HPE Proliant DL380 G10 24-Bay 2.5"
Configure Your System:
1 Processor Required
Step 1: Choose a generation and tier
The DL380 Gen10 takes both waves of Intel's Xeon Scalable family. 1st Gen (Skylake) is the value entry: mature, plentiful, and the lowest cost into this platform. 2nd Gen (Cascade Lake) is the same socket refined: better clocks per watt and faster memory support, and our default recommendation when the price gap is modest.
Within each generation, the tiers are the same story: Silver for value compute, Gold for the mainstream where nearly every serious build lands, and Platinum for dense consolidation at the top of the range.
One connection worth knowing: your processor sets your memory speed. Higher tiers and the newer generation run the DIMMs faster, so a Silver chip quietly caps the memory bus you paid for. It is one of the honest arguments for Gold.
Whichever you pick, populate both sockets; half the memory channels and PCIe lanes route through the second CPU.
Step 2: Choose your CPU
Running Windows Server? Two 8-core CPUs land exactly on the 16-core base license. Our picks are the Gold 6134 (8 cores, high clocks) in 1st Gen and the Gold 6234 in 2nd Gen: top per-core performance with nothing wasted on the license.
Virtualizing on vSphere? VMware licenses a 16-core minimum per socket, so the 8-core strategy buys you nothing there; take 16-core parts and use every core you are paying to license.
General consolidation lands in the middle Golds, and the high-core Golds and Platinums are how one DL380 replaces a shelf of older servers.
Not sure where your workload lands? We configure these daily; call 1-800-778-1545.
2 Heat Sink Optional
What still matters is airflow discipline. Keep every drive bay blank and internal baffle installed; the DL380 cools front to back, and an open path lets air skip the components that need it. HPE's thermal engineering on this chassis is genuinely good, and it holds up exactly as long as the airflow path stays intact.
It was engineered for datacenter intake air; it will run in a well-ventilated closet, but fan and component life is better in a real cold aisle. If your build includes GPUs or high-TDP silicon in a warm room, call 1-800-778-1545 before checkout and we will confirm the whole thermal picture.
3 Memory (RAM) 24 DIMM slots, modules added in sets of 2 Required
Twelve matched DIMMs, six per socket, engages every channel once at full speed, and that is our default for this chassis. Memory bandwidth is exactly what virtualization hosts and databases feel, and twelve channels of it is the Gen10's quiet advantage over its predecessor.
Twenty-four DIMMs doubles capacity at two per channel with no speed penalty on this platform, and it is the natural full build when RAM is the constraint.
Your processor sets the speed: the newer generation and higher tiers run the DIMMs faster, which is part of what you buy when you step up in the processor step. The configurator pairs the right DIMMs with your chip.
In between, populate in multiples of six and keep both sockets even; a lopsided population starves channels you paid for.
Whichever count you choose, buy it as one matched set, now. Hunting for matching DIMMs a year into production means a maintenance window and rank-matching roulette, and a mismatch clocks the whole bank down.
Common landing spots: 96 GB (12x 8 GB) for general duty, 192 GB (12x 16 GB) is our default virtualization host, 384 GB (12x 32 GB or 24x 16 GB) for dense consolidation, and 768 GB (24x 32 GB) when the workload lives in RAM.
4 RAID Controllers Optional
What it gives you: full hardware RAID across the backplane with a battery-protected write cache, which is what keeps parity arrays performing under real write load, plus the modern Smart Array feature set.
The part worth knowing: the P408i also runs in HBA mode, passing drives straight through to the operating system. That matters because it makes this one controller correct for both storage philosophies, traditional hardware RAID for Windows and general virtualization duty, and direct drive access for vSAN, Storage Spaces Direct, Ceph, ZFS, and TrueNAS builds. If your build is software-defined, tell us at quote time and we will ship it configured the right way.
Array guidance for the hardware RAID path: RAID 10 where write latency matters, RAID 6 over RAID 5 on large spinning drives, and a hot spare on any array whose rebuild you would rather not race.
5 Storage Drives Select up to 24 drives (0/24 Slots Used) Optional
The 2.5" DL380 Gen10 takes SAS and SATA in both flavors, with NVMe where the backplane supports it, and by this generation the honest guidance leans flash: SSDs for virtualization datastores, databases, and application volumes, with 10K SAS spinning drives as the bulk tier behind them rather than the main event. If storage latency is the whole product, NVMe on this platform is a genuine option, and we will spec the backplane details with you.
