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Archive for the ‘blades’ Category

VMware, IBM BladeCenter S and N-series storage to be used by all 32 NFL Teams

Not only did the National Football League (NFL) rely on IBM and VMware for the server infrastructure at it’s biggest game of the year, Super Bowl XLIII, but a CRN.com article by Joseph Kovar reveals that IBM VAR Vicom “provided 34 SANs based on IBM’s N-series storage products, as well as a server virtualization solution based on VMware to consolidate the league’s offices.”

“IBM’s sponsorship of the Super Bowl and its direct deal with the NFL for the Super Bowl infrastructure was key to signing that larger deal, which includes one chassis to be installed in each of the 32 team’s IT infrastructures, said Vic Verola, vice president of sales for Vicom Computer Services, a Farmingdale, N.Y.-based solution provider and long-time IBM partner.”

Dear Arthur Blank,

If the Falcons need local support of your new VMware Virtual Infrastructure and IBM hardware let me know. Read the rest of this entry »

The Computerworld.com article NFL’s Super Bowl IT team gets ready for game day explains how the NFL has assigned a 17 person IT staff the responsibility for Super Bowl XLIII IT operations at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, FL on Sunday Feb 1, 2009. Computerworld explains that the team is using four IBM BladeCenter S chassis located across multiple locations. The article also mentions that virtualization software is in use.

Read the entire article, but here’s some interesting excerpts revealing more about the IT team and how they are taking advantage of server consolidation with IBM blades and virtualization.

“That team was tasked with creating a complete IT operation for Super Bowl XLIII in a matter of weeks. Its coaches are Joe Manto, the NFL’s vice president of IT, and Jon Kelly, the league’s director of infrastructure computing. Their opponent is the same one that IT managers face everywhere: anything that can threaten system availability and uptime.

It doesn’t help matters that one of the four IBM BladeCenter S systems being used in Tampa is located on a wood floor in a tent that lacks any climate control capabilities. But so far, so good — and with the four BladeCenter boxes at different locations, and virtualization software ready to provide redundancy, neither Manto nor Kelly seems all that worried.”

Unfortunately the type of virtualization software is not revealed, and though the author only mentions virtualization in the context of redundancy, later in the article there is evidence that there has also been a significant reduction in hardware from past Super Bowls.
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Anyone who runs their Virtual Infrastructure on an IBM BladeCenter has wondered if there is a key stroke combination to switch the keyboard, video and mouse (KVM) focus between Blades. For that matter, if you run any applications or services on IBM Blades you’ve either walked into the data center and pushed the buttons directly on the Blades or you’ve struggled with the remote Java web interface via the Management Module (MM or AMM) when you need direct KVM access to your servers. For those that don’t already know, there is a keyboard shortcut.

Credit goes to Aaron Delp’s post IBM BladeCenter Keyboard Lock Up for informing me on the key strokes, and now I am making sure I have a post to reference here at VM /ETC too. I have searched for this information for years, and for some reason have never found an answer.

Aaron’s post links to an IBM article about a resolution for the BladeCenter keyboard locking up – which really explains the keyboard shortcut process. The rest of this post is a cut and paste from the IBM article. Read the rest of this entry »

Aaron Delp’s BladeVault.info site reports about calculators from HP and IBM that can help you plan for power when considering physical server consolidation by implementing blades. IBM’s calculator is a downloadable .msi while HP’s is an online calculator. HP also offers a downloadable offline version which has limited functionality compared to the online tool. IBM’s calculator is not just limited to blades as it computes power figures for all x series servers.

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IBM is running a VMware ESX evaluation promotion through December 31, 2008. Details about the promotion can be found at IBM System x and BladeCenter with VMware.

From the IBM site:

For a limited time, you can try VMware® Infrastructure 3 software when you purchase a VMware ServerProven® System x server or BladeCenter chassis. The eligible products are shipped with a flyer that entitles you to register for a 90-day evaluation license for VMware Infrastructure 3. Once registered, you will receive an email with your VMware Infrastructure license activation code and easy instructions on how to get started.

The promotional 90 day evaluation is an extension to the normal 60 day evaluation offered from the VMware.com downloads site.

Although closely working with your favorite VMware partner can also get you extended evaluation periods for ESX anyways, this promotion is worth mentioning for companies that are considering implementing Blades in their data center. A Blade Center is an effective option for reducing your server sprawl without virtualization, and with the ability now to have up to 6 nics and 32 mb of ram in some blade servers makes implementing VI3 on blades a great decision.

Packages including server hardware, Virtual Iron 4.0 and implementation services are now being offered from IBM and HP. Virtual Iron has also signed a reseller agreement with Dell. The combination of these new partnerships is positioning the VMware alternative as a highly visible choice for SMBs looking to migrate to a virtual datacenter.

An article from SearchServerVirtualization.com, Virtual Iron, IBM, HP package virtualization on blades for SMBs, reports on Virtual Iron’s new SMB strategy: Read the rest of this entry »

Are you using IBM System X servers to run ESX? Are you planning on expanding your current VI with new IBM X series servers? Not sure which blades are compatible? Use this guide to make sure you do not create a vmotion boundary!

Although this is an IBM publication it does cover general processor compatibility. There are 3 tables. Table A is for IBM server compatibilties, Table B (incorrectly labeled as the first Table C) is for all Pentium processor compatibilities, and Table C is for all AMD processor compatibilities.

VMware VMotion Compatibility Guide for IBM System X and BladeCenter Servers