VMware Cloud Foundation on Dell VxRail hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) provides a simple path to the hybrid cloud and Kubernetes at a cloud scale. It is a fully integrated platform that leverages native VxRail hardware and VMware Cloud Foundation software capabilities. It includes unique features jointly engineered by Dell Technologies and VMware to deliver a turnkey user experience with full-stack integration. With full-stack integration, customers experience both the infrastructure layer and cloud software stack in one complete, automated life cycle, turnkey experience.
VMware Cloud Foundation on Dell VxRail provides a consistent hybrid cloud experience unifying customer public and private cloud platforms under a common operating model and management framework. Customers can operate both their public and private platforms using one set of tools and processes with a single management view and provisioning experience across both platforms. Customers can build, run, and manage a broad set of workloads from traditional and legacy applications to virtual desktops, as well as next generation workloads from artificial intelligence and machine learning to cloud native and container-based workloads. VMware Cloud Foundation with Tanzu, available since version 4.0 of the platform, is a major architectural upgrade thanks to integration of Kubernetes directly into the vSphere hypervisor.
The SDDC Manager and VxRail HCI System Software integration allows VMware Cloud Foundation to build a complete software-defined data center on VxRail. SDDC Manager orchestrates the deployment, configuration, and life cycle management of vCenter, NSX, and some of the Aria Suite (formerly vRealize Suite) components above the ESXi and vSAN layers of VxRail. It enables VxRail clusters to serve as a resource platform for workload domains or as multicluster workload domains. It can also automatically enable VMware Tanzu for container-based and VM-based workloads with integrated native Kubernetes orchestration. Integrated with the SDDC Manager management experience, VxRail Manager is used to deploy, configure, and life cycle manage ESXi, vSAN, and HCI infrastructure hardware firmware. VxRail life cycle management is accomplished using fully integrated and seamless SDDC Manager orchestration that leverages VxRail Manager APIs to perform it natively.
Through the standardized hardware and software architecture that is integrated into VMware Cloud Foundation on VxRail, customers can build and run heterogeneous workloads on a common hybrid cloud infrastructure. Infrastructure building blocks based on native VxRail clusters are created using SDDC Manager which enables customers to scale up and scale out incrementally.
VxRail Manager delivers automation, life cycle management, support, and serviceability capabilities that are integrated with SDDC Manager and vCenter to extend the VMware Cloud Foundation management experience and simplify operations. VxRail management functionality is available in vCenter through a VxRail Manager vCenter plug-in.
All VMware Cloud Foundation on VxRail life cycle updating and upgrade operations are orchestrated using SDDC Manager. As a part of this monitoring, SDDC Manager automatically discovers when new VxRail and VMware Cloud Foundation updates are available for download and proactively notifies the administrator accordingly within the user interface. All updates are scheduled and orchestrated by SDDC Manager but may be performed by either SDDC Manager directly or by VxRail Manager using SDDC Manager integrated VxRail APIs.
Dell delivers the top hyperconverged (HCI) infrastructure portfolio purpose-built for HCI with the latest generation Dell PowerEdge server platform. This portfolio delivers tailor-made performance and reliability powerful enough for any workload, combined with an advanced approach to intelligent deployment and operations that simplify and accelerate IT. Dell HCI on the latest generation of PowerEdge servers are powerful and purpose-built platforms that provide the ideal foundation for software-defined data center initiatives.
VxRail nodes are available with different compute power, memory, and cache configurations to closely match the requirements of new and expanding use cases. As requirements grow, the platform easily scales up or out in granular increments.
VMware Cloud Foundation on Dell VxRail can be delivered as either a cluster of nodes that leverages the customer’s existing network infrastructure, or as a custom integrated rack system with or without integrated networking. With rack assembly services from Dell, VxRail rack-integrated systems can be delivered with customer-chosen rack and networking component options.
Dell Services accelerate the deployment of VMware Cloud Foundation on VxRail with a full range of integration and implementation services. Dell Services helps IT organizations quickly realize the value of their investment both by deploying the hardware and software components of VMware Cloud Foundation on VxRail. Dell Services also helps organizations achieve IaaS through integration of this integrated cloud platform into their application portfolio, operating model, and enterprise infrastructure.
Customers have a choice of support and maintenance options that can align to their business model. Options range from a single-vendor Dell Support experience to obtaining support from Dell, VMware, and third parties for network switches and racks. Dell Support is recognized with an over 95 percent customer satisfaction rating and has received multiple awards.
For additional details, see Appendix B: Business IT challenges and trends, Appendix C: VMware SDDC, and Appendix D: VMware Cloud Foundation.
[1] http://i.dell.com/sites/doccontent/business/solutions/brochures/en/Documents/prosupport-enterprise-suite-brochure.pdf
