The following sections describe the architecture components of the Dell Validated Design for Manufacturing Edge.
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The following sections describe the architecture components of the Dell Validated Design for Manufacturing Edge.
VxRail is a preconfigured VMware hyperconverged infrastructure, or HCI. An HCI system includes, at a minimum, compute, software-defined storage, and virtualized networking and can run on commercial off-the-shelf servers. The underlying resources are abstracted and pooled together which allows them to be dynamically allocated to applications running in VMs or containers. The components that make up a VxRail configuration are as follows:
VxRail hardware consists of Dell PowerEdge servers. The servers are configured with Intel Xeon or AMD EPYC processors. Memory capacity ranges from 64 GB to 6,144 GB per node, depending on the model. The VxRail nodes are enclosed in a one-node, single-server system, with each node having one, two, or four multicore processors and either NVMe, all-flash solid-state disks (SSDs), or a hybrid mix of flash SSDs and hard disk drives (HDDs). The nodes form a networked cluster with a minimum of two nodes or three nodes for scale-out clusters with a maximum of 64 nodes. Each server node includes the following technology:
Configuration is highly customizable and designed to meet any HCI requirements.
A typical implementation uses one or more 10 GbE Top-of-Rack (ToR) switches to connect to each node in a VxRail Cluster. For smaller environments, 1 GbE switches may also be used. While the customer typically provides the ToR switches, Dell Technologies offers Ethernet switches for management. Two ToR switches are used for redundancy, but single-switch implementations are also supported. The following figure shows typical network connectivity.
There are four types of network traffic in a VxRail cluster:
The virtualization and software layers of a VxRail system consist of VMware vSphere and vSAN.
vSphere is the server virtualization product from VMware. It consists of the following main components:
VxRail Manager is a plug-in for VMware vCenter. It provides the software stack for managing compute, storage, and networking in a VxRail environment. It is an extension of VMware vCenter that provides information, upgrades automation, adds or removes nodes, and manages drive replacement. VxRail Manager is shown in the following figure.
VxRail Manager includes the following functionalities:
To view the VxRail Dashboard, select VxRail from the vSphere Client menu. Features include:
To view VxRail monitoring, select a cluster, then select Monitor > VxRail. Features include:
To view the VxRail configuration, select a cluster, then select Configure > VxRail. Features include:
The following actions are available in the cluster and hosts context menu:
vSAN is integrated into the kernel of vSphere and provides the software-defined storage layer. A vSphere cluster is a collection of ESXi hosts that is configured to share resources. vSAN creates distributed, shared storage by aggregating locally attached disks from the hosts that form the vSphere cluster. The following figure shows the vSAN high-level architecture:
VMware Site Recovery Manager (SRM) is deployed in a paired configuration that includes a protected site and a recovery site. The SRM software appliance is deployed at both sites. A vCenter Server instance is required at both the protected and recovery site.
Requirements for SRM installation are:
The following figure shows basic SRM deployment:
A virtual RecoverPoint Appliance (vRPA) is installed in each vSphere cluster environment. The appliance manages all aspects of the data replication process. It uses IP protocol to communicate with the vSphere datastore. The vSphere Web Client is used to protect and recover VMs to any point in time with integrated orchestration and automation capabilities.
The Recover Point for VMs (RP4VMs) system consists of the following components:
The following figure shows the RP4VMs system architecture with the vSphere HTML5 plug-in:
(Source: Dell EMC Integrated Data Protections Product Guide)
VMware vSphere Replication provides asynchronous replication for VMs. It comes fully integrated with vCenter Server and the vSphere Web Client. vSphere Replication provides local data protection, but it can also be used for disaster recovery between sites if some data loss can be tolerated. It can be combined with VxRail Site Recovery Manager (SRM) to provide automated failover and failback to minimize downtime.
For more information about VxRail availability solutions, see the Unmatched Availability Solution for VxRail article.
PowerEdge servers are offered in this DVD as a standalone configuration. To enable future growth and to adapt to changing application demands, Dell PowerEdge servers offer adaptive computability depending on server application.
The intelligent autonomous compute infrastructure of Dell PowerEdge servers features iDRAC (integrated Dell Remote Access Controller) and OpenManage Enterprise. This helps customers tame the complexity of their IT infrastructure by automating the entire server management lifecycle, in addition to comprehensive monitoring of health status, statistics, connectivity, and system performance utilization.
