The previous chapter provided an overview of the VxRail Appliance 7.x system. You learned about the architecture, features, management, and documentation resources for VxRail, such as automated deployment, one-click upgrade, and storage policy-based management. You learned how to help and offload the operation and configuration of VxRail in comparison with the traditional server and storage architecture. The VxRail 7.x platform runs on the latest generation of Dell PowerEdge hardware, the 15th generation. Compared to the previous generation of Dell PowerEdge hardware, the performance and configuration are improved in the latest version.
VxRail Appliance is a Hyper-Converged Infrastructure (HCI) that is a self-contained infrastructure platform, and you can select different hardware components (such as CPU processors, memory, network connectivity, a network daughter card, GPUs, NVMe, and all-flash disk devices) to build your environment based on your hardware and software requirements. If you don’t have hardware and software requirements in the initial phase, you can build your VxRail cluster with the minimum configuration (that is, three VxRail nodes with the same model and configuration). You can easily scale up or scale out your VxRail cluster when you need to upgrade or expand the resources on the VxRail platform in the future. The scaling feature is one key benefit of VxRail Appliance. VxRail 15th generation hardware enhances some features and cluster deployment, and you will learn about the benefits of this latest generation of HCI in this chapter.
This chapter includes the following main topics:
VxRail supports various use cases, such as big data analytics, virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI), remote office, and Brand Office. In VxRail 7.x, support to use your own VMware vSphere and vSAN license or obtain VMware licenses from Dell Technologies is available. VxRail provides the following benefits:
The following table shows a summary of improvements on four new platforms:
CPU |
Memory |
Connectivity |
Storage | |
E660 |
New CPU processors up to 40 cores. |
Next-generation Intel Optane persistent memory. |
Supports PCIe Generation 4. |
Supports PCIe Generation 4 NVMe cache devices. |
E660F |
N/A |
Supports up to 8 TB of memory. |
SAS HBA with x16 SAS lanes. |
Supports NVMe cache drives on VxRail V and S Series. |
E670F |
N/A |
Supports up to 8 TB of 2nd generation Intel Optane persistent memory. |
Supports quad-port 25 Gb OCP 3.0 networking. |
Supports 12 TB NL-SAS capacity drives on VxRail S Series. |
V670F |
N/A |
N/A |
Supports hot-pluggable Boot Optimized Storage Solution (BOSS). |
Supports the additional four capacity disk slots on VxRail P Series for up to 184 TB of storage. |
Table 2.1 – A summary of improvements on each node in VxRail 15th generation
VxRail 14th generation (prior to VxRail 7.0.240) only supported one type of VxRail cluster deployment (Standard Cluster) configured with physical compute and storage resources on each node. The compute and storage resources can be increased at the same time when you add one or more nodes into the existing VxRail cluster. VxRail v4.7.100 supports the vSAN two-node cluster with a direct-connect configuration, but this configuration does not support scaling. We will discuss the details of the vSAN two-node cluster in Chapter 6, Design of vSAN 2-Node Cluster on VxRail. VxRail also supports vSAN Stretched Clusters; we will discuss the details in Chapter 7, Design of Stretched Cluster on VxRail. VxRail 15th generation (VxRail 7.0.240 or later) supports another type of VxRail cluster deployment, Dynamic Node Cluster. From VxRail 7.0.300, it supports VxRail satellite nodes. When initializing a VxRail 7.x system, the Dynamic Node Cluster can be selected in the VxRail Deployment Wizard.
Figure 2.1 – Dell EMC VxRail Deployment Wizard
The following sections will provide an overview of and discuss the fundamental differences between each VxRail node, that is, VxRail nodes with vSAN, VxRail dynamic nodes, and VxRail satellite nodes.
The VxRail Standard Cluster is one type of VxRail cluster deployment; it requires a minimum of three nodes with the same model in the VxRail cluster, which all VxRail hardware models support. Each VxRail node includes cache disks (Flash or NVMe) and capacity disks for this cluster type. In Figure 2.2, there are four nodes in the VxRail cluster, and each node consists of a Disk Group with one cache disk and two capacity disks. It can automatically build the VxRail cluster and create a local vSAN datastore as primary storage after the deployment is complete.
Figure 2.2 – The diagram of VxRail nodes with vSAN
VxRail standard clusters also support connectivity with external storage, such as Dell EMC storage, HCI Mesh, or third-party storage. All VxRail nodes support adding one Fibre Channel HBA except the VxRail D and G Series. You can set up the connectivity of the VxRail cluster and secondary storage with Fibre Channel or iSCSI Channel.
