HP BL680c - ProLiant - G5 Quick guide

Technologies in HP ProLiant G5 c-Class
server blades
technology brief
Abstract.............................................................................................................................................. 2
Introduction......................................................................................................................................... 2
ProLiant c-Class server blade architecture................................................................................................ 2
Processor technologies ......................................................................................................................... 5
Intel processors ................................................................................................................................ 5
Xeon 5200, 5300 and 5400 Series processors............................................................................... 5
Xeon 7300 and 7400 Series processors......................................................................................... 6
AMD Opteron™ quad-core processors ...............................................................................................7
Thermal Logic technologies ................................................................................................................... 8
Processor socket technology.................................................................................................................. 8
Memory technologies ........................................................................................................................... 9
I/O technologies ................................................................................................................................. 9
PCI Express technology..................................................................................................................... 9
Serial Attached SCSI technology...................................................................................................... 10
SAS and SATA Small Form Factor hard drives ................................................................................... 10
Solid state drives............................................................................................................................ 11
Optional mezzanine cards.............................................................................................................. 11
Networking technologies ................................................................................................................ 11
TCP/IP Offload Engine................................................................................................................ 12
Receive-side Scaling (RSS) ........................................................................................................... 12
iSCSI Acceleration...................................................................................................................... 12
iSCSI boot for Linux .................................................................................................................... 12
Virtual Connect .......................................................................................................................... 13
Configuration and management technologies .......................................................................................14
BladeSystem Onboard Administrator................................................................................................ 14
ProLiant Onboard Administrator (Integrated Lights-Out 2) for ProLiant server blades ............................... 15
HP Insight Control suite ................................................................................................................... 15
Power management technologies......................................................................................................... 15
Power meter .................................................................................................................................. 16
HP Power Regulator for ProLiant....................................................................................................... 16
HP Dynamic Power Capping and HP Power Capping ........................................................................ 16
Data security technology with the Trusted Platform Module ..................................................................... 17
Conclusion........................................................................................................................................ 17
For more information.......................................................................................................................... 18
Call to action .................................................................................................................................... 18

Abstract
This technology brief describes the architecture and the implementation of major technologies in HP
ProLiant G5 c-Class server blades based on Intel® Xeon® and AMD Opteron™processors. These
technologies include processors, memory, connections, power, management, and the latest serial
input/output (I/O) technologies.
It is assumed that the reader is familiar with HP ProLiant server technology and has some knowledge
of BladeSystem architecture. For more information about the infrastructure components, see the HP
website: www.hp.com/go/bladesystem/.
Introduction
As HP began planning the next generation of BladeSystem architecture, it became clear that
significant changes affecting I/O, processor, and memory technologies were on the horizon. HP
designed the BladeSystem architecture to accommodate these new technologies. HP BladeSystem
architecture uses full-featured server blades. For complete specifications of each server blade, see the
HP website: http://www.hp.com/go/bladesystem/.
ProLiant c-Class server blade architecture
An HP ProLiant c-Class Server Blade is a complete server that slides into an HP BladeSystem c-Class
Enclosure. Three different c-Class enclosures are available to meet the needs of large or small IT
environments:
•The HP BladeSystem c7000 rack enclosure is 10U high and holds up to 16 ProLiant c-Class server
blades.
•The HP BladeSystem c3000 rack enclosure is 6U high and holds up to 8 ProLiant c-Class server
blades.
•The HP BladeSystem c3000 tower enclosure is designed with casters for sites without racks. It holds
up to 8 ProLiant c-Class server blades inserted vertically.
The rack enclosures fit in HP 10000 series racks and can operate with as few as one server blade
installed. The greatest advantage of blade architecture, however, is the ease of adding more server
blades. ProLiant c-Class server blades are built in standard form-factors, referred to as half-height (4U)
and full-height (8U). Both half-height and full-height server blades fit into any device bay in a
BladeSystem c-Class enclosure.1
ProLiant c-Class server blades include enterprise-class technologies:
•Two or four AMD or Intel x86 processors
•Thermal Logic technologies
•Advanced memory technologies
•Multiple slots for I/O cards
•Integrated multifunction Ethernet network adapters that support TCP/IP offload engine (TOE)2and
iSCSI acceleration
•Hot-plug internal disk drives
1More information about BladeSystem c-Class enclosure configuration options can be found at
http://www.hp.com/go/bladesystem/.
2TOE technology is designed to move processing transactions from the main processor on a server blade to a
processor embedded on the network interconnect card. This frees the main processor for other work.
