W H I T E P A P E R

Hitachi Compute Blade 2000

December 2011

Executive Overview

By Hitachi Data Systems

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Table of Contents

Executive Summary 3

Introduction to Hitachi Compute Blade 2000 4

System Overview 4

Enterprise-class Capabilities 5

Data Center Applications 6

Balanced, Modular Architecture 6

Chassis Design 7

Server Blades 8

Hybrid I/O 9

Mezzanine Cards and PCIe Slots 9

L3 Gigabit Ethernet Switch 10

Eco-efficient Power and Cooling 10

Hitachi Compute Blade Management 10

HTML-based Web Interface 10

Logical Partitioning Embedded Virtualization Technology 11

Overview and Key Benefits 11

Performance and Security Features 12

Hitachi Compute Blade Management Suite 13

Unified Dashboard 13

Deployment Manager 14

N+1 or N+M Cold Standby Failover 14

Hitachi Compute Blade 2000 Specifications 15

For More Information 17

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Executive Summary

Hitachi Compute Blade 2000 (CB 2000) leapfrogs the capabilities of UNIX servers, competitive

blade systems and rack servers from other vendors. It features unique Hitachi logical partitioning

(LPAR) hardware-embedded virtualization technology. This innovative "hybrid I/O" feature lets you

consolidate systems with different I/O configurations and provides a balanced system architecture

that pushes performance to new extremes. Hitachi Compute Blade presents a unique combination

of built-in virtualization, massive I/O bandwidth, large memory capacity, browser-based point-

and-click management, and unprecedented configuration flexibility. This allows you to extend the

benefits of blade computing to new areas of the enterprise data center, including mission-critical

application and database servers.

CB 2000 seamlessly integrates network, power and server resources into a single, space-efficient,

flexible solution, and it also offers the very latest in power-saving features and capabilities. With

sophisticated, built-in reliability, availability and serviceability (RAS) features, it reduces the risk of un-

planned downtime for mission-critical applications. No system on the market today is more flexible

than CB 2000. Its hybrid I/O subsystem leverages both industry-standard PCIe slots and integrated

switch modules. This allows configurations to simultaneously share both a common switching infra-

structure and unique I/O interfaces per blade, expanding workload options.

This white paper provides a high-level overview of the key features and capabilities that make

Hitachi Compute Blade 2000 a preferred choice over any other blade or rack server platform on

the market today. And it shows how CB 2000 delivers new opportunities for companies of all types

and sizes.

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Introduction to Hitachi Compute Blade 2000

Hitachi Compute Blade 2000 is an enterprise-class blade server platform that extends the benefits

of high-performance, high-density blade computing and virtualization to new areas of the data

center (see Figure 1). This section describes how CB 2000 overcomes the constraints of previous-

generation blade systems to deliver new capabilities and opportunities in an enterprise. Subsequent

sections provide additional details about key features and functionality.

System Overview Hitachi Compute Blade 2000 with logical partitioning combines all the benefits of virtualization with

all the advantages of the blade server format: simplicity, flexibility, high compute density and power

efficiency. This allows organizations to consolidate more resources, extend the benefits of virtualiza-

tion solutions (VMware, Microsoft Hyper-V, etc.) to more areas of the enterprise data center, and cut

costs without sacrificing performance.

Figure 1. Powered by Intel Xeon 5600, 7500 and E7-8800 series processors, Hitachi

Compute Blade 2000 packs up to 128 cores into a fully loaded system.

By powering the system's blade modules with Intel Xeon 5600, 7500 and E7-8800 series proces-

sors and radically increasing the I/O performance and memory capacity, Hitachi has made it pos-

sible to use virtualization to consolidate application and database servers for backbone systems.

These are areas where effective consolidation was difficult in the past. And by removing perfor-

mance and I/O bottlenecks, CB 2000 with logical partitioning reduces the administrative burden in

the data center and opens up new opportunities for increasing efficiency and utilization rates.

The "hybrid I/O" capabilities of CB 2000 allow each blade to access a common shared switch

network across all the blades while also allowing each blade to support unique I/O interfaces. This

means you can standardize the switch interfaces across all blades, accommodate application-

specific I/O interfaces per blade, or both, using the same system. To enable this I/O versatility, CB

2000 supports 3 pairs of redundant bays for internal switches and, uniquely for each server blade,

up to 2 each (16 total) PCIe Generation 2 (8-lane) half-height slots for standard PCIe cards.

