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This is a great question. VXRAIL 3.0 appliance includes off the shelf Virtual Center Server (v6.0 Update 1b) release, so all of the guidelines that VMW already provides for our customers equally apply to any VXRAIL 3.0 deployment. In VXRAIL 3.0, VCSA is deployed with embedded PSC, so when referring to the VMW documentation make sure to look at the recommended (memory / CPU / disk space) values for such configuration. Memory and CPU sizes are listed here: [URL]#com.vmware.vsphere.install.doc/GUID-88571D8A-46E1-464D-A349-4DC43DCAF320.html Disk Configuration sizes are listed here: [URL]#com.vmware.vsphere.install.doc/GUID-FB268055-5D36-4624-A64C-9800D3FCB689.html The memory and CPU sizes could be adjusted by connecting VMware Client (thick) to the host that's running VCSA, powering it off, making the changes and powering it back on again. Unlike with the past releases, VC 6.0 will automatically make all of the adjustments needed to take advantage of all of the new memory. See [URL] for the details. Increasing disk sizes is even easier as this change does not require for the VCSA VM to even get power cycled. See [URL] and [URL] for the details. | Hi all, I have checked VxRail management resouces and default VCSA resources are 4 vCPU, 16GB memory. Now the sizing is for "Small Environment", I think. Small enviromnent supported Virtual Machines up to 1,000, but VSAN supported VMs up to 6,400. If I want to manage more than 1,000 VMs, how can I upgrade VCSA? Shutdown and modify the resources by C# Clinet? Is this supported? or Where can I get the information? Best Regards. | How can I upgrade VCSA resources? |
If the SSD fails the disk group is associated with is down. VSAN will operate for another hour and if the drive is not back online or replaced it will begin a rebuild to ensure that the FTT requirements are met. In the case of a node replacement, obviously it's not an online event for the node you're replacing but the others continue to operate normally. | Dear expterts, I have 2 questions about availability. 1. What is the consequence when the SSD disks fails in a node? 2. If one node fails completely, will the replacement be a online event? Franz | VxRail and availability |
Oracle ODA is a fixed server appliance (no scale out on server capacity). It utilizes the ZFS Storage Appliance for storage capacity, thus requiring 6U of space and 128 TB raw storage for the base - and only- configuration available. VxRail provides much greater flexibility in the configurations available. Allowing a customer to start at much lower entry points for storage capacity as well as compute (the latter of which will greatly impact Oracle licensing costs). Nodes can be added for additional compute and storage as customer environments expand. As to licensing, of Oracle, please refer to Oracle licensing guides. Be mindful of the cores that need to be licensed as this is where Oracle licensing can quickly become an expensive part of TCO. | Hi , VxRail against Oracle ODA Can the below points be confirmed ? 1- I can see Oracle Database Enterprise Edition + Either RAC to RAC-One node is a must for ODA. For VxRail, customer can have Database Standard Edition which comes with a free RAC licenses. 2- I see only Storage Expansion option, nothing on the servers part. I think Oracle will ask the customer to buy another ODA if he needs only small addition to servers. For VxRail we offer scalability by nodes which is more cost effective for the customer. | VxRail against Oracle ODA |
The reset procedure is available via Solve Desktop. | I have downloaded the VxRAIL resetting script , it looks same as VSPEX Blue script . Is there is any difference??? Can you share a document explaining the procedure to installing the reset script and resetting the applaince . | VxRAIL Resetting Script |
Aya, You cannot put what we would call a "foreign" node into the cluster (vCenter or VSAN) when we are running our own instance of vCenter. You would need to wait for the 3.5 version and use an external vCenter for that. Definitely not supported. | Hi there ... I have customer thinking about getting VxRAIL .. They want to know if they can put under VxRAIL vCenter management so that they cab use vMotion for Data migration . ( in Vspex Blue ... this was not supported ) Would this be same still ? Also if it is supported ( or not supported ) please advise me for the document ( or any web site ...) thanks ! aya | VxRAIL and existing ESXi host |
We have not qualifies xStream with VxRail.The primary cloud orchestration for VxRail is vRealize which is qualified. | Need to know if VxRail is a viable platform for xStream. My main concern is VSAN compatibility with xStream and if it is supported/compatible? | Does Virtustream xStream support VxRail? |
Yes, see the features roadmap in the technical deck on [URL] for details | The next release of VxRail will include VSAN that has the ability to run in a metro config. Will this also be supported with VxRail? So when you add an appliance that you'll have the option to specifiy if it should be added as a local appliance or a "second site" appliance? | Will VxRail support VSAN-metro once VxRail supports VSAN 6.1+? |
Today we only support the embedded PSC. | VMware requires the use of "External" Platform Services Controller (PSC) deployment when more than 1 vCenter system is joined together with "Linked Mode" starting in v6.0. Does the VxRail support the deployment of an external PSC, or does VxRail always require the PSC to be embedded in the vCenter server, and therefore Linked Mode is not supported? Thanks, Bill | Does VxRail support the "External PSC" deployment model? |
It does not specify them becuase they are not included – VxRail does not ship with SFP+ cables – they are specific to each switch type and are best provided separately so that they match. They should come with the switch or from the switch vendor. | Hello Experts, We have a lot of questions on SFP+ Part number to be ordered from Myquotes for VxRail. My quotes gives INSTLKIT-10GE-SFP+ . However the BOM for this doesn't specify whether it includes the SFP+.Can somebody please help us clear this doubt? Thanks, Virender Singh | VxRail SFP+ partnumber |
No, upgrades are managed through VxRail Manager which upgrades the entire appliance stack as needed. | Does VxRail support VMware Update Manager? Or does VxRail use VxRail Manager for all software updates? If Update Manager is not used, does VxRail Manager support batch upgrades of VMware Tools and Virtual Hardware, like we can do in Update Manager? | Does VxRail support VMware Update Manager? |
