If the HP NetServer E 45 crashes, all the critical technical data you need
is on the Navigator CD-ROM. However, you must install the HP Information
Assistant, as shown in Screen 1, on a client PC to view the necessary data.
Because of this requirement, you need a working PC next to the NetServer to
reference the Navigator CD-ROM. Alternatively, you can print all 300 pages of
the information.
HP offers several support options, including same-day, second-day, or
24-hour support packages for 3 years. Standard with the product is 1-year,
on-site, next-business-day support, which your local reseller or HP's customer
support delivers.
The Owner's Manual
The HP NetServer Navigator documentation is available in five languages and
includes the Installation Roadmap, which is superb. The Roadmap steps you
through installation in a well-documented, detailed manner and has diagrams for
everything from installing expansion cards to setting SCSI jumpers.
The NetServer hardware documentation is adequate, but I take exception to
the heavy emphasis on CD-ROM based content. A technician enjoys a printed manual
with product descriptions, diagrams, and detailed technical information. A
printed manual lets you fully repair and replace every major component, and
troubleshoot the majority of system problems without having to scrounge up
another PC just to read the documentation.
How It Performed
For my performance tests, I used the Lab's standard configuration: a set of
client machines on a 100Mbps Ethernet network that simulates the workload of
multiple users. (For details about the Lab's test environment, see the sidebar,
"The Lab's Test Environment.") I used Bluecurve's Dynameasure for File
Services 1.5 as the workload engine. (For information about this product, see
Lab Reports, "Dynameasure Enterprise 1.5," September 1997.) The
combination of Dynameasure and the Lab's test environment simulates typical user
workloads and provides quantitative benchmarks that you can use to
compare hardware and software performance.
For a comparison test system, I used a brand-name server with quad 166MHz
Pentiums, 512MB of RAM, four SCSI hard disks, and an Intel EtherExpress Pro/100
Adapter running NT 4.0 and Service Pack (SP) 2. I selected the Copy All
Bi-directional tests because of the random order of 16 different transactions
that copy compressed data, uncompressed data, binary files, text files, and
image files between the server and the clients. Because HP targets the HP
NetServer E 45 for 25 to 50 workstation networks, I tested a range of 10 to 100
users. The results surprised me. With up to 40 users, the HP NetServer E 45
could perform as well, if not better, than a quad Pentium system.
Overall, the HP NetServer E 45 was impressive. It was easy to install and
use across the network, and the performance was outstanding. Not bad for a
system in a minitower chassis.
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