Buy new, and on flash we will add the technical reason to the usual one: endurance is consumed by writes, and every drive here ships with its full write budget ahead of it. We steer you away from refurbished on drives specifically, and we say that as a company that sells refurbished servers all day.
Plan the boot volume out of your data bays: a small RAID 1 pair of SSDs in two bays is the standard pattern on this platform. It costs you two bays and it is worth it; a boot failure and a data failure should never be the same event.
Fair warning on capacity math: RAID overhead, hot spares, and filesystem headroom mean usable space lands well under the sum of the labels. Size for the usable number, and when in doubt, one drive size up is cheap insurance.
6 Remote Access Required
Every unit includes the integrated iLO controller with the standard feature set: health monitoring, remote power control, and basic management through a clean modern interface. The dividing line is the Advanced license, which unlocks the full remote console and virtual media, meaning you can reach the server's screen, mount an ISO, and rebuild an OS from anywhere, even when the operating system is down. Without it, any problem below the OS level means walking to the rack.
Our pick is the Advanced license, and on a production host the math is short: the license costs a fraction of one emergency site visit, and the first bad firmware day pays for it. iLO 5 also brings HPE's silicon root of trust and firmware protection machinery, and the Advanced tier is where its best capabilities live.
Standard iLO is the right call only when the server sits down the hall and someone can physically reach it without ceremony, and even then, think about whether that stays true for the machine's whole life.
If you are deploying 5 or more units, take the Advanced license on all of them. Fleet management without remote console access does not work in practice.
7 Power Supply 2x included in build Required
2x 500W is the configurator default and covers a real share of DL380 builds: mid-range Scalable silicon, a sensible memory load, and a bay of SSDs land inside it, and HPE's Gen10 supplies are excellent at partial load.
2x 800W is our pick the moment the build fills out: higher-TDP Gold or Platinum processors, a full backplane, or a heavy DIMM count. The price step is small and it buys the 50 percent load target, where a PSU runs at peak efficiency, runs cooler, and lasts longer than one working near its limit. On the 24-bay chassis or the 12-bay spinning-disk build, start here; spinning drives pull their peak current at spin-up, exactly when the server is busiest bringing everything else online.
Watch the estimated TDP counter at the bottom of the page as you add components to see where your build lands, and when it sits between two tiers, size up; the price difference is a rounding error against the headroom you get back. If GPUs are in your plans, call us before checkout, because power and airflow change together.
8 Network Cards Required
Quad 1 GbE covers file, print, and light application duty, and it is the honest budget answer when the clients are desktops on gigabit switching.
10 Gb is the practical floor for the virtualization and database work a Gen10 host gets bought for; a modern hypervisor on gigabit networking is bottlenecked at the card, not the CPUs. The dual 10 Gb options are the sweet spot: production on the fast pair, management on the embedded ports.
Then port type, and this is the one that catches people. SFP+ ports take fiber or DAC cables and talk to datacenter-grade switches. BASE-T ports are 10 Gb copper on ordinary RJ45. Neither is better; they must simply match your switch. Order SFP+ against a copper-only switch and the server racks up with nothing to plug into.
Need more ports, or separate links for storage and VM traffic? PCIe network cards stack on top of whatever you choose here. Call 1-800-778-1545 and we will spec the whole path, switch ports included.
9 Operating System Required
The good news on this platform: the Gen10's Xeon Scalable processors are fully supported by every modern OS, so the choice is about your environment, not compatibility.
Windows Server 2022 is the mainstream pick, and Windows Server 2025 is fully supported if you want the newest platform. Licensing is per core with a 16-core base, which is why our processor guidance steers Windows buyers to two 8-core CPUs: the 16-Core license covers that build exactly. Past 16 total cores, you need the larger tiers, and heavy VM density is where Datacenter edition with unlimited virtualization rights earns its keep. On CALs, count your users and round up.
Fair warning on Evaluation Editions: free and fully functional for 180 days, then they expire. Right for labs and proof-of-concept, wrong for production.
VMware ESXi is fully supported on this platform for shops standing on vSphere; we will install the version your cluster runs.
Proxmox VE is our quiet favorite for new virtualization deployments: open-source KVM with clustering and live migration, no per-core license math, and it makes a Gen10 host one of the best price-to-capability hypervisors on our floor.
Ubuntu Server LTS covers Linux application duty with five years of free updates, and No OS is there for teams imaging from their own deployment infrastructure.
Not sure which fits? Tell us the workload at quote time, or call 1-800-778-1545.
