Preserving data integrity in case of unplanned power events

The challenge

Over the last few years, VxRail has evolved significantly -- becoming an ideal platform for most use cases and applications, spanning the core data center, edge locations, and the cloud. With its simplicity, scalability, and flexibility, it’s a great foundation for customers’ digital transformation initiatives, as well as high value and more demanding workloads, such as SAP HANA.

Running more business-critical workloads requires following best practices regarding data protection and availability. Dell Technologies specializes in data protection solutions and offers a portfolio of products that can fulfill even the most demanding RPO/RTO requirements from our customers. However, we are probably not giving enough attention to the other area related to this topic: protection against power disturbances and outages. Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) systems are at the heart of a data center’s electrical systems, and because VxRail is running critical workloads, it is a best practice to leverage a UPS to protect them and to ensure data integrity in case of unplanned power events. I want to highlight a solution from one of our partners – Eaton.

The solution

Eaton is an Advantage member of the Dell EMC Technology Connect Partner Program and the first UPS vendor who integrated their solution with VxRail. Eaton’s solution is a great example of how Dell Technologies partners can leverage VxRail APIs to provide additional value for our joint customers. Having integrated  Eaton’s Intelligent Power Manager (IPM) software with VxRail APIs, and leveraged Eaton’s Gigabit Network Card, the solution can run on the same protected VxRail cluster. This removes the need for additional external compute infrastructure to host the power management software - just a compatible Eaton UPS is required.

The solution consists of:

• VxRail version min. 4.5.300, 4.7.x, 7.0.x and above
• Eaton IPM SW v 1.67.243 or above
• Eaton UPS – 5P, 5PX, 9PX, 9SX, 93PM, 93E, 9PXM
• Eaton M2 Network Card FW v 1.7.5
• IPM Gold License Perpetual

The main benefits are:

• Preserving data integrity and business continuity by enabling automated and graceful shutdown of VxRail clusters that are experiencing unplanned extended power events
• Reducing the need for onsite IT staff with simple set-up and remote management of power infrastructure using familiar VMware tools
• Safeguarding the VxRail system from power anomalies and environmental threats

How does it work?

It’s quite simple (see the figure below). What’s interesting and unique is that the IPM software, which is running on the cluster, delegates the final shutdown of the system VMs and cluster to the card in the UPS device, and the card uses VxRail APIs to execute the cluster shutdown.

Figure 1. Eaton UPS and VxRail integration explained

Summary

Protection against unplanned power events should be a part of a business continuity strategy for all customers who run their critical workloads on VxRail. This ensures data integrity by enabling automated and graceful shutdown of VxRail cluster(s). Eaton’s solution is a great example of providing such protection and how Dell Technologies partners can leverage VxRail APIs to provide additional value for our joint customers.

Additional resources:

Eaton website: Eaton ensures connectivity and protects Dell EMC VxRail from power disturbances

Brochure: Eaton delivers advanced power management for Dell EMC VxRail systems

Blog post: Take VxRail automation to the next level by leveraging APIs

Author: Karol Boguniewicz, Senior Principal Engineer, VxRail Technical Marketing

Twitter: @cl0udguide