Misplaced Pages

HPE BladeSystem

HPE c7000 enclosure
Also known as	HP BladeSystem
Developer	Hewlett Packard Enterprise
Type	Blade server
Release date	2006 (2006)
CPU	x86
Predecessor	RLX ServerBlade

BladeSystem is a line of blade server machines from Hewlett Packard Enterprise (Formerly Hewlett-Packard) that was introduced in June 2006.

The BladeSystem forms part of the HP ConvergedSystem platform, which use a common converged infrastructure architecture for server, storage, and networking products. Designed for enterprise installations of 100 to more than 1,000 Virtual machines, the HP ConvergedSystem 700 is configured with BladeSystem servers. When managing a software-defined data center, a System administrator can perform automated lifecycle management for BladeSystems using HPE OneView for converged infrastructure management.

The BladeSystem allows users to build a high density system, up to 128 servers in each rack.

Components

Enclosures

HPE currently offers 2 types of enclosures in its c-Class BladeSystem lineup succeeding the p-Class BladeSystem

c7000

The BladeSystem c7000 enclosure has had multiple versions, the first version of which was announced in June 2006. In 2007 there was a minor update to the first version that included a larger Onboard Administrator display (3 inches, up from 2 inches). The next update (second version) was in 2009 and brought RoHS compatibility, increased backplane speed (5 Tbit/s, up from 4 Tbit/s), 1 Gbit/s Onboard Administrator connectivity, and increased blade connectivity options like: 2x 10 Gbit/s Ethernet support, 4x QDR or 1x FDR InfiniBand port support, and 6 Gbit/s SAS. The third version of the c7000 enclosure, called the c7000 Platinum Enclosure was released in February 2013. It features location discovery services, thermal discovery services and redesigned backplane. The new backplane increased aggregate bandwidth 40% from 5 to 7 Tbit/s to allow use newest high-speed interconnect modules (such as 16 Gbit/s FC and multiple ports of 56 Gbit/s FDR InfiniBand). Also the new Platinum Plus rating power supplies were announced with higher efficiency than previous Gold Plus rating power supplies.

All versions of the enclosure occupy 10 rack units and can accommodate up to 16 half-height blade servers. It includes space for 6 power supplies (single-phase, three-phase or a −48V DC), 10 cooling fans, 8 single-wide (such as 1/10 Gbit/s Ethernet or 8/16 Gbit/s FC) or 4 double-wide (such as 40 Gbit/s Ethernet or Infiniband) interconnect modules (that allows for up to 4 redundant interconnect fabrics)

c3000

The HPE c3000 enclosure was announced in August 2007. Updated version of the enclosure called c3000 Platinum was announced in February 2013.

All versions of the enclosure occupy 6 rack units or can be used as a standalone unit (with optional tower conversion kit) It can accommodate up to 8 half-height blade servers. It includes space for 6 power supplies (single-phase, or a -48V DC), 6 cooling fans, 4 single-wide or 2 single-wide and one double-wide interconnect modules

p-Class

Taking up 6 rack units, the p-Class enclosure can house 16 Half height, 8 Full-height or 2 Quad-wide p blades. There are two interconnect modules on the front allowing for different connectivity options such as Fibre channel. Power is managed by a Powerenclosure; 1u 6x PSU single-phase or 6x PSU three-phase / 48v DC 3u enclosures. The two types of backplanes determine what blades are supported; the standard backplane supports BL20p and BL25p blades whereas the enhanced backplane supports BL20p, BL25p, BL30p, BL35p, BL40p, BL45p, and BL60p (All generations).

Server blades

HPE has offered general-purpose Proliant server blades (based on Intel Xeon and AMD Opteron CPUs) as well as Integrity (based on the Intel Itanium CPU) and specialized ProLiant blades aimed at workstation virtualization. Blades can use half-height/full-height and single-wide/double-wide/quad-wide form factors. Apart from built-in 1 Gbit/s Ethernet network adapters, optional mezzanine cards can be installed on the blades to further increase connectivity options. These can include more network adapters, HBA/RAID Cards, SAN Fibre Channel Cards, and GPUs up to Nvidia Quadro FX 2800M via the (WS460c). WS ProLiant Blades can have a half-height GPU Blade that can be installed to accommodate full-height double graphics cards

