HardwareCisco UCS B200 M5: Cisco Blade Server Features & Price

Cisco UCS B200 M5: Cisco Blade Server Features & Price

ServerWatch content and product recommendations are editorially independent. We may make money when you click on links to our partners. Learn More.




See the full list of Top Blade Servers

Read user reviews of Cisco UCS B200 M5

Bottom Line:

For those committed to Cisco networking or Cisco platforms in general, Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS) blades make perfect sense. They are also among the cheapest blades in this guide, although the UCS framework will add to costs.

The truly affordable price point is compelling because the UCS blades offer significant scalability. An SMB interested in launching with a more modest platform and later building out will find the UCS to be a workable choice. 

With high user ratings, these blades are on plenty of shortlists for companies looking to expand compute power.

Product Description:

Cisco UCS B200 M5 Blade Server delivers performance, versatility, and density for workloads ranging from web infrastructure to distributed databases. Stateless physical and virtual workloads can be deployed rapidly through programmable Cisco UCS Manager software. Simplified server access is available through Cisco SingleConnect.

The B200 M5 takes advantage of Xeon Scalable processors with up to 28 cores per socket, up to 24 DDR4 DIMMs for improved performance, and up to two GPUs. It can also accommodate up to two Small Form Factor (SFF) HDD/SSD/NVMe drives, or 2 SD cards or M.2 SATA drives. As much as 80 Gbps of I/O of throughput is available in this half-width blade. The 6U Cisco UCS 5108 Blade Server Chassis can house up to eight blades.

Further features include a Modular LAN on motherboard (mLOM) card with Cisco UCS Virtual Interface Card (VIC) 1340, a 2-port, 40-gigabit Ethernet (GE), and a Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE)–capable mLOM mezzanine adapter. Optional features include a rear mezzanine VIC with two 40-Gbps unified I/O ports.

“If I need a larger-scale virtualized environment, I prefer blades, and for the lowest OpEx as I scale out, I find Cisco’s UCS lets me manage a larger footprint with fewer people,” said a Technology Architect in the services industry.

Max Processors/Cores:

2 Xeon Scalable/56 cores.

Maximum Memory:

3 TB

Form factor:

Half width.

Key Markets and Use Cases:

  • Remote sites
  • Web infrastructure
  • Distributed databases
  • Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI
  • Converged infrastructure
  • Enterprise applications such as Oracle and SAP HANA.

“Previous operations teams using HP and IBM servers required 4X more people to manage the same number of servers,” said a CIO in healthcare.

Price:

Starting from $1,840

Product

Cisco UCS B200 M5

Max Processors

2 Xeon Scalable

Max Cores

56

Max RAM

3 TB

Form Factor

Half width

Starting Price

$1,840

Key Differentiator

Excellent for Cisco networks

Get the Free Newsletter!

Subscribe to Daily Tech Insider for top news, trends & analysis

Latest Posts

Related Stories