IBM BladeCenter
The IBM BladeCenter is IBM's blade server architecture.
History
Originally introduced in 2002, based on engineering work started in 1999, the IBM BladeCenter was a relative late comer to the blade market. But, it differed from prior offerings in that it supported the full range of high powered x86 Intel server processors and a variety of high performance input/output (I/O) options. In February 2006, IBM introduced the BladeCenter H with high-speed switch capabilities for 10 Gigabit Ethernet and InfiniBand 4X.
It is one of the leading open blade architecture products in the information technology (IT) market, with a focus on processor, memory, and I/O configurability delivered with multi-generational forward- and backward-compatibility through collaboration with major IT players including blade.org.
The open architecture is available to enable companies to develop and build compatible blades, networking and storage switches, and blade adapter cards (daughter cards). Hardware developers can now more easily develop and build compatible blade products in these categories and participate in the rapidly growing blades market served by the IBM BladeCenter by utilizing the Blade Open Specification (BOS).
The BladeCenter (E) was originally co-developed by IBM and Intel.
Versions
IBM BladeCenter (E)
This is the original IBM BladeCenter, now marketed as BladeCenter E[1] with 14 blade slots in 7U. Power supplies have been upgraded through the life of the chassis from the original 1200 to 1400, 1800, 2000 and the current 2320 watt.
- Features
- 14 blade slots in 7U
- Shared Media tray with Optical Drive, Floppy Drive and USB 1.1 port
- One (upgradable to two) Management Modules
- Two (upgradable to four) Power supplies
- Two redundant High-speed blowers
- Two slots for Gigabit Ethernet switches (can also support optical or copper pass-through)
- Two slots for optional switch or pass-through modules, can support additional Ethernet, Fibre Channel, InfiniBand or Myrinet 2000 functions.
IBM BladeCenter T
This is the Telco version[2] of the original IBM BladeCenter, available with either AC or DC (48 V) power. Has 8 blade slots in 8U, but supports the same switches and blades as the regular BladeCenter E. To keep NEBS Level 3 / ETSI compliant special Network Equipment-Building System (NEBS) compliant blades are available.
IBM BladeCenter H
Upgraded BladeCenter design with high-speed fabric options. Fits 14 blades in 9U. Backwards compatible with older BladeCenter switches and blades.
- Features[3]
- 14 blade slots in 9U
- Shared Media tray with Optical Drive and USB 2.0 port
- One (upgradable to two) Advanced Management Modules
- Two (upgradable to four) Power supplies
- Two redundant High-speed blowers
- Two slots for Gigabit Ethernet switches (can also support optical or copper pass-through)
- Two slots for optional switch or pass-through modules, can support additional Ethernet, Fibre Channel, InfiniBand or Myrinet 2000 functions.
- Four slots for optional high-speed switches or pass-through modules, can support 10 Gbit Ethernet or InfiniBand 4X.
- Optional Hard-wired serial port capability
IBM BladeCenter HT
This is the Telco version[4] of the IBM BladeCenter H, available with either AC or DC (48 V) power. Has 12 blade slots in 12U, but supports the same switches and blades as the regular BladeCenter H. But to keep NEBS Level 3 / ETSI compliant special NEBS compliant blades are available.
IBM BladeCenter S
Targets mid-sized customers by offering storage inside the BladeCenter chassis, so no separate external storage needs to be purchased. It can also use 110 V power in the North American market, so it can be used outside the datacenter.
- Features[5]
- 6 blade slots in 7U
- Shared Media tray with Optical Drive and USB 2.0 ports
- Up to 12 hot-swap 3.5" SAS or SATA drives with RAID 0, 1 and 1E support, RAID 5 and SAN capabilities optional with two SAS RAID controllers
Intel based
Modules based on x86 processors from Intel.
HS12
Features
- $999 starting price
- Celeron Single core 445 to Quad-Core Intel Xeon processors up to 2.83 GHz
- Six DIMM slots (up to 24 GB)
- Hot-swap drives
HS20
Features
- One or two Intel Xeon DP processors (single or dual-core)
- Four DIMM
- Option for one or two 2.5" drives (ATA100, SCSI U320 or Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) depending on generation)
- Two Gigabit Ethernet ports
- One expansion slot for up to two additional ports (Fibre Channel storage, additional Ethernet, Myrinet 2000 or InfiniBand)
HS21
This blade model supports the High-speed IO option of the BladeCenter H, but is backwards compatible with the regular BladeCenter.
