May 15, 2008 at 02:48Blade servers to replace conventional.
Everyone knows that the development of technology is going on in a spiral and now we are at its new round. I think everyone heard and probably worked with the so-called “blade servers”? In this topic, I would like to tell you a little about them, as well as what bonuses this type of server provides us.
In general, the blade server is nothing new from the point of view of server system architecture. Roughly speaking, these are 1u tightly packed in a large box, and in the box you can, in addition to the servers themselves, cram other hardware solutions in the form of blades. In general, the word blade reflects the essence of the hyperfineness of various hardware and modules.
It’s no secret that “caring” for a server room is a painstaking process and probably in most server rooms, when looking at a cabinet, one wonders, “Where is cho?” It is estimated that for a completely clogged, 1u server (42 pieces), a rack requires 140 cables: power, kvm, network & etc., when using a blade server you need ~ 3 cables, it’s better, isn’t it? As a matter of fact, the transition to blade servers is caused by a higher packaging density than 1u-2u -..., cheaper administration and energy costs.
Let's talk a little about blade server design. In general, blade servers can be considered to consist of three main components:
1 - the chassis into which the blade modules with hot-swap capabilities are inserted;
2 - server-type blade modules inserted into the chassis - a regular server, but in a special case;
3 - additional modules inserted into the chassis, which can be replaced by server modules.
Server-type blade modules contain at least one processor, RAM and disk memory.
The chassis can have a back or middle board for organizing access to common infrastructure components: Ethernet / Fiber Channel / KVM switches), system ports, fans and power supplies. Which hardware components are made common depends on the manufacturer.
Additional modules are used by server-type blade modules together and may include control, power, fan, switch modules. These modules may have controllers for external devices, including. SCSI, Fiber Channel, disk arrays, iSCSI, Infiniband, etc. With fast communication channels, this allows you to build systems using SAN and NAS technologies .
These are the basic principles of blade servers, from which you can more accurately understand the advantages compared to 1u-2u- ... servers.
So, once again, the advantages:
1 - a significant reduction in energy consumption => less power-> less heat-> less air-> less cabinet-> less space-> lower TCO
2 - flexibility of the infrastructure due to modularity, simplification and integration
3 - increase in efficiency by 50-60% thanks to virtualization The
approximate cost of the chassis is -2-3k $.
The approximate cost of the server module is $ 1-2.5k.
Payback for 2 years.
But what about the old 1u server?
In general, the blade server is nothing new from the point of view of server system architecture. Roughly speaking, these are 1u tightly packed in a large box, and in the box you can, in addition to the servers themselves, cram other hardware solutions in the form of blades. In general, the word blade reflects the essence of the hyperfineness of various hardware and modules.
It’s no secret that “caring” for a server room is a painstaking process and probably in most server rooms, when looking at a cabinet, one wonders, “Where is cho?” It is estimated that for a completely clogged, 1u server (42 pieces), a rack requires 140 cables: power, kvm, network & etc., when using a blade server you need ~ 3 cables, it’s better, isn’t it? As a matter of fact, the transition to blade servers is caused by a higher packaging density than 1u-2u -..., cheaper administration and energy costs.
Let's talk a little about blade server design. In general, blade servers can be considered to consist of three main components:
1 - the chassis into which the blade modules with hot-swap capabilities are inserted;
2 - server-type blade modules inserted into the chassis - a regular server, but in a special case;
3 - additional modules inserted into the chassis, which can be replaced by server modules.
Server-type blade modules contain at least one processor, RAM and disk memory.
The chassis can have a back or middle board for organizing access to common infrastructure components: Ethernet / Fiber Channel / KVM switches), system ports, fans and power supplies. Which hardware components are made common depends on the manufacturer.
Additional modules are used by server-type blade modules together and may include control, power, fan, switch modules. These modules may have controllers for external devices, including. SCSI, Fiber Channel, disk arrays, iSCSI, Infiniband, etc. With fast communication channels, this allows you to build systems using SAN and NAS technologies .
These are the basic principles of blade servers, from which you can more accurately understand the advantages compared to 1u-2u- ... servers.
So, once again, the advantages:
1 - a significant reduction in energy consumption => less power-> less heat-> less air-> less cabinet-> less space-> lower TCO
2 - flexibility of the infrastructure due to modularity, simplification and integration
3 - increase in efficiency by 50-60% thanks to virtualization The
approximate cost of the chassis is -2-3k $.
The approximate cost of the server module is $ 1-2.5k.
Payback for 2 years.
But what about the old 1u server?