Chapter 4. Installation Considerations; Physical Planning; Dimensions; Weight Considerations - IBM 8677 - BladeCenter Rack-mountable - Power Supply Planning And Installation Manual

Chapter 4. Installation considerations

This chapter describes the installation site physical requirements that must be in
place to be able to complete the installation of a BladeCenter unit. The following
topics are discussed:
v "Physical planning" describes chassis dimensions, weight, floor space, and noise
v "Rack considerations" on page 43 describes weight and space limits of IBM
v "Power considerations" on page 45 describes rack and BladeCenter unit power
v "Cooling considerations" on page 50 describes temperature and humidity, air
v "Power connections" on page 51 provides sample diagrams for power and
v "Physical installation time" on page 72 shows approximate times for installing
For access to configuration tools and additional information, (such as the Rack
Configurator and the Configuration Options Guide), go to this site:
http://www.pc.ibm.com/us/eserver/xseries/library/configtools

Physical planning

This section describes dimensions, weight, floor space, and noise considerations.

Dimensions

A BladeCenter unit has the following dimensions:
Width 444 mm (17.5 in.)
Height 304.2 mm (12 in.)
Depth 711.2 mm (28 in.)
A BladeCenter unit uses 7U of vertical rack space. The following clearances are
required inside the rack:
50 mm (1.96 in.) on each side of the chassis
100 mm (3.93 in.) at the back of the chassis for cables.

Weight considerations

The following factors are important when planning for the physical installation of
BladeCenter units:
v Racks have a maximum weight load limit.
v Floors, particularly raised floors have maximum weight limits.

Floor space

Figure 9 on page 42 shows the required floor space for an IBM NetBAY rack. This
diagram shows the space needed to allow enough clearance in the front and rear of
the rack to be able to open the doors to access the equipment. Front clearance is
needed to have access to the blade servers and the BladeCenter media tray. Rear
clearance is needed to access power supplies, blowers, network cable connections,
© Copyright IBM Corp. 2003
considerations.
NetBAY racks.
requirements
flow, room cooling, and heat output.
cabling.
BladeCenter units, blade servers, and other components.
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