I recently had a customer looking for 32 Ethernet ports on a 4 server system to drive a virtualization platform. At 8 x 1GbE per compute node, this was a typical VMware virtualization platform (they had not moved to 10GbE yet) but it’s not an easy task to perform on blade servers – however the Dell PowerEdge VRTX is an ideal platform, especially for remote locations. Continue reading
Tag Archives: Network Daughter Card
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.
Why Are Dell’s Blade Servers “Different”?
I’ve learned over the years that it is very easy to focus on the feeds and speeds of a server while overlooking features that truly differentiate. When you take a look under the covers, a server’s CPU and memory are going to be equal to the competition, so the innovation that goes into the server is where the focus should be. On Dell’s community blog, Rob Bradfield, a Senior Blade Server Product Line Consultant in Dell’s Enterprise Product Group, discusses some of the innovation and reliability that goes into Dell blade servers. I encourage you to take a look at Rob’s blog post at http://dell.to/mXE7iJ. Continue reading
Dell Adds AMD-Based M915 to Blade Family
Dell announced today the addition a full-height 4 socket PowerEdge M915 blade server based on the AMD Opteron 6100 series CPU family. Known best with the code name, “Magny-Cours”, this CPU family boasts up to 12 CPU cores with a 512k per core L2 cache and a 12MB of shared L3 cache. The AMD Opeteron 6100 family also has AMD CoolCore™ technology, AMD PowerNow!™ technology, Enhanced C1 state, AMD CoolSpeed technology.
A Review of the Dell PowerEdge M710 HD Blade Server
Dell’s Product Marketing team recently provided me with a pair of Dell PowerEdge M710HD blade servers, so I decided to give you a review, but today I’m taking a different approach and providing you with a review via video. Since this blog is YOUR blog, let please let me know if you like this format.
The Best Blade Server Option Is…[Part 2 – A Look at Dell]
Updated 11/4/2010 at 3:51 p.m. Eastern
-added links to Remote Console sessions on 11G blade servers
One of the questions I get the most is, “which blade server option is best for me?” My honest answer is always, “it depends.” The reality is that the best blade infrastructure for YOU is really going to depend on what is important to you. Based on this, I figured it would be a good exercise to do a high level comparison of the blade chassis offerings from Cisco, Dell, HP and IBM. If you ready through my past blog posts, you’ll see that my goal is to be as unbiased as possible when it comes to talking about blade servers. I’m going to attempt to be “vendor neutral” with this post as well, but I welcome your comments, thoughts and criticisms. In today’s post, I’ll cover Part 2 of the series where I dig into Dell’s offering – so get a cup of java, sit back and enjoy the read. Continue reading
Dell Announces New Blade Servers: M710HD and M610x
Dell announced today two new additions to their blade server family – the PowerEdge 11G M710HD and the M610x. The two new servers are just a part of Dell’s “Blade 3.0 Launch” – a campaign highlighting Dell’s ongoing effort to become the leader in blade server technology. Over the next several months, Dell will be making changes in their chassis infrastructure introducing more efficient power supplies and fans that will require Continue reading