VMware Cloud Foundation 9.0, or VCF, is a complete software-defined infrastructure platform that encompasses all the required components to run a private, public, or hybrid cloud. VCF 9.0 focuses specifically on the private cloud experience using VCF Operations as the central control hub. From VCF Operations, the user can control all aspects of the VCF environment, from day-to-day troubleshooting to new workload deployments. The other components of the VCF platform include vSphere for compute, vSAN for storage, NSX for networking, SDDC Manager, and VCF Automation.

VCF uses the concept of domains. There are two: Management and Workload. The management domain is the heart of the VCF implementation and requires NFS, VMFS on FC, or vSAN storage to deploy. It is responsible for hosting the many management plane VMs, but it can also host customer VMs when employing a consolidated architecture without a separate workload domain. A workload domain is designed specifically to run customer workloads. A single vCenter Server instance manages a workload domain and can consist of one or more vSphere clusters. In VCF 9.0, the workload domain can be deployed on all the same storage options as the management domain. The flexibility in storage options in VCF 9.0 permits the use of more robust storage array solutions like the PowerMax without the need for vSAN in the solution.

This paper provides an overview of how to implement a VCF 9.0 environment on a PowerMax platform using VMFS on FC for principal storage. It covers deployment of both the management and workload domains, including PowerMax storage provisioning.

This guide provides configuration details for implementing VMware Cloud Foundation on Dell servers and PowerMax storage. It demonstrates the use of VMFS on FC as principal storage for both management and workload domains, removing the reliance on vSAN.

This document is intended for use by storage administrators, system administrators, and VMware vSphere administrators.

Readers of this document are expected to be familiar with the following topics:

• Dell PowerMax system operation
• Dell software including the following: Unisphere for PowerMax, SRDF, and TimeFinder
• General storage concepts
• VMware Cloud Foundation, including vSphere, NSX, and VCF Operations
• VMware vSphere products and their operations

The following table provides definitions for some of the terms that are used in this document.

The PowerMax family represents the flagship products of the Dell Technologies enterprise storage business. It is designed with a multi-node, active/active scale-out architecture using industry standard, end-to-end NVMe components. The platform features inline, global deduplication and compression, providing customers with high storage efficiency even as the system scales. The PowerMax family also provides what many consider to be the gold standard in data services, proven high availability and resiliency, and advanced security that adheres to stringent government regulations and corporate compliance requirements, such as FIPS 140-2 and FIPS 140-3. A core strength of the PowerMax family is its ability to consolidate workloads. One can use a single PowerMax system to consolidate from one-to-many types of workloads, and both block and file storage services.

PowerMax systems are modular, enabling them to expand to meet the future needs of the customer. The PowerMax family of arrays has four models:

• PowerMax 2500 with a maximum capacity of 8 PBe (Petabytes effective)
• PowerMax 2000 with a maximum capacity of 1.2 PBe
• PowerMax 8500 with a maximum capacity of 18 PBe
• PowerMax 8000 with a maximum capacity of 4.5 PBe

Each PowerMax is configured at the factory with a single Storage Resource Pool, or SRP, which is comprised of the physical disks in the array, managed as data pools. These collections of data pools are used for capacity and performance management. All host devices are part of an SRP.

PowerMax for Open Systems provides support for the following protocols:

• Fiber-Channel (FC) and NVMe over FC (NVMe/FC) with speeds of 8 Gb/s, 16 Gb/s, or 32 Gb/s
• iSCSI and NVMe over TCP (NVMe/TCP) with speed of 10 Gb/s or 25 Gb/s
• SRDF over FC with speed of 8 Gb/s, 16 Gb/s, or 32 Gb/s
• SRDF over IP with speed of 10 Gb/s or 25 Gb/s

PowerMaxOS is the advanced operating system that powers Dell PowerMax storage arrays, delivering a software-defined, performance-optimized platform designed for mission-critical enterprise workloads. It is a modern architecture that is modular, container-based, and tightly integrated with end-to-end NVMe hardware to offer ultra-low latency, high throughput, and automated efficiency.

Built with intelligent machine learning, PowerMaxOS dynamically analyzes I/O patterns to optimize data placement and resource usage in real time. It supports inline compression and de-duplication, ensuring space efficiency. With native encryption, secure snapshots, and multi-tenancy features, PowerMaxOS also ensures strong data protection and isolation.

PowerMax local replication includes TimeFinder/SnapVX (snapshots) and TimeFinder/Clone (clones), and PowerMax remote replication includes the SRDF product line. TimeFinder provides point-in-time local replication and data protection, and SRDF provides continuous local replication and data protection.