In Figure 2.3, there is a VxRail standard cluster with four nodes connected with a Dell storage array over Fibre Channel. In this configuration, you can move the virtual machines across the vSAN datastore and SAN datastore with vSphere Storage vMotion. The virtual machine can be shared between the primary and secondary storage resources.
Figure 2.3 – VxRail standard cluster with external storage
Figure 2.3 gives an overview of a VxRail standard cluster with external storage.
Important Note
VxRail Lifecycle Management (one-click upgrade) does not include the firmware upgrade of an external storage array.
We will discuss the VxRail standard cluster with vSAN HCI Mesh in the next section.
From VxRail 7.0.100, VxRail supports vSAN HCI Mesh. With this feature, we have a local vSAN datastore on a VxRail cluster that can be shared with other VxRail clusters. In Figure 2.4, there are two VxRail standard clusters (VxRail Cluster A and Cluster B) with four nodes. The local vSAN datastore on VxRail Cluster B can be shared with VxRail Cluster A.
Figure 2.4 – VxRail standard clusters with vSAN HCI Mesh
This configuration lets you move the virtual machines across the local vSAN datastore and remote vSAN datastore with vSphere Storage vMotion. The virtual machine can be shared between the local and remote storage resources.
If you want to enable a VxRail standard cluster with vSAN HCI Mesh, please prepare the following:
VxRail standard cluster deployment is suitable for most common scenarios; this cluster type has the following features:
In some scenarios, VxRail standard cluster deployment may not be suitable, as follows:
Thanks to the examples in Figure 2.3 and Figure 2.4, you understand the benefits of VxRail nodes with vSAN and which scenarios are suitable for this type of cluster deployment.
In VxRail 14th generation, you can only use the VxRail standard cluster deployment. We will discuss another type of VxRail cluster in the next section, VxRail dynamic nodes.
The VxRail dynamic node cluster is a type of VxRail cluster deployment that requires a minimum of two nodes with the same model in the VxRail cluster, supported by three VxRail hardware models, E660F, P670F, and V670F. These nodes are built on Dell PowerEdge 15th-generation servers. VxRail dynamic nodes do not include any storage resources and only consist of the compute resources. However, these nodes can also deliver all the benefits of the VxRail Appliance system, except the storage resources. If you choose this type of cluster deployment, you need to connect to an external storage array. The external storage supports various options, including Dell PowerStore, Dell PowerMax, and Dell Unity XT. In Figure 2.5, there is a VxRail dynamic node cluster with four nodes connected to an external storage array. In this type of cluster deployment, the connectivity of the VxRail dynamic node and external storage is in Fibre Channel (FC in the diagram).
Figure 2.5 – VxRail dynamic node cluster
If you choose to use a VxRail dynamic node cluster deployment, you need to consider the following:
Important Note
The VMware vSAN license is not required on each VxRail dynamic node if you plan to deploy the VxRail dynamic node cluster.
We will discuss the VxRail dynamic node cluster with vSAN HCI Mesh in the next section.
VxRail dynamic node clusters also support vSAN HCI Mesh. In this feature, the local vSAN datastore on a VxRail cluster can be shared with VxRail dynamic node clusters. Now we will discuss two vSAN HCI Mesh scenarios.
In Figure 2.6, VxRail Cluster A has four nodes and a local vSAN datastore across this VxRail cluster. This local vSAN datastore is shared with the VxRail dynamic node cluster. In this configuration, the virtual machines on the VxRail dynamic node cluster can use the storage resources on VxRail Cluster A. You can move the virtual machines on the VxRail dynamic node cluster into either VxRail Cluster A or the remote vSAN datastore using vSphere Storage vMotion.
Figure 2.6 – A VxRail dynamic node cluster with vSAN HCI Mesh
If you choose to use a VxRail dynamic node cluster with vSAN HCI Mesh, you need to consider the following prerequisites:
In Figure 2.7, each VxRail cluster has four nodes and a local vSAN datastore across this VxRail cluster. This local vSAN datastore is shared with VxRail Dynamic Node Cluster A and Dynamic Node Cluster B.
Figure 2.7 – The two VxRail dynamic clusters with vSAN HCI Mesh
If you choose two VxRail dynamic node clusters with vSAN HCI Mesh, you need to consider the following requirements:
Important Note
In VxRail 7.0.240 and above, the vSAN license is not required on each VxRail dynamic node cluster or VxRail standard cluster if vSAN HCI Mesh is enabled on the VxRail cluster.
