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This chapter describes the components of the 3-Tier Platform solution and methods for sizing your implementation of the solution.
The following table shows the hardware and software components that Dell Technologies recommends for 3-Tier Platform resources:
Solution resource | Components |
Management | An integrated management option run on the Cisco UCS X or B series blade servers. |
Virtualization |
|
Compute |
|
| |
| |
Network | Systems with Cisco UCS 4th-generation and 5th-generation components:
|
Storage |
|
The following table shows the domain requirements for the Cisco compute components:
Component | Minimum | Cisco UCS 4th generation | Cisco UCS 5th generation |
Cisco UCS domain | 1 | 7 | 7 |
Cisco UCS 5108 blade server chassis | 2 | 11 per domain, up to 77 on a Cisco UCS 6454 FI 20 per domain, up to 160 on a Cisco UCS 64108 FI | N/A |
Cisco UCS X9508 chassis | 2 | 11 per domain, up to 77 on a Cisco UCS 6454 FI 20 per domain, up to 160 on a Cisco UCS 64108 FI | 14 per domain, up to 112 with two-link 100 Gbps IFM connectivity (4x100 Gbps Ethernet and 16x32 Gbps FC Uplinks) |
Cisco UCS B-Series Servers with M6 servers | 3 | Eight half-width servers per Cisco UCS 5108 chassis (616 total) | N/A |
Cisco UCS C-Series rack servers with M6 servers | 3 | 44 dual ports, 22 total with quad port on the Cisco UCS 6454 FI 88 dual ports, 44 total with quad port on the Cisco UCS 64108 FI 160 x 10 Gbps or 25 Gbps Cisco UCS C- Series rack servers using FEX connect mode, per domain (1,120 total) on the Cisco UCS 6454 FI only. | As many as 28 single-link (one per side) with 100 Gbps links. This can be achieved with 4 x100. Gbps Ethernet and 16x32 Gbps FC uplinks. |
Cisco UCS X210c M6 Compute Node | 3 | Eight full-height blade servers per Cisco UCS X9508 chassis | Eight full-height blade servers per Cisco UCS X9508 chassis (784 total across seven domains) |
Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Server for bare metal deployments | 1 | UCS domain supported up to 160 total servers per domain (1,120 total) | Cisco UCS supports up to 160 total servers per domain (1,120 total). |
In 4th generation environments, you can add more Cisco UCS servers and Cisco UCS 5108 or X9508 chassis in IMM.
The combined components offer balanced CPU, I/O bandwidth, and storage capacity relative to the 3-Tier Platform compute and storage arrays. All components have a minimum of N+1 redundancy.
The following table shows the maximum number of servers with seven domains for FIs:
Table 111. Permitted number of servers with fabric interconnects
FI | Cisco UCS B-Series blade servers | Cisco UCS X-Series nodes | Cisco C-Series rack servers | |
Half-width |
| Direct connect | FEX connect | |
Cisco UCS 6454 | 616 | 616 | 308 | 1120 |
Cisco UCS 64108 | 1120 | 1120 | 616 | N/A |
Cisco UCS 6536 | N/A | 784 (100 Gbps IFM) | 196 (100 Gbps connectivity) | N/A |
The following table shows the requirements for IMM components:
Table 112. IMM component requirements
Component | Model |
FIs |
|
Chassis |
|
Servers |
|
IOM with an IFM |
|
FEX | Cisco Nexus 2232PP FEX (on 6454 FIs only) |
The following table shows the network component requirements:
Table 113. Network component requirements
Component | Minimum | Maximum |
Cisco Nexus 91308TC-FX3P management switches | One pair 96 management ports | Two pairs of 192 management ports |
Cisco Nexus 92348GC-X management switches | One pair 96 management ports | Two pairs of 192 management ports |
Cisco Nexus 9336C-FX2 management aggregation switches | N/A | One pair |
Cisco Nexus 9336C-FX2 data plane switches | One pair | Nine pairs |
Table 114. SAN component requirements
Component | Quantity |
Cisco MDS 9148T, 9396T, 9706-v2 or 9710-v2 multilayer fabric switches | One pair |
The following table shows the requirements for PowerMax storage arrays:
Table 115. PowerMax requirements
Storage array | Component | Minimum | Maximum |
PowerMax 8500 | Engine | 1 | 8 |
Front-end ports | 16 | 256 | |
Drive support | 10 | 384 | |
PowerMax 2500 | Engine | 1 | 2 |
Front-end ports | 16 | 64 | |
Drive support | 10 | 96 |
You can have up to four appliances in a PowerStore T cluster. Each appliance has two nodes (storage processors) and up to three disk expansion units. Base enclosures in an SCM configuration do not support expansion enclosures. The maximum number of drives in an SCM configuration is 21.