PowerMax local and remote replication are integrated so that remote snapshots or clones can be easily taken from or restored to SRDF target devices. One benefit of this integration is that it allows the creation of remote copies of the source application without interrupting remote replication. If the source application data is corrupted, the remote snapshot (or clone) and SRDF can restore the data in parallel to the source volumes. Both PowerMax local and remote replication send only changed data when applicable, except when an initial full sync of SRDF is required.

Unisphere for PowerMax is an HTML5 web-based application that enables you to provision, operate and maintain PowerMax, VMAX All Flash, and VMAX storage systems.

Unisphere for PowerMax 10.2.0.x supports:

• Storage systems (PowerMax 2500 and PowerMax 8500) running PowerMaxOS 10 (6079)
• Storage systems (PowerMax 2000, PowerMax 8000, VMAX 250F, VMAX 450F, VMAX 850F, and VMAX 950F) running PowerMaxOS 5978
• Storage systems (VMAX 100K, VMAX 200K, VMAX 400K, VMAX 250F, VMAX 450F, VMAX 850F, and VMAX 950F) running HYPERMAX OS 5977

A Representational State Transfer (REST) API is also built into Unisphere for PowerMax. The REST API allows you to access diagnostic, performance, and configuration data, as well as perform provisioning operations on the storage system through interfaces like the CSI driver. Full documentation for the Unisphere for PowerMax REST API is available at developer.dell.com or from the Help menu within the Unisphere for PowerMax User Interface.

Solutions Enabler (SE) is a powerful command-line interface (CLI) tool designed for managing, automating, and monitoring Dell PowerMax storage systems. It provides granular control over a wide range of storage operations, including those that are unavailable in Unisphere for PowerMax. SE is especially well-suited for advanced users who require scriptable, reliable, and automation-friendly interfaces for enterprise-scale storage environments. Administrators can use SE to provision storage, manage replication (including SRDF and SnapVX), configure access control using masking views, and pull real-time performance and health metrics.

Installed on a Windows, Linux, or UNIX management host, SE can communicate with arrays using either in-band (over HBA) or out-of-band (over IP) connections. It is frequently used in automated workflows, batch jobs, and integrations with orchestration platforms such as Ansible.

VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) is a complete software-defined management solution that consists of VMware vSphere, VMware NSX Data Center, VMware vSAN, and VCF Automation and Operations. VMware Cloud Foundation Installer drives the installation of VCF. The various components serve the following roles:

• VMware Cloud Foundation Installer: A virtual appliance that the user deploys that automates the building of the management domain of VCF. Subsequent domains are provisioned through the SDDC Manager within VCF Operations.
• SDDC Manager: Automates the life cycle management of VCF. It enables updating and upgrades, firmware application, and the general day-to-day operation of VCF.
• VMware vSphere: Virtualizes the bare-metal servers using the ESXi software and aggregates them in the vCenter Server.
• VMware NSX Data Center: Provides the networking for the VCF solution along with security and automation. NSX is designed for both private and public clouds.
• VMware vSAN: An optional component that aggregates local or direct-attached storage in a single pool that can be shared across all ESXi hosts in the VCF environment.
• VMware Cloud Foundation Automation: Empowers IT to deliver self-service cloud experience for AI, Kubernetes, and VM-based applications. It provides a platform for deploying and managing applications and services, enabling end-users to consume and manage resources in a self-service fashion.
• VMware Cloud Foundation Operations: Provides a unified interface and set of capabilities to help organizations build, operate, and secure their cloud infrastructures built on VCF.

VMware portrays the high-level VCF implementation as depicted in the following figure .

The following sections cover the requirements for implementing VCF on a PowerMax array using VMFS on FC as principal storage for both the management and workload domains.

You must meet the following prerequisites before implementing VCF on PowerMax using VMFS on FC as principal storage. Storage provisioning is detailed in a later section.

• Server requirements for VCF management and workload domains are as follows:
• A minimum of four Dell servers with sufficient networking, memory, CPU, and local storage to satisfy the requirements of the VCF management domain.
• A minimum of two Dell servers with sufficient networking, memory, CPU, and local storage to satisfy the requirements of a VCF workload domain running on VMFS on FC.
• Storage requirements for VCF management and workload domains are as follows:
• An installed PowerMax 2500 or 4500 array with embedded Unisphere for PowerMax.
• At least four (4) front-end ports zoned to each VCF server, preferably in one-to-one zoning to two (2) dual-ported HBAs.
• A two (2) TB volume for the management domain masked to the four management domain hosts.
• A two (2) TB volume for the workload domain masked to a minimum of two workload domain hosts.
• Licenses must be obtained for the VCF solution. A default evaluation license is in place for 90 days.

