Gateway GR380 F1 review

Gateway’s new 2U rack server aims to take on HP’s mighty ProLiant DL380 G7. The GR380 F1 is inexpensive, but is this enough to take on one of the most popular rack servers in the world?

Whereas HP classes KVM-over-IP remote control as a chargeable option, Gateway includes this as standard along with virtual media support. For power management controls HP is the winner by a mile as its iLO3 has an optional upgrade for power metering plus power regulation and capping.

For system deployment Dell has the edge on everyone as the LifeCycle Controller in its PowerEdge servers has the best features. However, Gateway doesn't leave you high and dry as its bootable Smart Setup disk provides OS installation assistance along with server diagnostics tools.

For general system management you have Gateway's Smart Server Manager (SSM). This provides an auto-discovery routine that hunts down the RMM on the network and provides a tidy web interface for viewing and monitoring multiple systems and setting up a fault alerting system.

SSM takes a similar approach to Fujitsu's ServerView Suite as it focuses purely on server management making it very easy to use. HP's Insight Control software is vastly superior in terms of features but it does want to look after every system on your network and requires a lot more resources on its host system.

The GR380 F1 is good value with the system on review costing around 20 per cent less than a similarly specified DL380 G7. Storage capacity is impressive as well, but HP is still the clear winner if remote server and power management features are a high priority.

Verdict

The GR380 F1 is a solidly built 2U rack server and the equal of the DL380 G7 for storage capacity as it too supports up to sixteen SFF hard disks. It’s very good value too, although HP’s standard RAID features are better as it supports SAS and SATA hard disks and its remote management and power monitoring tools are vastly superior.

SPECIFICATIONS

Chassis: 2U rack

CPU: 2.13GHz Xeon E5506

Memory: 6GB 800MHz DDR3 RDIMM expandable to 192GB

Storage: 2 x 150GB WD Enterprise 10K SFF SATA hard disks in hot-swap carriers

RAID: embedded ICH10R 6-port SATA controller

Array support: RAID 0, 1, 5, 10

Expansion: Flex I/O, 3 x PCI-E

Network: 4 x Gigabit Ethernet

Power: 720W hot-plug power supply

Management: embedded RMM with 10/100 port

Software: Gateway Smart Setup CD and Smart Server Manager

Options: 8-port SAS Flex I/O card; £479 ex VAT

POWER CONSUMPTION

Idle 86W

Active 141W

Dave Mitchell

Dave is an IT consultant and freelance journalist specialising in hands-on reviews of computer networking products covering all market sectors from small businesses to enterprises. Founder of Binary Testing Ltd – the UK’s premier independent network testing laboratory - Dave has over 45 years of experience in the IT industry.

Dave has produced many thousands of in-depth business networking product reviews from his lab which have been reproduced globally. Writing for ITPro and its sister title, PC Pro, he covers all areas of business IT infrastructure, including servers, storage, network security, data protection, cloud, infrastructure and services.