RE: Blade Servers

From: Matthew Zito <mzito_at_gridapp.com>
Date: Fri, 9 Apr 2004 14:04:08 -0400
Message-ID: <MEEDLFOIHOCDBCOFPFHDIEDBCAAA.mzito@gridapp.com>

Well, the backplane issue is actually a non-starter - whoever wrote this = article doesn't know what they're talking about. On all of the major = blade vendors' designs, the backplane is a passive wire-management = system. That is, all of the blades have copper traces for every = ethernet, fibre channel, etc. on the backplane, that are brought back to = either a breakout panel or a switch).

Based on that, there's no way that the backplane could be a performance = limitation - as its physically and electrically identical to a wire = running out the back of a 1U server. =20

Incidentally, that complaint is more valid about egenera - as they do = actually have a shared high performance backplane based on VI = technology, from which they create software-emulated ethernet and fibre = channel connections. Their backplane could theoretically be a = limitation, but I would argue they're not blade servers in the sense = that's being discussed here

As far as the power/heat issue, yes the BTU/sq. ft. issue is a valid = one, but the fans/blowers that come in most of the blade servers these = days are a sight to behold. Our lab, which has a number of IBM = bladecenters running in it, is in fact, very cool, and requires no = special cooling or ventilation (in fact, some of the chassis do not have = the necessary back depth recommended by IBM, and run fine regardless - = their fans just run slightly faster than the others).

Thanks,
Matt

-----Original Message-----
From: oracle-l-bounce_at_freelists.org
[mailto:oracle-l-bounce_at_freelists.org]On Behalf Of Jared.Still_at_radisys.com
Sent: Friday, April 09, 2004 1:55 PM
To: oracle-l_at_freelists.org
Subject: Re: Blade Servers

<snip>

You're right, they are hot. We've not used them here, but I've read=20 comments
by those that have. They generate a *lot* of heat. Make sure your data center can deal with it.

They also share a backplane. Here's a good link detailing some issues.

http://technologyreports.net/enterpriseinnovator/?articleID=3D1891

<snip>

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Received on Fri Apr 09 2004 - 13:00:28 CDT