Note: This section is relevant only in situations for sharing vSAN datastore resources over the network. This section can be skipped if this is not in your plans.

With an HCI mesh topology, the local vSAN datastore on a VxRail cluster can be shared with other VxRail clusters. With a vSAN HCI mesh network in place, a VxRail cluster that leverages a local vSAN datastore for primary storage can also leverage the capacity on a remote vSAN datastore for application workload. Furthermore, VxRail dynamic nodes, which are nodes with no storage devices in the chassis slots, can mount a remote vSAN datastore on a cluster with free vSAN storage capacity and use that as their primary storage resource.

Figure 41.    Storage resource sharing between VxRail clusters with vSAN HCI mesh

To enable vSAN HCI mesh, the data center must have a network topology that can enable connectivity of the vSAN networks on the two participating VxRail clusters.

• Two Ethernet ports on each node in the cluster will be configured to support vSAN network traffic.
• A common VLAN can be assigned to this vSAN network on each cluster so they can connect over a Layer 2 network. This method is preferable if the client cluster does not have a local vSAN datastore. If a common VLAN is assigned, and the VxRail clusters are deployed against different sets of top-of-rack switches, the VLAN must be configured to stretch between the set of switches.
• If a unique VLAN is assigned to the vSAN network on each cluster, then connectivity can be enabled using Layer 3 routing services. If this option is selected, be sure to assign routable IP addresses to the vSAN network on each participating VxRail cluster.

Figure 42.    Enabling vSAN HCI mesh connectivity over a Layer 3 network

If your plans include sharing storage resources between VxRail clusters both with vSAN datastores in a vSAN HCI mesh, be sure to prepare your data center to meet the following prerequisites:

• A vCenter instance at a version that supports VxRail version 7.0.100 or later
• A vSAN Enterprise license for each VxRail cluster that will participate in a vSAN HCI mesh topology

If your plans include sharing the vSAN resources of a VxRail cluster with one or more VxRail dynamic clusters, you must adhere to the following prerequisites:

• A vCenter instance at a version that supports VxRail version 7.0.240 or later.
• A vSAN Enterprise license is needed only for the VxRail cluster that is sharing its vSAN storage resources. This license is not needed on a dynamic cluster because it does not have a local vSAN datastore.

If your plans include sharing the vSAN resources from a VxRail stretched cluster, you must adhere to the following prerequisites:

• The VxRail cluster participating in the vSAN HCI mesh topology must be running VxRail version 8.0.100 or later.
• The vCenter instance that supports the VxRail clusters must be running at a version that supports VxRail version 8.0.100.
• The vSAN datastore being shared is based in the OSA.
• The VxRail client cluster can consist of

• Dynamic nodes with no local vSAN datastore
• VxRail cluster with a local vSAN datastore using the remote stretched vSAN datastore as secondary storage
• VxRail cluster with a stretched vSAN datastore using the remote stretched vSAN datastore as secondary storage

Figure 43.    VxRail stretched cluster sharing vSAN storage with a client cluster