VCF 9.0 includes a Bill of Materials (BOM) which dictates the versions for each component of the solution. VMware offers no ability to substitute. For example, even if there is a newer update for ESXi at the time of installation, VMware requires the version in the BOM. The versions for the primary components used in the solution in this paper are shown in the following table. The complete list is available at Broadcom Tech Docs Portal.

For the environment in this paper the following network exists. At the physical layer, two Top of Rack (TOR) switches are used for redundancy and load-balancing purposes. There are two connections from each Dell host NIC used in the solution, one to TOR A and one to TOR B. VCF requires two NICs (min 10 GbE) to form the vSphere Distributed Switch (VDS).

The following table shows the different VLANs that are configured for this solution.

In addition, a domain controller, DNS, and NTP server were built prior to VCF deployment.

The VCF environment detailed in this paper consists of seven servers:

• Four (4) for the management domain.
• Three (3) for the workload domain.

Although the specifications of all servers are the same, they are listed below in the following table for completeness.

Table 5. VCF server configurations

VCF server configurations

A VCF fleet is a concept in version 9.0 that includes all the infrastructure components: VCF Operations, VCF Automation, vCenter, NSX Manager, vSphere Cluster, SDDC Manager, and management and workload domains. A fleet only has a single implementation of VCF Operations and Automation but can be comprised of multiple VCF instances. The following figure is a visual representation of a VCF fleet.

A domain is part of a fleet and is comprised of the vCenter, NSX Manager, vSphere Cluster (hosts and storage), and SDDC Manager. There are two types of domains in VCF: Management and Workload. The management domain is the set of resources that runs VCF and is the control center of the environment, responsible for hosting the management plane VMs. There is one management domain per VCF instance, though there can be multiple per VCF fleet.

Workload domains are deployed from VCF Operations inventory and consist of the same components as the management domains; however, they have no management VMs. They are part of the VCF instance. These workload domains are typically used to run the applications for a business. The number of workload domains in a VCF instance is limited to 24.

The management and workload domains are usually comprised of separate hardware. For customers with fewer server resources or who want a smaller footprint or a POC lab, the management domain can also be a workload domain. This configuration is known as a consolidated architecture and can host customer workloads.

In VCF there are two distinct categories of storage, each serving a separate function in the solution. These categories are designated: Principal and Supplemental. Principal storage is what is required to deploy a management or workload domain or to deploy a new cluster into an existing workload. Supplemental storage, on the other hand, is storage that can be added to any existing management or workload domain post-deployment. Principal storage is restricted to four types: vSAN, VMFS on FC, vVols, or NFS v3. The management domain only supports vSAN, VMFS on FC, or NFS v3. The fourth type, vVols, can be used on workload domains, however. Supplemental storage supports all principal storage types as well as iSCSI and NVMe/TCP. The storage options are shown in the following figure.

It is important to understand that vSAN is the only storage VCF can completely control as part of the life cycle of an instance. If storage is presented using another protocol from an array like Dell PowerMax, the administrator has the responsibility of managing it. If a datastore needs expansion on the PowerMax, for example, the administrator would use Unisphere for PowerMax to expand the device and then expand the datastore in vCenter or the vSphere Client. This can be accessed through VCF Operations.

VMware does not publish storage support for VCF by vendor, rather they rely on the VMware Compatibility Guide for Storage/SAN. If the vendor is listed as supporting the protocol for the version of ESXi in the BOM, then it is supported with VCF.

VCF has an integrated life cycle management function that facilitates the automation of upgrades to new versions. Because each version of VCF has a specific bill of materials, it is essential to use this function to maintain compliance. The interface is shown in the following figure.

The following sections detail the installation of the VCF management domain using the VMware Cloud Foundation Installer.

To deploy the VCF management or workload domain on FC, each ESXi host in the cluster must see the same datastore using FC connectivity. VMware refers to this storage type as VMFS on FC. During the VCF validation step, VMware queries each ESXi host for the datastore the user provides. Therefore, after the ESXi installation is done, proceed with storage provisioning.

