Blade Enclosures & Blade Servers are integrated environments which were designed to reduce total and first purchase costs of Blade System c-Class, BladeCenter E, H ..etc servers and which are installed on existing or new blade server hardware and which have software, service, network and virtualization tools.
The highest efficiency and real advantages of blade architecture are observed in organizations and institutions having virtualization infrastructure.
Blade Systems have many advantages such as; they cover fewer places, they reach much high hardware, they can change function immediately, they can interfere with the hardware without closing all enclosure, they have full-redundant power supply, fans, and network interfaces and data paths. Besides that, they have flexible integrated process power with virtualization infrastructure and memory pool.
Advantages of Blade Systems;
Quick and easy installation
First purchase cost is relatively low as compared to rack-type servers having the same processor and memory
Operation costs are relatively lower than rack-type servers,
Needs smaller place than Rack/Tower form factor servers,
Being the platform that is preferred for virtualization and consolidation choices and integration simplicity
It provides a dense server area and flexibility due to arranged blade enclosure and avoids cable tangle.
Being unrivalled due to full-redundant component and flexible structure in business continuity field.
Lower power consumption and cooling cost as compared to rack/tower form factor servers.
Disadvantages of Blade Systems;
Limited disc area
Rack type server cards cannot be used, limited pci card support
Quick and easy installation;
Most significant feature of Blade Servers is that Blade servers have many physical and administrative conveniences as compared to rack/tower type servers during installation and failure response/maintenance period. You can easily remove any blade server included in virtual pool in the virtualized media without removing enclosure and power cut and interfering with any connection. You can transfer all load on the server over virtualization software easily and you can perform repair/maintenance on failed component.
Get more at a same price;
You have almost all processor, memory, 2.5″ disc and connection choices in Blade servers that rack and tower type servers have. Main factors reducing the first purchase cost are as follows;
Server enclosure is smaller and cheaper
There is not any power supply and fan unit on the server
Server gets self-operating/self-admin component support from enclosure; it does not hold the component on itself.
It should be kept in mind that, since shared components within blade enclosure and enclosure costs are additional costs for blade servers; first purchase costs are lower than rack type servers having the same features and blade servers are cost effective than others , provided that 6 or more blade servers are purchased. Otherwise, since blade enclosue components costs will be shared with a few servers; it will not be possible to achieve efficiency with respect to number and process power/ price ratio.
Low Operational Cost;
Blade servers can be operated at low cost with respect to administration and consumption. Time spent for administration and process power reduced thanks to management and response convenience. Common power supplies and fans are turned on and turned off depending on load in the enclosure; similarly idle process power and empty memory machine are not operated in case the servers in the pools are not needed anymore thanks to virtualization. In case of a failure, data and time loss were minimized due to respond simplicity; labor loss and financial loss are also avoided.
More work in less area;
Number of blade server that can be accommodated in a rack cabinet varies depending on the manufacturer. It is average 50. Considering 2U and 2-socket rack type server that is equivalent to half-length and 2-socket blade server; the area needed to accommodate 50 servers rises to 3 42U rack cabinets. 60% place saving can be achieved in system room by blade servers, it is proof that how dense and efficient architecture they have.
High success and compliance with virtualization and consolidation projects;
Blade servers are the servers where scalability concept is applied completely. Therefore, they are irrevocable part of virtualization and consolidation projects. Considering “pool” logic of virtualization and flexibility necessity; thanks to their modular structures, more process power at lower area and memory; they provide high flexibility, high accessibility, high redundancy and high scalability therefore they are the perfect platform for such projects. Although it is possible to realize same and/or higher successful virtualization projects by using rack type servers, such servers can not comply with more work with less source principle and they are significantly replaced by blade architecture. All leading blade system manufacturers work with Hyper-V, VMWare and XenServer platforms in 100% compliance and they support these technologies.
Neat system room where cables are not visible;
A blade enclosure contains following components generally according to project demands;
Blade Servers
SAN modules
Network modules
Power supplies
Fans
All above components cover an individual place in the cabinet in rack type systems whereas they come in enclosure in blade servers. In rack type systems, all components should be cabled, cooled and powered as redundant separately. Regardless of number of server, in blade systems you only power up the enclosure, only enclosure must be cooled, it has all redundant network and SAN connection points on the enclosure. In case of a failure, you can add/remove an individual server without interfering with behind cables and with a very simple operation not harder than inserting a disc. You don’t need to get lost in the cables; you don’t need to struggle with lots of cables and physical restrictions to add 2 servers next to 10 servers you currently use.
Blade architecture? Or Conventional rack type servers?
It does not mean that rack servers should not be used since we have listed many advantaged of blade systems and servers. Both types of servers have different task in project basis. It is very hard decision to select server type for the corporates/companies. Project content, expectations from the hardware and planned structure are key criteria for that.
