| Blade server computing is fast
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| | shared, and there's no room for these
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| transforming the server industry with a
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| | add-ons.
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| host of advantages in terms of design,
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| | Rugged Capabilities
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| functionality and total cost of
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| | Most blade server vendors are searching
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| ownership. By separating CPU and memory
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| | for more efficient means of cooling
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| from other components such as cabling,
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| | densely packed blades. Hewlett Packard's
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| power supply, network connectivity and
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| | "dynamic smart cooling" initiative seeks
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| cooling systems, blade servers
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| | to control heat by focusing cooling on
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| significantly reduce massive enterprise
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| | areas identified as "hot spots." For its
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| server architectures into highly compact
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| | part, IBM is working on liquid-cooled
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| and dense form factor. According to
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| | heat sinks for server processors and
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| market research company IDC, the blade
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| | water-cooled cabinets. However, these
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| server market is projected to represent
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| | ideas are still under development and are
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| nearly 29 percent of server unit
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| | not available now.
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| shipments worldwide by the end of 2008.
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| | Unlike an HDD, a flash SSD generates
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| Although its inherent compact design
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| | minimal heat since it has no moving
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| enhances scalability and ease of use for
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| | parts, and users can expect the same
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| IT administrators, a blade server poses
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| | degree of high-level performance in a
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| design challenges with regard to the
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| | wider operating temperature range. These
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| installation of direct attached storage
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| | rugged features make flash SSD the most
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| (DAS) devices. Since several blades
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| | suitable storage platform for Level 3
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| already share the same power supply,
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| | NEBS-compliant servers. NEBS (Network
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| cooling system and chassis, the most
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| | Equipment Building System) refer to a set
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| logical thing to do is to utilize a
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| | of standards established by Bellcore (now
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| low-power, low-heat and compact hard disk
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| | known as Telcordia) to determine
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| drive. The first thing that comes into
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| | electromagnetic compatibility, thermal
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| one's mind is the 2.5-inch mechanical
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| | robustness, fire resistance, earthquake
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| disk drive, the same disk drives
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| | and office vibration resistance, and
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| installed in notebook computers. However,
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| | transportation/handling durability of
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| for enterprise-wide applications, a
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| | telecom equipment. Telecom carriers
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| better solution exists in the form of
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| | deploy equipment to remote locations with
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| solid-state disks (SSDs), in particular
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| | unpredictable operating conditions, and
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| flash SSDs.
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| | NEBS allows them to identify equipment
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| Flash SSDs are high-performance, rugged
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| | that can provide a high degree of
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| plug-and-play storage devices that
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| | reliability and safety to their network.
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| contain no moving parts. Using flash
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| | The E-Disk Advantage
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| memory chips for storage, these devices
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| | BiTMICRO Networks, a leading player in
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| are available in the same
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| | the flash SSD arena, successfully
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| industry-standard form factors (2.5-inch,
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| | penetrated the military/industrial
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| 3.5-inch and PMC) and interfaces (Fibre
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| | markets with its ruggedized E-Disk flash
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| Channel, SCSI, ATA/IDE) as hard disk
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| | SSDs. These models are guaranteed to
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| drives, but instead use flash memory
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| | operate in extreme temperatures, from
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| chips in lieu of rotational magnetic
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| | -60°C to +95°C. Other environmental
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| disks to store data. This article seeks
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| | specs are likewise impressive, up to
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| to explain and illustrate how flash SSDs
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| | 150Gs of operating vibration and up to
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| stack up against other storage devices in
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| | 1,000Gs of operating shock, making
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| blade server applications.
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| | enterprise and carrier class applications
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| Flash SSDs vs. DRAM SSDs
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| | a breeze.
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| One SSD variant in the market today is
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| | One variant is the E-Disk PCI Mezzanine
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| the DRAM SSD. Used mostly in large,
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| | Card (PMC)-based plug-in flash SSD
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| rackmount architectures, this device
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| | module. Suitable for blade servers (with
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| cannot be considered a viable alternative
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| | PMC slot) that require a reliable, direct
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| in blade server storage due to several
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| | attached storage device, it features
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| design limitations. Owing to the volatile
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| | horizontal connectors that allow parallel
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| nature of DRAM memory, a DRAM SSD
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| | fit onto a blade, giving plug-and-play
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| requires its own power supply, cooling
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| | advantages to system administrators. The
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| fan and disk backup for data retention.
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| | E-Disk(R) PMC can also be used as a boot
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| These components eat up valuable space
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| | and/or storage device for carrier boards
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| inside the drive chassis, limiting total
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| | such as CompactPCI, VME and MultiBus, and
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| storage capacity (less room for memory
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| | almost any other type of single board
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| chips) and form factor (smallest DRAM SSD
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| | computer.
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| is 3.5-inch). Consider further its
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| | In the enterprise arena, the rising
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| weight, and you'll have a recipe for
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| | deployment of business intelligence, OLTP
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| disaster in embedded systems design.
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| | (online transaction processing), decision
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| Flash SSDs vs. HDDs
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| | support systems and other
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| As mentioned earlier, the most important
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| | transaction-intensive applications place
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| factor in finding the right DAS for blade
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| | a premium on rapid information transfer,
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| servers is its impact on overall system
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| | access and retrieval. Fibre Channel and
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| performance and cost effectiveness. In
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| | Ultra Wide SCSI E-Disk solid-state
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| terms of power consumption, mechanical
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| | drives' impressive performance up to 70
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| hard disks typically devour around 500mA
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| | MB/s sustained reads, 48 MB/s sustained
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| while flash SSDs consume a mere 50mA. The
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| | writes and 12,500 IOPS make them ideal
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| difference may seem insignificant in
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| | for applications that exhibit grueling,
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| small enterprise apps, but for huge data
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| | rapid-fire data access brought forth in
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| farms, the cost savings become apparent.
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| | transactional and high storage bandwidth
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| This further enhances the blade server's
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| | environments.
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| advantage over proprietary systems with
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| | Conclusion
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| regard to operational costs.
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| | At present, blade servers utilize DAS
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| The reliable performance of mechanical
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| | mainly for system boot and application
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| disk drives can only be ensured if these
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| | storage, with a Fibre Channel interface
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| drives operate within specified
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| | designed into the server to allow for a
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| temperature ranges. As drive
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| | separate SAN connection. Flash SSDs can
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| manufacturers introduce newer models
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| | help improve, not impede, system
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| featuring spindle speeds as high as
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| | performance with faster access times,
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| 15,000 RPM, cooling has emerged as a
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| | high I/O rates and solid-state
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| major issue. In fact, some suppliers are
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| | durability. Consider other factors such
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| providing a dedicated cooling fan or fan
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| | as hot swappability and ease of
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| heatsink combos for optimum high-speed
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| | deployment, flash SSD is certainly an
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| drive performance. Unfortunately, the
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| | ideal DAS solution for blade servers.
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| cooling systems of blade servers are
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