Dell Ready Stack User Manual

Dell EMC Ready Stack: VMware Cloud Foundation on PowerEdge Servers and Unity Storage

February 2021

H17667.2

Design Guide

Abstract

This design guide provides architectural guidance, best practices, and sample configurations for a converged infrastructure that is based on

VMware Cloud Foundation and Dell EMC PowerEdge servers, Open Networking, and all-flash storage.

Dell EMC Solutions

Internal Use - Confidential

Copyright

The information in this publication is provided as is. Dell Inc. makes no representations or warranties of any kind with respect to the information in this publication, and specifically disclaims implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

Use, copying, and distribution of any software described in this publication requires an applicable software license.

Copyright © 2019–2021 Dell Inc. or its subsidiaries. All Rights Reserved. Dell Technologies, Dell, EMC, Dell EMC and other trademarks are trademarks of Dell Inc. or its subsidiaries. Intel, the Intel logo, the Intel Inside logo and Xeon are trademarks of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and/or other countries. Other trademarks may be trademarks of their respective owners.

Published in the USA 02/21 Design Guide H17667.2.

Dell Inc. believes the information in this document is accurate as of its publication date. The information is subject to change without notice.

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Contents

Contents

Chapter 1	Introduction	4
Ready Stack overview...........................................................................................		5
Ready Stack key benefits......................................................................................		5
VMware Cloud Foundation....................................................................................		6
Document purpose................................................................................................		6
Audience...............................................................................................................		7
We value your feedback........................................................................................		7
Chapter 2 Architecture and Components		8
Introduction ...........................................................................................................		9
Infrastructure requirements ...................................................................................		9
Ready Stack architecture ....................................................................................		10
Key components .................................................................................................		10
Chapter 3 Configuration and Specifications		19
Introduction .........................................................................................................		20
Recommended components ...............................................................................		20
Design configuration and specifications ..............................................................		21
Ready Stack scaling............................................................................................		23
Chapter 4	Design	25
Introduction .........................................................................................................		26
Compute design..................................................................................................		26
Network design ...................................................................................................		27
Storage design....................................................................................................		29
Management design............................................................................................		32
Chapter 5	References	35
Dell EMC documentation.....................................................................................		36
ONIE documentation...........................................................................................		36
VMware documentation ......................................................................................		36

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Chapter 1: Introduction

Chapter 1 Introduction

This chapter presents the following topics:
Ready Stack overview ........................................................................................	5
Ready Stack key benefits ...................................................................................	5
VMware Cloud Foundation .................................................................................	6
Document purpose .............................................................................................	6
Audience..............................................................................................................	7
We value your feedback .....................................................................................	7

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Chapter 1: Introduction

Ready Stack overview

As IT infrastructure in the data center becomes more complex, managing the infrastructure becomes increasingly difficult. Making changes to the traditional data center infrastructure can significantly affect stability, performance, costs, and upgradability.

The Dell EMC Ready Stack certified reference system for VMware Cloud Foundation on PowerEdge Servers and Unity Storage helps organizations meet long-term data center needs for various mixed workloads. Ready Stack provides the simplicity of a complete, yet flexible, validated converged infrastructure (CI) that is based on the following components:

•Dell EMC Unity storage

•Dell EMC PowerEdge servers

•Dell EMC S-Series switches

•Dell EMC Integrated Data Protection Appliance (IDPA) DP4400 backup solution

•VMware Cloud Foundation virtualization software stack

This Ready Stack provides:

•One trusted vendor for all CI stack components—compute, storage, networking, virtualization software and management platform, and data protection

•Design and deployment guidance that incorporates scale, flexibility, high availability, and best practices

Ready Stack key benefits

This Ready Stack provides the following key benefits:

•Resiliency—The Ready Stack architecture ensures that no single point of failure exists. Redundancy is incorporated in the critical aspects of the Ready Stack, which includes server high-availability features, redundant networking, and multipath storage.

•Virtualization support—We designed this Ready Stack for general-purpose virtualized workloads. Each server is equipped with processing power, memory, and converged network adapters that support Ethernet and Fibre Channel (FC), as required for virtualization.

•Scalability—You can configure this Ready Stack to suit your needs for a virtualized infrastructure. The Ready Stack provides flexibility by supporting various options including server model, number of compute servers, server processor model, server memory capacity, type of FC storage, and FC storage capacity.

