Blog on Dell Blade Servers

Dell Breaks Virtualization Performance Records with PowerEdge Servers Based on New Quad-Core AMD Opteron Processors

2008-11-13T09:09:00.003+01:00

The new Quad-Core AMD Opteron processors are now available in two- and four-socket Dell PowerEdge servers, including three blade servers (M905, M805, M605), four rack servers (R905, R805, 2970, SC1435) and one tower server (T605).
The latest PowerEdge servers offer superior performance and value.

Improved Performance: Dell’s Dual HT link designs, which doubles the available bandwidth between two processors for an AMD estimated 12% performance improvement.
Better Power Efficiency: Increased performance while using about the same amount of power as previous server generations.

Investment Protection: Third generation PIN compatible for simple chip swap.
PowerEdge servers and blades with new Quad-Core AMD Opteron processors lead the industry in virtualization performance.
PowerEdge R905 & R805 servers based on Quad-Core AMD Opteron processor hold no. 1 VMmark Scores for two- and four-socket systems.2
New systems offer flexibility AMD estimates will provide 25 percent faster VM-to-VM switch time and the ability to VMotion across servers using prior generations AMD Opteron processors.

Dell PowerEdge systems are optimized for customer-preferred virtualization solutions from key partners like Microsoft, VMware and Citrix.
Dell PowerEdge M-series blades offer unbeatable power efficiency, performance for virtualization and a low total cost of ownership.
PowerEdge M905 uses up to 8 percent less power than comparable HP blades and up to 18 percent less power than comparable IBM blades.3
PowerEdge M905 achieved the No. 1 VMmark score for blades.1

source: http://newsticker.welt.de/index.php?channel=fin&module=smarthouse&id=809639

1 Based on SPECjbb2005 benchmark results by Dell Labs comparing PowerEdge R805 servers with 65nm and 45nm Opteron processors. For the latest SPECjbb2005 benchmark results, visit http://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.spec.org%2Fosg%2Fjbb2005&esheet=5830195&lan=en_US&anchor=www.spec.org%2Fosg%2Fjbb2005&index=1.
2 Based on R905, R805, and M905 VMmark results as compared to published benchmark scores as of November 12, 2008. VMware® VMmark™ is a product of VMware, Inc. VMmark utilizes SPECjbb2005® and SPECweb2005®, which are available from the Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation (SPEC). See http://cts.businesswire.com/ct/CT?id=smartlink&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.vmmark.com&esheet=5830195&lan=en_US&anchor=www.vmmark.com&index=1 for current results.
3 Source: Principled Technologies, "SPECjbb performance and power consumption on multi-processor Intel- and AMD-based blade servers,” an August 2008 report commissioned by Dell.

Hype vs. Hope: 10 Things You Should Know About Buying Blade Servers by Ken Hess

2008-10-27T22:44:00.005+01:00

As an IT Manager, you are likely inundated by positive-spin marketing and vendors touting that their solution is “better, more cost-effective, cheaper, more efficient” and so on. Blade Servers are the latest technology to fall prey to the hype, over-selling and marketing blitzes that follow any new or up and coming technology or product. What happens, though, if we dump the glossy marketing hype and boil-down the facts? Will a distilled overview of what blade servers can really do for you measure up to the claims? Let’s find out

1. Blade Servers Use Less Power
2. Blade Servers Require Less Cooling
3. Blade Servers Lower Your TCO
4. Virtualization
5. Vendor Tie-in/Buy-in
6. Less Space/High Density
7. Less Time to Deploy and Provision
8. Built-in Redundancy
9. Less Cabling
10. Same Horsepower, Smaller Footprint

Full article by Linux evangelist Ken Hess on http://www.linux-mag.com/id/7166/

SSD disks available on M600 and M605

2008-10-21T14:28:00.008+02:00

Now available: Solid State Disks!

Dell unveils next generation hard disks for servers on the blade PowerEdge M600 and M605 (AMD) with a capacity of 25GB and 50 GB.

