Dell VxRail Network Planning Guide

VxRail hardware and switch selection decision points

To plan and configure VxRail nodes and their network infrastructure, several key considerations must be considered.

1. Assess your requirements and perform sizing to determine the quantity and characteristics of the VxRail nodes for planned workload and targeted use cases.
2. Determine the number of physical racks required to support the quantity and footprint of VxRail nodes to meet workload requirements, including the ToR switches. Verify that the data center has sufficient floor space, power, and cooling.
3. Determine the network switch topology that aligns with your business and operational requirements. See the sample wiring diagrams in Appendix F: Physical Network Switch.
4. Based on the sizing exercise, determine the number of Ethernet ports on each VxRail node you want to reserve for VxRail networking.
   1. Two ports may be sufficient when resource consumption on the cluster is low and does not exceed available bandwidth. Two ports may also be sufficient if the network infrastructure supports a bandwidth that is high enough to support planned future growth.
   2. Workloads with a high resource requirement or with a high potential for growth benefits from a 4-port deployment. VMware vSAN and VMware vSphere vMotion networks benefit from the 4-port option.
   3. The 4-port option is required to enable link aggregation of demanding networks for the purposes of load-balancing. The two ports that are reserved for the resource-intensive networks are configured into a logical channel to enable load-balancing.
      NOTE:You can reserve more than four ports per node for individual VxRail networks to not share any bandwidth with other VxRail networks.
5. VxRail supports 1 GbE, 10 GbE, 25 GbE, and 100 GbE connectivity options to build the initial cluster. Determine the optimal VxRail adapter and Ethernet port types to meet planned workload and availability requirements.
   • You can reserve and use the following Ethernet adapter types:
     • Only ports on the NDC or OCP for VxRail cluster networking.
     • Both NDC or OCP-based and PCIe-based ports for VxRail cluster networking.
     • Only PCIe-based ports for VxRail cluster networking.
   • If your performance and availability requirements change, you can reserve and use NDC or OCP ports to build the initial cluster. Migrate certain VxRail networks to PCIe-based ports.
   • If your requirements include using FC storage to support VxRail workload, you can select either 16 GB or 32 GB connectivity to your FC network.
6. Select the NIC type and cable type to connect the VxRail nodes to your switches.
   • VxRail nodes can connect to switches with RJ45, SFP+, SFP28, or QSFP adapter types, depending on the type of adapter cards selected for the nodes.
   • VxRail nodes with RJ45 ports require CAT5 or CAT6 cables. CAT6 cables are included with every VxRail.
   • VxRail nodes with SFP+ ports require optics modules (transceivers) and optical cables, or Twinax Direct-Attach Copper (DAC) cables. You must supply your own cables and optics. The NIC and switch connectors and cables must be on the same wavelength.
   • VxRail nodes with SFP28 ports require high-thermal optics for ports on the NDC or OCP. Optics that are rated for standard thermal specifications can be used on the expansion PCIe network ports supporting SFP28 connectivity.
7. Determine the additional ports and port speed on the switches for the uplinks to your core network infrastructure and interswitch links for dual switch topologies. Select a switch or switches that provide sufficient port capacity and characteristics.
8. Determine whether to enable OOB management. Dell iDRAC functionality is built into each VxRail node and requires a 1 GbE connection. Deploy a dedicated 1 GbE switch or use open ports on the ToR switches.
9. Determine whether to use a local laptop or a jump host to enable initial connectivity to the VxRail management interface.
   • To use a local laptop, reserve one additional port on one of the ToR switches.
   • You do not need for the additional port to access the management interface if connectivity is available on the logical path from a jump host on the VxRail external management VLAN.