Overview
APEX Private Cloud and APEX Hybrid Cloud allow expansion of a subscription by adding more instance block groups to an existing cluster or by adding new clusters. The APEX Configuration sizer tool will assist in calculating a recommended capacity expansion. APEX instance sizing is also now supported in the VxRail Sizing Tool.
Scaling Out
Expand you APEX Private Cloud on-premises cluster capacity by adding extra clusters to your subscriptions from the APEX console with the required number of instances and storage.
With APEX Hybrid Cloud, use the APEX console to add management block groups or add extra clusters to your subscription with the required number of instances and storage.
There are flexible options for data storage with independent scaling of resources. Compute-only vSphere clusters with no vSAN enable users to scale compute and storage independently based on your workload needs. This provides more flexibility to meet a wide range of workload requirements and freedom in how you choose to store data to best fit your business needs. The key use cases for the no vSAN option are:
- Connect and utilize existing vSAN with HCI Mesh.
- Connect with APEX Data Storage Services or Dell storage arrays such as PowerFlex, PowerStore-T, PowerMax, or Unity XT.
- Refresh or transition infrastructure at your pace for different procurement cycles.
VMware Horizon
The scaling limit for vSAN is restricted by the limits of the hypervisor at 64 nodes per block. The boundary for a Horizon block is the vCenter. The number of VMs a vCenter can host depends on the type of Horizon 8 VMs being used. The recommended limit of virtual machines per vCenter is 20,000 full-clone or instant-clone VMs.
Sizing recommendations change over time as updates are released and qualifications are performed. See the VMware Configuration Maximums website for the latest recommendations.
This Dell Validated Design for VDI uses instant clones, as shown in the following figures.
VMware recommends a limit of 5,000 instant-clone VMs per block. With these limits in mind, 25 compute nodes with 200 task-user VMs per node would reach the maximum number of VMs for the block.
The following figure shows a single 5,000-user block:
The following figure shows a scale-out to a 20,000-user Horizon vSAN pod with 5,000 user blocks. Each block contains its own vCenter Server instance and VDI components.