Upgrading from 1GbE to 10GbE requires changes at three levels: server NIC, switch, and cabling. This guide covers what you need at each layer. Requirements Component Options Est. Cost Server NIC Intel X710, Broadcom 57416, Mellanox CX-4 $50-200 (refurb) Switch Any 10G switch (48-port SFP+) $500-2000 (refurb) Cabling DAC (under 5m) or SFP+ + fiber […]
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HPE ProLiant ML350 Gen10: Tower Server Parts and Upgrade Guide
The HPE ProLiant ML350 Gen10 is a tower/rack-convertible server supporting 2x Intel Xeon Scalable CPUs, 24 DDR4 DIMMs, and up to 24 SFF or 8 LFF drive bays. Why Tower? No rack needed — floor/desk placement Lower noise than rack servers Same enterprise specs as DL380 HPE upgrade guides | Find ML350 parts
Server Parts for AI Infrastructure: GPU, NVMe, and High-Speed Networking
AI/ML infrastructure requires specialized server components — GPUs for compute, NVMe for data pipelines, and 100/200/400GbE for GPU-to-GPU communication. AI Server Stack Layer Component Recommendation Compute GPU NVIDIA H100/A100 (training), L40S (inference) Storage NVMe SSD High-endurance MU/WI for checkpointing Network InfiniBand/Ethernet ConnectX-7 (400GbE) or HDR InfiniBand Memory DDR5 Maximum capacity for data preprocessing GPU cross-reference […]
Dell PowerEdge R840 vs R940: 2U vs 3U 4-Socket Comparison
Both the R840 and R940 are 4-socket PowerEdge servers, but in different form factors. The R840 is 2U (dense), while the R940 is 3U (more expansion). Comparison Feature R840 (2U) R940 (3U) CPU Sockets 4 4 Memory 48 DIMMs, 6TB 48 DIMMs, 6TB Drive Bays 8 SFF 16 SFF + 4 NVMe PCIe Slots 6 […]
Kubernetes on Bare Metal: Server Hardware Recommendations
Running Kubernetes on bare metal (no hypervisor) delivers maximum performance for containerized workloads. Here is how to size your hardware. Node Sizing Role CPU Memory Storage Server Control Plane (3 nodes) 4-8 cores 16-32GB 100GB SSD 1U entry (R650, DL360) Worker (general) 16-32 cores 64-256GB 500GB NVMe + HDD 2U (R750, DL380) Worker (GPU) 32+ […]
HPE ProLiant Naming Convention: DL, ML, BL, XL Series Explained
HPE ProLiant uses two-letter prefixes to identify server form factors. Here is the breakdown. Series Guide Prefix Form Factor Examples DL Density Line (rack) DL360, DL380, DL560 ML Modular Line (tower) ML30, ML110, ML350 BL Blade (in c7000 chassis) BL460c, BL660c XL Scale-out / HPC XL170r, XL230a Number format: first digit = rack units or […]
Server Firmware Update Best Practices: BIOS, BMC, RAID, NIC
Firmware updates fix bugs, improve performance, and patch security vulnerabilities. But a failed update can brick components. Follow these best practices. Update Order BMC first (iDRAC/iLO/XCC) — ensures management plane is stable BIOS/UEFI — after BMC is current RAID controller — may require reboot + rebuild NIC firmware — match driver version to firmware Drive […]
Dell PowerEdge Naming Convention: R, T, M, C, XE Series Explained
Dell PowerEdge uses letter prefixes to identify server form factors and series. Here is what each letter means. Series Guide Prefix Form Factor Examples R Rack server R660, R760, R960 T Tower server T160, T360, T560 M / MX Modular (blade) MX760c (blade in MX7000 chassis) C Cloud / Scale-out C6620 (multi-node) XE Extreme / […]
Broadcom MegaRAID vs LSI HBA: Controller Selection Guide
Broadcom (formerly LSI/Avago) makes both MegaRAID controllers (hardware RAID) and SAS HBAs (JBOD pass-through). The same physical card can often be cross-flashed between modes. MegaRAID vs HBA Series Mode Use Case MegaRAID 9460/9560 RAID (IR mode) Hardware RAID 0/1/5/6/10 SAS 9400/9500 HBA (IT mode) JBOD for ZFS/Ceph/TrueNAS Dell PERC and HPE Smart Array use Broadcom […]
Server Cable Guide: SAS, MiniSAS HD, Power, and Signal Cables
Internal server cables connect drives to controllers, distribute power, and carry signals. Using the wrong cable causes drive detection failures or intermittent errors. Common Cable Types Cable Purpose Connector MiniSAS HD (SFF-8643) SAS drives to RAID controller 36-pin MiniSAS (SFF-8087) Legacy SAS backplane 36-pin NVMe U.2 (SFF-8639) NVMe SSD to motherboard 68-pin GPU Power PCIe […]