VxRail nodes connect to one or more network switches, with the final product forming a VxRail cluster. VxRail communicates with the physical data center network through one or more virtual-distributed switches that are deployed in the VxRail cluster. The virtual-distributed switches and physical network infrastructure integration provide connectivity for the virtual infrastructure and enable virtual network traffic to pass through the physical switch infrastructure. In this relationship, the physical switch infrastructure serves as a backplane, supporting network traffic between virtual machines in the cluster, and enabling virtual machine mobility and resiliency. In addition, the physical network infrastructure enables I/O operations between the storage objects in the VxRail vSAN datastore and provides connectivity to applications and end-users outside of the VxRail cluster.

This section describes the physical components and selection criteria for VxRail clusters:

• VxRail clusters and nodes
• Network switch
• Data center network
• Topology and connections
• Workstation or laptop
• Out-of-band management (optional)