Here below the hard disk selection on dell.com

Hard Drives:

2.5" SAS (10K rpm): 36GB, 73GB, or 146GB

2.5" SAS (15K rpm): 36GB or 73GB

2.5” SATA (7.2k rpm): 80GB, 120GB, 160GB or 250GB

25GB, 50 GB Solid State Drive (SSD)

Dell M600 product site:
http://www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/pedge_m600?c=us&cs=555&l=en&s=biz

Dell nearly breaking the 200GB barreer with his AMD blade

2008-09-12T17:13:00.004+02:00

Who ever dreamed of a blade server with 24 DIMM slots?

Now at Dell with the new PowerEdge M905 blade server, nearly breaking the 200GB barreer!

Simple calculation:
24 slots x 8GB= 192GB

The blade M905 features 4 sockets and is fully equipped for virtualisation.

Wow!

New dell 4-socket Blade - PowerEdge M905

2008-09-12T16:57:00.005+02:00

The new PowerEdge M905 blade server offers four sockets and goes up to 192 gigabytes.
Used with a M1000e chassis with increased bandwidth and performance (10Gb Ethernet and 8Gb Fibre Channel switches), the PowerEdge M905 is the perfect server for virtualisation!

Product website: http://www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/server-poweredge-m905?c=us&cs=555&l=en&s=biz

Dynamic PSU engagement with the Dell blade chassis M1000e

2008-08-24T16:54:00.007+02:00

Conscious about not wasting to much energy, companies shall look into the Dell dynamic PSU engagement possibilities on the M1000e. This will not only save a huge energy bill but be friendly with the environment.

The basics of the dynamic PSU engagement is very simple. When a chassis is fully loaded with 16 blades, one assumes that all PSUs need to be online to ensure uptime. Now if the chassis is half loaded, it is as waste of energy to have the 6 PSUs run the entire time.

How does the dynamic PSU engagement work?
The chassis administrator can set a power threshold. If power required is under the threshold, under-utilised power supplies will be put in standby. They can quickly be brought back online if power needs change.

Which configuration with which redundancy policy?

AC redundancy: PSU 1 and 4 are always online. PSU 3 and 6 go standby first. Then PSU 2 and 5.
Power Supply redundancy: PSU 1 and 4 are always online. PSU 3 goes standby first, then PSU 4. PSU 5 and 6 are always standby

With a non-redundant power policy PSU 1 and 2 are always online. PSU 3 goes standby first. The remaining PSUs are always standby.

Between 30 to 120W can be saved by using the dynamic PSU engagement depending on the configuration.

From a durability perspective, using dynamic PSU engagement ensures that not all power supplies have the amounts of hours running. This could help avoid situation when 2 or more supplies break down nearly at the same time.

PDU options for M1000e blade chassis

2008-08-24T16:39:00.005+02:00

On a single phase, there are 3 PDU options to setup a Dell blade chassis M1000e:

20A: 6x 20A per chassis, i.e. 1 circuit per PSU
30A: 2x 30A per chassis
60A: 2x 60A per chassis

The chassis features 3+3 power suppy units (PSU). The 30A and 60A solutions connects the first PDU to 3 PSUs; and the second PDU to the 3 remaining ones. By connecting each of the PSU to a different power grid, one assumes that full power redundancy can be given.

The 6x 20A solution is bearly possible for companies hosting many chassis in a rack as there will be a lack of space to host so many PDUs.

Dell simplifies blade server management with I/O virtualisation

2008-07-02T07:36:00.001+02:00

Dell is releasing an I/O virtualization tool for its blade servers, making it easier for IT managers to install new blades and swap out servers.

Without I/O virtualization, IT shops have to manually assign Media Access Control (MAC) addresses and World Wide Name (WWN) identifiers each time they put in a new blade server. Dell's FlexAddress, announced Tuesday, abstracts the MAC and WWN addresses from the blade hardware, instead tying the identifiers to slots within Dell's PowerEdge M-Series blade chassis.

