Blades on Backend Engineering Strategy Tools

ASGARD — the blade cluster

Fri, 15 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

ASGARD (SYS-007) is the HP BladeSystem C7000 with 16× BL460c Gen8 blades. The reason to use it is profile switching: boot a blade as a Slurm compute node, run the experiment, reimage it as a Talos worker, run the next one. The same iPXE boot menu already set up for ODEN works here — the C7000 Onboard Administrator lets you configure boot order per blade slot, so switching roles is a BIOS setting and a PXE entry, not a reinstall.

Power reality

Before committing to blades as the permanent always-on platform, it’s worth being honest about the enclosure overhead. The C7000 has fixed costs regardless of how many blades are populated: 10 fans, dual OA modules, 2 interconnect switches, backplane management. It doesn’t scale down gracefully.

Setup	Approx power
C7000 enclosure alone (no blades)	200–400W
C7000 + 1 blade	350–550W
C7000 + 3 blades	500–800W
ODEN alone (1U M3, Talos)	100–150W
HEIMDAL alone (Sun X4150, router)	150–200W
ODEN + HEIMDAL	250–350W

Two pizza boxes beat three blades in the enclosure on power. The overhead only amortises at 8+ populated slots. For a permanent minimal setup, the 1U rack servers win. For experiments where you want to run 8–16 nodes at once, ASGARD earns its place.

What each role actually needs

Role	RAM	Disk	Network	Limiting factor
Talos / K8s worker	32–64GB	1× OSD disk	1GbE fine	RAM — current blades too thin
OpenStack compute	32–64GB	local ephemeral	1GbE fine	RAM
OpenStack control	32GB+	small	1GbE fine	RAM
Slurm compute	as much as possible	fast scratch	1GbE mediocre	network
Ceph OSD	16–32GB	more / bigger disks	1GbE	disk count

The network note matters for Slurm: blade LOM connects to the enclosure switch backplane at 1GbE, not 10GbE. The switch has 10GbE uplinks going out, but blade-to-blade traffic inside the enclosure goes through the switch at 1GbE. For Talos and OpenStack this is fine. For MPI jobs exchanging large datasets between Slurm nodes it’s a real bottleneck — HPC wants InfiniBand, which the empty interconnect bays 5–8 could take (plus matching mezzanine cards in each blade), but that’s a separate cost. For learning Slurm, 1GbE is workable.

Current blade state

Most blades are underpowered for any of the roles above. CPUs are also unknown across all 16 slots — the OA web GUI reports CPU model and core count per blade and should be checked first. The E5-2600 v1 range runs from E5-2603 (4c, 80W) to E5-2690 (8c/16t, 135W), which matters significantly for role assignment.

Slot	RAM	Disk
BLD-001	4GB	2× 146GB SAS
BLD-002	14GB (mixed, odd count)	—
BLD-003	32GB	2× 300GB SAS
BLD-004	8GB	—
BLD-005	8GB	1× 146GB + 1× 300GB SAS
BLD-006	8GB	2× 300GB SAS
BLD-007	8GB	2× 900GB SAS
BLD-008	16GB	2× 300GB SAS
BLD-009	8GB	—
BLD-010	8GB	2× 300GB SAS
BLD-011	8GB	2× 300GB SAS
BLD-012	8GB	2× 300GB SAS
BLD-013	32GB	—
BLD-014	8GB	—
BLD-015	8GB	2× 300GB SAS
BLD-016	8GB	—

BLD-003 and BLD-013 are already at 32GB and are natural candidates for control-plane or master roles once CPUs are confirmed.

Suggested configuration from existing stock

Available spare hardware:

14× RAM-007 (8GB DDR3 1600MHz ECC Reg) — unassigned
2× HDD-004 (120GB SATA SSD) — spare
6× HDD-002 (146GB 10K SAS) — spare
Embedded P220i on each blade (can be set to JBOD/passthrough for Ceph)

“Fat” nodes × 2 — Talos control plane, OpenStack control, Slurm master: Add 4× RAM-007 to each blade. From a base of 8–16GB that gives ~40GB. Candidates: BLD-006 and BLD-010, both have 2× 300GB SAS for local storage. Costs 8 of 14 spare sticks. Install a spare 120GB SSD as boot disk in each.

