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Dell VxRail Network Planning Guide
Introduction Planning Your Data Center Network for VxRail 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
Introduction
Decide on VxRail single point of management
Decide on VxRail network traffic segmentation
Decide on teaming and failover policies for VxRail networks
Plan the VxRail logical network
Plan network settings for VxRail management components
Plan network settings for vCenter Server management network
Identify IP addresses for VxRail management components
Select hostnames for VxRail management components
Identify external applications and settings for VxRail
Prepare the customer-supplied vCenter server
Prepare the customer-supplied virtual-distributed switch
Reserve IP addresses for VxRail vMotion network
Reserve IP addresses for VxRail vSAN network
Decide on VxRail logging solution
Assign passwords for VxRail management
Prepare for Dell SmartFabric Services enablement
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

Prepare for Dell SmartFabric Services enablement

Prepare for Dell SmartFabric Services enablement

  • Note: Skip this section if you do not plan to enable Dell SmartFabric Services to pass control of switch configuration to VxRail.

    The planning and preparation tasks for deploying and operating a VxRail cluster on a SmartFabric Services-enabled network infrastructure differ from connecting a VxRail cluster to a standard data center network. The basic settings that are required for the initial buildout of the network infrastructure with SmartFabric Services are outlined in this section. 

    Enabling the SmartFabric personality on a SmartFabric Services-qualified Dell Ethernet switch initiates a discovery process for other connected switches with the same SmartFabric personality. This process forms a unified switch fabric. A switch fabric can start as small as two leaf switches in a single rack. It can expand automatically by enabling the SmartFabric personality on connected spine switches, and connected leaf switches in expansion racks.

    Both the Dell Ethernet switches and VxRail nodes advertise themselves at the time of power-on on this same internal discovery network. The SmartFabric-enabled network also configures an “untagged” virtual network on the switch fabric. That virtual network enables client onboarding through a jump port for access to VxRail Manager to implement the cluster. During VxRail initial configuration through VxRail Manager, the required VxRail networks are automatically configured on the switch fabric.

    Network connectivity to out-of-band management for each switch that is enabled with the SmartFabric personality is a requirement for VxRail. A reserved IP address is required for each switch. 

    A separate Ethernet switch outside of SmartFabric is required to support connectivity to switch management through the out-of-band network.

    A reserved IP address for iDRAC connectivity to each VxRail node on this same separate management switch is recommended.

    DiagramDescription automatically generated

    Figure 52.    Logical networks for single-tier and two-tier SmartFabric deployments

    The Dell Open Management Network Interface (OMNI) plug-in must be deployed on the vCenter instance to support automated switch management after the VxRail cluster is built. The Dell OMNI vCenter plug-in is required for each Dell switch fabric pair and requires network properties to be set during the deployment process.

    Network configuration table rows 70 and 71

    Reserve an IP address to enable out-of-band management of each switch in the SmartFabric-enabled network. 

    Network configuration table row 72

    Enter the IP address for Dell OMNI vCenter plug-in.

    Network configuration table row 73

    Enter the subnet mask for Dell OMNI vCenter plug-in.

    Network configuration table row 74

    Enter the gateway for Dell OMNI vCenter plug-in.

    For complete details on the settings that are needed during the planning and preparation phase for a SmartFabric-enabled network, see the Planning Guide—Dell VxRail with SmartFabric Services.