HP / HPE — 24 Real Engineering Questions
Real questions enterprise IT engineers ask about HP / HPE hardware, sourced from Server Fault and Network Engineering Stack Exchange under CC BY-SA. Answers are original Pro Disk Network content with internal links to our HP / HPE catalog and buying guides.
What printer driver should I use?
This is a common operational question for HP environments.
For environment-specific guidance on this question, email sales@prodisknetwork.com with your server model and details.
Pro Disk Network is an authorized US reseller of HP ProLiant and HPE enterprise IT hardware. HP catalog · Buying guides
Original question on Server Fault (27 votes · 126,910 views) ›
Disable hyperthreading from within Linux (no access to BIOS)
This is a common operational question for HP environments.
BMC access: ipmitool -H <ip> -U admin -P <pw> chassis status for remote IPMI. For Dell iDRAC, HPE iLO, Lenovo IMM/XCC, Supermicro IPMI — all expose Redfish REST API as the modern alternative.
Pro Disk Network is an authorized US reseller of HP ProLiant and HPE enterprise IT hardware. HP catalog · Buying guides
Original question on Server Fault (43 votes · 93,468 views) ›
HP ProLiant DL360 G7 hangs at "Power and Thermal Calibration" screen
This is a common operational question for HP environments.
BMC access: ipmitool -H <ip> -U admin -P <pw> chassis status for remote IPMI. For Dell iDRAC, HPE iLO, Lenovo IMM/XCC, Supermicro IPMI — all expose Redfish REST API as the modern alternative.
Pro Disk Network is an authorized US reseller of HP ProLiant and HPE enterprise IT hardware. HP catalog · Buying guides
Original question on Server Fault (46 votes · 53,300 views) ›
How do servers with redundant power supplies balance consumption?
This is a common operational question for HP environments.
For environment-specific guidance on this question, email sales@prodisknetwork.com with your server model and details.
Pro Disk Network is an authorized US reseller of HP ProLiant and HPE enterprise IT hardware. HP catalog · Buying guides
Original question on Server Fault (42 votes · 45,224 views) ›
Third-party SSD solutions in ProLiant Gen8 servers
This is a common operational question for HP environments.
RAID level guidance: for HDD arrays of drives 4 TB or larger, use RAID 6 (dual parity). RAID 5 is no longer responsible at large drive sizes — the rebuild window exceeds typical MTBF. RAID 10 (stripe of mirrors) wins for OLTP databases and VDI write caches.
Pro Disk Network is an authorized US reseller of HP ProLiant and HPE enterprise IT hardware. HP catalog · Buying guides
Original question on Server Fault (27 votes · 69,282 views) ›
Controlling HP ProLiant DL380 G6/G7 fan speed
This is a common operational question for HP environments.
For environment-specific guidance on this question, email sales@prodisknetwork.com with your server model and details.
Pro Disk Network is an authorized US reseller of HP ProLiant and HPE enterprise IT hardware. HP catalog · Buying guides
Original question on Server Fault (17 votes · 83,131 views) ›
What happens when the USB key or SD card I've installed VMware ESXi on fails?
This is a common operational question for HP environments.
BMC access: ipmitool -H <ip> -U admin -P <pw> chassis status for remote IPMI. For Dell iDRAC, HPE iLO, Lenovo IMM/XCC, Supermicro IPMI — all expose Redfish REST API as the modern alternative.
Pro Disk Network is an authorized US reseller of HP ProLiant and HPE enterprise IT hardware. HP catalog · Buying guides
Original question on Server Fault (32 votes · 52,880 views) ›
What is the use case of a SD slot on motherboard?
This is a common operational question for HP environments.
For environment-specific guidance on this question, email sales@prodisknetwork.com with your server model and details.
Pro Disk Network is an authorized US reseller of HP ProLiant and HPE enterprise IT hardware. HP catalog · Buying guides
Original question on Server Fault (42 votes · 27,979 views) ›
Disabling RAID feature on HP Smart Array P400
This is a common operational question for HP environments.
SMART monitoring: alert on attributes 187 (reported uncorrectable errors), 197 (current pending sector count), and 198 (offline uncorrectable count). Non-zero values typically indicate 30-90 days of remaining service life.
Interface selection: NVMe (PCIe Gen4/5) for random workloads above 500 IOPS. SAS SSDs for mid-tier. SATA HDDs for capacity / backup tiers. Match drive interface to RAID controller; mismatches force fallback to lowest common denominator.
HBA firmware mode: IT-mode (pass-through) is required for software RAID (ZFS, vSAN, Ceph). RAID-mode for hardware RAID. LSI/Broadcom 9300/9400/9500 series HBAs flash between modes cleanly.