Aforesaid subjects are informative purposes; they may vary depending on the project content. You can contact with us for your further questions about Blade Servers and of course other servers. You can be our guest in our Ankara – Bilkent Solution Center and investigate our storage units, network solutions, software products, FKM and Backup projects. We are at always your assistance.
Blade Servers and Advantages
Blade Enclosures & Blade Servers are integrated environments which were designed to reduce total and first purchase costs of Blade System c-Class, BladeCenter E, H ..etc servers and which are installed on existing or new blade server hardware and which have software, service, network and virtualization tools.
The highest efficiency and real advantages of blade architecture are observed in organizations and institutions having virtualization infrastructure.
Blade Systems have many advantages such as; they cover fewer places, they reach much high hardware, they can change function immediately, they can interfere with the hardware without closing all enclosure, they have full-redundant power supply, fans, and network interfaces and data paths. Besides that, they have flexible integrated process power with virtualization infrastructure and memory pool.
Advantages of Blade Systems;
Disadvantages of Blade Systems;
Quick and easy installation;
Most significant feature of Blade Servers is that Blade servers have many physical and administrative conveniences as compared to rack/tower type servers during installation and failure response/maintenance period. You can easily remove any blade server included in virtual pool in the virtualized media without removing enclosure and power cut and interfering with any connection. You can transfer all load on the server over virtualization software easily and you can perform repair/maintenance on failed component.
Get more at a same price;
You have almost all processor, memory, 2.5″ disc and connection choices in Blade servers that rack and tower type servers have. Main factors reducing the first purchase cost are as follows;
It should be kept in mind that, since shared components within blade enclosure and enclosure costs are additional costs for blade servers; first purchase costs are lower than rack type servers having the same features and blade servers are cost effective than others , provided that 6 or more blade servers are purchased. Otherwise, since blade enclosue components costs will be shared with a few servers; it will not be possible to achieve efficiency with respect to number and process power/ price ratio.
Low Operational Cost;
Blade servers can be operated at low cost with respect to administration and consumption. Time spent for administration and process power reduced thanks to management and response convenience. Common power supplies and fans are turned on and turned off depending on load in the enclosure; similarly idle process power and empty memory machine are not operated in case the servers in the pools are not needed anymore thanks to virtualization. In case of a failure, data and time loss were minimized due to respond simplicity; labor loss and financial loss are also avoided.
More work in less area;
Number of blade server that can be accommodated in a rack cabinet varies depending on the manufacturer. It is average 50. Considering 2U and 2-socket rack type server that is equivalent to half-length and 2-socket blade server; the area needed to accommodate 50 servers rises to 3 42U rack cabinets. 60% place saving can be achieved in system room by blade servers, it is proof that how dense and efficient architecture they have.
High success and compliance with virtualization and consolidation projects;
Blade servers are the servers where scalability concept is applied completely. Therefore, they are irrevocable part of virtualization and consolidation projects. Considering “pool” logic of virtualization and flexibility necessity; thanks to their modular structures, more process power at lower area and memory; they provide high flexibility, high accessibility, high redundancy and high scalability therefore they are the perfect platform for such projects. Although it is possible to realize same and/or higher successful virtualization projects by using rack type servers, such servers can not comply with more work with less source principle and they are significantly replaced by blade architecture. All leading blade system manufacturers work with Hyper-V, VMWare and XenServer platforms in 100% compliance and they support these technologies.
Neat system room where cables are not visible;
A blade enclosure contains following components generally according to project demands;
All above components cover an individual place in the cabinet in rack type systems whereas they come in enclosure in blade servers. In rack type systems, all components should be cabled, cooled and powered as redundant separately. Regardless of number of server, in blade systems you only power up the enclosure, only enclosure must be cooled, it has all redundant network and SAN connection points on the enclosure. In case of a failure, you can add/remove an individual server without interfering with behind cables and with a very simple operation not harder than inserting a disc. You don’t need to get lost in the cables; you don’t need to struggle with lots of cables and physical restrictions to add 2 servers next to 10 servers you currently use.
Blade architecture? Or Conventional rack type servers?
It does not mean that rack servers should not be used since we have listed many advantaged of blade systems and servers. Both types of servers have different task in project basis. It is very hard decision to select server type for the corporates/companies. Project content, expectations from the hardware and planned structure are key criteria for that.
Aforesaid subjects are informative purposes; they may vary depending on the project content. You can contact with us for your further questions about Blade Servers and of course other servers. You can be our guest in our Ankara – Bilkent Solution Center and investigate our storage units, network solutions, software products, FKM and Backup projects. We are at always your assistance.