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Logical partitioning is a key differentiator for CB 2000. Logical partitioning is the industry's first

embedded hardware-based and hardware-assisted virtualization solution, based on proven,

mainframe-class technology. Virtualization is built in, so there is no complex installation process: it

just runs, right out of the box. Unlike emulation solutions, it doesn't slow application performance

down. And unlike 3rd-party solutions, LPAR doesn't require special drivers or software; it keeps the

software stack identical regardless of whether it is on a bare-metal machine or on LPAR. Thus, total

costs are reduced and administrators are more productive by simplifying management.

Equally important, logical partitioning complements existing virtualization solutions and LPAR can

easily work in conjunction with VMware or Hyper-V. You can combine all 3 in a single chassis, pro-

viding the greatest virtualization flexibility in the industry.

CB 2000 also offers the very latest in power-saving features and capabilities. With an industry-

leading 92% efficiency, the power supplies have been awarded the "80 Plus" Gold certificate and

conform to the Climate Savers Computing Initiative Gold standard.

No blade system is more manageable or flexible than CB 2000. You can configure and administer

CB 2000 via a web-based HTML browser that supports secure encrypted communications, or

leverage the optional Compute Blade Management suite to manage multiple chassis via a unified

GUI-based interface.

You can deploy CB 2000 at the edge, application or database tiers, or all 3 at the same time. You

don't need to choose between Microsoft Windows or Linux: you can run both. And you don't have

to sacrifice your current I/O hardware because CB 2000 supports PCIe and is highly expandable.

Enterprise-class Capabilities Hitachi Compute Blade 2000 is a true enterprise-class blade server, and it is important to under-

stand exactly what that term means. It is "enterprise-class" in terms of performance, scalability,

reliability and configuration flexibility, as outlined below:

■■ Performance. CB 2000 offers 2 blade options supporting Intel® Xeon® 5600, 7500 and

E7-8800 series processors with up to 2 CPUs per blade. It meets the performance needs of

large-scale systems that require extremely high compute power and I/O (via the hybrid I/O

subsystem). In addition CB 2000 also supports multiblade SMP capabilities on high-performance

X57A1 and X57A2 Intel Xeon processor 7500 and E7-8800 series-based blades, allowing ag-

gregation of up to 4 blades to create a single server environment.

■■ Scalability. The robust, rack-mountable 10U chassis of CB 2000 houses up to 8 server blade

modules. With the X57A2 high-performance blade, 4 blades supporting up to 2 processors can

be aggregated together supporting up to 80 cores per environment. Memory is expandable up

to 1.5TB, and the I/O subsystem supports up to 8 expansion mezzanine cards and 8 PCIe cards

for a single environment. You can also scale up the virtualization capability: LPAR supports con-

figurations of up to 16 LPARs per environment.

■■ Reliability. CB 2000 chassis is fully redundant and components are hot-swappable. These com-

ponents include: redundant switch and management modules, extremely reliable backplane and

I/O, N +1 or fully redundant power supply modules, and N+M model; failover protection follows.

There are "M" backup blades for every "N" active server blade, so failover is cascading. In the

event of hardware failure, the system automatically detects the fault and identifies the problem by

indicating the faulty module, allowing immediate failure recovery.

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■■ Configuration flexibility. CB 2000 supports Windows and/or Linux operating systems (OSs), a

wide range of virtualization solutions in addition to LPAR and industry-standard PCIe cards, pro-

viding a high level of flexibility and investment protection. The system is also extremely expand-

able in terms of processor cores, I/O slots, memory and other components; the chassis can be

configured via a point-and-click graphical HTML-based web interface.

The enterprise-class capabilities of CB 2000 also extend to workloads. CB 2000 allows you to run

your most demanding workloads, particularly I/O-intensive applications such as online transaction

processing and high-performance computing (HPC), with extremely high performance, reliability,

manageability, scalability and flexibility. This means it is now possible to run mission-critical applica-

tions and consolidate systems at the edge, application or database tiers, or all 3. For example:

■■ CB 2000 can be deployed at the edge tier, which is similar to dual-core blade and rack server of-

ferings from other vendors, but with far greater reliability and scalability than competitive systems.

