Dell EMC. VxBlock and Vblock Systems 740 Architecture Overview

Transcription

1 Dell EMC VxBlock and Vblock Systems 740 Architecture Overview Document revision 1.15 December 2017

2 Revision history Date Document revision Description of changes December Added Cisco UCS B-Series M5 servers. August Added support for VMware vsphere 6.5. August Added support for VMAX 950F and 950FX storage arrays. July Added support for Symmetrix Remote Data Facility (SRDF) March Added support for the Cisco Nexus 93180YC-EX Switch February Added the 256 GB cache option for EMC VMAX 250F and EMC VMAX 250FX. December Added support for AMP-2 on Cisco UCS C2x0 M4 servers with VMware vsphere 5.5. November Added support for Dell EMC network attached storage (enas). Added support for VMAX 250F and VMAX 250FX. Removed IPI Appliance from elevations. September Added support for AMP-2S and AMP enhancements. Added support for the Cisco MDS 9396S Multilayer Fabric Switch August Added support for Dell EMC embedded management (emgmt). July Updated the VMAX configuration information to indicate support for a single engine. April Removed physical planning information removed from this book and moved it to the Converged Systems Physical Planning Guide Added the VMAX All Flash option Added support for the Cisco Nexus 3172TQ Switch Revision history 2

3 Date Document revision Description of changes October Added support for vsphere 6.0 with Cisco Nexus 1000V switches. August Added support for VxBlock Systems. Added support for vsphere 6.0 with VDS. February Updated Intelligent Physical Infrastructure appliance information. December Initial release 3 Revision history

4 Contents Introduction...6 System overview...7 System architecture and components... 7 Base configurations...8 Scaling up compute resources...11 Network topology...12 Compute layer overview...14 Compute overview...14 Cisco UCS...14 Compute connectivity Cisco UCS fabric interconnects...15 Cisco Trusted Platform Module Disjoint layer 2 configuration Bare metal support policy...17 Storage layer overview...18 Storage layer hardware VMAX3 storage arrays VMAX3 storage array features...22 VMAX All Flash storage arrays...22 Embedded Network Attached Storage...23 Symmetrix Remote Data Facility...24 Network layer overview...26 LAN layer...26 Cisco Nexus 3064-T Switch - management networking Cisco Nexus 3172TQ Switch - management networking...27 Cisco Nexus 5548UP Switch Cisco Nexus 5596UP Switch Cisco Nexus 93180YC-EX or Cisco Nexus 9396PX Switch - segregated networking SAN layer Cisco MDS 9148S Multilayer Fabric Switch...30 Cisco MDS 9396S 16G Multilayer Fabric Switch and Cisco MDS 9706 Multilayer Director...30 Virtualization layer overview...32 Virtualization components VMware vsphere Hypervisor ESXi...32 VMware vcenter Server (vsphere 5.5 and 6.0) VMware vcenter Server (vsphere 6.5) Management...38 Management components overview...38 Management hardware components...38 Management software components (vsphere 5.5 and 6.0) Management software components (vsphere 6.5) Contents 4

5 Management network connectivity Sample configurations Sample VxBlock System 740 and Vblock System 740 with VMAX 400K Sample VxBlock System 740 and Vblock System 740 with VMAX 200K Sample VxBlock System 740 and Vblock System 740 with VMAX 100K Additional references Virtualization components Compute components Network components...58 Storage components Contents

6 Introduction This document describes the high-level design of the Converged System and the hardware and software components. In this document, the VxBlock System and Vblock System are referred to as Converged Systems. Refer to the Glossary for a description of terms specific to Converged Systems. Introduction 6

7 System overview System architecture and components Converged Systems are modular platforms with defined scale points that meet the higher performance and availability requirements of business-critical applications. Architecture SAN storage mediums are used for deployments involving large numbers of VMs and users and provide the following features: Multi-controller, scale-out architecture with consolidation and efficiency for the enterprise. Scaling of resources through common and fully redundant building blocks. Local boot disks are optional and available only for bare metal blades. Components Converged Systems contain the following key hardware and software components: Resource Components Converged System management Vision Intelligent Operations System Library Vision Intelligent Operations Plug-in for vcenter Vision Intelligent Operations Compliance Checker Vision Intelligent Operations API for System Library Vision Intelligent Operations API for Compliance Checker Virtualization and management VMware vsphere Server Enterprise Plus VMware vsphere ESXi VMware vcenter Server VMware vsphere Web Client VMware Single Sign-On (SSO) Service Cisco UCS C240 M3 and Cisco UCS C220 M4 Servers for AMP-2 PowerPath/VE Cisco UCS Manager Unisphere for VMAX Secure Remote Services (ESRS) PowerPath Management Appliance Cisco Data Center Network Manager (DCNM) for SAN 7 System overview

8 Resource Components Compute Cisco UCS 5108 Blade Server Chassis Cisco UCS B-Series M3 Blade Servers with Cisco UCS VIC 1240, optional port expander or Cisco UCS VIC 1280 Cisco UCS B-Series M4 or M5 Blade Servers with Cisco UCS VIC 1340, optional port expander or Cisco UCS VIC 1380 Cisco UCS 2204XP Fabric Extenders or Cisco UCS 2208XP Fabric Extenders Cisco UCS 6248UP Fabric Interconnects or Cisco UCS 6296UP Fabric Interconnects Network Cisco Nexus 5548UP Switches, Cisco Nexus 5596UP Switches, Cisco Nexus 93180YC-EX, or Cisco Nexus 9396PX Switches Cisco MDS 9148S, Cisco MDS 9396S 16G Multilayer Fabric Switches, or Cisco MDS 9706 Multilayer Directors Cisco Nexus 3064-T Switches or Cisco Nexus 3172TQ Switches Optional Cisco Nexus 1000V Series Switches Optional VMware vsphere Distributed Switch (VDS) for VxBlock Systems Optional VMware NSX Virtual Networking for VxBlock Systems Storage VMAX 400K VMAX 200K VMAX 100K VMAX All Flash 950F and 950FX VMAX All Flash 850F and 850FX VMAX All Flash 450F and 450FX VMAX All Flash 250F and 250FX Base configurations Converged Systems have a base configuration that is a minimum set of compute and storage components, as well as fixed network resources. These components are integrated in one or more 28-inch 42 RU cabinets. In the base configuration, you can customize the following hardware aspects: Hardware How it can be customized Compute Cisco UCS B-Series blade type including all supported M4 and M5 blade configurations Up to 16 chassis per Cisco UCS domain Up to 4 Cisco UCS domains (four pairs of fabric interconnects) Supports up to 32 double-height Cisco UCS blade servers per domain Supports up to 64 full-width Cisco UCS blade servers per domain Supports up to 128 half-width Cisco UCS blade servers per domain Edge servers (with optional VMware NSX) Refer to the Dell EMC for VMware NSX Architecture Overview. System overview 8

9 Hardware How it can be customized Storage Supports 2.5 inch drives, 3.5 inch drives, and a mix of both 2.5 inch and 3.5 inch drives (VMAX 400K, VMAX 200K, and VMAX 100K only) VMAX 400K Contains 1 to 8 engines Contains a maximum of 256 front-end ports Supports drives VMAX 200K Contains 1 to 4 engines Contains a maximum of 128 front-end ports Supports drives VMAX 100K Contains 1 to 2 engines Contains a maximum of 128 front-end ports Supports drives Supports 2.5 inch drives (VMAX All Flash models only) VMAX All Flash 950F and 950FX Contains 1 to 8 engines Contains a maximum of 192 front-end ports Supports drives VMAX All Flash 850F and 850FX Contains 1 to 8 engines Contains a maximum of 192 front-end ports Supports drives VMAX All Flash 450F and 450FX Contains 1 to 4 engines Contains a maximum of 96 front-end ports Supports drives VMAX All Flash 250F and 250FX Contains 1 or 2 engines Contains a maximum of 64 front-end ports Supports drives A single-cabinet configuration of the VMAX All Flash 250F and 250FX is available with a single engine. Expansion of the storage array requires the addition of a storage technology extension. 9 System overview