Source: http://www.networkworld.com/news/2008/070108-dell-blade-server-management.html

Lab test: Dell's greener M-Series

2008-06-25T01:19:00.000+02:00

Infoworld's Brian Chee reports: Dell's updated M-Series blade server gives more horsepower for less juice!

The Dell M-Series blade server is being touted as using 19 percent less energy than the company's previous blade offering while still providing a jump in horsepower. I had a chance to use this beast as part of the Interop iLabs, and after a false start caused by missing software in the pre-production unit, I found myself wondering if I had enough shekels to buy one for my lab. Instead of forcing me to surround my servers with additional out-of-band management gear, the M-Series has several cost- and labor-saving features built right in. Those features include IP KVM, intelligent power control, serial over IP, Virtual Media over IP, and power and environmental monitoring.

Full report and source: http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/06/09/25TC-Dell-Mseries_1.html

Dell PowerEdge M-Series Blade Servers Pictures

2008-06-24T18:24:00.004+02:00

Short post with 2 pictures of the blade M-Series (front and back):

Source: http://direct2dell.com/one2one/archive/2008/01/21/41485.aspx

Server Snapshots by ServerWatch on Dell PowerEdge M Series Blades

2008-06-24T18:05:00.002+02:00

Drew Robb from www.serverwatch.com analysed the Dell Poweredge M Series. He describes the modular enclosure (M1000e), the AMD-powered blade (M605) and the Intel-powered blade (M600).

Excerpt: This 10U chassis can hold a maximum of 16 dual-socket blades. It comes with better management and controls that make it easier to monitor and configure blades, as well as better hot plug features and redundant fans and power supplies.
"The PowerEdge M1000e, a 10U-sized enclosure, supports 16 blade servers," said Armando Acosta, PowerEdge senior product line manager. "It is optimized for Dell's PowerEdge M Series blade servers that support up to 2 quad-core Intel Xeon and quad-core AMD Opteron processors. These blades are 60 percent more dense than standard 1U servers, helping customers to better address data center space constraints."

Full report and source: http://www.serverwatch.com/hreviews/article.php/3752821

Dell M1000e blades: First impressions

2008-04-21T23:07:00.004+02:00

John Sheesly at techrepublic.com assessed the M1000e blades. Here below an extract of the pros and cons:

So, here are the good points:
- One box! Honestly, I was stunned to see this. Sure, it was darn heavy, but made for a very easy installation.
- Easy initial setup. The initial setup was quick and painless. We got the chassis to a usable point within minutes.
- Good servers. They’re fast, they’re economical and well designed.

And now for the cons:
- Boot much? I’d really love it if the servers booted with all of the add-ons installed on the first try. Although I’m certain that Dell will get this solved, it’s just annoying.
- CD/DVD. Maybe I’m missing something, but I’d like to see a CD/DVD drive connected through the KVM and integrated into the chassis.

Full report on the Dell Blade at http://www.techrepublic.com/ .

Source: http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/datacenter/?p=325

Dell rolls out AMD quad-core servers

2008-04-16T19:20:00.001+02:00

AMD plans to announce Wednesday that Dell is offering five quad-core Opteron server platforms and that the chipmaker has received VMware certification.
Adding Dell to the fold brings the total number of OEM AMD quad-core systems to 13. Dell’s AMD lineup is already surfaced on the PC maker’s site, which details quad-core Opteron powered PowerEdge servers. Dell will support AMD quad-core Opterons on its PowerEdge SC1435, 2970, M605 blade server and 6950 platforms, as well as the PowerEdge T605 tower server.

Source: http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=8491

Not just hot hair, Dell blade thermal design

2008-03-25T19:43:00.004+01:00

Heather Clancy, an award-winning business journalist, reports on Dell blade thermal design (M-Series) on her ZDNET blog. She relates her analysis on the in-depth Dell white paper on Thermal Design for the Dell Blade M-Series.

