VxRail HCI System Software consists of multiple, integrated software elements that extend VMware native capabilities to deliver a seamless, automated, operational experience, keeping the infrastructure in a pre-validated configuration to ensure workloads are consistently up and running. VxRail HCI System Software is pre-installed on the VxRail system as a single virtual machine, the VxRail Manager VM. The software services in VxRail HCI System Software can be grouped into three main areas: lifecycle management for predictable outcomes, management flexibility and extensibility, and simplified services and support experience.

Lifecycle management for predictable outcomes

• Automated, intelligent lifecycle management (LCM) functionality automatically updates clusters with pre-validated, pre-tested software and firmware components, ensuring the HCI stack is in a Continuously Validated State.
• The electronic compatibility matrix serves as a compliance asset providing validation of that all possible configuration and update path permutations are sound, enabling customers to choose the Continuously Validated State of their choice to optimize each cluster for its respective workloads.
• Ecosystem connectors tightly integrate with infrastructure components including vSAN, PowerEdge server components and networking, enabling automation and orchestration services across the entire stack for simple cluster software and firmware updates.

Management flexibility and extensibility

• VxRail Manager, natively integrated with and accessed by vCenter, is the overall management engine for all VxRail operations to deploy, manage, update, and add nodes to a cluster.
• SaaS multi-cluster management is designed to provide centralized multi-cluster management powered by AI-driven operations insights using a software-as-a-service delivery model. The continuous innovation and continuous delivery approach allows for frequent, incremental updates to introduce new capabilities. SaaS multi-cluster management currently provides detailed health checks, predictive analytics, and further simplifies the VxRail cluster update process with on-demand pre-update health checks, update bundle download and staging, and cluster updates at scale.
• A broad set of publicly available RESTful APIs are a provided to customers to deliver greater cloud and IT automation extensibility.

Simplified services and support experience

• Customers always have access to Dell Secure Remote Services (SRS) for all included hardware and software within VxRail throughout the entire lifecycle of the infrastructure.

Figure 3.        Core components of VxRail HCI System Software