•Powerful all-flash storage—This Ready Stack includes the Unity x50 All Flash storage platform. With all-inclusive software, these all-flash systems deliver consistent performance with fast response times and are ideal for mixed virtual workload requirements.

•Integrated data protection—The IDPA preconfigured backup solution combines protection storage and software, search, analytics, and simplified management. The

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Chapter 1: Introduction

IDPA DP4400 appliance that is included in this Ready Stack is optimized for VMware environments.

•Integrated Dell EMC management—This Ready Stack includes the following Dell EMC management tools:

Dell EMC OpenManage Integration for VMware vCenter (OMIVV)—A virtual appliance that enables administrators to view physical host details in VMware vSphere.

Dell EMC Virtual Storage Integrator (VSI)—A vCenter plug-in that enables administrators to view, manage, and optimize storage for vSphere servers and hosts.

Dell EMC Integrated Dell Remote Access Controller 9 (iDRAC9)—An out-of- band (OOB) management tool for Dell EMC PowerEdge rack servers. iDRAC9 has its own HTML5-based UI and can be accessed by using various methods including SSH, RACADM, and the Redfish API. iDRAC9 Group Manager provides a one-to-many console for accessing the details of multiple servers. As needed, administrators can also use Dell EMC OpenManage Enterprise (OME) and OME Modular Edition to manage server content that is accessible through iDRAC9.

Brocade Web Tools—An embedded UI on Dell EMC Connectrix switches that enables administrators to monitor and manage single or small fabrics, switches, and ports. Web Tools is launched directly from a web browser or from the Brocade Network Advisor.

IDPA System Manager—An HTML5-based UI that provides administrators with configurable dashboards to simplify and automate data protection management, monitoring, and reporting.

VMware Cloud Foundation

VMware Cloud Foundation is a unified software-defined data center (SDDC) platform for the hybrid cloud. Composed of VMware vSphere, VMware vSAN, VMware NSX, and VMware SDDC Manager, VMware Cloud Foundation delivers a natively integrated cloudinfrastructure software stack coupled with a cloud management platform.

SDDC Manager features life-cycle management capabilities that automate critical day 0 to day 2 operations for the cloud infrastructure stack, enable rapid provisioning and one-click patching and upgrades, and use policy-based provisioning to simplify resource allocation.

Document purpose

This design guide describes how VMware Cloud Foundation can use Dell EMC compute and Dell EMC Open Networking with Unity storage. It provides design principles, best practices, architectural guidance, and sample configurations for compute, management, networking, and storage.

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Chapter 1: Introduction

Audience

This guide is for Dell EMC personnel, channel partners, and end users.

We value your feedback

Dell EMC and the authors of this document welcome your feedback. Contact the Dell EMC Solutions team by email or provide your comments by completing our documentation survey.

Authors: Robert Percy, Don Pisinski, David Hartman, Karen Johnson

Note: For additional Ready Stack documentation, see the Ready Stack Info Hub.

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Chapter 2: Architecture and Components

Chapter 2 Architecture and Components

This chapter presents the following topics:
Introduction.........................................................................................................	9
Infrastructure requirements ...............................................................................	9
Ready Stack architecture .................................................................................	10
Key components ...............................................................................................	10

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Chapter 2: Architecture and Components

Introduction

Installing, configuring, and running an on-premises CI cloud solution involves multiple considerations, including:

•Operating system and virtualization software distributions

•Selection of monitoring and management software

•Allocation of cluster services and data storage to physical nodes and arrays

•Selection of appropriate server hardware

•Design of the network fabric

•Sizing and scalability

•Performance requirements

Complicating these considerations is the need to understand the types of workloads that will run on the cluster and the challenges of managing a system that is designed to accommodate multiple general-purpose, virtualized workloads.

Dell EMC’s customer-centered approach creates rapidly deployable and highly available CI systems that run on enterprise-class hardware. Ready Stack designs include all the hardware, software, resources, and best practices that are needed to run a scalable, highly available CI environment. With this approach, organizations can be operational in a shorter time than is typically possible with homegrown solutions.

Infrastructure requirements

Note: Ensure that you have enough VMware licenses for the VMware Cloud Foundation package being installed and for the number of servers, CPUs, VMs, and vCenter instances that are planned for the environment. Work with your local Dell EMC or VMware sales team to find the most appropriate VMware Cloud Foundation package for your solution.

