Day 1 – Deploying an APEX Private Cloud Subscription
Fri, 04 Nov 2022 19:03:21 -0000
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Ordering and deploying new physical infrastructure for a business-critical application is often challenging.
This series of blogs reveals the Dell differences that simplify the complex task of infrastructure deployment[1], specifically the processes of fulfillment, configuration, and workload creation. These steps are typically referred to as Day 0, Day 1, and Day 2, respectively. Each blog in this series will show how an APEX subscription can remove complexity and achieve quicker time to value and operational efficiency. (In this blog series, we assume that the application being built requires the compute resources of a 4-node general purpose APEX Private Cloud Dell-integrated rack, ordered through the APEX console with typical network and power requirements.)
Before we dive in, let’s review briefly what has happened so far during the fulfillment stage after an order for a subscription is submitted. To get to this point, the APEX backend business coordination team has been orchestrating the entire fulfillment process, including people, parts, and procedures. The Dell Project Manager and Planning & Optimization Manager have been in frequent contact with the customer, assisting them with configuration and site review. Dell team members support the customer through the Enterprise Project Services portal: a planning and approval tool that allows customer visibility throughout the deployment process, from setting up the host network, to verifying and validating the new hardware. During planning, the Dell Customer Success Manager meets the customer and becomes the customer’s main point of contact for Day 2 operations and afterward.
Delivery day begins when Dell’s preferred shipping partner carefully escorts the rack from the customer loading area to the tile where it needs to be installed inside the customer’s data center. While the rack is being shipped and installed, the Dell Project Manager assigns and coordinates with an on-site professional services technician.
Day 1
Day 1 starts when the professional services technician arrives at the customer site, ready to configure the rack with the agreed upon options. The technician first inspects the rack inside and out, making sure that the wiring is secure and that there are no electrical or physical hazards. The technician then guides the customer or the customer’s electrician to plug the PDUs into datacenter power, and to power up the rack. The technician also plugs the customer provided network uplink cables into the APEX switches. When power and networking are connected, the technician verifies that all systems are in compliance and validated for the next steps.
The technician then configures the APEX switches and works with the customer to get the switches communicating on the customer’s core network, according to the specifications previously agreed upon during the planning meetings. Each APEX Private Cloud rack is pre-wired for 24 compute nodes, regardless of the number of nodes in a subscription. This forward-thinking feature is yet another Dell difference that simplifies rapid expansion. (When the need for an expansion arises, the customer can contact their CSM directly to expedite the order process. Both Dell-integrated and customer provided rack options come with on-site configuration by a professional services technician.)
After the technician performs network health checks, the technician initiates the cluster build. Upon verification and validation of the APEX compute nodes, the technician installs the latest VxRail Manager and vCenter on each, to tie all nodes together into a robust, highly available cluster.
With APEX VxRail compute nodes, customers get a broad range of benefits from the only hardware platform that is co-engineered with VMware. VxRail is a highly-trusted platform with thousands of tested and validated firmware and hypervisor installations around the globe. Each node hosts an instance of the integrated Dell Remote Access Controller (iDRAC) with the latest security and update features. Built-in automations include hot node addition and removal, capacity expansions, and graceful cluster shutdown.
An APEX subscription also includes Dell’s Secure Connect Gateway appliance, which proactively monitors compute nodes and switches. If an anomaly is detected, the appliance gathers logs and issues a support ticket, reducing the time it takes to resolve problems if they arise.
VMware vCenter on VxRail, included with each APEX Private Cloud subscription, comes equipped with Dell integrations such as firmware, driver, and power alerts, and an intuitive physical view to help resolve any hardware issues simply and quickly. Dell is the customer’s single point of contact for help with our streamlined Pro Deploy Plus service and Pro Support Plus with Mission Critical Support - all included in the customer’s APEX Private Cloud subscription.
After the latest versions of VxRail Manager and vCenter are installed, the technician brings up the vCenter interface at an IP address, in accordance with the customer’s network requests. Even after the technician is gone and additional help is needed, customers can ask support to review and help guide updates twice a year at no additional cost.
While the underlying hardware is essential and a major differentiator when comparing Dell to the rest of the market, the spirit behind APEX is to provide the best possible outcome for the customer by removing the complexity when deploying a rack-scale solution. To achieve this goal, the APEX Console simplifies the planning process with a wide variety of subscription choices with preconfigured compute, memory, and GPU accelerators. This means that the customer can easily select the number and type of instances they need, or use the Cloud Sizer for assistance to match their workload needs to the available subscription options. The customer can use the APEX Console to contact support directly, manage console users, and assign roles and permissions to those with console access to facilitate the entire lifecycle of their subscription.
Licensing
After vCenter is up and running, the technician installs enterprise licenses for both vCenter and vSAN. APEX is flexible enough that the customer can also bring their own licenses for a potential discount on their subscription. If this is the case, during the planning phase and prior to the subscription order, VMware will review the licenses to eliminate any lapses during the APEX subscription term.
All APEX Private Cloud subscriptions include 60-day full-feature trial licenses for VMware Tanzu and NSX Advanced Load Balancer. After licenses are installed and all software stacks are running successfully, the Dell technician securely hands the usernames and passwords to the customer and requests that they change the passwords.
Additional Services
The technician is also available to configure additional services such as a stretched cluster within the rack, deduplication compression, and in-flight or at-rest encryption. The technician can also help stretch a cluster across racks and to configure fault domains. Although these additional services and costs need to be declared and agreed to during the planning phase, this is well within the capabilities of Dell professional services.
When all the customer requested services are up and running, the technician updates the EPS portal to conclude their tasks and to offer any notes and feedback on the process.
At this point the customer’s subscription is activated! Customers can now move into Day 2 operations and start using new resources for various business workloads.
Resources
Author: David O’Dell, Senior Principal Tech Marketing Engineer - APEX
[1] Deployment time is measured between order acceptance and activation. The 28-day deployment applies to single rack deployments of select APEX Cloud services pre-configured solutions and does not include customizations to the standard configuration.