Entry level UCS - existing storage?

[rcoote5902_2]

As we move more and more of our services to VMWare, we keep adding 2RU servers and I'm wondering at what point it would make more sense for us to move to a chassis/blade UCS system.  The key issue being a small organization is we lack the capital to go full-blown data center, but I'm wondering if there isn't a way for us to inch our way into or towards UCS.

SInce I'm relatively new to this area let me ask this; what would we need as bare minimum components to build an entry-level UCS platform?

- UCS 5100 Chassis

- UCS B-Series blade(s)

- UCS 2104XP Fabric Extender (one?)

- UCS 6120XP Fabric Interconnect

- Relevant cabling

Now, our existing storage infrastructure is using gigabit ethernet iSCSI.  Could these be integrated?

Can existing non-blade servers be integrated?

What's a ballpark cost for the above?

[David Hailey]

Check out the UCS DocWiki for all the info you likely need:

http://docwiki.cisco.com/wiki/Unified_Computing_System_Hardware

Example info from the DocWiki:

B-200 M1 Requirements

The following hardware requirements apply to the currently-supported Unified Communications applications when using the B-200 M1 hardware:

• The hardware must be the half-width B-200 blade, with the Intel E5540 CPU or greater.
• SAN storage must be used.
• The SAN array must on the VMware list of supported SANs.
• SAN connectivity must be fiber channel.
• SAN array disks must be fiber channel or SAS with 10k or 15k spindle speed.
• No over subscription of of any resource is allowed.

Hailey

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[Mauricio Martinez]

I'm curious as well to know if, having local disks on the B200 to install the ESXi locally, I could use a directly connected 1 Gbps storage array running iSCSI.

The docwiki pertained to UC on UCS tested reference configurations.

If the answer is yes (I could use the "appliance" mode ports on the fabric interconnects to attach a iSCSI storage array via 1Gbps), do I have to check mezzanine compatibilities as well?

Thanks!