Yes , in case customer is buying 2 appliances and adding both the appliance in the same cluster ,case customer will be having 8 hosts in the cluster . For FTT = 2 , VSAN needs at least 5 Host in the cluster, so it can be implemented . | If a customer buys two VxRail appliances (8 total nodes), does VxRail support the FTT=2 setting in VSAN? | Does VxRail support FTT=2 with 2 appliances? |
Solve Dekstop for VxRail will be out today. The product guides are available now on [URL] | Hi, I would like to ask as to where can I find the VxRail install/config/planning guides? I checked EMC Solve Desktop but can't seem to find it. Thank you in advance! | Where can I get the VxRail install, config and planning guides? |
Disk upgrade ordering will be available in Q2. You cannot change the RAM in an appliance. | Two scenario question; 1: If I order a VxRail 120 with only 128GB RAM and want to upgrade those nodes later to 192GB RAM, am I able to ? 2: If I order a VxRail 120 with a smaller disk pack, can I add more disk later ? | VxRail Hardware Upgrades |
All flash models will be order-able in May. We will have sizing tools for all-flash at the same time. Performance numbers for all-flash will come at GA in June. C | When do we expect the all flash appliances to be available for quoting? When will the sizing tool but updated to include these options and include assumptions for dedupe and erasure coding? Do we have any baseline IOPS performance numbers per appliance for the different options? Thanks. | VxRail Flash Appliances |
Correct, not supported - VxRail is implementing other and better ways to achieve active-acvtive failover . More detailed answers are in the Ask the Experts thread (starting on Page 5) | Hello, I understand that the VxRail models will come with vSphere Standard Edition, which support 2 vCPU Fault Tolerance. However Fault Tolerance requires its own 10 GigE connection, so does this mean that VMware Fault Tolerance is NOT supported on any VxRail model? | Support for Fault Tolerance on any VxRail model? |
No issue and EMC provides support for all vSphere components. | I am aware that VxRail includes 15 VM licenses of RecoverPoint for VMs. If the customer would rather use vSphere Replication (VR), for example to protect 100 VMs (to avoid purchasing additional RP4VM licenses), is that scenario fully supported? In other words, the customer is opting to use VR instead of RP4VMs. If they call EMC Support and ask for assistance with vSphere Replication (VR) issues, will EMC Support will fully support the customer? | Any issues using vSphere Replication with VxRail? |
Support and all the accompanying material goes live at GA - March 10th. Kind of need a release to have release notes [IMAGE] | Hello, When I log in to EMC Support and select "Support by Product", I cannot locate VxRail anywhere. Where does the VxRail Support site exist? I am looking for installation guides, administration guides, release notes, software downloads, etc., similar to what we find for VNXe and other EMC products. Thanks, Bill | Where is the EMC Support site for VxRail? |
Think this was covered in more detail the ask the experts thread, but will repeat a summary here as that thread has gotten way long. This is also in the presales deck on the enablement center [IMAGE] [URL] With the current hybrid configs, and FTT=1 you can use ~48% of Raw. C | Is there a way or formula I can use to determine usable storage capacity? I'd like to be able to better guesstimate the usable capacity of each drive pack, without having to enter in workload information if that is possible. | Usable Storage Capacity |
Thats all I needed! Thank you very much Colin! | Does anyone know where to get power consumption and heat dissipation data for the new VxRails? Not yet available in the powercalulcator and could not find it anywhere else? | Power Consumption & Heat Dissipation Data |
It depends on the switch capacity and capabilities. VxRail 120, 180 and 200 Appliances requires a 10GigE top of rack switch (TOR) that supports IPv4, IPv6, Multicast (only on the ports VxRail connects to), IGMP Snooper, and IGMP Querier is required. A fully populated appliance will require 8 Ethernet connections. For the VxRail 60, each node requires 4-1 GbE connections for a total of 16. If the customer wishes to use optional RMM BMC management port an additional 100 Mbps connection to the customer management network is required per node. 1 GbE and 10 GbE RMM port speeds are not supported. VLANs will also need to be configured on the switch. | Hello Experts, A customer has a quarter rack Greenplum, The greenplum brings 2 switches and 1 additional switch for management. Customer wants to buy a VxRail60 to deploy virtual application servers and has a query on whether he can connect VxRail appliance to the Greenplum nodes. Is this possible? Or do he need to add additional switches to connect VxRail and then uplink these switches to the greenplum switches? Thanks Virender Singh | VxRail Query |
Joe: These cables and transceivers are not included, and customers must supply your own that are compatible with the Intel specifications: [URL] C | Does anyone have a list of interoperable/compatible SFP+ optical short range transceivers that have been tested to work with VXRAIL models? Thanks, Joe Rabasca Teknicor | VXRAIL SFP+ Transceivers - compatible |
With VXRAIL appliances, you will have 2 different portgroups for management. (initial and post configuration) When ESXi is installed at the factory, it will come with a default portgroup called "Management Network". Usually, the vmk interface for this portgroup will have a IPv4 link local IP address assigned to it. During the appliance configuration process, this portgroup will be renamed to "Marvin Management" (it is not actively used for day to day operations - and only needed to be around to be able to perform a factory reset process on the appliance), and new portgroup called "management network" will be created. vmk interface assigned to this portgroup will be assigned the IP address that you specified during the initial configuration process. So if you are changing VLAN IDs for management network, we would recommend that you make this change for both Marvin and Management network (and for forget about vCenter network portgroup as well as all management traffic runs between VXRAIL manager / VC / LogInsight through it). | Hi All, Installed appliance has "Marvin Management" network segment on vSwitch. What is the network? Because I want to modify VLAN tag for management segment. I should modify the "Marvin Managment" with same VLAN tag? And I want to know requirement for "Marvin Management" network . Regards. | What is Marvin Management network? |