WServer Warranty
HPE ProLiant DL380 Gen10 24-Bay 2.5" Drives [Gen10] Detailed Review
The HPE ProLiant DL380 Gen10 24-Bay 2.5" is the maximum SFF density configuration of HPE's 2U dual-socket Gen10 platform: twenty-four 2.5" SAS/SATA hot-swap bays on the same Purley dual-socket motherboard, same memory architecture, same iLO 5 management, and same Smart Array RAID family as the 16-Bay canonical. This page covers the 24-Bay storage architecture and when this chassis is the right call versus the 16-Bay 2.5" canonical or the 12-Bay 3.5" LFF sibling.
For the full platform-fact story (processors, memory architecture, FlexibleLOM networking, PCIe expansion, iLO 5 management, Smart Array controllers, power supplies, physical specs), see the DL380 Gen10 16-Bay 2.5" canonical page. Everything documented there applies to this 24-Bay variant; this page focuses on what's different about the 24-bay chassis and the storage-design implications that follow from the higher bay count.
What's Different About This Chassis
The 24-Bay 2.5" is the storage-flagship variant of the DL380 Gen10 family. Three things define it relative to the 16-Bay canonical:
- Eight additional SFF bays. Twenty-four front-mounted 2.5" hot-swap bays versus sixteen on the canonical, with no change to the memory, processor, or PCIe envelope. The chassis is the same external dimensions; the additional bays come from the dense backplane configuration (Box 1, Box 2, and Box 3 each populated with 8 SFF bays).
- Cluster-economics workloads. The 24-bay configuration is sized for vSAN all-flash with multiple disk groups per node, Ceph OSD nodes where per-node OSD count drives cluster economics, and SAS SSD database tiers requiring substantial local storage. These workloads benefit from the additional bays in ways that 16-bay configurations cannot accommodate.
- Same Gen10 platform ceilings. The 24-Bay does not unlock additional capability beyond storage: same PCIe Gen3, same DDR4-2933 ceiling, same Cascade Lake processor lineup, same iLO 5, same Smart Array P816i-a / P408i-a / E208i-a options. Workloads that need PCIe Gen4, DDR4-3200, or Ice Lake compute should evaluate the DL380 Gen10 Plus, not the 24-Bay Gen10.
Storage Architecture
Twenty-four 2.5" SAS/SATA hot-swap bays in three Box configurations (Box 1, Box 2, Box 3 at 8 bays each). The Smart Array P816i-a (4 GB FBWC) is the natural RAID controller for hardware-RAID configurations across all 24 bays; the E208i-a HBA is the natural controller for vSAN OSA, Ceph, and ZFS deployments requiring direct disk access.
Common 24-Bay configurations we deploy:
- VMware vSAN all-flash OSA with multiple disk groups (vSphere 6.x / 7.x): Up to 5 disk groups per node, each with 1 SSD cache + up to 4 SSD capacity drives. 24 bays supports 5 disk groups (5 cache + 19 capacity) or 4 disk groups (4 cache + 20 capacity). Multiple disk groups per node increases vSAN storage parallelism linearly; this is the canonical Gen10 vSAN all-flash node configuration. vSAN 8.x ESA is NOT supported on Gen10; for ESA the DL380 Gen10 Plus with NVMe backplane is the platform.
- Ceph OSD nodes (24 OSDs per node): With the E208i-a HBA in pass-through mode, each of the 24 bays becomes an independent OSD. The DL380 Gen10 24-Bay is widely deployed as Ceph OSD nodes in Red Hat Ceph Storage and SUSE Enterprise Storage clusters; the high OSD-per-node count and the secondary-market acquisition cost make compelling cluster economics. Plan memory at 6 GB per OSD plus 16 GB overhead (192 GB per node typical) and dedicated 25 GbE or 100 GbE cluster networking.
- All-SAS SSD database storage: 24 x SAS SSDs at RAID 10 yields 12 drives of usable capacity. With 3.84 TB SAS SSDs, that's 46 TB usable; with 7.68 TB, 92 TB usable. The typical fit is large SQL Server, Oracle, or PostgreSQL instances requiring substantial local SSD capacity with high endurance and dual-port redundancy.
- Tiered SSD + HDD at 24-bay density: 6 to 8 SAS SSDs for hot tier (cache or storage tier) alongside 16 to 18 NL-SAS HDDs for bulk capacity. With 16 TB NL-SAS HDDs and 7.68 TB SAS SSDs, this yields substantial tiered storage in a single 2U chassis: roughly 60 TB SSD raw and 280 TB HDD raw for a combined 340 TB before RAID overhead.
