Ask the Expert: Enterprise Hybrid Cloud on VxRail

VXRACK-SDDC has Cloud Foundation at its core with the SDDC manager with automatic rollout of vSphere + vSAN + NSX on the nodes. vRealize can be included and fall under the SDDC Manager remit as well. There is no EHC option on this platform. The opposite is the case for RAIL the platform has now the EHC solution on top. Is there a plan to have EHC on RACK as well and Cloud Foundation as well on RAIL? Are there time frames if so? HCI Customers interested in SDDC are seeking clarity so would be good to understand positioning

I understand that EHC will bring the Day 2 elements to the table with the built out pre-configured blue prints along with other integration benefits.

There are plans underway to investigate where we could take the EHC solution and run it on VxRack SDDC infrastructure that is powered by VMware Cloud Foundation. There is more to be done on the engineering side for both VMware and Dell EMC to move in that direction. There are some product Gaps as well as overlaps that need to be worked through between both sides. Right now VxRack SDDC is in a Limited Availability (Directed Availability) state at this time. The version of Cloud Foundation being used doesn't support an SDDC Manager deployed vRA or vRealize Business for Cloud at this time, although VMware has stated it plans to include it as an integrated component with Cloud Foundation in a future release. Where that would fit with being compatible with the deployment and support structure of an EHC hybrid cloud platform is TBD. But it is being investigated. Needless to say, all of this are potential futures and are not something that is supported at this time. Below is an excerpt answer from an FAQ that can probably address the positioning between the two.

Q: How does VxRack SDDC compare to Dell EMC Enterprise Hybrid Cloud?A: VxRack SDDC is a turnkey hyper-converged HW/SW system for running VMware Cloud Foundation software. Dell EMC Enterprise Hybrid Cloud is a complete Hybrid Cloud Platform solution based on the best of breed HW and SW technologies from Dell EMC and VMware. The EHC solution has been certified to run on Dell EMC VxBlock, VxRack FLEX, and VxRail Converged Infrastructure and Hyper-Converged Infrastructure platforms only and includes a completely engineered and validated turnkey VMware private cloud management software stack, pre-engineered automation workflows, and service catalog items based on vRealize Suite and vRealize Orchestrator. For customers who are looking for a true BUY experience for obtaining a turnkey VMware based IaaS for the whole stack (inclusive of pre-validated and deployed CMP layers), EHC is recommended. VxRack SDDC allows for a BUY experience for deploying a VMware Software Defined Data Center infrastructure only at this time. A customer would still be required to BUILD their choice of Cloud Management Platform to consume the VxRack SDDC infrastructure resources separately. They would be responsible for deploying their own CMP software, configuring it, building their own service catalogs, and building their own automation workflows for service catalog item deployment that would run on VxRack SDDC infrastructure. Even though automating the deployment of vRealize Automation is part of the Cloud Foundation roadmap, it will just deploy the software. It won’t configure and include pre-built/pre-engineered workflows and service catalog items like as is the case with EHC.

As for support of vSphere 6.0U3, VxRail should be releasing a VxRail 4.0 patch upgrade this month that will introduce support for vSphere 6.0U3. The EHC engineering team would then determine if this would require a new ESSM to qualify it on the EHC 4.1.1 release.

As for planned support for vSphere 6.5 on VxRail. That is being planned for a future release but is not supported at this time for VxRail nor EHC.

Dell EMC Vision does have discoverability support for VxRail. Dell EMC Vision SW however is not a part of the validated VxRail SW package that is preinstalled/integrated in the factory and as part of the Lifecycle Management software packages. Dell EMC Vision is a separate software component that must be deployed and managed separately and outside the scope of a VxRail M&O experience. I also don't believe Dell EMC Vision is available as an a la carte SW title. I believe it must be purchased as part of a vBlock or VxBlock Engineered System. Once it is in place along with that platform, if a customer then has VxRail's in their environment as well, then that same Dell EMC Vision SW can discover both types of platforms.

As for support for vRA. VxRail is a VMware product and is integration ready for any VMware Ecosystem SW. However, it is not pre-bundled with the SW stack of VxRail. A customer would be responsible for deploying their own vRA to then consume the VxRail infrastructure. the vRA that is deployed must also be lifecycle managed by the customer and is not something that Dell EMC would support as part of a VxRail Lifecycle Management support model. This would be the case if a customer chooses a DIY vRA deployment.

However, now with the introduction of EHC on VxRail, a customer can BUY the entire stack as a fully engineered hybrid cloud platform for which full lifecycle support for the entire solution (inclusive of vRA, vROPS, vRB, etc)  is included as part of the EHC subscription for support. The installation  would typically happen like this: The VxRail would be delivered and installed setting up the underlying HW and vSphere/vSAN/vCenter infrastructure needed for EHC. Once the VxRail is installed, Dell EMC professional Services (or certified Dell EMC Partners) would load the EHC SW Stack and workflows (vRA, vRB, vROPS, Log Insight, vRO) via an automated installer that would install and configure it. The ongoing Day 2 operations of lifecycle management would likely be a combination of the VxRail Manager capability to update the underlying infrastructure SW and the EHC installer/updater tool to update the EHC SW stack. Regardless of how its done, Dell EMC PS will perform it and take care of it all for the customer.

Thanks the complete TLS v1.2 support in 6U3 (there were caveats to some products in U2) is an import factor for some customers of ours

Thanks. That does help with positioning. Knowing the trade-offs and build limitations is important.

Hi folks, just to let you know that we're only a day away from the end of this event. If you haven't yet posted your question or if you were thinking on a follow up do it soon. Our experts will gladly reply to you before end of day tomorrow.

Thanks!

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Join our experts as we discuss changing the hybrid cloud experience with converged platforms https://community.emc.com/thread/236340 #VxRail

VxRail has 2X10G ports on each node, what if customer is required more than 20G bandwidth on each node ? is there any options to add more IO modules ??

Hi Team,

Is there any hands-on labs available for EHC on VxRail/VxRack??

You can use the Enterprise Hybrid Cloud vLab to demo the platform. We're not planning a separate VxRail/VxRack vLab, because the platform is infrastructure agnostic (within the supported infrastructure options). We're finalizing a new version of this vLab, based on vRealize Automation 7.1 and EHC Badger (EHC 4.1) release, which should be available for Dell EMC World.

Hardware Specification for ‘EHC on VxRAIL’ For this initial release of ‘EHC on VxRail’ the P470(F) appliances (one node per 2U chassis) running 2x(Dual Socket) Intel Broadwell processors will be the supported hardware models of choice, which covers both hybrid and all-flash variations (No mixing of hybrid and all-flash nodes/appliances). The VxRail ‘P’ Series nodes based on the Dell R730 server are high performance nodes optimized for heavy workloads: VxRail P470 (hybrid), and the VxRail P470F (all-flash). https://afrohits.net/new-amapiano-songs-2020-released-in-may-review/