HP launches new blade server chassis

TalkBack 5 of 6:

Next »

« Previous

• Thread View
• Flat View

yes, there is an x86 box that scales to 32 CPUs

Actually, The IBM x460 (see www.ibm.com/servers/eserver/xseries/x460.html) scales up to 32 CPUs and 64GB of RAM (NUMA architecture) and is a good platform for virtualization (e.g VMware).

Its an interesting discussion of using a virtualized platform such as this (scale up) vs. using blades (scale out) as there advantages and disadvantes to each approach. Which is better all depends on what you are doing.

Scale-up (rack-mmount 4-32 CPUs w/VMware)
=========================================

Plus: better utilization of total CPU cycles and memory across VMs (an app running on a blade can't use spare CPU cycles on another blade)

Plus: lower cost integration into a SAN (fewer HBAs and FC ports requried) and into a network (fewer switch ports needed)

Plus: more granular control over CPU and memoy utilization

Plus: scales up for apps like database servers which don't always scale out as nicely (depends on the application)

Minus: a single hardware failure or hardware maitenance event could take down dozens of apps
at a time (VMware vmotion and other technologies can minimize this effect to some extent)

Minus: Per-CPU initial acquisition cost of the server platform is higher, but this reverses as you add more apps. Hardware is more proprietary.

2-CPU Blade servers
===================

Plus: A hardware failure or hardware maintenance event for a single blade only brings down the app(s) running on that blade.

Plus: Per-CPU intial hardware acquisition cost is lower since blades are more commoditized than 4-32 cpu boxes.

Plus: Real hardware-level isloation between apps running on different blades (though VMware provides virtual-hardware isolation). The chance is slim that an app running on a VM can affect another VM on the same box, it could theoreticaly happen, making blades slightly more crash-proof.

Posted by: vconroy@...   Posted on: 06/20/06 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

Alert moderator to an offensive message

Subscribe to this discussion via Email or RSS

SponsoredWhite Papers, Webcasts, and Downloads

• Three Steps You Need to Know to Stop Data Loss Varonis Sensitive data exposed to misuse or loss... it is the stuff of nightmares ... Download Now
• Virtualization: Architectural Considerations And Other Evaluation Criteria VMware Of the many approaches to x86 systems virtualization available in the ... Download Now
• Reducing Server Total Cost of Ownership with VMware Virtualization Software VMware VMware virtualization enables customers to reduce their server TCO and ... Download Now