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•Power management
With the exception of the BL2x220c G5 double-dense server blade, half-height server blades support
up to two processors, six to sixteen DIMM slots, up to two hot-plug or non hot-plug drives, one or two
integrated Ethernet adapters, and up to two mezzanine slots. Optional mezzanine cards provide a
variety of different I/O fabric connectivity to the interconnect bays (Figure 1).
Figure 1. Example of a half-height HP BladeSystem Server Blade (an HP BL260c G5 server)
Because of their larger size, full-height G5 server blades support up to 4 processors, up to 16 DIMM
slots, 2 or 4 hot-plug drives, 4 integrated Ethernet adapters, and 3 mezzanine slots for optional I/O
cards. Full-height server blades also provide twice as much I/O bandwidth to the interconnect
modules as the half-height server blades provide (Figure 2).
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Figure 2. Example of a full-height HP BladeSystem Server Blade (an HP BL685c G5 server)
The BladeSystem BL2x220c G5 double-dense server blade is two server nodes in a half-height server
blade form factor. It is designed for data centers where extreme density, compute performance, and
power efficiency are essential. Each node within the BL2x220c G5 supports up to two CPUs and four
DIMM slots. In Figure 3, Server A refers to the base unit that connects to the midplane. Server B refers
to the upper unit that connects through Server A. Although both mezzanine slots are physically
located on Server A, electrically, Server A uses one and Server B uses the other. In fully configured
c7000 enclosures, BL2x220c G5 server blades can scale to provide up to 1024 cores and 4 TB of
RAM per 42U rack. Each server node has two 1-Gigabit (Gb) Ethernet ports; options are available to
upgrade to 10 Gb Ethernet or InfiniBand for high performance, low-latency interconnects.
Figure 3. Internal view of the HP BladeSystem BL2x220c G5 Server Blade
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Processor technologies
HP BladeSystem ProLiant G5 c-Class server blades use multi-core technologies from Intel and AMD. A
multi-core processor has two or more separate execution cores on one or more physical dies so that it
can perform more work within a given clock cycle. To take advantage of multi-core processing,
software must be multi-threaded to distribute the work across multiple execution cores.
Intel processors
Intel-based ProLiant G5 server blades use one of the following processor chipsets:
•Intel 5000P chipset (5200, 5300, and 5400 Series)
•Intel 7300 chipset (7300 and 7400 Series)
Depending on the server model, ProLiant G5 server blades contain either Intel Xeon 5000 Sequence
or 7000 Sequence processors based on the Intel Core™ microarchitecture. They use less power and
produce less heat than previous-generation Intel processors. To avoid saturation of the front side bus
(FSB), the Intel 5000 chipsets widen the interface by providing dual independent buses. Intel Core
microarchitecture features additional technologies that improve per-watt performance and energy
efficiency: Hardware Virtualization, Enhanced Intel Speed-Step® Technology, Supplemental
Streaming SIMD Extension 3 (SSSE3), and Intel Execute Disable Bit technology.3
Xeon 5200, 5300 and 5400 Series processors
ProLiant G5 server blades with two Intel processors use the Intel 5000P chipset. This chipset contains
two main components: the Memory Controller Hub (MCH) and the I/O controller hub. The
Northbridge MCH supports DDR2 fully-buffered DIMMs.
The 64-bit Intel Xeon 5200 Series processors have two complete processor cores, including caches,
buses, and execution states. The Xeon 5200 Series processors operate at a maximum frequency of
3.33 GHz (1333 MHz FSB), with 3 MB of L2 cache per core (6 MB total).
Intel Xeon 5300 and 5400 Series processors were the first quad-core processors for dual-socket
platforms (Figure 4). Each Xeon 5300 and 5400 Series processor has two dual cores that share L2
cache. The 5300 processor operates at a maximum frequency of 3.0 GHz (1333 MHz FSB) with a
total of 8 MB of L2 cache. The 5400 processor operates at a maximum frequency of 3.16 GHz
(1333 MHz FSB) with a total of 12 MB of L2 cache.
3For additional information about Intel processors, see the HP technology brief titled “The Intel processor
roadmap for industry-standard servers”:
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c00164255/c00164255.pdf.
5

Figure 4. Major components of Intel Xeon 5300 and 5400 Series processors
Xeon 7300 and 7400 Series processors
The Intel Xeon 7300 and 7400 Series processors use the Intel 7300 chipset, which features
Dedicated High-Speed Interconnects (DHSI). DHSI is an independent, point-to-point interface between
the chipset and each processor that allows full front-side-bus bandwidth to each processor (Figure 5).
The point-to-point interface significantly reduces data traffic on the DHSI, providing lower latencies
and greater available bandwidth. The chipset also features a 64-MB snoop filter that manages data
coherence across processors, eliminating unnecessary snoops and boosting available bandwidth.
