The Cisco 5100 series blade server chassis is a vital building block of the Cisco Unified Communication System solution. The chassis' form factor is 4U, and it can host:
- A maximum of eight half-width blade servers
- A maximum of four full-width servers
Chassis front provides the access to manage the blades insertion and removal from it:
- Eight half-width empty slots for a maximum of eight half-width blade servers with a removable divider in the middle, which can be removed for installing full-width blades
- Four slots for single power supplies, which can be configured as non-redundant, N+1 redundant, and grid redundant
Chassis back provides access to manage IOM modules, fans and power supplies:
- Two slots for IOM modules, which act as remote line cards to the Fabric Interconnects
- Eight hot-pluggable fans for cooling
- Four power supply connectors
UCS System should meet all the environmental requirements before deploying in the data center:
- The chassis requires an industry-standard four-post 19-inch rack or cabinet. It cannot be mounted into a two-post relay rack because of weight and length.
- The chassis requires 6U rack space.
- Ensure proper cooling and ventilation for the rack. Chassis airflow is front to back and should not be obstructed.
- The chassis is floor loading.