Course Overview

Introduction to Modular Computing and Blade Systems is designed for technical professionals and managers, computer systems administrators and others interested in an introduction to the options available with rack mounted modular systems and issues involved with installing and running them.

In this course, students learn about selecting, installing, and using rack mounted blade and modular systems. They learn about options for racking systems. They learn about types of devices such as rack-mounted servers, blade systems, routers, high-speed interconnect devices, storage devices and SANs. They learn about power, cooling, and cabling requirements for such devices. They will learn about bus and I/O technologies and standards. They learn about software applications running in modular computing environments, and also about software provisioning and management options for modular systems.

This class proves a technical overview through lectures, reading and vendor contributed information. Although it is an introductory course, it is recommended that as a prerequisite students have a basic understand of and some experience with configuring computer systems and networks.

Upon Successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

• Name and understand the types of and differences between standard racking systems
• Name and understand the components used in building modular systems
• Be able to determine power and cabling requirements in racking systems
• Name and understand the differences between major current and emerging bus and I/O standards
• Understand 2- and 3-tier system architectures and the system requirements of each tier
• Understand options for load balancing and fault tolerance capabilities in modular systems
• Understand and understand the differences between virtual operating systems, grids and clusters. Determine if an application will benefit from running on a grid or cluster
• Understand requirements and options for provisioning and management of the modular system. Understand important interface and protocol standards in this area.
• Determine what type of modular system will best suit his needs

Course Topics

1. Introduction to Modular Systems
2. Types of Modular System Devices
3. Power requirements and options
4. Cooling requirements and options
5. Bus standards
6. I/O standards
7. Consoles – Keyboard/Mouse/Video switches
8. Blade Systems
9. In-Band and Out-of-Band low-level System Monitoring and Management
10. Software provisioning and management standards and options
11. 2- and 3-tier system architectures and elements
12. Edge load balancing systems
13. Designing for Fault Tolerance
14. Introduction to Clusters and Grids
15. Storage Options
16. Database considerations in modular system environments
17. Documenting and maintenance of the System
18. Overview of modular systems vendors