Single-Node Azure Stack HCI is now available!
Wed, 19 Oct 2022 15:25:20 -0000
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Single-Node Azure Stack HCI is now available!
Earlier this year, Microsoft announced the release of a new flavor for Azure Stack HCI: Azure Stack HCI single node. This is another milestone in Microsoft’s long history of evolution for the Azure Stack family of products.
Back in 2017, Microsoft announced Azure Stack, the platform to extend the cloud to the customers’ data centers. One of the key design principles for this release was to make it easy to create hybrid cloud environments.
In March 2019, a new member of the Azure Stack family was announced: Azure Stack HCI. This incumbent is a main driver for IT modernization, infrastructure consolidation, and true hybridity for Microsoft environments. Azure Stack HCI enables customers to run virtual machines (VMs), cloud native applications, and Azure Services on-premises on top of hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) integrated systems as an optimal solution in performance and cost. Dell Integrated Systems for Azure Stack HCI delivers a seamless Azure experience, simplifies Azure on-premises, and accelerates innovation.
Figure 1 Dell Technologies vision of Microsoft Azure Stack HCI
While Azure Stack HCI was born as a scalable solution to adapt to most customer IT needs, certain scenarios require other intrinsic characteristics. We think of the “edge” as the IT place where data is acted on near its creation point to generate immediate and essential value. In many cases, these edge locations have severe space and cooling restrictions, with more emphasis on data proximity and operational efficiency than scalability or resiliency. For these scenarios, having a low-cost, highly performing, and easy-to-manage platform is more important than prioritizing scalability and cluster-level high availability.
The edge is becoming the next technology turning point, where organizations are planning to increase their IT spending significantly (IDC EdgeView Survey). Microsoft designed an Azure Stack HCI platform for this scenario. Any IT deployment in which we benefit from the data being collected and processed where it’s produced, away from a core data center, will become eligible for an Azure Stack HCI single-node deployment. Edge can be manufacturing, retail, energy, telco, healthcare, smart connected cities—you name it. If we think about Machine Learning (ML), Artificial Intelligence (AI), or Internet of Things (IoT) scenarios, single-node Azure Stack HCI clusters fit perfectly into these typical edge needs. A single-node cluster provides a cost-sensitive solution that supports the same workloads a multi-node cluster does and behaves in a similar way.
Dell Technologies portfolio for Azure Stack HCI single node is based on the same 15G models also available for multi-node deployments, as shown here:
Figure 2 Dell Technologies Integrated System for Microsoft Azure Stack HCI portfolio
In terms of features, as mentioned before, single-node and multi-node systems behave similarly. The following table shows the main attributes of both. Note that they are nearly identical except for a few distinctions, the most relevant being the lack of stretched-cluster support:
Figure 3 Azure Stack HCI single and multi-node attributes comparison (Source: Microsoft)
There are a few differences worth highlighting:
- Windows Admin Center (WAC) does not support the creation of single-node clusters. Deployment is done through PowerShell and Storage Spaces Direct enablement.
- Stretched clusters are not supported with single-node deployments. Stretched clusters require a minimum of two nodes at each site.
- Storage Bus Cache (SBL), which is commonly used to improve read/write performance on Windows Server/Azure Stack HCI OS, is not supported in single-node clusters.
- There are limitations on WAC cluster management functionality. PowerShell can be used to cover those limitations.
- Single-node clusters support only a single drive type: either NVMe or SSD drives, but not a mix of both.
- For cluster lifecycle management, Open Manage Integration with Microsoft Admin Center (OMIMSWAC) Cluster Aware Updating (CAU) cannot be used. Vendor-provided solutions (drives and firmware) or a PowerShell and Server Configuration tool (SConfig) are valid alternatives.
If your Azure based edge workloads are moving further from the data center, and you understand the design differences listed above for Dell Azure Stack HCI single node, this could be a great fit for your business.
We expect Azure Stack HCI single-node clusters to evolve over time, so check our Info Hub site for the latest updates!
Author: Iñigo Olcoz
Twitter: VirtualOlcoz
References
- IDC EdgeView Survey 2022
- Microsoft: Azure Stack HCI single-node clusters
- Info Hub: Microsoft HCI Solutions
- Info Hub: Dell OpenManage Integration with Microsoft Windows Admin Center v2.0 Technical Walkthrough
- Info Hub: Technology leap ahead: 15G Intel based Dell Integrated System for Microsoft Azure Stack HCI