modules interface with all of the blade servers in the chassis and alleviate 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.
Two
slots support either
high-speed bridge modules
or legacy Gigabit Ethernet,
Myrinet
,
Fibre Channel
,
InfiniBand
and other
switch
modules.
Two
slots are dedicated for
bridge
modules.
Four
additional slots are dedicated
for
hot-swap/redundant
high-speed switch
modules. All modules, when in stalled in
pairs, offer
load balancing
and
failover
support.
•
Integrated
switch and bridge modules
mean that
no additional rack
“U” space
is
required.
•
Two module bays
for
Advanced Management Modules
— The management modules
provide 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 Advanced
Management Module provides capabilities similar to the IBM
Remote Supervisor
Adapter II
SlimLine
used in stand-alone System x rack and tower servers. Features
include concurrent KVM (cKVM), an external Serial over LAN connection, industry-
standard management interfaces (SMASH/CLP/CIM/HPI), USB virtualization, network
failover and backward compatibility with the original Management Module, among others.
The features of the module can be accessed either
locally
or
remotely
across a network.
One module comes standard. A second module can be added for
hot-swap/redundancy
and
failover
. The module uses
USB
ports for keyboard and mouse.
•
Two module bays
for
Blower Modules
— Two
hot-swap/redundant
blower modules
come standard with the chassis. They are capable of providing efficient cooling for up to
14
blades
. These modules replace the need for each blade and switch to contain its own
fans. The blowers are more energy efficient than dozens or hundreds of smaller fans
would be, and they offer many fewer points of potential failure. BladeCenter H also
includes up to four additional hot-swap/redundant fan packs to cool the power supplies
and high-speed switch modules.
•
Four bays
for
Power Modules
— BladeCenter H ships with
two
2900W high-efficiency
hot-swap/redundant
power modules (upgradeable to
four
), capable of handling the
power needs of the entire chassis, including future higher-wattage processors. Each
power module includes a customer-replaceable hot-swap/redundant fan pack (3 fans) for
additional cooling capability.
•
A
hot-swappable Media Tray
containing an optional
DVD/CD read only or CVD/CD
multi-burner
drive,
two USB 2.0
ports, and a
light path diagnostic panel
— The media
tray is
shared by all the blades
in the server. This reduces 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 light path diagnostic panel contains LEDs
that indicate chassis status.
•
Multi-Switch Interconnect Module (MSIM)
— When installed in a
BladeCenter H
high-
speed switch bay, the optional IBM Multi-Switch Interconnect Module (MSIM) doubles the
number of ports available to any blade server in the chassis. Depending on the switch, this
can mean up to 8 or 12 Gigabit Ethernet or Fibre Channel ports per blade.
•
A
serial breakout port with optional cable
— This provides a direct serial connection to
each blade server installed in the chassis, as an alternative to Serial over LAN. (
Note:
This
applies only to newer blades that include this capability.)
•
It is extremely important to
include
all
infrastructure costs
when comparing a
BladeCenter H 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 H chassis can greatly
reduce the cost of the overall solution. For example, because up to
four
chassis will fit in a
rack, this means that
up to 56 blade servers can be installed
. Also, because up to
10
(
1Gb
or
10Gb
) Ethernet, Myrinet, Fibre Channel, InfiniBand or other bridges and switches
can be installed
per chassis
,
up to 40 switches and bridges 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, bridges 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 T
is a carrier grade, rugged
8U
(
20-inch
deep) chassis designed for
challenging central office and networking environments. It provides:
Please see the Legal Information section for important notices and information.
12.
