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Dell VxRail Network Planning Guide
Introduction Plan the VxRail network VxRail Cluster Types VxRail feature-driven decision points VxRail hardware and switch selection decision points Prepare the data center to implement VxRail Plan the VxRail cluster implementation Planning vSAN Witness Networking Planning VxRail Satellite Nodes Networking Configure the Network for VxRail Prepare to build the VxRail cluster VxRail network considerations after implementation Appendix A: VxRail Network Configuration Table Appendix B: VxRail Passwords Appendix C: VxRail cluster setup checklist Appendix D: VxRail Open Ports Requirements Appendix E: VMware VDS port group default settings Appendix F: Physical Network Switch Examples
Appendix F: Physical Network Switch Examples
Pre-defined network profile: 2x10gb or 2x25gb from a single NDC/OCP
Predefined network profile: 4x10gb or 4x25gb NDC/OCP
Predefined network profile: 2 x 10/25 GB NDC/OCP and 2 x 10/25 GB PCIe
Custom option: Any NDC/OCP ports paired with PCIe ports
Custom option: Two NDC/OCP ports paired with PCIe ports other than the first slot
Custom option: PCIe ports only
Custom option: Six ports
Custom option: Eight ports
Custom option: Eight ports connected to four Ethernet switches

Custom option: Six ports

Custom option: Six ports

  • VxRail is most commonly deployed with two or four ports. For more network-intense workload requirements, VxRail can be deployed with six or eight network ports. This option supports spreading the VxRail networking between NDC/OCP ports and PCIe ports, and between ports on two different PCIe adapter cards. In this topology, resource-intense workloads such as vSAN and vMotion can each have a dedicated Ethernet port instead of shared Ethernet ports. This prevents the possibility of saturation of shared Ethernet port resources.

    Figure 77. VxRail nodes with four NDC/OCP ports and a pair of PCIe ports connected to a pair of ToR switches, and one optional connection to management switch for iDRAC. VxRail nodes with four NDC/OCP ports and a pair of PCIe ports connected to a pair of ToR switches, and one optional connection to management switch for iDRAC

    With the six-port option, you can use more of the PCIe ports as opposed to the NDC/OCP ports. If your nodes have two PCIe slots that are occupied with network adapter cards, this offers the flexibility to spread the VxRail networking workload across three network adapter cards.

    Figure 78. VxRail nodes with two NDC/OCP ports and ports from a pair of PCIe adapter cards connected to a pair of ToR switches, and one optional connection to management switch for iDRAC. VxRail nodes with two NDC/OCP ports and ports from a pair of PCIe adapter cards connected to a pair of ToR switches, and one optional connection to management switch for iDRAC