HP Servers - gah!

[synaesthesia]

Now I remember why I have a strong preference for Dell servers. First HP server setup in 15 ish years today, a new Gen11 380. 

What a palaver - why on earth is getting and installing all the drivers so difficult?

"Just grab the service pack!" says a load of helpful misfits on the Interweb but don't forget to get a degree in technobabble and nonsense beforehand, trying to understand how it works takes hours let alone HPE's support site downloads being slower than erosion.

I could have had a brand new Dell unboxed, installed and in place in under half an hour. 

 

 

[Davit2005]

Jus a fan of Dell. Put in the service tag and get a whole load of info and the correct drivers, even how the server was customized during order, even handy when buying 2nd hand servers to see what the server had and what has been removed or changed.

 

HP another story.

Edited November 24, 2025 by Davit2005

[3s-gtech]

It all went downhill with the drivers/software behind a paywall nonsense.

 

They did make some very good machines though, back in the day. Our most recent server to die is also the newest.

Edited November 24, 2025 by 3s-gtech

[john]

Admittedly not tested on a G11, but on prior gens you just start the HPE Intelligent Provisioning at BIOS and if you want give it Internet link and off it goes to get drivers, firmware, mgmt tools etc very easy (easier than Dell!) but I find people often forget that exists or someone turned it off if rebuilding a box. 

 

Easiest way to then check up to date is a service pack for proliant. Quarterly released in the old days and again boot and off you go or run inside your OS if you prefer. 

[Gongalong]

We've only ever had HP servers, I assumed that was the norm. Yep, it's horrendous!