Yup, once it is public and the details are final we will have something out later today | Is there a competitive document available or in the works for HyperFlex (UCS/Springpath) ? Cisco will be making their announcement today and I imagine there will be some interest. | VxRail vs HyperFlex |
No, the VMware Service Provider Cloud Licensing Program cannot currently be used with VxRail | Hi All, Can VxRAIL use for cloud service provider? Because VMware require to specific license for using cloud service provider, that is VMware Service Provider Cloud Licensing Programs. Best Regards. | Can I use VxRAIL for Cloud Service (IaaS)? |
You can find information about SAP products and VSAN at: SAP SCN Blog post: [URL] VMware Blog Post: [URL] Please note that SAP does not support SAP HANA on VSAN, so VxRail cannot be used as a platform for that. SAP "Classic" applications are supported on VSAN. However, VxRail has not (yet) been certified or validated for SAP, so we don't have validated SAPS performance numbers for the VxRail models at this time. | Hi , Is there any documentation that supports the deployment of SAP on VxRail ? | SAP support on VxRail |
Hi, this will be available mid-March upon general availability of VxRail. Stay tuned. | Hi, One of ourcustomerhasVSPEX BLUE boxand they want to upgrade its software to have software VxRail features. How can they do this? How can they download software packages? Where do they find upgrade procedure documents? Best Regards Berat | VSPEX BLUE software upgrade to VxRail |
vSphere Data Protection can be configured to use a Data Domain system as a backup data target. The advantages of doing this include scale beyond vSphere Data Protection’s 8TB backup data storage capacity limit, global compression and deduplication, and backup efficiency using EMC Data Domain Boost software. NOTE: vSphere Data Protection backup data storage capacity of 8TB refers to the amount of deduplicated backup data. | There is a 8TB License for VDP included, but what if I use a Datadomain. Can I only use 8TB of Datadomain capacity or is it different since I use Datadomain instead. | VDP licensing for Datadomain |
There are no trunks that you need to create. VMware handles all the load balancing etc. The best practice is to use vlans to separate out various types of traffic. VLANS for Management, VSAN, VMOTION, and VMNetowrks. | Hello, Question related to VxRail networking: - Can / should you create a trunk over both 10Gb ports or do we use VMware to load-balance over the two uplinks? - Would it be best practise to put the VSAN traffic on a separate pNIC or use VLAN to separate it? I am asking because it seems Nutanix is spreading this FUD over VSAN and I want to know how to counter it. Thanks! | VxRail Networking |
No, just add the customer's own licenses - vSphere Enterprise Plus 8 CPU license per appliance. vSphere is pre-installed on the VxRail appliance. | Is all the SW pre-installed when the VxRail purchased as VLP? Will a customer need to do more that simly add theri own licenses? | VxRail when purchased with VLP licensing? |
Hi Rob, thanks for bringing the link to our attention - it is being fixed now. Once live, there you will find the power guide info you're looking for. | [URL] this doc is referenced in the myquotes configurator but I do not have access. I'm looking for a power cable guide for the VxRail with better descriptions and possibly images. Also would like to have a power calculator based on load of the appliance. | Power Cable Guide for VxRail |
I found a document that shows details. [IMAGE] | Hi, We know, one of the major benefit of VxRail is simplified management. At this point many documents say more than 200 automated workflow processes. What are the over 200 automated workflow processes in VxRail? How can we get details about it? What are the main activities which address to those workflow processes? Thanks... Berat | Automated Workflow Processes |
The VxRail solution comes with mutiple choices for backup/data protection and replication. Let's start with enterprise class snapshots and clones capabilities built into vSphere 6. You have Vsphere Data Protection for backup and recovery. Replication can be handled via Vsphere Replication for RPO's greater than 5 min. And also included with each appliance purchase will be 15 licenses for Recoverpoint for VM's which will provide both synchronous and asynchronous replication, consistency groups, and continuous data protection options. | How about backup and data protection on VxRail? | How about backup and data protection on VxRail? |
Yes, you can use Fiber Optic cables. In order for that to work, you'll need Intel compatible SFPs for the appliance (qty 8) and the proper SFPs for the 10GigE switch side of the house. Neither of those items are included with the appliance and will need to be added/ordered. Also, for the TwinAX cables, make sure you get the ones compatible with your switch (i.e., Cisco cables won't work with Brocade switches). | Hi, FAQ document says: Q: How is the VxRail Appliance connected to the customer network? A: Each node of the VxRail Appliance is connected to a customer-supplied Top-of-Rack (TOR) switch, by either SPF+ (Twinax DAC cables) or RJ45 ports (CAT 6 cables) for cluster interconnect. I would to like ask some questions regarding to above information Do we only provide 10 Gb Ethernet connection over DAC cables? or we have a Fiber Optic Cable option, too? How can we be sure about which cables are compatible with our 10 GbE adapter options? Best Regards Berat | 10 GbE Connection |
Yep! You can use externally mounted datastores within VMware via iSCSI or NFS for connectivity Please note that those NFS/iSCSI datastores will need to be managed through the vSphere WebClient and not through VxRail Manager. Also, if VMs need to be created with storage from those external devices, you'll need to create them through the WebClient. This should be treated as a "standard" vSphere cluster with NFS/iSCSI mounted datastores. The VSAN datastore is not extended to external devices. | a Hi all I have user case where we have Management Pod which host Viper SRM ESRS, Log insite, VCentre etc. As this going to be quite small environment but is operatailal important The ask is to connect external Array such as VNX, to a VxRail my understanding is that this can be done via iSCSI The account is SMS account and the intent is to connect external storage to Vxrail appliance via TOR switch's. I understand there could be performance issue and FTT would have to be factored in I have few question 1. Can I connect to Vmax?VnX using iSCSi 2. Any have architecture that I could use or any guidance that could be provide | External Connection on VxRail |
