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The solution deployment was set up with four Dell APEX MC760 nodes hosting clustered instances of Azure Stack HCI OS. An AKS cluster, which hosts Microsoft Azure AI Services workload containers, was deployed on this platform.
The following image depicts the overall solution architecture of the various components of Dell APEX Cloud Platform for Microsoft Azure and the components deployed on top of it:
The MC760 node is a 2U, two-socket enterprise rack node equipped with Intel Xeon processor (Intel® X® Gold 6448Y) family, designed to enhance performance for workloads like AI, data-intensive enterprise infrastructure applications and multicloud compute.
The table below captures the specifications of components for each configured MC760 node for this use case:
Name | Version/Model |
Model | Dell APEX MC760 |
ACP Foundation Software | 01.01.00.00 |
Microsoft Azure Stack HCI (OS) | 10.0.25398 Build 25398 (64-bit) |
Azure Kubernetes Services | 1.26.6 |
BIOS Version | 1.6.6 |
iDRAC Firmware Version | 7.00.60.201 |
Controller | Dell HBA355i |
NICs | 2 x NVIDIA ConnectX-6 Lx 2x 25G 2 x Intel(R) Ethernet 100G 2P E810-C Adapter |
CPU | 2 x Intel(R) Xeon(R) Gold 6448Y @ 2100 MT/s, 32 Core Count |
Memory | 512 as 16 x 32 GB DIMMs |
Two Dell PowerSwitch S5232F-ON family switches were configured for this deployment. The NVIDIA ConnectX-6 Lx 2x 25G SFP28 OCP3.0 SFF and Intel(R) Ethernet 100G 2P E810-C Adapter cards were leveraged to create two intents: one for our Compute and Management traffic, and another for the Remote Direct Memory Access (RDMA) traffic for the storage sub-system respectively.
Note: For more information about network configuration and various other options available, see the Dell Technologies SmartFabric OS10 Networking Requirements for Azure APEX Cloud Platform Tech Brief.
Dell APEX Cloud Platform for Microsoft Azure
The Dell APEX Cloud Platform for Microsoft Azure, the first Microsoft Premier Solution for Azure Stack HCI, is engineered collaboratively with Microsoft to optimize Azure hybrid cloud operations. It empowers organizations to unlock innovation with a consistent Azure experience across their IT environments. The platform enhances Azure operations by providing consistent management and operations with centralized Azure tools. It also mitigates security and compliance risks with an intrinsic approach to security that extends Azure governance across all deployment environments. Through extensive integrations and numerous automations, the APEX Cloud Platform empowers IT organizations to simplify app modernization and accelerate AI adoption.
Dell APEX Cloud Platform Foundation Software
The APEX Cloud Platform Foundation Software is the glue that sits between Dell infrastructure and the partner operating environment. This software brings simplicity for deploying, managing, and bridging the skills gaps for customers operating a hybrid cloud infrastructure:
Service architecture overview
The Azure AI Translator and Speech containers, pulled from the Microsoft Container Registry (MCR), were deployed on the AKS cluster established on the platform. While deploying the containers successfully in a connected manner, effective RBAC policies must be configured for the users deploying these respective services. Once deployed, the API keys and URLs are passed for these containers for billing and operations in the connected environment. For more information about Azure AI Speech and Translator containers deployment, see the following Microsoft articles:
The image below depicts the deployed service containers.
Partner overview