Meet Deployment Needs as Varied as the Autumn Leaves with VxRail
Tue, 14 Nov 2023 17:57:28 -0000
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Meet Deployment Needs as Varied as the Autumn Leaves with VxRail
As we dive into the midst of the autumn season, the trees’ leaves all tint into a million hues of autumnal glee. Those of us in the US have the Thanksgiving holiday to look forward to. I’m certainly looking forward to a heaping plate of turkey and mashed potatoes all the while enjoying the seasonal beauty of a crisp autumn day. Like the many varieties of autumn leaves, VxRail is here to meet every hue of your deployment needs this season. The VxRail Technical Marketing team has recently released new video content showcasing how VxRail can suit a smorgasbord of colorful use cases.
VxRail within the Datacenter
For our first course, let’s discuss the VxRail with vSAN deployment flexibility video. Deploying VxRail clusters with vSAN is the most common deployment option, the turkey of this analogy. Prior to deploying a VxRail with vSAN cluster, one of the first choices to make relates to the storage architecture. Be sure to watch this video, if you want to learn more about VxRail deployments with vSAN and the original and express storage architectures. It will walk you through many of the details and benefits of using VxRail to power your vSAN-backed datacenter workloads.
If you aren’t particularly familiar with dynamic nodes, then our second-course video is certainly for you. Dynamic nodes are a fantastic way to bring additional compute power to the datacenter. They do so by offering compute-only nodes that leverage Dell SAN arrays for storage. When backed by PowerStore-T arrays, users can also take advantage of the Dynamic AppsOn feature. Dynamic AppsOn is a “better together” enhancement, much like a loaded baked potato. Datacenters aren’t the only ones with a place at the VxRail dinner table, though. There are also 2-node clusters and satellite node options that extend the benefits of VxRail automation to more locations.
Reaching Out to Branch Offices and Edge Sites
2-node clusters and satellite nodes are the mashed potatoes and gravy of the VxRail deployment story. Much like how you wouldn’t make a plate of only potatoes, these deployment types are meant to work with VxRail vSAN and dynamic node clusters. 2-node clusters are an excellent choice for branch locations because they allow administrators to extend the LCM and automation enhancements from primary datacenters to remote locations. Click the node above to find the VxRail video playlist, including 2-node clusters and satellite nodes.
Finally, we complete our deployment options with VxRail satellite nodes for dessert. Satellite nodes are stand-alone nodes managed by a VxRail cluster but aren’t cluster members themselves. For sites where even a 2-node cluster would be too large, they’re great for deployments at edge locations where even a 2-node cluster would be too much. If extending automation to site remote sites with small footprint requirements is something you need, try satellite nodes.
Regardless of the deployment type, all nodes run the same VxRail HCI System Software. This is why the user experience remains consistent among VxRail with vSAN clusters, dynamic node clusters, 2-node clusters, and satellite hosts. Daniel Chiu, from the VxRail Technical Marketing team created a video explaining all the advantages that the VxRail HCI System software provides. I would definitely recommend checking it out to gain a better understanding of the software that makes the VxRail experience possible.
Conclusion
Autumn is certainly one of my favorite seasons of the year. It brings much needed color into the world, and it feels like such a breath of fresh air. Much like how no two autumn leaves are the same tone of amber, we see an equal variety in needs when it comes to infrastructure deployments. No matter the business case, VxRail can be built to suit. If more resources are needed in the datacenter, VxRail clusters with vSAN can certainly fill that need. VxRail dynamic nodes also suit datacenter needs by providing compute power for Dell SAN arrays or even enhancing storage utilization through vSAN HCI Mesh. Both 2-node clusters and satellite nodes allow customers to extend their compute resources outside the datacenter to remote offices, branch offices, and other edge sites while simplifying the management activity needed to maintain this infrastructure.
Resources
- Increase Datacenter Efficiency and Storage Utilization with VxRail Dynamic Nodes - YouTube
- VxRail Video Series - YouTube
- Learning about the VxRail Advantage - YouTube
Author: Dylan Jackson, VxRail Technical Marketing