Each ESXi host should have two, two-port HBAs (32 Gb min) with connectivity to the PowerMax array. Zone each HBA port to an FA port on the array such that a single HBA is zoned to two different directors as in the following figure (switches are implied). Connectivity should be spread over multiple engines in larger arrays. Be sure to note the HBA WWNs which will be required in the next section.

After zoning is complete, you can provision the device from the PowerMax array to serve as the storage for the management domain. Follow these steps.

VCF Operations is the heart of VCF 9.0, taking the place of SDDC Manager as the primary management tool. The UI login is in the following figure.

Once accessed, the various screens and sub-screens are shown on the left-hand menu in VCF Operations. If you navigate to Infrastructure Operations > VCF Health in the following figure , it provides an overall summary of the VCF instance. All aspects of the environment are available for monitoring, including the collection of metrics. There is an option to deploy a log appliance if desired.

This completes the management domain deployment. The next chapter will cover adding a workload domain.

The following sections detail the installation of the VCF workload domain from within VCF Operations.

Any node that is part of a VCF deployment requires the user to install the ESXi version as listed on the bill of materials. This includes the workload domain. Therefore, before creation of a workload domain, the user must install ESXi on at least two nodes, the minimum for VMFS on FC (each principal storage type has a minimum number of nodes). The ESXi image must be the 9.0 release referenced in the BOM (build 24755229 for GA release). The workload domain does not require the same root password on each host, unlike the management domain. Once installed, complete these additional tasks.

• VCF requires that there is a single vSwitch on the host (default configuration) on one of the NICs you will use when you deploy. The workload domain requires the other physical NIC is free. The environment in this paper uses two 10 GbE NICs, the minimum required amount and speed.
• Set both the IP, network information, and hostname post-installation.
• Log in to the vSphere Host Client and enable SSH. Regenerate the certificates so that they match the hostname. To regenerate the certificates, login to the host as root and run /sbin/generate-certificates. Then reboot the host. Technically, only hostd and vpxa require restart, but in testing that has not always been effective. The VCF installer will validate the hostname and certificate during deployment and if this is not done beforehand, validation will fail.
• Finally, set and start the NTP server on each ESXi host. This is an additional check the installer will do, though it will only produce a warning which can be skipped.

For VMFS on FC, you will need a minimum 2 TB datastore masked to each ESXi host. Storage provisioning was covered in section PowerMax as VMFS on FC so it will not be repeated here. There is no difference between presenting a PowerMax device to ESXi hosts for the management domain versus the workload domain. Zone the workload domain hosts and then create the host groups, port group, device, and masking view. Log in to one of the ESXi hosts and create the datastore in the following figure with your desired name.

This chapter explains how to present supplemental storage to a workload domain using the NVMe/TCP protocol.

Supplemental storage is any storage that is presented to a management or workload domain after initial deployment. It is still considered supplemental storage even if it is the same principal storage type used during the installation. The PowerMax supports all supplemental storage except vSAN as that is a proprietary VMware solution. To demonstrate the flexibility of the PowerMax, the following sections detail provisioning supplemental storage, using the NVMe/TCP protocol, to the previously created workload domain. Furthermore, a different PowerMax array is employed for this purpose.

NVMe/TCP is a storage protocol that allows NVMe-based flash storage to be accessed over standard TCP/IP networks, offering high performance without the need for specialized hardware like Fibre Channel or RDMA. When used with SAN storage like the PowerMax, NVMe/TCP provides a scalable, low-latency alternative to traditional protocols like iSCSI, making it well-suited for all-flash environments and software-defined infrastructure. In VCF environments, NVMe/TCP enables ESXi hosts to connect to NVMe-capable PowerMax arrays over standard 10/25/100 GbE networks, combining the performance advantages of NVMe with the simplicity and flexibility of IP networking. It integrates with VMware’s native multipathing and supports VMFS and vVols.

NVMe/TCP is an emulation that is configured on a PowerMax director. Once setup and cabled, you can configure the IP interfaces so that the ESXi hosts can attach to the storage controllers. The NVMe/TCP configuration is driven by a wizard in Unisphere for PowerMax. What follows is an example of configuring one of the ports on the array.

In a customer environment, the NVMe/TCP storage network might be on a separate switch than the management. If that is the case, during the initial network deployment you could create a second distributed switch if desired. In this example, however, the NVMe/TCP network uses the same VDS but on a different VLAN, 100. Therefore, we need to create a new distributed port group with the proper VLAN on the distributed switch.