On top of this, proactive resilience is built into each Dell PowerEdge server by design to protect, detect, and recover from cyberattacks—ensuring security from build, to delivery, to retirement.
Based on these three pillars, PowerEdge servers are designed to address customers' most challenging workloads, working autonomously and collaboratively across all of their IT environments.
The Dell PowerEdge product line offers 2nd and 3rd generation Intel Xeon scalable processors and are built for challenging environments, including manufacturing, telecommunications, and retail. Some of the available configurations are ruggedized, MIL-STD, NEBS, and marine compliant. More configurations offer a full-featured enterprise server, designed to optimize and deliver outstanding performance for the most demanding workloads. Each server node includes the following technology:
The Dell PowerEdge XR4000 is a scalable compute platform with workload acceleration that is specifically designed to thrive in space-constrained, rugged, and harsh environments at the edge. This product also marks several firsts for Dell and its list of features and talking points is as robust as the server itself.
The following features make Dell PowerEdge XR4000 servers the ultimate platform for the manufacturing edge:
Industrial gateways, deployed in Purdue model levels 0 through 2 of a factory, allow various factory devices and industrial protocols to communicate with the rest of the network. This communication is accomplished with software that interfaces with protocols including, but not limited to, Modbus, OPC UA, EtherNet/IP, and Profinet. The gateway hosting this software is configured to send factory edge data northbound for tasks such as data analytics. Because industrial gateways differ from standard PCs or servers, they must often be ruggedized to handle harsh environments.
Sensors are an integral source for edge data. Sensors measure a physical property such as vibration, liquid level, motion, temperature, and humidity. Sensors are widely deployed in factory environments to ensure that the manufacturing process is properly working or to ensure that the environment is operating at an expected norm. With the current evolution of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML), it is beneficial to obtain, aggregate, and then analyze this sensor data to provide insights into topics such as predictive maintenance or process improvement.
ISV applications and VxRail offer an extensive set of configuration tools for alerts and monitoring. Various log levels can be configured for tracing and events. Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) traps can be configured to integrate with other network monitoring tools, such as Dell OpenManage.
Dell VxRail Manager offers provisioning, management, and performance monitoring along with a rich set of integrations with REST API, SNMP, and others.
The ISV application stack that is detailed in the following table runs on various Dell servers and operating systems running Windows or Linux.
Software component | Product version |
Operating systems | Windows Server 2016, 2019 Windows 10 LTSC 2019 |
Red Hat 8.x | |
Ubuntu 18.04 LTS, 20.04 LTS | |
Database | SQLite |
InfluxDB | |
TimescaleDB | |
Telit Cinterion | deviceWISE Enterprise Gateway |
deviceWISE Workbench | |
deviceWISE Asset Gateway | |
Cognex | Vision Pro |
Deep Learning Studio | |
Designer Studio | |
RunTime | |
XMPro | Stream Host |
Application Designer (AD) | |
Subscription Manager (SM) | |
Data Stream Designer (DS) | |
SQL Server Database (combined for SM, AD, and DS) | |
Claroty | Continuous Threat Detection (CTD) |
xDome | |
Secure Remote Access (SRA) | |
Edge | |
Litmus | Litmus Edge |
Litmus Edge Manager |
All of these ISV applications integrate with applications which are not covered in this guide. See the ISV-specific documents in References for further details.
The deviceWISE Asset Gateway software is a smart agent with an extensive industrial protocol library that allows flexible and scalable IoT applications. With rich protocol support, Asset Gateway can support PLC and automation equipment found at top manufacturers and virtually all automation equipment. It provides the capability to run triggers, do conditional monitoring, make decisions, and take actions.
The Telit deviceWISE Enterprise Gateway supports the same functionality as Asset Gateway with an augmented feature set that allows connection of the node to enterprise applications including databases and ERP systems.
The deviceWISE Workbench is the on-premise node manager and configuration client for the deviceWISE platform. It connects to Asset Gateway and Enterprise Gateway nodes and allows the user to create connections to field devices and build edge logic using drag-and-drop actions. It allows the user to configure projects and triggers, manage device connections, configure network settings, and interfaces with enterprise applications. It also provides monitoring capabilities with logs and reports.
