HP ProLiant DL360 Servers: The Gold Standard for Enterprise Computing

For over 20 years, the HP ProLiant DL360 has been a staple of data centers across the globe. As one of the most popular rackmount servers on the market, it has withstood the test of time by adapting to new technologies all while retaining the core qualities that make it a gold standard for demanding workloads.

In this comprehensive guide, we will explore what has made the DL360 such an enduring and versatile server platform. As an experienced data center infrastructure professional, I aim to provide insider guidance to help pros like yourself evaluate if the DL360 is the right solution for your environment.

A Server Heavy-Weight Packing Serious Performance

The HP ProLiant line represents the backbone of many enterprise IT operations. After HP‘s major acquisition of competitor Compaq in 2002, the ProLiant became their lead server brand – representing quality, reliability, and power.

The 1U rackmount DL360 sat right at the heart of that transition more than 20 years ago. Today in its 10th generation, the latest DL360 Gen10 model continues that legacy by housing immense capabilities in a dense yet rugged chassis ready for the most punishing IT demands.

Let‘s examine some key technical specifications that make the DL360 Gen10 a formidable infrastructure powerhouse:

Processors

Dual Intel Xeon Scalable (Cascade Lake)
Up to 28 cores and 205W per processor
Supports Intel Optane DC Persistent Memory

Memory

Up to 6TB total RAM across 24 DIMM slots
Speeds up to 2933MT/s
6-channel architecture

Storage

Up to 168.3TB raw internal capacity
Mix of SFF and LFF bays
Supports 12Gbps SAS along with NVMe U.2

Networking

4x 1GbE embedded
Optional modular LOM cards up to 100GbE

Expansion

3x PCIe 3.0 slots
Riser kits with x8, x16 configurations
SD card slot for boot support

That combination allows the DL360 to take on some of the most extreme infrastructure roles ranging from massive virtualization to transactional databases and analytics serving up vital institutional intelligence.

Achieving the Perfect Balance for Data Center Demands

Designing servers specifically for life inside demanding data centers introduces unique constraints and operational requirements. Density, serviceability, redundancy, and hardware acceleration all come standard with the DL360.

The 1U chassis strikes a perfect balance between packing components tightly while ensuring adequate airflow and access for swapping drives, cards, and fans. In particular, clever placement and cabling keeps things clean while midplane and monoplane backplanes provide connectivity and management overhead.

Let‘s explore how HP engineers injected enterprise-grade resilience into the DL360 package:

Redundant Power – Hot-plug power supplies (500W to 1600W) enable consistent uptime during routine maintenance and reduces impact of failures. Most configurations utilize dual PSUs for redundancy.
Advanced Cooling – An optimized interior layout enables front-to-back cooling while high-output variable-speed fans quickly adapt to thermal demands. This allows efficient operation even when squeezed into dense racks.
Component Access – Quick release bezels, easy latch drives, and convenient cable routing provides painless servicing and upgrades without specialized tools.
Lights-Out Management – The built-in iLO 5 chip enables comprehensive monitoring, telemetry data,analytics-driven alerts, and full remote administration capabilities.

Those capabilities enable companies to squeeze value out of every square inch through vertical rack space. And there is no smarter 1U enterprise platform than the DL360 when those data center dimensions directly impact your bottom line.

Right at Home Running Business-Critical Apps

The modern corporation lives and dies by its data along with the infrastructure entrusted to connect insights across the enterprise. Choosing the optimal server platforms to support vital business services thus becomes a crucial investment.

Thankfully, the DL360 comes equipped with the availability, security, and resilience features demanded by IT teams with little tolerance for disruption. Let‘s explore how it provides a safe haven for core productivity platforms:

Data Protection – From advanced RAID to redundant components and backups, the DL360 minimize risk of data loss that would prove catastrophic. Optional flash-backed write cache boosts database transactional performance.
High Availability – Combining redundancy, operational analytics, and infrastructure management delivers continuous availability to power users through scheduled maintenance and inevitable hardware failures.
Scalability – An expandable architecture supported by purpose-built components flexibly grows alongside application needs to avoid costly rip-and-replace upgrades down the road.
Regulatory Compliance – Meeting rigorous industry compliance requires baked-in security controls, audit telemetry, encrypted data protection, and access controls – all included to simplify enforcement.

Those enterprise qualities make the DL360 a secure and proven delivery platform for business productivity mainstays like Microsoft Exchange and Sharepoint, SAP enterprise systems, and mission-critical SQL Server or Oracle databases.

Compare to Popular Rackmount Server Alternatives

The 1U enterprise server segment offers no shortage of alternatives, but the DL360 enjoys a hard-earned spot among the elite. Dell PowerEdge and Lenovo ThinkSystem offerings represent the most likely competitors when evaluating options. They all share similarities – leveraging Intel Xeon Scalable processors while supporting dense configurations.

Ultimately when pitting these solutions head-to-head, slight differentiation in expansion capabilities, supported components, or vendor ecosystem allegiance tends to push buyers one way or the other. However, all three represent proven platforms ready to anchor business operations.

Making the Best Choice for Your Infrastructure Goals

Hopefully the extensive capabilities I detailed illustrate why the DL360 enjoys such popularity as a data center workhorse. However, excess performance risks overspending if not matched properly aligned to usage scenarios. Let‘s recap the best situations to leverage this brawny server platform:

Ideal DL360 Use Cases

Business intelligence and analytics
Large virtualized infrastructure
High performance computing
Database and transactional apps
Cloud, web, and VDI hosting
Converging infrastructure with HCI

However, alternative ProLiant models like the 1U DL160 or the 2U DL380 servers best suit other scenarios if needing simpler storage network roles or greater expansion room respectively. The venerable DL360 earns its keep when your objectives demand balanced performance, density, and manageability.

As an industry professional having helped dozens of clients modernize their infrastructure, I firmly believe the DL360 remains unmatched for a vast subset of use cases. Hopefully the comprehensive guidance throughout this guide helps identify if your environment falls into that category before making a final purchasing verdict. Please reach out directly if any additional server questions arise!