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IT Manager at a construction company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Strong, easy to manage and monitor, and have very few failures
Pros and Cons
  • "This is all I've ever used. These servers are strong, and they have very few failures on them. They are also easy to manage and monitor."
  • "They are pretty solid servers, but, just like all servers, they become obsolete after some time. They can maybe provide a console to monitor the health of the servers. There should be some kind of console to which you can log in to remotely check on the health of a server, even when the server is off. The servers that we have are only scalable to some extent. They have got a limited amount of hard drive that you can insert. Their scalability should be improved."

What is our primary use case?

We have installed VMware on DL Server, and the operating system sits on this DL Server host.

What is most valuable?

This is all I've ever used. These servers are strong, and they have very few failures on them. They are also easy to manage and monitor.

What needs improvement?

They are pretty solid servers, but, just like all servers, they become obsolete after some time.

They can maybe provide a console to monitor the health of the servers. There should be some kind of console to which you can log in to remotely check on the health of a server, even when the server is off.

The servers that we have are only scalable to some extent. They have got a limited amount of hard drive that you can insert. Their scalability should be improved.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using this solution for more than ten years.

Buyer's Guide
HPE ProLiant DL Servers
October 2024
Learn what your peers think about HPE ProLiant DL Servers. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: October 2024.
814,649 professionals have used our research since 2012.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

They are pretty stable servers. The hardware failures are very minor. We do have one or two hardware failures but very far spaced. The major failures are mostly operating system failures, but on the hardware, they have been working pretty well.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

They are scalable to some extent. For instance, you can only put a specific amount of hard drive on the base. You can insert the hard drives of a limited size, which makes them not very scalable. This could be dependent on the servers that you have. There are probably models that are more scalable than what we have.

We have about 200 people on the site, and they use it on a daily basis.

How are customer service and support?

We have not contacted them. We didn't have any major issues to escalate. The few issues that we had were easily resolvable. You can also use online support to check. There are quite a number of people using these servers. You can share problems and get some advice from someone who has faced the same problem before.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We will be switching to a combination of Cisco and Dell EMC. For computation, it will be Cisco, and for storage, it will be Dell EMC. The main reason for this switch is group policy. The group has decided that we move from HP and use Cisco with EMC Storage.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is a simple process. The old ones used to have a CD that would guide you through the process. Newer ones should also have a system where you go step-by-step and install your operating system and configure it.

What about the implementation team?

I deployed it myself. I got servers from a company and then installed and configured them. All servers were not deployed at once. I deployed just one server at a time. Typically, deploying a server, including the operating system and everything else, takes less than two hours. I also do the maintenance.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Proliant DL Servers have a reasonable cost. They are not as expensive as the Cisco servers. Everything is included when you purchase a server. You just have to install and configure it.

What other advice do I have?

I would recommend these servers. I would rate HPE ProLiant DL Servers a nine out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
PeerSpot user
Sr IT Analyst at Bayer Pharmaceuticals
Vendor
Scalability, rapidness, and computing are valuable features.

What is most valuable?

The scalability, rapidness, and computing are actually very good. It's a Gen9 server that we've been working with, so it is pretty good.

How has it helped my organization?

The benefit is that they're pretty reliable. Reliability is pretty much what we need.

What needs improvement?

There is need to improve the iLO support. There's a management part of the server that they've improved and that was a big deal.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The product is very stable and the support is very good.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Scalability is very good. We were able to move from the servers and upgrade them very easily. It has worked very nicely and is serving generation to generation over the years, so it is pretty good.

How are customer service and technical support?

The technical support was very good. We have a pretty decent relationship; we have a four-hour onsite repair.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We've tried other products and have had some issues in the past. However, HPE has been the most reliable solution.

How was the initial setup?

We have different locations; in my location, I was involved in the setup. It was pretty straightforward.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We have used IBM and Compaq back in the day.

For us, an important factor while selecting a vendor is that the actual company backing the product. We know that we're a company that has been around a long time in the industry.

What other advice do I have?

You would be foolish not to be looking into HPE. A lot of their products seem very interesting and they are very useful in our field.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
HPE ProLiant DL Servers
October 2024
Learn what your peers think about HPE ProLiant DL Servers. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: October 2024.
814,649 professionals have used our research since 2012.
System Administrator at a financial services firm with 51-200 employees
Reseller
Top 5Leaderboard
Has good product roadmap but responsiveness needs improvement
Pros and Cons
  • "The solution's deployment was easy."
  • "There are concerns about the HPE team in the Southeast Asia region, suggesting a need for improvements in terms of responsiveness. There have been instances where the response time was slow, causing challenges during urgent situations. Its stability also needs to improve."

