmartStart Scripting Toolkit, ProLiant blades Integrated Administrator (IA), and SmartStart.

ProLiant Technologies for Dynamic Resource Optimization

Being able to grow or scale your resources quickly, easily, and even automatically provides the capability to respond quickly to changing business needs. Each of the bulleted items below shows the HP and ProLiant server or ProLiant Essentials software that provides the dynamic resource optimization for each technology:

• Scale-up: ProLiant DL 500 series and DL 700 series four- and eight-way multiprocessors servers.

• Scale-out: ProLiant blade servers, ProLiant DL 300 series servers, and MSA SANs.

• Workload optimization: ProLiant Essentials Workload Management Pack (WMP) and ProLiant Essentials Performance Management Pack (PMP).

• Resource deployment and partitioning: ProLiant Essentials RDP, SmartStart Scripting Toolkit, Online ROM flash Utility, Remote Deployment Utility (RDU), and VCRM.

ProLiant Core Technologies Summary

Continuity and Component Commonality on ProLiant

Numerous core technologies within the ProLiant platforms provide higher performance, fault tolerance, and reliability. In addition to its core technologies, one of ProLiant's strongest features is the continuity and component commonality across the platform. This is an often-overlooked benefit of the holistic approach to building the server platform, yet it exemplifies the benefits of the ISA because ProLiant's component commonality extends the standards idea throughout the ProLiant platform. SmartStart, ROM-based setup, SMART array controller configuration, Hot Plug drive operation, Lights-Out management processor interface, and many other components provide continuity of component operations across ProLiant.

Customers who consider themselves “ProLiant Shops” point out that throughout the history of ProLiant servers, they have provided the performance, reliability, and fault tolerance they want, with the enormous benefit of continuity and commonality across the platform. An example of this is the SMART array controllers that have been around since ProLiant's introduction and are currently at their sixth generation. Although the features and technologies have advanced, the basic configuration of RAID sets and operation within the configuration utility has maintained continuity over the generations. This continuity enables a smooth transition that requires no, or only minimal, retraining.

Additional examples of the benefits of continuity and commonality across the platform are seen in most hardware components. Operation of LED indictors and replacement of a Hot Plug drive are the same for a ProLiant 300, 500, 700, or BL-p blade server. The Hot Plug disk drives are universal, meaning they operate not only in all ProLiant servers, but also in HP StorageWorks arrays and drive enclosures, too. Continuity of LED indicators and operation is also seen with Hot Plug power supplies and Hot Plug fans.

Additional benefits of commonality and continuity include

• Lowering parts inventory requirements

• Reducing training and retraining cost

• Improving productivity of personnel

• Enabling personnel to quickly learn new product operation

• Reducing unintended damage caused by lack of familiarity with operation

ProLiant Models and Generations

ProLiant servers are based on a modeling system similar to European automakers. As server model numbers go up, so does the level of sophistication and features. The traditional ProLiant server line consists of 300-, 500-, and 700-series servers. The ProLiant 100 series was introduced in late 2003 with a reduced feature set and value pricing for starting out or scaling out.

ProLiant Models

BL, DL, and ML indicate the server line. ML is the maximized configuration line, indicating the capability to expand internal options. DL is the optimized for density line, indicating a compact rack optimized system. BL is the blade line, indicating blade architecture.

Blade servers vary slightly in modeling; currently, there are BL-e class single processor ultra-dense blades and BL-p class multiprocessor-capable server blades.

ProLiant Generations

As technology moves forward, the chosen method for indicating a major revision is the generation mark indicated as G2 for second generation, and so on. For example, systems shipping Q4 2003 were BL20p G2, BL40p, DL320 G2, DL360 G3, DL380 G3, DL560, DL580 G2, DL740, DL760 G2, ML310, ML330 G3, ML350 G3, ML370 G3, ML530 G2, and ML570 G2. The absence of the generation suffix indicates a first-generation server.

Speed Bumps

Between generations, the processor speed bumps occur, and the term is used to indicate an upgrade in processor speeds and often other features between major model generations. For example, a generation might initially offer a 2.2GHz processor and advance to a 3.6GHz processor as the processor speed bumps are released. This provides a choice in pricing and an upgrade path with the latest processors and options throughout each generation.

Ultra-Dense ProLiant Blade Servers BL

HP began pioneering enterprise blade server design for industry-standard applications in 2001 and moved to the second phase of blades in August 2002 to bring multiprocessor blades to enterprise customers. Today, HP delivers enterprise-class blade server solutions with the ProLiant BL-p class dual- and quad-processor blades for mid-tier and back-end applications. HP blade servers are optimized for use with the ProLiant Essentials Remote Deployment Pack for automatic configuration and installation of OSs and applications on multiple servers simultaneously.

The basic idea behind blade servers is consolidation. By allowing servers to share resources provided by an enclosure, the individual servers can be made much more compact. The architecture not only allows you to put a lot more processing power into a smaller space, but its modular design also simplifies deployment. In terms of hardware, the blade server solution has two basic components: the blades themselves and the enclosure that houses them. The enclosure connects the blades installed to the shared resources, and the enclosure can be configured for I/O options according to your needs. The blades are paired with automated deployment software that utilizes scripting or drive imaging to rapidly deploy a server.

Over a gigabit Ethernet connection using drive imaging, a server can be deployed in 15 minutes. Blade servers save space, drastically reduce cabling, and simplify installation and the processes involved in deploying and managing servers. The ProLiant BL-p series offers multiple processors, the benefits of the blade architecture, and many of the enterprise-class server features found in ProLiant 300- and 500 series rack mount servers.

Like their namesake the razor blade, blade servers are easily installed and removed. Coupling this quick-change blade architecture with deployment and management software moves server deployment from a labor-intensive operation to a simple plug-and-go process. With the ProLiant BL-e class, you can deploy 20 blade servers by installing its 3U blade enclosure in a rack by attaching two power cables, four network cables, and one management network cable. Simply slide in 20 blades, which use the industry-standard PXE (Pre-Boot Execution Environment) network boot protocol to connect to a deployment server and console, to be automatically deployed with an OS and software based on the Administrator's preference.

ProLiant BL-e Class

The ProLiant BL-e class servers are single-processor, power-efficient, dense-edge server blades that install in a 3U enclosure that holds 20 ProLiant BL10e server blades, saving valuable data center space, power, and cooling resources. The enclosure provides redundant, Hot Plug power and cooling to all installed blades as well as an integrated, remote management tool called Integrated Administrator (IA), which offers remote/local access for monitoring and managing the enclosure and all server blades within it.

ProLiant BL-p Class

ProLiant BL-p class systems are high-performance, high-availability, two- and four-processor-capable server blades for multitiered data center architectures. Both the BL20p and BL40p blades slide into the same BL-p modular enclosure. They offer dual-path SAN attached clustering capabilities with the optional Fibre Channel support for HP StorageWorks arrays and are compatible with EMC and Hitachi SANs.

Density Optimized—ProLiant DL Servers

The ProLiant DL line of servers consists of dense-rack servers with open, serviceable chassis that provide tool-free entry and easy access to critical components along with simple, but durable, racking components. A number of racking solutions support various customer server environments, including rapid deployment and serviceability in ProLiant racks, deployment in telecommunication and third-party racks, and a stackable desktop solution. Embedded technologies, such as integrated SMART array controllers, embedded Network Interface Controllers, and iLO, maximize functionality while minimizing server size. Upgrades to future server technologies protect the customer's server investment, while component commonality across the ProLiant line—including drives and memory—reduces spare parts and inventory costs.