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TechBook—Dell EMC Integrated System For Microsoft Azure Stack HCI
Preface Business Transformation and Data Center Modernization Evolution of Data Centers to HCI and Hybrid Cloud A Closer Look at Microsoft Azure Stack HCI Azure Stack HCI Architecture and Building Blocks Dell EMC Integrated System for Microsoft Azure Stack HCI Portfolio – AX Nodes Networking Topologies for Azure Stack HCI Solutions Stretch Clustering with Azure Stack HCI Hybrid Cloud Management Sizing and Configuration Best Practices Dell Support and Services Conclusion
Summary
Additional Resources

Summary

Summary

  • Dell EMC Integrated System for Microsoft Azure Stack HCI offers an unmatched combination of performance, scalability, convenience, and simplicity. Its hybrid design provides a crucial link between the existing on-premises infrastructure and cloud services. As a result, for digital transformation initiatives, HCI is one of the top areas of strategic IT investments.

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    Figure 78.    Dell EMC Integrated System for Microsoft Azure Stack HCI

    Unrivaled performance

    3-way mirror volumes built on all-flash drives offers excellent performance with faster volume rebuilds. Innovative solutions such as RDMA over 100 GbE connections with RoCE frees up CPU resources offering higher throughput and lower latency for compute and storage traffic. iWARP as the RDMA protocol works out-of-box which is easy to setup and troubleshoot with added benefit of no additional network switch configuration required. Though Data Center Bridging (DCB) is not required, we recommend using DCB if NVMe drives are in a converged network topology.

    Manageability

    Streamline operational efficiency and flexibility by directly managing your server and cluster environment using the Dell EMC OpenManage Integration with Microsoft Windows Admin Center. Manage at scale with Azure Resource Manager and Azure Arc, and natively integrate with other Azure services.

    Scalability

    Easily scale up to 16 nodes in a cluster based on business needs. Two-node and switchless storage cluster scale-out is not supported, but cluster sets can be used.

    For scalability, you can start with 3 nodes. For better resiliency and stretch clustering, you can start with 4 nodes.

    Simplicity

    Productized and validated AX nodes with factory installed Azure Stack HCI operating systems speeds up deployment time. Create clusters following our deployment guide or use automated cluster creation in Windows Admin Center. Use ProDeploy and ProSupport to create a turnkey solution-level experience.

    Resiliency

    Start with the four-node or greater clusters. DR with stretch clustering is available natively with an integrated system eliminates the need for an additional software.

    Resource efficiency

    Right size and future proof your IT environments with Dell tools such as Live Optics, HCI Sizing Tool, and Fabric Design Center to optimize price, performance, and capabilities. Use CPU core management in OpenManage Integration to achieve a balance between cost and performance.

    Security

    Cyber resilient architecture built into the AX nodes provides a hardened server design to protect, detect, and recover from cyberattacks. The new Secured core feature further safeguards the AX nodes from various threats.


    Figure 79.    AX nodes

    Dell EMC Integrated System for Microsoft Azure Stack HCI is an all-in-one solution that offers a tightly integrated HCI operating system with a purpose-built hardware platform.

    The Dell EMC OpenManage Integration with Windows Admin Center keeps the cluster up to date with end-to-end, full-stack management that is cluster-aware, enabling operating system, BIOS, firmware, and driver updates a single reboot with no impact to the workloads running on the VMs.

    The AX nodes with the Azure Stack HCI operating system deliver a well-designed architecture with optimized and tested configurations to suit various workloads. Dell has also simplified the customer experience starting from designing the data centers, initial configuration, ordering, setup, and deployment with the ProDeploy service offerings. Our best-in-class ProSupport is a single source of support for hardware, software, and operating system issues backed by trained technical support personnel.

    We believe that the success made possible by the Dell-Microsoft partnership for the hybrid cloud adoption should be accessible to every business and organization. Choosing Dell Technologies is a great opportunity for companies to adopt a hybrid cloud strategy while still maintaining their traditional workloads and infrastructure architecture.