Source: http://blogs.zdnet.com/green/?p=905

Dell Blade White Paper: http://www.dell.com/downloads/global/products/pedge/en/pedge_mseries_thermal_design.pdf

ESX 3i hypervisor on dell blades with a single click

2008-03-25T19:32:00.004+01:00

With this Dell customers can now purchase virtualization–enabled servers in a single click.
The initiative was announced at VMworld which will expand adoption of virtualization as a standard ingredient in datacenter technology.

Both the companies together have take the initiative to simplify virtualization for its customers with a strategy that will deliver Dell PowerEdge servers embedded with VMware ESX 3i hypervisor with a "single click." Dell customers will be able to purchase VMware with a single click easing virtualization planning, deployments and management.

Dell PowerEdge servers are considered to be an ideal platform for customers to deploy virtualization environments. Its PowerEdge 2950-III and Dell’s new PowerEdge M-Series blade solution servers provide good virtualization performance in their respective classes. The M-Series also provides lead-free configurations that will help customers to further minimize their environmental impact.

Source: http://internetcommunications.tmcnet.com/topics/broadband-mobile/articles/22591-dell-chooses-vmware-esx-3i-hypervisor-simplify-virtualization.htm

PowerEdge M-Series: Helping Customers “Go Green” in the Data Center

2008-02-29T22:53:00.004+01:00

New features in Windows Server 2008 help simplify power management, making it easier to reduce data center power consumption. These features, combined with Dell’s leading Energy Smart PowerEdge server and data center solutions, can enable customers to create more energy efficient data centers and effectively deliver on their corporate green IT initiatives.

For example, Dell’s PowerEdge M-Series blade server solution running Windows Server 2008 provides significant energy savings compared to similarly configured competitive systems. The PowerEdge M-Series consumes up to 10 percent less power and achieves up to 21 percent better performance per watt than the HP BladeSystem c-Class1. Compared to the IBM BladeCenter H, the M-Series consumes 11 percent less energy and achieves up to 28 percent better performance per watt1.

Source and full article: http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20080227005068&newsLang=en

Dell Sharpens Its Blades

2008-01-21T21:35:00.000+01:00

The PowerEdge M-Series lineup includes the M1000e blade enclosure--starting at $5,999--and blades built around either Intel or AMD processors, starting at $1,849.

Dell spent more than two years developing the new system, putting over 55,000 man-hours of research and design into the process. The company says it has applied for more than 30 patents on the new product.

And Dell isn't being shy about stacking up its products against those offered by competitors. Dell claims its new blade server setup consumes up to 19% less power and gets up to 25% better performance per watt than the HP BladeSystem c-Class. Compared to the IBM BladeCenter H, Dell says its new blades use 12% less energy and get up to 28% better performance per watt.

Full report and source: http://www.forbes.com/technology/2008/01/21/dell-blade-servers-tech-enter-cx_bc_0121techdell.html

PowerEdge 1955 “Best Blade Server System” 2008 by Infoworld

2008-01-09T08:04:00.000+01:00

The PowerEdge 1955 received the 2008 Technology of the Year award this week by Infoworld. They called the server the “Best Blade Server System” of the year, citing a competitive review that took place in 2007.

Dell PowerEdge 1955 Blade System
Dell's PowerEdge 1955 took the high-performance prize in our Hawaii shoot-out. Trumping both HP and Sun, the Dell blade system surprised us in the SPEChpc tests, turning in the best score by far, and it offers unique features such as the embedded Avocent KVM.
The management can run as a stand-alone device or integrated into Dell's Open-Manage framework. In spite of being the smallest chassis in the test, the PowerEdge 1955 offers a significant amount of processing power and, all things considered, the best bang for the buck.

