RLX ServerBlade1200i, RLX System 300ex chassis
The RLX 1200i blade system is similar to that of the HP BL10e line in that it uses the lower-power PIII mobile processor. Unlike the BL10e, however, the RLX 1200i can support two IDE hard drives on each blade, each on its own IDE chain as the master device. Our blades came with a single 40-GB drive, but two 20-GB drives are available. This makes doing RAID 0 or 1 via software possible--no hardware RAID support on the 1200i.
One thing that we missed on the RLX device is access to the console for video, though we were able to do a workaround. The 1200i does perform text-based console redirection over the embedded serial port (also accessible via the management software). Even the BIOS post and boot process can be viewed over the serial connection. For blades running Linux, this isn't a big deal because the serial connection can be used to connect to the Linux text console and log in. For Windows, RLX provides a text-based terminal connection and a number of command-line utilities for managing a Windows blade. The OS install can be done via a scripted install--no GUI console is needed. Between this and accessing the Windows blade with a terminal services connection, we could do everything we needed to on the Windows blade.
All RLX systems are managed via a single management blade (purchased separately). The good news is that one management blade can manage an entire rack of blade units. Each blade unit has three 10/100 network adapters; one is used for management, two are for general use--RLX labels them as the "private" and "public" network links. Because the RLX systems can have can as many as 167 1200i blades per rack, the company needed an easy way to uniquely identify each blade. On the management network, each node is assigned a unique IP address based on the rack number, chassis number and position in the chassis. For example, when we wanted to manage the blade in Slot 5 in chassis No. 4 in rack No. 0, its IP address was 10.0.4.5.
We set the chassis and rack numbers via a DIP switch at the front of the chassis. Administrators need to get very intimate with this IP number scheme because management is done via a Web browser to the management blade.
Discover the benefits of scalable backbone and network services for application and cloud providers.
Network automation is gaining momentum. Here's how you can drive this powerful technology to its full potential.
Subsea cable alternatives can provide a level of comfort for those concerned about disruptions. Realistically, they will continue to play a small, but critical role in the short term.
