What are the blades in a server?

Question

I know CPU, memory and HD size. However I do not know what are the blades in a server.
Would you please explain a bit? Thanks!

Answer 1

Symptom
You need to decide which main memory size you should use for the blades of your BIA landscape.
Other terms
BI Accelerator, sizing, main memory, RAM, 8 GB, 16 GB, 32 GB
Reason and Prerequisites
You need to decide which main memory size you should use for the blades of your BIA landscape.
Solution
Note: Based on the sizing of your system (considering main memory, CPU and including future needs of BIA resources) you should contact your hardware partner to get a BIA landscape optimally sized to your needs.
Supported main memory sizes
           Currently, the use of blades with 8GB, 16GB or 32GB RAM is supported for BIA depending on blade and CPU architecture and depending on the hardware vendor.
Recommendations
SAP recommends to use the latest generation of blades with 16GB main memory.
                    This allows an optimal distribution of BIA indexes even for high loads due to a great amount of users. In addition to that, indexing performance profits if more blades are used in a BIA landscape.
Use of 32GB main memory size to avoid additional hardware costs
                    If the sizing for the BIA leads to a number of blades with 16GB main memory with just a few blades more than the number of blades fitting into an enclosure, then the use of blades with 32GB main memory should be preferred.
                    Example:
Assuming that your BIA sizing requires 480GB, which results in 30 blades with 16GB main memory each. Then you should order 15 blades with 32GB main memory instead, so you can avoid the usage of an additional enclosure. In addition to that, there is space for additional blades that can be used as backup blades.
Use of blades with the same main memory size
                    Heterogeneous BIA landscapes are supported in BIA 7.0 Revision 47 and later. But SAP recommends to use blades with the same main memory size for the best possible performance in scenarios with high loads due to a great amount of users.
Use of 8GB RAM main memory size
                    BIA blades with only 8GB RAM should be used only for very small BIA landscapes up to four blades. Use of those blades was introduced to fit to the needs of the SME (Small and Medium Enterprises) market.