■■ CB 2000 can be deployed at the application tier, which is similar to quad-core blade server offer-

ings from HP and IBM, but with greater reliability and scalability.

■■ CB 2000 can also be implemented at the database tier, which is similar to the IBM® pSeries® or

HP rackmount servers, but with a superior virtualization solution.

Data Center Applications Hitachi Compute Blade 2000 can be deployed in an array of data center scenarios, including those

aimed towards:

■■ Consolidation. CB 2000 is an excellent platform for server and application consolidation

because it is capable of running 32-bit and 64-bit applications on Windows or Linux, with

enterprise-class performance, reliability and scalability.

■■ Workload Optimization. CB 2000 runs a wide range of compute-intensive workloads on

either Windows or Linux, or both, making it possible to balance the overall data center workload

quickly and without disruption or downtime.

■■ Resource Optimization. CB 2000 enables the IT organization to increase utilization rates for

expensive resources, such as processing power, making it possible to fine-tune capacity plan-

ning, and delay or eliminate unnecessary hardware purchases.

■■ Cost Cutting, Risk and Complexity. With CB 2000, acquisition costs are lower than traditional

UNIX servers or rackmount servers. You can scale up on demand in fine-grained increments,

avoiding capital expenditures. CB 2000 also reduces the risk of downtime because sophisticated

RAS features are built in. And with support for industry standards such as Intel Xeon processors

and PCIe slots, CB 2000 decreases the risk of technology obsolescence and protects previous

investments.

Balanced, Modular Architecture

Hitachi Compute Blade 2000 features a very modular design to maximize flexibility (see Figure 2).

All core system elements are redundant and hot-swappable, so the system can be easily expanded

without downtime or unnecessary disruption to service levels.

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Figure 2. All Hitachi Compute Blade 2000 modules are redundant and hot-swappable,

providing high reliability and uptime.

Chassis DesignWith a 10U chassis that is 19-inch rack compatible, Hitachi Compute Blade 2000 accommodates

up to 8 server modules or blades which are populated with either Intel Xeon 5500 series and/or Intel

Xeon 7500 series and or E7-8800 processor-based blades (see Figure 3). Each Intel Xeon 7500

and E7-8800 series processor-based module supports up to 2 processors and up to 20 cores for a

capacity of 60 cores per system.

Figure 3. Hitachi Compute Blade 2000 chassis layout allows for 19-inch rack compatibility:

front (left) and rear (right).

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Server Blades The 8-slot Hitachi Compute Blade 2000 accommodates a total of up to 8 dual-socket-based

server modules (see Figure 4). Two models of server blades are supported. The X55A2 standard

blades support the Intel Xeon processor 5500 series. Each X55A2 Xeon server module supports 18

memory slots, 2 I/O expansion mezzanine card options and 2 PCIe ports connected to PCIe slots in

the back of the chassis. Each also provides the option of adding a SAS hardware RAID card with up

to 4 hot-swappable hard drives. Two on-board Gigabit Ethernet ports are also provided, along with

lights-out management via HTML web interface supporting IP-based KVM capabilities for remote

access, virtual media support and front-side USB ports for direct access to the blade.

Figure 4. Hitachi Compute Blade 2000 employs X55A2 server modules (blades) standard.

For the ultimate in performance and scalability, a single X57A2 blade supports up to 2 physical

sockets, supported by 6-core or 8-core Intel Xeon 7500 and/or 8-core or 10-core Intel Xeon E7-

8800 series processors (see Figure 5). Each blade provides up to 32 memory slots, which translates

to a maximum of 384GB shared memory per blade. Leveraging Hitachi multiblade SMP intercon-

nect technology, you can scale up resources from 4 X57A2 blades to achieve a single 8-socket (64-

way) SMP system with 128 memory slots. You can also reach more than 1.5TB of memory per SMP

environment. In addition, you can take advantage of the large I/O throughput capacities of 4 blades.

Figure 5. Hitachi Compute Blade 2000 employs X57A2 server modules (blades) for high

performance and scalability.