No, VxRail is a joint EMC and VMware Appliance that is built on custom high-density x86 hardware | During todays presentation, Chad show a blade type compute node on the rear part of the appliance, is it built on Cisco servers technology? Awesome product btw. thanks. | regarding the compute nodes, is Cisco the manufacturer? |
No, this goes against the design of the appliance. Let VxRail self optimize for all workloads and use QoS to fence off just the few low priority or potentially noisy ones. Btw, SSD is used for write cache in hybrid appliances - so data on HDD gets the benefit. C | Is it possible to isolate workloads on a select set of resources in the appliance? If so, are there any risks associated with designing the appliance in the manner? For example, if a customer needs to dedicate a VM to EFD drives while allowing the remaining disks to be shared with all other VMs. | Isolating Workoads |
More information on CloudArray can be found here - [URL] The support matrix for Cloud Providers is here - [URL] | Can some one clarify Vxrail supports the Private Cloud Products like VMware vCloud,Azure,Openstack & other leading Cloud Vendors in the Current Market? | Support for Private Cloud Platforms |
Converged solutions are proven to significantly speed deployments, make infrastructure more agile, and simplify operations. VCE converged products fall into one of three distinct segments: Blocks, Racks, and Appliances. Blocks are traditional converged infrastructure, which is an engineered system that leverages enterprise storage arrays, traditional storage area networks (SANs), and typically blade-based compute systems—all manufactured into a single product. VCE Block family includes Vblock Systems and VxBlock Systems. Racks represent a new category of hyper-converged infrastructure. Racks offer an architecture that is not based on a traditional, physical SAN and they do not include enterprise storage arrays. Instead, they are built using industry-standard server platforms running what is called software-defined storage. Because there is no physical SAN and no storage array, these engineered systems enable customers to grow to data-center scale in flexible discrete increments. These self-contained units of servers, networking, and management software are well suited for the rapid growth in next-generation applications—allowing customers to support a growing number of use cases with built-in resiliency and less stringent availability and performance requirements on infrastructure. VCE VxRack System 1000 series offers two software-defined storage technologies, a choice of hypervisors, and bare-metal workloads. VxRail Appliances are purpose built for departmental and edge applications as well as small enterprise and mid-market data centers. Like VxRack Systems they do not contain a storage array, but instead run a software-defined storage environment on the appliance. They are built using standard x86 hardware, and tend to focus on ease of use and use case specific features. VxRail Appliances scale from 4 to 64 nodes. | What are the key advantages of VxRail over Converged Infrastructure using dedicated Solutions for Software Defined Network / Software Defined Storage? | VxRail vs [SDN + SDS] |
VxRail 3.0 Sizing Calculator v 1.01 20060213.xlsx | I'm looking to size out some of these solutions, is there a excel document or app for sizing available yet? | Is there a sizing document available ? |
In Q1, the VxRail Appliance software ships vSphere 6.0/VSAN 6.1. In Q2 a no charge, non-disruptive upgrade will be available to Virtual SAN 6.2. | ? | What version of ESX and Virtual SAN ships with the VxRail Appliance? |
Yes, vRealize and vCOPS are not included in the VxRail Appliance software suite, but the appliance integrates into any VMware environment, including those managed by vRealize and vCOPS. | ? | Can I use vRealize or vCOPS with the VxRail Appliance? |
VCE will not provide a VCE VxRail Appliance Release Certification Matrix. The purpose of VCE RCM is to streamline and derisk upgrades, which is significant for integrated systems (Vblock Systems) with separate components. With appliances, software updates are delivered by VMware and can be applied automatically and non-disruptively. This is a significant benefit of hyperconverged infrastructure. Customers will be instructed to refer to the EMC Simple Support Matrix on the EMC Support portal via their services agreement ([URL] | ? | Will there be a VCE VxRail Appliance Release Certification Matrix? |
Unlike other EMC offerings that are storage-only or software-only, the VxRail Appliance is an all-in-one Hyper-Converged Infrastructure Appliance (HCIA) that incorporates virtualization, compute, storage, management, and protection in a single product. It provides a streamlined consumption model that eliminates the burden of preplanning and budgeting for growth. The VxRail Appliance provides simplified deployment from a single pane of glass, abstracting complexity with wizard-driven configuration, management, upgrades, and patches. It incorporates built-in data protection and security optimized for virtual environments and can provide unlimited hybrid-cloud storage via the EMC CloudArray Gateway. Lastly, the VxRail Appliance provides end-to-end, one-call support with a single point of accountability for all hardware and software. | ? | How is the VxRail Appliance different from VNX/VNXe or ScaleIO? |
No, all of the nodes in the appliance must match. | ? | Can I mix node types in a VxRail Appliance? |
The VxRail 60 supports 1 GbE networks (RJ45 only). All other models support 10 GbE, either with SFP+ or RJ45 connections. | ? | What network speeds does the VxRail Appliance support? |
We don’t want to compromise on the VMware experience because you are going the appliance route. Use your existing VMware tools and processes you know, including Virtual SAN, which is integrated with the VMware stack. The portal to manage the storage is vCenter, vCenter Operations Manager, and/or Virtual SAN Observer—tools most VMware customers already have. | ? | Will there be a management interface that ties in all VMware and storage
