Dell Solutions for Microsoft Azure Stack HCI encompasses various configurations of the following platforms to power the primary compute cluster that is deployed as Hyper-Converged Infrastructure (HCI):
- AX-640
- AX-650
- AX-740xd
- AX-750
- AX-6515
- AX-7525
- AX-760
- AX-4510c
- AX-4520c
These configurations use a flexible architecture rather than a fixed component design. This flexibility in component choice provides different options for integrating the server nodes as a solution and in the host network configuration.
Dell Solutions for Microsoft Azure Stack HCI can be deployed in two different usage models:
- The scalable model supports from one to 16 nodes in a cluster, and uses top-of-rack switches for management and storage traffic networking.
- The switchless storage usage model uses full mesh connections between the cluster nodes for storage traffic and supports from two to four nodes in a cluster.
- The scalable model supports fully converged, non-converged physical, and non-converged Switch-Embedded Teaming (SET) storage options.
- The switchless storage networking model supports single-link full mesh and dual-link full mesh topologies.
The following figure shows the network integration options available based on Dell Solutions for Microsoft Azure Stack HCI:
This guide describes the complete list of integration options for the scalable storage usage model, host operating system configuration options, and provides PowerShell commands to complete the host operating system network configuration.
The following documents provide instructions to configure top-of-rack networking switches:
- Microsoft HCI Solutions from Dell Technologies:Switch Configurations, iWARP Mellanox (RoCE)and Intel E810 (iWARP) Cards
- Microsoft HCI Solutions from Dell Technologies:Switch Configurations, iWARP (Qlogic CardsOnly)
This guide provides an overview of the topology and deployment instructions for the scalable integration option.