In my last installment of this “Why HPE ProLiant” series, we reviewed HP’s Insight Remote Support capabilities. With this article, we’ll take a deeper look at some of the value-added technology provided through the HPE iLO 4 ASIC.
As a solution provider, a common refrain from clients and prospects is that “a server is a server”; and they don’t see the rationale in paying more for a “brand-name” server such as an HPE ProLiant vs. a “white-box” server. Through learning about what IT professionals are looking for and what their challenges are, we find that the following are core concerns:
– Keep the systems up and running
– Maintain infrastructure while controlling costs
– Increase staff productivity
– Prevent system downtime
– Better control of assets
While “white-box” and similar low-cost/low-value server manufactures can provide a quick fix to providing clients with needed CPU and memory “horsepower,” often times there is little additional value to support the concerns listed above that is provided by these low-value solutions. In this post, I want to share with you just one of many HPE ProLiant server innovations that is provided with HPE ProLiant servers: Integrated Lights Out (iLO). [Advanced features provided with a one-time license fee]
iLO provides the automated intelligence to maintain complete server control from any place, giving you control from a web browser or the iLO mobile app for smartphones. HPE ProLiant Gen 8 and 9 servers include a dedicated iLO 4 ASIC onboard which includes a 1GbE out-of-band network management port. iLO Management technologies contain these capabilities:
Provision: Rapid Discovery and Remote Access – inventory and deploy servers [with Advanced license] using web interface, smartphone app, CLI, or remote console.
Monitor: Active Health System and performance protection with advanced power and thermal control, agentless management monitors core hardware, provides alerting without adding cumbersome OS-level providers, and out-of-band management.
Optimize: Integrated Remote Console [most features with Advanced license] provides global team collaboration, video record/playback, and virtual media/KVM. iLO Federation permits management of groups of servers at scale. Enhanced security with Directory Service Authentication
Support: iLO provides core server instrumentation availability whether the OS is up or down. Download your Active Health System logs, and send to HP Support (or use Integrated Remote Support as covered in February’s article!) for faster problem identification.
What is this Advanced features license I keep mentioning? While many features of iLO are available with every ProLiant straight out of the box, some features indicated in this article require the iLO Advanced Pack. This is a one-time fee license (which includes 1 year of 24×7 HPE software support); and with most Zunesis HP ProLiant quotes, we include this license on your server quote unless otherwise requested to remove it. iLO Advanced Pack comes with the new HP OneView Management Suite license as well.
More information about what versions come with what functionality can be found in this chart below (Please note iLO Essentials only available on DL1xx series Gen 9 ProLiant):
Click to Enlarge
