HP ProLiant DL4x170h G6 review

Blade servers have always been the best solution for maximising rack space, but they could be about to lose their monopoly. HP's latest DL1000 rack server series delivers four server nodes in a 2U rack chassis, and in this exclusive review we take a closer look at the new DL4x170h G6 quad-node model.

The DL4x170h offers a good range of storage options, with the review system providing eight hot-swap drive bays. Options are available for two eight-drive SFF bays that slot in at each end of the front panel. A glance at the back shows each node comes complete with its own power button plus monitor, network, serial and pair of external USB ports.

The DL170h server nodes aren't hot-swappable. Removing them is a tricky process, as they don't have a cable-free design. Each node has two separate power connectors and is also cabled through to individual SATA interfaces on the backplane. To release an upper node you have to unplug all the cables, remove a screw at the back, pull the node forward and lift it out of the chassis where it reveals the node beneath.

All four nodes have a pair of processor sockets, each with eight DIMM sockets. In the review system these were equipped with a single 2GHz E5504 Xeon processor and 6GB of DDR3 memory. Note that the Xeon E5504 represents the entry point of Intel's new quad-core processors, so maximum memory speed is 800MHz and it doesn't support Hyper-Threading or Turbo Boost.

The nodes sport six SATA interfaces and base RAID options start with the embedded Smart Array B110i controller, which supports cold-swap mirrors and stripes for SATA drives. You can use the node's PCI Express slot to add a Smart Array P212 PCI Express card that supports SAS and SATA drives, battery- backed-up cache and RAID6 arrays. There's also the P410i card, which has internal SAS ports and supports HP's new flash-backed write cache.

Cooling is handled by a row of four fans behind the disk backplane, which aren't hot-swappable. It's here that the design and cable clutter really get in the way: replacing a failed fan requires the upper node behind it to be removed along with the power supply cage.

The chassis supports a pair of hot-plug supplies and uses HP's common power slot bays, which reduce costs since all new ProLiant servers use the same modules. We were provided with a single 1,200W supply, but HP also offers 460W and 750W models.