10 Hardware Storage policies Supported disk drives Management hardware options How it can be customized Policy levels are applied at the storage group level of array masking. Array storage is organized by the following service level objectives (VMAX 400K, VMAX 200K, and VMAX 100K only): Optimized (default) - system optimized Bronze - 12 ms response time, emulating 7.2K drive performance Silver - 8 ms response time, emulating 10K RPM drives Gold - 5 ms response time, emulating 15K RPM drives Platinum - 3 ms response time, emulating 15K RPM drives and enterprise flash drive (EFD) Diamond - <1 ms response time, emulating EFD Array storage is organized by the following service level objective (VMAX All Flash models only): Diamond - <1 ms response time, emulating EFD VMAX 400K, 200K, and 100K Disk drive maximums: VMAX 400K = 5760 VMAX 200K = 2880 VMAX 100K = 1440 Tier 1 drives: Solid state: 200/400/800/1600 GB Tier 2 drives: 15K RPM: 300 GB 10K RPM: 300/600/1200 GB Tier 3 drives: 7.2K RPM: 2/4 TB VMAX All Flash models Disk drive maximums: VMAX All Flash 950F and 950FX = 1920 VMAX All Flash 850F and 850FX = 1920 VMAX All Flash 450F and 450FX = 960 VMAX All Flash 250F and 250FX = 100 Tier 1 drives: Solid state: 960/1920/3840 GB (VMAX All-Flash arrays) Solid state: 960/1920/3840/7680/15360 GB (VMAX All Flash 250F and 250FX and 950F and 950FX models only) AMP-2 is available in multiple configurations that use their own resources to run workloads without consuming resources on the Converged System. Together, the components offer balanced CPU, I/O bandwidth, and storage capacity relative to the compute and storage arrays in the Converged System. All components have N+N or N+1 redundancy. System overview 10

11 Depending upon the configuration, the following maximums apply: Component Cisco UCS 62xxUP Fabric Interconnects Maximum configurations The maximum number of Cisco B-Series Blade Server Chassis with 4 Cisco UCS domains is: 32 for Cisco UCS 6248UP Fabric Interconnects 64 for Cisco UCS 6296UP Fabric Interconnects Maximum blades are as follows: Half-width = 512 Full-width = 256 Double-height = 128 Scaling up compute resources To scale up compute resources, you can add blade packs and chassis activation kits when Converged Systems are built or after they are deployed. Blade packs Cisco UCS blades are sold in packs of two, and include two identical Cisco UCS blades. The base configuration of Converged Systems includes two blade packs. The maximum number of blade packs depends on the selected scale point. Each blade type must have a minimum of two blade packs as a base configuration and can be increased in single blade pack increments thereafter. Each blade pack is added along with license packs for the following software: Cisco UCS Manager (UCSM) VMware vsphere ESXi Cisco Nexus 1000V Series Switch (Cisco Nexus 1000V Advanced Edition only) PowerPath/VE License packs for VMware vsphere ESXi, Cisco Nexus 1000V Series Switch, and PowerPath/VE are not available for bare metal blades. Additional chassis The power supplies and fabric extenders for all chassis are pre-populated and cabled, and all required Twinax cables and transceivers are populated. However, in base Converged Systems configurations, there is a minimum of two Cisco UCS 5108 Blade Server Chassis. There are no unpopulated server chassis unless they are ordered that way. This limited licensing reduces the entry cost for Converged Systems. As more blades are added and additional chassis are required, additional chassis are added automatically to an order. The kit contains software licenses to enable additional fabric interconnect ports. Only enough port licenses for the minimum number of chassis to contain the blades are ordered. Additional chassis can be added up-front to allow for flexibility in the field or to initially spread the blades across a larger number of chassis. 11 System overview

12 Network topology In the network topology for Converged Systems, LAN and SAN connectivity is segregated into separate Cisco Nexus switches. LAN switching uses the Cisco Nexus 93180YC-EX or Cisco Nexus 9396PX Switch and the Cisco Nexus 55xxUP Switch. SAN switching uses the Cisco MDS 9148S Multilayer Fabric Switch, the Cisco MDS 9396S 16G Multilayer Fabric Switch, or the Cisco MDS 9706 Multilayer Director. The optional VMware NSX feature uses the Cisco Nexus 93180YC-EX or Cisco Nexus 9396PX switches for LAN switching. For more information, refer to the Converged Systems for VMware NSX Architecture Overview. The compute layer connects to both the Ethernet and FC components of the network layer. Cisco UCS fabric interconnects connect to the Cisco Nexus switches in the Ethernet network through 10 GbE port channels and to the Cisco MDS switches through port channels made up of multiple 8 Gb links. The front-end IO modules in the storage array connect to the Cisco MDS switches in the network layer over 16 Gb FC links. System overview 12

13 The following illustration shows a network block storage configuration for Converged Systems: SAN boot storage configuration VMware vsphere ESXi hosts always boot over the FC SAN from a 10 GB boot LUN (vsphere 6.0) which contains the hypervisor's locker for persistent storage of logs and other diagnostic files. The remainder of the storage can be presented as Virtual Machine File System (VMFS) data stores or as raw device mappings (RDMs). Mware vsphere ESXi hosts always boot over the FC SAN from a 15 GB boot LUN (vsphere 6.5), which contains the hypervisor's locker for persistent storage of logs and other diagnostic files. The remainder of the storage can be presented as Virtual Machine File System (VMFS) data stores or as raw device mappings (RDMs). 13 System overview

14 Compute layer Compute overview Cisco UCS B-Series Blade Servers installed in the Cisco UCS server chassis provide computing power within Converged Systems. Fabric extenders (FEX) within the Cisco UCS server chassis connect to fabric interconnects (FIs) over converged Ethernet. Up to eight 10 GbE ports on each FEX connect northbound to the FIs regardless of the number of blades in the server chassis. These connections carry IP and FC traffic. Dell EMC has reserved some of the FI ports to connect to upstream access switches within the Converged System. These connections are formed into a port channel to the Cisco Nexus switches, and carry IP traffic destined for the external network links. In a unified storage configuration, this port channel can also carry NAS traffic to the within the storage layer. Each FI also has multiple ports reserved by Dell EMC for FC ports. These ports connect to Cisco SAN switches. These connections carry FC traffic between the compute layer and the storage layer. SAN port channels carrying FC traffic are configured between the FIs and upstream Cisco MDS switches. Cisco UCS The Cisco UCS data center platform unites compute, network, and storage access. Optimized for virtualization, the Cisco UCS integrates a low-latency, lossless 10 Gb Ethernet unified network fabric with enterprise-class, x86-based Cisco UCS B-Series Servers. In a Converged System, each chassis also includes Cisco UCS fabric extenders and Cisco UCS B-Series Converged Network Adapters. Converged Systems powered by Cisco UCS offer the following features: Built-in redundancy for high availability Hot-swappable components for serviceability, upgrade, or expansion Fewer physical components than in a comparable system built piece by piece Reduced cabling Improved energy efficiency over traditional blade server chassis Compute connectivity Cisco UCS B-Series Blades installed in the Cisco UCS chassis provide computing power in a Converged System. Fabric extenders (FEX) in the Cisco UCS chassis connect to Cisco fabric interconnects (FIs) over converged Ethernet. Up to eight 10 GbE ports on each Cisco UCS fabric extender connect northbound to the fabric interconnects, regardless of the number of blades in the chassis. These connections carry IP and storage traffic. Compute layer 14