- Veeam repository / backup target node: 24 NL-SAS HDDs at RAID 60 (two RAID 6 sets striped) provides high-capacity backup landing with two-drive fault tolerance per set. The Gen10's bandwidth envelope is well-matched to Veeam's typical backup throughput targets.
The 24-bay storage configuration is where the Gen10 platform's PCIe Gen3 limitation becomes meaningful: aggregated throughput from 24 high-performance SAS SSDs can saturate Gen3 lanes to the Smart Array controller in some workloads. For workloads where this is the binding constraint, the DL380 Gen10 Plus with PCIe Gen4 is the upgrade path.
RAID and Controller Guidance
RAID strategy at 24-bay scale matters more than at 16-bay because rebuild times and parity-group fault tolerance scale with array size:
- RAID 6 mandatory for NL-SAS HDD arrays. Rebuild times on 16-20 TB NL-SAS drives at 24-bay density commonly exceed 36 hours; two-drive fault tolerance is non-negotiable. Never RAID 5 at this drive count and capacity.
- RAID 10 for SAS SSDs. Fast rebuild times, predictable write performance, fault tolerance per mirrored pair. Half the usable capacity, but the operational characteristics are correct for production database storage.
- RAID 60 for backup targets. Two RAID 6 sets striped: 12 + 12 across 24 drives. Survives two drive failures per set; rebuilds happen in parallel per set; aggregate throughput meets Veeam-class backup repository requirements.
- Smart Array P816i-a (4 GB FBWC) is the production hardware-RAID default. The 4 GB write cache pays off at 24-bay scale where Smart Array battery-backed write reordering meaningfully improves random write performance. FBWC battery health is a wear item; we verify at burn-in.
- Smart Array E208i-a HBA mode for software-defined storage. vSAN, Ceph, and ZFS require direct disk access; the E208i-a is the supported HBA for these workloads on Gen10.
Boot configuration: HPE M.2 enablement kit installs 1 or 2 M.2 SATA SSDs outside the 24 data bays. We strongly recommend this rather than consuming a data bay for OS, especially at 24-bay configurations where every data bay contributes to cluster or capacity economics.
Memory Sizing for 24-Bay Workloads
The 24-Bay platform's storage workloads typically require more memory than general-purpose 16-Bay configurations:
- vSAN all-flash, 5 disk groups per node: 384 GB to 768 GB per node. vSAN memory overhead grows with disk group count and capacity drive count; 5-disk-group nodes are at the high end of vSAN memory consumption.
- Ceph OSD nodes, 24 OSDs: 192 GB to 256 GB per node. Roughly 6 GB per OSD plus daemon overhead; some workloads benefit from 8 GB per OSD on BlueStore deployments with substantial capacity drives.
- All-SAS SSD database, 12-drive RAID 10: Memory sized to the workload, not the storage. SQL Server with 92 TB usable benefits from 768 GB to 1.5 TB depending on working-set size; PostgreSQL similar.
- Veeam repository node: 128 GB to 256 GB. Veeam repository memory scales with concurrent backup jobs and ReFS / XFS cache requirements; 128 GB is the practical minimum for serious repository nodes.
HPE memory rules from the 16-Bay canonical apply identically: DIMMs in even quantities, no RDIMM/LRDIMM mixing, HPE DDR4 Smart Memory required for rated speeds, matched sets of 12 for balanced production deployment.
Power Sizing for 24-Bay Workloads
| Configuration | PSU Recommendation | Est. Peak Draw |
|---|---|---|
| Balanced (2x Gold 6242, 384 GB, 24 SAS SSDs, P816i-a) | 2 x 800W Platinum (hot-plug redundant) | ~580W |
| Heavy (2x Gold 6248, 768 GB, 24 SAS SSDs vSAN AF, P816i-a, 2 x 25 GbE) | 2 x 1000W Platinum | ~740W |
| Storage-heavy (2x Gold 6230, 256 GB, 24 NL-SAS HDDs RAID 60, P816i-a) | 2 x 800W Platinum | ~520W |
| Maximum (2x Platinum 8280, 1 TB, 24 SAS SSDs, FlexibleLOM, 2 PCIe NICs) | 2 x 1600W Titanium | ~1100W |
For typical 24-bay deployments, 2 x 1000W Platinum is the recommended PSU. Heavily-populated all-SSD configurations with 2 x 25 GbE networking can push toward 800W steady-state; 1000W gives headroom for transient peaks. Single-PSU configurations are not deployed in production at this storage density.
