Page 2 of 2
 |
| Click image for full-sized view. |
Benchmark scores of HP's eighth-gen ProLiant DL380p were high enough (at the time of testing) to land it atop CRN Test Center's all time list for Geekbench performance. It also turned in strong throughput and transactional performance as measured by an Iometer.
The tested system was equipped with two Xeon E5-2690 2.9 GHz processors, 128 GB of 1,600 MHz memory and Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise SP1. The system arrived preconfigured with an eight-drive array of 600 GB, 6 Gbps 10K (2.5-inch) SAS drives and controlled by HP's on-board P420i Smart Array.
After setting Windows properties for maximum performance, testers launched Geekbench 2.3 from Primate Labs and kicked off the 64-bit benchmark tests. The highest of the ProLiant DL380p's five scores was 36,295, which at the time was the highest score we had ever seen. Only weeks before, the bar had been set at 30,923 by Dell's PowerEdge R720 with Xeon processors running at 2.6 GHz. Later the Test Center received an R720 with processors on par with those in HP's tested server. The 2.9 GHz processor-equipped PowerEdge R720 turned in a superior Geekbench score, putting it back in the top spot on CRN's all-time list.
 |
| Click image for full-sized view. |
In tests of throughput and transaction processing, the Iometer reported admirable scores, but not the fastest we've seen. Its highest observed throughput was 442 MB per second when reading 32 KB data blocks. In transaction tests, the DL380p sustained a read rate of 161,000 IOps 512-byte blocks. All tests were performed from a queue of 24 IOs per target, which we determined with our standard incremental method to be the optimal setting.
HP has worked hard to simplify system administration from both inside and out. The tools-free cabinet design is a dream to work on, with virtually all internal components removable by manipulating tabs and levers that are clearly-labeled in English. As always, diagrams on the underside of the system lid identify internal components, external ports and other points of interest; there's no reason to scramble around for manuals.
And, eighth-gen systems now implement a revamped Integrated Lights Out (iLO) management engine, an agentless system that performs system monitoring and diagnostics, logging from persistent internal memory separate from the operating system. "It's all on the motherboard," said HP's Brooks. "It keeps track of the health of all systems and holds all the information." This enables administrators and engineers to gain access to system health and performance data right up to the time of a fault.
For organizations large and small that seek a highly performant and flexible system with advanced management and monitoring capabilities, the CRN Test Center recommends HP's eighth-generation ProLiant DL380p server.
PUBLISHED JULY 6, 2012
<< Previous
|
1
|
2
