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IBM BladeCenter Foundation for Cloud
By Anne MacFarland
Virtualization is a boon to technology’s effectiveness. Virtualize servers and you can safely use
them for more applications. Virtualize storage and you can get higher utilization and
streamlined operations management. Virtualize networks and application performance
improves. Virtualize I/O and you can replace elements without interrupting data center
operations. Virtualize them all and you can change your mode of data center operation to one
that is simpler, less expensive (CAPEX and OPEX), and uses far fewer cables and less space.
Many businesses are looking for this kind of comprehensively virtualized x86 environment
(storage, networks, servers) pre‐loaded with core applications such as MS Windows, VMware
ESX, and management elements. They want good performance at a great price with less
complex but fully comprehensive operational management. They want heightened density in
order to reduce the size (and cost) of their data center footprints. Generated heat can be dealt
with in a more focused (and expeditious) way. There is also less latency between compute
elements, which benefits many core business applications.
The IBM BladeCenter Foundation for Cloud, a data‐center‐in‐a‐box (well, actually, in a
BladeCenter cabinet) is just such a system. It comes with servers, storage and redundant 10
Gigabit Fiber Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) networks, a backplane giving direct connections to
LAN and SAN, and a BNT top‐of‐rack switch. Management elements include VMware vSphere,
the vSphere client, IBM Systems Director 6.2, IBM DS Storage Manager 10.70, and IBM Active
Energy Manager 4.3. This all comes at a list price starting at $180,000 for “small” (up to 150
virtual machines and 7.2 TB raw storage (the capacity prior to OS/application allocations)),
$380,000 for “medium” (500+ virtual machines, and 29 TB raw storage) and $750,000 for
“large” (1000+ virtual machines, and 58 TB raw storage).
BladeCenter Foundation for Cloud’s density and performance make it a great solution for mid‐
market enterprises and for the IBM Business Partners that serve them. Business partners are
the procurement route for most smaller organizations and for geographies where local
procurement is preferred. Many of these partners have specific industry expertise, or offer
additional services, such as pre‐populating and loading virtual machines, that are beneficial to
their customers. These partners offer numerous component options such as blade and switch
choices, turbo storage, more memory on a blade (up to 384 GB), more blades, more chasses –
©2011 MacFarland Consulting
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and also options of ordering by a single SKU, or a set of SKUs for a particular subsystem, or by
the SKU of a particular part. These options keep their wholesale‐style operations lean and cost‐
effective, while satisfying their customers by providing exactly what they need. In addition, a
40 page IBM Redpaper tells do‐it‐yourselfers how to put it all together.
IBM Systems Director is designed to manage multiple heterogeneous systems, operating
systems and applications so it can handle whatever your data center becomes. This
extensibility, accomplished by a plug‐in architecture, is important for the medium and long
term. Over time, as needed, more functionality can be added. As an example, IBM Service
Delivery Manager can support even more efficiency by delivering applications (those used only
a few times a year come to mind) as services. Or, Tivoli components that support audit logs,
fine‐grained authorization, and compliance reporting may be added as they become important
to the business.
There are many options to support the levels of control and automation that may be necessary
or desirable. This keeps management a consistent whole, and avoids silos of management
requiring more staff. Breadth of management has become increasingly important as
applications have extended across and beyond organizational boundaries. The business
requirements made on your private cloud (for that is what BladeCenter Foundation for Cloud
really is) will change, and you need a better response than “more” or “something else.” That’s
how data center “sprawl” happens.
IBM BladeCenter Open Fabric Manager (BOFM), included in BladeCenter Foundation for Cloud,
virtualizes LAN and SAN addresses and enhances resiliency. It provides a single point of I/O
address management across multiple chassis’, and obviates the need for reconfiguration when
replacing blades. The included IBM VirtualFabric software supports converged network
functionality, reducing the number of adapters and switches required and simplifying LAN and
SAN capacity planning.
In addition to VMware Enterprise and VCenter, whose licenses are included in the purchase
price, a new function, IBM VMready, is also included in all BladeCenter Foundation for Cloud
offerings. It focuses on VM‐aware networking, supporting all major virtualization offerings, and
runs on the BNT switch (thus not consuming processor cycles). VMready provides several key
capabilities:
 VM Detection, that supports discovery and tracking of VMs and their migration. It can
also audit the traffic per VM.
 VM Groups, that lets you group VMs for group‐level management.
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 NMotion, a trademarked feature that tracks VM migrations and ties VM port attributes
to individual VM images so they are moved automatically with the VMs they apply to.
This last feature greatly simplifies operations and reduces the opportunity for error. VMready
also facilitates interactions between other hypervisors (say, Linux servers running on KVM) and
interactions with VMware’s VCenter.
For aggregate products, vendors typically choose the components that create compelling value
at a competitive price. IBM has chosen carefully, as BladeCenter Foundation for Cloud
resembles new small cars that can carry far more than you expect while still getting good gas
mileage. While BladeCenter Foundation for Cloud is the entry level to a growing family of IBM
cloud offerings, it has the I/O and form factor density to pack a lot of business value into not a
lot of floor space – or a big energy draw. It is an infrastructure that you can evolve – from small
to large, or by adding more control and automation elements – rather than just buying more of
the same.
The other members of IBM’s Cloud family certainly offer more sophisticated management and
many other valuable capabilities. But, if you just want to get started in the new mode of a fully‐
virtualized, balanced infrastructure in a way that grows as you need and keeps management
unified, consider IBM’s BladeCenter Foundation for Cloud.
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