Dell Ready Stack User Manual
Internal Use - Confidential
Dell EMC Ready Stack: VMware Cloud Foundation
Abstract
This
sample configurations for a converged infrastructure that is based on
VMware Cloud Foundation and Dell EMC PowerEdge servers, Open
Networking, and all
on PowerEdge Servers and Unity Storage
February 2021
H17667.2
Design Guide
design guide provides architectural guidance, best practices, and
-flash storage.
Dell EMC Solutions
Copyright
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Dell EMC Ready Stack: VMware Cloud Foundation on PowerEdge Servers and Unity Storage
Design Guide
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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.
Contents
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Dell EMC Ready Stack: VMware Cloud Foundation on PowerEdge Servers and Unity Storage
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
Design Guide
Chapter 1: Introduction
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Dell EMC Ready Stack: VMware Cloud Foundation on PowerEdge Servers and Unity Storage
Design Guide
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
Chapter 1: Introduction
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Dell EMC Ready Stack: VMware Cloud Foundation on PowerEdge Servers and Unity Storage
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
Design Guide
Chapter 1: Introduction
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Dell EMC Ready Stack: VMware Cloud Foundation on PowerEdge Servers and Unity Storage
Design Guide
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.
Chapter 1: Introduction
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Dell EMC Ready Stack: VMware Cloud Foundation on PowerEdge Servers and Unity Storage
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
documentation survey.
Authors: Robert Percy, Don Pisinski, David Hartman, Karen Johnson
Note: For additional Ready Stack documentation, see the Ready Stack Info Hub.
or provide your comments by completing our
Design Guide
Chapter 2: Architecture and Components
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Dell EMC Ready Stack: VMware Cloud Foundation on PowerEdge Servers and Unity Storage
Design Guide
Chapter 2 Architecture and Components
This chapter presents the following topics:
Introduction ......................................................................................................... 9
Infrastructure requirements ............................................................................... 9
Ready Stack architecture ................................................................................. 10
Key components ............................................................................................... 10
Chapter 2: Architecture and Components
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Dell EMC Ready Stack: VMware Cloud Foundation on PowerEdge Servers and Unity Storage
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.
Design Guide
Chapter 2: Architecture and Components
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Dell EMC Ready Stack: VMware Cloud Foundation on PowerEdge Servers and Unity Storage
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Compute
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
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
• PowerEdge R740/740xd― A 2U, 2-socket server platform that supports up to 24
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.
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 softwaredefined storage (SDS), service providers, and virtual desktop infrastructures. The
Chapter 2: Architecture and Components
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Dell EMC Ready Stack: VMware Cloud Foundation on PowerEdge Servers and Unity Storage
Networking
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.
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.
Design Guide
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