What needs improvement?

There are concerns about the HPE team in the Southeast Asia region, suggesting a need for improvements in terms of responsiveness. There have been instances where the response time was slow, causing challenges during urgent situations. Its stability also needs to improve. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using the product for five years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

We haven't received any complaints about the tool's stability. It works properly in a five-year lifetime. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I rate the solution's scalability an eight out of ten. 

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

The product's competitor is Dell. 

How was the initial setup?

The solution's deployment was easy. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The solution's pricing is high. It needs to be more flexible. The flexibility would be beneficial for our clients, especially in a competitive market. Adding additional features and addressing complex requirements on top of the price can be challenging for us as a reseller.

What other advice do I have?

In project tenders, system requirements are specified, including the number of cores, storage, and personnel needed. The information is shared with the HPE team to prepare a BQ specifying the server model to be used. The tool is a good physical server. 

The choice of server category or type is not specific and varies case by case. Customers may initially purchase higher servers than their immediate requirements, anticipating future use cases. It's a complex decision and depends on individual circumstances.

The product's roadmap seems to be good. Its deployments are mostly on-prem due to government regulations.

The product is purchased specifically for security solutions, not for the entire data center stack. It is recommended for medium to enterprise-level customers. 

I rate the overall solution an eight out of ten. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Reseller
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System Administrator at a university with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Allows you to easily expand on the capacity, especially when more memory is needed
Pros and Cons
  • "Where there is a need to actually expand on the capacity, it's easily done, especially when more memory is needed."
  • "There is a challenge sometimes with having quick access to some of these components when you need them. It takes a lot of time to get spare parts from genuine sellers."

What is our primary use case?

We use the servers to run our student information system. It's an accounting package within the bursary of the university.

We are currently on generation 8 or 9. The solution is hardware, so it's deployed on-prem.

Apart from users, there are five people that interact with the hardware directly. There are others who interact with the services that run from these servers. It's a school environment, so there are about 30,000 or more students and staff.

Previously, when we were using Zimbra for email services, it was run locally. We have stopped using that because we subscribe to Microsoft Office 360 email services, which run from the cloud. That has been taken off the servers. 

Now that other applications are being developed, we hope to eventually be able to cater for the different administrative and academic departments in the university. We are hoping that some of this hardware will definitely have to be replaced. Of course, that will depend on the budget and the availability of funds that the university management is willing to make available. But it's going to be a step-by-step thing. There has to be planning and then budgetary provisions to be able to take care of these items.

We are just customers. We don't have a direct link with HPE, but through the HPE product suppliers. We have a new direct now, and in one of the meetings we had, he came up with the idea of finding a way to having that direct contact with HPE or Synergy and how perhaps we could patronize each other in terms of the servers, in terms of PCs for staff and students, and the kind of technical support that we can equally enjoy from HPE.

What is most valuable?

Where there is a need to actually expand on the capacity, it's easily done, especially when more memory is needed.

What needs improvement?

We have been experiencing a problem with the power pack. It gets fried and then we have to do a replacement.

There is a challenge sometimes with having quick access to some of these components when you need them. It takes a lot of time to get spare parts from genuine sellers.

You need the memories for servers. They're delivered. You put them in, and the system doesn't come up, so you have to return them. For me, that has been the major challenge.

In the day-to-day running, there's always room for improvement. If you need assistance in real time, it would be helpful if there was such a room where someone could be there and help you solve the problem in real time.

The number of people you are serving is increasing by the day, and they need immediate solutions to their issues. Sometimes you have limitations as to getting solutions to some of these issues that come up, but you are dependent on the information available to you. Being the product manufacturers also, I'm sure they have a lot of solutions to the different issues depending on the feedback they've been able to get from the field all across the world, especially those using their products. I think that would go a long way in helping.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using this solution for more than 10 years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The main challenge we actually have is the issue of having a good, steady power supply. Whenever there's a power outage, it forces the server to go down. That in itself increases the rate of failure of the hardware. By implication, the services that have been provided are truncated at one point or the other. Management has promised to see how they can intervene in that respect, but that is left to be seen.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability is fine for the limited number of services and the need to actually scale. Because of this same power issue, I had to virtualize where we have to run different services on the same hardware server. That is where the issue of expanding the memory capacity came in. 

