Managing large computing and storage requirements with limited resources, budgets and space is a challenge. The Fujitsu Server PRIMERGY BX400 helps to solve it. It is a fully-featured blade system built from the ground up as a user-friendly and versatile IT infrastructure. Up to eight server and storage blades are all packed into a surprisingly small enclosure that is as easy to install and manage as it is to use.
Sultan Qaboos University Hospital, Tokyo Stock Exchange, RAF St. Mawgan, King Fahad Medical City, St. Bede’s Catholic High School,
It is a very practical solution because you have all the servers in a minimal space.
We had two sets of 22U racks full of servers. We virtualized all of them at the blade, thus saving space and money.
It is very complex when you need to add storage functions in the FC. It is not only necessary to add the FC switch, you must add the FC Pass Thru 8Gb 18/1, the FC Switch 16Gb Brocade (or other) XX Port. And the FC card to the servers, of course.
I have used this solution for around one year.
I have not encountered any stability issues.
We did experience some scalability issues. After some months, we decided to increase the memory and hard drives. It is “mandatory” to buy the components at the server's manufacturer which can be very expensive. However, if you buy the components at another manufacturer, you lose the guarantee.
On a scale from 1-10 (1=worst, 10=best), I would give the technical support a 5.
Before this job, I have deployed Intel Servers and have used Intel Blade Servers. At the new enterprise, they had bought the Fujitsu Blade Server before I joined.
The server was bought with all the blades, along with the CPU, RAM and hard drive. I built the RAID volumes and installed the OS myself . It was a very simple process.
It is important to evaluate other open-source software in order to save money with the operating systems.
I began to work with the machine because it “came first”. I had not chosen a blade server because all the future hardware updates, must be done with the same manufacturer.
It is much better to use “normal” servers. The initial investment for a blade server is very high and creates dependency.
