System Configuration

Does ColoBlade™ have RAID 1 capabilities?

ColoBlade™ supports RAID 1 setup as an option. In order to setup RAID 1 mirror drive configuration you need to add a second same size hard drive either SATA or SCSI. In addition, you also need to purchase a 3Ware SATA RAID 1 Controller or a LSI SCSI RAID 1 controller to enable hardware RAID 1 capability.

Do you have dual Xeon configurations available?

ColoBlade™ PC Blade servers only offers single Celeron D, Pentium 4 and Pentium D Dual Core processor configuration. We do not support dual Xeon configurations at this time. If you are looking for dual Xeon configuration, please visit www.atxblade.com for more information.

Do you have AMD configurations available?

Currently we do not have AMD option available yet. If you are looking for Athlon 64 or Athlon 64 Dual Core version, please visit www.atxblade.com for more information.

Do these servers have dual NIC option?

ColoBlade™ PC Blade comes with a single 10/100 Mb Ethernet port. If you need more Ethernet port, you can install an additional dual ports or quad ports Ethernet ports PCI adapter. Please make sure that the dual ports or quad ports Ethernet support 5V 32-Bit PCI riser card.

Does ColoBlade CB103 support Gigbit Ethernet?

ColoBlade PC Blade server comes with single 10/100 Mb Ethernet port. You can install an additional Gigabit Ethernet form Intel or 3Com PCI card.

Can we mix different speed of P4 and Celeron D processor in the same 8U ColoBlade ™ Housing unit?

ColoBlade™ is a very flexible platform. You can max and match any type of system configurations you want. You can run Celeron D 2.4 Ghz processor for the first five PC Blade servers and Pentium D Dual Core processor for the rest of the PC Blade servers. There is no limit what you can do with ColoBlade PC blade servers.

How many ColoBlade PC Blade servers can you installed in a 47U cabinet?

You can install up to 50 PC Blade servers per 47U cabinet. That is 5 x 8U housing for the blade system. Note: It is very important that you have the proper electrical wiring for the power requirement. The rule of sum is that you need at lease 20 Amp outlet per 10 PC Blade servers. Otherwise, you will trip your circuit breaker during the power up sequence.

Power Requirement

Does the 8U rackmount enclosure provide power to blades, or does each blade require separate power?

Our blade node does not rely on the 8U housing for it power requirement. Each blade node has it own power connector located on the front. Each blade has it own 250 watts auto sensing power supply build in.

Does CB100H 8U housing unit require power source?

Yes, CB100H 8U blade housing unit requires power to power up its six 120mm exhaust fans. It has one 80 watts power supply located on the rear of the housing unit.

What is the power requirement for CB103 blade servers?

Each blade node comes with a 250 watts ATX power supply. It is more than adequate for most of our system configurations. A typical Pentium 4 3.0Ghz setup consumes about 170 Watts of power during our heavy stress test. If your application demands more power, we also offer 400 watts power supply for our ColoBlade blade systems.

Does your power supply support 220V?

Yes, the 250 Watts ATX power supply has AC power auto sensing feature. It will automatically adjust power input according to your power source. It will sense AC power ranging from 100V to 240V. Note: only standard US 110V power cord is included. You will need to purchase different AC power connector for different countries.

System Design

Are blades hot-swappable, in that removing one blade doesn’t require downtime on other blades?

Yes, ColoBlade blade servers are hot-swappable. Each blade unit is running independently from others. One can shutdown any blades without affecting other blades. Removing PC Blade server will not affecting other blades as well.

Is ColoBlade PC Blade servers very noisy?

Yes, ColoBlade PC Blade servers are very noisy. There are 6 x 120mm exhaust fan running on the rear of the 8U blade housing. These powerful fans move large amount of air in order to properly cool each PC Blade server. They are not designed for office environment. You might be able to reduce the noise, if you install them into a specially designed cabinet with acoustic absorbing material.

What is CB100H 8U blade housing unit?

CB100H 8U blade housing is the ducking station for our blade servers. It offers a secure place for you to store your blade servers. In addition, it provides proper cooling for our blade servers. Our blade design uses six 120mm exhaust fans. It keeps the blade system running between 55 to 60 degrees. That is at lease ten degrees cooler than standard 1U server with the same setup. We achieved this by moving cooler air in from the front as well as from the special air chummy. The hot air is exhaust from the rear.

How do I install Operating System if ColoBlade does not support internal CD-ROM Drive ?

There are several methods for installation Operating System. First, you can use an external USB CD-ROM to boot and install Windows or Redhat Linux operating system. The second option is to send up a boot server to install Operating System through network boot. Using a USB CD-ROM is the most common method for Operating System installation. If you are planning for a larger deployment, network operating system installation is the way to go.

Can I use an off the shelf LGA775 heatsink ?

Yes, as long as the LGA775 heatsink is with in the 1U specification. However, most of the 1U LGA775 heatsink does not support high performance processor. According to our lab test, we found that most of the off the shelf passive 1U LGA775 heatsinks are not designed for high performance processor. Only the CPU-LGA775-P1 Copper heatsink can handle high performance LGA775 processors with overheat issue.

Is it easy to install or remove a blade system?

Installing a blade is as simple as inserting a VCR cassette. You simply insert your blade server in to one of the ten slots then tighten two thumb screws. All you need to do next is cabling. That is all you need to do. The whole process takes less then 5 minutes. There is nothing simpler then ColoBlade blade servers.

What is the advantage for using ColoBlade blade servers over standard 1U servers?

ColoBlade blade server offers several advantages over standard 1U servers. First, ColoBlade blade server offers more servers per 8U rack space then 1U servers. Actually, you get two additional servers for the same space. ColoBlade blade server offers ten blade server verse eight 1U servers for the 8U rack space. Second, ColoBlade blade server offers better cooling then traditional 1U server. Experienced technicians will tell you that most traditional 1U server can not handle Pentium 4 Processor higher than 2.8Ghz processors. The main reason is the over heat issue. ColoBlade blade server solved that problem with our unique thermal solution. Now you can run Pentium 4 processor as high as 3.4 Ghz without any of the overheating problem.