Features
- One or two Intel Xeon DP processors (dual or quad-core)
- Four DIMM slots
- Option for one or two SAS 2.5" drives
- Two Gigabit Ethernet ports
- One expansion slot for up to two additional ports (Fibre-Channel storage, additional Ethernet, Myrinet 2000 or InfiniBand)
- One High-speed expansion slot for up to two additional ports (10 Gbit Ethernet or InfiniBand 4X)
- exit
HS21 XM
This blade model supports the High-speed IO option of the BladeCenter H, but is backwards compatible with the regular BladeCenter.
Features
- One or two Intel Xeon DP processors (dual or quad-core)
- Eight DIMM slots
- Option for one SAS 2.5" drive or one or two SAS-based Solid State drives
- Two Gigabit Ethernet ports
- One expansion slot for up to two additional ports (Fibre-Channel storage, additional Ethernet, Myrinet 2000 or InfiniBand)
- One High-speed expansion slot for up to two additional ports (10 Gbit Ethernet or InfiniBand 4X as well as additional Fibre-Channel or Ethernet ports)
HS22
Features
- One or two Intel Xeon 5500 or 5600 series processors (up to 3.6 GHz 4c or 3.46 GHz 6c)
- Twelve DDR3 VLP DIMM slots (up to 192 GB of total memory capacity)
- Option for two hot swap SAS 2.5" drives or Solid State drives (RAID 0 and 1 is supported)
- Two Gigabit Ethernet ports (Broadcom 5709S)
- 1 CIOv slot (standard PCI-Express daughter card) and 1 CFFh slot (high-speed PCI-Express daughter card) for a total of 8 ports of I/O to each blade, including 4 ports of high-speed I/O
HS22v
Features are very similar to HS22 but:
- 18 DDR-3 VLP DIMM slots, up to 288 GB of total memory capacity
- up to two 1.8" disks (SSD, not hot swapable)
HS40
Features
- Double-wide (needs 2 slots)
- One to four Intel Xeon MP processors
- Eight DIMM slots
- Option for one or two ATA100 2.5" drives
- Four Gigabit Ethernet ports
- Two expansion slots for up to four additional ports (Fibre Channel storage, additional Ethernet, Myrinet 2000 or InfiniBand)
HC10
This blade model is targeted to the workstation market
Features
- Single Intel Core 2 Duo processor
- Four DIMM slots (8 GB Max)
- NVidia video adapter
- One SATA 60 GB HDD
- Two Gigabit Ethernet ports
HX5
This blade model is targeted at the server virtualization market.
Features
- Dual Intel E7, 6500 or 7500 series Xeon (4-10 cores per CPU, up to 2.67 GHz)
- Sixteen DIMM slots (256 GB Max). Expandable to 40 slots with a 24 DIMM MAX 5 memory blade (320GB total).
- Expandable to four CPUs and 80 DIMM slots with a four-port IBM scale connector.
- Two Gigabit Ethernet ports per blade.
AMD based
Modules based on x86 processors from AMD.
LS20
Features
- One or two AMD Opteron processors (single or dual-core)
- Four DIMM slots for DDR1 VLP DIMM's
- Option for one or two SCSI U320 2.5" drives
- Two Gigabit Ethernet ports
- One expansion slot for up to two additional ports (Fibre Channel storage, additional Ethernet, Myrinet 2000 or InfiniBand)
LS21
This blade model supports the high-speed I/O of the BladeCenter H, but is also backwards compatible with the regular BladeCenter.
Features:
- One or two AMD Opteron processors (dual-core)
- Eight DIMM slots for up to 32 GB of RAM
- Option for one SAS 2.5" drive
- Two Gigabit Ethernet ports
- One expansion slot for up to two additional ports (Fibre-Channel storage, additional Ethernet, Myrinet 2000 or InfiniBand)
- One High-speed expansion slot for up to two additional ports (10 Gbit Ethernet or InfiniBand 4X)
LS22
Upgraded model of LS21.
Features:
- One or two AMD Opteron processors (quad or hex-core)
- Eight DIMM slots for up to 64 GB of RAM
- Option for two SAS 2.5" drive
- Two Gigabit Ethernet ports
- One expansion slot for up to two additional ports (Fibre-Channel storage, additional Ethernet, Myrinet 2000 or InfiniBand)
- One High-speed expansion slot for up to two additional ports (10 Gbit Ethernet or InfiniBand 4X)
LS41
This blade model supports the High-speed IO option of the BladeCenter H, but is backwards compatible with the regular BladeCenter
Features
- Double-wide (needs 2 slots)
- One to four AMD Opteron processors (dual-core)
- Sixteen DIMM slots for up to 64 GB of RAM
- Option for one or two SAS 2.5" drives
- Four Gigabit Ethernet ports
- Two expansion slots for up to four additional ports (Fibre-Channel storage, additional Ethernet, Myrinet 2000 or InfiniBand)
- One High-speed expansion slot for up to two additional ports (10 Gbit Ethernet or InfiniBand 4X)
LS42
Upgraded model of LS41.