15 Dell EMC uses multiple ports for each fabric interconnect for 8 Gbps FC. These ports connect to Cisco MDS storage switches and the connections carry FC traffic between the compute layer and the storage layer. These connections also enable SAN booting of the Cisco UCS blades. Cisco UCS fabric interconnects Cisco UCS fabric interconnects provide network connectivity and management capability to the Cisco UCS blades and chassis. Northbound, the FIs connect directly to Cisco network switches for Ethernet access into the external network. They also connect directly to Cisco MDS switches for FC access of the attached Converged System storage. These connections are currently 8 Gb FC. VMAX storage arrays have 16 Gb FC connections into the Cisco MDS switches. VMware NSX This VMware NSX feature uses Cisco UCS 6296UP Fabric Interconnects to accommodate the required port count for VMware NSX external connectivity (edges). Cisco Trusted Platform Module Cisco Trusted Platform Module (TPM) provides authentication and attestation services that provide safer computing in all environments. Cisco TPM is a computer chip that securely stores artifacts such as passwords, certificates, or encryption keys that are used to authenticate remote and local server sessions. Cisco TPM is available by default as a component in the Cisco UCS B-Series blade servers, and is shipped disabled. Only the Cisco TPM hardware is supported, Cisco TPM functionality is not supported. Because making effective use of the Cisco TPM involves the use of a software stack from a vendor with significant experience in trusted computing, defer to the software stack vendor for configuration and operational considerations relating to the Cisco TPM. Related information Disjoint Layer 2 configuration Traffic is split between two or more different networks at the fabric interconnect in a Disjoint Layer 2 configuration to support two or more discrete Ethernet clouds. Cisco UCS servers connect to two different clouds. Upstream Disjoint Layer 2 networks allow two or more Ethernet clouds that never connect to be accessed by VMs located in the same Cisco UCS domain. 15 Compute layer

16 The following illustration provides an example implementation of Disjoint Layer 2 networking into a Cisco UCS domain: vpcs 101 and 102 are production uplinks that connect to the network layer of the Converged System. vpcs 105 and 106 are external uplinks that connect to other switches. If using Ethernet performance port channels (103 and 104, by default), port channels 101 through 104 are assigned to the same VLANs. Disjoint Layer 2 network connectivity can also be configured with an individual uplink on each fabric interconnect. Compute layer 16

17 Bare metal support policy Since many applications cannot be virtualized due to technical and commercial reasons, Converged Systems support bare metal deployments, such as non-virtualized operating systems and applications. While it is possible for Converged Systems to support these workloads (with the following caveats), due to the nature of bare metal deployments, Dell EMC can only provide reasonable effort support for systems that comply with the following requirements: Converged Systems contain only Dell EMC published, tested, and validated hardware and software components. The Release Certification Matrix provides a list of the certified versions of components for Converged Systems. The operating systems used on bare metal deployments for compute components must comply with the published hardware and software compatibility guides from Cisco and Dell EMC. For bare metal configurations that include other hypervisor technologies (Hyper-V, KVM, etc.), those hypervisor technologies are not supported by Dell EMC. Dell EMC support is provided only on VMware Hypervisors. Dell EMC reasonable effort support includes Dell EMC acceptance of customer calls, a determination of whether a Converged System is operating correctly, and assistance in problem resolution to the extent possible. Dell EMC is unable to reproduce problems or provide support on the operating systems and applications installed on bare metal deployments. In addition, Dell EMC does not provide updates to or test those operating systems or applications. The OEM support vendor should be contacted directly for issues and patches related to those operating systems and applications. 17 Compute layer

18 Storage layer Storage layer hardware VMAX3 storage arrays are high-end, storage systems built for the virtual data center. Architected for reliability, availability, and scalability, these storage arrays use specialized engines, each of which includes two redundant director modules providing parallel access and replicated copies of all critical data. The following table shows the software components supported by the VMAX3 storage array: Component Virtual Provisioning (Virtual Pools) Storage Resource Pool (SRP) Fully Automated Storage Tiering for Virtual Pools (FAST VP) SLO Embedded Network Attached Storage (enas) Embedded Management (emgmt) HYPERMAX OS Unisphere for VMAX VMAX All Flash Inline Compression Symmetrix Remote Data Facility (SRDF) Description Virtual Provisioning, based on thin provisioning, is the ability to present an application with more capacity than is physically allocated in the storage array. The physical storage is then allocated to the application on demand as it is needed from the shared pool of capacity. Each disk group in the VMAX3 (allinclusive) is carved into a separate virtual pool. An SRP is a collection of virtual pools that make up an FAST domain. A virtual pool can only be included in one SRP. Each VMAX initially contains a single SRP that contains all virtual pools in the array. FAST is employed to migrate sub-lun chunks of data between the various virtual pools in the SRP. Tiering is automatically optimized by dynamically allocating and relocating application workloads based on the defined service level objective (SLO). An SLO defines the ideal performance operating range of an application. Each SLO contains an expected maximum response time range. An SLO uses multiple virtual pools in the SRP to achieve its response time objective. SLOs are predefined with the array and are not customizable. enas consists of virtual instances of the VNX NAS hardware incorporated into the HYPERMAX OS architecture. The software X- Blades and control stations run on VMs embedded in an VMAX engine. emgmt is the management model for VMAX3 which is a combination of Solutions Enabler and Unisphere for VMAX running locally on the VMAX using virtual servers. The storage operating environment for VMAX3 delivering performance, array tiering, availability, and data integrity. Browser-based GUI for device creating, managing, and monitoring on storage arrays. Inline Compression is only for the VMAX All Flash models, and allows customers to compress data for increased effective capacity. A VMAX native replication technology that allows a VMAX system to copy data to one or more additional VMAX systems. Storage layer 18

19 Component Description Data at Rest Encryption VMAX3 storage arrays VMAX3 storage arrays have characteristics that are common across all models. VMAX3 hybrid storage arrays (400K, 200K, and 100K) include the following features: Two 16 Gb multimode (MM), FC, four-port IO modules per director (four per engine) - two slots for additional front-end connectivity are available per director. Minimum of five drives with a maximum of inch drives or inch drives per engine. Option of 2.5 inch, 3.5 inch or a combination of 2.5 inch and 3.5 inch drives. Racks may be dispersed, however, each rack must be within 25 meters of the first rack. Number of supported Cisco UCS domains and servers depends on the number of array engines. VMAX3 All Flash storage arrays include the following features: Two 16 Gb multimode (MM), FC, four-port IO modules per director (four per engine). The VMAX All Flash 250F and 250FX have two additional slots per director for front-end connectivity. All other VMAX All Flash arrays have one slot for front-end connectivity. Minimum of 17 drives per V-Brick. VMAX 250F and 250FX have a minimum of 9 drives per V- Brick. Maximum of 240 drives per V-Brick. VMAX 250F and 250FX have a maximum of 50 drives per V- Brick. Racks may be dispersed, however, each rack must be within 25 meters of the first rack. Number of supported Cisco UCS domains and servers depends on the number of array engines. Only 2.5 inch drives are supported for VMAX All Flash models. 19 Storage layer

20 The following illustration shows the interconnection of the VMAX3 in Converged Systems: The following table shows the engines with the maximum blades: Domain count depends on LAN switch connectivity. Engines Maximum blades (half-width) Storage layer 20

