Manageability, Availability and Serviceability

Workhorse 2-socket dual and quad-core

Intel Xeon blade server

wide, with a variety of memory, storage and I/O options, depending on need.

•Xeon processor-based HS21 blades can be used in the same chassis as Intel processor-based HS20/HS40 blades, Opteron processor-based LS20/LS21/LS41 blades, and IBM PowerPC®

processor-based JS20/JS21 blades. Depending on the blade servers used, the various BladeCenter chassis support Microsoft Windows, Linux, Netware, IBM AIX® and Sun Solaris 10 operating systems in the same chassis.

•Every HS/LS/JS blade server ever released by IBM is supported in BladeCenter H, and most are supported in every BladeCenter chassis ever released, going back to 2002. Every switch module released by IBM is equally compatible. (Ask HP and Dell how far back their compatibility goes.)

Future blades and fabric switches are expected to continue to be compatible with previous chassis for the foreseeable future.

•A blade server has access to as many as 10 communication switches and/or bridges in one BladeCenter H chassis. (Up to 6 switches in a BladeCenter or BladeCenter T chassis.) And the switches can be Ethernet, iSCSI, InfiniBand, Fibre Channel, Myrinet, or anything else designed and ServerProven for BladeCenter use. Switches, bridges and interface cards are currently available from such vendors as Brocade, Cisco, Intel, McData, Nortel, QLogic, Cisco Topspin and others, in addition to IBM.

Manageability

•The HS21 blade server includes a Baseboard Management Controller (BMC) to monitor server availability, perform Predictive Failure Analysis, etc., and trigger IBM Director alerts.

•Each BladeCenter chassis includes a Management Module or Advanced Management Module to provide additional systems management capabilities, including Web-basedout-of-band control; virtual floppy and CD-ROM support; Windows “blue screen” error capture; LDAP and SSL support; and remote redirection of video, text, keyboard and mouse.

•Integrated industry-standard IPMI 2.0 support works with the BMC to alert IBM Director to anomalous environmental factors, such as voltage and thermal conditions. It also supports highly secure remote power control.

•IBM PowerExecutive, an IBM-exclusive, is designed to take advantage of new system power management features, by monitoring actual power usage and providing power consumption capping features. More accurate power usage data helps with data center construction planning and the sizing of power and cooling needs, as well as allowing you to use available power more efficiently.

•The HS21 supports an optional feature card that provides concurrent KVM (cKVM) and concurrent media (cMedia) access by multiple administrators at once. (This card uses a dedicated slot and does not affect the use of PCI-X/PCI-E adapters.)

•IBM Director 5.1x is included for proactive systems management and works with both the blade’s internal BMC and the chassis’ management module. It comes with a portfolio of tools, including IBM PowerExecutive, Management Processor Assistant, RAID Manager, Update Assistant, and Software Distribution. In addition, IBM Director offers extended systems management tools for additional server management and increased availability. When a problem is encountered, IBM Director can issue administrator alerts via e-mail, pager, and other methods.

Availability and Serviceability

•BladeCenter chassis are designed for operation with greatly reduced potential for single points of failure. Most aspects of operation, from blade servers to communication modules, to management modules, to power and blower modules, are hot-swappable. The midplane connections are redundant and the other features can be made so, when used in pairs.

•HS21 blade servers support the use of Chipkill-enabled memory DIMMs. Chipkill memory can be up to 16X better than standard ECC memory at correcting some types of memory errors. This can help reduce downtime caused by memory errors.

•IPMI 2.0 supports highly secure remote system power on/off using data encryption. This allows an administrator to restart a server without having to visit it in person, saving travel time and getting the server back up and running quickly and securely.

•Environmentally tuned blower modules in the chassis adjust to compensate for changing thermal characteristics. At the lower speeds they draw less power and suffer less wear. Equally important in a crowded data center, temperature-controlled blowers produce less ambient noise in the data center than if they were constantly running at full speed.

•Text and graphics console redirection support allows the administrator to remotely view HS21

2For terms and conditions or copies of the IBM Statement of Limited Warranty, call 800-772-2227 in the U.S. In Canada call 800-426-2255. Telephone support may be subject to additional charges. For warranties including onsite labor, a technician is sent after IBM attempts to resolve the problem remotely. International warranty service is available in any country in which this product is sold.

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