Networking

Several connectivity options are available for the HPE BladeSystem:

• HPE Virtual Connect modules
• HPE Aruba networking switches
• Cisco Ethernet and Fibre Channel switches and fabric extenders
• Broadcom Fibre Channel switches and pass-through modules
• Mellanox Infiniband

Storage

Storage options include:

• Internal server HDDs (usually 2 to 4 with hot-swap capabilities)
• Internal USB, SD or microSD slot
• Connecting to external SAN via FC, SAS or iSCSI; enabled by the use of a mezzanine I/O card
• Storage blade (with large number of internal HDD's)
• Tape blade (half-height blade unit hosting LTO tape drive and designed to connect to adjacent blade server)

References

1. "Compute Products and Services". Hewlett Packard Enterprise. Retrieved June 13, 2024.
2. "BladeSystem Matrix takes aim at Cisco". Archived from the original on 2012-01-21. Retrieved 2011-01-06.
3. "HP BladeSystem Matrix: Delivering the Converged Infrastructure| White…". Archived from the original on 17 July 2012.
4. Rouse, Margaret. (2013–12). “Definition: Converged Infrastructure,” TechTarget.com.
5. ^ Morgan, Timothy Prickett (29 April 2013). "HP mashes up ProLiant, Integrity, BladeSystem, and Moonshot server businesses". The Register.
6. Tiano, Luigi (28 September 2013). "HP OneView managing the Converged Infrastructure data center". 1cloudroad. Archived from the original on 15 April 2014.
7. "HP Puts 1000 Cores in a Single Rack". Tom's Hardware. June 11, 2008. Retrieved 14 Apr 2013.
8. "Document Display | HPE Support Center". support.hpe.com. Retrieved 2021-05-13.
9. "Document Display | HPE Support Center". support.hpe.com. Retrieved 2021-05-13.

v t e Hewlett-Packard
HP Inc. Hewlett Packard Enterprise
Founders	Bill Hewlett David Packard
Directors	Marc Andreessen Mohamed M. Atalla Shumeet Banerji Raj Gupta Raymond J. Lane Ann Livermore Gary M. Reiner Patricia F. Russo (Chairwoman) Jim Skinner
Executive officers	Meg Whitman Todd Bradley Dave Donatelli Martin Fink Henry Gomez John Hinshaw Marty Homlish George Kadifa Tracy Keogh Cathie Lesjak Mike Nefkens Antonio Neri John F. Schultz Bill Veghte
Computer hardware products	HPE Servers BladeSystem Integrity Superdome ProLiant NonStop Storage HPE Storage HPE XP HPE 3PAR HP Inc. Business laptops ProBook EliteBook ZBook Business desktops ProDesk EliteDesk Z workstations Consumer PCs OmniBook OMEN HP Chromebox
Consumer electronics and accessories	Aruba Networks Calculators Teradici HyperX Plantronics Photography and printing DeskJet JetDirect LaserJet ScanJet Scitex Photosmart
Other divisions	Colorado Memory Systems Indigo Digital Press Scitex Systems Insight Manager HPE Networking
Software	HyperSpace OS HP-UX HP Data Protector NonStop OS NonStop SQL
Discontinued products	Compaq line HP Compaq HP Compaq Elite TC Presario Evo iPAQ AlphaServer Software Domain/OS LightScribe MPE OpenVMS (sold) HP QuickPlay Tru64 UNIX WebOS (sold) Services HP Cloud HP CloudSystem HPE Helion Hardware Jornada OmniGo iPod+HP VoodooPC TouchPad Internet Advisor Pavilion Spectre ENVY Stream Essential laptops Vectra Brio Mini Slate TouchSmart Sprout NetServer Kayak
Closed divisions	VoodooPC ProCurve Sold: Palm Snapfish
HP CEOs	List of HP executives Co-founders Bill Hewlett and David Packard John A. Young Lewis E. Platt Carly Fiorina Mark Hurd Léo Apotheker Meg Whitman
Assets	HP Garage HP Labs HP Atalla
See also	Acquisitions HP spying scandal HP Inc. assets Products Mission: SPACE Steve Wozniak

• Hewlett Packard Enterprise
• Server hardware
• Blade servers
• HPE servers
• Ultra-dense servers
• Computer-related introductions in 2004