21 Supported drives The following tables shows the supported drives and RAID protection levels for VMAX3 Hybrid models: Drive Flash SAS NL-SAS 3½ inch drive capacity/speed 200 GB 300 GB -10K 2 TB - 7.2K 400 GB 300 GB - 15K 4 TB - 7.2K 800 GB 600 GB - 10K 1200 GB - 10K 2 ½ inch drive capacity/speed 200 GB 300 GB -10K 400 GB 300 GB - 15K 800 GB 600 GB - 10K 1200 GB - 10K RAID protection R5 (3+1) (default) Mirrored (default) R6 (6+2) (default) R5 (7+1) R5 (3+1) R6 (14+2) R5 (7+1) The following table shows the supported drives and RAID protection levels for VMAX All Flash models: 250F/FX 450F/FX 850F/FX 950F/FX Flash drives 960 GB 960 GB 960 GB 960 GB 1.92 TB 1.92 TB 1.92 TB 1.92 TB 3.84 TB 3.84 TB 3.84 TB 3.84 TB 7.68 TB 7.68 TB TB TB RAID protection R5 (3+1) R5 (7+1) R5 (7+1) R5 (7+1) R5 (7+1) R6 (14+2) R6 (14+2) R6 (14+2) R6 (6+2) The following table shows the supported drives on VMAX: Drive types VMAX3 VMAX 100K, 200K, 400K VMAX AFA VMAX 250F, 450F, 850F, 950F SSD 2.5 in. 960 GB, 1.9 TB 960 GB, 1.9, 3.8, 7.6, and 15.3 TB SSD 3.5 in. Not offered N/A 15K 2.5 in. Not offered N/A 15K 3.5 in. Not offered N/A 10K 2.5 in. 600, 1200 GB N/A 10K 3.5 in. Not offered N/A 7.2K 3.5 in. (NL-SAS) Not offered N/A 21 Storage layer

22 VMAX3 storage array features Each VMAX 100K, 200K, and 400K storage array has minimum and maximum configurations, engines with processors and cache options. VMAX 400K storage arrays VMAX 400K storage arrays include the following features: Minimum configuration contains one engine and the maximum contains eight engines VMAX 400K engines contain Intel 2.7 GHz Ivy Bridge processors with 48 cores Available cache options are: 512 GB, 1024 GB, or 2048 GB (per engine) VMAX 200K storage arrays VMAX 200K storage arrays include the following features: Minimum configuration contains one engine, and the maximum contains four engines VMAX 200K engines contain Intel 2.6 GHz Ivy Bridge processors with 32 cores Available cache options are: 512 GB, 1024 GB, or 2048 GB (per engine) VMAX 100K storage arrays VMAX 100K contains the following features: Minimum configuration contains a single engine Maximum configuration contains two engines VMAX 100K engines contain Intel 2.1 GHz Ivy Bridge processors with 24 cores Available cache options are: 512 GB and 1024 GB per engine VMAX All Flash storage arrays Availability of the VMAX All Flash option is based on drive capacity and available software of the VMAX All Flash arrays. Overview VMAX All Flash models include the following features: 250F/FX 450F/FX 850F/FX 950F/FX Number of V- Bricks Cache per V- Brick 512 GB 1024 GB 1024 GB 2048 GB 1024 GB 2048 GB 1024 GB 2048 GB 2048 GB Storage layer 22

23 250F/FX 450F/FX 850F/FX 950F/FX Initial capacity per V-Brick Incremental capacity 11.3 TBu 52.6 TBu 52.6 TBu 56.6 TBu 11.3 TBu 13.2 TBu 13.2 TBu 13.2 TBu CPU Intel Xeon E v4, 2.2 GHz 12 core Intel Xeon E v2, 2.6 GHz 8 core Intel Xeon E v2, 2.7 GHz 12 core Intel Xeon E v4, 2.3 GHz 18 core Note the following best practices and options: All V-Bricks in the array must contain identical cache types. A single cabinet Vblock configuration of the VMAX All Flash 250F and 250FX is available. It has a single engine and expansion of the storage array requires the addition of a Converged Technology Extension for Dell EMC Storage. By default data devices have compression enabled at the Storage Group level. Disable compression if the application is not designed for compression. The following table describes the VMAX All Flash versions: Software package VMAX All Flash 950F, 850F, 450F, 250F VMAX All Flash 950FX, 850FX, 450FX, 250FX Base software (Included) HyperMAX operating system Thin provisioning QoS or host I/O limits enas Embedded Management Inline Backend Compression Optional software D@RE (disabled by default) SRDF (disabled by default) HyperMAX operating system Thin provisioning QoS or host I/O limits enas Embedded Management Inline Backend Compression D@RE By default, all software is included. Embedded Network Attached Storage VMAX3 arrays support Unified storage by consolidating Block and File data into a single array. Embedded Network Attached Storage (enas) uses the hypervisor to create and run a set of VMs on VMAX3 controllers. The VMs host software X-Blades and control stations, which are two major elements of enas. The virtual elements are distributed across the VMAX3 system to evenly consume VMAX3 resources for both performance and capacity. 23 Storage layer

24 The following table shows the elements for the VMAX3 modules: VMAX Maximum number of X- Blades Usable capacity Maximum enas I/O modules/software X- Blades I/O supported modules 100K 2 (1 active + 1 standby) 200K 4 (3 active + 1 standby) 400K 8 (7 active + 1 standby) 250F/250FX 4 (3 active + 1 standby) Requires 2 V- Bricks 450F/450FX 4 (3 active + 1 standby) Requires minimum 2 V- Bricks 850F/850FX 8 (7 active + 1 standby) Requires minimum 4 V- Bricks 950F/950FX 8 (7 active + 1 standby) Requires minimum 4 V- Bricks 256 TBu 2 2 x 10 GbE Cu 2 x 10 GbE Opt 4 x 8 Gb FC Opt (NDMP) 1536 TBu 2* 2 x 10 GbE Cu 2 x 10 GbE Opt 4 x 8 Gb FC Opt (NDMP) 3584 TBu 2* 2 x 10 GbE Cu 2 x 10 GbE Opt 4 x 8 Gb FC Opt (NDMP) 1.1 PBu 2* 2 x 10 GbE Cu 2 x 10 GbE Opt 4 x 8 Gb FC Opt (NDMP) 1.5 PBu 1* 2 x 10 GbE Cu 2 x 10 GbE Opt 4 x 1 GbE Cu 4 x 8 Gb FC Opt (NDMP) 3.5 PBu 1* 2 x 10 GbE Cu 2 x 10 GbE Opt 4 x 1 GbE Cu 4 x 8 Gb FC Opt (NDMP) 3.5 PBu 1* 2 x 10 GbE Cu 2 x 10 GbE Opt 4 x 8 Gb FC Opt (NDMP) *Converged Systems require at least two of the available slots to have 16 Gb FC IOMs per director for host connectivity. Symmetrix Remote Data Facility VMAX3 arrays support remote replication using Symmetrix Remote Data Facility (SRDF). SRDF requires: CPU cores dedicated to the RDF protocol (CPU Slice running RDF emulation) Dedicated front-end ports assigned to the RDF over FC (RF) or RDF over Ethernet (RE) emulation Storage layer 24