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With support for the Microsoft Windows OS and Red Hat Linux, Hitachi Compute Blade 2000 gives

you the option of running 2 of the most popular OSs at the same time and in the same chassis for

multiple applications. For example, in a virtualized environment on a single active server module,

you can allocate 50% of CPU resources to Windows and 50% to Linux applications, and change

the allocation dynamically as workload requirements shift. This provides flexibility for accommodat-

ing spikes in demand for specific application services. In addition, the system can be configured

to dynamically reassign unused CPU resources from one partition to other partitions where CPU

resources are under stress, and back again on demand.

Hybrid I/OHitachi Compute Blade 2000 server modules have the ability to support both switch modules and

direct PCIe I/O interfaces, allowing each blade to be configured differently. Each blade can access

a common, unified, shared-switch network across all the blades while also supporting unique I/O

interfaces. This allows you to standardize the switch interface, accommodate workload-specific I/O

interfaces, or both, using the same system. This capability is particularly useful if you have separate

server, storage and network organizations, allowing storage resources to be managed outside of the

box.

Mezzanine Cards and PCIe SlotsFor additional I/O versatility, Hitachi Compute Blade 2000 provides 2 slots for optional mezzanine

I/O expansion cards (see Figure 6). Also, uniquely for a blade server, it provides up to 2 slots of

standard half-height PCIe 2.0 cards (8 lanes) per blade for a total of up to 162-Gb/sec throughput

per blade. The server allows plenty of bandwidth for the most demanding I/O-intensive applications,

such as online transaction processing, high-performance computing, simulations and modeling, or

batch jobs with heavy transactional loads.

Figure 6. Hitachi Compute Blade 2000 architecture provides I/O versatility.

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Quad-port Gigabit Ethernet (GigE) Mezzanine option cards are supported, allowing an additional 8

GigE NIC ports per blade and totaling 10 ports without even using the PCIe slot cards. Combined

with optional dual-port NIC PCIe network cards, a single blade can have a total of up to 14 GigE

ports per blade-enough to tackle any virtualized workload environment.

L3 Gigabit Ethernet SwitchHitachi Compute Blade embedded GigE switch is a managed, standards-based layer-3 switch

that provides gigabit networking required in today's enterprise data centers. The switch provides

12 (single) or 24 (redundant) 10/100/1000Mb/sec ports for connecting CB 2000 server modules

to other networked resources within the corporate networking structure. The switch provides up to

24Gb/sec total throughput performance and the ability to relay packets at 1,488,000 packets/sec.

In addition, a 1:10 GigE switch module is also available for 10 GigE uplink capabilities.

Hitachi Compute Blade embedded GigE switch can be configured for high availability and fault toler-

ance when a 2nd redundant switch module is added. A single switch interconnects 1 (of 2) GigE

connection from each blade server module (up to 8 total).

Eco-efficient Power and CoolingHitachi Compute Blade 2000 accommodates up to 4 power supplies in the chassis and can be

configured with mirrored power supplies (or N+1 power supplies), providing backup on each side of

the chassis and higher total reliability. Cooling is provided by efficient, variable-speed, redundant fan

modules. Each fan module includes 3 fans to tolerate fan failures within a module; an entire module

can fail while the other fan modules will continue to support the cooling requirements of the chassis.

CB 2000 also features the power capping function, which optimizes the power consumption from

server blades by controlling the frequency (CPU steps) according to processor service rate. This

function saves approximately 16% of power consumption by server blades.

In addition, CB 2000 can provide real time monitoring and historical data of power consumption in

the server chassis. The visualized information helps reduce equipment costs, enabling facility plan-

ning for equipment installation and expansion.

Hitachi Compute Blade ManagementHitachi Compute Blade 2000 supports up to 2 management modules for redundancy. Each mod-

ule is hot-swappable and supports live firmware updates without the need for shutting down the

blades. This makes it your best choice if you are looking for a highly available system. Each module

supports an independent management LAN interface from the data network for remote and secure

management of the chassis and all blades. Each module supports a serial CLI and a web interface.

The management modules also support SNMP and email alert notification so that administrators are

always notified of any issues.

HTML-based Web InterfaceBasic chassis and blade operations are managed via an HTML web interface or browser, or a

command-line interface (see Figure 7). The web-based interface simplifies system configuration and

supports secure and encrypted communications, ensuring that only authorized users can access

resources and only authorized resources can be accessed.

