New Server Form Factor: Cluster-in-a-Box

Traditional server clustering has always been one of the main 'bottlenecks' and complaints for most IT project roll-outs. The most common excuses from server admins: too complex, too expensive, taking too much power, rack space, air-con and the list goes on. To address these issues, there is a new breed of servers - not 1U or 2U rack mountable server and monstrous server blade - it's "Cluster-in-a-Box" or CiB in short. 

Simply put, all server clustering components, including computing, storage, clustering software and network, are pre-fabricated and pre-installed in a single box when deliver to your data centers. You don't have to worry about what kind of detailed specifications that you should put in your procurement tenders. Most importantly, most products claim to save power, cooling, and rack space. Take Nutanix for example. It claims to do away with expensive SAN storage and simplify cluster setup in 30 min. Furthermore, a 4-node cluster in a 2U rack mountable chassis. Compare Nutanix 1450 against traditional server clustering, the Dell equivalent would look something like:

1. 4 x Dell R610 servers
• 2 x Intel 6-core Xeon E5-2620
• 64GB RAM
• 400GB SSD
• 2 x GE and 2 x 10GE
• 2 x HBA controllers
2. 2 x FC SAN switches
3. 1 x FC SAN storage 
• 16 x 1 TB SATA HDD

Adding up all components would take up about 8U of rack spaces with 7 different boxes or about 400% in saving in rack spaces against a single 2U Nutanix box.

Of course, traditional server vendors are not sitting back. Now, we are seeing new server product offerings like:

• Dell Power Edge VRTX
• Fujitsu’s PRIMERGY
• HP Cluster Platform Express

Look like we are entering the next wave of data center revolution.