Dell Technologies node expansion focuses on increasing the capacity of an existing solution that is powered by a Dell EMC Integrated System (hybrid or all-flash SU). Node expansion offers flexibility to existing customers to increase their capacity in homogenous increments of either a single node, multiple single nodes, a set of four nodes, or multiple sets of four nodes. Each new SU node must be homogenous with the nodes present in the existing stack, which means that it has the same CPU type, memory, disk number, and disk size. Customers can expand their capacity up to 16 SU nodes.
Node expansion for the solution is an automated process. Full details are available in the Dell EMC Integrated System for Microsoft Azure Stack Hub Customer Node Expansion Guide.
The following figure shows the workflow of customer delivery and deployment of node expansion for the Dell EMC Integrated System.
Figure 51. Customer delivery and deployment workflow for node expansion
The following figure shows the high-level workflow for adding an SU node to an Azure Stack Hub SU. The node expansion workflow is run from the OpenManage Enterprise virtual machine.
Figure 52. Node expansion workflow
The following table lists the minimum hardware components that are required for the node expansion process.
Table 40. Hardware components for node expansion
Components |
Quantity |
Details |
Operational Dell EMC Integrated System for Microsoft Azure Stack Hub |
1 |
Existing customers owning a Dell EMC Integrated System server (hybrid, all-flash, or dense configuration) For details about the servers, see:
|
Additional SU nodes |
1 or 4 (multiples) |
You can only order SU nodes in quantities of one or four. All nodes in the integrated system must be homogenous, including the nodes that are being added. The total nodes (after the expansion is complete) cannot exceed sixteen. |
Node expansion requires a working Dell EMC Integrated System to which new SU node or nodes are added. After they order new nodes, customers must ensure that the following prerequisites are met before installation:
The Dell Technologies Support team can help customers with any queries.
Customers must modify their existing Dell EMC Integrated System switch-ports configuration (ToRs and BMC) when adding new SU nodes as part of the Dell EMC node expansion.
The following table lists the deployment services available to customers for a node expansion.
Table 41. Deployment services
Attributes |
Description |
Service type |
Fixed Price/Fixed Scope Service |
Support and Deployment Services (SDS) |
On-site configuration and implementation of node expansion in the customer’s existing solution Customer handoff includes:
|