management into one portal across all VxRail Appliance clusters a customer
might have? |
Yes, one of the core values of the VxRail Appliance is that customers can manage a cluster using the VxRail Manager or using all the tools in vSphere. We give the customer the choice. However, the initial appliance build, scale-out for additional appliances, and software upgrades must be done through the VxRail Manager user interface. | ? | Can customers use tools, such as vCenter or PowerCLI to manage the VxRail
Appliance? |
Yes, the VxRail Appliance can utilize external iSCSI and NFS datastores on EMC arrays. This external storage can be managed from the VxRail Appliance using vCenter. | ? | Can I use the VxRail Appliance to manage external storage? |
Yes, the VxRail Appliance supports managing external CIFS and NFS storage. Work with your SE to see which customer uses cases are suited to this approach. | ? | Does the VxRail Appliance offer file storage capabilities? |
Yes, customers can upgrade the software to get the same VxRail Appliance functionality at no charge. Additionally, a VxRail Appliance is cluster-compatible with VSPEX BLUE once the upgrade is done. | ? | Can VSPEX BLUE customers upgrade to the VxRail Appliance? |
Yes, the VxRail Appliance can be installed in NSX virtualized networks. In Q1, it will require one NSX controller per cluster. Integration with existing NSX controllers will be available in Q2. | ? | Does the VxRail Appliance support VMware NSX networks? |
The VxRail Appliance and VMware software are optimized and deeply integrated to make it more efficient and easier to deploy, configure, and manage in a VMware environment. Other hypervisors are not supported, but the VxRail Appliance supports customer-deployed Microsoft applications, such as Office, Exchange, etc. | ? | Does the VxRail Appliance support Microsoft Hyper-V or KVM? |
The VxRail Appliance is managed through a single pane of glass provided by the VxRail™ Manager software, which incorporates vCenter Server and vCenter Log Insight that support ESRS and other serviceability capabilities. Additionally, the VxRail Appliance is discoverable and visible in VCE Vision™ Intelligent Operations. | ? | How is the VxRail Appliance managed? |
The VxRail™ Manager software provides one-click, non-disruptive patches and upgrades. | ? | How do I upgrade a VxRail Appliance? |
Yes, customers can mix VxRail Appliance models within a cluster, except where doing so would create highly unbalanced performance. All-Flash and Hybrid nodes cannot be mixed in the same cluster. | ? | Can I mix VxRail Appliance models within a cluster? |
No, the VxRail Appliance is IP and Ethernet only. | ? | Does the VxRail Appliance support Fibre Channel connectivity? |
Yes, the VxRail Appliance supports Citrix End-User Computing just as it does any other application running in a virtualized VMware-enabled environment. | ? | Does the VxRail Appliance support Citrix XenDesktop? |
The VMware HCI strategy consists of delivering the best Hyper-Converged Software (HCS) on the broadest set of consumption options. The tightly integrated HCS software stack includes VMware vSphere, the market-leading hypervisor; Virtual SAN, radically simple, enterprise-class native storage; and vCenter Server, a unified and extensible management solution. The VxRail Appliance is the only HCI appliance jointly developed by VMware and EMC, delivering the best and most complete VMware Hyper-converged Software (HCS) experience. Virtual SAN Ready Node is a certified VMware HCS x86 server and storage program, offering precertified solutions delivered by all leading server vendors. | ? | What is the difference between the VxRail Appliance and Virtual SAN Ready Node? |
No, the appliance is not built with ScaleIO. EMC/VCE and VMware jointly developed the appliance based on VMware vSphere with Virtual SAN and EMC software. | ? | Is the VxRail Appliance built with ScaleIO technology? |
Yes, we have not announced end of sale for VSPEX BLUE. As with any EMC product, VSPEX BLUE will be supported for a minimum of five years from its end of sale date. | ? | Will VSPEX BLUE continue to be sold and supported? |
No, the VxRail Appliance is purpose built as one integrated offering with optimized hardware and software. It is designed to leverage existing management tools and existing standards to deliver the fastest and cost-effective solution. | ? | Is the VxRail Appliance software sold separately from the hardware? |
Yes, existing VSPEX BLUE appliances can be part of a VxRail Appliance cluster. To do so they must be upgraded to the same code level as the VxRail Appliance. This is a free upgrade service. | ? | Can I mix VSPEX BLUE appliances and VxRail Appliances in a cluster? |
At launch, the minimum purchase is one four-node VxRail Appliance. In Q1, VxRail Appliance clusters scale in four node increments. Beginning in Q2, the customer can order and scale their VxRail Appliances in single-node increments. | ? | What is the minimum initial scale point and scaling increments? |
The VxRail Appliance scales linearly from 4 to 64 nodes (in 1 to 16 appliances). Each appliance adds compute, storage, virtualization, and management resources. An appliance can be joined to a cluster with just one click—and the appliance automatically rebalances resources and workloads across the cluster, creating a single pool of resources. | ? | How does the VxRail Appliance scale? |
Converged solutions are proven to significantly speed deployments, make infrastructure more agile, and simplify operations. VCE converged products fall into one of three distinct segments: Blocks, Racks, and Appliances. Blocks are traditional converged infrastructure, which is an engineered system that leverages enterprise storage arrays, traditional storage area networks (SANs), and typically blade-based compute systems—all manufactured into a single product. VCE Block family includes Vblock Systems and VxBlock Systems. Racks represent a new category of hyper-converged infrastructure. Racks offer an architecture that is not based on a traditional, physical SAN and they do not include enterprise storage arrays. Instead, they are built using industry-standard server platforms running what is called software-defined storage. Because there is no physical SAN and no storage array, these engineered systems enable customers to grow to data-center scale in flexible discrete increments. These self-contained units of servers, networking, and management software are well suited for the rapid growth in next-generation applications—allowing customers to support a growing number of use cases with built-in resiliency and less stringent availability and performance requirements on infrastructure. VCE VxRack System 1000 series offers two software-defined storage technologies, a choice of hypervisors, and bare-metal workloads. VxRail Appliances are purpose built for departmental and edge applications as well as small enterprise and mid-market data centers. Like VxRack Systems they do not contain a storage array, but instead run a software-defined storage environment on the appliance. They are built using standard x86 hardware, and tend to focus on ease of use and use case specific features. VxRail Appliances scale from 4 to 64 nodes. | ? | What is EMC’s Block, Racks, and Appliances Strategy? |