Features
- Double-wide (needs 2 slots)
- One to four AMD Opteron processors (quad or hex-core)
- Sixteen DIMM slots for up to 128 GB of RAM
- Option for one or two SAS 2.5" drives
- Four Gigabit Ethernet ports
- Two expansion slots for up to four additional ports (Fibre-Channel storage, additional Ethernet, Myrinet 2000 or InfiniBand)
- One High-speed expansion slot for up to two additional ports (10 Gbit Ethernet or InfiniBand 4X)
Power based
Modules based on Power Architecture processors from IBM.
JS20
Features
- Supports AIX or Linux
- Two PowerPC 970 processors at 1.6 or 2.2 GHz
- Four DIMM slots for PC2700 ECC memory (max 8 GB)
- Option for one or two ATA100 2.5" drives
- Two Gigabit Ethernet ports
- One expansion slot for up to two additional ports (Fibre Channel storage, additional Ethernet, Myrinet 2000 or InfiniBand)
JS21
This blade model supports the High-speed IO option of the BladeCenter H, but is backwards compatible with the regular BladeCenter
Features
- Supports AIX or Linux
- Supports virtualization, offering Dynamic Logical Partitioning (DLPAR) capabilities.
- Two PowerPC 970FX single-core processors at 2.7 GHz or two PowerPC 970MP dual-core processors at 2.5 GHz
- Four DIMM slots for PC2-3200 or PC2-4200 ECC memory (max 16 GB)
- Option for one or two SAS 2.5" drives
- Two Gigabit Ethernet ports
- One expansion slot for up to two additional ports (Fibre Channel storage, additional Ethernet, Myrinet 2000 or InfiniBand)
- One High-speed expansion slot for up to two additional ports (10 Gbit Ethernet or InfiniBand 4X)
JS22
Features
JS23
Features
JS43 Express
Features
- Supports IBM i, AIX or Linux
- Supports virtualization, offering Dynamic Logical Partitioning (DLPAR) capabilities.
- Four POWER6 dual-core processors at 4.2 GHz
- 128 MB L3 cache (32 per processor)
- Eight DIMM slots ECC Chipkill DDR2 SDRAM memory (max 128 GB)
- Zero to two 2.5" SAS up to 300 GB or zero to two 69 GB SSD drives
- Integrated Virtualization Manager(IVM)
- Two Gigabit Ethernet ports card
- One expansion slot for up to two additional ports (Fibre Channel storage, additional Ethernet, Myrinet 2000 or InfiniBand)
- One High-speed expansion slot for up to two additional ports (10 Gbit Ethernet or InfiniBand 4X)
- Two PCIe CIOv expansion slots
- Double-wide form factor
JS12 Express
Features
PS700
Features
PS701
Features are very similar to PS700, but
- Eight-core processor
- max 128 GB
PS702
Think two PS701 tied together back-to-back, forming a double-wide blade
PS703
Features are very similar to PS701, but
- Two eight-core processors at 2.4 GHz
PS704
Think two PS703 tied together back-to-back, forming a double-wide blade
Cell based
Modules based on Cell processors from IBM.