Thanks to the preceding two scenarios in Figure 2.6 and Figure 2.7, you now understand the benefits of VxRail dynamic nodes and which scenarios are suitable for this type of cluster deployment.
In the preceding sections, we learned the difference between VxRail nodes with vSAN and VxRail dynamic nodes. From VxRail 7.0.320 or above, the VxRail satellite node is available. This node is a type of VxRail node and it supports lifecycle management through VxRail Manager. But it only requires a single IP address to connect to the VxRail cluster in an HQ data center.
In Figure 2.8, there is a VxRail cluster with four nodes in the HQ data center and one VxRail satellite node in each remote site (A, B, and C). Each VxRail satellite node and VxRail cluster is managed by a single vCenter instance through a Wide Area Network (WAN) in the HQ data center. If you deployed these nodes in your environment, the virtual machines could be running on local RAID storage (PERPC H755 controller) or secondary storage.
Figure 2.8 – VxRail satellite nodes
If you plan to deploy VxRail satellite nodes in your environment, you need to consider the following prerequisites:
Important Note
The VMware vSAN license is not required on each VxRail satellite node if you plan to deploy VxRail satellite nodes.
Thanks to Figure 2.8, you have had an overview of VxRail satellite nodes. Now we will discuss an example of VxRail satellite nodes in the next section.
In Figure 2.9, you can see there is a VxRail management cluster in the primary data center. The VxRail management cluster is used as a VxRail with vSAN cluster, which is managed by a customer-managed vCenter. The single VxRail management cluster can manage many VxRail satellite nodes in different locations. The lifecycle management of VxRail satellite nodes is supported in this scenario.
Figure 2.9 – An example configuration of VxRail satellite nodes
You now understand the benefits of VxRail satellite nodes and which scenarios are suitable for this type of cluster deployment. This table shows a summary of each kind of VxRail deployment:
VxRail Node with vSAN |
VxRail Dynamic Node |
VxRail Satellite Node | |
Hardware model |
It supports all VxRail models |
It supports VxRail E660F, P670F, and V670F |
It supports VxRail E660, E660F, and V670F |
Boot device |
BOSS with RAID-1 |
BOSS with RAID-1 |
BOSS with RAID-1 |
Primary storage |
VMware vSAN |
VMware vSAN HCI Mesh or Dell EMC storage |
Local RAID storage PERC H755 |
Secondary storage |
VMware vSAN HCI Mesh, Dell EMC storage, or third-party SAN |
VMware vSAN HCI Mesh, Dell EMC storage, or third-party SAN |
Dell EMC storage or third-party SAN |
Scaling |
Scale from 2 to 64 nodes |
Scale from 2 to 96 nodes |
It is not supported |
VxRail Lifecycle Management |
It is supported |
It is supported but not included in the storage |
It is supported |
VMware vSAN license |
It supports all VMware vSAN editions |
No VMware vSAN license required |
No VMware vSAN license required |
Used scenario |
All common cases |
Independent scaling of computing resources |
Edge |
Table 2.2 – A summary of each kind of VxRail deployment
In this section, you got an overview of VxRail satellite nodes and their advantages.
Important Note
In a VxRail node with vSAN, the boot device is a single drive only in G Series. In the VxRail dynamic node, the vSAN license is not required in VxRail software 7.0.240 or later.
In this chapter, you learned about the new features and hardware in VxRail 15th generation, including VxRail cluster types, vSAN dynamic nodes, and VxRail satellite nodes. You also explored the benefits of each kind of VxRail deployment and the scenarios in which each deployment is suitable.
In the next chapter, you will learn how to design a vCenter server for the VxRail 7 system, including an internal vCenter server with external DNS and internal DNS, an external vCenter server with external DNS, and an internal vCenter server with a customer-supplied virtual distributed switch.
The following is a short list of review questions to help reinforce your learning and help you identify areas that require some improvement:
Which diagram is recommended configuration for this use case?
Figure 2.10 – VxRail standard cluster environment
Figure 2.11 – VxRail dynamic node cluster environment
Figure 2.12 – VxRail management cluster environment
Figure 2.13 – VxRail standard cluster with external storage array environment
Figure 2.14 – VxRail dynamic node cluster with vSAN HCI Mesh environment