25 SRDF ports must be on dedicated IO Modules (SLICs). Front-end ports used for host connectivity should not share 16 Gb FC SLICs with SRDF. SRDF is not configured in the factory. Dell EMC Professional Services configures SRDF after the VxBlock System is installed at the customer site. Converged Systems support the following SRDF connectivity models. All participating VMAX arrays connect as follows: To the customer SAN/LAN switches (default connectivity) To the same VxBlock SAN/LAN switches To the same fabric technology SAN/LAN switches VxBlock System SAN switches should never connect directly to a customer SAN. It is permissible for a VxBlock System SAN fabric to connect to a different VxBlock System for Data Protection purposes. Refer to the Integrated Data Protection Design Guide for additional information. The following table shows the elements for the VMAX3 storage arrays: I/O module VMAX 400K VMAX 850F/FX VMAX 950F/FX VMAX 200K VMAX 450F/FX VMAX 250 F/FX VMAX 100K 4 x 16 Gb FC Yes Yes Yes 4 x 8 Gb FC Yes Yes Yes 4 x 10 Gb Ethernet No Yes Yes 2 x 10 Gb Ethernet Yes Yes No 2 x 1 Gb Ethernet Cu Yes Yes Yes 2 x 1 Gb Ethernet Opt Yes Yes Yes 25 Storage layer

26 Network layer LAN and SAN make up the network layer. LAN layer The LAN layer of the Converged System includes a pair of Cisco Nexus 55xxUP, Cisco Nexus 3172TQ and Cisco Nexus 93180YC-EX or Cisco Nexus 9396PX Switches. The Cisco Nexus switches provide 10 GbE connectivity: Between internal components To the site network To the second generation Advanced Management Platform (AMP-2) through redundant connections between AMP-2 and the Cisco Nexus 9000 Series Switches The following table shows LAN layer components: Component Description Cisco Nexus 93180YC-EX 1 RU appliance Supports 48 fixed 10/25 Gbps SFP+ ports and 6 fixed 40/100 Gbps QSFP+ ports No expansion modules available Cisco Nexus 9396PX Switch 2 RU appliance Supports 48 fixed, 10 Gbps SFP+ ports and 12 fixed, 40 Gbps QSFP + ports No expansion modules available Cisco Nexus 3172TQ Switch 1 RU appliance Supports 48 fixed, 100 Mbps/1000 Mbps/10 Gbps twisted pair connectivity ports and 6 fixed, 40 Gbps QSFP+ ports for the management layer of the Converged System Cisco Nexus 3064-T Switch - management networking The base Cisco Nexus 3064-T Switch provides Mbps/1GbE/10GbE Base-T fixed ports and 4- QSFP+ ports to provide 40GbE connections. The following table shows core connectivity for the Cisco Nexus 3064-T Switch for management networking and reflects the AMP-2 HA base for two servers: Feature Used ports Port speeds Media Management uplinks from fabric interconnect (FI) 2 1 GbE Cat6 Uplinks to customer core 2 Up to 10 G Cat6 vpc peer links 2QSFP+ 10 GbE/40 GbE Cat6/MMF 50µ/125 LC/LC Network layer 26

27 Feature Used ports Port speeds Media Uplinks to management 1 1 GbE Cat6 Cisco Nexus management ports 1 1 GbE Cat6 Cisco MDS management ports 2 1 GbE Cat6 AMP-2-CIMC ports 1 1 GbE Cat6 AMP-2 ports 2 1 GbE Cat6 AMP-2-10G ports 2 10 GbE Cat6 VNXe management ports 1 1 GbE Cat6 VNXe_NAS ports 4 10 GbE Cat6 Gateways Mb/1 GbE Cat6 The remaining ports in the Cisco Nexus 3064-T Switch provide support for additional domains and their necessary management connections. Cisco Nexus 3172TQ Switch - management networking Each Cisco Nexus 3172TQ Switch provides Mbps/1000 Mbps/10 Gbps twisted pair connectivity and six 40 GbE QSFP+ ports. The following table shows core connectivity for the Cisco Nexus 3172TQ Switch for management networking and reflects the AMP-2 base for two servers: Feature Used ports Port speeds Media Management uplinks from fabric interconnect (FI) 2 1 GbE Cat6 Uplinks to customer core 2 Up to 10 G Cat6 vpc peer links 2QSFP+ 10 GbE/40 GbE Cat6/MMF 50µ/125 LC/LC Uplinks to management 1 1 GbE Cat6 Cisco Nexus management ports 2 1 GbE Cat6 Cisco MDS management ports 2 1 GbE Cat6 AMP2-CIMC ports 1 1 GbE Cat6 AMP2-1GbE ports 2 1 GbE Cat6 AMP2-10GbE ports 2 10 GbE Cat6 VNXe management ports 1 1 GbE Cat6 VNXe_NAS ports 4 10 GbE Cat6 Gateways Mb/1 GbE Cat6 The remaining ports in the Cisco Nexus 3172TQ Switch provide support for additional domains and their necessary management connections. 27 Network layer

28 Cisco Nexus 5548UP Switch The base Cisco Nexus 5548UP Switch provides 32 SFP+ ports used for 1 Gbps or 10 Gbps connectivity for all Converged System production traffic. The following table shows the core connectivity for the Cisco Nexus 5548UP Switch (no module): Feature Used ports Port speeds Media Uplinks from fabric interconnect (FI) 8 10 Gbps Twinax Uplinks to customer core 8 Up to 10 Gbps SFP+ Uplinks to other Cisco Nexus 55xxUP Switches 2 10 Gbps Twinax Uplinks to management 3 10 Gbps Twinax Customer IP backup 4 1 Gbps or 10 Gbps SFP+ If an optional 16 unified port module is added to the Cisco Nexus 5548UP Switch, there are 28 additional ports are available to provide additional network connectivity. Cisco Nexus 5596UP Switch The base Cisco Nexus 5596UP Switch provides 48 SFP+ ports used for 1 Gbps or 10 Gbps connectivity for LAN traffic. The following table shows core connectivity for the Cisco Nexus 5596UP Switch (no module): Feature Used ports Port speeds Media Uplinks from Cisco UCS fabric interconnect 8 10 Gbps Twinax Uplinks to customer core 8 Up to 10 Gbps SFP+ Uplinks to other Cisco Nexus 55xxUP Switches 2 10 Gbps Twinax Uplinks to management 2 10 Gbps Twinax The remaining ports in the base Cisco Nexus 5596UP Switch (no module) provide support for the following additional connectivity option: Feature Used ports Port speeds Media Customer IP backup 4 1 Gbps or 10 Gbps SFP+ If an optional 16 unified port module is added to the Cisco Nexus 5596UP Switch, additional ports are available to provide additional network connectivity. Network layer 28

29 Cisco Nexus 93180YC-EX Switch or Cisco Nexus 9396PX Switch - segregated networking The Cisco Nexus 93180YC-EX Switch provides 48 10/25 Gbps SFP+ ports and six 40/100 Gbps QSFP+ uplink ports. The Cisco Nexus 9396PX Switch provides 48 SFP+ ports used for 1 Gbps or 10 Gbps connectivity and Gbps QSFP+ ports. The following table shows core connectivity for the Cisco Nexus 93180YC-EX Switch or Cisco Nexus 9396PX Switch with segregated networking: Feature Used ports Port speeds Media Uplinks from fabric interconnect (FI) 8 10 GbE Twinax Uplinks to customer core 8 (10 GbE)/2 (40 GbE) Up to 40 GbE SFP+/ QSFP+ vpc peer links 2 40 GbE Twinax The remaining ports in the Cisco Nexus 93180YC-EX Switch or Cisco Nexus 9396PX Switch provide support for a combination of the following additional connectivity options: Feature Available ports Port speeds Media RecoverPoint WAN links (one per appliance pair) 4 1 GbE GE T SFP+ Customer IP backup 8 1 GbE or 10 GbE SFP+ Uplinks from Cisco UCS FIs for Ethernet BW enhancement 8 10 GbE Twinax SAN layer Two Cisco MDS 9148S Multilayer Fabric Switches, Cisco MDS 9706 Multilayer Directors, or Cisco MDS 9396S 16G Multilayer Fabric Switches that make up two separate fabrics to provide 16 Gb of FC connectivity between the compute and storage layer components. Connections from the storage components are over 16 Gb connections. With 10 Gb connectivity, Cisco UCS fabric interconnects provide a FC port channel of four 8 Gb connections (32 Gb bandwidth) to each fabric on the Cisco MDS 9148S Multilayer Fabric Switches and can be increased to eight connections for 128 Gb bandwidth. The Cisco MDS 9396S 16G Multilayer Fabric Switch and Cisco MDS 9706 Multilayer Directors also support 16 connections for 128 Gb bandwidth per fabric. The Cisco MDS switches provide: FC connectivity between compute and storage layer components Connectivity for backup and business continuity requirements (if configured) Inter-Switch Links (ISLs) to the existing SAN or between switches is not permitted. 29 Network layer