QS20
Features
- Double-wide (needs 2 slots)
- Supports Linux
- Two Cell processors at 3.2 GHz
- 1 GB XDRAM Memory (512 MB per processor)
- 40 GB IDE100 2.5" drive
- Two Gigabit Ethernet ports
- Optional InfiniBand 4X connectivity
QS21
Features
- Single-wide
- Supports Linux
- Two Cell processors at 3.2 GHz
- 2 GB Memory (1 GB per processor)
- Two Gigabit Ethernet ports
- One expansion slot for up to two additional ports (Fibre-Channel storage, additional Ethernet, Myrinet 2000 or InfiniBand)
- One High-speed expansion slot for up to two additional ports (10 Gbit Ethernet or InfiniBand 4X)
QS22
Features
- Single-wide
- Supports Linux
- Two PowerXCell 8i processors at 3.2 GHz
- Up to 32 GB of DDR2 SDRAM RAM memory
- Two Gigabit Ethernet ports
- Expansion slots for SAS daughter card, InfiniBand 4X DDR daughter card and 8 GB uFDM Flash Drive
UltraSPARC based
T2BC
Features [6]
Advanced Network
PN41
Developed in conjunction with CloudShield, features [7]
- Single-wide
- Based on Intel IXP2805 network processor
- Full payload screening with Deep packet inspection (DPI)
- Full Layer 7 processing and control
- User programmability using Eclipse-based IDE and RAVE open development language
- Carrier-class scalability with quad 1 Gbit + quad 10 Gbit Ethernet controllers
- In-line reliability
- Up to 20 Gbit/s DPI throughput per blade
- Selective traffic capture, rewrite and redirect
- LAN and WAN Interfaces supported
Roadrunner TriBlade
Features
- Two QS22 Cell blades with 8 GB RAM each
- One LS21 Opteron blade with 16 GB RAM
- One Expansion blade
- Four slots wide
Custom made module for the Roadrunner supercomputer design. An expansion blade connects two QS22 modules via four PCIe x8 links to a LS21 module, two links for each QS22. It also provides outside connectivity via an Infiniband 4x DDR adapter. This makes a total width of four slots for a single TriBlade. Three TriBlades fit into one BladeCenter H chassis.
Switch modules
The BladeCenter supports a total of four switch modules, but two can only be used with Ethernet switches or Ethernet pass-though.
To be able to use the other switch module bays, a daughtercard needs to be installed on each blade that needs it, to provide the required SAN, Ethernet, InfiniBand or Myrinet function. Mixing of different type daughtercards in the same BladeCenter chassis is not supported.
Gigabit Ethernet
A variety of Ethernet switch modules have been produced by IBM, Nortel, BNT (a spin out from Nortel)] and Cisco. In all cases speed internal to the BladeCenter, between the blades is non-blocking. External Gigabit ports vary from four to six and can be either copper or fibre. A BNT switch is also available with external 10 Gbit connectivity.
Storage Area Network
A variety of SAN switch modules have been produced by QLogic, Cisco, McData (acquired by Brocade) and Brocade ranging in speeds of 1, 2, 4 and 8 Gbit Fibre Channel. Speed from the SAN switch to the blade is determined by the lowest-common-denominator between the blade HBA daughtercard and the SAN switch. External port counts vary from two to six, depending on the switch module.
InfiniBand
A InfiniBand switch module has been produced by Cisco. Speed from the blade InfiniBand daughtercard to the switch is limited to IB 1X (2.5 Gbit). Externally the switch has one IB 4X and one IB 12X port. The IB 12X port can be split to three IB 4X ports, giving a total of four IB 4X ports and a total theoretical external bandwidth of 40 Gbit.
Pass-through
Two different pass-through modules are available, copper pass-through and fibre pass-through. The copper pass-through can only be used with Ethernet, while the Fibre pass-through can be used for Ethernet, SAN or Myrinet.
Bridge
Bridge modules are only compatible with BladeCenter H and BladeCenter HT. They function like Ethernet or SAN switches and bridge the traffic to InfiniBand. The advantage is that from the Operating System on the blade everything seems normal (regular Ethernet or SAN connectivity), but inside the BladeCenter everything gets routed over the InfiniBand.
High-speed switch modules
High-speed switch modules are only compatible with the BladeCenter H and BladeCenter HT. They require that a blade that needs the function has a high-speed daughtercard installed. Mixing of different high-speed daughtercards in the same BladeCenter chassis is not supported.
10 Gigabit Ethernet
A high-speed 10 Gigabit Ethernet switch module is available from BNT. This allows 10 Gbit connectivity to each blade, and external to the BladeCenter.
InfiniBand 4X
Several InfiniBand options exist
- A high-speed InfiniBand 4X SDR switch module from Cisco. This allows IB 4X connectivity to each blade. Externally the switch has two IB 4X ports and two IB 12X ports. The 12X ports can be split to three 4X ports, providing a total of eight IB 4X ports or a theoretical bandwidth of 80 Gbit. Internally between the blades, the switch is non-blocking.
- A High-speed InfiniBand pass-through module to directly connect the blades to an external InfiniBand switch. This pass-though module is compatible with both SDR and DDR InfiniBand speeds.
- A high-speed InfiniBand 4X QDR switch module from Voltaire. This allows full IB 4X QDR connectivity to each blade. Externally the switch has 16 QSFP ports, all 4X QDR capable.
See also
References
External links