White Paper
April 2002
165Z-402B-WWEN
Compaq ProLiant BL e-Class
Prepared by ISSG Mainstream
Marketing Group
Compaq Computer Corporation
Contents
Introduction..................................3
Overview of the ProLiant BL
e-Class System Components .....4
Key Benefits...............................6
Hardware Components ..............7
Software Components..............11
Planning the System
Environment...............................15
Software Deployment...............15
Power Planning........................18
PDU Installation .......................28
Cabling Guidelines...................29
Appendix A: Input Current
and Thermal Dissipation
Calculations ...............................30
Appendix B: Input Power
Budget De-rating .......................31
System Overview and Planning
Abstract: This white paper provides an overview of the ProLiant™
BL e-Class server blades, infrastructure components, and
management tools, as well as provides guidance for establishing a
deployment infrastructure and power planning.
The Compaq ProLiant BL e-Class system is part of the new
generation of ProLiant BL server blades and infrastructure portfolio,
developed for adaptive computing and optimized for rapid
deployment and automated provisioning. Compaq ProLiant
BL e-Class systems are the first power-efficient, ultra-dense edge
server blades engineered for the enterprise. The ProLiant BL e-Class
system delivers industry-leading, power-efficient performance for
front-end applications by integrating an enterprise-class chipset,
ultra-low voltage processor, and other power-saving components in
an ultra-dense design. Up to 280 power-efficient, edge server blades
can fit a standard rack, providing maximum utilization of your data
center space. The ProLiant BL e-Class system also extends your IT
resources through rapid deployment, intelligent management, and
rip-and-replace serviceability. The system enables you to manage
dynamic workloads and reduce idle computing cycles so your
business can quickly and efficiently respond to changing business
needs. An integrated management system and full-compatibility with
the Compaq Insight Manager™ Suite give you maximum virtual
presence and control, management and health monitoring of all your
edge-of-the-network applications.
Compaq ProLiant BL e-Class System Overview and Planning 2
Notice
© 2002 Compaq Information Technologies Group, L.P.
Compaq, the Compaq logo, SmartStart, and Compaq Insight Manager are trademarks of Compaq
Information Technologies Group, L.P. in the U.S. and other countries. Microsoft and Windows are
trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the U.S. and other countries. Intel and Pentium are trademarks of
Intel Corporation in the U.S. and other countries. All other product names mentioned herein may be
trademarks of their respective companies.
Compaq shall not be liable for technical or editorial errors or omissions contained herein. The information
in this document is provided “as is” without warranty of any kind and is subject to change without notice.
The warranties for Compaq products are set forth in the express limited warranty statements accompanying
such products. Nothing herein should be construed as constituting an additional warranty.
Compaq ProLiant BL e-Class System Overview and Planning 3
Introduction
The purpose of this white paper is to give an overview of the Compaq ProLiant BL e-Class
system: the first power-efficient, ultra-dense edge server blades engineered for the enterprise. The
paper is divided into two sections:
Overview of the system components
Planning the system environment
Note: The ProLiant BL line also contains the ProLiant BL p-Class system architecture.
However, this paper will focus on the ProLiant BL e-Class system architecture only. For
information regarding the ProLiant BL p-Class system architecture please see the ProLiant
BL p-Class System Overview and Planning white paper.
The build-out of Internet infrastructure and the trend to scale out within the data center have
created the need for businesses to deploy greater numbers of servers, particularly for edge-of-thenetwork applications such as Web serving, media streaming, load balancing, caching, and firewall
protection. However, adding servers increases operating costs, requires more power and space,
and makes system administration more complex. As a result, requirements for IT staffing, floor
space, and power are exceeding available resources.
Compaq has addressed these trends by developing a complete portfolio of modular, blade servers:
the new ProLiant BL Line. The ProLiant BL Line is specifically designed to address the needs of
space-constrained enterprises and service providers for increased server density, rapid
deployment and provisioning, and remote manageability.
ProLiant BL servers are optimized for use with the Compaq Rapid Deployment Pack enabling
automatic configuration and installation of operating systems and applications on tens or
hundreds of servers simultaneously. ProLiant BL server blades include Compaq industry-leading
technologies such as tool-free mechanical designs, hot-plug redundant components, and
integrated management functionality.
The ProLiant BL architecture is designed to protect customer investments in two important ways:
Providing longevity of the ProLiant BL server blade and interconnect infrastructure
Enabling installation of ProLiant BL server blades in standard racks along with legacy servers
and storage
Compaq designed the ProLiant BL line specifically for customers operating in a multi-tiered
environment requiring everything from power-efficient, front-end to high-performance SMP
blades. Compaq ProLiant DL and ProLiant ML servers offer a wide range of industry-standard
solutions to meet customer needs. ProLiant BL servers are therefore not a replacement for
ProLiant DL and ProLiant ML server solutions, but a complementary addition to the ProLiant
product family, targeted at specific customer needs.