Implementing Ready Stack for VMware vCloud Foundation requires that the following infrastructure elements are present in the existing data center or configured at the time of deployment:

•A Domain Name System (DNS) server on the management network

•A Network Time Protocol (NTP) server on the management network

•An Ethernet infrastructure

Dell EMC recommends a 10/25 GbE or 40/100 GbE infrastructure. Additional components, such as Dell Networking cables and transceivers, are required to uplink the Ready Stack to the network. The specific component requirements depend on your networking and uplink requirements.

•Sufficient power and cooling to support the Ready Stack components

Contact your Dell EMC Sales representative for more information about the power and cooling requirements.

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Chapter 2: Architecture and Components

Ready Stack architecture

This Ready Stack architecture includes compute servers, data protection, management servers, LAN switches, SAN switches, storage arrays, and an OOB switch, as shown in the following figure.

Figure 1. Ready Stack design architecture

Key components

Compute	The Dell EMC portfolio of PowerEdge rack servers is designed to optimize application
	performance. The servers support intuitive tools to simplify and automate tasks over the
	entire server life cycle. Every data center and virtual environment has unique
	requirements, and PowerEdge technology provides the flexibility that is needed to build a
	scalable vSphere infrastructure.
	This Ready Stack supports the following PowerEdge servers:
	• PowerEdge R640―A 1U 2-socket server platform that supports up to 24 DIMM
	slots, ten 2.5 in. drives, and three PCIe cards. The scalable business architecture of
	the R640 server maximizes application performance and provides the flexibility to
	optimize configurations that are based on the application and use case.
	• PowerEdge R740/740xd― A 2U, 2-socket server platform that supports up to 24
	DIMM slots, thirty-two 2.5 in. drives, and eight PCIe cards and delivers a balance
	between storage scalability and performance. This platform is ideal for software-
	defined storage (SDS), service providers, and virtual desktop infrastructures. The

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		Chapter 2: Architecture and Components
		PowerEdge R740 server accelerates application performance by using accelerator
		cards and storage scalability. The versatile R740xd server supports a mix of any
		drive types to create the optimum configuration of NVMe drives, SSDs, and HDDs
		for either performance or capacity, or both.
	Embedded in each PowerEdge server in Ready Stack for VMware vCloud Foundation is
	iDRAC9, which provides secure and remote server access for a multitude of common
	management functions. iDRAC with Lifecycle Controller operates regardless of the
	operating system state or the presence of a hypervisor. It also offers a complete set of
	server management features, including configuration, operating system deployment,
	firmware updates, health monitoring, and maintenance.
	iDRAC9 supports various remote connectivity interfaces and protocols, including IPMI,
	Redfish, SMASH-CLP, and WS-Man, enabling administrators to securely configure,
	deploy, manage, monitor, and update the server. The iDRAC9 HTLM5 Web UI provides
	secure connectivity through HTTPS. The iDRAC9 Enterprise license includes Group
	Manager, which provides a one-to-many console experience. With Group Manager,
	administrators can view and manage a set of servers rather than visually inspect the
	servers for faults and manage them manually.
Networking	The Ready Stack architecture network design consists of these functional groups:
	•	OOB network
	•	LAN
	•	SAN

OOB network

The key building block of the OOB network is the Dell EMC S4148T-ON management switch, which provides forty-eight 10GBase-T ports and multiple uplink port options.

LAN

The Dell EMC S5248-ON switch provides LAN connectivity. This switch provides up to forty-eight 25 GbE ports and six 100 GbE ports. Using two S5248-ON switches—referred to as top-of-rack (ToR) switches—provides redundancy. Built-in NICs directly connect the ToR switches to the rackmount servers.

SAN

For FC storage traffic, Ready Stack uses Dell EMC Connectrix DS-6620B switches. The DS-6620B switch delivers up to 32 Gb/s FC performance in a 1U form factor and, by default, has twenty-four 32 Gb/s ports enabled. More ports can be added, through Ports on Demand upgrade kits, up to 64 ports per chassis. Brocade Web Tools, the embedded UI on the Connectrix DS-6620B switches, facilitates the monitoring and management of single or small fabrics, switches, and ports.

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