Blade systems at home

[nickscott18]

Does anyone on here have any experience in using Blade systems at home? On my local auction site, have just seen HP PROLIANT c3000 Blade Enclosure | Trade Me - which for NZ is a very good price (and where it's located, it should go for close to reserve - - AKA $200NZD).

Everything in my head is saying its a very bad idea - but tempting at the same time. Specs are below - for the right person, this would probably be a very good deal, and with a bit of reconfiguring (the G1 that have 12GB ram nodes have 4x 1GB ram sticks + 2x 4GB sticks) could be a cluster that has reasonably decent ram density, in a small box.

GbE2c Ethernet Blade Switch Interconnect

Bay 1 - BLc-Class PCI Expansion Blade

Bay 2 - HP ProLiant BL460c G6
Processors
Proc 1: 2267 MHz
Execution technology: 4/4 cores; 8 maximum threads
Proc 2: 2267 MHz
Execution technology: 4/4 cores; 8 maximum threads
Memory 18GB

Bay 3 ProLiant BL460c G1
Proc 1: 2666 MHz
Execution technology: 4/4 cores; 4 maximum threads
Memory technology: 64-bit capable
Memory 12GB



Bay 4 - ProLiant BL460c G1
Processors
Proc 1: 2333 MHz
Execution technology: 4/4 cores; 4 maximum threads
Memory 10GB

Bay 5 ProLiant BL460c G1
Proc 1: 1866 MHz
Execution technology: 4/4 cores; 4 maximum threads
Memory 12GB

Bay 6 - ProLiant BL460c G1
2 x 72GB 10K SAS hard drives
Processors
Proc 1: 2666 MHz
Execution technology: 4/4 cores; 4 maximum threads
Memory 12GB

Bay 7 - SB 600C Storage with 6 x 146GB 10K SAS

Bay 8 ProLiant BL460c G1
2 x 72GB 10K SAS hard drives
Processors
Proc 1: 2666 MHz
Execution technology: 4/4 cores; 4 maximum threads
Memory 12GB

 

[capn_pineapple]

Just think of all that electricity! You'd spend 3-4 times the purchase price on power alone.

 

[Deci]

That ^^

Not to mention the noise. Have you ever been next to a running c class blade chassis? They don't do quiet.

 

[mrkrad]

c3000 requires a hella reliable power source too! Multiple ups to support the 110V AMP load!

 

[Patrick]

I have looked at getting a blade chassis multiple times. Every time I have not done so because of the power.

Now one of the 8/16 low power systems maybe... for the colo.

 

[Patriot]

Blades are on their way out.... don't do it. Go Pseudo blade if you want high density... something like the SL6500

 

[nickscott18]

c3000 requires a hella reliable power source too! Multiple ups to support the 110V AMP load!

I'm based in NZ (and that server is out of a NZ data centre), so it's 240v, and absolute power requirements is not a problem (previous owner of where we now live ran a light engineering firm out of the garage, so there is a 32amp single phase point in there - good for 7.2kw of supply) - but getting the power to the server is one thing, paying for it is another.

Common sense has won on this one - walking away from it. Power required make it unfeasible long term - and it'd be hard to on sell when I'm done with it as well.

 

[TeleFragger]

i want a c7000 and only if I ever move and go solar... to help fund electricity, is when I will go with one.

 

[DracoDan]

I have an IBM BladeCenter H Chassis at home running 12x HS22 (Westmere/DDR3 generation) servers. The reason I was on STH today was looking for a cheap/quiet replacement for them...

I'm not sure that I agree that blade servers are on their way out, but with the advent of hyper-converged storage the demand for them has definitely plummeted. That said they're still a godsend in data-centers when it comes to space/power/cooling/cabling efficiency.