VMware ESXi is a type-1 bare metal hypervisor developed by VMware for deploying and serving virtual computers. Type-1 hypervisors run directly on physical hardware and have direct access to the hardware resources, enabling more efficient resource use and better performance than other architectures requiring an operating system.

Dell PowerFlex is a comprehensive, adaptable, and reliable solution that helps businesses modernize their IT infrastructure, increase agility, and meet the demands of modern workloads. The diagram below shows the breadth and depth of the options available for leveraging PowerFlex technology for enterprises:

This solution focuses on the use of VMware for AI computer vision applications that are highlighted in the outlined boxes in the diagram above. Implementing VMware ESXi PowerFlex storage services is typically deployed in one of two architectures:

• 2-Layer Architectures: consisting of Linux-based storage nodes that provide storage services to ESXi compute nodes.
• VMware HCI Architecture: This architecture consists of ESXi-based servers that run a dedicated Storage VM for Storage services and ESXi drivers that translate the PowerFlex proprietary protocol to the SCSI-based standard.

PowerFlex also supports hybrid clusters that consist of some nodes configured for HCI and other nodes configured for 2-Layer operation within a single management framework.

More details on these options are described in the Solution Architecture section.

The combined Dell plus VMware HCI architecture combines industry-leading hardware with integrated software to pool and manage storage, computing, and networking resources. It delivers massive performance, flexibility, and scalability benefits while simplifying IT operations and infrastructure-essential capabilities for optimizing enterprise IT agility and responsiveness to changing business needs.