Source: http://www.infoworld.com/slideshow/2008/01/146-2008_technology-2.html

2007 Blade Server Shootout: Dell vs. HP vs. Sun

2008-01-02T15:23:00.000+01:00

20007 InfoWorld's head-to-head comparison proves blade servers are sharp enough for enterprise use. Dell PowerEdge Blade solution is ahead of the game and slicing up blade performance!

Dell PowerEdge 1955: 8.3 very good
HP BladeSystem c-Class: 8.3 very good
Sun Blade 8000 Modular: 8.2 very good

Performance:

Click for larger view.

Source: http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/01/15/03FEblades_1.html

Worldwide Total Blade Server Markets At 52 Billion In 2008

2007-12-20T10:50:00.000+01:00

Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c77901) has announced the addition of “Blade Server Market Shares, Market Opportunities, Market Forecasts, and Market Strategies 2008 to 2014” to their offering.

Blade vendors have positioned to help implement business strategy relative to real time exchange of information. Mid size businesses are positioned to use middleware to increase productivity. New systems are built on Web based middleware that is positioned to leverage the Internet as a channel for the supply chain, to partners, and directly to customers. Systems are useful for automation of processes that were previously manual.

Blade servers consolidate and simplify the reduction of tangled cables. The spaghetti mess of 200 cables coming out of a 2-meter rack can be replaced with 3 to 6 cables saving as much as one half of the system cost. Replacing cables is significant for services as it is very easy to disconnect the wrong cable bringing down an entire system.

The blade server market showed continued growth in the first three quarters 2007. Blade servers include both x86 and RISC blades. Hewlett-Packard led the blade markets with 41% share, followed by IBM which maintained the number two position in the blade server mark, with 38% market share.
Fujitsu Siemens maintained the number three market position with 10.7% market share. Sun was number four in the market with 5% snare and Dell holds the number five market share position with respect of revenue of 3% share.

Growth drivers are Linux clusters and blades. Server consolidation is driving UNIX low- end substitution. The small and medium business market represents over 50% of the Intel- based market. Benefits of servers relate to the fact that systems are implemented in data centres and distributed computing environments. Servers are positioned as Web network devices that provide an integration platform.

Blades support the integration of multiple servers, storage, Ethernet switches, and networking blades. Blades are available at reduced cost in comparison to other servers.

Systems collapse the complexity of corporate datacentres by integrating servers, networks, storage and applications in one system. Blades run web sites and email systems, and also attack the most demanding computing tasks such as digital animation, genomic calculations and financial trading.

Source: http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20071219005508&newsLang=en

Virtualization boosts blade server market

2007-12-02T21:43:00.000+01:00

A six year old technology, the blade server will account for nearly 21.6 per cent of all global server shipments in 2011, totaling 2.4 million units in 2011, states a new report from iSuppli Corp.

The iSuppli report estimated that three vendors -- IBM, Hewlett-Packard, and Dell -- account for 90 per cent of total blade server shipments in 2006.

Source and full report: http://www.echannelline.com/usa/story.cfm?item=22659

Dell's new blade server takes M1000e moniker

2007-11-11T11:46:00.000+01:00

The well-known theregister.com website has unveiled the name and chassis characteristics of the new Dell blade servers: M1000e.

The Texas-based hardware maker has long threatened to reenter the blade server game with a more competitive product. And now we learn that it's already reaching out to customers with the M1000e – a 10U chassis that will hold 16 blade servers. While the system appears near identical to HP's C-class chassis, Dell has been telling customers that the M1000e will crush rivals on scale and power management.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/10/09/dell_m1000e_blade_server/

Second generation enclosure review

2007-11-10T16:24:00.001+01:00

The second generation enclosure is 7U high. In the front if features 10 slots and supports both Poweredge 1855 and 1955 blades.1855 and 1955 can be mixed up. In terms of price, it's the lowest price amongst all enclosures available in the market (compared with similar I/O modules).
They share the same backplane and I/O enclosures, which is a good investment protection. When switching from the 8th to the 9th generation, it was a no-brainer.
Blades can be plugged and unplugged while the chassis is up and other blades are running. You can play with it, it's bullet-proofed.
It is advised to fill in up to 9 blades and leave one free for emergency use.
To install the chassis, simply install the rack rails and push the enclosure in the rack. Remove all I/O enclosures or blade before doing this (anyway the thing will be heavy enough). Lift it with 4 hands, kinda impossible alone.
I currently run with 3 blades in the second generation enclosure.

