Dell VxRail Architecture Overview

VMware vSAN HCI Mesh

VMware vSAN HCI Mesh is a unique, software-based approach for disaggregation of compute and storage resources.

HCI mesh brings together multiple independent VMware vSAN clusters for a native, cross-cluster architecture that disaggregates resources and enables stranded capacity. VMware vSAN allows one or more VMware vSAN clusters to remotely mount data stores from other VMware vSAN clusters (servers) within VMware vCenter Server inventory. This approach maintains the essence and simplicity of HCI by not fundamentally changing the existing HCI model or requiring specialized hardware. A cluster with excess compute can mount excess storage from a remote VMware vSAN cluster.

Data centers with a VxRail standard cluster with spare VMware vSAN data store capacity can share this resource with VxRail dynamic clusters. This option is ideal when a compatible external storage array is not available for VxRail. The full value of VMware vSAN-based storage resources can be realized by eliminating the stranded assets. The VMs running on the dynamic clusters use those compute and memory resources. Storage objects supporting the VMs consume resources on the remote VMware vSAN data store.

Similar to VMs running on a local VMware vSAN data store, storage policies can be applied to VMs using storage on a remote VMware vSAN data store. The characteristics of the remote VMware vSAN data store determine supportability for policy enforcement. To assure minimal impact to I/O performance, consider streamlining network latency.