I got called on the mobile whilst loading the dishwasher this morning, “What’s the Dell version of a HPBL460c?” asked my good friend Chris in his air conditioned office in Canary Wharf (it’s rather hot in the UK today between 28-30 degrees C). I’m in italics.
At this point in case we’re not at the same level, a HP BL460c, is a HP Proliant blade model 460c, it’s a dual socket half height blade, you can find out the information here.
“Morning captain, why?” I asked, “You looking at buying some?”
“Well I’ve been asked to spec them both up and I thought you might know, you’ve played with the Dell blades right?” Said Chris.
“By playing with them, I’ve read the manuals, I’ve had the briefings, but I’ve never actually installed Windows on them, demo’d them at bladewatch or played with the firmware. They look ok, the current generation are a great improvement on the previous ones and I’ve heard good things from different people. Thinking out loud, you’d be looking at a M600 or probably their M610 – that one uses the newer Intel processor which everyone’s been talking about. Both are dual socket, have large memory support and some kind of lights out and local storage. What you using them for?”
“Cool. Oh right, sorry. We’re using them for VMware, but not sure, the viewpoint changes about every 9 minutes dependent on who you talk to. We’re either buying them to start a proper virtualization project, or simply buying them instead of rackmounts, IT will simply buy hundreds of them and pre-provision” he said, “Anything I should be thinking about with the blades when looking at the specs?”
“Think about the voltage of the processor as that can differ dramatically, also how much local storage it is you need (also if it’s hot swap disks or not) and what type, (local vs SAN etc). Remember you might need or choose a different range of blades for different solutions like the 280c G6, 460c and 680c G5;Â (if you’re replacing DL360s/380s/580s). If you wish to hire me for the afternoon and quiz me, I’ll be happy to answer more questions 
” I replied.
“It’s ok, the phone’s easier and free! I’ll buy you a coffee next time I see you when you’re next up here…” replied Chris.
One Frappuccino Blended Crème thingy with Chocolate from Starbucks please…
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