Last week I mentioned NPAR as a feature in most Broadcom like the ones found in the PowerEdge MX740c blade server. I realized although NPAR is nearly a decade old, it may not be well-known by readers, so I thought I’d take a few minutes to break it down for you. Continue reading
Want 400GbE in a Blade Server? Here’s How
A few years ago, the thought of needing multiple 25GbE ports on a blade server was not even a consideration. In fact, I did a survey 6 years ago and got an overwhelming response that only a couple of 10GbE ports was needed for VMware virtualization efforts. Today there is now an option to have 8 x 25GbE ports in a 2 CPU blade server – but there are some things you need to know. Continue reading
What Does the Future Hold for the Blade Server?
One of the goals I have for this blog is to keep it current with news and updates from blade top tier server vendors. However, over the past year, I have found it harder and harder to find relevant information. Why is this? Is it just because we in a lull between new blade server models or is the blade server dying? I decided to dig a little deeper into this question. Continue reading
A Slick New Way to Get More GPUs on Blade Servers
It should be no surprise that the popularity of accelerators in the datacenter continues to grow. Last year I wrote a blog post on the GPU options for blade servers. At that time, the options were limited to either small GPUs like the NVIDIA T4 or mezzanine based GPUs. The market really hasn’t added anything more in the GPU-on-blade space until now. Continue reading
A Look Back at the HP ProLiant C3500 Blade Enclosure
Upon reviewing my Google photos, I found a few interesting images that showcased the little known HP ProLiant C3500. This blog post will provide some rarely seen images and give some insights into the HP ProLiant Blade Enclosure family. Continue reading
If You Use PowerEdge Blade Servers You Should Know About This
If you are using Dell blade servers, I may have a little known resource that could help you. Ever heard of the “PowerEdge MX I/O Guide?” If not, I’m not surprised. It was primarily used as an internal resource, but now it’s available to the public. Continue reading
Helpful Blade Server Links (Updated)
Here is a list of blade-related websites that may help you find more information about blade servers. Since vendors tend to move their sites without notice if you find a dead link, please let me know. If you have other sites that you think are worthy to remember, email me at “kevin AT bladesmadesimple.com”.
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If You Have a Gmail Account You Could Be Helping Find A Cure for COVID-19
Over the years, there have been several community programs that were designed to help take the spare CPU cycles from your PCs or blade servers to build simulations or analyze data that scientists can use to find answers to challenging questions. Continue reading
What You Need To Know About The Intel Cascade Lake Refresh
Intel has added new CPUs to the Cascade Lake family and here are a few things you should know about these new Refresh CPUs before buying your next blade server.
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New iDRAC License Adds New Features Like Telemetry Streaming To Your Blade Servers
One very important consideration for choosing your blade server is the type of embedded management license you need. I’ve seen organizations attempt to save money by going with the low end license offering for systems management only to find out it doesn’t include a crucial feature. One such feature is the ability to see trends and get early warnings from a server before it alerts. In this blog post I’m going to talk about the iDRAC license options for Dell EMC blade servers including a comparison of the different license versions and why you may want them.