page_title: Blade server
section_title: Uses
hierarchical_section_title: Blade server / Uses
caption_attribution_description: English: Cray XC40 (Hazel Hen) compute blades (front, 3 chassis with 16 blades each) with 4 nodes per blade, High Performance Computing Center Stuttgart (HLRS) of the University of Stuttgart. Deutsch: Cray XC40 (Hazel Hen) (3 Chassis mit je 16 Blades), Höchstleistungsrechenzentrum Stuttgart (HLRS) der Universität Stuttgart.
context_page_description: A blade server is a stripped-down server computer with a modular design optimized to minimize the use of physical space and energy. Blade servers have many components removed to save space, minimize power consumption and other considerations, while still having all the functional components to be considered a computer. Unlike a rack-mount server, a blade server fits inside a blade enclosure, which can hold multiple blade servers, providing services such as power, cooling, networking, various interconnects and management. Together, blades and the blade enclosure form a blade system, which may itself be rack-mounted. Different blade providers have differing principles regarding what to include in the blade itself, and in the blade system as a whole.
  In a standard server-rack configuration, one rack unit or 1U—19 inches wide and 1.75 inches tall—defines the minimum possible size of any equipment. The principal benefit and justification of blade computing relates to lifting this restriction so as to reduce size requirements. The most common computer rack form-factor is 42U high, which limits the number of discrete computer devices directly mountable in a rack to 42 components.
context_section_description: Blade servers function well for specific purposes such as web hosting, virtualization, and cluster computing. Individual blades are typically hot-swappable. As users deal with larger and more diverse workloads, they add more processing power, memory and I/O bandwidth to blade servers.
  Although blade-server technology in theory allows for open, cross-vendor systems, most users buy modules, enclosures, racks and management tools from the same vendor.
  Eventual standardization of the technology might result in more choices for consumers; as of 2009 increasing numbers of third-party software vendors have started to enter this growing field.
  Blade servers do not, however, provide the answer to every computing problem. One can view them as a form of productized server-farm that borrows from mainframe packaging, cooling, and power-supply technology. Very large computing tasks may still require server farms of blade servers, and because of blade servers' high power density, can suffer even more acutely from the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning problems that affect large conventional server farms.
caption: Cray XC40 supercomputer cabinet with 48 blades, each containing 4 nodes with 2 CPUs each
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