In terms of the processor, we have not been able to do that. The reason is because you send for a part, it is brought in, you plug it in, and then there's a mismatch. Then the system doesn't run well. You have to return it. But I think it will expand our memory and expand the storage. We haven't been able to expand or increase the processing and the processor capacity. But we would be glad to have any other information we need to know or other skills that we need to learn to allow us to manage this equipment better and to maximize or to optimize their usage, that would be good enough.

How are customer service and support?

Technical support has been okay regarding looking for solutions on the internet. When you have certain challenges and make a post in the forum seeking an immediate solution, it all depends on who gets those queries and is able to respond. In most cases, we have been able to get the solutions from the past experience of others who have had similar issues that have been put in the repository. 

On the whole, I think it's good enough even though we haven't been able to directly chat one-on-one or about issues.

How was the initial setup?

It can only get difficult depending on what application or operating system you want to install. Then it all depends on how good or how skillful one is with the particular application. But the installation and configuration is never a problem. There has never been a problem with the hardware that I can say, apart from the issues I have already mentioned.

We have different people for different specific assignments. For each team, we have a good number of people. We are thinking of expanding because the university is a multi-campus university, and it has about four campuses, even though the whole thing is being centrally run. We are thinking of having these services run 24/7, and then we would need to have more hands so no one is overwhelmed with the work on ground. Currently, for those manning the server, we have about five people.

What about the implementation team?

Implementation was completed by our own technical team from within the ICT directorate.

What other advice do I have?

I would rate this solution 8 out of 10.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
it_user567810 - PeerSpot reviewer
Head Of Server Operations at a transportation company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Commonality between systems makes it easy to manage.

What is most valuable?

The commonality between the systems is very valuable, and it is very easy to manage.

How has it helped my organization?

It helped us a lot because it's a very stable solution.

It's not changing very much in terms of handling from generation to generation. So every time they introduce a new ProLiant generation, it's very easy for our operations team to adopt it; and it's very easy for us to adapt to the new features.

Because of the commonality between systems, we also have a very lean and optimized process for replacing people when resources need to be moved around. I think that's the main benefit of the ProLiant platform.

What needs improvement?

My personal opinion is that the rack-mount kits in generation four were the best. The current ones are kind of overcomplicated to mount, so I would really like to go back to how the rack mount worked when we had the G4. This would really be an improvement.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It's rock solid. I have never seen a ProLiant server breaking down for no reason.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I think for us the scalability is definitely sufficient. We have the two-socket series and the four-socket series. We did not look beyond that because it's just not in our requirements; but we are fine with what we have.

How are customer service and technical support?

They are very efficient, fast and friendly. They know their products. It was a good experience.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

When I joined the company, we were on Compaq ProLiant and we stayed with it. For HP, the ProLiant series is still a strategic product. If you look at other vendors, say IBM, they even sold the X86 server business. So there are not too many vendors in the business who have a very strategic X86 server series, and HP is obviously one of them.

How was the initial setup?

It's a data center. Things go in and out. I was a system administrator myself many years ago, so I set up a lot of HPE ProLiant systems. They were very easy to set up in the past. They have become even easier. I would say that half of the strength of the ProLiant servers is the software and the additional tools that HPE provides.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

IBM fell off our short list of vendors because they just gave up the business.

Dell didn’t have the same level of stability, maintainability, and range of products that we have with the ProLiant series.

What other advice do I have?

Investigate some use case scenarios relevant for your daily business perspective, for example:

  • What do you need to do to change defective hardware in your system?
  • What do you need to do to upgrade your systems?

Check the workflows:

  • How easy is it to change the parts?
  • How easy is it to access the server?

Do you have the right documentation already in the server, like it is for HPE; or do you need external sources to know what you are doing?

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Sr. Network Admin at Millennium Automation and Systems
Real User
It's more reliable than competing solutions
Pros and Cons
  • "Stability is where HPE dominates competitors like Dell and Cisco. The servers are highly reliable, and we are impressed with the technology HPE offers."
  • "My customers are tilted toward GPU users, and the mixed version of the enabled hard drives require — flash drives, SSD, NNL, and PLAS — all mixed and matched in a single box. These are requirements I've already shared with the HPE account manager."

What is our primary use case?

We do work for defense and government clients. 

What is most valuable?

ProLiant servers are more reliable than other platforms.

What needs improvement?

My customers are tilted toward GPU users, and the mixed version of the enabled hard drives require — flash drives, SSD, NNL, and PLAS — all mixed and matched in a single box. These are requirements I've already shared with the HPE account manager. 

Customers want the tiering concept inside a box, which is currently part of the storage system, but customers require it in a server. They want the operating system over PLAS and the IO-related things on SSD.  The rest of their data is on NLSF. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I've worked with ProLiant servers for 10 years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Stability is where HPE dominates competitors like Dell and Cisco. The servers are highly reliable, and we are impressed with the technology HPE offers.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Scalability in terms of GPUs and storage is a concern. 

