Pooled power

Values obtained from the BladeSystem Power Sizer tool are based on worst case loads and are intended for facility planning purposes only. Actual power consumption will vary with application type, application utilization, and ambient temperature. The BladeSystem Power Sizer is available at the following URL: http://www.hp.com/go/bladesystem/powercalculator.

All the power in the enclosure is provided as a single pool that any server blade can access. This provides maximum flexibility when configuring the power in the system so that customers can choose what level of redundancy is required. Because this power design has no zones, it facilitates both N+N and N+1 power modes, which future-proofs the enclosure for higher power requirements, if needed. Therefore, looking forward at least five years, HP believes there is sufficient power capacity to handle future power-hungry devices.

If needed, customers can constrain the maximum BTUs per enclosure and rack to enable the enclosure to fit in an existing rack power envelope.

The c3000 Enclosure has three configurable redundancy modes: power supply redundant, AC redundant, and no redundancy mode. The c3000 Onboard Administrator or the Insight Display can be used to select the power redundancy mode. The HP BladeSystem Onboard Administrator User Guide is available at this URL:

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c00705292/c00705292.pdf.

Typical power configuration connecting to UPS

If N+1 power supply redundancy is configured (Figure 8), then total power is defined as total power available less one power supply (3+1 configuration = up to 3600W). Up to six power supplies can be installed, with one power supply always reserved to provide redundancy. Typically, four power supplies are used for an N+1 power supply connection to a high-line (200-240 VAC) UPS. A smaller UPS may be adequate, but the power calculator should be used to determine the VAC required for the UPS. In the event of a single power supply failure, the redundant power supply will take over the load of the failed power supply.

Figure 8. Redundant HP BladeSystem c3000 power supplies connected to an HP R5500 UPS

Connecting to PDUs with AC redundancy to each rack

If N+N AC redundancy is configured, then total power available is the amount from the A or B side containing fewer power supplies (3+3 configuration = up to 3600W). In this configuration, N power supplies are used to provide power and N are used to provide redundancy, where N can equal 1, 2, or 3. Any number of power supplies from 1 to N can fail without causing the enclosure to fail. When correctly wired with redundant AC line feeds, this will also ensure that an AC line feed failure will not cause the enclosure to power off.