HPE ProLiant DL380 Gen9 Servers

Chassis options

HPE builds the DL380 Gen9 around removable drive cages, so a unit is described by its base chassis and the cages fitted. The two base chassis are SFF (2.5") and LFF (3.5"); they cannot be converted into each other, but SFF units can often be expanded by adding a second or third 8-bay cage.

A rear 2 SFF or 3 LFF cage is available on most configurations, and an internal dual microSD kit gives a hypervisor boot device. [VERIFY: which cage configurations you stock]

Processors

The DL380 Gen9 takes Intel Xeon E5-2600 v3 (Haswell-EP, 2014) and v4 (Broadwell-EP, 2016) processors in two LGA2011-3 sockets. v4 CPUs need System ROM P89 v2.00 or later and unlock 2400 MT/s memory. Both CPUs in a system must be identical. The list below covers the SKUs most commonly found in refurbished units; the platform supports the full range up to 22 cores. [VERIFY: which CPUs you stock for this model]

Xeon E5-2600 v4 (Broadwell-EP)

Xeon E5-2600 v3 (Haswell-EP)

The lower-tier parts cap memory at 1866 or 2133 MT/s regardless of the DIMMs fitted. If memory bandwidth matters, an E5-2650 v4 or above with v4 silicon runs 2400 MT/s on the same board.

Memory

Twenty-four DDR4 DIMM slots, twelve per processor across four channels. HPE SmartMemory registered (RDIMM) and load-reduced (LRDIMM) modules are supported; they cannot be mixed in the same system. With one CPU installed, only the twelve slots on that side are usable. Third-party DIMMs work but the system reports them as non-HPE memory.

Populate all four channels per CPU in matched sets: 8, 16 or 24 DIMMs in total for a dual-CPU system. Memory runs at the lower of the DIMM rating and the CPU limit, and three DIMMs per channel drops the speed to 1866 MT/s, so 24-DIMM configurations trade bandwidth for capacity.

Storage and RAID

Drive support depends on the cages fitted. All cages are hot-plug. HPE Smart Array controllers come in two forms: modular (fitted to a dedicated slot) and PCIe card. The controller options are:

The P841 adds external SAS ports for D3600 and D3700 expansion shelves. Supported drive types are 12 Gb/s SAS and 6 Gb/s SATA in hard disk and SSD form, plus NVMe in the Express Bay configuration. Drives need HPE Gen8 or Gen9 Smart Carriers; Gen10 carriers are not interchangeable.

Networking and expansion

Onboard networking is an embedded HPE 331i quad-port 1 GbE adapter, and a FlexibleLOM slot takes a second adapter without using a PCIe slot. Common FlexibleLOM options:

• HPE 366FLR quad-port 1 GbE
• HPE 361FLR-T dual-port 10 GbE BASE-T
• HPE 560FLR-SFP+ dual-port 10 GbE SFP+
• HPE 640FLR-SFP28 dual-port 25 GbE

Beyond the FlexibleLOM, the DL380 Gen9 offers up to six PCIe Gen3 slots across three risers, and the GPU enablement kit supports double-width accelerators such as the NVIDIA Tesla K80, M60 or P40, up to three with the right risers and 1400 W power supplies. Fibre Channel HBAs, 10 GbE adapters and SAS expansion controllers all have room. [VERIFY: GPU count you have qualified]

Power supplies

Two hot-plug redundant Flex Slot power supply bays, configured 1+1. Options are 500 W, 800 W and 1400 W in Platinum and Titanium grades. A dual-CPU system with a full memory load and a Smart Array generally sits within the 800 W envelope; GPU configurations need 1400 W units. Both supplies in a system should be the same rating.

Management

Every DL380 Gen9 includes iLO 4 with a dedicated management port. iLO Standard covers remote power, health monitoring and basic alerts; iLO Advanced adds the virtual console, virtual media and remote firmware updates. On current firmware the HTML5 console works in any modern browser without plugins, and a basic Redfish API is available. Advanced licences can be added to any unit, and Intelligent Provisioning handles bare-metal OS installs.

Physical specification

Supported operating systems

Windows Server 2012 R2, 2016 and 2019; Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6, 7 and 8; SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 12; Ubuntu Server LTS releases; VMware ESXi 6.0, 6.5, 6.7 and 7.0; and Proxmox VE. Windows Server 2022 and ESXi 8.0 run on this platform but are not on HPE's support matrix for it. Confirm your hypervisor's hardware compatibility list before buying if you need vendor support.

Buying a refurbished DL380 Gen9 from ServerDove

Every unit we sell has been through full hardware diagnostics and a burn-in run: memory tested across every installed DIMM, controller and drive health verified, both power supplies load-tested, and the management controller reset and confirmed reachable. BIOS is returned to defaults and the firmware brought to a stable release. Units carry a six-month warranty and are held in Doha, so a replacement part is a short drive away rather than a shipment from overseas. [VERIFY: same testing and warranty wording as the R640 page]

Because the DL380 Gen9 is now past the manufacturer's mainstream support window, we are also the practical route to keeping one in service: we stock the caddies, DIMMs, controllers, rails and power supplies it needs, and our hardware support plans cover units the manufacturer no longer will. [VERIFY: parts stocked for this model]

If you need a specific configuration that is not listed, tell us the CPU, memory and drive layout you want and we will quote a build from stock. Custom configurations are usually ready within two working days. [VERIFY: lead time]