Pro Disk Network is an authorized US reseller of HP ProLiant and HPE enterprise IT hardware. HP catalog · Buying guides
Original question on Server Fault (18 votes · 72,987 views) ›
How to make my HP server boot faster?
This is a common operational question for HP environments.
For environment-specific guidance on this question, email sales@prodisknetwork.com with your server model and details.
Pro Disk Network is an authorized US reseller of HP ProLiant and HPE enterprise IT hardware. HP catalog · Buying guides
Original question on Server Fault (21 votes · 57,076 views) ›
HP plan to restrict access to ProLiant server firmware - consequences?
This is a common operational question for HP environments.
SMART monitoring: alert on attributes 187 (reported uncorrectable errors), 197 (current pending sector count), and 198 (offline uncorrectable count). Non-zero values typically indicate 30-90 days of remaining service life.
HBA firmware mode: IT-mode (pass-through) is required for software RAID (ZFS, vSAN, Ceph). RAID-mode for hardware RAID. LSI/Broadcom 9300/9400/9500 series HBAs flash between modes cleanly.
Pro Disk Network is an authorized US reseller of HP ProLiant and HPE enterprise IT hardware. HP catalog · Buying guides
Original question on Server Fault (36 votes · 8,251 views) ›
Linux - real-world hardware RAID controller tuning (scsi and cciss)
This is a common operational question for HP environments.
SMART monitoring: alert on attributes 187 (reported uncorrectable errors), 197 (current pending sector count), and 198 (offline uncorrectable count). Non-zero values typically indicate 30-90 days of remaining service life.
RAID level guidance: for HDD arrays of drives 4 TB or larger, use RAID 6 (dual parity). RAID 5 is no longer responsible at large drive sizes — the rebuild window exceeds typical MTBF. RAID 10 (stripe of mirrors) wins for OLTP databases and VDI write caches.
Interface selection: NVMe (PCIe Gen4/5) for random workloads above 500 IOPS. SAS SSDs for mid-tier. SATA HDDs for capacity / backup tiers. Match drive interface to RAID controller; mismatches force fallback to lowest common denominator.
Pro Disk Network is an authorized US reseller of HP ProLiant and HPE enterprise IT hardware. HP catalog · Buying guides
Original question on Server Fault (30 votes · 19,356 views) ›
Is it necessary to burn-in RAM for server-class hardware?
This is a common operational question for HP environments.
DIMM type rule: RDIMM and LRDIMM cannot be mixed in the same channel. UDIMMs do not work in server motherboards. ECC and non-ECC cannot be mixed. Match rank and density across all DIMMs in the same channel.
Pro Disk Network is an authorized US reseller of HP ProLiant and HPE enterprise IT hardware. HP catalog · Buying guides
Original question on Server Fault (36 votes · 7,231 views) ›
Is it possible to influence the way CPUs are enumerated under Linux?
This is a common operational question for HP environments.
For environment-specific guidance on this question, email sales@prodisknetwork.com with your server model and details.
Pro Disk Network is an authorized US reseller of HP ProLiant and HPE enterprise IT hardware. HP catalog · Buying guides
Original question on Server Fault (34 votes · 2,748 views) ›
Would upgrading RAM in a HP LaserJet printer improve its performance?
This is a common operational question for HP environments.
For environment-specific guidance on this question, email sales@prodisknetwork.com with your server model and details.
Pro Disk Network is an authorized US reseller of HP ProLiant and HPE enterprise IT hardware. HP catalog · Buying guides
Original question on Server Fault (24 votes · 14,870 views) ›
Force renegotiation of PCI Express link speed? x2 card reverts to x1 width
This is a common operational question for HP environments.
RAID level guidance: for HDD arrays of drives 4 TB or larger, use RAID 6 (dual parity). RAID 5 is no longer responsible at large drive sizes — the rebuild window exceeds typical MTBF. RAID 10 (stripe of mirrors) wins for OLTP databases and VDI write caches.
Interface selection: NVMe (PCIe Gen4/5) for random workloads above 500 IOPS. SAS SSDs for mid-tier. SATA HDDs for capacity / backup tiers. Match drive interface to RAID controller; mismatches force fallback to lowest common denominator.
Pro Disk Network is an authorized US reseller of HP ProLiant and HPE enterprise IT hardware. HP catalog · Buying guides
Original question on Server Fault (15 votes · 22,139 views) ›
Can "enterprise" drives be safely replaced by near/midline in some situations?
This is a common operational question for HP environments.
