{"id":2433,"date":"2023-08-18T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-08-18T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businessyield.com\/tech\/?p=2433"},"modified":"2023-08-17T22:01:13","modified_gmt":"2023-08-17T22:01:13","slug":"vxrail-all-you-need-to-know-about-dell-technologies-vxrail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businessyield.com\/tech\/technology\/vxrail-all-you-need-to-know-about-dell-technologies-vxrail\/","title":{"rendered":"VXRAIL: All You Need to Know About Dell Technologies’ VxRail","gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"text"}]},"content":{"rendered":"
Dell EMC VxRail is a hyper-converged appliance. a jointly engineered hyper-converged infrastructure from Dell EMC and VMware. It is the only fully integrated, pre-configured, and tested HCI system optimized for VMware vSAN software-defined storage and the VMware vSphere ESXi hypervisor. It is also the only one with full VMware Cloud Foundation integration, delivering a complete and automated hybrid cloud platform.<\/p>
Managed through the VMware vCenter interface, VxRail provides existing VMware customers with a consistent and familiar operating experience. VxRail is the only jointly engineered HCI system <\/p>
Like VSPEX Blue — the Dell EMC product that it replaced — and other hyper-converged infrastructure (HCI) systems, VxRail includes computing, storage, networking, and virtualization resources in a single device. Specifically, it packages the VMware vSphere vSAN hypervisor and VMware vCenter software on branded Dell servers.<\/p>
Dell Technologies acquired VMware through its 2014 merger with EMC Corp. Since then, Dell has dominated the market for HCI hardware sales, largely on the strength of VxRail, and VMware leads in HCI software revenue.<\/p>
The VxRail flagship product is a key component of VMware Cloud on Dell EMC and VMware Cloud Foundation on VxRail. Those Dell cloud services streamline on-premises deployment of VMware infrastructure, offering public cloud-like performance at a lower cost.<\/p>
VMware and EMC went back to the drawing board, this time without the other manufacturers, and co-developed a new iteration of EVO:RAIL called VxRail. Unlike the prior iteration, this solution is a focused effort of EMC, VCE, and VMware and is not expected to include any other partners. <\/p>
As this develops, VMware will continue to develop vSAN and EMC will provide the hardware platform and management software. One of the benefits of this new relationship is tighter integration between development teams, which should result in a faster release schedule of new features.<\/p>
VxRail is quantified in terms of appliances and nodes. Through 2016, a minimum VxRail configuration will require 4 nodes sold as a single appliance. Each appliance composes of a 2RU chassis with shared power supplies and 4 slots for nodes. However, customers will now be able to grow VxRail clusters in increments of 1 node at a time (assuming that they already own 1 appliance that contains 4 nodes).<\/p>
VxRail nodes are enclosed in a 1U single-server system, with each node having up to four multicore processors. Users can configure the nodes with SSDs or with a hybrid mix of SSDs and hard disk drives (HDDs). However, Dell requires all nodes within a VxRail cluster to use the same storage configuration.<\/p>
Also, while VxRail models support Ethernet speeds up to 1 GbE, scaling all-flash configuration beyond eight nodes requires at least 10 GbE.<\/p>
Customers can start with a minimum of two VxRail nodes and cluster up to 64 nodes. Depending on the use, Dell EMC may recommend starting with a three-node VxRail building block for failover.<\/p>
VxRail offers two major node types: hybrid and all-flash. The hybrid nodes have (1) SSD for read\/write cache and between 3 to 5 SAS drives and the all-flash nodes have (1) SSD for write cache along with 3 to 5 SSD for the capacity tier.<\/p>
It also reflects Dell EMC’s growing reliance on VMware, particularly vSAN, to support enterprise multi-cloud environments. Other features include the following:<\/p>