Figure 5. Intel Xeon 7300 series processors with the Intel 7300 chipset and Dedicated High-Speed Interconnects
Intel Xeon 7300 Series processors consist of two dual-core silicon chips on a single ceramic module,
similar to the Xeon 5300 Series processors. Each pair of cores shares L2 cache; up to 4 MB of L2
cache can be allocated to one core. Intel Xeon 7400 Series processors consist of up to six cores that
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share a 16 MB L3 cache (Figure 6). Intel Xeon 7300 and 7400 Series processors are available on
the ProLiant BL680 G5 server blade.
Figure 6. Major components of Intel Xeon 7300 and 7400 Series processors
AMD Opteron™ quad-core processors
Third generation, quad-core AMD Opteron 2300 and 8300 Series processors feature
HyperTransport™ technology, which provides a direct, scalable bandwidth interconnect between the
processor, the I/O subsystem, and the chipset. Each quad-core processor operates at speeds of up to
3.1 GHz, has 512 KB of L2 cache memory, and shares a total of 6 MB of L3 cache (Figure 7). The
processor has an integrated memory controller that supports PC2-6400 (DDR2-800) DIMMs. The
AMD Direct Connect™ architecture replaces the FSB with direct communication links between each
CPU, between CPU and I/O, and between CPU and memory. 4
Quad-core AMD Opteron 2300 and 8300 Series processors feature AMD Dual Dynamic Power
Management™. This feature powers the processor core and memory controller voltage planes
independently and delivers increased performance and improved power management.
Figure 7. Major components of AMD Opteron quad-core processors
4For additional information about AMD processors, see the HP technology brief titled “The AMD processor
roadmap for industry standard servers”:
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c00428708/c00428708.pdf.
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Thermal Logic technologies
For ProLiant c-Class server blades, HP designed smaller heat sinks than rack-mount servers use. The
server blade heat sinks have vapor chamber bases, thinner fins, and tighter fin pitch than previous
designs to achieve the largest possible heat transfer surface in the smallest possible package
(Figure 8). The smaller heat sink allows more space on the server blades for DIMM slots and hard
drives.
Precise ducting on ProLiant c-Class server blades manages airflow and temperature based on the
unique thermal requirements of all the critical components. The airflow is tightly ducted to ensure that
no air bypasses the server blade and to obtain the most thermal work from the least amount of air
moved. Ducting produces high pressure that reduces the amount of required airflow, which in turn
reduces the power draw of fans. The lower airflow requirement has the added benefit of optimizing
the available data center cooling capacity.
Figure 8. Processor heat sink using fully ducted design (left) and traditional heat sink used in a 1U rack-mount
server (right)
Top view
Side view
More information about HP Thermal Logic technologies is available on the HP website:
www.hp.com/go/thermallogic.
Processor socket technology
The latest AMD and Intel processors use a processor socket technology called Land Grid Array (LGA).
The processor package designs no longer have pins. Instead, the processor package has pads of
gold-plated copper that touch processor socket pins on the motherboard.
Technicians must be careful when installing processors to avoid damaging the delicate processor
socket pins. Because pin damage could require replacing the motherboard, HP engineers developed
a special installation tool to simplify processor installation and reduce the possibility of damaging the
socket pins (Figure 9).
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Figure 9. Diagram showing how the processor installation tool simplifies installation
Memory technologies
Depending on the model, HP ProLiant c-Class G5 Server Blades support the following memory
technologies:
•Registered PC2 (DDR2) DIMMs
•Fully buffered PC2 (DDR2) DIMMs
DDR2 memory devices operate at 1.8V. DDR2 devices use high clock frequencies to increase data
transfer rates and on-die termination control to improve signal quality. For example, at a clock
frequency of 400 MHz, the data transfer rate is 800 megatransfers per second (MT/s), which
translates to a memory bandwidth of 6400 MB/s per DIMM. Single-rank registered DDR2 DIMMs
place only one load per DIMM on the memory bus. Fully buffered DIMMs implement a serial
architecture to increase memory bandwidth and capacity.5
I/O technologies
HP ProLiant c-Class Server Blades support PCI Express (PCIe), serial attached SCSI (SAS), serial ATA
(SATA) I/O technologies, Multifunction 1 Gb or 10 Gb Ethernet, 4 Gb Fibre Channel, and 4X DDR
(20 Gb) InfiniBand.