“Medium” nodes × 3 — Talos workers, OpenStack compute, Slurm compute: Add 2× RAM-007 to each → 24GB from the 8GB base. Candidates: BLD-008 (already 16GB, gets to 32GB), BLD-011, BLD-012. All three have 300GB SAS for scratch or Ceph OSDs. Costs the remaining 6 spare sticks.

Rest — thin compute, storage expansion, or powered off: Leave at current RAM. BLD-007’s 900GB SAS pair is better used elsewhere (see below). BLD-003 and BLD-013 at 32GB can step up to fat-node role once CPUs are confirmed.

That leaves 5 blades properly kitted and 11 available for experiments or idle.

BL460c Gen8 DIMM rule: populate per-CPU symmetrically — pairs or quads per memory channel — for best throughput. Don’t mix odd counts.

Storage — what moves where

Pull the 900GB SAS drives from BLD-007 now. HDD-013 (HGST 900GB) and HDD-014 (Toshiba 900GB) are the two largest drives in the blade pool and they’re sitting in a blade that may end up as a thin compute worker. Move them into ODEN or LOKE as permanent Ceph OSDs. This immediately gives the always-on cluster substantially more storage than the current 120GB SSDs.

MIMIR (SYS-004, 15× 1TB SAS) is the Ceph expansion story for later. To connect it: install CTRL-006 (ServeRAID-8e, have 2 unplaced) into a server with a free PCIe slot, then cable it with a SFF-8470 → SFF-8088 cable (not currently owned, inexpensive). TOR is the natural host — it already has CTRL-003 in HBA mode and free PCIe slots. Not urgent, but the hardware is almost all there.

What	Goes to	When
900GB SAS ×2 from BLD-007	ODEN or LOKE, permanent Ceph OSDs	Now
120GB SSD ×2 spare	BLD fat node boot disks	Before Talos on blades
300GB SAS in blades	Local scratch or blade Ceph OSDs	During ASGARD experiments
MIMIR 15× 1TB SAS	TOR via CTRL-006, Ceph expansion	Later (needs cable)

Three things to do before blades can boot anything

Identify CPUs. Connect to the OA management port, open the web GUI, check CPU model per slot. Ten minutes. Everything else depends on this.
Network uplink. The blade switches in bays 1 and 2 have 4× RJ45 1GbE uplinks (ports 22–25). Run a patch cable from one to any available switch — MODI, MAGNI, whatever’s reachable from the cable box. That’s enough for blades to reach DHCP and iPXE.
RAM redistribution. Pull the 14 spare RAM-007 sticks and install into the chosen fat and medium nodes per the profile above.

The permanent vs experiment split

Always on (~300–400W total):
 HEIMDAL → OPNsense router, Sun X4150, ~150–200W
 ODEN → Talos, Minecraft + small services, ~100–150W
 LOKE → 2nd Talos node (needs RAM-007 × 8 + SSD boot), ~100–150W

Experiments (fire up, learn, power off):
 ASGARD → 3–16 blades for Slurm / OpenStack / larger Talos cluster
 TYR+TOR+FREJA → Proxmox cluster (M1 DDR2, temporary)

Once the Proxmox experiment wraps, TYR, TOR, and FREJA can be powered down permanently. If ASGARD blades eventually become the long-term compute platform, OPNsense can move to a VM on a blade at that point — but not before the blades are stable and trusted. Don’t consolidate the router onto experimental infrastructure.

Blade Inventory

Thu, 14 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Blade Configurations (ASGARD — HP C7000)

All blades are HP BL460c Gen8. Manufacturer and model omitted from table — see systems inventory for roster.