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Figure 7. Hitachi Compute Blade 2000 provides an HTML-based web interface.

KVM remote management of the blades is supported via IP with either a client-based interface,

which can be installed onto a remote computer, or via the Java-based web interface, which is ac-

cessible from any standard web browser. The tools also support power control as well as virtual

media capabilities, allowing local drives to be connected directly to the server.

Logical Partitioning Embedded Virtualization Technology

Logical partitioning sets a new standard for server consolidation and on-demand infrastructure pro-

visioning. As the industry's first hardware-embedded virtualization technology for blade computing,

LPAR delivers new capabilities that other popular virtualization solutions do not provide. At the same

time LPAR works well in conjunction with VMware, Microsoft Hyper-V, or hardware LPARs, or all 3. It

works with these options within a single system to increase configuration flexibility.

Overview and Key BenefitsVirtualization allows you to treat your server as a pool of resources so you can allocate process-

ing power on demand, improve utilization rates and delay or avoid purchases of new systems by

partitioning a single server environment. Virtualization is also a good option for server consolida-

tion, which delivers additional advantages: simplified administration, smaller footprint per server in

crowded data centers, improved security, etc.

Logical partitioning delivers high performance, extreme reliability, security and transparent virtualiza-

tion for the Intel Xeon processor 5500 series server modules on Hitachi Compute Blade 2000. It

supports numerous guest OSs, including Red Hat Linux and Windows, and it does not intrude at

the OS level, thus maximizing security, performance and simplicity. It keeps the data center agile

and responsive to fast-changing business requirements. Whether the environment is running on a

bare-metal server or on LPAR, there is no need for conversion or change.

With logical partitioning, virtualization is built right into the firmware, so there is nothing required of

administrators to make it function correctly. It runs right out of the box, reducing total acquisition

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costs and simplifying the move to virtualization in a standards-based blade computing environment.

You can activate logical partitioning or de-activate it quickly and easily via the management console.

Logical partitioning can partition physical server resources by constructing multiple logical parti-

tions (LPARs) that are isolated; each of these environments runs independently. A different OS can

execute on each LPAR on a single physical server.

CB 2000 offers 2 deployment models for logical partitioning: the "Essential" model and the

"Enterprise" model. The Essential model allows 2 LPARs and the Enterprise model allows up to 60

LPARs.

Logical partitioning is a hypervisor-type virtualization. This gives it a natural performance advantage

over host-emulation virtualization offerings because guest OSs can be simply and directly executed

without host intervention. Logical partitioning leverages Intel Virtualization Technology (VT) to ensure

that processor performance is optimized for the virtual environment.

Equally important, this technology utilizes a standard filesystem (NTFS, the standard filesystem of

modern Microsoft Windows OSs) and standard OS drivers, simplifying the administrator's job signifi-

cantly. With logical partitioning there is no need for exclusive and costly file management, migration

and/or backup tools for virtualization platforms.

Logical partitioning takes less time to install, configure and deploy since all virtualization files are

stored in the firmware; there is no need to install or upgrade each blade with virtualization software.

It also means you can deliver better performance because less overhead is required to convert OS

filesystem formats to proprietary formats; there are no driver emulations to consume precious CPU

cycles. The drivers are consistent for either virtualized or nonvirtualized environments, adding to

management simplicity.

Performance and Security FeaturesBased on many years of Hitachi experience developing virtualization technology for the mainframe

world, logical partitioning brings true enterprise-class performance and security to virtualization for

the 1st time in a blade computing environment.

Logical partitioning leverages the logical partitioning (LPAR) approach 1st developed for mainframes.

This technology can partition physical server resources by constructing multiple LPARs that are

isolated, with each environment running independently. A different OS (called a guest OS) can run

on each LPAR on a single physical server.

Logical partitioning also inherits "direct execution" from the mainframe world. This means that user-

level application code and OS requests are directly executed on the processor, which increases

performance. Moreover, logical partitioning is tuned specifically for Hitachi Compute Blade 2000 and

has been extensively tested in enterprise production environments.

To increase security, LPARs have dedicated memory and cannot access the memory of any other

virtual machine. This ensures that no unauthorized access to a given device or memory is allowed.

