Installing, configuring, and running a production-ready CI involves multiple considerations, including:

• Operating system and virtualization software distributions
• Selection of monitoring and management software
• Allocation of cluster services and data storage to physical nodes and arrays
• Selection of appropriate server hardware
• Design of the network fabric
• Sizing and scalability
• Performance requirements

These considerations are complicated by the need to understand the types of workloads that will be running on the cluster, the fast-moving pace of the industry, and the challenges of managing a system that is designed to accommodate multiple general- purpose, virtualized workloads.

Dell EMC’s customer-centered approach is to create rapidly deployable and highly optimized, CI solutions running on enterprise-class hardware. Dell EMC solutions combine optimized hardware, software, and services to streamline deployment and improve the customer experience.

Dell EMC Ready Stack systems can include all the hardware, software, resources, and services that are needed to run a scalable, highly available CI environment. This approach means that organizations can be operational in a shorter time than is typically possible with homegrown solutions. The architecture design for this Ready Stack incorporates storage, networking, and vSphere best practices to ensure availability, serviceability, and optimal performance.