Asset ID	Slot	CPU	RAM	Disk	LOM	SAS Ctrl	Mezz 1 (bays 3/4)	Mezz 2 (bays 5/6)
BLD-001	1	2× (?)	4GB — 1× RAM-008	2× HDD-011 (146GB, 15K)	NIC-004	separate card, no P/N	—	—
BLD-002	2	2× (?)	14GB — 7× RAM-009/010 mixed	—	NIC-004	separate card, no P/N	—	—
BLD-003	3	2× (?)	32GB — 8× RAM-008	2× HDD-012 (300GB, 10K)	NIC-004	separate card, no P/N	—	—
BLD-004	4	2× (?)	8GB — 2× RAM-008	—	NIC-004	separate card, no P/N	—	—
BLD-005	5	2× (?)	8GB — 2× RAM-008	1× HDD-011 + 1× HDD-012	NIC-004	separate card, no P/N	—	—
BLD-006	6	2× (?)	8GB — 2× RAM-008	2× HDD-012 (300GB, 10K)	NIC-004	separate card, no P/N	—	—
BLD-007	7	2× (?)	8GB — 2× RAM-008	1× HDD-013 + 1× HDD-014 (900GB each)	NIC-004	separate card, no P/N	—	—
BLD-008	8	2× (?)	16GB — 2× RAM-007	2× HDD-012 (300GB, 10K)	NIC-004	separate card, no P/N	—	—
BLD-009	9	2× (?)	8GB — 2× RAM-008	—	NIC-004	separate card, no P/N	—	—
BLD-010	10	2× (?)	8GB — 2× RAM-008	2× HDD-012 (300GB, 10K)	NIC-004	separate card, no P/N	—	—
BLD-011	11	2× (?)	8GB — 4× RAM-009	2× HDD-012 (300GB, 10K)	NIC-004	separate card, no P/N	—	—
BLD-012	12	2× (?)	8GB — 4× RAM-009	2× HDD-012 (300GB, 10K)	NIC-004	separate card, no P/N	—	—
BLD-013	13	2× (?)	32GB — 4× RAM-006	—	NIC-004	separate card, no P/N	—	—
BLD-014	14	2× (?)	8GB — 2× RAM-008	—	NIC-004	separate card, no P/N	—	—
BLD-015	15	2× (?)	8GB — 2× RAM-008	2× HDD-012 (300GB, 10K)	NIC-004	separate card, no P/N	—	—
BLD-016	16	2× (?)	8GB — 2× RAM-008	—	NIC-004	separate card, no P/N	—	—

Blade Enclosure Modules (ASGARD — HP C7000)

Bay Type	Module	Part No	Qty	Status	Notes
Interconnect	HP 1:10Gb Ethernet BL-c Switch	438476-001	2	Installed	Bays 1-2; Int: ports 1-16 blade downlinks; Ext: 1× CX4 10GbE, 2× XFP 10GbE, 4× RJ45 1GbE
Interconnect	—	—	—	Empty	Bays 3-4: mezzanine slot 1 fabric — Ethernet, FC, SAS, or IB
Interconnect	—	—	—	Empty	Bays 5-6: mezzanine slot 2 fabric — Ethernet, FC, SAS, or IB
Interconnect	—	—	—	Empty	Bays 7-8: mezzanine slot 2 fabric (double-wide IB uses bays 5+7)
OA	HP Onboard Administrator	4K09B5 / P/N 407296-001	2	Installed	Redundant pair; with VGA
OA	HP Onboard Administrator	4K08A6 / P/N 459526-001	1	Spare	No VGA; different revision
Power Supply	HP BladeSystem c7000 PSU	?	6	Installed	Full (6/6)
Fan	HP BladeSystem c7000 Fan	?	10	Installed	Full (10/10)

System Overviews

HP BladeSystem C7000 — QuickSpecs

10U · up to 16 half-height blades · shared power/cooling/networking via backplane · Onboard Administrator

The C7000 is a substantial 10U blade enclosure designed to host up to 16 server blades, along with storage blades and integrated networking/management modules. It provides a consolidated infrastructure for power, cooling, and network connectivity, significantly simplifying cable management and enabling high-density computing environments. These systems were foundational for many enterprise virtualization platforms.