Files are stored in their native formats and assigned to a separate storage logical unit (LUN). Each

can be assigned with different security settings. With other virtualization solutions, a single file con-

taining all virtual machine data may be subject to security risks.

In addition, a separate management interface for LPAR is built into the hardware. It is not on the

same physical network as OS traffic. This ensures that user data is completely and absolutely

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isolated from the management traffic, which is not always the case with other virtualization solutions.

It adds yet another dimension of protection and security.

Hitachi Compute Blade Management Suite

Hitachi Compute Blade management suite is a standalone set of optional management tools

designed for data center management of multiple chassis via a graphical intuitive interface that pro-

vides point-and-click simplicity. At the system level, this software provides centralized management

of extended systems containing multiple chassis and racks.

Unified DashboardHitachi Compute Blade management suite allows the various system components to be managed

through a unified dashboard (see Figure 8). For example, when rack management is used, an over-

view of all Hitachi Compute Blade racks, including which servers, storage and network devices are

installed, can be quickly and easily obtained. In the event of any system malfunction, the faulty part

can be located at a glance.

In addition, this suite's software provides the ability to define and manage the logical system con-

figuration of each element to be managed by using the service name. With traditional blade servers,

management of both the logical system and the system's physical resources is required. When

definitions are made with service names (such as sales or stock) within Hitachi Compute Blade

management suite, there is no longer any need for administrators to concern themselves with the

management of physical resources.

In short, this suite of software provides centralized system management and control of all server,

network and storage resources. This includes the ability to set up and configure servers, monitor

server resources, integrate with enterprise management software (SNMP), phone home and man-

age server assets.

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Figure 8. Hitachi Compute Blade management suite offers a standalone set of optional

management tools.

Deployment ManagerDeployment manager allows the mass deployment of system images, patches and hot-fix updates

for fast, effective server installation and patch management. You can deploy system images and

updates across multiple chassis in multiple locations. In addition, Hitachi also offers backup capabili-

ties with the deployment feature.

N+1 or N+M Cold Standby FailoverHitachi Compute Blade maintains high uptime levels through sophisticated failover mechanisms.

The N+1 cold standby function enables multiple servers to share a standby server, increasing

system availability while decreasing the need for multiple standby servers or costly software-based

high-availability servers. It enables the system to detect a fault in a server blade and switch to the

standby server, manually or automatically. The hardware switching is executed even in the absence

of the administrator, enabling the system to return to normal operations within a short time.

With the N+M cold standby function, there are "M" backup server blades for every "N" active server

blade, so failover is cascading. In the event of multiple hardware failures, the system automatically

detects the fault and identifies the problem by indicating the faulty server blade, allowing immediate

failure recovery. This approach can reduce total downtime by enabling the application workload to

be shared among the working servers.

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Hitachi Compute Blade 2000 Specifications

Chassis

Size 10U (rack mountable)

Dimensions (W x D x H) 447mm x 820mm x 441mm

Operating Temperature 5°C ~ 35°C

Humidity 20% - 80%

Server Blade Modules Up to 8 server blade modules

Management Modules 1 standard, 2 maximum (redundant)

Management LAN Interface Two 100Base-TX/10Base-T ports

Maintenance LAN Interface One 100Base-TX/10Base-T ports

Maintenance Serial Interface 1 serial interface

Cooling Fans 8 standard

Switch Modules 2 standard, 6 maximum

Hitachi 1Gb LAN Switch Module

Internal Ports Twenty 1000Base-SerDes ports

External Ports Four 1000Base-T/100Base-TX/10Base-T ports

Hitachi 1Gb or 10Gb LAN Switch Module

Internal Ports Twenty 1000Base-SerDes ports

External Ports Four 1000Base-T/100Base-TX/10Base-T ports Two 10GBASE-LR/SR (XFP) ports

PCIe I/O Modules Up to 16 modules

AC Input Module 1 standard, 2 maximum

Power Supplies Up to 4 power supply modules (N+1 / fully redundant)

