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VMware Cloud Foundation Stretched Cluster on Dell VxBlock 1000 Multi-Site
Executive summary Introduction Product overview Solution architecture
Solution architecture
Management domain architecture
Workload domain architecture
Connectivity Testing and validation Conclusion References

Workload domain architecture

Workload domain architecture

  • The VMware SDDC Manager deploys, provisions, and manages VI workload domains and associated VMware vSphere clusters.

    The VI workload domain consists of one or more clusters that are derived from the VxBlock 1000 domains. Each cluster has a minimum of three hosts with either Cisco UCS B-Series Blade Servers or Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers. Management workloads are committed to a management domain, while user workloads are deployed into separate VI workload domains.

    A dedicated VMware vCenter Server manages each VI workload domain. With dedicated VMware vCenter Servers for each VI workload domain, you can deploy software updates without impacting other VI workload domains. A separate VMware vCenter Server allows for additional separation for each VI workload domain.

    The VI workload domain is managed by a separate NSX cluster. VCF will install the NSX cluster as part of the workload domain deployment process. A physical Edge cluster consisting of at least 3x C-Series rack servers is required for hosting two NSX edge nodes. The following figure shows one of the supported VI workload domain topologies.

    TimelineDescription automatically generated

    Figure 7.   VI workload domain topology

    There are several supported deployment topologies for VMware NSX instances with VCF on a VxBlock System 1000. For more details about this, see the Dell VxBlock System 1000 with VMware Cloud Foundation 4.3 Architecture Overview.

    VCF standard architecture provides scalability and allows for autonomous licensing and life cycle management. VCF separates management workloads from external workloads to provide better long-term flexibility and expansion options. You can only perform one VI workload domain operation at a time. When you create a VI workload domain, you cannot add a cluster to any other VI workload domain.

    VCF supports up to 14 VI workload domains on the VxBlock System.

    In a stretched VCF environment (Multi-AZ), the workload domain requires the following:

    • Two metro node Metro DVOLs, zoned and masked to the ESXi workload domain hosts, which provides the stretched Metro Node datastore.

    OR

    • A pair PowerMax SRDF/Metro LUNs, zoned and masked to the ESXi workload domain hosts.
    • Local datastores for each ESXi host to accommodate scratch space and shared datastores for VMs.
    • AZ 1 established before you stretch the cluster and add AZ 2 into the workload domain.

    Figure 6 in the previous section shows the workload domain deployed with distributed storage.