What is a blade server? A blade server is a minimal, utilitarian computer server that is designed in modular sections. The blade server is optimized to reduce the need for a larger footprint by reducing power consumption and removing certain components, while still having enough functionality to meet enterprise requirements. Multiple blade servers are housed in blade enclosures that deliver networking, power, management, interconnectivity and cooling. Instead of taking up horizontal rack space in 1u or 2U increments, the blade server goes vertical, placing many vertical service units on blades inside a rack space.
Because of their small size and the capability of fitting multiple blades into a rack, you often see blade servers in large data centers. In these cases, blade servers are mounted into a large server chassis together with supporting devices. The chassis manages the networking, provides power, and orchestrates the performance of servers. Therefore, servers require fewer internal components.
The key difference between a rack server and a blade server is that rack servers can work independently from each other when installed in the server case. Blade servers, on the other hand, operate in a group inside the server chassis.
Rack servers, as their name suggests, are servers that can be mounted into server racks. They are larger than blade servers and come with several built-in components. The server bay also has room for additional storage, security, and network devices in a single space. Since they consume less physical space, rack servers are more convenient. They are also equipped with internal fans to make cooling easier.
The downside of rack servers is that they need more cooling units, which increases energy costs. Additionally, since they are packed densely, they often need more maintenance.
Blade servers require minimal space and can be swapped hot, so if one faces a problem, it can be replaced easily, reducing maintenance issues. They also reduce total power consumption since the chassis provides power.
Blade servers have several benefits when compared to rack servers. To start, they are smaller, more compact, and simpler. Here are the four main reasons to choose blade servers instead of rack servers:
In recent years, blade servers have been thought of as a replacement for rack servers. A few years ago, statistics showed the market for them was in decline. There are several reasons for this:
This was the situation until a few years ago. But today, blade servers offer more capabilities. Blade servers applied to converged computing systems often include advanced features, like networking and hypervisors. These features enable allocating hardware quickly and easily, presenting next-generation blade services as a powerful option.
Organizations that need to maximize space may benefit from using blade servers. This is why data centers are the most common users of blade servers. Data centers need to have the most power utilization and efficiency.
The main advantages of blade servers include:
Each blade server can run independently with its management system. It usually includes a storage switch or network. You can also arrange the blades (cluster them) to operate as a group.
However, it would be really difficult to run a blade server without the chassis. First, the connector is proprietary, and if you want to replicate all the features, it would be more cumbersome.
Second, though it may be possible, you will need to find an alternative way to connect power to the server. Doing this may cause several issues. You may have cooling problems, since you won’t have the cooling feature from the chassis. Additionally, you can lose the redundancies you would get by mounting the blades in the blade center.
The technical features of blade servers will depend on the type and brand. There are, however, standard features to most blade servers:
IT Central Station (soon to be Peerspot) users look for blade servers with the capabilities of a seamless added chassis and access to network power as well as switch cables to a common network fabric. IT teams prefer a server management system, which totally abstracts the blade itself without having to reconfigure the network; thus it can be moved as identities and workloads change.
There are a number of preferences and metrics used by IT and DevOps when evaluating Blade Servers including easy management GUI, the most efficient rack space, and energy usage. Professionals look for Blade Server systems that allow different hardware configurations, (e.g. CPU, RAM, HDD, SAN, NAS) etc. and do not require extensive cabling.
Key aspects of blade servers may be attributes such as whether the blade offers required cores and flops. Numerous ports and required throughput availability are essential. IT Central Station experts want blade servers with virtualization, required drivers, focus on TCO, the latest updated OS requirements with the OS platform supported on the blades.
Blade servers must have reliable, ongoing support from hardware vendors. Critical production apps may have their SLAs affected if there is a hardware problem. In committing to a “vendor roadmap,” consensus from IT managers is that long-term usage of the platform is vital because when investing in a chassis, the team is setting up the infrastructure for 10 years+. Hence a solid, long-term support partnership with the vendor.
