Selling A Blade

[Dan Fitzgerald]

Ok so I am trying to get a blade chasis in our datacenter and Power is a major selling point. I want to get a c3000 chasis with 3 of the following blades in it Type of Blade BL495cG5 Type of Proc 2356 2.3Ghz(95W) # of Processors 2 Model Description BL495cG5 ONE 2356 2.3Ghz 4GB(2 * 2GB) QC Model/Series No 453431-B21 32GB SATA SSD 2 64GB SATA SSD 0 250GB SATA 60GB/120GB SATA 36GB 10K SAS 72GB 10K SAS 146GB 10K SAS Embedded NIC Dual MF NC532i Mezzanine 1 QLogic QMH2462 4Gb FC HBA for HP c-Class BladeSystem Mezzanine 2 None Mezzanine 3 512 MB 1 GB 0 (LP) 2 GB 0 (LP) 4 GB 16 (LP) 8 GB 0 Now I have used the Power sizing tool and have set the utilization to 75%. With this setting I am showing the following and want to know how accurate this calculation is and am I reading it rights that this enclosure would use 1087 watts when it is running all 3 blades at 75%. Also if I am currently running at 1500Watts for all the hosts that the blade will replace is there are monetary figure of about how much 1watt of power costs. Power Credentials Idle Utilization Circuit Sizing/HPTC Unit(s) Total Input Power 647 1087 1456 Watt(s) Thanks

[chopper3]

Hi, you've not listed your PSUs/fans/Inters or if you have a redundant OA, but either way generally you don't often see power savings with blades over DLs until you're past the fourth blade. That said the HP sizer is quite negative, they can't afford to tell you it'll run at 1Kw and it blow your UPS because it went higher, they play it safe. As for cost per watt, depends where you live, your supplier, your contract etc - best find out who pays the bill and get them to ask the question for you. Oh and something else to be aware of, if you power on al three machine at once it'll use more than that 1.whateverKw of power they suggest as servers draw a lot on startup, if you're worried about this then you'll need to set a startup delay on the OA for the second and third blades, 20/30 seconds each will be fine.

[ernst limbrunner]

hi if you do any power usage comparisons - please do not forget that in a racked/towered environment the watts for fc-switches and ethernet-switches are usually NOT included in power calculations. the hp blade power tools always INCLUDE these watts as well. so the blades often do have a power advantage even if you cannot see it with a low number of blades when comparing the results of power calculations. i confess that with up to 3 blades the infrastructure (power supplies) will not be able to run in an efficient mode (just not enough load). best regards ernesto

[ernst limbrunner]

there is a NEW tool - HP power advisor - it does not yet include blades (but will soon) ----- it is true that saving money starts with 4 or more blade servers. neverteheless the administration of blades is easier (once you are familiar with onboard administrator). this will take you an hour or two. just use the built-in help function if you have questions. the onboard administrator user guide is excellent (like most HP documentation) best regards ernesto