HP have recently launched the G6 range of servers across the ML, DL and BL series servers. The first thing you will notice when looking at the specs for these servers is the new CPU options and impressive RAM limits. These machines are built for virtualisation.
At the low end of the scale the ML150G6 supports 1 or 2 Intel Xeon 5500 series dual or quad core CPU’s, 48GB RAM and up to 8 SAS or SATA drives. Not bad for a low end server with a price of starting at $US849. This is an ideal server for smaller networks and can be purchased with SBS 2008.
The G6 release of the popular ML350 now features 1 or 2 Intel Xeon 5500 series dual or quad core CPU’s, 144GB RAM and up to 16 SAS or SATA drives. This is a huge amount of power for server aimed at the small to medium enterprise. This server is an ideal system for larger SBS 2008 sites or even virtualizing EBS 2008!
Rack mount servers like the popular DL380 have been given the G6 treatment too. The DL380G6 now features 1 or 2 Intel Xeon 5500 series dual or quad core CPU’s, 144GB RAM and up to 8 SAS or SATA drives. The DL385G6 features the AMD Opteron 2300 series 6 core CPU and 128GB RAM.
If you are looking for a high end server for virtualization or high performance computing then the DL785G5 will be on your list. Supporting up to 8 AMD quad core CPU’s and 512GB RAM. The 700 series is still Generation 5, so it will be interesting to see where Generation 6 takes this model.
One of the more interesting new servers in the DL family is the DL1000 which squeezes up to 4 servers into 2U of rack space. This effectively doubles the density of servers, reducing rack space requirements. Servers in the enclosure have shared power and cooling reducing the total power requirements compared to standard rack mount servers.
Blades haven’t missed out with the BL series Blade Servers getting new CPU’s and more RAM similar to the servers above but with the usual 2 drive configuration.
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