IBM BladeCenter Foundation for Cloud: Integration Guide

IBM® BladeCenter® Foundation for Cloud delivers an ideal platform to expedite virtualized computing, through a pre-integrated, pre-tested system that helps you to deploy new workloads quickly.

BladeCenter Foundation for Cloud benefits include:

- Reduced complexity and accelerated implementation of your virtualized data center, using pre-integrated and pre-tested systems with management software, servers and converged networking.
- Pre-installed VMware ESXi.
- Easy connection to external storage (FCoE, iSCSI, NAS or FC).
- Reduced infrastructure administration cost with single point of management for virtual and physical resources.
- Extendability to a cloud environment without rip-and-replace.

IBM BladeCenter Foundation for Cloud is an optimized, integrated system consisting of servers, converged networking, storage, and software that can enable IBM Business Partners to quickly deploy a sophisticated IT solution that is ready for virtualization. This configuration requires obtaining a VMware vSphere license (Enterprise 4.1 at a minimum).

This IBM Redpaper™ document was developed to help IBM Business Partners deploy BladeCenter Foundation for Cloud using the solution elements described in this paper. This solution is available fully integrated from IBM; this document will help you customize the solution for your clients.

In this paper, we present sample BladeCenter Foundation for Cloud configurations in small, medium, and large sizes. For each of these configurations, we show you what to order and how to integrate, based on IBM tested solutions. We provide additional resources you can contact and easy information for ordering all of the parts required for each configuration.

Changes in the last update:
* Updated to include the new IBM System x3550 M4 management server

Solution Overview
Overview of small, medium, and large configurations
Installing hardware components
Populating the rack enclosures
Cabling the BladeCenter Foundation for Cloud
Updating the firmware and hardware drivers
Additional references
Appendix A. Small configuration parts catalog
Appendix B. Medium configuration parts catalog
Appendix C. Large configuration parts catalog

Related product families

Product families related to this document are the following:

• Blade Servers
• VMware Alliance
• VMware vSphere