*Quick information for Ricardo. Hope this helps you with your install. Call if you need more.
The BladeCenter H chassis is divided into two power domains each requiring two power supply modules to function. The BCH comes standard with 2x 2900w power supplies and can be upgraded to a total of 4. The power supply modules in the BladeCenter chassis must be connected to high voltage power only (between 200V and 240V AC). There are three options for power cords, 2x 60amp, 4x 30amp, or 6x 16amp. Power cords can be mixed as required for PDU and UPS, or direct wall power and UPS. Each pair of supplies is joined internally and there is one cord connector for each domain. Each power domain comes standard with 1 power supply. The rear of the chassis contains two Burndy connectors.
The 4 power supplies provide power following these guidelines:
- The two left power supplies (PS1 and PS2) come standard and operate as an N+N reduandant pair. They provide power for blades 1-7 as well as power for common chassis infrastructure
- The two right power supplies (PS3 and PS4) are optional and operate as an N+N reduandant pair. They provide power for blades 8-14 as well as power for common chassis infrastructure
- Power Supplies (PS1 and PS4) attaches to the first line cord via the right power port (as viewed from the rear of the chassis)
- Power Supplies (PS2 and PS3) attaches to second line cord via the left power port
IMPORTANT – Power for the blowers is not provided by the power supplies. Instead, the blowers are run on AC power coming directly from the power cords. This is a major difference from other vendors. This increases the power utilization by not wasting power that is normally wasted by the AC to DC conversion that other blade systems must use. The right power cord supplies AC power to the lower blower, and the left power cord supplies AC power to the upper blower. Note that what this means is even if you are only running 2 power supplies you still have to provide power to both left and right power inlets.
The dual power domain layout in the BCH is unique in that the common chassis components require power from both domains. Specifically power is provided in this manner:
- Blowers draw power directly by AC from the power cords and not from the power supplies
- Management Modules 1 & 2, Media Tray, midplane, and Switch Modules 1 & 2 are powered by both power domains from any power supply
- Switch Modules 3 & 4 draw power from power domain 1
- Bridge Modules 1 & 2 draw power from power domain 2
- High-speed Switch Modules 1 & 2 share power between the two domains but only from power supplies 1 & 3
- High-speed Switch Modules 3 & 4 share power between the two domains but only from power supplies 2 & 4
*diagram provided by IBM
Coming next wiring a BladeCenter H with wall power, PDUs, UPSs, and combos of each.
