Traditionally, on-premises private cloud virtualization environments have existed in one of two architectures: Three tier, with x86 servers, a storage fabric, and Dell EMC SAN or NAS storage, or HCI like VxRail, where the hypervisor incorporates a software defined storage capability.
These two architectures have typically been targeted at different use cases and markets. However, a transformation has occurred where customer demand has these two architectures increasingly used side-by-side, and use cases no longer provide a clear benefit of one architecture over the other.
Dynamic nodes provide the increased flexibility of choice to meet specific application requirements as needed based for compute or storage capacity and features, including the following:
- In an existing VxRail environment where the need for storage capacity has outpaced growth in compute, adding the additional VxRail nodes to meet this storage need will incur a premium of unneeded compute. Adding external storage in the form of Dell EMC PowerStore T meets this demand for increased storage while increasing the choice of storage data services offered.
- For out-of-sync servers and storage refresh cycles, server refresh cycles tend to be needed around every three years, while higher costing of storage infrastructure is refreshed less often, typically around every five years. This results in an existing vSphere environment with Dell EMC SAN or NAS where the servers are due for replacement. As is often the case, the demands of the business change over time, as does the available technology. By adding VxRail with vSAN nodes, customer gain VxRail Lifecycle Management while increasing the choice of storage data services offered with vSAN storage.
- In modern data centers, there exists a range of applications with a vast range of storage needs, which no single architecture or solution can meet. Business demands continue to press for efficiencies and breaking down siloed infrastructure. By combining VxRail with vSAN nodes and Dell EMC PowerStore T in a single environment, customers can effectively meet more of the business requirements demanded of them.
Building a solution with VxRail dynamic nodes and PowerStore provides world-class performance, flexibility, support, and services.