For each ESXi host, add an NVMe/TCP adapter. Do this in vCenter by highlighting an ESXi host in the left-hand screen and navigating toConfigure > Storage > Storage Adapters in the right-hand screen. Use the drop-down list under ADD SOFTWARE ADAPTER to select Add NVMe over TCP Adapter. You will be immediately prompted to select a Physical Network Adapteras in the following figure. Use thedropdownn to select the NIC that is associated with the active uplink you set in Modify distributed port group.

Repeat these steps for the other two ESXi hosts using the same NIC.

With connectivity established, we can provision storage. As host creation was previously covered in Host creation, this section will be abbreviated, noting only the differences for NVMe/TCP.

When you add the PowerMax controllers to vSphere, the host NQN is automatically provided to Unisphere for PowerMax in much the same way that zoning works for FC. Therefore, when you create the host, select the NVMe/TCP radio button, type in a Host Name, and find the host NQN in the list of initiators on the left. Use the checkbox and then the right-hand arrow to push it to the right. An example is shown in the following figure. Click Run Now.

Repeat this process for the other two ESXi hosts. Then create a host group so you can provision storage to all hosts at once as below.

Now, using the autoprovisioning wizard, allocate devices to the host group. In the Hosts screen as in Step 1 - Storage provisioning, use the checkbox to select the newly created host group and click Provision Storage To Host. Enter in a Storage Group Name and then the desired devices along with their size and service level. In the following image, we create two devices, each 1 TB but one with a Diamond service level and one with a Bronze. These two service levels will satisfy different application requirements in the workload domain. Click Next.

Create a port group for NVMe/TCP. Select the two ports previously used in the IP Interface configuration. Note that the Port Group Type in the following image is automatically selected based on the host group. Click Next.

Complete the masking view to present the storage to each ESXi host. Note that unlike FC devices, it is unnecessary to rescan the adapters. The hosts will immediately discover the new devices without interaction. Click Run Now.

View the new devices in vCenter.

Creating datastores on NVMe/TCP devices does not differ in any way from those created on FC. Use the datastore wizard and the NVMe/TCP devices will appear as in the following figure.

If the devices are the same size as here, with different service levels, you can compare the WWN in Unisphere with the eui number and create the datastores using identifying names. Here are the newly created datastores in vCenter and VCF Operations in the following figures respectively, labeled so the VMs are assigned to their correct service level.

The supplemental storage is now available for workload domain applications.

Dell PowerMax offers several technologies to help protect both the management and workload domains when deployed on FC. The chapter serves as an introduction to them and how they can be used in a VCF environment to provide both backup and recovery. This chapter is not meant to serve as an in-depth implementation guide, rather it lays out the different options a customer may explore.

TimeFinder/SnapVX, or SnapVX, is a local replication solution that creates point-in-time copies, or snapshots, of PowerMax devices. SnapVX creates snapshots by storing changed tracks (deltas) directly in the SRP of the source volume. With SnapVX, you do not need to specify a target volume and source/target pairs when you create a snapshot. If the application ever needs to use the point-in-time data, you can create links from the snapshot to one or more target volumes. If there are multiple snapshots and the application needs to find a particular point-in-time copy for host access, you can link and relink until the correct snapshot is located. Snapshots are crash-consistent copies of the data.

The snapshot policy feature provides snapshot orchestration at scale (1,024 snaps per storage group). The feature simplifies snapshot management for snapshots. Snapshots can be used to recover from data corruption, accidental deletion, or simply as backup targets, offering continuous data protection. Many snapshots can be difficult to manage and therefore the snapshot policy feature provides an end-to-end solution to create, schedule, and manage snapshots.

The snapshot policy (Recovery Point Objective (RPO)) specifies how often the snapshot should be taken and how many of the snapshots should be retained. The snapshot may also be specified to be secure (these snapshots cannot be terminated by users before their time to live (TTL), derived from the snapshot policy's interval and maximum count, has expired). Up to four policies can be associated with a storage group, and a snapshot policy may be associated with many storage groups.

The following policy is one example of how to protect both the management and workload domains.Create a policy that instructs the array to take a snapshot every hour by logging into Unisphere for PowerMax and navigating to Data Protection in the left-hand menu, then Snapshot Policies, and clicking Create Snapshot Policy. These snapshots rotate over seven days. For additional protection, set the policy to use the secure feature which prevents accidental deletion Click Create. The definition is shown in the following figure.

Now assign the policy to each VCF domain in the following figure.

Using local replication, the VCF environment is now protected.