PCI Express technology
The PCI Express (PCIe) serial interface provides point-to-point connections between the chipset I/O
controller hub and I/O devices. Each PCIe serial link consists of one or more dual-simplex lanes. Each
lane contains a send pair and a receive pair to transmit data at the signaling rate in both directions
simultaneously (Figure 10). ProLiant G5 server blades support PCIe 1.0 slots, which have a signaling
rate of 2.5 Gb/s per direction per lane. After accounting for 20 percent serializing/deserializing
encoding overhead, the resulting effective maximum bandwidth is 2 Gb/s (250 MB/s) per direction
per lane. Therefore, a x4 link with 4 send and receive pairs has an effective bandwidth of 2 GB/s. A
5For additional information, refer to the HP technology brief titled “Memory technology evolution: an overview of
system memory technologies":
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c00256987/c00256987.pdf.
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x8 link has an effective bandwidth of 4 GB/s. This flexibility allows slower devices to transmit on a
single lane with a relatively small number of pins while faster devices can transmit on more lanes as
required.6
Figure 10. PCI Express bandwidth
Link
size
Max. bandwidth
(Send or receive)
Total
Bandwidth
(Send and
receive)
x1 250 MB/s 500 MB/s
x4 1 GB/s 2 GB/s
x8 2 GB/s 4 GB/s
A PCIe 2.0 device can be used in a PCIe 1.0 slot. For best performance, however, each card should
be used in a slot that supports its logical link size.
Serial Attached SCSI technology
SAS is a serial communication protocol for direct-attached storage devices such as SAS and SATA
Small Form Factor (SFF) disk drives. It is a point-to-point architecture in which each device connects
directly to a SAS port rather than sharing a common bus, as parallel SCSI devices do. Point-to-point
links increase data throughput and improve the ability to locate and fix disk failures. More
importantly, SAS architecture solves the parallel SCSI problems of clock skew and signal degradation
at high signaling rates.7
A battery-backed write cache (BBWC) is available as an option for the Smart Array controllers. The
battery prevents information in the buffer from being lost in case of an unexpected system shutdown.
In the case of a complete system failure, IT administrators can move the controller and disks to a
different server where the controller will flush out the cache to the disks after power is restored. In the
case of a controller failure, administrators can move the cache module and disks to a working
controller where the cache will be flushed out to the disks. The battery will last up to two days without
receiving any power from the computer.
SAS and SATA Small Form Factor hard drives
The SAS architecture enables system designs that deploy high-performance SAS and high-capacity
SATA8SFF drives. This capability provides a broad range of storage solutions that give IT managers
the flexibility to choose storage devices based on reliability, performance, and cost.
6For additional information about PCI Express technology, see the technology brief titled “HP local I/O
technology for ProLiant and BladeSystem servers”:
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c00231623/c00231623.pdf.
7For more information about SAS technology, refer to the HP technology brief titled “Serial Attached SCSI
storage technology”:
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c01613420/c01613420.pdf.
8For more information about these features, refer to the technology brief “Serial ATA technology”:
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c00301688/c00301688.pdf.
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SFF drives provide higher performance than large form factor drives. The smaller SFF platters reduce
seek times because the heads have a shorter distance to travel. RAID performance improves by
increasing the numbers of spindles.
Solid state drives
HP server solid state drives (SSD) were introduced in late 2008 for use in specific BladeSystem
environments. SSDs connect to the host system using the same protocols as disk drives, but they store
and retrieve file data in flash memory arrays rather than on spinning media. SSDs eliminate the
latency of traditional hard drives by eliminating seek times and by powering up quickly. They also
achieve high random-read performance. HP SSDs provide a level of reliability equivalent to or slightly
greater than current HP Midline disk drives for servers.
Solid state memory (NAND) provides higher capacity, reliability, and performance for local,
low-power boot drives than USB keys provide. HP server SSD interfaces are compatible with
traditional disk drives connected to a SATA controller. This allows benchmarking and direct
comparison of their external performance with that of disk drives to determine their suitability in
various application environments.9
Optional mezzanine cards
HP offers a variety of optional mezzanine cards to connect to outside networks and storage. HP
ProLiant c-Class server blades use two types of mezzanine cards that connect to the various
interconnect fabrics such as Fibre Channel, Ethernet, serial-attached SCSI, or InfiniBand. Type I and
Type II mezzanine cards differ only in the amount of power allocated to them by the server and in the
physical space they occupy on the server blade. Type I mezzanine cards have slightly less power
available to them and are slightly smaller. Type I mezzanine cards are compatible with all mezzanine
connectors in ProLiant c-Class server blades. Type II mezzanine cards are compatible with Mezzanine
2 or 3 connectors in full-height c-Class server blades. Type II mezzanine cards are also compatible
with Mezzanine 2 connectors in half-height c-Class server blades.
