IBM E - Manual (Page 10)

/ 1400W high-efficiency hot-swap/redundant power modules (upgradeable to four),
capable of handling the power needs of the entire chassis. Many servers use power
supplies with an efficiency level of approximately 65-75%. Because BladeCenter S uses
power supplies that are at least 90% efficient, much less power is wasted as heat. Not
only is more power available for chassis use, there is less power wasted as excess heat
output. Two additional power modules must be installed when the second Storage Module
is used.
•
Redundant midplane connections — Each chassis contains a midplane that connects
all blades and modules together internally. The midplane provides two physical
connections to each blade; therefore, a failure of one connector alone cannot bring down
the server.
•
A hot-swappable Media Tray containing a DVD-RW/CD-RW drive, two USB 2.0 port,
two BBU module bays, and a light path diagnostic panel—the media tray is shared by
all the blades in the server. This eliminates unnecessary parts (and reduces the number of
parts than can fail). In the event of a failure of the Media Tray the tray can be swapped for
another. While the tray is offline, the servers in the chassis can remotely access the Media
Tray in another chassis. The diagnostic LEDs indicate chassis status.
It is extremely important to include all infrastructure costs when comparing a
BladeCenter S solution to a competitor’s offering, not just the cost of the chassis and the
blades. The high density and level of integration of the BladeCenter chassis greatly
reduces the cost of the overall solution. For example, because up to six chassis will fit in
a rack, this means that up to 24 switches can be installed per rack without having to
reserve any “U” space for the switches, unlike the competition. (And the integrated
switches may be less expensive than external, self-powered switches.) Plus, the number
of power distribution units (PDUs) needed per rack may be reduced, because there
are fewer discrete devices to have to plug in. In addition, because all the blades are
connected to all the switches inside the chassis, there is no need for external Ethernet
or other communication cables to connect the blades and switches. (Only the few
cables needed to connect the switches to the external world are required.) This not only
saves the cost of numerous cables per rack, but also the clutter and bother of routing that
many cables. An added bonus is potentially much freer airflow behind the rack, due to
fewer cables.
BladeCenter E is a 7U chassis that provides:
•
Reduced single points of failure — Many major components (either standard or
optionally) are hot-swappable and/or redundant. Servers and modules can be
configured for automatic failover to backups.
• Forward and backward compatibility — Most blades, and every switch and passthru
module released by IBM for BladeCenter E since 2002, are supported. Many new blades
and fabric switches released for IBM BladeCenter H, BladeCenter T, or BladeCenter HT
are also supported in the BladeCenter E chassis.
• Fourteen 30mm blade slots — These hot-swap slots are capable of supporting almost
any combination of 14 HC10/HS12/HS20/HS21/HS21 XM, LS20/LS21, and
JS12/JS20/JS21, or QS20 (Cell/B.E) blade servers, or 7 double-wide (60mm) HS40 or
LS41 blade servers or a mixture of 30mm and 60mm blades. (Note: The QS20 blade
cannot be mixed with other blades.) It also supports multiple optional 30mm Expansion
Units in combination with the blade servers, using the same blade slots. Up to six chassis
can be installed in an industry-standard 42U rack, for a total of up to 84 30mm blade
servers per rack, with full power redundancy.
• Four module bays for communication and I/O switches — The modules interface with
all of the blade servers in the chassis and eliminate the need for external switches or
expensive, cumbersome, and error-prone cabling. All connections are done internally via
the midplane. Two module slots are reserved for hot-swap/redundant Gigabit Ethernet
switch modules. The other two bays support additional Gigabit Ethernet modules, or Fibre
Channel, InfiniBand, and other switch modules or pass-through devices. All modules,
when installed in pairs, offer load balancing and failover support. Integrated switch
modules mean that no extra “U space” is required in the rack.
•
Two module bays for management modules (IBM BladeCenter Management Module
or the newer Advanced Management Module, depending on the model of the BladeCenter
chassis) — The management module provides advanced systems management and
KVM capabilities for not only the chassis itself, but for all of the blades and other modules
installed in the chassis. The management module provides capabilities similar to the IBM
Remote Supervisor Adapter II used in stand-alone IBM System x
™ or IBM eServer ™
xSeries ® rack and tower servers. The features of the management module can be
accessed either locally or remotely across a network. One module comes standard. A
second management module can be added for hot-swap/redundancy and failover.
• Two module bays for Blower Modules — Two hot-swap/redundant blower modules
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