Components in the AX nodes from Dell Technologies are carefully selected and balanced for customers’ intended workloads and use cases. The solution is correctly sized to meet the needs of today’s business and to expand easily to accommodate future growth. Customers have typically used the platform for running the diverse portfolio of applications that are found in remote branch offices, large-scale virtual desktop implementations, resource-demanding Microsoft SQL Server environments, and more.
You can choose from three distinct platforms: AX-640, AX-740xd, and AX-6515. The three platforms provide configuration options that are broad enough to meet the performance and availability requirements of many applications. The following table describes the AX nodes from Dell Technologies portfolio:
Table 1. AX nodes from Dell Technologies portfolio
Platform | Description | Target workload and use case | Storage configurations available |
AX-640 node | Performance- and density-optimized 1U Intel-based form factor | Most demanding databases and workloads requiring high performance and low latency, dense virtualization clusters, service provider application tiers | Hybrid and all-flash. HDD, SSD, NVMe, and the only platform for Intel Optane persistent memory and Intel Optane SSDs |
AX-740xd node | Storage- and capacity-optimized 2U Intel-based form factor | Applications requiring significant storage capacity, big data, analytics, service provider data tiers | Hybrid and all-flash. HDD, SSD, and NVMe |
AX-6515 node | Value-optimized 1U short depth AMD-based form factor | ROBO and edge use cases, providing increased security through processor diversification | All-flash SSD |
As part of a Windows Server HCI solution, networking is validated. Various network configuration options are thoroughly tested and detailed in the Network Integration and Host Network Configuration Options guide. Dell Technologies highly recommends the Dell EMC PowerSwitch S5200-ON family of switches as they provide up to 32 100 GbE ports in a 1RU footprint and deliver outstanding levels of throughput. The following figure shows different switch models with various speeds and port configurations that meet every use case:
Figure 1. Dell EMC PowerSwitch S5200-ON family of switches for Windows Server HCI