RAID level guidance: for HDD arrays of drives 4 TB or larger, use RAID 6 (dual parity). RAID 5 is no longer responsible at large drive sizes — the rebuild window exceeds typical MTBF. RAID 10 (stripe of mirrors) wins for OLTP databases and VDI write caches.
Interface selection: NVMe (PCIe Gen4/5) for random workloads above 500 IOPS. SAS SSDs for mid-tier. SATA HDDs for capacity / backup tiers. Match drive interface to RAID controller; mismatches force fallback to lowest common denominator.
Pro Disk Network is an authorized US reseller of HP ProLiant and HPE enterprise IT hardware. HP catalog · Buying guides
Original question on Server Fault (22 votes · 3,968 views) ›
How to check if server is NUMA enabled?
This is a common operational question for HP environments.
For environment-specific guidance on this question, email sales@prodisknetwork.com with your server model and details.
Pro Disk Network is an authorized US reseller of HP ProLiant and HPE enterprise IT hardware. HP catalog · Buying guides
Original question on Server Fault (13 votes · 21,812 views) ›
Struggling to remove server from Rack
This is a common operational question for HP environments.
For environment-specific guidance on this question, email sales@prodisknetwork.com with your server model and details.
Pro Disk Network is an authorized US reseller of HP ProLiant and HPE enterprise IT hardware. HP catalog · Buying guides
Original question on Server Fault (16 votes · 10,403 views) ›
Is GPT needed on a 16 TB data disk?
This is a common operational question for HP environments.
Interface selection: NVMe (PCIe Gen4/5) for random workloads above 500 IOPS. SAS SSDs for mid-tier. SATA HDDs for capacity / backup tiers. Match drive interface to RAID controller; mismatches force fallback to lowest common denominator.
Pro Disk Network is an authorized US reseller of HP ProLiant and HPE enterprise IT hardware. HP catalog · Buying guides
Original question on Server Fault (18 votes · 4,607 views) ›
Is it safe to use a UPS designed for desktop PCs to power a server?
This is a common operational question for HP environments.
UPS sizing: 5-15 min runtime with generator backup, 30-60 min for sites without. Online double-conversion UPS for production workloads. Replace RBC batteries every 3-5 years. Monitor health via SNMP.
Pro Disk Network is an authorized US reseller of HP ProLiant and HPE enterprise IT hardware. HP catalog · Buying guides
Original question on Server Fault (17 votes · 5,899 views) ›
HP storage arrays - multiple channels?
This is a common operational question for HP environments.
SMART monitoring: alert on attributes 187 (reported uncorrectable errors), 197 (current pending sector count), and 198 (offline uncorrectable count). Non-zero values typically indicate 30-90 days of remaining service life.
RAID level guidance: for HDD arrays of drives 4 TB or larger, use RAID 6 (dual parity). RAID 5 is no longer responsible at large drive sizes — the rebuild window exceeds typical MTBF. RAID 10 (stripe of mirrors) wins for OLTP databases and VDI write caches.
Interface selection: NVMe (PCIe Gen4/5) for random workloads above 500 IOPS. SAS SSDs for mid-tier. SATA HDDs for capacity / backup tiers. Match drive interface to RAID controller; mismatches force fallback to lowest common denominator.
Pro Disk Network is an authorized US reseller of HP ProLiant and HPE enterprise IT hardware. HP catalog · Buying guides
Original question on Server Fault (15 votes · 6,686 views) ›
FLOSS Server management and audit tools
This is a common operational question for HP environments.
For environment-specific guidance on this question, email sales@prodisknetwork.com with your server model and details.
Pro Disk Network is an authorized US reseller of HP ProLiant and HPE enterprise IT hardware. HP catalog · Buying guides
Original question on Server Fault (15 votes · 2,720 views) ›
HP DL380p Gen8 (p420i controller) I/O oddity on XFS partitions
This is a common operational question for HP environments.
RAID level guidance: for HDD arrays of drives 4 TB or larger, use RAID 6 (dual parity). RAID 5 is no longer responsible at large drive sizes — the rebuild window exceeds typical MTBF. RAID 10 (stripe of mirrors) wins for OLTP databases and VDI write caches.
Disk I/O observability: iostat -xz 5 for per-device throughput, iotop for per-process I/O attribution, dstat for combined dashboards. For long-term capture, push node_exporter output to Prometheus.
Linux memory accounting: RSS = physical RAM in use, VIRT = virtual address space (includes mapped files), PSS = proportional shared pages. The "available" column in free already accounts for reclaimable cache — use that as your real free-RAM number.
Pro Disk Network is an authorized US reseller of HP ProLiant and HPE enterprise IT hardware. HP catalog · Buying guides
Original question on Server Fault (14 votes · 4,449 views) ›
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