Blade servers, x86: Buyer's Guide

Blade servers, x86: Buyer's Guide.

Here we present and try to compare different offers blade- servers from direct producers. In this review, the focus will be on x86- servers.

We begin with an overview of the phenomenon as such blade- server. A recent study by IDC found that the onset of blade segment is largely due to growth in the number of data centers ( data centers ), which is due to the increasing trend towards virtualization. More than two- thirds of the blade- servers located in data centers and server rooms are not in the business, or basements, and 38% of them - are virtualized, which is almost twice the average rate on the market.

... ' IT companies realize that blade- technology can help optimize their IT infrastructure to keep pace with constantly updated requirements of effective business, while simplifying their IT structure that optimizes makes flexible use of assets and a positive effect on energy saving. '.

A recent review of the server market IDC showed that blade servers are very bright and profitable area in the back end of the market. In this segment was 30.9% revenue growth and 8.3% growth in shipments. Under x86 ( 87 percent blade market), ' Blade ' received an impressive 21.4% of all proceeds from the sale of x86- servers.
Not a surprise that there are many blade- products from which to choose. This guide is not complete until the end, but it covers 95 % of the market, if you count in terms of sales.

Blade- I solutions from HP.
IDC put HP in the firm 's leaders race to the blade market with a 50% share of profits. According to Daniel Bowers, manager of HP's blade- segment, the company today predlaget 8 x86- making:.
*. HP ProLiant BL280c G6 Server Blade.
*. HP ProLiant BL2x220c G6 Server Blade.
*. HP ProLiant BL460c G6 Server Blade.
*. HP ProLiant WS460c G6 Workstation Blade.
*. HP ProLiant BL465c G6 Server Blade.
*. HP ProLiant BL490c G6 Server Blade.
*. HP ProLiant BL495c G6 Server Blade.
*. HP ProLiant BL685c G6 Server Blade.

These models cover a range covering the latest series of AMD Opteron and Intel Xeon, and a wide range of input / output devices and methods of network connection. In addition, they integrated Lights Out, and added some redundant functions, built-in RAID- controllers and more. There are also two -and four -processor model.

BL280c, for example, has one or two Xeon 5500/5600 processors. With a starting price of $ 1.509 you get a processor E5502, 2GB memory, two integrated 1GbE network ports and integrated controller SATA RAID ( but not the hard drive). As well as ki for the data center, Bowers said, this model is perfect for small and medium-sized enterprises that want to consolidate all IT business processes, such as file sharing and storage blades in the system at a low price.

A good mid-range model, which uses AMD Opteron, is the BL495c, which is more focused on the use of virtual environments. The starting configuration is a single-processor Opteron 2427, 4GB of memory, built-in dual 10- gigabit Ethernet controller, SATA controller, no hard drive will cost you $ 2.259.
In the high-end segment, HP offers a model for Opteron and Xeon on. BL685c comes with a dual-processor Opteron 8387, 8GB memory, two integrated 10- Gigabit Ethernet network controllers, SATA RAID controller with 512MB cache memory without a hard drive for $ 9289. Bowers (Bowers) recommend this machine for the virtualization, transaction processing and other demanding high load capacity and computational processes.

BL2x220c, on the other hand, with a starting price of $ 9679 has two server nodes, each with two processors Xeon E5530, 24GB of memory, two integrated 1GbE network ports, integrated SATA RAID controller with no hard drive. Bowers believes that this model is ideal for environments Top500 supercomputers in the petroleum sector, scientific computing and animation rendering.
It is necessary to carefully choose the architecture of the choice of blade. Because each vendor has his own scheme of blade system, which means that the blade components from one manufacturer are not compatible with other devices.

Bowyer also recommends the use of blade server using the same components and management tools that are used in the already installed racks. This eliminates the need for new processes, creating a unique inventory of spare parts and debugging of new management tools. Also, you need to pay special attention to the type, density and bandwidth at the installation site. Although the ' blade ', tend to be more energy efficient than traditional rack, still need to consider the possibility of installing new power servers. Some users, for example, in a hurry to buy, new blade- server, but they can not find the energy to run them all. HP BladeSystem Power Sizer is a tool that will help to eliminate such errors.

Now the main thing. Why buy this blade- unit HP? . ' blades ' on the date). Also, keep in mind the fact that the HP BladeSystem is the most widely used platform in the Top500 list of supercomputers. BL2x220c G6 has the highest computational density ( the amount of space per unit of computation ), up to 32 servers in a 10U space. In addition, the ' blade ' G6 include built-in 10Gb network controller. No other supplier of blade systems does not embed 10Gb Controllers.

In the next article, we will continue our review of the review of systems from IBM and the general conclusions on the x86- server products.


Source: http://www. serverwatch. com /.