Super Blade
Super Micro Computer—long a stalwart provider for custom-system builders—is delivering the SuperBlade system, which the CMP Channel Test Center installed and spent several weeks evaluating. In a nutshell, we found a powerful, easy-to-install, easy-to-manage and price-aggressive solution that should be considered when it comes time to upgrade, consolidate or expand the data center for small or midmarket customers.
Even VARs that provide systems from giants Hewlett-Packard Co., Palo Alto, Calif.; Dell Inc., Round Rock, Texas; and IBM Corp., Armonk, N.Y., should consider Super Micro a potential competitor when bidding on a deal that involves a small or midsize company.
The SuperBlade system certainly has that potential.
A Few Explanatory Notes
When the CMP Channel Test Center told executives at Super Micro that it wanted to review its SuperBlade system, the company simply drop-shipped a four-server system to our front door. There were no questions asked, and there were no strings attached. That left reviewers free to examine the system—using the Test Center's own methodologies and benchmarking—for elements that would be top of mind for system builders or solution providers in a real-world setting.
In follow-up conversations, Super Micro executives told us that in the near future, they will be following the SuperBlade with newer systems that will run quieter and more efficiently.
Out of the box, the SuperBlade fit easily into our racks and the servers were installed within minutes. The solution's enclosure is an industry-standard 19-inch box, designed to house as many as 10 servers in 7U of rack space. The SuperBlade enclosure is built with a Gigabit Ethernet switch with 10 ports and an RS-232 port, a chassis management module, and two 1,400-watt power supplies (one active power supply and one for the backup source.)
The device we examined shipped with two AMD quad-core Opteron blade servers (with four CPUs and a SATA drive) and two Intel Xeon blade servers (with two CPUs and two, hot-swappable SATA drives).
Next: Start Me Up Start Me Up
At startup, with only the power supplies on and the blade servers off, Test Center meters registered 183 watts with 89dB of sound. When we turned on the two AMD-based blades, it measured 750 watts of power and 90dB of sound. With all four blades running at once, power consumption rose to 1,075 watts and the noise level stayed steady. Turning the servers back off, the enclosure used 54 watts and the sound dropped to 70dB. After running for about two hours, its temperature measured 74 degrees Fahrenheit.
Noisewise, we had the system in the same room running off and on for several consecutive days while we went about our business testing other products. For the most part, it was fine, although it's not the solution you'd want for a public area such as a retail location or a walk-in insurance office. It's strictly a data center solution.
Network News
Initial deployment was briefly interrupted because the software management and configuration console needed to be accessed at the device itself—and couldn't be accessed remotely on the network at first.
Despite problems starting the Super Micro SuperBlade server, the Web management console proved to be extremely helpful. The Test Center did not have to resort to direct level access with a KVM switch. The management console's workspace includes all of the services required to control the blades. The console even supports remote power supply shutdowns, blade graceful shutdowns, power consumption metering, policy-based alert settings and system health logs.
SuperBlade supports dynamic DNS. By default, the server comes with dyndns.org server. Since dyndns works over any port, this is useful for VARs and remote administrators that need access to the box and don't want to set up remote connections.
VARs can purchase or install a SuperBlade with either Gigabit or InfiniBand switches. As tested, the SuperBlade in the CMP lab was configured with one Gigabit switch. Test Center reviewers first set up the Gigabit switch to work with DHCP, which turned the IP address, subnet and gateway into zeros. It was not possible to get into the switch with DHCP on. We kept static IP in the management console.
Next: Accessorize Accessorize
All four blade servers came with x86 versions of Microsoft Windows 2003 Server. To test the blades, Test Center reviewers decided to change the OSes to x64 versions of Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2003.
SuperBlade's browser-based KVM worked well. We were able to install the OSes as well as test Windows servers using the Web interface. SuperBlade supports virtual media access by mapping local devices with remote client devices. Virtual Media supports floppies, CD-ROM images and USB storage devices, including CD redirection, which we used extensively. CD redirection allowed reviewers to install OSes using CDs and not ISO files using remote PCs.
In case there's a problem accessing a blade server through the Web KVM, VARs can turn on LEDs using the UID lights located on the front panel of each server. The UID lights provide novice users with a quick status of the SuperBlade.
During testing, reviewers found that the KVM option for each blade did not start a KVM session. Reviewers were forced to click on the global KVM console button to reach each blade server. Doing so proved a minor inconvenience but was not a show-stopper.
While pricing will depend largely on how the solution provider or system builder chooses to configure the SuperBlade—with AMD servers, Intel servers, how much memory and the like—Super Micro executives told us an entry-level, 10-server system could be built for about $10,000.
The Verdict
The Super Micro SuperBlade, which received five Channel Stars and four Technical Stars, provides resellers with not just a token alternative for small or midsize customers, but a viable, easy-to-deploy solution for the data center.
Face it, customers in every enterprise are seeking to cut power consumption and square footage, and deploying a blade system can solve those problems. The Test Center found that SuperBlade can easily fill that need without the type of complex deployment that has in the past been a nightmare for solution providers.
Next: Emerging Custom-System Player Emerging Custom-System Player
Super Micro Computer Inc., San Jose, Calif., has been a longtime supplier of components and boards to the custom-system channel, and after spending several years flying under the radar, the company has stepped into a brighter spotlight in the past few years. Super Micro opened up its product line to also feature systems based on processors from Advanced Micro Devices Inc., Sunnyvale, Calif., in addition to Intel Corp., Santa Clara Calif. In fact, the SuperBlade system that the CMP Channel Test Center examined included servers based on both AMD and Intel processors.
In 2007, Super Micro launched an initial public offering and has been approaching $500 million in annual sales.
The SuperBlade product has been among its most ambitious, offering resellers and system builders the opportunity to source a highly customizable data center-focused product in addition to its more traditional business with industry-standard server and PC boards.