Cognex VisionPro is designed to set up and deploy vision applications—no matter the camera or frame grabber. With VisionPro, users can perform a wide range of functions, from geometric object location and inspection to identification, measurement, and alignment, as well as specialized functions specific to semiconductor and electronics applications.
Deep learning technology is used to predict patterns and perform judgment-based applications. This advanced technology deploys artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms to teach robots and machines to do what comes naturally to humans—learning by example. Applications that previously required vision expertise are now solvable by non-vision experts. Deep learning technology transfers the logical burden from an application developer, who develops and scripts a rules-based algorithm, to an engineer training the system. In this way, deep learning makes machine vision easier to work with, while expanding the limits of accurate inspection.
Cognex Designer makes it faster to build complete vision applications and allows developers to more easily take advantage of the powerful VisionPro tool library. A graphical, block diagram-based programming environment reduces development cycles and enables easier application maintenance and support.
XMPro Data Stream Designer (DS) allows design and visual orchestration for real-time digital twin applications. It allows users to bring real-time data from a variety of sources, apply native and third-party analytics, generate recommendations, and initiate actions.
XMPro Stream Host is an application that can be installed as a service that enables execution of data streams.
XMPro Application Designer (AD) is a no-code event intelligence application development platform. Subject matter experts can build applications in days or weeks without further overloading IT, enabling the organization to accelerate and scale their digital transformation.
XMPro Subscription Manager (SM) allows access to the licensed products based on role-based access controls.
Continuous Threat Detection (CTD) is a platform that provides asset discovery, network protection, vulnerability and risk management, and threat detection. CTD collects asset and network information through passive network monitoring, safe active querying of industrial devices, project file parsing, and integration with existing technologies such as firewalls and security information and event management (SIEM). Key features, such as Deep Packet Inspection (DPI), improve understanding of what is really happening on the network.
Secure Remote Access (SRA) is a solution from Claroty that is a purpose-built tool for industrial networks. SRA provides benefits such as streamlining access for internal and third-party users, granular access controls, full auditing and reporting capabilities, and an easy-to-use user interface. Other benefits of SRA include just-in-time user provisioning by integrating with various identity providers. Additionally, SRA provides a high availability mechanism to help ensure that users can maintain access. SRA also allows users to record full sessions and to actively watch and interact with live sessions.
xDome is Claroty’s highly flexible Software as a Service (SaaS) solution for industrial cybersecurity. Data is collected on-premise to provide asset discovery, asset management, vulnerability and risk management, network protection, and threat detection capabilities. xDome goes beyond traditional IT and OT, and takes into consideration the Extended Internet of Things (XIoT) to get an even better picture of the environment. Data for xDome is collected using passive network discovery and integrations with existing tools and technologies such as firewalls.
Claroty Edge is a Windows tool that serves as a data collector for further visibility into the assets and network. With Claroty Edge, data is collected without any changes to the existing network or system configurations by simply executing at the target Windows host, wherever it is within the network. Claroty Edge can integrate with CTD or xDome to populate each platform with the discovered assets and network data.
Litmus is the flexible and scalable edge platform that provides the critical data connectivity needed to monitor, visualize, analyze, and integrate industrial data at scale. Litmus connects to a large variety of data sources to provide a complete data picture for Industry 4.0 use cases ranging from smart manufacturing to industrial IoT and machine learning. Litmus platforms include Litmus Edge and Litmus Edge Manager.
Litmus Edge is the industrial edge computing platform that allows you to collect, analyze, and act on real-time data at the edge. It provides out-of-the-box support for any PLC, CNC, sensor, or robotic system, allowing you to rapidly connect devices. You can share normalized data between any edge, big data, cloud, or enterprise system. Litmus Edge deploys an extensive variety of devices in an industrial environment using native drivers. Support is provided for many protocols or buses using an IPC appliance that is connected to the Internet. It uses normalized data so the raw or processed data from any type of device can be visualized and analyzed at the edge.
Litmus Edge Manager is a flexible device and data management platform that allows you to securely connect and manage edge devices while providing extensive control at scale for all your IoT projects and deployments. Litmus Edge Manager is used to set up and manage all aspects of a Litmus environment. Litmus Edge Manager serves primarily as the central edge device management platform and offers the option to act as a central data repository.