Yes, VxRail Appliance all-flash configurations offer a full complement of data efficiency services, including deduplication, compression, and erasure coding. | ? | Does VxRail offer data reduction capabilities? |
Each node of the VxRail Appliance is connected to a customer-supplied Top-of-Rack (TOR) switch, by either SPF+ (Twinax DAC cables) or RJ45 ports (CAT 6 cables) for cluster interconnect. | ? | How is the VxRail Appliance connected to the customer network? |
Yes, the VMware vSphere Loyalty Program allows customers to apply VMware vSphere Enterprise Plus licenses to their VMware VxRail Appliance. Eligible customers can reduce VxRail Appliance pricing by leveraging existing VMware investments. | ? | Can customers use existing VMware vSphere licenses with the VxRail Appliance? |
Traditional converged infrastructure is an information technology system that packages multiple components into a single optimized IT solution. It typically brings together blade-system servers, enterprise storage arrays, storage area networks, IP networking, virtualization, and management software into a single product. Vblock Systems are an example of traditional converged infrastructure. Hyper-converged infrastructure is a software-defined architecture with integrated compute, software-defined storage, networking, and virtualization. It enables compute, storage, and networking functions to be decoupled from the underlying infrastructure and run on a common set of physical resources that are based on industry-standard x86 components. | ? | How are Converged and Hyper-Converged different? |
VCE Vision™ 3.3.0 introduces support for the VxRail Appliance. | ? | What version of VCE Vision software is supported with the VxRail Appliance? |
To be eligible for the vSphere Loyalty Program, a customer must at the minimum have the number of VMware vSphere CPU licenses from one or multiple vSphere Enterprise Plus licenses that matches the number of physical CPUs in each committed VxRail Appliance. The number of vSphere CPU licenses required for each VxRail Appliance depends on the number of physical CPUs in the committed VxRail. For instance Each VxRail 60 with four nodes requires four vSphere Enterprise Plus CPU licenses (one for each node) Each VxRail 120, VxRail 160, or VxRail 200 with four nodes requires eight vSphere Enterprise Plus CPU licenses (two for each node) | ? | How many vSphere licenses does the customer need to supply if they do not buy
them bundled with VxRail Appliances? |
No, the VxRail Appliance uses the customer’s existing network or a new switch for connectivity between nodes. | ? | Does the VxRail Appliance include networking? |
Customers who purchase the VxRail Appliance from either VCE or EMC will be supported by EMC Support (EMC Maintenance contract). EMC Maintenance options are offered (premium and enhanced, not basic). | ? | Who provides support for the VxRail Appliance? |
No swap program is planned. Customers can continue to use their VSPEX BLUE appliances and can upgrade for free to the new version of code (3.0) to get the same software features as the VxRail Appliance. VSPEX BLUE nodes can be clustered with the VxRail Appliance. | ? | Is there a trade-in program for VSPEX BLUE customers? |
For the VxRail Appliance 120, VxRail Appliance 160, and VxRail Appliance 200, each node requires 2-10 GbE network connections. A fully populated appliance will require 8 Ethernet connections. For the VxRail 60, each node requires 4-1 GbE connections for a total of 16. If the customer wishes to use optional RMM BMC management port an additional 100 Mbps connection to the customer management network is required per node. 1 GbE and 10 GbE RMM port speeds are not supported. | ? | How many network ports do I need per node? |
The VxRail Appliance architecture is a distributed system consisting of common modular building blocks that scale linearly from 4 to 64 nodes in 1 to 16 2U/4 node appliances. An EMC branded Intel processor-based x86 server delivers compute, network, storage, virtualization, and management in a hyper-converged infrastructure appliance powered by VMware and EMC software. | ? | What is the VCE VxRail Appliance architecture? |
Power-on to provisioning virtual machines takes minutes. Provisioning and configuration is wizard-driven and can be done in just a few simple steps— choosing from predefined small, medium, or large VM sizes, and specifying details, such as guest OS, virtual local area network (VLAN), security options, and data protection. By eliminating more than 200 manual configuration tasks and workflows, IT can reduce errors and simplify administration while improving productivity. | ? | How does the VxRail Appliance simplify deployment and configuration? |
vSphere, Virtual SAN, vRealize Log Insight, and vCenter Server. Customers with existing site licenses that include vSphere Enterprise Plus may qualify for the VMware vSphere Loyalty Program, which reduces the acquisition price. Consult the VMware vSphere Loyalty Program Term and Conditions FAQ for more details. | ? | What VMware software is included in the VxRail Appliance? |
The VxRail Appliance provides a simple, cost-effective hyper-converged solution for a wide variety of applications and workloads. With the VxRail Appliance, IT organizations can start small and easily scale capacity and performance by non-disruptively adding appliances to the cluster without the investment or up-front planning required with traditional infrastructure. The VxRail Appliance seamlessly integrates into customers’ existing VMware data centers, workflows, and tools. | ? | What are the benefits of the VxRail Appliance? |
