Comments on: Are blades right for small businesses?

By: David Stein

David Stein — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 17:19:39 +0000

Don’t all those birds and other woodland creatures make an awful mess on the floor when you plug those blade servers in?

By: Jason

Jason — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 02:10:06 +0000

Since you are now a yank, can I have your license plate? FedEX overnight, k? Thanks.

P.S. I hear IBM blades can boot multiple systems from one image. I will believe it when I see it though…

By: Brent Ozar

Brent Ozar — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 19:56:07 +0000

Yeah, Southern Wine had a mix of IBM and HP. My opinion, and this is only opinion, is that the BladeCenter S is the worst of both worlds:
* Takes 7u of rack space (meaning, you need a rack)
* Only holds 6 servers
* Requires its own proprietary switches (as opposed to off-the-shelf rack-mount switches from any vendor)

So it loses on density, loses on cost, loses on flexibility – it’s just a loss all the way around if you’re only dealing with 6-12 servers. If you’re dealing with more than that, then yes, they pay off – but you’d want to switch to the larger blade enclosures they offer anyway.

By: K. Brian Kelley

K. Brian Kelley — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 19:46:47 +0000

Have you looked at the IBM Blade Chassis (BladeCenter S) built specifically for small biz? I’ve read the hype but not actually seen one in use. Maybe one of your readers has some real world experience with one in the environment it was designed for.