Chapter 1. Introducing The Bladecenter Unit; Why Choose The Bladecenter Technology; What The Bladecenter Unit Offers - IBM 8677 - BladeCenter Rack-mountable - Power Supply Planning And Installation Manual

Chapter 1. Introducing the BladeCenter unit

This manual provides physical planning information for the IBM
BladeCenter
deployment and installation considerations, and provides worksheets that you can
use to determine your BladeCenter unit hardware configuration. From these
worksheets, you can determine the configuration, power, weight, and cabling
requirements for your BladeCenter unit. In addition, you can use these worksheets
as a basis for placing an order.

Why choose the BladeCenter technology?

The IBM ERserver BladeCenter
X-Architecture
The BladeCenter unit is a high-density, high-performance rack-mounted server
system developed for Enterprise applications. It supports up to 14 two-way blade
servers, making it ideally suited for networking environments that require a large
number of high-performance servers in a small amount of space. The BladeCenter
unit provides common resources that are shared by the blade servers, such as
power, cooling, system management, network connections, and I/O (diskette drive,
CD-ROM drive, ports for USB, keyboard, video, mouse, and network interfaces).
The use of common resources enables small size in the blade servers and minimal
cabling.
Performance, ease of use, reliability, and expansion capabilities were key
considerations during the design. These features make it possible for you to
customize the hardware to meet your needs today, while providing flexible
expansion capabilities for the future.

What the BladeCenter unit offers

The design of the BladeCenter unit takes advantage of advancements in server
technology. It provides up to 14 functionally separate servers and their shared
resources in a single center. The BladeCenter unit combines:
v IBM Enterprise X-Architecture Technology
v Expansion capabilities
v Hot-swap capabilities
1. IBM Enterprise X-Architecture Technology takes full advantage of existing IBM technologies to build powerful, scalable, and reliable
Intel processor-based servers. For more information about IBM Enterprise X-Architecture Technology, go to
http://www.ibm.com/pc/us/eserver/xseries/xarchitecture/index.html.
© Copyright IBM Corp. 2003
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unit. It describes the BladeCenter unit components, explains
™
Technology
IBM Enterprise X-Architecture Technology leverages proven innovative IBM
technologies to build powerful, scalable, reliable Intel-processor-based servers.
IBM Enterprise Technology includes features such as Predictive Failure Analysis
(PFA) and Advanced System Management, and Light Path Diagnostics.
Blades can be added to the BladeCenter unit as needed, up to a maximum of 14
blades.
Some blade servers have connectors for options that can be used to add
capabilities to the blade, such as an I/O expansion card to add a network
interface, or a storage expansion unit to add SCSI hard disk drives.
The front bays on the BladeCenter unit are hot-swap blade bays; the rear bays
on the BladeCenter unit are hot-swap module bays. You can add, remove, or
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Type 8677 is based on IBM Enterprise
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ERserver
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