The VxRail Appliance is a hyper-converged appliance exclusively from EMC/VCE and VMware, and is the easiest and fastest way to stand up a fully virtualized VMware SDDC environment. | ? | What is the VCE VxRail™ Appliance? |
No, at least one year of maintenance is required. | ? | Can I order the VxRail Appliance without Maintenance? |
The VxRail Appliance includes the full VMware hyper-converged software suite and proven EMC software that enhances the VMware experience—RecoverPoint for VMs (15 VMs per appliance), and EMC CloudArray (10 TB cloud storage license per appliance). These licenses are designed to meet the most common customer needs, but additional capacity can be purchased as needed. | ? | What software is included in the VxRail Appliance? |
The VxRail Appliance is jointly developed by EMC/VCE and VMWare. It leverages VMware hyper-converged software and includes propriety VMware automation and EMC software not available from other vendors. | ? | How is the VxRail Appliance exclusive to VMware and EMC? |
VxRail Appliances will be orderable on February 16, 2015 with General Availability in early March. | ? | When will the VCE VxRail Appliances be orderable and generally available? |
The limit you are seeing is only during the initial configuration of the appliance. Once the appliance is configured, you can create as many VM networks as vSphere will allow you. As per [URL] (page 5), there is a supported limit of 512 portgroups per VSS (legacy virtual switch). | Client says: "I am looking at the pre-configuration check sheet and it states that the Vspex only supports 5 network vLAN’s for the VMs Network. Is this a “hard” configuration limit or just a best practice? We have several places that have 6 to 8 vLAN’s and most have 6 to 7. We could configure the network to operate within the 5 if we must but would hope to be able to expand it out to the 6 or 7. Let me know if this is a hard limit so we know how to design." Any guidance? Thanks, Eric Marzock | VSPEX Blue VLANs |
Hope this helps. [URL] | Hello Team, I could see that 10 TB EMC Cloud Array license is free with VSPEX Blue Appliance.whether customer should buy this 10TB license from any storage provider or EMC will give 10TB license free with any of the Cloud provider ? Regards, Muhammed Basheer | EMC Cloud Array with VSPEX Blue |
Hello, Thanks Fabio Cavalcanti | Hi, Given that some vSphere technologies e.g. HA, vMotion, vSphere Replication appliance and other appliances can work with EVORAIL on VSPEX BLUE, does vSphere FT (Fault Tolerance) work or is it only VSAN fault tolerance that is provided. I did not see vSphere FT technology mentioned in EVORAIL or VSPEX BLUE documentation. | VSPEX BLUE vSphere FT |
There seems to be some misunderstanding regarding "EMC validated", as VSPEX BLUE is not a reference architecture. vSphere Replication is a feature included with vSphere Enterprise Plus that is part of the EVO:RAIL software bundle to OEM partners, and is supported by VSPEX BLUE from EMC. Best regards, Rieko | Hi, I don't see native vSphere Replication support on the EVO RAIL flavor in VSPEX BLUE. Consider a VSPEX BLUE appliance as a target at a DR site and the source environment is a traditional built vSphere infrastructure which wants to use vSphere Replication to DR. Is it possible to use a vSphere Replication OVF in the VSPEX BLUE appliance at DR for a validated vSphere Replication topology design (source VC target VC connection and DR datastore usage? Message was edited by: w1ll1ng | VSPEX BLUE and vSphere Replication |
I found in some of our documentation the following specs... VSPEX Blue Power Supply Unit: -Two power supply units in a 1+1 configuration, hot swappable (DPS-1200TB) -Wattage 1200w/1600w (Energy Smart). -Voltage: 90 - 264 VAC, auto-ranging, 47Hz - 63Hz. -80 Plus rating: Platinum This p/n of PSU is suitable to run in any country. The Appliance will ship with the proper power cords to attach using your country's AC receptacle standard. The PSU is designed to take a wide range of input voltage and frequency to accommodate the varying standards across the globe. Hope this helps... NOTE: Please mark this question as answered if you feel like your question has been sufficiently answered. | Hi everyone, Would you tell me about VSPEX Blue specification. Can I use VSPEX Blue with 100 voltage environment? Because, my customer usually require 100V products, this is major requrie in Japan. Regards. | Can I use VSPEX Blue with 100V environment? |
Hi [NAME] Swirly, The chassis only have 1 CMC module only? Was it working before? Are you able to ping the CMC module IP? Can you try to SSH/Telnet or Serial into the CMC to check if there is any output? You may need another CMC to check if it's the chassis slot issue. If you do not have any spare, ultimately you may need to replace the CMC, as most of the users in the community changed the CMC in order for it to work. | Hello, I was wondering if someone could help me with figuring how to get the CMC module to work. I have one CMC module that when the enclosure is turned on throws an error saying “ The CMC is not responding.” I have tried moving it back and forth from both CMC slots but I still have that error. I am using three PSUs that support 110v and all have there bottom LED green. No other components are plugged in. | Help with M1000e |
Hi Crispychris I have built and configured several Dell systems with NVMe drives and from as far back as the 12th gen series where NVMe first started becoming available 2 CPU's have always been required, I believe this is due to the pci-e lanes required. I am yet to see a Dell system that will allow NVMe drives that operate on a single cpu in the U.2 format anyway Dave | For our C6420 Blades with NVMes (U.2), when we run them with 1 CPU, they do not display the NVMes, but when we add a CPU (to make it 2 CPUs), they display just fine. I see nothing in the docs about these blades requiring 2 CPUs installed in order to display the NVMes, so I am wondering what may be the problem here. These are the standard NVMe C6420 blades being used in an NVMe capable C6400 chassis. | PE C6420 NVMe not Displaying with 1 CPU |
All it took was shutting the VRTX down and powering it back up. Non-Critical error is gone. | Hello.....I have a VRTX and got a non-critical alert under the Chassis Health section on the Chassis Management Controller Interface. The alert I got was "perc-1 Chassis Integrated 1 RAID Controller has left the fault tolerant pair". Everything is fine and all the green checkboxes are fine next to the fault tolerance. First question is How do I clear the Non-Critical Alert section? Second question is What does it mean when the chassis Integrated controller left as it is seems to be fine now? Any information would be a great help. Thank you. | Clearing Non-Critical Alerts on VRTX CMC |