Both types of mezzanine cards use a 450-pin connector, enabling up to eight lanes of differential
transmit and receive signals. Because the connections between the device bays and the interconnect
bays are hard-wired through the signal midplane, the mezzanine cards must be matched to the
appropriate type of interconnect module. For example, a Fibre Channel mezzanine card must be
placed in the mezzanine connector that connects to an interconnect bay holding a Fibre Channel
switch. For the most up-to-date information about the c-Class mezzanine card options, go to the HP
website: http://h18004.www1.hp.com/products/blades/components/c-class-interconnects.html.
Networking technologies
Multifunction 1 Gb or 10 Gb Ethernet network adapters integrated on all c-Class server blades
provide several advantages:
•TCP/IP Offload engine (TOE) for Microsoft® Windows® operating systems improves CPU
efficiency.
•Receive-side Scaling (RSS) for Windows dynamically load balances incoming traffic across all
processors in a server.
•iSCSI Acceleration (available on some integrated network adapters) offloads some of the work in
creating iSCSI packets from the processor onto the network controller, freeing up the processor for
other work.
9For more information about Solid state drive technology, refer to the HP technology brief titled “Solid state drive
technology for ProLiant servers”:
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c01580706/c01580706.pdf.
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•iSCSI boot for Linux® makes it possible to boot the server from a storage area network (SAN) and
eliminates the need for disk drives in a server.
•HP Virtual Connect (VC) and Flex 10 provide up to 16 FlexNICs across 4 ports to simplify server
connection setup and administration.
For complete specifications about HP network adapter products, go to
www.hp.com/go/ProLiantNICs.
TCP/IP Offload Engine
The increased bandwidth of Gigabit Ethernet networks increases demand for CPU cycles to manage
the network protocol stack. This means that performance of even a fast CPU will degrade while
simultaneously processing application instructions and transferring data to or from the network.
Computers most susceptible to this problem are application servers, web servers, and file servers that
have many of concurrent connections.
The ProLiant TCP/IP Offload Engine for Windows speeds up network-intensive applications by
offloading TCP/IP-related tasks from the processors onto the network adapter. TOE network adapters
have on-board logic to process common and repetitive tasks of TCP/IP network traffic. This effectively
eliminates the need for the CPU to segment and reassemble network data packets. Eliminating this
work significantly increases the application performance of servers attached to gigabit Ethernet
networks.
TOE is included on integrated Multifunction Gigabit Ethernet adapters and optional multifunction
mezzanine cards. It is supported on Microsoft Windows Server 2003 when the Scalable Networking
Pack is installed. With the delivery of Windows Server 2008, the TCP/IP Offload Chimney that
shipped in the Scalable Networking Pack is included as part of the latest Windows operating system.
Receive-side Scaling (RSS)
RSS balances incoming short-lived traffic across multiple processors while preserving ordered packet
delivery. Additionally, RSS dynamically adjusts incoming traffic as the system load varies. As a result,
any application with heavy network traffic running on a multi-processor server will benefit. RSS is
independent of the number of connections, so it scales well. This makes RSS particularly valuable to
web servers and file servers handling heavy loads of short-lived traffic.
For RSS support on servers running Windows Server 2003, Scalable Networking Pack must be
installed. Windows Server 2008 supports RSS as part of the operating system.
iSCSI Acceleration
Accelerated iSCSI offloads the iSCSI function to the NIC rather than taxing the server CPU.
Accelerated iSCSI is enabled by the HP ProLiant Essentials Accelerated iSCSI Pack that is used with
certain embedded Multifunction NICs in Windows and Linux® environments.
iSCSI boot for Linux
iSCSI boot for Linux is available on BladeSystem NC370i, NC373i, and NC737m Gigabit Ethernet
adapters. iSCSI boot allows the host server to boot from a remote OS image located on a SAN within
a Red Hat or SUSE Linux environment. The host server uses an iSCSI firmware image (iSCSI boot
option ROM), making the remote disk drive appear to be a local, bootable C: drive. Administrators
can configure the server to connect to and boot from the iSCSI target disk on the network. It then
downloads the OS image from the iSCSI target disk. The HP iSCSI boot solution also includes scripts
to significantly simplify the installation process. Adding an iSCSI HBA card is not required.