The Dell Symmetrix Remote Data Facility (SRDF) family of products offers a range of PowerMax-based disaster recovery, high availability, and data migration solutions. SRDF configurations require at least two PowerMax systems. Both sites can be in the same room, in different buildings within the same campus, or hundreds to thousands of kilometers apart, depending on the replication mode.

SRDF disaster recovery solutions are based on active remote mirroring and dependent-write consistent copies of data maintained at one or more remote locations. A dependent write is a write operation that an application cannot issue until a prior, related write I/O operation completes. Dependent-write consistency is required to ensure transactional consistency when the applications are restarted at the remote location. Replication can be synchronous or asynchronous.

SRDF/Synchronous (SRDF/S) is a disaster-restart solution that operates in synchronous mode and maintains a real-time (synchronous) mirrored copy of production data (R1 devices) in a physically separated VMAX/PowerMax system (R2 devices) within an SRDF configuration. SRDF/S is a method of replicating production data changes from locations less than 200 km apart.

Synchronous replication takes writes that are inbound to the source PowerMax and copies them to the target PowerMax. The resources of the storage arrays are exclusively used for the copy. The write operation from the virtual machine is not acknowledged back to the host until both PowerMax arrays have a copy of the data in their cache. SRDF/S is a building block of several multisite disaster restart options such as SRDF/Star.

SRDF/Asynchronous (SRDF/A) mode provides a dependent write consistent copy on the target (R2) device, which is only slightly behind the source (R1) device. SRDF/A session data is transferred to the remote PowerMax array in predefined timed cycles or delta sets, which minimizes the redundancy of the same track changes being transferred over the link.

SRDF/A provides a long-distance replication solution with minimal impact on performance that preserves data consistency. If there is a disaster at the R1 site or if SRDF links are lost during data transfer, a partial delta set of data can be discarded, preserving consistency on the R2 with a maximum data loss of two SRDF/A cycles or less.

An SRDF/Metro configuration is a high availability configuration with the following characteristics:

• Devices on the additional array are read/write accessible to the application host.
• The application host can write on both sides of the device pair.
• The devices on the additional array assume the same external identity (such as geometry and device identifier) as the devices on the primary array.

This shared identity means that the devices appear to the application host as a single, virtual device across the two arrays. Using two devices improves the availability of the data that they contain. One device can become unavailable without impacting on the host application as the second device continues to operate.

When this configuration is employed in a VCF management or workload domain vCenter, it is known as a VMware Metro Storage Cluster (vMSC). It provides high availability within a campus radius. There is a single VCF implementation, but it uses two PowerMax arrays on the backend. Detail of this model can be found at: Broadcom - cluster models (https://techdocs.broadcom.com/us/en/vmware-cis/vcf/vcf-9-0-and-later/9-0/design/design-library/cluster-models/single-instance-multiple-availability-zones.html).

VMware Live Site Recovery Manager can leverage storage array-based replication such as SRDF to protect virtual machines in VCF environments. The interaction between VMware VLSR and storage array replication (SRA) is governed through a well-defined set of specifications. These VMware-defined specifications are implemented by the storage array vendor as a lightweight application referred to as the storage replication adapter.

Dell SRDF Adapter is an SRA that enables VMware VLSR to interact with a Dell storage environment. It allows VMware VLSR to automate storage-based disaster restart operations on PowerMax arrays in an SRDF configuration. The SRDF Adapter for VLSR supports SRDF/Synchronous, SRDF/Asynchronous and SRDF/Metro modes of operation with VCF.

VMware Cloud Foundation provides a complete, unified platform to build both a private and public cloud, combining compute, storage, networking, and management. VCF offers the flexibility of using various storage options to take advantage of the power and scalability of external arrays like PowerMax.

VCF supports VMFS on FC for both the management and workload domains, removing the need for vSAN. The PowerMax provides both superior performance and advanced features like local and remote replication for backup and disaster recovery. When using PowerMax it enables the VCF environment to become highly resilient, scalable, and able to handle the most demanding workload domains.

By following the guidelines outlined in this paper, the user can ensure the successful implementation of VCF 9 running on a PowerMax.

The following Dell Technologies documentation provides additional and relevant information. Access to these documents depends on your login credentials. If you do not have access to a document, contact your Dell Technologies representative.

• Dell PowerMax documentation
• Dell Unisphere for PowerMax 10.2.0 Product Guide
• Dell PowerMax Family Product Guide PowerMaxOS
• The Dell PowerMax and VMware vSphere Configuration Guide

The following VMware documentation provides additional and relevant information:

• VMware Cloud Foundation documentation
• NSX documentation
• VCF Operations