Your Browser is Out of Date

Nytro.ai uses technology that works best in other browsers.
For a full experience use one of the browsers below
Dell VxRail Network Planning Guide
Introduction Planning Your Data Center Network for VxRail
Introduction
VxRail hardware and the physical network infrastructure
VxRail clusters, appliances, and nodes
Network switch
Data center network
VxRail networking port options
VxRail Ethernet adapter options
VxRail Fibre Channel adapter options
VxRail RoCE adapter options
VxRail node connectivity options
VxRail networking rules and restrictions
Topology and connections
VxRail Cluster Types VxRail Feature-Driven Decision Points VxRail Hardware and Switch Selection Decision Points Prepare the Data Center for VxRail Implementation Planning the VxRail Cluster Implementation Planning for VxRail Satellite Nodes Configure the Network for VxRail Configure the Network for VxRail VxRail Network Considerations After Implementation VxRail Network Configuration Table VxRail Passwords VxRail Cluster Setup Checklist VxRail Open Ports Requirements Virtual Distributed Switch Port Group Default Settings Physical Network Switch Examples

Data center network

Data center network

  • Introduction

    VxRail is dependent of specific data center services to implement the cluster and for day-to-day operations. The top-of-rack switches must be configured to the upstream network to enable connectivity to these data center services, and to enable connectivity to the end-user community.

    Data center services

    The data center services to implement are:

    • Domain Naming Services (DNS) is required to deploy the VxRail cluster and for ongoing operations. You can choose a DNS service internal to VxRail or use a DNS service in your data center.
    • The VxRail cluster depends on Network Time Protocol (NTP) to keep the clock settings on the various VxRail components synchronized. Dell Technologies recommends using a reliable global timing service for VxRail.
    • Syslog service is supported with VxRail but is not required.  
    • VxRail depends on VMware vCenter for cluster management and operations. You can use either the embedded vCenter instance that is included with VxRail, or an external vCenter instance in your data center.

    DiagramDescription automatically generated

    Figure 6.   Connecting data center services with VxRail cluster

    Routing services

    VxRail cluster operations depend on a set of networks that run on both the virtual network inside the cluster and on the adjoining physical network switches. Some of these networks (for VxRail management and for end-user access) must be passed to the upstream network. Other VxRail networks can stay isolated on the adjoining network switches.

    A best practice is to reserve a set of Virtual LAN (VLAN) IDs in your data center network that are assigned to support the VxRail networks. This practice is especially important for production workloads. All these reserved VLANs must be configured on the adjoining physical switches that are connected to the VxRail nodes. The VLANs cannot be configured as private VLANs.

    Certain VxRail management components must be able to connect to data center services,  such as DNS and NTP. Routing services must be configured to enable connectivity to these services for these management components. Configure more networks (such as networks required for end-user access) to support routing end-users and external applications to the virtual machines running on the VxRail cluster.

    If Layer 3 routing services are not configured on the adjacent physical switches, the VLANs that pass upstream must be configured on adjoining network switch uplinks. Configure them on the ports on the upstream network devices, so they can pass through upstream to Layer 2 or Layer 3. If Layer 3 services are enabled on the adjacent physical switches, configure the VLANs that must pass upstream to terminate at this layer. Then, configure routing services for these networks to pass upstream.