Compaq ProLiant BL e-Class System Overview and Planning 4
(20)
plug
p
)
Overview of the ProLiant BL e-Class System Components
ProLiant BL e-Class
server blade enclosure
ProLiant BL10e
power-efficient edge
server blades
Figure 1. ProLiant BL e-Class server blade enclosure (front view) with 20 ProLiant BL10e server
blades
Two (1 + 1) redundant, hot-plug
power supplies
Fan cage with four
(2 + 2) redundant,
hot-
Figure 2. ProLiant BL e-Class server blade enclosure (rear view) with two redundant, hot-plug power
supplies, fan cage with 4 redundant, hot-plug fans, and RJ-21 Patch Panel
fans
RJ-21 Patch Panel
(interconnect tray
tion
o
Compaq ProLiant BL e-Class System Overview and Planning 5
The ProLiant BL e-Class system is comprised of several different components. The following
table provides the required component categories.
In order to design a successful configuration, at least one component from each category is
Note:
required.
Table 1. ProLiant BL e-Class System Required Components
Required Component
Categories
ProLiant BL10e powerefficient edge server blade
ProLiant BL e-Class server
blade enclosure
Interconnect trays (three
options)
Function Options
Each ProLiant BL10e server blade features a single
Ultra-Low Voltage Intel Pentium III processor
(Tualatin-based) with 512-K cache operating at
700 MHz, 2 DIMM slots for up to 1 GB max
ECC memory, one 30-GB non-hot-plug ATA hard drive,
and two 10/100 NICs.
Each rack-mountable ProLiant BL e-Class server blade
enclosure is 3U high and holds up to 20 ProLiant BL10e
server blades. The enclosure contains dual, 1 + 1
redundant 600-Watt hot-plug power supplies and four
2 + 2 redundant hot-plug fans. Server blades plug into
the server blade enclosures for network and power
connections.
Each ProLiant BL e-Class server blade enclosure
requires an interconnect tray. The interconnect tray
routes the network connections from the server blades
out the back of the enclosure. There are three different
interconnect tray configurations for network cable
management.
Server blades will be sold in
singles and in 10-packs.
ProLiant BL e-Class RJ-45
Patch Panel (with forty RJ-45
connectors)
-or-
ProLiant BL e-Class RJ-21
Patch Panel (with four RJ-21
connectors)
- or -
ProLiant BL e-Class C-GbE
Interconnect Switch (with four
Gigabit Ethernet uplink
connectors): reduces network
cables per enclosure from
forty to as few as one
(Available Spring 2002)
Compaq ProLiant BL e-Class System Overview and Planning 6
Key Benefits
Rapid deployment/redeployment to save valuable time
• Takes only seconds to snap in server blades and power supplies once the rack
infrastructure is in place
• Single-sided access to most pluggable components
Using the Compaq ProLiant Essentials Rapid Deployment Pack software
• Provision one or hundreds of server blades in minutes
• Pre-configure server blade bays so new server blades will automatically be configured
when plugged in
Integrated Administrator server blade management system
• Enables serial and network access to the enclosure and all server blades via a single IP
address
• Provides health monitoring and alerts
• Customizable security features
Redundant features to provide high availability at the front end
• Dual, 1 + 1 redundant hot-plug power supplies for power redundancy across all server
blades in an enclosure
• Redundant NIC capability
• Four 2 + 2 redundant hot-plug fans across all server blades in an enclosure
• Server blade redundant ROM
Relieves cabling problems
• Access all 40 server blade NICs via as few as a single Gigabit Ethernet uplink using the
ProLiant BL e-Class C-GbE Interconnect Switch option (Available Spring 2002)
• Designed for headless management, no keyboard, video, and mouse cables
Increased density saves valuable floor space
• Up to 280 single-processor ProLiant BL10e server blades fit into a 42U rack.
• Density is increased without sacrificing performance for front-end applications such as
web serving.
• This configuration meets your changing capacity needs quickly and easily.
Add or remove additional server blades or power supplies from the rack without powering down
the system
Compaq ProLiant BL e-Class System Overview and Planning 7
• Server blades are designed for remote management from anywhere in the world, so there
is no need to have experts physically located in the data center.
• Ease of deployment/redeployment and enhanced management features means fewer
people are needed to manage a large number of blades.
Designed to Protect Your Investment
• Fits into Compaq, third-party, and Telco racks
• Mixes with traditional servers and storage
Hardware Components
ProLiant BL10e Server Blade
Figure 2. ProLiant BL10e single-processor server blade
Description
The ProLiant BL10e server blade (Figure 2) is ideal for use as a power efficient, front-edge server
and for utility applications (such as Web hosting, computational clusters, terminal server farms,
and domain controllers). By removing the CD-ROM/diskette drive, PCI slots, and the power
subsystem, Compaq has created the densest ProLiant server ever. Up to 280 ProLiant BL10e
server blades fit a standard 42U rack.
The power efficient front-edge server blades fit within the 3U ProLiant BL e-Class server blade
enclosure. The enclosure contains twenty server blade bays, dual-redundant hot-plug power
supplies, redundant hot-plug fans, and an interconnect tray bay that is used to house one of three
interconnect tray options.
