Server is the main physical unit with which the platform works. DCImanager 6 allows you to keep track of servers, manage their condition, status and connections. DCImanager 6 supports servers of different form factors — rack and blade servers. When adding a server to DCImanager 6, you need to specify its form factor. Read more in Adding a server.
The server form factor can be changed when editing the server.
Rack servers
Rack servers are designed for rack mounting and integration with other hardware components — RAIDs, switches, power distributors (PDUs). A rack-mounted server contains all components necessary for its standalone operation — processors, memory modules, hard drives, power supplies, etc. The size of the server is measured by the number of rack sections — units (U) that it occupies. The server size in units can be a multiple of 0.5.
When adding a rack server to DCImanager 6, you need to specify the rack and the unit number in which it is located.
Blade servers
Blade servers are servers where a part of hardware components is removed from the casing. This design allows to significantly reduce the size of the device and to place more servers in one rack.
Blade servers are installed into an enclosure (chassis). The chassis is a device that provides blade servers with access to shared components. For example, a blade server may consist of a motherboard, processor, memory modules and a network card, and use external drives and power supplies installed in the chassis.
In DCImanager 6, you can add chassis to the rack via the server adding form. When adding a chassis, you need to specify its size in units, the numbers of the rack units in which it is located, and the number of slots for blade servers.
When adding a blade server to DCImanager 6, you need to specify the rack, chassis and the chassis slot number in which it is located.