When to Pick a Different Chassis
- 16 SFF bays sufficient: The DL380 Gen10 16-Bay 2.5" canonical is meaningfully lower-cost per node and is the right call when storage requirements stay below 16 SFF bays. vSAN hybrid OSA with 1-2 disk groups, all-SSD database tiers with 8-12 drives, and general-purpose 2U virtualization fit comfortably in the 16-bay envelope.
- LFF capacity drives needed: The DL380 Gen10 12-Bay 3.5" LFF sibling is the right chassis for bulk NAS, backup, archive, and object storage workloads where 7,200 RPM NL-SAS capacity drives at 16 TB to 20 TB each deliver the storage economics.
- vSAN 8.x ESA target: The DL380 Gen10 platform (any chassis) does not support vSAN ESA. For ESA, the DL380 Gen10 Plus or Gen11 with NVMe backplane is the platform.
- NVMe-bound workloads: The 24-Bay 2.5" Gen10 SAS backplane does not support native NVMe across all 24 bays. For NVMe storage tiers, evaluate the DL380 Gen10 Plus 24-Bay NVMe configurations.
- PCIe Gen4 NICs or accelerators required: Gen10 is PCIe Gen3 only. 100 GbE NICs operate at the Gen3 x8 ceiling; AI accelerators expecting Gen4 bandwidth are bottlenecked. The DL380 Gen10 Plus is the upgrade.
- 1U form factor: The DL360 Gen10 1U pair-partner is denser per rack U, with bay options up to 10 SFF. For dense 1U deployments where 24 bays per node is excessive, the DL360 Gen10 is the right form factor.
Our Assessment
The DL380 Gen10 24-Bay 2.5" is the storage-density specialist of the Gen10 family. For HPE-standardized shops building vSAN all-flash OSA clusters with multiple disk groups per node, Ceph OSD clusters with high per-node OSD count, or large SAS SSD database tiers, the 24-Bay 2.5" is the right chassis. The economics are particularly compelling for Ceph deployments and Veeam repository nodes where per-node storage density drives total infrastructure cost.
The Gen10 platform constraints (PCIe Gen3, no native NVMe backplane, vSAN OSA only, Cascade Lake CPU ceiling) apply identically to the 24-Bay as to the 16-Bay canonical; the 24-Bay does not unlock new platform capability beyond storage. For workloads where those constraints are binding, the DL380 Gen10 Plus or Gen11 is the platform of record.
For storage-density workloads on Gen10's PCIe Gen3 envelope, the 24-Bay delivers production-proven capability at meaningfully lower acquisition cost than current-generation alternatives. We deploy it most often as vSAN all-flash OSA nodes with 4-5 disk groups, Ceph OSD nodes at 24 OSDs per node, and Veeam backup repository nodes at high NL-SAS capacity.
Bottom line: When 16 SFF bays per node is not enough and you can accept the Gen10 platform envelope, the 24-Bay 2.5" delivers the storage density at proven enterprise quality. When you can fit in 16 bays, the 16-Bay canonical is the cost-correct call.
Workload Fit
| Excels at ✅ | Where to look elsewhere ❌ |
|---|---|
| vSAN all-flash OSA with multiple disk groups per node | vSAN 8.x ESA (use DL380 Gen10+ with NVMe) |
| Ceph OSD clusters at 24 OSDs per node | 16 OSDs sufficient (16-Bay lower cost) |
| Large SAS SSD database storage tiers | NVMe-bound database tiers (use DL380 Gen10+) |
| Veeam repository nodes with 24 NL-SAS HDDs | LFF capacity drives needed (use 12-Bay LFF) |
| Tiered SSD + HDD at high density in 2U | Workloads bottlenecked on PCIe Gen3 |
| Expansion of existing Gen10 vSAN estates | Production greenfield with 3+ year horizon (consider Gen10+ or Gen11) |
Ready to Configure
Tell us your vSAN, Ceph, or backup design, drive type and quantity, memory target, networking requirements, and unit quantity. We respond within 24 hours. Volume pricing applies at 5 units and above. Every Wholesale Servers DL380 Gen10 24-Bay ships after a 12+ hour burn-in test covering every PCIe slot, every memory channel, and every one of the 24 drive bays. Standard 180-day warranty included; 1-Year, 2-Year, and 3-Year Premium warranty options available. Call 1-800-778-1545 or use the quote form on this page.
If your deployment has a 3+ year production horizon, we will also quote the DL380 Gen11 or Gen10 Plus 24-Bay for comparison on request.
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