Product guide

High-performance blade server optimized for virtualization
Please see the Legal Information section for important notices and information.
10.
BladeCenter E chassis (refreshed with the latest Advanced Management Modules and power
supply modules) offers maximum density, great flexibility and a wide variety of expansion
options at an entry-level price. The next-generation BladeCenter H chassis offers all of
BladeCenter’s capabilities, and adds high-performance features, including 10Gb fabric support.
If you need a ruggedized chassis (for example, government/military or telecom), BladeCenter
T offers special features optimized for those environments. (HS22V is not currently supported in
the BladeCenter T.) The next-generation BladeCenter HT is a high-performance ruggedized
telecommunications platform, also supporting 10Gb fabrics. There is a high degree of
interchangeability and compatibility of features among the chassis. All of these chassis can be
installed in a rack along with other rack-optimized equipment. See the separate BladeCenter
Chassis Sales Guide for details.
Advanced Systems Management Capabilities
Each BladeCenter chassis offers a high level of systems management capabilities that are well-
suited to remote locations as well as to stand-alone environments. Features include the
Advanced Management Module (AMM), Integrated Management Module (IMM), IBM
ToolsCenter, Automatic Server Restart, Systems Director Active Energy Manager, Wake on LAN
®
support, PXE 2.0 support, text and graphics console redirect, Predictive Failure Analysis,
Embedded Dynamic System Analysis, and IBM Systems Director.
The chassis-based AMM, in combination with the HS22V blade server’s IMM, provides industry-
standard Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) 2.0-compliant systems
management. The AMM provides a number of important system functions, including:
• Monitoring of system and battery voltage, system temperature, fans, power supplies, processor and
DIMM status
• Fan speed control
• Product ID and Family ID detection
• Highly secure remote power on/off
• System reset control
• NMI/SMI detection and generation
• System diagnostic LED control (power, HDD, activity, alerts, heartbeat)
• IPMI over LAN
• Serial Over LAN
• Proxy server support
• LAN messaging and alerting
• VLAN support
• Enhanced authentication and encryption algorithms (RMCP+, AES)
• Local update of IMM firmware
• Firmware firewall
• Support for IPMI v2.0 compliant management software (e.g., xCAT)
• Other mandatory and optional IPMI functions in the blade’s IMM
The IMM, via the management module, alerts IBM Systems Director to anomalous
environmental factors, such as voltage and thermal conditions—even if the server has failed.
Other systems management features offered for the combination of blade server and chassis
include:
• Predictive Failure Analysis for system processors, memory and HDDs, as well as chassis switch
modules, blower modules and power modules
• Web-based out-of-band control
• Latest OS failure screen capture
• Remote virtual media
• High-speed remote redirection of PCI video, keyboard and mouse
• SSL (Secure Socket Layer) and LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol) support
In order to put control of processor power-saving features at the fingertips of administrators, IBM
developed IBM Systems Director Active Energy Manager. Active Energy Manager is designed to
take advantage of new processor features, such as balancing the performance of the system
according to available power input. It provides the ability to plan and predict power consumption
based on your BladeCenter hardware configuration. It also helps you reduce the infrastructure
required for redundancy, by using fewer servers on smaller power feeds and potentially lowering
your overall data center support costs. It does this by inventorying all components at the blade
level, then adding up the power draw for each blade and tracking that usage. In failure mode,