HPE BladeSystem Pros and Cons

The benefit is the density and the capability for global harmonization on the hardware, because all the hardware chassis are the same. We can also purchase the same network cards too, chassis by chassis, so it gives us a global solution.

I really appreciate the integrated Onboard Administrator, the iLO (Integrated Lights-Out) modular network, and the SAN Switches.

We are very happy with flexible NIC configuration features which are possible if you combine the BladeServers with HPE flex switches in the enclosures.

They are reliable, and it's relatively easy to manage them. They also regularly provide patching for the servers.

The virtual connect and network management port is a valuable feature.

With just one cable, for redundancy let's say two, you can feed sixteen servers in a single c7000 chassis.

No issues with scalability. ​We can scale by adding another enclosure.

Virtual Fabric and interconnects are easy to configure and maintain.

Wide choice in mixing SAN and LAN.

This has drastically reduced our datacenter space, has good cooling and power consumption.

Cabling complexity and volume have been reduced.

They have served different needs for us from virtualized web servers to dedicated databases and application servers.

The scalability is limited because you only have a 16-server by chassis.

This product needs a wider range of firmware compatibility matrix from the oldest to the newest blade server.

Non-disruptive firmware upgrades in all areas of blade technology.

The problem is that when want to expand with a new chassis, you have to do everything manually. It's not automatic.

HPE BladeSystems is an old technology that cannot fit all of the dynamic organizational needs of our company.

The only side that must be improved is the active-passive interconnect module architecture.

​It is really stable, however the motherboard sometimes crashes.

​Storage capacity could be enhanced.

Higher bandwidth interconnects could be introduced.

OA updates and upgrades have to be made simpler.

There have been some hardware failures with them. These failures have since been solved by HPE support partners.