Know About the Blade Server and its Features
In the world of server computers, there are seemingly endless amount of options. Maybe you’re in the market for the first time or maybe you are looking to upgrade your current system. Space seems to almost always be a factor. The longevity of any piece of technology is always a concern. Heat generated by the device is always existent and comes into play when discussing high powered computing devices. Today, the blade server is designed to address these issues and provide several other benefits to a computing environment.
A blade server functions in much the same way as a traditional rack server. It can host applications, store data and serve as the hub for administering your network. The difference between the blade server and a traditional server is that the unit does this with a stripped-down design. Blade servers are designed for efficiency and performance. The physical size of server is detonated by a factor of “U” (generally, 1U being the smallest and 7U the largest.) Typically, a 7U blade server can hold as many as 40 sockets. Compared to a traditional rack server, this is about a 42% increase per 1U. A typical server rack can accommodate a configuration of up to 42U, so such rack would fit up to 42 1U rack server units. The blade server is much more compact in size. The same 42U rack can hold as many as 128 blade servers.
The blade server cuts out many non-essential components to achieve efficiency in multiple areas. A single blade server will run on one power supply (PSU.) Most servers utilize more than one PSU for the sake of redundancy (i.e. a PSU failure) and also to distribute and convert voltage appropriately for different components. This not only adds bulk to the system and generates more heat. Being far more refined, the blade server runs utilizing one PSU to power onboard components. The combination of having fewer components that retain heat and needing less power for the components makes the system more resilient and less likely to fail from heat induced problems.
Blade servers are mostly utilized as a sort of “work horse” for heavy processing. Typically, blade servers today are used for tasks that either require an intense and collaborative processing effort (i.e. like in a HPC environment) or to distribute large amounts of network traffic (i.e. a web hosting server.) Adding a blade server to an existing system can help by taking on tasks that require heavy amounts of processing. With the ability to house far more processors and memory than a conventional system, you can increase efficiency and reduce concern of failure. A blade server enclosure is designed to be hot-swappable. In theory, you can swap blades out without much in the way of reconfiguring your system. In the event of a failure, a blade can be quickly repaired and replaced –or just outright replaced- without much downtime. This creates minimal downtime in the event of a catastrophe.
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winstonsmith Aspen Systems Direct is the online source for high-performance blade server systems. Blade servers are designed for high-density data storage, reducing space requirements and lowering storage costs |