Once upon a time, but not that long ago, data center servers were much like their own self-contained cities. Getting them to talk to one another on a reliable, sure-fire basis was akin to wizardry. And making sure they ran trouble free 24 x 7 was a constant battle. It was an age where IT professionals dreaded the sound of their pager signaling an issue – usually at two in the morning. It was an age of solder and steel, of magic blue screens, and of issues of draconic proportions that needed to be overcome. It was an age of constant vigilance.
While that sounds like the beginning of an epic tale, it was everyday life for an IT professional back in the day. Some things have changed – are pagers even still around? Some things have not – the need for constant vigilance.
Server management will always be a hot topic for the data center. The more it advances, the easier our lives become. So, why is it we’re still relying on the hardware side to do the work for us? Oh sure, built-in self monitoring has come a long way, but that’s just the nuts and bolts of the topic. What about the software side of the equation? It’s that very thing that has us looking back at the old days like they were the Middle Ages, with today being a Renaissance era of sorts for data centers (That is, if you know about it or are taking it into consideration when looking for a new system).
The Hewlett Packard Enterprise ProLiant series has been around since 1989. And much like the server itself, HPE has evolved with it over the last near-30 years. HPE packs their servers, like their highly-successful DL380 series, with the type of tech IT professionals and businesses want and deserve.
Take Integrated Lights Out (iLO) for instance. iLO allows you to do configuration changes, firmware updates, or even just health checks on the system to make sure that everything is functioning properly from a remote location. iLO Advanced does the same functions, but is geared toward a group of servers, allowing you to configure more seamlessly across the board.
Next there’s HPE Insight Control. It’s the perfect way to centralize a mid-sized server environment. You can use Insight Control to manage health, to deploy and migrate, and to optimize power consumption and performance – and that’s just scratching the surface.
Finally, there’s HPE’s OneView. It offers single-pane management that you can use with a smartphone, tablet, you name it. With OneView, you can take control of your entire data center – storage, networking, virtualization, and even software layers. It’s really quite a go-to lifesaver for today’s data center when you’re trying to holistically manage.
So the next time you’re in the market for new equipment, do more than check under the hood – check the management capabilities. We’ve come a long way since the Dark Ages. And companies like HPE have done their part to help organizations modernize their approach to data server management.
