ProLiant is a brand of

server computer In computing, a server is a piece of computer hardware or software ( computer program) that provides functionality for other programs or devices, called " clients". This architecture is called the client–server model. Servers can provide var ...

s that was originally developed and marketed by

Compaq Compaq Computer Corporation (sometimes abbreviated to CQ prior to a 2007 rebranding) was an American information technology company founded in 1982 that developed, sold, and supported computers and related products and services. Compaq produced ...

and currently marketed by

Hewlett Packard Enterprise The Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company (HPE) is an American multinational information technology company based in Spring, Texas, United States. HPE was founded on November 1, 2015, in Palo Alto, California, as part of the splitting of the ...

. After Compaq merged with Hewlett-Packard (HP), HP retired its NetServer brand in favor of the ProLiant brand. HP ProLiant systems led the

x86 x86 (also known as 80x86 or the 8086 family) is a family of complex instruction set computer (CISC) instruction set architectures initially developed by Intel based on the Intel 8086 microprocessor and its 8088 variant. The 8086 was intr ...

server market in terms of units and revenue during first quarter of 2010. The HP ProLiant servers offer many advanced server features such as redundant power supplies,

Out-of-band management In systems management, out-of-band management involves the use of management interfaces (or serial ports) for managing networking equipment. Out-of-band (''OOB'') management is a networking term which refers to accessing and managing network infras ...

with iLO or Lights-out 100,

Hot-swap Hot swapping is the replacement or addition of components to a computer system without stopping, shutting down, or rebooting the system; hot plugging describes the addition of components only. Components which have such functionality are said ...

components and up to 8-Socket systems.

Product lines

Modular Line (ML)

ML server models are tower-based. They aim towards maximum expandability.

Density Line (DL) and RISC Line (RL)

DL server models are rack-based. They aim towards a balance between density and computing power.

Available models through product generations

Scalable Line (SL)

SL server models are rack-based. These models are mostly used in data centers and environments where a maximum of computing power is desired.

Blade Line (BL)

BL server models are enclosure-based. They are made specially for use in a blade enclosure and cannot be used without such. Blade systems aim towards maximum density and manageability at limited rack space. There are two models of blade enclosures: HPE BladeSystem c3000 Enclosure (8 Bays for Blades), and HPE BladeSystem c7000 Enclosures (16 Bays for Blades). One advantage of HP/HPE Blade Enclosures compared to competitors (such as IBM Blade Systems) has been that the older generation enclosures have been able to accommodate new generation BL servers just by upgrading the firmware for OA in the enclosure (Onboard Administrator). However improvements to back-plane of the enclosure in the new generation enclosures have enabled faster I/O capabilities (such as 10Gbit/s Ethernet adapters and switches, and Infiniband). The physical design of the enclosures has not changed since the first versions (other than the larger LCD screen at the front compared to the first generation enclosures, and new plastic covers and HPE branding on the 3rd generation enclosures).

ProLiant MicroServer

The HPE ProLiant MicroServer line of products are entry-level, low power, compact, and affordable servers meant for small business, home office, or edge computing. They offer user upgradable components and easy access to hard drives. There is the option to purchase the server with ClearOS installed in order for users to be able to enable applications via an easy-to-use web-GUI with minimal effort.

Details

ProLiant servers are separated into four main product lines - ML, DL, BL, SY, and Apollo - which generally denote form factor. The ProLiant ML line comprises

tower A tower is a tall structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting structures. Towers are specifi ...

-based servers (convertible to rack mount) with capacity for internal expansion of disks and interconnects, while the DL line comprises general purpose

rack mount A 19-inch rack is a standardized frame or enclosure for mounting multiple electronic equipment modules. Each module has a front panel that is wide. The 19 inch dimension includes the edges or "ears" that protrude from each side of the equ ...

servers. The BL line comprises

blade A blade is the portion of a tool, weapon, or machine with an edge that is designed to puncture, chop, slice or scrape surfaces or materials. Blades are typically made from materials that are harder than those they are to be used on. Histor ...

servers which fit within the HP BladeSystem, the SY comprises the Synergy Blades, and the Apollo line comprises servers for

scale out Scalability is the property of a system to handle a growing amount of work by adding resources to the system. In an economics, economic context, a scalable business model implies that a company can increase sales given increased resources. For ...

and

High Performance Computing High-performance computing (HPC) uses supercomputers and computer clusters to solve advanced computation problems. Overview HPC integrates systems administration (including network and security knowledge) and parallel programming into a multi ...

environments. The MicroServer product line addresses small and home businesses. ProLiant servers are also split into several series which denote processor configuration. The 100, 200, 300 and 400 series comprise single and dual socket capable systems, the 500 and 600 series comprise quad socket capable systems, and the 700 and 900 series comprise eight socket capable systems. The 900 series supports up to 80 CPU cores and up to 4 TB of RAM. Models with a '0' in the last digit use

Intel Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California. It is the world's largest semiconductor chip manufacturer by revenue, and is one of the developers of the x86 seri ...

processors while models with a '5' in the last digit use

AMD Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD) is an American multinational semiconductor company based in Santa Clara, California, that develops computer processors and related technologies for business and consumer markets. While it initially manufactur ...

processors. The ProLiant forms part of the HP Converged Systems, which use a common Converged Infrastructure architecture for server, storage, and networking products. Designed to support 50 to 300

virtual machine In computing, a virtual machine (VM) is the virtualization/ emulation of a computer system. Virtual machines are based on computer architectures and provide functionality of a physical computer. Their implementations may involve specialized h ...

s, the HP ConvergedSystem 300 is configured with ProLiant servers. A

system administrator A system administrator, or sysadmin, or admin is a person who is responsible for the upkeep, configuration, and reliable operation of computer systems, especially multi-user computers, such as servers. The system administrator seeks to en ...

can manage ProLiant servers using HP OneView for converged infrastructure management. HP also provide drivers a software for managing servers such as Management Component Pack which includes hp online configuration utility (hponcfg), Agentless Management Service amsd, Smart Storage Administrator (SSA) ssa, Smart Storage Administrator (SSA) CLI ssacli and Smart Storage Administrator Diagnostic Utility (SSADU) CLI ssaducli.

Timeline

In February 2012, HP announced the ProLiant generation 8. In July 2013, HP announced a new blade server-based ProLiant, the HP Moonshot Server. DL580 Gen8 is a "middle generation" between Gen8 and Gen9. This server has some of new features introduced in Gen9, primary there is available UEFI boot option. Starting August 28, 2014, HP Proliant Gen9 series were available based on Intel Haswell chipset and DDR4 memory. First were the HP ProLiant ML350 Gen9 Server and HP ProLiant BL460c Gen9 Blade. Servers in this generation support both BIOS and UEFI. Starting Q4 2017 HP Proliant Gen10 servers were available. Also in November 2017 HPE extended their Gen10 range to include AMD

EPYC Epyc is a brand of multi-core x86-64 microprocessors designed and sold by AMD, based on the company's Zen microarchitecture. Introduced in June 2017, they are specifically targeted for the server and embedded system markets. Epyc processors share ...

processors to further economics in server virtualization using EPYC's impressive price v cores architectures claiming to lower cost per virtual machine (VM) by 50%.

References

External links

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HPE QuickSpecs
a database of HPE product information provided by HPE {{Compaq HP servers Ultra-dense servers Computer-related introductions in 1993