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Virtual Connect
Virtual Connect technology is a set of interconnect modules and embedded software for c-Class
enclosures that simplifies the setup and administration of server connections. HP Virtual Connect
includes the following components:
•HP 1/10 Gb Virtual Connect Ethernet Module
•HP 1/10 Gb-F Virtual Connect Ethernet Module
•HP Virtual Connect Flex-10 10 Gb Ethernet Module
•HP Virtual Connect 4 Gb Fibre Channel Module
•HP Virtual Connect 8 Gb 24-Port Fibre Channel Module
•HP Virtual Connect Manager
Virtual Connect implements server-edge virtualization so that server administrators can upgrade,
replace, or move server blades within their enclosures without changes being visible to the external
LAN and SAN environments. HP recommends using Virtual Connect or managed switches to reduce
cabling and management overhead.
Like other Ethernet and Fibre Channel switches, Virtual Connect modules slide into the interconnect
bays of c-Class enclosures. To support the Virtual Connect Fibre Channel module, the enclosure must
have at least one Virtual Connect Ethernet module, because the Virtual Connect Manager software
runs on a processor that resides on the Ethernet module.
When the LAN and SAN connect to the pool of servers, the server administrator uses Virtual Connect
Manager to define a server connection profile for each server. The Virtual Connect Manager creates
bay-specific profiles, assigns unique MAC addresses and WWNs to these profiles, and administers
them locally. Network and storage administrators can establish all LAN and SAN connections once
during deployment. If servers are later deployed, added, or changed, no connection changes are
needed because Virtual Connect keeps the profile for that LAN and SAN connection constant.
To help administrators fully utilize 10 GbE connection bandwidth, HP introduced Flex-10 technology
in the BladeSystem c-Class architecture. Using Flex-10, administrators can partition the bandwidth of
a single 10 Gb pipeline into multiple FlexNICs. In addition, administrators can regulate the
bandwidth for each partition by setting it to a user-defined portion of the total 10 Gb connection.
Administrators can set speeds from 100 Mb per second to 10 Gb per second in 100 Mb increments.
There are advantages to partitioning a 10 GbE pipeline:
•More NIC connections per server, which is especially important in a virtual machine environment
•Ability to match bandwidths to the network function, such as management console or production
data
Flex-10 technology uses two hardware components:
•The HP Virtual Connect Flex-10, 10Gb Ethernet Module
•Either the 10 Gb Flex-10 LAN-on-motherboard (LOM) or the HP NC532m Flex-10, 10 GbE
Network Adapter mezzanine card
The Virtual Connect Flex-10 Ethernet Module is required to manage the 10 GbE server connections to
the data center network. The 10 Gb Flex-10 LOM and mezzanine cards are NICs, each with two 10
Gb ports. Each 10 Gb port can be configured from one to a maximum of four individual FlexNICs.
The server ROM and the operating system or hypervisor recognize each FlexNIC as an individual
NIC.
Full details about Flex-10 technology are available in the technology brief titled “HP Flex-10
technology” on the HP technology website:
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c01608922/c01608922.pdf.
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Full details about Virtual Connect technology are available in the technology brief titled “HP Virtual
Connect technology implementation for the HP BladeSystem c-Class” on the HP technology website:
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c00814156/c00814156.pdf.
Configuration and management technologies
The HP BladeSystem c-Class provides an intelligent infrastructure through extensive integrated
management capabilities. These capabilities are based on three components:
•BladeSystem Onboard Administrator
•ProLiant Onboard Administrator powered by Integrated Lights-Out 2 (iLO 2) on the server blade
•Interconnect module management processors such as the HP Virtual Connect Manager
Integrating all these management capabilities provides powerful hardware management for remote
administration, local diagnostics, and troubleshooting.
For detailed information about c-Class management technologies and capabilities, refer to the HP
technology brief titled “Managing HP BladeSystem c-Class systems”:
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c00814176/c00814176.pdf.
BladeSystem Onboard Administrator
The heart of c-Class enclosure management is the BladeSystem Onboard Administrator module
located in the enclosure. It performs four management functions for the entire enclosure:
•Detecting component insertion and removal
•Identifying components and required connectivity
•Managing power and cooling
•Controlling components
The BladeSystem Onboard Administrator works with the ProLiant Onboard Administrator (iLO 2)
management processor on each server blade to form the core of the management architecture for HP
BladeSystem c-Class.
To identify a component, the BladeSystem Onboard Administrator reads a Field-Replaceable Unit
(FRU) Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EEPROM) that contains specific factory
information about the component, such as product name, part number, and serial number. The
BladeSystem Onboard Administrator accesses server blade FRU EEPROMs through their ProLiant
Onboard Administrator (iLO 2) management processors.