In the back it offers 4 slots for I/O modules (Ethernet, FC), you see it in the top left and right. Neat for redundancy. I've plugged in 2 5316M ethernet switches in bay 1 and 2 and have a spare ethernet path-through in slot 3. Might be useful in emergency cases if switches break down just to let traffic go through.
The 5316M is a fully managed Layer 2 switch. You plug it in and it works, then you can fine-tune the configuration.
If you wanna keep it simple, populate bay 1 only.
When using bay 3 and 4, you have to add optional daughtercards on the blades as 2 come factory-installed.

You have 2 slots for the KVM and 2 slots for the D/RAC (optional). The factory-installed Avocent KVM is great, will review it in another post.
I've installed 1 KVM and 2 D/RAC (purchased on eBay for a few dollars, but don't use them both).
In terms of fans, the enclosure comes with 2 big big fans, enough to blow cold wind to 10 blades. The fans sometimes blast quite a lot when it's getting warmer and then calm down. If you need a new hair cut, stay beyond, quite nice...
The power supplies work in a 2+2 model, not to say that there is enough redundancy.

Overall review:
Cost-effective, fully redundant, expandable and very easy to install.

Chassis Specs
- Form Factor: 7U enclosure holds up to ten blade servers
- 30.67cm (12.07") H x 44.60cm (17.56") W x 73.50cm (28.94") D

Power Supplies
Hot pluggable, non-redundant or 2+2 redundant power

Input Device
Integrated Avocent Analog or Digital Access keyboard, video and mouse (KVM) switch with seamless tiering into an external Avocent or Dell switch environment

Enclosure I/O modules
PowerConnect 5316M Ethernet Switch, Cisco Catalyst Blade Switch 3030, Ethernet Pass-Through, Fibre Channel Pass-Through, Brocade Silkworm 4016 Fibre Channel Switch, McDATA 4416 Fibre Channel Switch, or Cisco® InfiniBand Pass-Through

Management
System Management
Dell OpenManage System ManagementRemote Management
Baseboard Remote Management Controller with IPMI 2.0 support
DRAC/MC chassis management module
Virtual Media
Dynamic DNS

Dell PowerEdge 1955 TCO

2007-11-10T16:10:00.000+01:00

The Poweredge 1955 has an impressive total cost of ownership advantage toward competition blades:
- Tested: Dell is the only vendor that fully configures and factory tests each blade to customer specifications.
- Simple: Dell ships your blade server in 1 box. HP ships a dozen of boxes.
- Performant: Dell PowerEdge blades posted the best SPEChpc benchmark performance scores in the InfoWorld “Battle of the Blades” head to head comparison.
- Power Efficiency: Dell PowerEdge blades are up to 16% more power efficient than HP and IBM.

URL: http://www.dell.com/content/products/productdetails.aspx/pedge_1955_new?c=us&cs=555&l=en&s=biz&redirect=1

The Facts... and Fiction about Dell Blade Servers

2007-11-06T16:52:00.000+01:00

This blog is all about Dell blade servers, from it's first generation to the upcoming state-of-the-art blasting generations. Stay tuned.

Why Dell Blade Servers ?
The only blade servers without compromise - Dell delivers on the promise of high density computing with blade servers featuring the latest high performance server technologies, plus total cost of ownership and density advantages.

Dell Servers Website
http://www.dell.com/content/products/category.aspx/servers?c=us&l=en&s=biz&cs=555&~ck=bt