IBM BladeCenter S Distributed, small office, easy to configure IBM BladeCenter T Ruggedized IBM BladeCenter E Best energy efficiency, best density IBM BladeCenter H High performance IBM BladeCenter HT Ruggedized, high performance IBM BladeCenter Chassis Product Guide September 2008
Table of Contents Overview 3 BladeCenter Chassis Positioning 4 IBM BladeCenter Chassis 6 BladeCenter I/O Modules 30 Rack vs. Blades Positioning 33 Citrix Solution 37 Virtualization Solution 38 Please see the Legal Information section for important notices and information. 2.
Overview You need to make IT decisions that will drive business success. You face management challenges and technological complexity such as space constraints, power and cooling limitations, heterogeneous environments and I/O connectivity issues. IBM brings together the widest choice of compatible chassis, blade servers, storage and networking offerings and solution providers in the industry to help you build an open and flexible IT environment.
BladeCenter Chassis Positioning Which BladeCenter Chassis is Right for You? IBM offers five different BladeCenter chassis built across a consistent architecture. The chassis are targeted to meet your unique requirements, yet all encompass the same commitment to excellence. Remember, BladeCenter blades and switches can be seamlessly moved between chassis. This offers investment protection and incredibly flexible, mix-andmatch deployment choices.
IBM BladeCenter HT BladeCenter HT is a new telecommunications-optimized version of IBM BladeCenter H. It delivers outstanding core network performance and high-speed connectivity.
IBM BladeCenter Chassis Today’s data center environment is tougher than ever. You are looking to reduce IT cost, complexity, space requirements, power consumption and heat output, while increasing ® ® flexibility, utilization and manageability. Moving to innovative IBM BladeCenter as your IT foundation can help you accomplish all of these goals.
Selling Features Price/Performance • The extremely high degree of integration in the various BladeCenter chassis reduces the need for server components, replacing numerous fans, KVM and Ethernet cables, power supplies, external switches and other components with fewer shared hotswap/redundant components in the BladeCenter chassis themselves. This integration also can greatly reduce the amount of power consumed and heat produced, relative to an equivalent number of 1U servers—or competitive bade systems.
capabilities by “surfacing” pertinent information about your blade server. The easy-to-use Deployment Wizard also provides step-by-step installation instructions and offers automated deployment capabilities. • Each BladeCenter chassis includes an Advanced Management Module (AMM). The AMM boosts administrator productivity and reduces skill level requirements, which can help reduce costs, improve overall productivity and make administration easier.
BladeCenter S provides: • A choice of installation methods — Designed for either rack or deskside use with the optional Office Enablement Kit, it’s ideal for offices or remote/branch locations. • Integrated compute blades, SAN storage, and switches in one chassis — In addition to six blade servers, the BladeCenter S also supports 12 shared hot-swap 3.
/ 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.
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 to contain its own fans. The two blowers are more energy efficient than dozens or hundreds of smaller fans would be, and they offer many fewer points of potential failure.
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.
• NEBS Level 3/ETSI-tested — Designed for the Network Equipment Provider (NEP)/Service Provider (SP) environment. Also ideal for government/military, aerospace, industrial automation/robotics, medical imaging and finance. Certified testing by Underwriters Laboratories of the BladeCenter HT chassis is in progress; when complete, it will be covered under a UL-certified NEBS Level 3/ETSI test report. • Support for Carrier-Grade Linux — Several distributions are supported, include SUSE and Red Hat.
switches. (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 lessened, 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.
Key Features • Two hot-swappable Media Trays each contain two external USB 2.0 ports, a light path diagnostic panel, and support a 1GB/4GB compact flash (CF) option — The media trays are 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.
• Local update of BMC firmware • Firmware firewall • Support for IPMI v2.0 compliant management software (e.g.
• Network attached storage (NAS) — Provides a large capacity, highly available and secure ™ environment for storing mission-critical data. The System Storage N series attaches to IBM BladeCenter using integrated Ethernet switch modules. • Storage area network (SAN) — Offers iSCSI and Fibre Channel SANs for highperformance, block-level storage solutions. With IBM System Storage DS3000, DS4000, DS6000 and DS8000, IBM can help you create an easy-to-deploy storage solution for your SMB or enterprise needs.
Additional services include hardware warranty upgrades and factory-installed Product Customization Services (PCS), such as asset tagging, hardware integration, software imaging and operating systems personalization. IBM offers extensive technical support by phone and via the Web.