The server blades contain several FRU EEPROMs: one on the server board that contains server
information and embedded NIC information, and one on each of the installed mezzanine option
cards. Server blade control options include auto login to the ProLiant Onboard Administrator (iLO 2)
web interface and remote server consoles, virtual power control, and boot order control. Server blade
control options also include extensive server hardware information including BIOS and ProLiant
Onboard Administrator (iLO 2) firmware versions, server name, network adapter and option card
port IDs, and port mapping. The BladeSystem Onboard Administrator provides easy-to-understand
port mapping information for each of the server blades and interconnect modules in the enclosure. To
simplify the installation of the various mezzanine cards and interconnect modules, the BladeSystem
Onboard Administrator uses an electronic keying process to detect mismatches.
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ProLiant Onboard Administrator (Integrated Lights-Out 2) for ProLiant
server blades
HP BladeSystem c-Class Server Blades include the ProLiant Onboard Administrator powered by iLO 2
to configure, update, and operate individual server blades remotely. The c-Class enclosure includes
an Ethernet management network to aggregate all ProLiant Onboard Administrator (iLO 2)
management communications across the entire enclosure. This management network connects ProLiant
Onboard Administrator (iLO 2) processors to the BladeSystem Onboard Administrator through the
BladeSystem Onboard Administrator tray. The BladeSystem Onboard Administrator provides direct
access to each ProLiant Onboard Administrator (iLO 2) through the enclosure management network.
The BladeSystem Onboard Administrator uses this network to manage pooled enclosure power and
cooling.
HP Insight Control suite
HP Insight Control suite provides essential management for HP BladeSystem lifecycles, including
proactive health management, lights-out remote control, optimized power use, rapid server
deployment, performance analysis, vulnerability scanning and patch management, and virtual
machine management.
The software is delivered on DVD media. It includes an integrated installer for rapidly and consistently
deploying and configuring HP Systems Insight Manager (HP SIM) and essential infrastructure
management software. The integrated installer includes a wizard-based interface that presents a
series of configuration questions. When the user has answered the configuration questions, each of
the selected components will be deployed in a single process. The HP Insight Software Advisor checks
to ensure that the host central management server meets all installation prerequisites before initiating
the installation process. When the installation is complete, the Insight Software Update Utility will
check for available software updates and allow administrators to download them.
HP Insight Control suite installs and licenses the following components for use:
•HP Systems Insight Manager
•HP iLO Advanced for BladeSystem
•HP Insight Power Manager
•HP Insight Rapid Deployment Pack
•HP Insight Performance Manager module
•HP Insight Vulnerability and Patch Manager module
•HP Insight Virtual Machine Manager software
HP Insight Control suite integrates with leading enterprise management platforms through industry
standards. It includes one year of 24 x 7 HP Software Technical Support and Update Service.
Power management technologies
Three HP power management tools help to accurately monitor and provision server power use, which
improves power efficiency in HP BladeSystem c-Class server blades:
•Power meter
•HP Power Regulator for ProLiant
•HP Dynamic Power Capping and HP Power Capping
15

Power meter
An integrated power meter in HP ProLiant c-Class server blades provides analysis of actual server
power use. The BladeSystem Onboard Administrator can access the power meter through the ProLiant
Onboard Administrator powered by iLO 2 or through external power management software such as
HP Insight Power Manager (IPM). IPM also consolidates power data for multiple servers to a central
location. IT departments can use this information to charge business units or third parties for the actual
energy costs associated with workload processing. The BladeSystem Onboard Administrator provides
instant and time-averaged views of the power consumption of individual servers or of all servers
within a c-Class BladeSystem enclosure.
HP Power Regulator for ProLiant
HP Power Regulator for ProLiant provides firmware-based speed stepping for Intel x86 processors.
Power Regulator improves server energy efficiency by giving processors full power when they need it
and reducing power when they do not. This power management feature allows ProLiant servers with
policy-based power management to control processor power states. IT administrators can configure
Power Regulator for HP Static High Performance mode, HP Static Low Power mode, or HP Dynamic
Power Savings mode. The latter automatically adjusts available power to match processor demand.
Additional information on the HP Power Regulator is provided in the paper titled “Power Regulator for
ProLiant servers”:
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c00300430/c00300430.pdf.
HP Dynamic Power Capping and HP Power Capping
Both HP Dynamic Power Capping and HP Power Capping (basic Power Capping) achieve the same
general goal of maintaining server power consumption at or below the cap value set by an
administrator. HP Dynamic Power Capping, however, monitors power consumption and responds to
changes much more rapidly than basic Power Capping.
Basic Power Capping does an excellent job of maintaining average server power utilization at or
below a cap value. It can help manage data center cooling requirements by limiting server power
consumption in a timely enough manner to prevent excessive heat generation. However, basic Power
Capping cannot respond quickly enough to limit sudden increases in server power consumption that
could cause an electrical circuit breaker to trip.