30 The following table shows SAN network layer components: Component Description Cisco MDS 9148S Multilayer Fabric Switch Cisco MDS 9396S 16G Multilayer Fabric Switch 1 RU appliance Provides 12 to 48 line-rate ports for non-blocking 16 Gbps throughput 12 ports are licensed - additional ports can be licensed 2 RU appliance Provides 48 to 96 line-rate ports for non-blocking 16 Gbps throughput 48 ports are licensed - additional ports can be licensed in 12 port increments Cisco MDS 9706 Multilayer Director 9 RU appliance Provides up to 12 Tbps front panel FC line rate non-blocking, system level switching Dell EMC leverages the advanced 48 port line cards at line rate of 16 Gbps for all ports Consists of two 48 port line cards per director - up to two additional 48 port line cards can be added Dell EMC requires that 4 fabric modules are included with all Cisco MDS 9706 Multilayer Directors for an N+1 configuration 4 PDUs 2 supervisors Cisco MDS 9148S Multilayer Fabric Switch Converged Systems incorporate the Cisco MDS 9148S Multilayer Fabric Switch provide line-rate ports for non-blocking, 16 Gbps throughput. In the base configuration, 24 ports are licensed. Additional ports can be licensed as needed. The following table provides core connectivity for the Cisco MDS 9148S Multilayer Fabric Switch: Feature Used ports Port speeds Media FI uplinks 4 or 8 8 Gb SFP+ Cisco MDS 9396S 16G Multilayer Fabric Switch and Cisco MDS 9706 Multilayer Director Converged Systems incorporate the Cisco MDS 9396S 16G Multilayer Fabric Switch and the Cisco MDS 9706 Multilayer Director to provide FC connectivity from storage to compute. Cisco MDS 9706 Multilayer Directors provide line-rate ports for non-blocking 16 Gbps throughput. Port licenses are not required for the Cisco MDS 9706 Multilayer Director. The Cisco MDS 9706 Multilayer Director is a director-class SAN switch with four IOM expansion slots for 48-port 16 Gb FC line cards. It deploys two supervisor modules for redundancy. Cisco MDS 9396S 16G Multilayer Fabric Switches provide line-rate ports for non-blocking, 16 Gbps throughput. The base license includes 48 ports. Additional ports can be licensed in 12 port increments. Network layer 30

31 The Cisco MDS 9396S 16G Multilayer Fabric Switch is a 96-port fixed switch with no IOM modules for port expansion. The following table provides core connectivity for the Cisco MDS 9396S 16G Multilayer Fabric Switch and the Cisco MDS 9706 Multilayer Director: Feature Used ports Port speeds Media Cisco UCS 6248UP 48-Port FI 4 or 8 8 Gb SFP+ Cisco UCS 6296UP 96-Port FI 8 or 16 8 Gb SFP+ 31 Network layer

32 Virtualization layer Virtualization components VMware vsphere is the virtualization platform that provides the foundation for the private cloud. The core VMware vsphere components are the VMware vsphere ESXi and VMware vcenter Server for management. VMware vsphere 5.5 includes a Single Sign-on (SSO) component as a standalone Windows server or as an embedded service on the vcenter server. Only VMware vsphere vcenter server on Windows is supported. VMware vsphere 6.0 includes a pair of Platform Service Controller Linux appliances to provide the SSO service. Either the VMware vcenter Service Appliance or the VMware vcenter Server for Windows can be deployed. VMware vsphere 6.5 includes a pair of Platform Service Controller Linux appliances to provide the SSO service. Starting from vsphere 6.5 VMware vcenter Server Appliance is the default deployment model for vcenter Server. The hypervisors are deployed in a cluster configuration. The cluster allows dynamic allocation of resources, such as CPU, memory, and storage. The cluster also provides workload mobility and flexibility with the use of VMware vmotion and Storage vmotion technology. VMware vsphere Hypervisor ESXi The VMware vsphere Hypervisor ESXi runs in the management servers and in Converged Systems using VMware vsphere Server Enterprise Plus. The lightweight hypervisor requires very little space to run (less than 6 GB of storage required to install) with minimal management overhead. In some instances the hypervisor may be installed on a 32GB or larger Cisco FlexFlash SD Card (mirrored HV partition). Beginning with vsphere 6.x, all Cisco FlexFlash (boot) capable hosts will be configured with a minimum of two 32 GB or larger SD cards. The compute hypervisor will support GigE physical NICs (pnics) on the VxBlock and Vblock 540 VICs. VMware vsphere ESXi does not contain a console operating system. The VMware vsphere Hypervisor ESXi boots from the SAN through an independent FC LUN presented from the storage array to the compute blades. The FC LUN also contains the hypervisor's locker for persistent storage of logs and other diagnostic files to provide stateless computing in Converged Systems. The stateless hypervisor (PXE boot into memory) is not supported. Cluster configuration VMware vsphere ESXi hosts and their resources are pooled together into clusters. These clusters contain the CPU, memory, network, and storage resources available for allocation to VMs. Clusters can scale up to a maximum of 32 hosts for VMware vsphere 5.5 and 64 hosts for VMware vsphere 6.0. Clusters can support thousands of VMs. Virtualization layer 32

