Datasheet

A Principled Technologies test report 5
Cisco UCS B230 M2 Blade Server:
Uncompromised virtual desktop performance
WHAT WE TESTED
About the Cisco UCS B230 M2 Blade Server
We used a VDI-optimized, dual-socket Cisco UCS B230 M2 Blade Server with a pair of
Intel 10-core, 2.4 GHz Xeon (2800/4800 series) processors, two 32GB Intel X-25E SATA SSDs, and
512 GB of system memory. We installed a Cisco M81KR Virtual Interface Card (VIC) into the
server, which is a dual-port 10Gb Converged Network Adapter (CNA) optimized for
virtualization. The M81KR supports up to 128 PCIe-compliant virtual interfaces and Cisco VN-
Link technology. The VIC ensures reliable 10Gb, low-latency connectivity to SAN and LAN, while
allowing for greater flexibility and ease of management. Additionally, the Cisco UCS B230 M2
blade server provides support for two hot-swappable SSD drives that are accessible from the
front of the server, and for an LSI SAS2108 RAID controller. The UCS B230 server also comes
with one dual-port mezzanine card that can provide up to 20 Gbps I/O per blade.
To learn more, see Appendix A for more detailed hardware specifications, or visit
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps11583/index.html.
About the Cisco UCS Manager
The Cisco UCS Manager enables unified, embedded management that integrates the
management of both software and hardware on the Cisco UCS solution. The UCS Manager
centralizes server management, making it easier in several key ways. First, role-based
management makes it easy to assign unique management roles to different administrators (i.e.,
server, network, or storage admins) so that each can be assigned his or her own unique policies
and permissions, while still being part of an integrated management environment. Policy-based
provisioning provides managers with the ability to create service profile templates that they
apply to one or 100 servers, making it easy to apply consistent policies. The Cisco USC Manager
makes server management less about managing isolated, single hardware components and
more about managing many hardware components (up to 40 chassis and 320 blades) as a single
management domain. The use of service profiles allows managers to allocate and reallocate
server resources, which the UCS Manager views as “raw computing capacity.” This way, server
capacity allocation becomes more dynamic and efficient, with managers able to deploy and
reallocate server resources in a matter of minutes.
To learn more about the Cisco UCS Manager, visit
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps10281/index.html.
About VMware View 5
VMware designed its View 5 desktop virtualization software to simplify IT management
of virtual desktops from within the cloud. A centralized interface allows administrators to
manage upwards of tens of thousands of end-users. An administrator can easily manage settings
such as policy enforcement, performance monitoring, connection brokering, and provisioning,
to name a few. The result includes improved security, less costly management, and faster