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Design Guide – Consuming PowerFlex Block Storage from Dell APEX Cloud Platform for Microsoft Azure
Introduction Architecture Concepts and Requirements
Architecture Concepts and Requirements
Architecture concepts
Overview APEX Cloud Platform for Azure PowerFlex software-defined storage Data mobility Data encryption
Solution requirements
MC node and PowerFlex node hardware requirements Networking requirements Deployment model requirements Day 2 operations
Verification Summary and additional resources

Solution requirements

Home > APEX > Cloud Platforms > Guides > Design Guide – Consuming PowerFlex Block Storage from Dell APEX Cloud Platform for Microsoft Azure > Solution requirements

Solution requirements

  • Deployment model requirements

    APEX Cloud Platform for Azure running Azure Stack HCI baseline release 2405 or higher can be configured to consume storage from new PowerFlex clusters or PowerFlex clusters already running in your IT environment.

    Dell ProDeploy Services performs the APEX Cloud Platform for Azure deployment and the deployment of newly purchased PowerFlex clusters on-premises. The configuration must remain within the boundaries of the minimum and maximum cluster sizes found in the following table. You can connect multiple APEX Cloud Platforms to one PowerFlex cluster. Also, these clusters must remain homogenous.

    Table 2. Minimum and maximum supported cluster sizes
    Node type Minimum cluster size Maximum cluster size
    Azure Stack HCI nodes 3 16
    PowerFlex Nodes 4 512

    You can start with the MC node hardware specifications and cluster size that is required to meet current workload requirements and scale when demand increases. You can add one MC node at a time to a maximum cluster size of 16 nodes to increase performance and capacity. You can also scale up S2D capacity on the MC nodes in an automated fashion using the APEX Cloud Platform Foundation Software if necessary.

    New and existing PowerFlex clusters that are used for block storage consumption by Azure Stack HCI must meet the following specifications to be supported:

    Table 3. PowerFlex cluster requirements
    Item Requirement
    Consumption options Rack, appliance, and custom nodes
    Deployment architectures Independent compute and storage (two-layer), HCI (single-layer) or a mixture of the two. In this DVD, two-layer is strongly recommended for optimal performance.
    Minimum PowerFlex software version 3.6
    Latest PowerFlex software version 4.6

    At a high level, these are the steps required to configure APEX Cloud Platform for Azure with PowerFlex. More explicit instructions are provided in the DVD implementation guide:

    • Install and configure a supported version of the SDC driver that is compatible with your PowerFlex SDS version on each Azure Stack HCI cluster node. This SDC driver facilitates the communication with the PowerFlex cluster over the IP network.
    • Select available IP addresses from the two storage networks that are configured on the PowerFlex cluster and note the networks' subnet masks.
    • Create a new Network ATC intent on the Azure Stack HCI cluster with associated storage vNICs using the PowerFlex storage networking information.
    • Create and map new volumes on the PowerFlex cluster using PowerFlex Manager.
    • Create new Azure Stack HCI CSVs from the mapped PowerFlex volumes using Windows Admin Center and PowerShell.