The following table provides information about 2nd-generation PowerStore 500T, 1200T, 3200T, 5200T, and 9200T drives. The drive counts come from the use of newer IOMs and different expansion enclosures: IOMv1 supports SAS expansion enclosures with a maximum of 96 drives per appliance, while IOMv2 supports the NVMe expansion enclosures with a maximum of 93 drives per appliance.
The following table shows the hardware requirements:
Table 116. PowerStore hardware requirements
Storage array model | Minimum drives | Maximum drives | Minimum FC/ Eth IOMs | Maximum FC/ Eth IOMs | NVRAM drives | 25 GbE SFP-based Mezz 0 card |
PowerStore 500T | 6 | 93 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 2 |
PowerStore 1200T | 6 | 93 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 2 |
PowerStore 3200T | 6 | 93 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 2 |
PowerStore 5200T | 6 | 93 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 2 |
PowerStore 9200T | 6 | 93 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 2 |
Note: Block-only single appliance clusters do not require a Mezz 0 card. All other clusters require two Mezz O cards.
Front-end connectivity:
The following table shows the number of drives that are supported in a PowerScale Generation 6.5 cluster:
Table 117. Number of drives supported in a PowerScale Generation 6.5 cluster
Storage array | Drives supported in a PowerScale Generation 6.5 cluster |
F200 | Four 2.5 in. drives |
F600 | Eight 2.5 in. drives |
F900 | 24 2.5 in drives |
The following table shows the PowerScale configuration with Cisco Nexus 9336C-FX2 data plane switches:
Table 118. PowerScale configurations with Cisco Nexus switches
Configuration | Number of required switch pairs | Switch requirements |
Minimum | 1 | Six 10 Gbps ports or two 40 Gbps ports for 10 Gbps nodes |
Six 25 Gbps ports or two 100 Gbps ports for 25 Gbps nodes | ||
Six 40 Gbps ports for 40 Gbps nodes | ||
Six 100 Gbps ports for 100 Gbps nodes | ||
Maximum | 8 | Six 10 Gbps ports (provided by two QSFP+ ports that are broken out to four 10 Gbps SFP+ connections each). |
Six 25 Gbps ports (provided by two QSFP28 ports that are broken out to four 25 Gbps connections each). | ||
Six 40 Gbps ports for 40 Gbps nodes. | ||
Six 100 Gbps ports for 100 Gbps nodes |
The Cisco Nexus operating system 9.3 (1) or later is required on the ToR switch to support more than 144 nodes.
Front-end connectivity:
The following table shows the maximum drive requirements for PowerScale hybrid and archive storage arrays:
Table 119. PowerScale hybrid and archive drive requirements
Storage array | Drive count per chassis |
H700 | 15 3.5 in drives |
H7000 | 20 3.5 in drives |
A300 | 15 3.5 in drives |
A3000 | 20 3.5 in drives |
The following table provides configuration information for PowerScale hybrid and archive nodes with Cisco Nexus 9336C-FX2 data plane switches:
Table 110. PowerScale hybrid and archive requirements with Cisco Nexus 9336C-FX2 switches
Configuration | Number of required switch pairs | Switch requirements |
Minimum | 1 | Eight 10 Gbps ports or two 40 Gbps ports for 10 Gbps nodes |
Eight 25 Gbps ports or two 100 Gbps ports for 25 Gbps nodes | ||
Eight 40 Gbps ports for 40 Gbps nodes | ||
Eight 100 Gbps ports for 100 Gbps nodes | ||
Maximum | 8 | Eight 10 Gbps ports (provided by two QSFP+ ports that are broken out to four 10 Gbps SFP+ connections each). |
Eight 25 Gbps ports (provided by two QSFP28 ports that are broken out to four 25 Gbps connections each). | ||
Eight 40 Gbps ports for 40 Gbps nodes | ||
Eight 100 Gbps ports for 100 Gbps nodes |
Cisco Nexus operating system 9.3(1) or later is required on the ToR switch to support more than 144 nodes.
The following table shows the requirements for Unity XT storage arrays:
Table 111. Unity XT storage requirements
Unity XT array type | Model | Minimum drives | Maximum drives |
Dell Unity XT Hybrid | 380 | 10 | 500 |
480 | 10 | 750 | |
680 | 10 | 1000 | |
880 | 10 | 1500 | |
Dell Unity XT All Flash | 380F | 10 | 500 |
480F | 10 | 750 | |
680F | 10 | 1000 | |
880F | 10 | 1500 |