Well... VMWare screams on good hardware. We have some on blades (8 blades x 2.66Ghz cores w/ 32GB, 2x1Gb NICs, 1xGb FC), and they rock. Sixteen blades slots in about 14U of rack space. At this point we are running a dozen VM's per blade, and are probably more I/O and RAM bound than anything else.
We also have Some 2U servers that are 8x3.4Ghz cores w/64GB, 2x1Gb NICs, 1x10Gb NIC, 2x8Gb FC, and have room for expansion. It would not be unlikely that we can get >24 VM's on these puppies. Additionally, we can get these machines with 128GB RAM , and another 2x8Gb FC and/or 1x10Gb NIC in it. While certainly the newer blades have better specs as well, their form factor does make it difficult to get more RAM and I/O on them. While you can get more cores per rack-u, you may not be able to get as much RAM per rack U. Or get as much I/O out of your blade. Additionally, to get the same RAM density may mean buying more expensive DIMM's, as you have fewer slots to work with. And then there are factors such as power, heat, weight & redundancy. For us, we can't put more than 1 fully loaded Blade chassis in a rack due to weight constraints anyway. Not to mention that the chassis is a single point of failure, so you have to consider 2 for full redundancy, and then only load them half way, or be willing to stock a spare. Don't get me wrong, I love our blade chassis... 1/2 of our datacenter from 2 years ago now lives on them... but there are factors in their consideration. -sc -----Original Message----- From: Ziots, Edward [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Tuesday, November 24, 2009 6:57 AM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: RE: Sunbelt Needs Senior Systems Administrator (UNCLASSIFIED) VM's scream on Blades, we have ESX hosts running on BL680 Blades, and it really flies, compared to having it on the DL 580G5's we was using before. Z Edward Ziots Network Engineer Lifespan Organization MCSE,MCSA,MCP+I, ME, CCA, Security +, Network + [email protected] Phone:401-639-3505 -----Original Message----- From: Stu Sjouwerman [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Friday, November 20, 2009 4:24 PM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: RE: Sunbelt Needs Senior Systems Administrator (UNCLASSIFIED) Heh :-) We're getting ready to deploy 1000++ VM Windows servers on hundreds of blades for malware processing and a dozen or so biggish Linux production systems on line... We need experience in depth with both. Warm regards, Stu Sjouwerman Founder, VP Marketing. P: +1-727-562-0101 ext 218 F: +1-727-562-5199 [email protected] -----Original Message----- From: Erik Goldoff [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Friday, November 20, 2009 4:10 PM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: RE: Sunbelt Needs Senior Systems Administrator (UNCLASSIFIED) I just don't know Linux ... Pick me ! Pick me ! Erik Goldoff IT Consultant Systems, Networks, & Security -----Original Message----- From: James Kerr [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Friday, November 20, 2009 4:01 PM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: Re: Sunbelt Needs Senior Systems Administrator (UNCLASSIFIED) Darn I would like to move up to Tampa but I dont know Linux or Cisco, doh! Maybe I need to study that next. ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~ .. ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~ ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~ ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~
