Consolidating ~30 stand-alone servers..

[mujzeptu]

Hello.

We have about 30 stand-alone servers. They consist of DL360s, Dl380s, ML370s, DL580s, DL585s, etc.

Most are about stock configuration (default RAM and cpus) and arent really stressed. We host websites, oracle and sql databases, file shares, dhcp, dns, etc, etc.

From a performance stand-point, are most heavily used systems are probably our oracle servers and a couple file servers that are constantly used... so nothing super powerful is needed.

Anyway, I am looking at suggestions for consolidation. Most hardware is getting old or has been old for awhile. We are NOT currently using vmware or any virtualization but plan to. We have access to VMwares VI3 solution and everything inside of it. We are an HP only shop.

So... what should we do? Should I push to get a 16-node blade enclosure and just build it up as we go with low-end blades? Should I do more powerful, but less blades or vice versa?

Should I be looking at high-end DL585s or the ML series and just outfit them with super power and spare parts to consolidate to?

We have a SAN with about 5 storage arrays. We are also considering moving to a XP20000 for new storage needs and for storage virtualization. We will also be adding a iSCSI san in addition to our FC san for hundreds of nodes to access images from.

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P.S. This Thread has been moved from Servers --> General to Servers --> Proliant (ML,DL,SL) - Forum Moderator

[mujzeptu]

No thoughts or suggestions?

For a 30 server VI3 environment, should I go blade or single beefy servers? What models or configurations?