Dell VMware vSphere 7.0 Quick Start Guide

A Principled Technologies report: Hands-on testing. Real-world results.

Executive summary

New VMware vSphere 7.0 features reduced the time and complexity of routine update and hardware compliance tasks

On a cluster of multigenerational Dell EMC PowerEdge servers, vSphere Lifecycle Manager and Quick Boot, along with OpenManage Integration for VMware vCenter Server, automated tasks to save time and steps

In a virtualized environment, keeping the hypervisor and ﬁrmware up to date can impose a considerable burden on IT staff. Additionally, the process of verifying that new hardware, driver, and ﬁrmware combinations are compatible with the hypervisor can be very time-consuming. In data centers that comprise servers from multiple generations, these tasks can become even more complex. Finding tools that streamline such activities can save a great deal of hands-on IT administrator time.

If you rely on Dell EMC gain such efﬁciencies by upgrading to vSphere 7.0, which includes vSphere Lifecycle Manager (vLCM) and Quick Boot. You can also beneﬁt from using the OpenManage Integration for VMware vCenter (OMIVV), a virtual appliance for managing and deploying Dell servers in a virtual environment.

When we carried out several updates and compatibility veriﬁcation tasks both manually and using these tools on a cluster of Dell EMC PowerEdge 13G and current-generation servers, VMware vSphere 7.0 and OMIVV capabilities dramatically reduced the hands-on time and number of steps to complete these tasks. This lets administrators devote more time and energy to innovation.

™

PowerEdge™ servers and VMware vSphere® for your virtualization needs, you can

68x faster

7x faster

34x faster

Update hypervisor in

under 3 minutes vs.

1.3 hours manually*

Complete hypervisor

and ﬁrmware updates

in under 4 minutes

vs. 3.5 hours

manually*

Save up to 20

minutes per node

completing hardware

compatibility

checks

*Hands-on time updating an eight-node cluster

New VMware vSphere 7.0 features reduced the time and complexity of routine update and hardware compliance tasks

August 2020

Our testing in a nutshell

Technologies

Facts matter.

We wanted to quantify the time and hassle administrators can avoid when they employ tools that help with updating the hypervisor and ﬁrmware and verifying compliance. We set up a cluster of Dell EMC PowerEdge 13G and current-generation servers and then carried out several scenarios both manually and using features in vSphere Lifecycle Manager with Quick Boot and Dell EMC OpenManage Integration for VMware vCenter.

Updating the hypervisor across your cluster

For optimal performance and security, companies should always run current hypervisor versions. We updated the hypervisor on the eight servers in our cluster three ways:

• The manual approach took more than 2.5 hours, including over 1.3 hours of hands-on

admin time

• Using vLCM without Quick Boot enabled cut hands-on time to less than 3 minutes and

total time to 48 minutes

• Using vLCM and enabling Quick Boot reduced total time to 32 minutes

Simultaneously updating hypervisor and ﬁrmware

When vendors release new ﬁrmware updates, failure to implement them quickly exposes your environment to the hardware bugs and security vulnerabilities that these updates typically ﬁx. We simultaneously updated the hypervisor and ﬁrmware on the eight servers in our cluster two ways:

• The manual approach took 152 steps and over 3.5 hours of hands-on admin time

• Using vLCM with OMIVV cut that to 2 steps and less than 4 minutes of hands-on admin time

Verifying hardware compatibility

The compatibility status of hardware, software, and ﬁrmware in a VMware vSphere cluster can change over time, making it necessary for admins to perform periodic compatibility checks. We checked the hardware compatibility of a single node two ways:

• The manual approach took 21 steps and 23 minutes of hands-on admin time

• Using vLCM reduced that to 3 steps and less than 3 minutes of hands-on admin time

Read our complete report to learn more about the ways that using Dell EMC PowerEdge servers and VMware vSphere 7.0 can help companies streamline updating and compatibility-checking activities with vSphere Lifecycle Manager, Quick Boot, and OpenManage Integration for VMware vCenter.

Read the report at http://facts.pt/chz3xgi

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New VMware vSphere 7.0 features reduced the time and complexity of routine update and hardware compliance tasks

August 2020 | 2