BladeCenter S Chassis Specifications Machine type 8886-1Ex/Y, 1Mx/1MY, AC1 Rack form factor 7U # of DVD/CD drives standard 1 DVD-RW/CD-RW (in Media Tray) # of diskette drives standard None (USB-attached) # of internal (chassis-based) H/S SAS HDDs supported 12 (3.5-inch) # of Media Tray module bays 2 Internal tape drives supported Internal hot-swap disk drive support Internal disk storage capacity None (SAN-attached) 12 hot-swap SAS/SATA/Nearline SAS (mix-and-match) 3.
BladeCenter S Chassis Specifications Length of limited warranty 3 years (parts and labor) onsite BladeCenter E Chassis Images Front View Rear View Empty Module Slots CD-ROM Drive Ethernet Switch Module Media Tray Management Module Blower Module Blade Server Floppy Drive Redundant Management Module Slot Midplane Other Blade Servers Blower Module Empty Power Module Slots Light Path Diagnostics Panel Power Modules Interior View Diagnostic LEDs USB Port CD-ROM Drive Floppy Drive Redundant Mi
BladeCenter E Chassis Specifications # of management modules (std / max) 1 / 2 hot-swap/redundant Systems management controller Management Module # of RS485 ports 1 (on Management Module) # of serial breakout ports None (Serial over LAN only) # of parallel ports None # of mouse ports 1 (on Management Module) # of keyboard ports 1 (on Management Module) # of USB ports 2 (1 on Media Tray, one on Management Module) Light path diagnostic panel Predictive Failure Analysis support Yes (in Media T
Interior View Power Supply Modules (showing fan 3-pack) Media Tray Empty blade slots Power Supply Modules (showing fan 3-pack) BladeCenter H Chassis Specifications Machine type 8852-4XU Rack form factor 9U # of DVD/CD drives standard 1 (in Media Tray; can choose to have either a read-only or multi-burner or no DVD/CD drive at all) # of diskette drives standard None Internal tape drives supported External disk drive support # of video ports None (SAN-attached) NAS/SAN-attach 1 (on Management Modu
BladeCenter H Chassis Specifications # of keyboard ports None (USB-attach) # of USB 2.0 ports 2 (on Management Module) Light path diagnostic panel 2 (one on Media Tray, one on Management Module) Blades, bridge/switch modules, I/O modules, management modules, power modules, blower modules, media tray Predictive Failure Analysis support Power supply size standard 2900W AC # of power supplies standard / maximum 2 / 4 hot-swap/redundant Heat output 1700 BTUs/hr, (500W) min.
BladeCenter T Chassis Specifications # of video ports 1 (in rear KVM module) # of blade slots / orientation 8 x 30mm (low-voltage), 7 x 30mm (non-low-voltage), 4 x 60mm, or combinations thereof / horizontal Fabric bandwidth 1Gbps # of switch module bays 4 # of management modules std / max Systems management controller 1/2 BladeCenter T Advanced Management Module # of RS485 ports None # of serial breakout ports None # of parallel ports None (USB-based) # of mouse ports None (USB-based) # of
BladeCenter HT Chassis Images Front View Rear View High-Speed Switch Modules Power Supply Modules A/C Power Plugs Multiplexer Expansion Modules A/C Power Plugs USB 2.0 Ports Media Tray Advanced Management Module Switch/Bridge Module Bays H/S Fan Modules Switch/Bridge Module Bays (hidden) Video Ports Empty Blade Slots Advanced Management Module High-Speed Switch Modules Blade Server Media Tray USB 2.
BladeCenter HT Chassis Specifications # of mouse ports None (USB-attach) # of keyboard ports None (USB-attach) # of USB 2.
Chassis Side-by-Side Comparison SMB Chassis Chassis name BladeCenter S Enterprise Chassis BladeCenter E BladeCenter H Telecom Chassis BladeCenter T DC -48V to -60V (nominal) AC at 208V BladeCenter HT DC -48V to -60V (nominal) AC at 208V; 3160W AC at 240V 110V; 220V 220V 220V 220V 220V Heat output 1365 BTUs/hr (400W) min.; 11,942 BTUs/hr. (3500W) max. 2342 BTUs/hr (686W) min.; 18,680 BTUs/hr. (5478W) max. 1700 BTUs/hr, (500W) min.; 26,000 BTUs/hr (7600W) max. 675 BTUs/hr, (197W) min.