Dynamic Power Capping operates more than 25 times faster than basic Power Capping, and can
bring a server experiencing a sudden increase in workload back under its power cap in less than
one-half second. This fast response prevents any surge in power demand that could cause a typical
data center circuit breaker to trip. Dynamic Power Capping prevents tripping circuit breakers that
have a specified trip time of three seconds or longer at 50 degrees C and 150 percent overload.
This basic difference, the ability to keep server power consumption below the power cap in real time,
means that Dynamic Power Capping can be an effective tool in planning and managing both
electrical provisioning and cooling requirements in the data center. An administrator can electrically
provision a PDU or a rack to something less than the full faceplate power rating of all the servers
supported because Dynamic Power Capping guards against any unexpected change in power
consumption that might cause a circuit breaker to trip.
Basic Power Capping is supported on all c-Class BladeSystem server blades with iLO 2 version 1.30
or later and system BIOS 2007.05.01 or later. Support for Dynamic Power Capping requires iLO 2
version 1.70 or later, system BIOS 2008.11.01 or later, and BladeSystem Onboard Administrator
firmware version 2.32 or later for HP BladeSystem enclosures.
16

17
For detailed information about HP Power Capping technologies and capabilities, refer to the HP
technology brief titled “HP Power Capping and HP Dynamic Power Capping for ProLiant servers”:
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c01549455/c01549455.pdf.
Data security technology with the Trusted Platform Module
The Trusted Platform Module (TPM) is a hardware-based system security feature that can securely store
information such as passwords and encryption keys to authenticate the platform. Administrators can
also use TPM to store platform measurements that help ensure that the platform remains trustworthy.
Select ProLiant G5 server blades support an optional TPM v1.2. A rivet supplied with the optional
TPM v1.2 module attaches and secures the module to the system board. To prevent possible damage
to the TPM module or to the system board, the TPM cannot be removed from the board once it has
been installed.10
Conclusion
HP BladeSystem c-Class architecture uses full-featured server blades in a highly dense form factor to
accommodate new technologies such as serialized I/O technologies, multi-core architectures,
virtualization, higher power loads, and memory formats requiring more power. This architecture
makes network, compute, and storage resources modular, enabling a truly adaptive infrastructure that
can accommodate continually changing business needs. HP ProLiant c-Class Server Blades address
the growing concern of balancing compute performance with the power and cooling capacity of the
data center.
10 For additional information about the TPM, see the HP technology brief titled “Data security in HP ProLiant
servers using the Trusted Platform Module and Microsoft® Windows® BitLocker™ Drive Encryption”:
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c01681891/c01681891.pdf.

For more information
For additional information, refer to the resources listed below.
Resource description Web address
“The AMD processor roadmap for
industry-standard servers” technology
brief
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c00
428708/c00428708.pdf
“The Intel processor roadmap for
industry-standard servers” technology
brief
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c00
164255/c00164255.pdf
“Server virtualization technologies for
x86-based HP BladeSystem and HP
ProLiant servers” technology brief
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c0
1067846/c01067846.pdf
General HP BladeSystem information http://www.hp.com/go/bladesystem/
HP BladeSystem c-Class
documentation
http://h71028.www7.hp.com/enterprise/cache/316735-0-0-0-
121.html
HP BladeSystem c-Class Enclosure
Setup and Installation Guide
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c00
698286/c00698286.pdf
HP BladeSystem c-Class interconnects www.hp.com/go/bladesystem/interconnects
Technology briefs about HP
BladeSystem
http://h18004.www1.hp.com/products/servers/technology/whitepap
ers/proliant-servers.html
HP BladeSystem Power Sizer www.hp.com/go/hppoweradvisor
“Serial ATA technology” technology
brief
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c00
301688/c00301688.pdf
“Serial-Attached SCSI storage
technology” technology brief
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c01
613420/c01613420.pdf
“Memory technology evolution: an
overview of system memory
technologies” technology brief
http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c00
256987/c00256987.pdf
Call to action
Send comments about this paper to [email protected].
© 2007, 2008, 2009 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. The information
contained herein is subject to change without notice. The only warranties for HP
products and services are set forth in the express warranty statements
accompanying such products and services. Nothing herein should be construed as
constituting an additional warranty. HP shall not be liable for technical or editorial
errors or omissions contained herein.
Microsoft and Windows are U.S. registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.
Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds.
Intel and Xeon are registered trademarks of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and other
countries and are used under license.
AMD and Opteron are trademarks and AMD-8000 is a mark of Advanced Micro
Devices, Inc.
HyperTransport is a licensed trademark of the HyperTransport Technology
Consortium.
TC090810TB, August 2009