5 Posts
0
737
Add SmartFabric integration after VxRail deployment?
We just implemented a new VxRail, with S5212 switches. However due to some account problems we didn't have access to Digital Locker at the time of initial deployment to upgrade the switch OS to the necessary 10.5 version needed to SmartFabric integration, so we did it without for the time being. The issue now, after everything is deployed without SmartFabric, is that I can't find any documented procedure to install the SmartFabric after the fact. All the documentation mentions doing this during initial deployment. There must be some way to do it after the fact that doesn't involve blowing everything away and starting again, right??
TGOG
10 Posts
1
September 18th, 2020 16:00
>> What are VxRail owners that bought their systems before the SmartFabric integration was available supposed to do? They have to rebuild their whole cluster to use it? That seems like a crazy ask.
Yep AFAIK Smart fabric was supposed to be used in greenfield environments as it needs to be present at build
>>I have another related question and received mixed answers from Dell up to this point. If we switch over to SmartFabric (by doing the cluster rebuild) can we use outside devices on the switch? One Dell support rep told us no only VxRail devices will work on the switch when SmartFabric is enabled, but documentation for OS 10.5 seems to differ. In particular I'm looking to attach my Exagrid's to the switches to be able to do high-speed backups of the VMs on the VxRail.
I think both answers are true (kinda)
With the initial release you could not use outside devices but with later releases I believe you could
See https://infohub.delltechnologies.com/l/dell-emc-networking-smartfabric-services-deployment-with-vxrail-4-7-1/connect-a-non-vxrail-server-to-a-leaf-pair-1
I find this to be a good site about Vxrail networking in general
https://infohub.delltechnologies.com/t/vxrail-networking-solutions-1/
Hope thats useful
TGOG
10 Posts
0
September 18th, 2020 05:00
Unfortunately I dont believe so
When you say "so we did it without for the time being" Did you disable it on the switches initially? SFS needs to be enabled during first run.
Regards
Gearoid
SigmaMkt
5 Posts
0
September 18th, 2020 15:00
Our installer from our integrator/reseller did a manual config on the switch without SmartFabric figuring we could change it up later once we got the 10.5 OS...which we now have. But now is seems we have to start all over. which the installer was not aware of either, and was quite surprised by this revalation. It really seems like as advanced as this product is there should be a way to convert from one mode to the other.
What are VxRail owners that bought their systems before the SmartFabric integration was available supposed to do? They have to rebuild their whole cluster to use it? That seems like a crazy ask.
I have another related question and received mixed answers from Dell up to this point. If we switch over to SmartFabric (by doing the cluster rebuild) can we use outside devices on the switch? One Dell support rep told us no only VxRail devices will work on the switch when SmartFabric is enabled, but documentation for OS 10.5 seems to differ. In particular I'm looking to attach my Exagrid's to the switches to be able to do high-speed backups of the VMs on the VxRail.
SigmaMkt
5 Posts
0
September 22nd, 2020 13:00
Thanks we also had the pleasure of finding out the OS10 verion can actually be to new to work with VxRail and we can to reimage the switch to a base 10.5 version...uggh. So much for this being a simple deployment.