Linux On HP Blades 115
HNFO writes: "HP is unveiling their new 'blade' servers that fit onto a single card. Their press release is here. They are currently available with your choice of RedHat, Debian and SuSE. A picture of the card can be found here and a picture of the chassis can be found here."
If you're looking for high-density slot-based computers, earlier postings about RLX's Transmeta blades and
OmniCluster's x86 variety might interest you as well.
Re:Agggh... Same image. (Score:3, Informative)
"The HP Blade Server bh7800 Chassis architecture incorporates network switching, storage interconnect, and space for multiple servers into a single, highly available chassis infrastructure. The horizontally scaled 38-slot, 13U-high HP Blade Server bh7800 chassis has both front and back access. It supports from 1 to 16 server blades, 1 or 2 network blades, 1 to 16 storage blades of multiple types, and an intelligent management blade."
better selection of pictures here... (Score:5, Informative)
Re:useable for media (Score:2, Informative)
You might, but you'd have to fit your own cooling system and PSU, as most 'blade' equipment relies on the frame it's mounted to for power and heat dispersal.
My experience with a prerelease Blade (Score:5, Informative)
Overall we came to the conclusion that the Blades were novel, but overpriced and underpowered, at least for our needs. But organizations who can afford to pay extra and get very little for it won't mind the Blades.
df
Embedded link (Score:2, Informative)
Re:better selection of pictures here... (Score:2, Informative)
For the wary...
http://www.hpservernews.com/blades/photos/HPSer
http://www.hpservernews.com/blades/photos/HPSer
http://www.hpservernews.com/blades/photos/HPBla
http://www.hpservernews.com/blades/photos/HPBla
http://www.hpservernews.com/blades/photos/Manag
http://www.hpservernews.com/blades/photos/Netwo
http://www.hpservernews.com/blades/photos/Stora
For the daring...
HP Server bc1100 (front) [hpservernews.com]
HP Server bc1100 (back) [hpservernews.com]
HP Blade Server bh7800 (single) [hpservernews.com]
HP Blade Server bh7800 (rack) [hpservernews.com]
Management Blade [hpservernews.com]
Network Blade [hpservernews.com]
Storage Blade [hpservernews.com]
Management Blade (Score:3, Informative)
Nothing special about this (Score:1, Informative)
Motorola makes a whole line of them based on the G3 and G4 chips. Nortel uses them (running linux) for their compact VoIP solutions.
Re:disks not suitable for heavy duty applications (Score:2, Informative)
THe omniclusters can also use the pci bus as a high speed network between blades on the same bus.
Slick idea all around, and could be useful in some applications (we're going to test them as citrix servers).
Re:Will heat be a problem? (Score:3, Informative)
On the data sheet (there's a nice link in the article, I'm sure you can find it), you'll find the specs you're looking for:
Capable of 50 Watts per slot.
Single Pentium III 700 MHz, 512 MB ECC (PC100), 30GB IDE 2.5" HD, cPCI hot swap, dual 10/100base-T.
smart temperature monitor and failsafe circuitry
So, it's just good performance, not ultra-high.
"Blade" hype (Score:4, Informative)
Eurocard is good packaging. Industrial control, telephone COs, traffic light controllers, and Sun servers have been built that way since the 1980s.
A note on nomenclature: Eurocard is a physical packaging standard dating from 1981. Eurocards come in 3U, 6U, and 9U heights. Compact PCI generally uses 3U, VMEbus uses 3U and 6U, and Sun servers used 9U. "VMEbus" is sometimes confused with Eurocard, but there's lots of stuff in Eurocard packaging that's not VMEbus compatible. These "blade" machines are 6U Eurocard, but the signals at the back connectors are, as I understand it, network interfaces and such, not a bus.