Ask the Expert: Redefine Simplicity with VSPEX BLUE, IT that is Agile, Scalable, and Trusted

Good questions!

1 VSPEX Blue is an appliance and is deployed and both hardware and software are managed through the appliance software.  You cannot add an existing server to the cluster.  All of the management, automation, orchestration capabilities wouldn’t be available anymore.

2 In the first release the scaling limitation is 4 appliances (16 nodes).  In the next release (springtime 2015) the scale will double to 8 appliances (32 nodes).  So you could start with two 4 appliance clusters today and combine them in the next release.

3 In addition to the increased scaling mentioned above we will upgrade to vSphere 6.0 in 2H 2015 once VMware has qualified it with EVO:RAIL and we complete our software/feature updates. No additional cost to the user to upgrade.

Best regards,

Chad Dunn

@VSPEXGuy_Chad

Another question please,

Why we are having three types of disks? why the two types of SSD?  how we are using the MLC disks and the SLC one?

thanks,

Coming back to your answer about usable capacity. If you have a the 'smallest' model with 4 nodes then you can only tolerate one node failure therefore the usable capacity is what ? 14,4 - (one node space) / 2 ? so about 5,5TB ?

Also what happens if a second node goes down ? Are you completely down ?

Thanks.

Hi i have a few questions from some channel partners in Australia.

1. What’s in the ‘VSPEX BLUE Manager’ ?  i.e. what’s it based on, what does it integrate with etc.

2. If a Partner sells a ‘VSPEX BLUE’, and then the client later gets ‘Cloud Array’ from the Partner Ecosystem/Store, who gets recognized for the deal, and how.?

About the VSPEX Blue manager here is an explanation about it:

VSPEX BLUE MANAGER

With the VSPEX BLUE hyper-converged infrastructure appliance, EMC continues to break new ground, offering for the first time a one-stop Market to download value-added software, from EMC and EMC ecosystem partners to quickly and easily meet ever-changing business demands.

The EMC VSPEX BLUE Manager provides a seamless and harmonious end user experience that embodies the simplicity and ease-of-use functionality VMware EVO:RAIL customers expect. From the VSPEX BLUE Manager, users can conveniently access electronic services, such as EMC knowledge base articles, access a wealth of community sourced online and real time information and familiarize themselves with EMC best practices for optimal appliance operations. The VSPEX BLUE Manager also simplifies IT management by delivering patch and software update notification that can be installed automatically without interruption or downtime so that the appliance software is always up-to-date

more information on the following link:

EMC Redefines Simplicity With VSPEX BLUE Hyper-Converged Infrastructure Appliance

Hello,

The VSPEX Blue have 3 types of the disks for the following reason:

1 x 32GB SLC SATADOM  - Used to ESXi booting and operation

1 x 400GB eMLC 2.5" SAS SSD  - Used by ESXi as VSAN local caching

3 x 1.2TB 10K 2.5" SAS HDD - Used to build the VSAN between the nodes

1 VSAN SSD disk is a part of the 3-disk HDD group for each node

Each ESXi host has one VSAN disk group of 4 disks each

Thanks

1. in addition to the features described above, VSPEX BLUE Manager graphically presents the hardware configuration and maps alerts. VSPEX BLUE Manager also encapsulates the EMC Connect Home (ESRS/VE) remote support facilities for proactive problem resolution.

2. Partners get the credit if customers goes back to them to purchase the software. EMC is investigating the ability to engage channel partners into the EMC Store workflow for add-on sales.

Regards,

Rieko

VSPEX BLUE's EVO:RAIL uses VCSA (vCenter Server Appliance running on the VSPEX BLUE appliance) as the management infrastructure. You cannot use an external vCenter Server instance to manage VSPEX BLUE as it breaks EVO:RAIL's management model. When you use an external vCenter Server, you have two management databases where management data is split. Also, EVO:RAIL is only aware of the 4 ESXi hosts in each physical appliance, and adding external ESXi hosts changes the automation assumptions. I confirmed with VMware that EVO:RAIL does not support configuring with a vCenter Server instance that is outside of the physical appliance.

The RecoverPoint for VM's 15 VM license included with VSPEX BLUE also applies to the destination ESXi cluster. The destination ESXi does not have to be VSPEX BLUE and it is storage agnostic. You will have to deploy RecoverPoint for VMs at the destination and pair that cluster with the VSPEX BLUE replication source cluster. The 15 VM license is per appliance with 4 nodes.

The CloudArray VE license included with VSPEX BLUE is for 1 TB local cache and 10 TB cloud storage capacity per appliance with 4 nodes. The license allows for the CloudArray's cloud storage gateway feature, using the limited physical storage as local cache while storing data to supported public cloud or private cloud with much larger capacity. VSPEX BLUE does not include the cloud storage or provider access.

Best regards,

Rieko

Thanks for keeping these events archived and accessible.

Looking for some guidance on sizing out the VSPEX Blue.

What is the estimated usable capacity and IOPS per appliance?

Thanks.

Hi team,

We have sold customer an appliance with copper connectivity, then later on the customer provided SFP connectivity. Is it possible to swap the network card? can we order the network card?  or can we swap it?

thanks.

Normally no because the units themselves have been programmed to know what “kind” of unit they are (SFP vs RJ45) also they show up in our install base for support as such, so it could create support issues down the road. That said we understand the customer’s situation and are investigating how it could be done.

Folks,

Question about the CloudArray option. Is the included 10TB VE license per appliance?

So if I have 4 appliances I get 40TB?

I'm assuming this can be scaled up if need be?

Thanks.