33 The clusters can also support a variety of Cisco UCS blades running inside the same cluster. Some advanced CPU functionality might be unavailable if more than one blade model is running in a given cluster. Datastores Converged Systems support a mixture of data store types: block level storage using VMFS or file level storage using NFS. The maximum size per VMFS volume is 64 TB (50 TB 1 MB). Beginning with VMware vsphere 5.5, the maximum VMDK file size is 62 TB. Each host/cluster can support a maximum of 255 volumes. Dell EMC optimizes the advanced settings for VMware vsphere ESXi hosts that are deployed in Converged Systems to maximize the throughput and scalability of NFS data stores. Converged Systems currently support a maximum of 256 NFS data stores per host. Datastores (vsphere 6.5) Block level storage using VMFS or file level storage using NFS are supported datastores. The maximum size per VMFS5 / VMFS6 volume is 64 TB (50 TB 1 MB). The maximum VMDK file size is 62 TB. Each host/cluster can support a maximum of 512 volumes. Dell EMC optimizes the advanced settings for VMware vsphere ESXi hosts that are deployed in Converged Systems to maximize the throughput and scalability of NFS datastores. Converged Systems support a maximum of 256 NFS datastores per host. Virtual networks Virtual networking in the Advanced Management Platform uses the VMware Virtual Standard Switch. Virtual networking is managed by either the Cisco Nexus 1000V distributed virtual switch or VMware vsphere Distributed Switch (VDS). The Cisco Nexus 1000V Series Switch ensures consistent, policybased network capabilities to all servers in the data center by allowing policies to move with a VM during live migration. This provides persistent network, security, and storage compliance. Alternatively, virtual networking in Converged Systems is managed by VMware VDS with comparable features to the Cisco Nexus 1000V where applicable. The VMware VDS option consists of both a VMware VSS and a VMware VDS and uses a minimum of four uplinks presented to the hypervisor. The implementation of Cisco Nexus 1000V for VMware vsphere 5.5 and VMware VDS for VMware vsphere 5.5 use intelligent network Class of Service (CoS) marking and Quality of Service (QoS) policies to appropriately shape network traffic according to workload type and priority. With VMware vsphere 6.0, QoS is set to Default (Trust Host). The vnics are equally distributed across all available physical adapter ports to ensure redundancy and maximum bandwidth where appropriate. This provides general consistency and balance across all Cisco UCS blade models, regardless of the Cisco UCS Virtual Interface Card (VIC) hardware. Thus, VMware vsphere ESXi has a predictable uplink interface count. All applicable VLANs, native VLANs, MTU settings, and QoS policies are assigned to the virtual network interface cards (vnics) to ensure consistency in case the uplinks need to be migrated to the VMware vsphere Distributed Switch (VDS) after manufacturing. Virtual networks (vsphere 6.5) Virtual networking in the AMP-2S uses standard virtual switches and the Cisco Nexus 1000V is not currently supported on the vsphere 6.5 vcsa. Alternatively, virtual networking is managed by a VMware vsphere Distributed Switch (VDS) with comparable features to the Cisco Nexus 1000V where applicable. The VMware VDS option consists of a 33 Virtualization layer

34 VMware Standard Switch and a VMware VDS and uses a minimum of four uplinks presented to the hypervisor. The vnics are equally distributed across all available physical adapter ports to ensure redundancy and maximum bandwidth where appropriate. This provides general consistency and balance across all Cisco UCS blade models, regardless of the Cisco UCS VIC hardware. Thus, VMware vsphere ESXi has a predictable uplink interface count. All applicable VLANs, native VLANs, MTU settings, and QoS policies are assigned to the vnic to ensure consistency in case the uplinks need to be migrated to the VMware VDS after manufacturing. VMware vcenter Server (vsphere 5.5 and 6.0) VMware vcenter Server is the central management point for the hypervisors and VMs. VMware vcenter is installed on a 64-bit Windows Server. VMware Update Manager is installed on a 64-bit Windows Server and runs as a service to assist with host patch management. VMware vcenter Server provides the following functionality: Cloning of VMs Template creation VMware vmotion and VMware Storage vmotion Initial configuration of VMware Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS) and VMware vsphere high-availability clusters VMware vcenter Server also provides monitoring and alerting capabilities for hosts and VMs. System administrators can create and apply alarms to all managed objects in VMware vcenter Server, including: Data center, cluster, and host health, inventory, and performance Data store health and capacity VM usage, performance, and health Virtual network usage and health Databases The back-end database that supports VMware vcenter Server and VUM is the remote Microsoft SQL Server 2008 (VMware vsphere 5.1) and Microsoft SQL 2012 (VMware vsphere 5.5/6.0). The SQL Server service can be configured to use a dedicated service account. Authentication VMware Single Sign-On (SSO) Service integrates multiple identity sources including Active Directory, Open LDAP, and local accounts for authentication. VMware SSO is available in VMware vsphere 5.x and later. VMware vcenter Server, Inventory, Web Client, SSO, Core Dump Collector, and VUM run as separate Windows services, which can be configured to use a dedicated service account depending on security and directory services requirements. Virtualization layer 34

35 Dell EMC supported features Dell EMC supports the following VMware vcenter Server features: VMware SSO Service (version 5.x and later) VMware vsphere Web Client (used with Vision Intelligent Operations) VMware vsphere Distributed Switch (VDS) VMware vsphere High Availability VMware DRS VMware Fault Tolerance VMware vmotion: Layer 3 capability available for compute resources (version 6.0 and higher) VMware Storage vmotion Raw Device Maps Resource Pools Storage DRS (capacity only) Storage-driven profiles (user-defined only) Distributed power management (up to 50 percent of VMware vsphere ESXi hosts/blades) VMware Syslog Service VMware Core Dump Collector VMware vcenter Web Services VMware vcenter Server (vsphere 6.5) VMware vcenter Server is a central management point for the hypervisors and VMs. VMware vcenter Server 6.5 resides on the VMware vcenter Server Appliance. By default, VMware vcenter Server is deployed using the vcenter Sever appliance. VMware Update Manager is fully integrated with the vcenter Sever Appliance and runs as a service to assist with host patch management. The second generation of the Advanced Management Platform (AMP-2) and the Converged System each have a unified VMware vcenter Server Appliance instance. VMware vcenter Server provides the following functionality: Cloning of VMs Creating templates VMware vmotion and VMware Storage vmotion 35 Virtualization layer

36 Initial configuration of VMware Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS) and VMware vsphere high-availability clusters VMware vcenter Server provides monitoring and alerting capabilities for hosts and VMs. Converged System administrators can create and apply the following alarms to all managed objects in VMware vcenter Server: Data center, cluster, and host health, inventory, and performance Data store health and capacity VM usage, performance, and health Virtual network usage and health Databases The vcenter Server Appliance uses the embedded PostgreSQL database. The VMware Update Manager and the vcenter Server Appliance share the same PostgreSQL database server, but use separate PostgreSQL database instances. Authentication Converged Systems support the VMware Single Sign-On (SSO) Service capable of the integration of multiple identity sources including Active Directory, Open LDAP, and local accounts for authentication. VMware vsphere 6.5 includes a pair of platform service controller Linux appliances to provide the SSO service. VMware vcenter Server, Inventory, Web Client, SSO, Core Dump Collector, and Update Manager run as separate services. Each service can be configured to use a dedicated service account depending on the security and directory services requirements. VMware vcenter High Availability VMware vcenter Server 6.5 has a new native high availability solution that is available exclusively for vcenter Server Appliance. This solution consists of active, passive, and witness nodes that are cloned from the existing vcenter Server instance. The VMware vcenter High Availability (vcenter HA) cluster can be enabled, disabled,or destroyed at any time. vcenter HA is offered as an optional feature to customers. Dell EMC supported features Dell EMC supports the following VMware vcenter Server features: VMware SSO Service VMware vsphere Platform Service Controller VMware vsphere Web Client (used with Vision Intelligent Operations) VMware vsphere Distributed Switch (VDS) VMware vsphere High Availability VMware vcenter HA (vsphere 6.5) VMware DRS Virtualization layer 36

37 VMware Fault Tolerance VMware vmotion VMware Storage vmotion - Layer 3 capability available for compute resources, version 6.0 and higher Raw Device Mappings Resource Pools Storage DRS (capacity only) Storage driven profiles (user-defined only) Distributed power management (up to 50 percent of VMware vsphere ESXi hosts/blades) VMware Syslog Service VMware Core Dump Collector VMware vcenter Web Client 37 Virtualization layer

