Skip to main content
Sign Out

Welcome to Dell

My Account
  • Place orders quickly and easily
  • View orders and track your shipping status
  • Enjoy members-only rewards and discounts
  • Create and access a list of your products
  • Manage your Dell EMC sites, products, and product-level contacts using Company Administration.
Sign In Create an Account Dell Financial Services Premier Sign In Partner Program Sign In
Contact Us

Your Dell.com Carts

Dell VxRail 7.0.x Administration Guide

PDF

Expand a cluster

With VxRail automated installation and scale-out features, you can expand your cluster from three nodes.

You can use automated installation and scale-out features or multinode expansion to expand your clusters. VxRail automated installation and scale-out features to expand your clusters from three nodes. VxRail multinode expansion for a higher compute and storage capacity, and to simultaneously add up to six nodes.

VxRail supports expansion of the following clusters:

  • The VxRail VMware vSAN cluster configuration is three to 64 nodes. Expansion of a cluster through node addition may lead to stranded assets where excess compute and storage resources cannot be shared outside of the cluster. If your workloads require a precise balance of compute and storage resources, use a dynamic cluster.
  • The dynamic node cluster configuration is two to 64 nodes.
  • The VxRail 2-node ROBO cluster configuration consists of two nodes. You can convert a two-node ROBO cluster into a standard VxRail 3-node cluster and expand to 64 nodes.

Deploy a mixed cluster in VxRail

Follow best practices when you deploy a mixed cluster:

  • For most VxRail models, the first three nodes in a cluster must the same type and with an identical configuration. For 2-node clusters, both nodes must be the same type with an identical configuration.
  • VxRail VD-4000r and VxRail VD-4000z bring up the initial cluster with a mixed 1U and 2U node. The first three nodes in a cluster do not need to be the same type and configuration. VxRail VD-4510c is the 1U compute node model and VxRail VD-4520c is the 2U compute node model. VxRail VD-4000w is the witness sled model.
  • VxRail G560 requires three nodes.
  • All nodes in the cluster must be running the same VxRail software version.
  • The version must meet the minimum for the newest hardware model node that is being added.
  • All nodes must match with the hardware model, configuration, memory, processor, drive size, number of drives, and type.
  • The 15G PowerEdge server must be running VxRail 7.0.210 or VxRail 8.0.0 or later.
  • Do not use 10 GbE bandwidth in clusters with 25 GbE bandwidth.
  • Do not use hybrid nodes in clusters with all-flash or all-NVMe nodes.
  • VxRail Intel-based nodes can only be added into a cluster with other Intel-based nodes.
  • VxRail AMD-based nodes can only be added into a cluster with other AMD-based nodes.

Expand a cluster

The following actions are not permitted when adding a node in a VxRail cluster:

  • Add a VIB to the cluster, such as RecoverPoint for VMs, VMware NSX, NVIDIA GPU, or other third-party VIBs.
  • Configure jumbo frames on the cluster.
  • Enable VMware vSAN encryption.
  • Install external storage targets in the cluster, such as iSCSI, NFS, or FC.
  • Install an additional VMware VDS.
  • Configure a stretched cluster.
  • Perform security hardening on the cluster.

If any change is made after the initial cluster deployment, place the new node in the maintenance mode and apply matching settings.

Rate this content

Accurate
Useful
Easy to understand
Was this article helpful?
0/3000 characters
  Please provide ratings (1-5 stars).
  Please provide ratings (1-5 stars).
  Please provide ratings (1-5 stars).
  Please select whether the article was helpful or not.
  Comments cannot contain these special characters: <>()\