Features
Processor: One Ultra-Low Voltage Intel Pentium III processor (Tualatin-based) with 512K cache
operating at 700 MHz
System Bus: 100-MHz
Chipset: ServerWorks LELP 3.0 chipset
Hard drive: One 30-GB non-hot-plug ATA disk drive, 4200 rpm, 2.5"
Compaq ProLiant BL e-Class System Overview and Planning 8
Memory: Two DIMM slots with a maximum capacity of 1 GB of 133-MHz, ECC SDRAM
(operating at system bus speed of 100-MHz)
Management: The ProLiant BL e-Class Integrated Administrator (“Integrated Administrator”) is
a centralized management and monitoring system for the ProLiant BL e-Class enclosure and
server blades. The Integrated Administrator acts as a combination terminal server and remote
power controller, enabling out-of-band, secure, serial console connections to all server blades in
the enclosure.
NICs: Each server blade has two Preboot eXecutable Environment (PXE) capable Compaq
NC3163 Fast Ethernet NICs embedded 10/100 WOL (Wake On LAN).
LEDs on each Server Blade
• Unit Identification LED (“UID”) and button. UID is a blue LED on the front of each
server blade and enclosure and can be activated locally or remotely to help a user onsite
find a specific server blade immediately in a densely loaded rack.
• Health
• NIC link and activity (2)
• Disk drive activity
• Power
Local I/O: Keyboard, video, mouse, USB, and serial connections are available for each server
blade by attaching the Diagnostic Adapter (provided with each server blade enclosure).
Density: Up to 280 server blades fit into a 42U rack.
Supported Operating Systems: The ProLiant BL line supports the most current versions of these
top-tier operating systems: Microsoft Windows 2000 Server, Microsoft Windows .NET Server
(when it becomes available in 2002), Red Hat Linux, SuSE Linux, and Caldera Linux.
Compaq ProLiant BL e-Class System Overview and Planning 9
ProLiant BL e-Class Server Blade Enclosure
Figure 3. ProLiant BL e-Class server blade enclosure
Description
ProLiant BL10e server blades are housed in a 3U server blade enclosure (Figure 3). The server
blades plug into the enclosure for power and network connections.
Each ProLiant BL e-Class server blade enclosure has twenty (20) server blade bays in the front
and an interconnect tray bay in the back (for one of three interconnect tray options). Up to
fourteen server blade enclosures can fit in a 42U rack.
Features
Dimensions: 3U height, standard 48-cm (19-inch) width, and 73.30-cm (28.86-inch) depth
Toolless installation: Server blade enclosures are easily installed with spring-loaded rack rails
and thumbscrews.
Management: See description below in “Software Components” of the Integrated Administrator.
Power redundancy: Dual 1 + 1 redundant 600-Watt, hot-plug power supplies
Cooling redundancy: Four 2 + 2 redundant hot-plug fans
rd
Rack requirements: The server blade enclosure fits in Compaq, Telco, and 3
-party standard
racks.
Note: An optional Telco Rack Mounting Hardware option kit is required for installing ProLiant
BL e-Class systems in a Telco (or 2-pole) rack.
ProLiant BL e-Class Interconnect Trays
Description
Each ProLiant BL e-Class server blade enclosure requires an interconnect tray. The interconnect
tray plugs into the rear of the server blade enclosure and is used to route network connections
from the server blades out the back of the enclosure. Each interconnect tray includes the
Integrated Administrator module for centralized server blade and enclosure monitoring and
management (see “Software Components” for more detail).
Compaq ProLiant BL e-Class System Overview and Planning 10
There are three interconnect tray options:
ProLiant BL e-Class RJ-45 Patch Panel: The RJ-45 patch panel functions as an Ethernet passthrough only and has forty RJ-45 connectors. It brings all server blade NIC signals out as separate
RJ-45 connectors. See Figure 4.
ProLiant BL e-Class RJ-21 Patch Panel: The RJ-21 patch panel functions as an Ethernet passthrough only. It brings all server blade NIC signals out via four separate RJ-21 connectors. See
Figure 5.
ProLiant BL e-Class C-GbE Interconnect Switch (Available Spring 2002): The Interconnect
Switch is designed to dramatically reduce the number of network cables attached to the rear of the
server blade enclosure and offers advanced switching features, including VLAN capability. The
interconnect switch reduces up to forty server blade network connections to as few as a single
Gigabit Ethernet uplink connector. See Figure 6.
Note: The interconnect switch is not meant to replace customers’ core network switches.
Figure 4. ProLiant BL e-Class RJ-45 Patch Panel
Figure 5. ProLiant BL e-Class RJ-21 Patch Panel
Figure 6 ProLiant BL e-Class C-GbE Interconnect switch
Features
Reduced Cabling: The ProLiant BL e-Class C-GbE Interconnect Switch reduces forty 10/100
connectors to four 10/100/1000 uplink connectors. The customer is not required to use all uplink
connectors and may use and configure one or more uplink connectors as desired, providing up to
a 40-to-1 reduction in the number of network cables for each server blade enclosure.