iX-TB4X2 TwinBlade Server

Saving the Green

With iX-Triton TwinBlade servers, you can help preserve not only our green planet, but keep red ink off your books with green cash savings. The iXsystems Triton TwinBlade is the most technologically advanced blade server system in the industry. Supporting up to 120 DP servers with 240 Intel® Xeon® 5600/5500 series processors per 42U rack, the TwinBlade achieves an unmatched 0.35U per DP node.

An iX Triton TwinBlade server can save more than 100 watts over a traditional discrete 1U rack-mount server. These savings add up quickly when your TwinBlade chassis is fully populated with 10 servers. With N+1 redundant, high efficiency (94%) 2500W power supplies, the TwinBlade is the Greenest, most energy-efficient blade server in the industry. By eliminating the overhead in 1U discrete servers and using the high efficiency (up to 94%) power supplies, TwinBlades can save you more than $1,000 per year in power* for your servers and even more when you add the reduced cooling costs. TwinBlade servers can reduce your carbon dioxide emissions by over 5.5 metric tons**, the equivalent of planting 1.7 acres of trees.

*Your electricity costs will vary by location
**According to Energy Information Agency (a statistical agency of the U.S. Department of Energy), saving one kilowatt hour of electricity reduces carbon dioxide emissions by 1.43 pounds.

 

Chassis

iX-Triton TwinBlade Chassis
IXBC75/IXBC50

Space Optimization

Housed within a 19" industry-standard rack, iX-Triton TwinBlade Center servers reduce server footprint in the data center. Power, cooling and networking devices are aggregated in the rear of the chassis which optimizes the required amount of space.

Up to 10 TwinBlade servers can be installed in a 7U chassis. Compared to the 10U of rack space that ten 1U servers would normally require as individual servers, the iX-Triton TwinBlade Center provides about 30% density savings with up to 60 servers and 24 switches in a 42U rack.

Cable Reduction

The iX-Triton TwinBlade chassis enclosure greatly simplifies the cabling process by aggregating cabling of up to 10 servers at once. Up to 90% of network, power, and KVM cabling required for ten 1U servers are reduced by moving to blade servers in a single chassis. These cabling reductions continue across networking, SAN connectivity, and management controllers.

Reducing the number of cables speeds up the deployment of servers and helps reduce troubleshooting issues by presenting fewer physical connections to the servers.

Specifications
Processor Blade Up to 10 hot-plug processor TwinBlades
Module Support Supports Intel-based TwinBlade servers
LED Power LED, Fault LED
InfiniBand Switch Supports up to two hot-plug IB QDR switches
Gigabit Ethernet Switch / Pass-Through Module Supports up to two hot-plug 1/10 Gigabit Ethernet Layer 2/3 switch modules
Management Module Supports one hot-plug management module providing remote KVM and IPMI 2.0 functionalities
Power Supply Up to four hot-swap 2500W power supplies, N+1 redundant
Cooling Design Up to 16 cooling fans
Dimensions (HxWxD) 12.1" x 18.5" x 29"
Available Models iXBC-75 - Enclosure chassis with four 2500W power supplies
iXBC-50 - Enclosure chassis with two 2500W power supplies

Blades

iX-TB4X2 TwinBlades

The iX-TB4X2 delivers two nodes of processing power within each TwinBlade.

Each node supports the following:

  • Single or Dual Intel® Xeon® 5600/5500 series processors, with QPI up to 6.4 GT/s
  • Intel® 5500  Chipset
  • Up to 128GB DDR3 1333/ 1066/ 800MHz ECC Registered DIMM / 32GB
    Unbuffered DIMM
  • Intel® 82576 Dual-Port Gigabit Ethernet
  • 2 x 2.5" Hot-swap SATA Drive Trays
  • Integrated Matrox G200eW Graphics
  • Integrated IPMI2.0 w/ remote KVM and virtual media
  • House up to 10 TwinBlade servers in 1 7U of rack space
  • Mellanox ConnectX QDR InfiniBand 40Gbps or 10GbE support (Optional)

Management

Management Module
IXCMM

The iX-Triton Blade Center Chassis Management Module provides total remote control of individual server blades, power supplies, cooling fans, and networking switches remotely. System administrators enjoy the management ease and reassurance of continuous onboard instrumentation monitoring (temperature sensors, power status, voltages and fan speed). Remote power control capabilities to reboot and/or reset the server are available as well as remote access to the BIOS configuration and operating system console information vial SOL (Serial over LAN) or embedded KVM capabilities. Because the controller is a separate processor, all monitoring and control functions operate flawlessly regardless of CPU operation or system power-on status.

