HP ProLiant DL585 G5/G6 server technology

Abstract

This technology brief describes the architecture and the implementation of major technologies in HP

ProLiant DL585 G5/G6 servers based on AMD Opteron® processors. These technologies include

processors, memory, connections, power, management, and the latest serial input/output (I/O)

technologies.

The fifth generation (G5) and the sixth generation (G6) HP ProLiant DL585 servers offer the

performance and efficiency of quad-core AMD Opteron® processors and six-core AMD Opteron®

processors respectively, enhanced by improvements to all major subsystems in the server.

This paper explains the technologies implemented in the HP ProLiant DL585 G5/G6 server that makes

it an excellent choice for enterprise customers needing increased performance and investment

protection with a 64-bit migration path. This paper is intended for IT professionals familiar with system

administration and HP ProLiant industry-standard servers. It discusses only key technologies of the

ProLiant DL585 server.

Introduction

For the HP ProLiant DL585 G5/G6 servers, HP improved upon the design of previous DL585

generations by integrating quad-core and six-core processors and by enhancing key subsystems. The

DL585 G5 and the DL585 G6 provide excellent system performance by using powerful processors,

on-chip memory controllers, a large memory footprint, and improved disk subsystems. These servers

are particularly well suited for the following computing environments:

 Data center virtualization and consolidation projects

 High-performance technical computing (HPTC)

 Electronic design automation (EDA) semiconductor design

 Financial applications

 Large database applications

 Enterprise resource planning/Customer relationship management

 Petrochemical applications

 Life science and material science applications

 Video rendering applications

Operating system support

The ProLiant DL585 supports the following operating systems and virtualization software:

 Microsoft® Windows® Server 2003 R2 Standard (32- and 64-bit), Enterprise (32- and 64-bit),

Compute Cluster Server, and Datacenter editions

 Microsoft Windows Server 2008 (when available)

 Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 and 5

 SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 9 and 10

 VMWare ESX virtualization software

 Microsoft Virtual Server

 Xen virtualization software

For a complete and up-to-date listing of supported OSs and versions, visit the ProLiant OS Support

Matrix: http://