Dell M1000e

The Dell blade server products are built around their M1000e enclosure that can hold their server blades, an embedded EqualLogic iSCSI storage area network and I/O modules including Ethernet, Fibre Channel and InfiniBand switches.

The M1000e fits in a 19-inch rack and is 10 rack units high (44 cm), 17.6" wide (44.7 cm) and 75,4 cm deep. The empty blade enclosure weighs 44,5 kg while a fully loaded system can weigh up to 178.8 kg.

On the front the servers are inserted while at the backside the power-supplies, fans and I/O modules are inserted together with the management modules(s) (CMC or chassis management controller) and the KVM switch. A blade enclosure offers centralized management for the servers and I/O systems of the blade-system. Most servers used in the blade-system offer an iDRAC card and one can connect to each servers iDRAC via the M1000e management system. It is also possible to connect a virtual KVM switch to have access to the main-console of each installed server.

In June 2013 Dell introduced the PowerEdge VRTX, which is a smaller blade system that shares modules with the M1000e. The blade servers, although following the traditional naming strategy e.g. M520, M620 (only blades supported) are not interchangeable between the VRTX and the M1000e. The blades differ in firmware and mezzanine connectors.

The M1000e enclosure has a front-side and a back-side and thus all communication between the inserted blades and modules goes via the midplane, which has the same function as a backplane but has connectors at both sides where the front side is dedicated for server-blades and the back for I/O modules.

The midplane is completely passive. The server-blades are inserted in the front side of the enclosure while all other components can be reached via the back.
The original midplane 1.0 capabilities are Fabric A - Ethernet 1Gb; Fabrics B&C - Ethernet 1Gb, 10Gb, 40Gb - Fibre Channel 4Gb, 8Gb - IfiniBand DDR, QDR, FDR10. The enhanced midplane 1.1 capabilities are Fabric A - Ethernet 1Gb, 10Gb; Fabrics B&C - Ethernet 1Gb, 10Gb, 40Gb - Fibre Channel 4Gb, 8Gb, 16Gb - IfiniBand DDR, QDR, FDR10, FDR. The original M1000e enclosures came with midplane version 1.0 but that midplane did not support the 10GBASE-KR standard on fabric A (10GBASE-KR standard is supported on fabrics B&C). To have 10Gb Ethernet on fabric A or 16Gb Fibre Channel or InfiniBand FDR (and faster) on fabrics B&C, midplane 1.1 is required. Current versions of the enclosure come with midplane 1.1 and it is possible to upgrade the midplane. Via the markings on the back-side of the enclosure, just above the I/O modules: if an "arrow down" can be seen above the 6 I/O slots the 1.0 midplane was installed in the factory; if there are 3 or 4 horizontal bars, midplane 1.1 was installed. As it is possible to upgrade the midplane the outside markings are not decisive: via the CMC management interface actual installed version of the midplane is visible

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Wikipedia