VxRail clusters that can tolerate a single point of failure, and do not have demanding workload requirements, can be configured using only the NDC-OCP Ethernet ports. Starting with version 7.0.130, VxRail supports spreading the networks across NDC-OCP Ethernet ports and Ethernet ports on PCIe adapter cards. This support is appropriate for workloads that require a higher level of failure protection.

The custom network option provides flexibility with the selection of the Ethernet ports to support the VxRail cluster networking. The cluster can be deployed using the default network profiles that are supported in VxRail. Or you can select the Ethernet ports that the cluster uses, and then assign those ports to the VxRail networks.

The customized port selection option provides more flexibility. You can:

• Use the ports on the NDC-OCP.
• Mix the ports from the NDC-OCP and a PCIe adapter card.
• Select only ports from PCIe adapter cards.

For more details, see Appendix F: Physical Network Switch Examples to understand the most common node connectivity options.

Figure 10.    Mixing NDC-OCP and PCIe ports to support a VxRail cluster

You can later decide to change the topology by migrating the VxRail networks onto other uplinks on the VxRail nodes. This activity can be performed after the cluster is built, if the VxRail cluster is at version 7.0.010 or later.