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:

1. 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).
2. 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.
3. 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

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

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.