Review: HP Proliant ML370 Generation 5 server

The fifth generation of the venerable HP Proliant ML370 really is a serious piece of kit. Not only does it offer support for the latest dual-core Xeon processors, but it’s also big enough to accommodate all the Ram, storage and other options required to go with them.

Housed in a huge desk-side tower, the ML370 is extremely well built and solid, calling for two people to manoeuvre it into position. Ours also came with a redundant second power supply and an additional bank of hot-swap fans, which, although guaranteed to keep it running no matter what, can be a little noisy.

You can also specify a rackmount version (5U), although if rackmounting is what you’re after, other Proliant models are available that are less greedy in terms of the rack space they consume.

Still, that bulk means there’s plenty of space to accommodate all sorts of options. The model we were sent came with a single dual-core processor installed – a Xeon 5140 clocked at 2.33MHz with a 1,333MHz front-side bus (FSB) – but you can choose from a variety of Xeon 5000 and 5100 chips and fit up to two on the Intel motherboard to suit a wide range of applications.

You can also go to town in terms of memory. The review server had just 2GB fitted but when the optional second memory board is installed there are enough slots to take up to 64GB in total. DDR2 FB Dram is used throughout with support for ECC, online sparing and memory mirroring for maximum availability. Plus you get two PCI-X and seven PCI Express expansion slots.

Be warned, however. Fast processors, extra memory and plug-in adapters don’t come cheap and you could end up paying a lot more than the £1,943 (ex Vat) quoted for the review system. Note too that the operating system isn’t included in this price, although you can choose to have either Windows Server 2003 or one of the enterprise Linux distributions pre-installed if you’re prepared to pay extra.

The massive tower also provides lots of room for storage options, with eight 2.5in hot-swap drive bays fitted on the review machine. These, though, only take up half the available space set aside for storage, with room for a second set of eight alongside if required. The disks are typically Sas (Serially Attached SCSI) devices, with a pair of 36GB 10,000rpm drives fitted on ours, with 72GB and 146GB disks both available, giving a maximum internal capacity of just over a terabyte in total.

Sata storage can also be specified, although 60GB disks are the only option here and HP has recently announced its intention to standardise on 2.5in Sas across the Proliant family. An integrated Raid controller also comes as standard on this model, with a variety of others available if preferred, along with a huge number of external storage options.

Another nice feature is the integrated Lights-Out (ILO) remote management processor, which adds virtual KVM and power management facilities to allow the Proliant to be controlled remotely via a web browser.

We were very impressed with what this new Proliant ML370 has to offer. It’s perhaps a little over the top for basic file and print sharing but for use as a database server or as an ERP platform in a larger company, it’s got everything you might need and then some.