Chassis / Blades / Management Module Compatibility BCS BCE BCT2 BCH BCHT3 HS20 single/dual-core (8832/8843) Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes HS21 dual-core (8853) Yes Yes Up to 65W processor power draw Yes Up to 80W HS21 quad-core (8853) Yes Up to 80W Up to 7 blades at 80W Yes Up to 10 at 3 120W HS21 XM dual-core (7995) Yes Up to 80W Up to 65W Yes Up to 80W HS21 XM quad-core (7995) Yes Up to 80W Up to 7 blades 4 at 80W Yes Up to 12 at 80W HS40 single-core (8839) No Yes No Yes No
P/N I/O Module BCS BCE BCT BCH BCHT MSIM 32R1861 Nortel Layer 2/3 Fiber Gb Ethernet Switch Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes 1 39Y9324 Server Connectivity Module Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes 1 InfiniBand 43W4419 4x InfiniBand Pass-Thru Module No No No Yes Yes 3 32R1756 Cisco Systems 4X InfiniBand Switch Module No No No Yes Yes 3 32R1900 Cisco Systems InfiniBand Switch Module No Yes Yes Yes Yes 3 39Y9207 QLogic InfiniBand Ethernet Bridge Module No No No Yes Yes 3 39Y9211 QLo
BladeCenter I/O Modules Ethernet Cisco Fiber Intelligent Gigabit Ethernet Switch Module for IBM BladeCenter External SFP-based ports for fiber connectivity (SFPs available from Cisco). Supports high availability networks through support of advanced STP protocols and trunk failover functionality. Optimizes delivery through support of multicast protocols such as IGMP snooping. Eases network management through support of Cisco IOS, CiscoWorks, and Cluster Management System.
Nortel 1/10Gb Uplink Ethernet Switch Module for IBM BladeCenter Perfect investment protection for Clients who require 1Gb today and 10Gb for future growth. It is easy to configure, use and manage via a web-based interface. It provides full Layer 2/3 support and uses next-generation SFP+ modules to migrate to 10Gb on the same switch. It also supports 6 1Gb and 3 10Gb Uplink ports.
SAS SAS Connectivity Module This high-performance, 3Gbps, SAS-based pass-thru module enables broad storage functionality. It enables up to 12 3.5 in. SAS or SATA disks using the Disk Storage Module. It also enables use of entry storage products such as IBM System Storage DS3200. Provides 4 external 3Gb ports. Easy to use IBM Storage Configuration Manager (SCM) or industry standard CLI. BladeCenter S SAS RAID Controller Module Enables a fully redundant SAN within the BladeCenter S chassis.
Rack vs. Blades Positioning Businesses of all sizes continue to struggle with the overwhelming complexity created by the rapid growth of their IT environments. They are running out of room and exceeding power thresholds in their computer rooms and data centers. And, they are increasingly being asked to do more with less. Blade infrastructures offer ways to simplify your IT, increase density and decrease power requirements while lowering total costs.
Benefit Description Efficiency Energy efficiency is a big issue today and for the foreseeable future. Moving from racks to blades can help you optimize your resources.
Energy Efficiency The cost of power has become a huge component of IT operating budgets all around the world. Many clients are facing the critical issue of providing sufficient power and cooling to support their highly dense data center. Clients are demanding solutions that allow them to get their work done, while fitting into an affordable power and cooling envelope.
• • • • • Currently use Solaris and are looking for a low-cost transition to Linux Are looking to migrate from Sun T2000 servers Face limitations due to an aging data center Are looking to integrate Intel, AMD and/or IBM processor-based servers within one infrastructure Are looking to reduce system administration costs through consolidation and more efficient remote management Stay with rack servers if you: • Have few servers and are not growing your infrastructure • Require SMP systems with eight or more
Citrix Solution Citrix Presentation Server (PS) enables users to potentially save large sums of money on management costs and to minimize data security risks by installing all Windows applications in the data center and virtualizing or streaming them to end users over the network. It allows you to deliver applications quickly to remote users without leaving the data center, by using state-of-the-art application streaming and application virtualization technologies.
IBM Virtualization Solution Today, the line between scale-up and scale-out servers is blurring. Multicore processors allow all servers to run scale-up workloads to some extent. At the same time, scale-up servers can run multiple virtualized scale-out workloads. Performance becomes about utilization through virtualization, which is crucial to unlocking the value of multicore processors.
IBM Virtual Client solution components can include: IBM System x and BladeCenter Servers IBM System x and BladeCenter servers are built on open standards and offer a range of affordable, high performance, easy to manage platforms designed to help optimize your datacenter and lower your cost of ownership. IBM System Storage • IBM System Storage DS3400 leads the way for organizations to take advantage of consolidating and sharing data within a direct-attach or SAN solution.
For More Information IBM System x Servers Electronic Service Agent IBM System x and BladeCenter Power Configurator Standalone Solutions Configuration Tool Configuration and Options Guide ServerProven Program Technical Support Other Technical Support Resources http://www.ibm.com/systems/x http://www.ibm.com/support/electronic http://www.ibm.com/systems/bladecenter/powerconfig http://www.ibm.com/servers/eserver/xseries/library/configtools.html http://www.ibm.com/servers/eserver/xseries/cog http://www.ibm.
