IBM BladeCenter
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IBM BladeCenter |
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BladeCenter E front side: 8 blade servers (HS20) followed by 6 empty slots |
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Also known as |
IBM eServer BladeCenter (2002-2005) |
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Developer |
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Type |
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Release date |
2002 |
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Discontinued |
2012 |
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x86
(HS/LS series) |
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Successor |
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The IBM BladeCenter was IBM's blade server architecture, until it was replaced by Flex System in 2012. The x86 division was later sold to Lenovo in 2014.[1]
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BladeCenter E back side, showing on the left two FC switches and two Ethernet switches. On the right side a management module with VGA and PS/2 keyboard and mouse cables connected.
Magerit supercomputer (CeSViMa) has 86 Blade Centers (6 Blade Center E on each computing rack)
History
Introduced in 2002, the IBM eServer BladeCenter was relatively late to the blade server market. It differed from prior offerings in that it offered a range of x86 Intel server processors and input/output (I/O) options.
The naming was changed to IBM BladeCenter in 2005. In February 2006, IBM introduced the BladeCenter H with switch capabilities for 10 Gigabit Ethernet and InfiniBand 4X.
A web site called Blade.org was available for the blade computing community through about 2009.[2]
In 2012, the replacement Flex System was introduced.
LES DIFFERENTS TYPES DE SERVEURS LAMES.
Intel based
Modules based on x86 processors from Intel.
Inside of IBM HS20 blade. Two 2.5 inch disk drive bays are unoccupied.
- Processors: One or two Intel Xeon DP (single or dual-core)
AMD based
Modules based on x86 processors from AMD.
Inside of IBM LS21 blade. Small circuit board visible on the bottom right is an optional Fibre Channel daughter card.
Power based
Modules based on PowerPC- or Power ISA-based processors from IBM.
- Can run AIX (System Unix) or Linux
- Processors: Two PowerPC 970 at 1.6 or 2.2 GHz
Cell based
Modules based on Cell processors from IBM.
Features:
- Double-wide (needs 2 slots)
- Can run Linux
- Processors: Two Cell processors at 3.2 GHz
UltraSPARC based: 2BC
Themis computer announced a blade around 2008. It ran the Sun Solaris operating system from Sun Microsystems. Each module had one UltraSPARC T2 with 64 threads at 1.2 GHz and up to 32 GB of DDR2 SDRAM processor memory.[20]
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Les Modules :
Power modules :
4 x Power modules.
Deux (un de chaque côté) suffisent pour maintenir l’alimentation.
Management Module:
Surveille de fonctionnement de l’ensemble y compris les serveurs lame.
Permet de démarrage ou l’arrêt d’une lame spécifique.
Sortie souris/clavier et écran.
En cas d’anomalie peut envoyer un SMS ou un Mail pour signaler l’incident.
Un ou deux par Blade.
Switch modules
The BladeCenter can have a total of four switch modules, but two of the switch module bays can take only an Ethernet switch or Ethernet pass-though. To use the other switch module bays, a daughtercard needs to be installed on each blade that needs it, to provide the required SAN, Ethernet, InfiniBand or Myrinet function. Mixing of different type daughtercards in the same BladeCenter chassis is not allowed.
Gigabit Ethernet
Gigabit Ethernet switch modules were produced by IBM, Nortel, and Cisco Systems. BLADE Network Technologies produced some switches, and later was purchased by IBM. In all cases speed internal to the BladeCenter, between the blades, is non-blocking. External Gigabit Ethernet ports vary from four to six and can be either copper or optical fiber.
Storage Area Network
A variety of SAN switch modules have been produced by QLogic, Cisco, McData (acquired by Brocade) and Brocade ranging in speeds of 1, 2, 4 and 8 Gbit Fibre Channel. Speed from the SAN switch to the blade is determined by the lowest-common-denominator between the blade HBA daughtercard and the SAN switch. External port counts vary from two to six, depending on the switch module.
InfiniBand
A InfiniBand switch module has been produced by Cisco. Speed from the blade InfiniBand daughtercard to the switch is limited to IB 1X (2.5 Gbit). Externally the switch has one IB 4X and one IB 12X port. The IB 12X port can be split to three IB 4X ports, giving a total of four IB 4X ports and a total theoretical external bandwidth of 40 Gbit.
Pass-through
Two kinds of pass-through module are available: copper pass-through and fibre pass-through. The copper pass-through can be used only with Ethernet, while the Fibre pass-through can be used for Ethernet, SAN or Myrinet.
Bridge
Bridge modules are only compatible with BladeCenter H and BladeCenter HT. They function like Ethernet or SAN switches and bridge the traffic to InfiniBand. The advantage is that from the Operating System on the blade everything seems normal (regular Ethernet or SAN connectivity), but inside the BladeCenter everything gets routed over the InfiniBand.
High-speed switch modules
High-speed switch modules are compatible only with the BladeCenter H and BladeCenter HT. A blade that needs the function must have a high-speed daughtercard installed. Different high-speed daughtercards cannot be mixed in the same BladeCenter chassis.
10 Gigabit Ethernet
A 10 Gigabit Ethernet switch module was available from BLADE Network Technologies. This allowed 10 Gbit/s connection to each blade, and to outside the BladeCenter.
InfiniBand 4X
There are several InfiniBand options:
- A high-speed InfiniBand 4X SDR switch module from Cisco. This allows IB 4X connectivity to each blade. Externally the switch has two IB 4X ports and two IB 12X ports. The 12X ports can be split to three 4X ports, providing a total of eight IB 4X ports or a theoretical bandwidth of 80 Gbit. Internally between the blades, the switch is non-blocking.
- A High-speed InfiniBand pass-through module to directly connect the blades to an external InfiniBand switch. This pass-though module is compatible with both SDR and DDR InfiniBand speeds.
- A high-speed InfiniBand 4X QDR switch module from Voltaire (later acquired by Mellanox Technologies). This allows full IB 4X QDR connectivity to each blade. Externally the switch has 16 QSFP ports, all 4X QDR capable.
Roadrunner TriBlade (custom module)
A schematic description of the TriBlade module
The IBM Roadrunner supercomputer used a custom module called the TriBlade from 2008 through 2013. An expansion blade connects two QS22 modules with 8 GB RAM each via 4 PCIe x8 links to a LS21 module with 16 GB RAM, two links for each QS22. It also provides outside connectivity via an Infiniband 4x DDR adapter. This makes a total width of four slots for a single TriBlade. Three TriBlades fit into one BladeCenter H chassis.[22]