Testing Blade Server without enclosure

[chuckk281]

Torben had a customer question:

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I have a big costumer that would like to be able to power up a blade server for testing purpose without having to install it in an enclosure.

Do we have a “docking station” for a single blade server that can do that (supply power, network connectivity and so on) ?   I cannot find any official product that can do that, and that’s fair enough, but do we somewhere have it as a tool ?

It’s NOT for running the server in production.

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Reply back from Chris:

An empty (no interconnect modules) c3000 enclosure with minimum fans, one power supply and an OA may be the cheapest option.

This assumes that the customer does not need to test the LOMs or any mezzanine options.

Also input from Lee:

It’s been the position of engineering since the C-class blades came out that they should not be powered up outside of an enclosure.  Since there are no fans on the blade itself, it would quickly overheat and cause a thermal shutdown or hardware damage. 

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Any other comments or suggestions?