Key Features:

  • Remotely manage and monitor server blades, power supplies, cooling fans, and networking switches
  • IPMI 2.0 compliant, with KVM over LAN / KVM over IP
  • Serial over LAN (SOL)
  • Virtual Media Over LAN (Virtual USB Floppy/CD and Drive Redirection)
  • LAN Alert-SNMP Trap
  • Event Log
  • OS Independent
  • Hardware Health Monitor
  • Remote Power Control
  • Management Tools - IPMIView, CLI (Command Line Interface)
  • Supports RMCP & RMCP + Protocols

Specifications:

  • VGA Port, 2x USB Ports
  • Remote Management Processor and sub-system
  • 1x LAN port
  • Video ADC, Video Compress FPGA
  • I2C, IPMI Management
  • 12V Hot-swap Controller
  • GBX Backplane Connector

Networking

iX-Triton TwinBlade Networking

Gigabit Ethernet Modules

Switches
The Gigabit Ethernet switch module (part ID IXGEMS) includes ten external 1-Gb/s uplink (RJ45) ports and fourteen internal 1-Gb/s downlink ports for connection to the SuperBlade™'s LAN interfaces. This layer 2 Ethernet switching module also has two internal Ethernet paths to the CMM(s) to allow configuration, management, and control of the switch and its ports through a browser-based management interface. Offering such advanced features as "trunking" (Link Aggregation – IEEE 802.11ad) , VLAN support, and Jumbo Frame support, the switch provides a connection between the Ethernet controller integrated on the mainboard and external Ethernet systems.

Chipset

  • Broadcom BCM5345M

Internal Ports

  • Ten 1-Gbps downlink ports for LAN interfaces of the server blades (capable of 14 internal ports)

External Uplink Ports

  • Ten 1-Gbps uplink RJ-45 ports

Type

  • Layer-2 switch

Bandwidth

  • 24 Gbps

Trunking

  • Link aggregation support

Jumbo Frame Support

  • Up to 9k bytes

Remote Management

  • Browser-based management

Protocols

  • Spanning Tree, Rapid Spanning Tree, and Multiple Spanning Tree protocols (802.1D/1w)

OS

  • Firmware upgradeable

Pass-Through
The Gigabit Ethernet Pass-through Module (part ID IXGEPT) is a non-configurable pass through module that includes fourteen 1-Gb/s external uplink (RJ45) ports and fourteen internal 1-Gb/s downlink ports for the IX Triton Blade Center's LAN interfaces. This module also has two internal Ethernet paths to the CMM(s) for viewing module temperature and voltage (but not for configuration since all connections are fixed).

Chipset

  • Broadcom 5464

Internal Ports

  • 14 1-Gbps downlink ports for LAN interfaces of server blades

External Uplink Ports

  • Fourteen RJ-45 uplink ports fixed at 1-Gbps (no auto-negotiation)

Remote Management

  • Browser-based management

Protocols

  • N/A
InfiniBand Modules

InfiniBand Switch Module
The InfiniBand Switch Module (part ID IXIBM) is a switch-based, point-to-point bi-directional serial link system. It provides high-speed interconnectivity among the blade modules and to external InfiiniBand peripherals. The InfiniBand switch supports 4X DDR connections – 20 gigabits per second – the fastest currently offered in the industry.

Chipset

  • Mellanox InfiniScale III

Internal Ports

  • Ten 4x DDR internal copper ports (capable of 14)

External Uplink Ports

  • Ten 4x DDR external copper ports

Bandwidth

  • 4x DDR (20Gbps) non-blocking architecture 960Gbps total switch bandwidth (24-port)

Latency

  • 160ns port-to-port switch latency

Management

  • In-band InfiniBand IBML, Command-Line Interface (CLI)

Power Consumption

  • 34W

InfiniBand Mezanine HCA Cards
For any blade to access the InfiniBand module, it must have an InfiniBand mezzanine HCA card installed on its mainboard. The IXIBMS and IXIBMD mezzanine cards provide this 20Gbps connectivity (up to 4x DDR) through the backplane to the InfiniBand switch module.

Available Mezzanine Cards:

IXIBMD (Dual 4X 20Gbps)

Chipset

  • Mellanox InfiniHost III Ex DDR

InfiniBand Ports

  • Dual 4x DDR 20Gbps ports

Power Consumption

  • 10.4W typical/ 11W max
IXIBMS (Single 4X 20Gbps)

Chipset

  • Mellanox InfiniHost III Lx DDR

InfiniBand Ports

  • Single 4x DDR 20Gbps port

Power Consumption

  • 10.4W typical/ 11W max

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