Input Voltage 200 - 240VAC, Single Phase

Frequency 50/60Hz

Maximum Power Consumption 9.6kW

TABLE 1. HITACHI COMPUTE BLADE 2000 CHASSIS

SPECIFICATIONS

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GVAX55A2 Server Blades

Processor 6-core Intel Xeon Processor X5690

6-core Intel Xeon Processor X5680

6-core Intel Xeon Processor X5675

6-core Intel Xeon Processor X5670

Processor Frequency 3.46GHz 3.33GHz 3.06GHz 2.93GHz

Processor 6-core Intel Xeon Processor E5649

Quad-core Intel Xeon Processor E5640

Quad-core Intel Xeon Processor E5603

Dual-core Intel Xeon Processor E5503

Quad-core Intel Xeon Processor L5630

Processor Frequency 2.53GHz 2.66GHz 1.60GHz 2.00GHz 2.13GHz

Number of Processors per Blade Min. 1, Max. 2

Memory Type DDR3 Registered DIMM, low voltage 4GB and 8GB plus 16GB DIMMs

Memory Capacity Max. 192GB (18 DIMM slots)

Internal Hard Disk Up to 4 X 600GB, 10krpm, 2.5 in. SAS disks, hot-pluggable

Network Interface 2 X integrated Gigabit Ethernet (SERDES) ports

Internal Expansion Slot 2 internal mezzanine expansion slots

PCIe Expansion Slot 2 PCIe I/O expansion ports

TABLE 2. HITACHI COMPUTE BLADE 2000 STANDArD X55A2 SErVEr BLADE

SPECIFICATIONS

GVAX57A1 Server Blades

Processor 6-Core Intel Xeon Processor E7540 8-Core Intel Xeon Processor X7550 8-core Intel Xeon Processor C7560

Processor Frequency 2.00GHz 2.00GHz 2.26GHz

Number of Processors per Blade Min. 1, Max 2

Multiblade SMP Up to 4 Blades

1 Blade 2 Blade 4 Blade

Processor Sockets 2 4 8

Max. Processor Cores 16 Cores 32 Cores 64 Cores

Memory 4GB, 8GB DDR3 Registered DIMMs

Max. Memory (Memory Slots) 256GB (32 DIMM Slots) 512GB (64 DIMM Slots) 1TB (128 DIMM Slots)

Network Interface 2 X integrated Gigabit Ethernet (SERDES ports)

4 X integrated Gigabit Ethernet (SERDES) ports

8 X integrated Gigabit Ethernet (SERDES) ports

Internal Expansion Slot 2 Mezzanine Expansion Slots 4 Mezzanine Expansion Slots 8 Mezzanine Expansion Slots

PCIe Expansion Slot 2 PCle I/O Expansion ports 4 PCle I/O Expansion ports 8 PCle I/O Expansion ports

TABLE 3. HITACHI COMPUTE BLADE 2000 HIGH-PErFOrMANCE,

HIGH-SCALABILITY X57A1 SErVEr BLADE SPECIFICATIONS

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For More Information

Additional information about Hitachi Compute Blade products, technologies and services can be

found at www.hds.com/products/compute-blade. Pricing information is available through authorized

resellers. For a demonstration of the capabilities of Hitachi Compute Blade 2000, please contact

serversales@hds.com.

Multiblade SMP Up to 4 Blades

1 Blade 2 Blade 4 Blade

Processor Sockets 2 4 8

Max. Processor Cores 20 Cores 40 Cores 80 Cores

Memory 4GB, 8GB, 16GB DDR3 Registered DIMMs

Max. Memory (Memory Slots) 384GB Maximum

Network Interface 2 x 1 Gb/sec Ethernet (SERDES ports)

Internal Expansion Slot 2 Mezzanine Expansion Slots 4 Mezzanine Expansion Slots 8 Mezzanine Expansion Slots

PCIe Expansion Slot 2 PCle I/O Expansion ports 4 PCle I/O Expansion ports 8 PCle I/O Expansion ports

GVAX57A2 Server Blades

Processor 8-core Intel Xeon Processor E7-8830

10-core Intel Xeon Processor E7-8860

10-core Intel Xeon Processor E7-8870

Processor Frequency 2.13GHz 2.26GHz 2.40GHz

Number of Processors per Blade 2

TABLE 4. HITACHI COMPUTE BLADE 2000 HIGH-PErFOrMANCE,

HIGH-SCALABILITY X57A2 SErVEr BLADE SPECIFICATIONS

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