UCS Blade server estimates !!

How many servers  can a half width blade server in UCS handle ?  Have you considered using fabric path for our datacenter design ?

If you have asked this question or have been at the receiving end of this question or have thought about these questions then please read this post and the followup post and share it as much as possible.

The cisco UCS with B200 M3 half width blade can cater 768GB RAM and has 2 Intel Xeon processor. But we will consider 256GB of ram to have been installed.

You can get enough information about these blades from cisco site in this link.

So if we are basing your VM based on the RAM and processor requirements then; 

All processor & RAM requirements considered below are hypothetical, I understand all server requirements vary but this only for calculation & understanding. I have considered the 256GB of memory, which is a cost efficient solution. The maximum amount of memory on a B230M2 is 512GB.

Assumption-1:

Assuming each of our VM server requires 16GB RAM,  then  256/16=16

We can have 14VM + 1 ESXi per blade (considering processor requirements)

So if we populate 8blades, we get 14*8=112servers per chassis.

If we have 10chassis then we have 112*10=1120 servers

Assumption-2:

Assuming each of our  VM server requires 12GB RAM, then  256/12=22

We can have 18VM + 1 ESXi per blade(considering processor requirements)

So if we populate 8blades, we get 18*8=144 servers per chassis.

If we have 10chassis then we have 144*10=1440 servers

Assumption-3:

Assuming each of our  VM server requires 8GB RAM, then  256/8=32

We can have 28VM + 1 ESXi per blade(considering processor requirements)

So if we populate 8blades, we get 28*8=224 servers per chassis.

If we have 10chassis then we have 224*10=2240 servers

This is all using VIC card with 40GB uplink per blade.

Now lets  assume we are going in for a virtual desktop environment then lets spin up a quick calculation;

Assumption-4:

Assuming each of the desktop requires 4GB RAM, then 256/4=64

we can have 56 desktops per blade(considering processor requirements & memory expansion)

so if we populate 8 blades, we get 56*8=448 desktops peers chassis.

If we have 10chassis then we have 448*10=4480 desktops.

This should give a good idea on the amount of servers that can be accommodated on a blade. 

Please do share your comments !

To be continued.......