Rack mounting helps move servers from distributed locations into the data center. The ability to put up to forty-two computing devices in a single rack means that a tremendous amount of cabling is required. Cabling is mostly an art and less of a science.
The blade server chassis greatly simplifies the cabling process by aggregating cabling of ten servers at once. Up to 70% of network, power, and KVM cabling required for ten 1U servers can be reduced by moving to blade servers in a single chassis. Redundant power cables are reduced from twenty cables (two per server) to four cables. A single keyboard/video/mouse controller allows for a single connection to replace the thirty connections required for ten individual servers. These cabling reductions continue across networking, SAN connectivity, and management controllers.
Ten 1U dual processor servers and their associated cabling.
A 7U blade server chassis with the minimum cabling to support ten dual processor servers.
Reducing the number of cables not only helps speed up deployment of servers, but it also can reduce troubleshooting issues down the road by presenting fewer physical connections to the servers.