How are customer service and support?

I have a direct connection with the HPE account manager responsible for the government and defense verticals. I am happy with the person. We rely on our own in-house support for servers. However, we use a professional service for storage and three-power or CI systems.

How was the initial setup?

HPE servers are highly user-friendly. It takes two or three hours from start to finish for bare-metal installation. With virtualization, it'll take four to six hours.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We are working with the customers in government and defense, where HPE already has a foothold. The requirements come from the customer, and they use HPE, so we do, too. We have to consider the customer's stability and comfort level. 

What other advice do I have?

I rate HPE ProLiant Servers nine out of 10. In my country, it's better for customers to rely on the vendor who delivers the solution. We think the HPE server is better than others for that.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: partner
PeerSpot user
Pragnesh Sachania - PeerSpot reviewer
Deputy Manager IT at La Gajjar
Real User
Top 20
iLO feature and technical support are very good
Pros and Cons
  • "One of the most valuable features is iLO, which is very good. Another thing is the HPE support is very good."

    What is our primary use case?

    Our primary use case of HPE ProLiant DL Servers is virtualization. We also host three servers on it: our active directory, file server, and web server. 

    What is most valuable?

    One of the most valuable features is iLO, which is very good. Another thing is the HPE support is very good. 

    For how long have I used the solution?

    We have been using this solution for two and a half years. 

    What do I think about the stability of the solution?

    This solution is stable, and we use it daily. 

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    HPE ProLiant is scalable. 

    In our organization, we have 100 users of this solution. We are using it for our entire data center. 

    How are customer service and support?

    The technical support is very good. For the initial level, they provided me very good support for the installation of the servers and all the things after that. Somehow one hard disk crashed, so we logged a call at HPE and an engineer came the next day to replace the hard drive and explain how to prevent this type of issue. So, we have been a customer of HPE for more than 10 years. 

    How was the initial setup?

    The initial setup is a little bit complicated, but after that, it's very easy to deploy the server. 

    What about the implementation team?

    We had a third-party vendor help us with deployment. 

    What was our ROI?

    We have seen a ROI. We have improved because there is an entire platform moved on virtualization. Also, there is good support of HPE, so we have minimized our data center downtime 0.1%. 

    What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

    This was a one-time purchase for us because it's hardware that we purchased from HPE. There aren't any licensing costs. 

    What other advice do I have?

    I rate this product a nine out of ten. To those considering implementation, I would advise them to calculate their commercial as well as their data load and user load. After that, you can choose a solution from HPE. 

    Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

    On-premises
    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
    PeerSpot user
    Technical Systems Support Manager at a hospitality company with 201-500 employees
    Real User
    Scalable with good technical support, an easy setup and reliable performance
    Pros and Cons
    • "The initial setup was easy."
    • "The most pressing issue is that downloads depend at present on the current period."

    What is our primary use case?

    At present, we are using Gen 7, 8. We have used Gen 10 for some of our customers.

    We use the solution for providing hotel support. We're into the hotels of mostly Windows operating system, Oracle and SQL database.

    What is most valuable?

    Performance and reliability are the most valuable features. 

    What needs improvement?

    We have encountered problems. The most pressing issue is that downloads depend at present on the current period. Secondly, in respect of the iLO access license page, iLO features should be included with the server. 

    For how long have I used the solution?

    I have been using HPE ProLiant DL Servers for more than 10 years.

    What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

    The scalability is fine.

    How are customer service and support?

    HPE technical support is sufficiently good. Support as a side of the business can be purchased. 

    How was the initial setup?

    The initial setup was easy.

    The deployment time varies with the configuration, something which does not take more than two hours. While installing the operating system is a discussion of its own, the actual configuration is easy to do. 

    What about the implementation team?

    We did not make use of consultants or resellers for the deployment. 

    The size of the staff required for the deployment varies with the configuration. It takes just a day to install a single server, but nearly two or three days if making use of visualization and multiple operations. 

    What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

    The solution comes with a one time perpetual license which is included with the server. It entails costs beyond that of the standard fee. 

    What other advice do I have?

    The solution is mostly deployed on private cloud. 

    I can safely state that we have more than 100 users making use of the solution, since we have installed more than 10 or 20 servers to different locations.

    The basic package can include iLO features.

    I rate HPE ProLiant DL Servers as a nine out of ten.

    Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
    PeerSpot user
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    Updated: October 2024
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