HP BL460c Gen8 — QuickSpecs

Half-height blade · 2× LGA2011 (E5-2600 v1/v2) · up to 192GB DDR3 ECC Reg · 2× SFF SAS bays · FlexibleLOM + 2 mezzanine slots

The BL460c Gen8 is a half-height server blade for the c-Class BladeSystem enclosure. Each blade supports two Intel Xeon E5-2600 v1 or v2 series processors and up to 24 DDR3 ECC Registered DIMMs across 24 slots. Local storage is limited to two 2.5" SFF SAS/SATA bays managed by an embedded Smart Array P220i controller. Networking is handled through the FlexibleLOM slot (populated with the HP FlexFabric 554FLB in ASGARD), which connects to the enclosure’s interconnect bays via the backplane. Two additional mezzanine slots allow expansion with Fibre Channel, SAS, or InfiniBand HBAs.

ASGARD Interconnect Bay Architecture — c7000 Interconnect Components · Wikipedia

8 interconnect bays (4 pairs) · each pair ties to a specific fabric/mezzanine slot on all blades

The c7000 rear has 8 single-wide interconnect bays arranged as 4 matched pairs. Both bays in a pair must carry the same module type — they connect to the same blade mezzanine slot and form a redundant fabric. Up to 4 simultaneous fabrics are supported.

Bay pair	Blade connection	Currently	Could hold
1 / 2	LOM (onboard NIC)	HP 1:10Gb Ethernet BL-c Switch ×2	Ethernet switch or pass-thru
3 / 4	Mezzanine slot 1	Empty	Ethernet, Fibre Channel (4/8Gb FC switch), SAS switch, InfiniBand
5 / 6	Mezzanine slot 2	Empty	Same options as 3/4
7 / 8	Mezzanine slot 2	Empty	Same; or second half of a double-wide InfiniBand module (bays 5+7)

Note: to use FC, SAS, or InfiniBand bays the blades themselves also need matching mezzanine cards installed. BL460c Gen8 blades have 2 mezzanine slots available.

Common modules seen in homelab use (none currently owned):

Fibre Channel: HP 4Gb/8Gb BLc FC switch (e.g. AJ821A for 8Gb)
SAS: HP SAS BLc Switch — gives blades shared SAS fabric access to DAS like MIMIR
InfiniBand: HP DDR/QDR IB switch — requires matching IB mezzanine card in each blade

HP BladeSystem Onboard Administrator (OA) — User Guide

P/N 407296-001 (installed ×2, with VGA) · P/N 459526-001 (spare ×1, no VGA) · Fits OA bays (separate from interconnect bays)

The OA is the management brain of the c7000 enclosure. It provides a web GUI, SSH/CLI, and SNMP interface for managing all blades, power supplies, fans, and interconnect modules. Two OA modules run as a redundant active/standby pair — if the primary fails, the standby takes over without interruption.

External connectors (407296-001 / with VGA):

1× RJ-45 management Ethernet (dedicated OOB network)
1× USB (for local keyboard)
1× DB-9 serial console
1× VGA (local video output for console access)

459526-001 (spare, no VGA): earlier/different revision — same management functions, management Ethernet + USB + serial, but no VGA port for local console.

HP 1:10Gb Ethernet BL-c Switch — User Guide · QuickSpecs

P/N 438476-001 (spare/FRU) / 438031-B21 (orderable) · c-Class BladeSystem interconnect module · 16 blade downlinks + 7 uplinks

Managed Gigabit/10GbE blade switch in a single interconnect bay. Each module connects to all 16 blade bays via the enclosure backplane. ASGARD has two installed (in adjacent bays 1 and 2), linked via the port 17 X-Connect.

Port map:

Port(s)	Connector	Speed	Role
1–16	Backplane	1GbE	Blade downlinks (1 per blade bay)
17	Internal	10GbE	X-Connect crosslink to adjacent bay switch
19	SFF-8470	10GbE	CX4 copper uplink (Ethernet — not SAS despite same connector)
20–21	XFP	10GbE	Fiber/DAC uplinks (XFP cages; older/larger than SFP+)
22–25	RJ-45	1GbE	Copper uplinks