HP BladeSystem p-Class rack-centralized (3U) power solutions

Firmware requirements

Enhanced server blade enclosures require firmware revision 2.03 or higher. The management

modules on the server blade enclosure and on the power enclosure must have the same firmware

version release. All power enclosures within a rack must have the same firmware release. Firmware

may be downloaded from the HP website at this URL:

http://h18023.www1.hp.com/support/files/server/us/download/24088.html

Power distribution for HP p-Class server blade enclosures

The HP BL p-Class system with enhanced backplane components has a centralized, redundant power

subsystem which includes hot-plug power supplies, power enclosures, and ProLiant BL p-Class bus

bars that distribute power to the system. This power infrastructure system allows the use of single-

phase or three-phase AC power.

All HP ProLiant BL server blades except the BL30p and BL35p

install directly into the 6U HP

BladeSystem p-Class server blade enclosure with enhanced backplane components. To support

double-density server blades, the enhanced server blade enclosure has a signal and power backplane

(referred to as the split power backplane) that allows for the physical connection of and support for

the power loads of up to 16 server blades in a single server blade enclosure.

The enhanced server blade enclosure with the split power backplane is able to:

• Route power to up to 16 server blades.

• Support a higher input current and total input power than the shared power backplane in the

standard server blade enclosure.

• Separate the DC power into the right and left sides of the server blade enclosure so that half the

blades in a server blade enclosure are powered by side A (bays 1 – 4) and half by side B (bays

5 – 8). See Figure 1.

The HP ProLiant BL30p and BL35p server blades require the HP BladeSystem p-Class blade sleeve. Each blade

sleeve supports one or two BL30p/ BL35p server blades. The blade sleeve is installed into the HP BladeSystem p-

Class server blade enclosure, which accommodates up to 8 blade sleeves.