Gateway GR380 F1 review
Gateway’s new 2U rack server aims to take on HP’s mighty ProLiant DL380 G7. The GR380 F1 is inexpensive, but is this enough to take on one of the most popular rack servers in the world?
The GR380 F1 is a solidly built 2U rack server and the equal of the DL380 G7 for storage capacity as it too supports up to sixteen SFF hard disks. It’s very good value too, although HP’s standard RAID features are better as it supports SAS and SATA hard disks and its remote management and power monitoring tools are vastly superior.


The Gateway GR380 F1

The interior of the Gateway GR380 F1

Gateway’s Smart Setup CD provides help with OS installation along with diagnostics tools.

The embedded management controller has a tidy web interface with direct access to remote control and virtual media tools.

The controller provides plenty of information on server health and thresholds for each value can be used to trigger alerts.

The Smart Server Manager can keep an eye on multiple Gateway servers and provides graphs of sensor readings.

The server’s power supplies can be remotely controlled but Gateway doesn’t have any power capping or usage metering tools.
When Acer launched is Gateway business technology brand earlier this year, the company made it very clear to us that the UK server market is critical to its success. Gateway has a big family of rack, pedestal and blade servers and the model naming convention it's used leaves us in no doubt that HP is its main target.
Gateway is targeting the channel only and plans to compete primarily in the 1,000 seat space. On review is the new GR380 F1 which probably has the toughest job of all Gateway servers as it targets HP's ProLiant DL380 G7 . The ProLiant sets the standard for 2U rack servers and in this review we find out whether Gateway can match or even beat it.
For disk connections you start with the embedded Intel SATA controller which has six ports. With a DVD drive taking one port this only leaves you five for the hard disks so if you want to use all eight bays you'll need to add an extra RAID expansion card.
HP's DL380 G7 has superior RAID features out of the box since it has an embedded P410i Smart Array controller which supports up to eight SAS/SATA drives and RAID 6. Further storage expansion procedures are the same for Gateway and HP as you need to add a second eight-drive expansion bay plus an extra RAID card to manage it.
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Dave is an IT consultant and freelance journalist specialising in hands-on reviews of computer networking products covering all market sectors from small businesses to enterprises. Founder of Binary Testing Ltd – the UK’s premier independent network testing laboratory - Dave has over 45 years of experience in the IT industry.
Dave has produced many thousands of in-depth business networking product reviews from his lab which have been reproduced globally. Writing for ITPro and its sister title, PC Pro, he covers all areas of business IT infrastructure, including servers, storage, network security, data protection, cloud, infrastructure and services.
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