Tag Archives: iSCSI

Vblocks Will Continue to Use UCS

As the new year kicks off, Dell EMC leadership has made it clear that the partnership with Cisco is as strong as always.  Cisco’s UCS is the compute layer of the Dell EMC Vblock so many wondered if there would be a “Dblock” or something similar using the PowerEdge blade server product from the former VCE group and the answer is an astounding “NO!”  (In case you missed it, check out Chad Sakac‘s blog post, “Vblock and VxBlock Use Cisco UCS.  Got it?“)   Continue reading

First Look–Dell PowerEdge M I/O Aggregator

[updated 10.11.2012] In many data centers, rack servers offer organizations the ability to keep server and networking responsibilities separated. However, when blade servers are introduced into an environment, the server and network admins roles start to blur. Should the server admin have to learn networking, or should the networking admin have to learn blade servers? Continue reading

Dell Announces 40Gb Blade Server Switch: Dell Force10 MXL 10/40GbE

Dell introduced today a new 40Gb Ethernet Switch module for its Dell PowerEdge M1000e blade system.  The Dell Force10 MXL 10/40GbE switch is the first Force10 product introduced to the Dell blade server platform.  The Force10 MXL 10/40GbE is a 1/10/40GbE Layer 2 and Layer 3 blade switch and is powered by the Force10 operating system (FTOS). 

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Dell Network Daughter Card (NDC) and Network Partitioning (NPAR) Explained

If you are a reader of BladesMadeSimple, you are no stranger to Dell’s Network Daughter Card (NDC), but if it is a new term for you, let me give you the basics. Up until now, blade servers came with network interface cards (NICs) pre-installed as part of the motherboard.  Most servers came standard with Dual-port 1Gb Ethernet NICs on the motherboard, so if you invested into a 10Gb Ethernet (10GbE) or other converged technologies, the onboard NICs were stuck at 1Gb Ethernet.  As technology advanced and 10Gb Ethernet became more prevalent in the data center, blade servers entered the market with 10GbE standard on the motherboard.  If, however, you weren’t implementing 10GbE then you found yourself paying for technology that you couldn’t use.  Basically, what ever came standard on the motherboard is what you were stuck with – until now.

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