50 IBM eX5 Implementation Guide
Under similar optimized benchmarking conditions, eight of the 50 GB, 1.8-inch SSDs are able
to sustain 48,000 read IOPS and, in a separate benchmark, 16,000 write IOPS. The cost of
USD12,000 for the SSDs works out at approximately USD0.25 per IOP and USD60 per
gigabyte.
Additional spinning disks create additional costs in terms of shelves, rack space, and power
and cooling, none of which are applicable for the SSDs, driving their total TCO down even
further. The initial cost per GB is higher for the SSDs, but view it in the context of TCO over
time.
For more information regarding each of the eX5 systems, see the following sections:
3.9, “Storage” on page 90
5.11, “Storage” on page 203
2.9 Integrated virtualization
This section contains a list of virtualization options that are optional within the eX5 series.
2.9.1 VMware ESXi
ESXi is an embedded version of VMware ESX. The footprint of ESXi is small (approximately
32 MB) because it does not use the Linux-based Service Console. Instead, it uses
management tools, such Virtual Center, Remote Command-Line Interface (CLI), and
Common Information Model (CIM) for standards-based and agentless hardware monitoring.
VMware ESXi includes full VMware File System (VMFS) support across Fibre Channel and
iSCSI SAN, and network-attached storage (NAS). It supports 4-way Virtual Symmetrical
Multiprocessor Systems (SMP) (VSMP). ESXi 4.0 supports 64 CPU threads, for example,
eight x 8-core CPUs, and can address 1 TB of RAM.
The VMware ESXi 4.0 and 4.1 embedded virtualization keys for the x3850 X5, x3690 X5, and
HX5 are orderable, as listed in Table 2-6.
Table 2-6 VMware ESXi 4.x memory key
2.9.2 Red Hat RHEV-H (KVM)
The Kernel-based Virtualization Machine (KVM hypervisor) that is supported with Red Hat
Enterprise Linux (RHEL) 5.4 and later is available on the x3850 X5. RHEL-H (KVM) is
standard with the purchase of RHEL 5.4 and later. All hardware components that have been
tested with RHEL 5.x are also supported running RHEL 5.4 (and later), and they are
supported to run RHEV-H (KVM). IBM Support Line and Remote Technical Support (RTS) for
Linux support RHEV-H (KVM).
Part number Feature code Description
41Y8278 1776 IBM USB Memory Key for VMware ESXi 4.0
41Y8287 2420 IBM USB Memory Key for VMware ESXi 4.1 with MAX5
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