The various configurations<\/a> include the following:<\/p> These entry-level nodes include hybrid VxRail E560 and all-flash E560F models. E Series appliances have one node per 1U chassis and excel in limited workspaces.<\/p> These are for use in ruggedized environments.<\/p> These are dense 2U four-node systems designed for maximum computing power in limited spaces.<\/p> P Series.<\/strong> These high-performance nodes include the P570F all-flash and P570 hybrid models.<\/p> These 2U appliances are available as hybrid storage for high-capacity workloads, such as AI, data analytics, and edge computing.<\/p> These are designed for graphics-intensive workloads, VDI and 3D visualization. They are available in all-flash or hybrid configurations.<\/p> In 2021, Dell EMC introduced compute-only VxRail nodes with VMware HCI Mesh software. These nodes let customers scale compute and storage independently and share vSAN storage across clusters.<\/p> HCI was the first technology to emerge that supported VDI environments, server virtualization, and augmentation of a traditional storage area network. In addition to those early applications, Dell EMC claims VxRail HCI supports the following uses:<\/p> In a VxRail cluster, a physical Dell PowerEdge server is the host for VMware’s ESXi hypervisor. As of April 2023, VxRail products are based on 15th-generation PowerEdge technology.<\/p> The storage within each ESXi host is aggregated as a single pool of usable storage. VSAN’s policy-driven automation handles tasks for storage management, availability and performance levels, compression, data protection, deduplication, and RAID striping. <\/p> Authorized users manage virtual machines with vCenter Server. VMware vRealize Operations and vRealize Automation integrate VxRail HCI with existing IT infrastructure.<\/p> According to Dell, each VxRail server node is equipped with the following, with some variations:<\/p> HCI technology is considered a building block for enterprise clouds because it separates computing and storage resources. This arrangement lets data center admins add physical storage nodes or servers to existing clusters when they need to expand either computer or storage capacity.<\/p> VxRail turnkey appliances are designed for VMware enterprise environments. Each node provides access to the system’s drive bays for direct-attached storage. The VxRail appliances combine Dell’s networking, server, and storage products with VMware storage and virtualization software. <\/p> The technology behind VxRail appliances includes Dell PowerEdge storage servers with Intel Xeon processors.<\/p> Other options are available for non-volatile memory express flash, solid-state drives (SSDs), and hybrid storage, as well as VMware vSAN SDDC, VMware vSphere hypervisor, and VMware NSX software-defined networking. VxRail HCI System Software functionality includes enhanced automation, extended lifecycle management, and storage pooling across virtualization clusters.<\/p> It ensures performance, reliability, and flexibility for a wide range of workloads and applications. These range from business-critical (SAP, SQL, Oracle) to next-gen workloads (PKS, containers<\/a>, NoSQL).<\/p> VxRail will help you drive your IT transformation and data center modernization with its combination of advanced infrastructure technologies, automation, and orchestration of operational processes, as well as full lifecycle management offerings.<\/p> You can start your hybrid cloud journey with VMware Cloud Foundation on VxRail. This solution integrates the hyperconverged infrastructure layer with VMware SDDC<\/a> software stack for one complete, automated, turnkey, on-premises experience.<\/p> You can also drive operational efficiencies with full-stack integration and automated lifecycle management in order to deliver a consistent operations experience from core to edge to cloud.<\/p> VxRail also grants you access to a seamless VMware experience with the only fully integrated, preconfigured, and pre-tested hyper-converged infrastructure appliance. Powered by the leading software for hyper-converged infrastructure, you can manage complexity, cost, and risk with full vSAN<\/a> integration.<\/p> The VxRail Manager IP address and VLAN use the ESXi Direct Console User Interface (DCUI) to configure for remote deployment on the External Management network.<\/p> Before proceeding, ensure you connect all of the nodes planned for the VxRail initial build to the leaf before switching and powering it on. Allow a few minutes for the VxRail primary node election to complete.<\/p>E Series<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>
D Series<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>
G Series<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>
S Series<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>
V Series<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>
VxRail applications<\/strong><\/h2>
Is VxRail a server or storage system?<\/strong><\/h2>
Is Dell EMC VxRail hardware or software?<\/strong><\/h2>
Benefits of adopting VxRail<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>
Powerful performance for any application<\/strong><\/h3>
Accelerates data center modernization<\/strong><\/h3>
Hybrid-cloud ready<\/strong><\/h3>
Consistent Management and Operations<\/strong><\/h3>
Integrates with your existing environment<\/strong><\/h3>
How to configure VxRail manager<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>
esxcli network vm list<\/strong><\/code>.<\/li><\/ul>