| The technology Blade is one of the most interesting | | | | controllers SAS / RAID / SCSI cards and remote |
| topics in the world of servers. The Blades are | | | | access will have to be purchased from the |
| frequently commented on by the press, blogs and IT | | | | manufacturer of the Blade. |
| companies, but not always easy to distinguish when it | | | | Although the power consumption of a Blade is smaller |
| makes sense or not to have Blades servers in a data | | | | than that of a normal server, its small size allows |
| center. There are two important messages behind | | | | more servers in a rack proving a timely increase in |
| the technology Blade: | | | | electricity consumption in the rack - which means |
| 1. Blades are not for everyone and | | | | that to make the most out their compact |
| 2. Blades offer great benefits if they are | | | | infrastructure Blades will have to invest considerably |
| implemented in the correct position. | | | | in cooling and electrical infrastructure. In addition to |
| In this article I will address the first item ... | | | | get the maximum benefit to lower power |
| The Blades are not for everyone | | | | consumption, the chassis of the Blade must be |
| The Blades have great benefits, But not perfect, nor | | | | populated in its entirety. |
| designed for all the burdens of work and situations. A | | | | The limited capacity on disk in the Blades leads it to |
| server Blade is an extremely compact server | | | | require facilities SAN type (which brings significant |
| designed to provide a high level of performance and | | | | benefits - but they are expensive). Additionally, some |
| simplicity with an efficient power consumption. With | | | | manufacturers recommend setting a "Boot from SAN |
| these benefits, they also certain limitations: | | | | "on all servers within the chassis to avoid having disks |
| Limited expandability (less and less PCI slots & | | | | in each Blade - although this may sound interesting is |
| equivalent hard drives) | | | | relatively expensive. |
| Tie the purchase of components from one supplier | | | | These items are not necessarily negative, but involve |
| (only can buy servers, KVMs, ethernet switches, | | | | costs and investments that have to be looked at the |
| fiber switches and other components that come into | | | | time that evaluates technology Blade. Though blades |
| the chassis from their Bladescenter vendor. | | | | still have a great benefits offered by the Blades |
| The expansion in the Blades tend to tie you up | | | | when they are implemented in the correct position. |
| because the expansion slots can only be populated | | | | Many other articles on the web are discussing the |
| by "daughtercards" with proprietary specifications. | | | | benefits of blades, here we just thought to make |
| This implies that the network cards, fiber-channel | | | | sure the limitation is pointed out. |