High-performance blade server optimized for virtualization
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9.
with 6GB, 12GB, 18GB, 24GB, 48GB, 72GB, 96GB, etc., for optimized performance.
Power guidelines:
Fewer larger DIMMs (for example, 6 x 4GB DIMMs vs. 12 x 2GB DIMMs) will generally have
lower power requirements
x8 DIMMs (x8 data width of rank) will generally draw less power than equivalently sized x4
DIMMs
Reliability guidelines:
Using fewer, larger DIMMs (for example 6 x 4 GB DIMMs vs. 12 x 2GB DIMMs) is generally
more reliable
Xeon 5600 series and 5500 series memory controllers support IBM Chipkill memory
protection technology with x4 DIMMs (x4 data width of rank), but not with x8 DIMMs
For increased availability, the HS22V offers two additional levels of IBM Active Memory
protection:
memory mirroring
and
memory sparing
.
Memory mirroring
works much like disk mirroring. The total memory is divided into two channels.
Data is
written concurrently to both channels
. (The third channel is unused.) If a DIMM fails in one
of the DIMMs in the primary channel, it is instantly disabled and the mirrored (backup) memory in
the other channel becomes active (primary) until the failing DIMM is replaced. With mirroring
enabled, one-third of total memory (6 DIMMs) is available for use. (
Note:
Due to the double
writes to memory, performance is affected.) Mirroring is handled at the hardware level; no
operating system support is required.
In
memory sparing
, one of the three memory channels (Ch2) for each processor is reserved as a
spare for the other two channels (Ch0 and Ch1). This means that unlike mirroring (where one
third of the memory is reserved for redundancy and one-third is unused), with sparing only one-
third is reserved, leaving two-thirds (12 DIMMs) available as usable memory.
Note:
Although
DIMMs within a channel do not have to be identical, the DIMMs in each of the three channels
must be identical to the other channels regarding capacity and organization. (In other words, if
the DIMMs in Ch0 are 2GB 2Rx4, 8GB 1Rx8, and 4GB 2Rx4, respectively (all 1.35V), then the
DIMMs in Ch1 and CH2 must also be 2GB 2Rx4, 8GB 1Rx8, and 4GB 2Rx4 (all 1.35V), in that
order.)
DDR3 memory is available in
1GB
,
2GB
,
4GB
,
8GB
, and
16GB
DIMMs. DIMMs are installed
individually by processor. In other words, individually in a 1-processor system, or in pairs for a 2-
processor system.
Integrated Virtualization
All models of the HS22V support a
USB 2.0 Flash Key
installed preloaded with
VMware
vSphere Hypervisor
(formerly ESXi). Rather than management through a Service Console
based on a Linux operating system, vSphere Hypervisor relies on aggregate management tools,
including VirtualCenter, the Remote Command Line interface and the introduction of CIM for
standards-based and agentless hardware monitoring.
vSphere Hypervisor includes all the performance, scalability and compatibility features of a
hypervisor installed on disk, including full
VMFS
support across FC SAN, iSCSI SAN, and NAS,
and
4-way VSMP
. Because it runs from flash memory, it’s extremely fast and ideal for diskless
configurations. It also offers enhanced security, because it runs without an operating system-
based console and is updated/patched much like firmware.
High-Performance Adapter Slots
The HS22V blade server includes
two PCIe
adapter slots. They support
CFF
(compact form
factor) cards: one standard-speed
CIOv
and one high-speed
CFFh
.
The
BladeCenter
PCI Express I/O Expansion Unit 3
(BPE3) adds
2 standard full-height/full-
length x16
physical
/x8
electrical (
4GBps
)
PCIe
Gen 1
expansion card slots, supporting adapters
of up to
25W
apiece to an HS22V. One BPE3 can be connected per HS22V blade, for a total of
3
available slots (
1
in the blade and
2
in the expansion unit).
Note:
The BPE3 reserves the high-
speed CFFh expansion connector in the HS22V, leaving only the CIOv slot available.
Similarly, the optional
BladeCenter
PCI Express Gen 2 Expansion Blade 4
(BPE4) adds
2
standard full-height/two-third-length x16
physical
/x16
electrical (
16GBps
)
PCIe
Gen 2
expansion card slots. These slots are capable of supporting two high-performance graphics
processing units (
GPUs
) of up to
75W
apiece, for tremendous graphics processing performance.
Up to
4
of these expansion units can be attached to a single blade server (creating a 150mm 5-
wide server), for a total of
10
available slots (
2
in the blade and
2
each in the expansion units;
maximum 2 GPUs).
Note:
The BPE4 does
not
reserve the high-speed CFFh expansion
connector in the HS22V, leaving both slots available in the server.
If I/O slots are a greater need than processors or memory, attaching multiple BPE4 I/O
