Moving from PowerEdge R730 (Dell 13G) to ProLiant DL380 Gen10 (HPE Gen10) is a decision most infrastructure teams make once every 5-7 years. Get it wrong and you inherit a platform your staff cannot service. Get it right and you cut hardware spend 40-60% while keeping the workload humming.
Why this cross-brand move happens
Dell publishes no fixed end-of-support date for the R730: ProSupport ends per service tag, and iDRAC8 firmware fixes for 13G servers ended in February 2024 (Dell KB 000178044). Staying on it means running critical workloads without new iDRAC firmware fixes. Moving forward within Dell (R640/R650/R660) is the obvious path, but enterprises increasingly cross to HPE for three reasons: aggressive HPE discount structures in EMEA channel, existing Aruba networking investment, or a deliberate multi-vendor strategy to avoid single-OEM concentration risk. The DL380 Gen10 is the natural landing platform — broad refurb supply, identical workload profile, 2029 OEM support runway.
Data migration: VMware, Hyper-V, bare-metal
VMware vSphere 7 or 8 migrates R730 VMs to DL380 Gen10 via vMotion with no change. Both hosts run the same ESXi build; add the Gen10 to the existing cluster, vMotion, retire the R730. Hyper-V: Live Migration works identically on Windows Server 2019+. Bare-metal Linux: physical-to-virtual is the clean path, or rebuild on the new platform with configuration management (Ansible, Puppet, Chef). Bare-metal Windows: use Azure Migrate appliance or Double-Take to replicate.
BIOS and firmware re-certification
Dell BIOS settings do not translate to HPE. UEFI boot order, Secure Boot keys, BIOS passwords — all manual re-set on Gen10. Document every non-default setting before decommissioning the R730. Key areas: memory operating mode (optimized/mirror/sparing), CPU power settings (OS-controlled vs BIOS-performance), NUMA configuration, virtualization extensions. Expected BIOS re-cert time: 45-90 minutes per host including smoke test.
SKU reality: what swaps, what does not
Memory: DDR4-2400 R730 DIMMs will physically fit DL380 Gen10 slots but Dell-firmware-tagged DIMMs throw SPD errors on HPE POST. Budget for full memory replacement. Drives: SAS/SATA drives are generally inter-vendor compatible at the drive level but vendor-firmware tags cause smart-status warnings — plan drive replacement to clear warranty path. PSUs: zero compatibility. Dell PSUs are keyed differently from HPE PSUs. Risers and bezels: zero compatibility. RAID controllers: PERC H730 does not fit Gen10 slots and uses different connector pinout.
Support contract transition
Check the R730’s ProSupport end date by service tag before planning the HPE contract. Contract transition: close Dell service ID, open HPE service agreement quoting the Gen10 serial. If the R730s were on ProSupport Plus with specific SLAs documented, mirror those SLAs in the new Foundation Care agreement. Expect 4-6 weeks for new HPE contract activation.
Retraining: the hidden cost
iDRAC to iLO is real retraining. Every NOC operator needs 4-8 hours of hands-on iLO 5 training to match R730 efficiency. Documentation runbooks must be rewritten — iLO console paths differ from iDRAC. OpenManage Enterprise alerts must be migrated to InfoSight or OneView. Budget 2 weeks of ops-team lead time to stabilize post-cutover.
Budget reality (USD)
Per-server cost: refurb DL380 Gen10 (quoted per configuration) + Foundation Care 3-year $1,500-$2,100 + migration labor (ICD professional services, quoted per project) + retraining amortized across fleet $200-$400. Total per-server: quoted per project. For a 10-server migration, totals are quoted per project. Compare to staying on R730 with out-of-support risk plus eventual emergency migration at 1.5x cost: strong case for planned cross-vendor move now.
ICD’s position: same team, both brands
ICD Care+ is the one contract that matters. During cutover we maintain SLA coverage on both the legacy R730 fleet (critical for workload continuity) and the incoming DL380 Gen10 fleet. No gap. No two-vendor finger-pointing. After cutover the same contract continues forward on HPE gear. Single support engineer, parts supplied from Cairo for both brands.
Migration steps
- Inventory audit — Document every R730 serial, config, BIOS settings, firmware versions, storage layout, and running workloads. Map workload criticality.
- Target sizing — Size DL380 Gen10 replacements 1:1 or at appropriate consolidation ratio. Typical consolidation is 2 R730 into 1 DL380 Gen10 given memory and CPU headroom gains.
- Procurement — Order DL380 Gen10 refurb via ICD with Foundation Care 3-year included. Lead time confirmed on the quote. Quote within 24 hours.
- Staging — Receive, rack, cable, firmware-baseline, run Intelligent Provisioning, install hypervisor to match existing cluster version. 4-8 hours per host.
- Cluster join — Add Gen10 to existing vSphere/Hyper-V cluster. Run cluster validation. Verify datastore connectivity.
- vMotion / Live Migration — Move VMs in waves. Start with dev/test. Monitor 48 hours. Then production in windows matching change-management policy.
- Decommission R730 — After all VMs evacuated, drain R730, confirm zero workload, power down, remove from monitoring, wipe drives per ICD destruction protocol.
- Validation — 30-day burn-in on Gen10 fleet. Monitor temperature, power draw, error counts via InfoSight. Compare to R730 baseline.
- Sunset — Return R730 hardware for ICD buy-back credit against the Gen10 purchase. Buy-back value is quoted per unit on inspection.
ICD catalog on both sides
PowerEdge R730 legacy spares: memory, SSDs, HDDs, RAID controllers and power supplies from a Dell catalog of 16,000+ live part numbers. Keep the old fleet alive through transition.
ProLiant DL380 Gen10 go-forward parts: memory, SSDs, HDDs, RAID controllers and power supplies from a HPE catalog of 22,000+ live part numbers. Everything you need to stand up the new platform.
Next steps
Before you buy anything, send us your BOM. We will cross-check every part, flag the three or four items that silently brick cross-vendor (memory firmware tags, proprietary riser cards, RAID battery kits), and price the full migration in USD with ICD Care+ support for both old and new hardware during the cutover. One quote request, one support contract, both brands. That is what decades of running mixed estates teach you.
Related: PowerEdge R730 legacy parts | ProLiant DL380 Gen10 parts | ICD Care+ cross-brand support.