38 Management Management components overview The Advanced Management Platform (AMP-2) provides a single management point for Converged Systems. For Converged Systems, the AMP-2 provides the ability to: Run the Core and Dell EMC Optional Management Workloads Monitor and manage health, performance, and capacity Provide network and fault isolation for management Eliminate resource overhead The core management workload is the minimum required management software to install, operate, and support the Converged System. This includes all hypervisor management, element managers, virtual networking components, and Vision Intelligent Operations Software. The Dell EMC optional management workload is non-core management workloads supported and installed by Dell EMC, whose primary purpose is to manage components in the Converged System. The list includes, but is not limited to Dell EMC Data Protection, security, or storage management tools such as Avamar Administrator, InsightIQ for Isilon, and VMware vcns appliances (vshield Edge/Manager). Management hardware components AMP-2 is available in multiple configurations that use their own resources to run workloads without consuming resources on the Converged System. The following list shows the operational relationship between the Cisco UCS Servers and VMware vsphere versions: Converged Systems with Cisco UCS C240 M3 servers are configured with VMware vsphere 6.0. Converged Systems with Cisco UCS C220 M4 servers are configured with VMware vsphere 6.x. The following table describes the various AMP-2 options: AMP-2 option Number of Cisco UCS C2x0 servers Storage Description AMP-2HA Baseline 2 FlexFlash SD for VMware vsphere ESXi boot VNXe3200 with Fast Cache for VM data stores Provides HA/DRS functionality and shared storage using the VNXe3200. Management 38

39 AMP-2 option Number of Cisco UCS C2x0 servers Storage Description AMP-2HA Performance 3 FlexFlash SD for VMware vsphere ESXi boot VNXe3200 with Fast Cache for VM data stores Adds additional compute capacity with a third server and storage performance with the inclusion of FAST VP. AMP-2S M4 * Default three Cisco UCS C220 servers are required for vcenter HA if chosen FlexFlash SD for VMware vsphere ESXi boot VNXe3200 with Fast Cache and FAST VP for VM data stores Provides scalability configuration using Cisco UCS C220 Servers and additional storage expansion capacity. AMP-2S is supported on Cisco UCS C220 M4 servers with VMware vsphere 6.x. Management software components (vsphere 5.5 and 6.0) The Advanced Management Platform (AMP-2) is delivered with specific installed software components that depend on the selected Release Certification Matrix (RCM). The following components are installed: Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 Standard x64 Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 VMware vsphere Enterprise Plus VMware vsphere Hypervisor ESXi VMware Single Sign-On (SSO) Service VMware vsphere Platform Services Controller VMware vsphere Web Client Service VMware vsphere Inventory Service VMware vcenter Server Appliance For VMware vsphere 6.0, the preferred instance is created using VMware vsphere vcenter Server Appliance. An alternate instance may be created using the Windows version. Only one of these options can be implemented. For VMware vsphere 5.5, only VMware vsphere vcenter with Windows is supported. VMware vcenter Database using Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Standard Edition 39 Management

40 VMware vcenter Update Manager (VUM) - Integrated with VMware vcenter Server Appliance VMware vsphere client For VMware vsphere 6.0, the preferred configuration (with VMware vsphere vcenter Server Appliance) embeds the SQL server on the same VM as the VUM. The alternate configuration leverages the remote SQL server with VMware vcenter Server on Windows. Only one of these options can be implemented. VMware vsphere Syslog Service (optional) VMware vsphere Core Dump Service (optional) VMware vsphere Distributed Switch (VDS) PowerPath/VE Management Appliance (PPMA) Secure Remote Support (SRS) Array management modules, including but not limited to Unisphere for VMAX Cisco Prime Data Center Network Manager and Device Manager (Optional) RecoverPoint management software that includes the management application and deployment manager Management software components (vsphere 6.5) The Advanced Management Platform (AMP-2) is delivered with specific installed software components that are dependent on the selected Release Certification Matrix (RCM). Management 40

41 The following components are installed: Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 Standard x64 Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard x64 VMware vsphere Enterprise Plus VMware vsphere Hypervisor ESXi VMware Single Sign-On (SSO) Service VMware vsphere Platform Services Controller VMware vsphere Web Client Service VMware vsphere Inventory Service VMware vcenter Server Appliance For VMware vsphere 6.5, only the VMware vsphere vcenter Server Appliance deployment model is offered. VMware vcenter Update Manager (VUM Integrated with vcenter Server Appliance) VMware Host client (HTML5 based) The legacy C# client (aka thick client, desktop client, or vsphere Client) will no longer be available with the vsphere 6.5 release. vsphere Client (HTML5) has a subset of the features available in the vsphere Web Client VMware Host client (HTML5 based) VMware vsphere Syslog Service (optional) VMware vsphere Core Dump Service (optional) VMware vsphere Distributed Switch (VDS) PowerPath/VE Management Appliance (PPMA) Secure Remote Support (ESRS) Array management modules, including but not limited to ExtremIO Management Server Cisco Prime Data Center Network Manager and Device Manager (DCNM) (Optional) RecoverPoint management software that includes the management application and deployment manager Management network connectivity Converged Systems offer several types of AMP network connectivity and server assignments. 41 Management

42 AMP-2S network connectivity with Cisco UCS C220 M4 servers with VMware vsphere 6.0 The following illustration shows the network connectivity for the AMP-2S on the Cisco UCS C220 M4 servers: AMP-2S server assignments with Cisco UCS C220 M4 servers with VMware vsphere 6.0 The following illustration shows the VM server assignments for AMP-2S on the Cisco UCS C220 M4 servers. This configuration implements the default VMware vcenter Server configuration using the Management 42

43 VMware 6.0 vcenter Server Appliance and VMware Update Manager with embedded MS SQL Server database: 43 Management

44 The following illustration shows the VM server assignments for AMP-2S on the Cisco UCS C2x20 M4 servers, which implements the alternate VMware vcenter Servers configuration, using the VMware 6.0 vcenter Server, Database Servers, and VMware Update Manager: Converged Systems that use VMware vsphere Distributed Switch (VDS) do not include the Cisco Nexus 1000V VSM VMs. The AMP-2S option leverages the DRS functionality of the VMware vcenter to optimize resource usage (CPU and memory) so that VM assignment to a VMware vsphere ESXi host is managed automatically. Management 44

45 AMP-2S on Cisco UCS C220 M4 servers (vsphere 6.5) The following illustration provides an overview of the network connectivity for the AMP-2S on the Cisco C220 M4 servers: * No default gateway The default VMware vcenter Server configuration contains the VMware vcenter Server 6.5 Appliance with integrated VMware Update Manager Beginning with vsphere 6.5, Microsoft SQL will no longer be used since vcenter and VUM will utilize the Postgres database embedded within the vcsa. The following illustration provides an overview of the VM server assignment for AMP-2S on C220 M4 with the default configuration: 45 Management

46 Management 46

47 AMP-2HA network connectivity on Cisco UCS C240 M3 servers The following illustration shows the network connectivity for AMP-2HA on the Cisco UCS C240 M3 servers: 47 Management

48 AMP-2HA server assignments with Cisco UCS C240 M3 servers The following illustration shows the VM server assignment for AMP-2HA with Cisco UCS C240 M3 servers: Management 48

49 AMP-2S network connectivity on Cisco UCS C220 M4 servers with VMware vsphere 5.5 The following illustration shows the network connectivity for AMP-2S on Cisco UCS C220 M4 servers: 49 Management

50 AMP-2S server assignments with Cisco UCS C220 M4 servers with VMware vsphere 5.5 The following illustration shows the VM server assignment for AMP-2S with Cisco UCS C220 M4 servers: Management 50

51 Sample configurations Cabinet elevations vary based on the specific configuration requirements. Sample VxBlock and Vblock Systems 740 with VMAX 400K Elevations are provided for sample purposes only. For specifications for a specific design, consult your varchitect. VMAX array cabinets are excluded from the sample elevations. Cabinet 1 51 Sample configurations

52 Cabinet 2 Sample VxBlock and Vblock Systems 740 with VMAX 200K Elevations are provided for sample purposes only. For specifications for a specific design, consult your varchitect. VMAX array cabinets are excluded from the sample elevations. Sample configurations 52