Hi [NAME], There isn't any button/latch to press to pull out the rail extension. Can you try to remove the rail from the rack and try to check if the rail extender can be pulled out? Ref ReadyRail video on rail extender: [URL] | I recently purchased some rack rails. I can mount them just fine. However, only one of the two will extend. The other appears to be stuck. Is there a button I need to press to get them to extend? I can jiggle the inner rail about 0.5cm, but that's it; it won't extend. Not sure if I'm missing a button somewhere or if I just got a defective rail. | Rails Won't Extend |
christierneycfwt, Being that the support page only shows support to ESXi 7, I am not surprised it is having driver issues. At this point I am not certain if they will be adding support for ESXi 8 on the VRTX blades, mostly due to how new ESXi 8 is it may take time. Hope this helps. | I have three M620's and a "new" refurbished M630 in a Dell VRTX Chasis. I installed VMware ESXi 8 Custom Dell ISO on the M630. It does not recognize the Shared PERC 8 controller for the direct attached storage. I looked at the compatibility matrix for ESXi 8 and noted that the M620 and M630 blades for VRTX were absent. They are present in ESXi 7. I also see that I can download the Shared PERC 8 controller for ESXi 7u3, but not ESXi 8. It seems that Dell is still selling the VRTX, though this may be its last year. = What are Dell's plans to support VMware ESXi 8 and future editions? == Is there any way to install a driver for the Shared PERC 8 on ESXi 8? =Everything else about the installation appears to be working on the blade. I would like to get about 5+ more years out of this investment. Everything we run is super fast and has been super reliable, except for one iDRAC that became unresponsive on an M620 lately that I'm still looking into resolving. Thank you. | Dell VRTX Shared PERC 8 Not Available on VMware ESXi 8 |
Hello jgregory419, I could recommend checking for update after November. Dell engineering is aware of this issue and Intel plans to fix this issue at Nov Block FW. | I have a couple of servers that are not able to update the NIC firmware on. It gets about 30 seconds in and reboots with the following error in the lifecycle log: Unable to update the firmware of the component Intel(R) Ethernet X520 10GbE Dual Port KX4-KR Mezz to version 20.5.15 because the update operation was abruptly stopped. The reason for abrupt stoppage: Error preserving device configuration data. I have tried a few different ways of updating, through the lifecycle controller - both through the online repo as well as local file, boot to DUP ISO. I've tried a few different versions of firmware as well. Tried draining power and reseating the NIC adapters...Short of replacing the NICs, I'm not sure what else to try. Please help. Thank you, | M640 blade with x520 NIC adapters not updating. |
Hello to all, thank you guys for help and effort . As i read a lot of documnetation this card 0F9XF is only for Emc Poweredge C6420. i think this is the problem . i need 853XN or WMWJW. i dont see other explanation . | Hello all, How to set up BIOS for Boss card ? Pem640 server, BOSS card+240SSD added . Picture from Idrac : [IMAGE] Picture from BIOS Device Settings : No BOSS CARD or BOSS-S1 Configuration Utility.,am I miss something ? [IMAGE] | PEM640 BOSS card doesn´t exist in BIOS |
Hello tlconnelly, Thank you for your reply. I've checked Dell Part Number WXPCX (part description: HD,1.2TB,SAS12,10K,2.5), it is compatible with PowerEdge FD332. Please let us know, if you have any questions. Thank you. | I am trying to find affordable drives that are compatible with my FD332 storage array. Any help is appreciated. | PowerEdge FD332 Compatible Hard Drives |
Hello, I can't claim to know much about Juniper products, but I don't expect you'll be able to direclty connect these. Looking at the documentation, it seems like the closest link the MX9116n supports is still a 4x10GbE, per page 98 of the document below. OS10 Enterprise Edition User Guide for PowerEdge MX IO Modules Release 10.4.0E R3S ([URL] | Hi,is there a way to directly connect a MX9116n switch to my campus LAN main switch (Juniper EX 4200-24F) that has 1000BASE-X (SFP) ports and is 30 meters far away? | Connecting a MX9116n to the Campus LAN |
Hi, It seems that you have done most of the troubleshooting that I can think of. Can you check if you can ping the iDRAC IP? If yes, you can Telnet to the IP to reset the iDRAC. This is a long shot, and since you have done hardware removal from the chassis slot, but could you try virtual reseat the blade via the CMC GUI (under the troubleshooting tab) or via the racadm command below: racadm serveraction –m server-n reseat –fnote: n = the slot number the blade is housed in If else fails on the above steps I pointed, then you should open up a case. | Recently an SD card failed and we lost redundancy on this esxi host, a replacement card was procured and system put in maintenance mode and evacuated. I was logged in to the idrac at the time to verify which SD module needed replacement while the vmware admin powered the host from vcenter. The system now hangs at boot and does not get beyond "booting idrac" System was removed from chassis again, power button depressed for 30 seconds to discharge and reseated to no avail. Also tried removing down to single "good" SD slot 1, no change. The only other recommendation I've found is an old post referring to initiating a failover to the standby CMC in the chassis. CMC log shows the blade insert/removal but the idrac does not boot and from "racadm getversion" it shows "server-10 idrac not ready" Anyone have any other tricks before we open a T&M case on this out of warranty box? | m630 blade stuck booting idrac/flashing green power |
you can run below racadm command on CMC to get the iDRAC IP address of blades racadm getniccfg -m server-X X is slot number for which we need to get iDRAC IP address E.g. racadm getniccfg -m server-1 Run below command to get more help on getniccfg command racadm help getniccfg | Hello! Is there some way i can list (from the M1000 CMC cmd line) which slot/blade has which iDrac IP? I mean, i can "deploy" a blade/slot from the CMC cmd line, but i cant find a cmd that lists blade-IPs?! There must be some, right? wbr / Alex | Finding out iDrac IPs from CMC command line |