UPDATE 11/7/2023: This blog and the embedded YouTube videos were published after Dell APEX Cloud Platform for Microsoft Azure was first announced at Dell Technologies World 2023. It contains early preview content.

Please proceed to the following links to see the most up-to-date collateral and YouTube demo videos created after the platform was generally available Sept. 2023.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2nlzNk2-VMEkNM7E8m0ia_lLHWlOuT5h

https://infohub.delltechnologies.com/t/cloud-platforms/

It was another exhilarating Dell Technologies World (DTW) back in May. It’s always fun connecting with colleagues, customers, and partners in Las Vegas. As always, Vegas managed to surprise me with something I’d never seen before. I finally witnessed the incredible iLuminate team up close and personal at the APEX After Dark party. I tried to describe the phenomenon to a friend who hasn’t experienced one of their performances, but words cannot adequately convey this mesmerizing spectacle of sight and sound! In the end, only one of my photos from the event and a link to one of their recorded shows could make it real for them.

Similarly, words alone can’t do justice to the game changing potential of the new APEX Cloud Platform announced at DTW. That’s why I created a demo video giving customers an early preview[1] of the new management and orchestration capabilities coming to our APEX Cloud Platform Foundation Software. This software integrates intelligent automation into the familiar management tools of each supported cloud ecosystem – Microsoft Azure, Red Hat OpenShift, and VMware vSphere.

In this blog, I want to showcase APEX Cloud Platform for Microsoft Azure and the features and functionality we integrate into Microsoft Windows Admin Center. My colleague and friend, Kenny Lowe, wrote a brilliant analysis of our new solution in his recent blog post, Delving Into the APEX Cloud Platform for Microsoft Azure. He included some screen shots from my demo video, which hasn’t been shared publicly until now. I highly recommend reading his enlightening article, which provides invaluable context before viewing the demos.

Please be aware that the clips below are sections of a lengthier video that shares the story of a fictional retail company named WhyGoBuy. They used APEX Cloud Platform Foundation Software to accelerate their time to value and improve operational efficiency. Because this video was over 15 minutes long, I divided it into bite-sized chunks and included a brief introduction to each administrative task. You can view the full video HERE.

Seeing is believing

Without further ado, let’s dive into the technology!

At initial release of APEX Cloud Platform for Microsoft Azure, Dell Technologies is offering a white-glove deployment experience through Dell ProDeploy Services. Our expert technicians will walk you through your first deployments to help you get comfortable with the process. Soon after announcing general availability, we will empower you to install the platform yourself using the APEX Cloud Platform Foundation Software deployment automation. In this first video, our administrators at WhyGoBuy followed the step-by-step user input configuration method and provided the settings in each step of the deployment wizard.

The next video presents a common Day 2 operations scenario. Some of WhyGoBuy’s Storage Spaces Direct volumes were approaching maximum capacity, and one volume required immediate attention. Luckily, APEX Cloud Platform for Microsoft Azure offered a consistent hybrid management experience. Administrators were promptly made aware of the issue through Azure Monitor, which provided observability for their entire fleet of platforms across data center and edge locations. Then, they navigated to the Windows Admin Center extension for further investigation and remediation of the issue.

Lifecycle management is critical to ensuring the optimal security, performance, and reliability of any infrastructure. With APEX Cloud Platform Foundation Software, Dell helps our customers remain in a continuously validated state – updating the platform from one known good state to the next, inclusive of hardware, operating system, and systems management software. A few months passed since WhyGoBuy deployed their first platform, and the time came to apply a quarterly baseline bundle using the Windows Admin Center extension. The following video captures their experience.

WhyGoBuy was committed to maintaining a robust security posture. They used APEX Cloud Platform Foundation Software intrinsic infrastructure security management features to help them accomplish this. The next video showcases two of these features:

Infrastructure Lock – Protects against unauthorized or malicious changes to configuration settings by enabling the System Lockdown feature in Dell iDRAC. This also prevents updates to BIOS, firmware, and drivers to guard against cybersecurity attacks.
Secured-core server – Proactively defends against many of the paths attackers might use to exploit a system by establishing a hardware root-of-trust, protecting firmware, and introducing virtualization-based security.

In this final video, WhyGoBuy set up connectivity to Dell ProSupport to benefit from log collection, phone home, automated case creation, and remote support. They also wanted to send telemetry data to Dell CloudIQ cloud-based software for multi-cluster monitoring. CloudIQ provided proactive monitoring, machine learning, and predictive analytics so they could take quick action and simplify operations of all their on-premises APEX Cloud Platforms.

The future’s so bright

We are excited to bring Dell APEX Cloud Platform for Microsoft Azure to market later this year. I’ve compiled the following list of available resources for further learning.

After we launch this solution, you’ll be able to find white papers, videos, blogs, and more at the APEX tile at our Info Hub site.

And as always, please reach out to your Dell account team if you would like to have more in-depth discussions about the APEX portfolio. If you don’t currently have a Dell contact, we’re here to help on our corporate website.

Author: Michael Lamia, Engineering Technologist at Dell Technologies

Follow me on Twitter: @Evolving_Techie

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaellamia/

Email: michael.lamia@dell.com

[1] Dell APEX Cloud Platform for Microsoft Azure will be generally available later in 2023. Some of the features and functionality depicted in these videos may behave differently at initial release or may not be available until later releases. Dell makes no representation and undertakes no obligations with regard to product planning information, anticipated product characteristics, performance specifications, or anticipated release dates (collectively, “Roadmap Information”). Roadmap Information is provided by Dell as an accommodation to the recipient solely for the purposes of discussion and without intending to be bound thereby.

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Preview of Intelligent Automation in Dell APEX Cloud Platform for Microsoft Azure

Seeing is believing

The future’s so bright