Analytical Consulting Engine (ACE)
Mon, 30 Mar 2020 15:27:16 -0000
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VxRail plays its ACE, now generally available
November 2019
VxRail ACE (Analytical Consulting Engine), the new Artificial Intelligence infused component of the VxRail HCI System Software, was announced just a few months ago at Dell Technologies World and has been in global early access. Over 500 customers leveraged the early access program for ACE, allowing developers to collect feedback and implement enhancements prior to General Availability of the product. It is with great excitement that VxRail ACE is now generally available to all VxRail customers. By incorporating continuous innovation/continuous development (CIDC) utilizing the Pivotal Platform (also known as Pivotal Cloud Foundry) container-based framework, Dell EMC developers behind ACE have made rapid iterations to improve the offering; and customer demand has driven new features added to the roadmap. ACE is holding true to its design principles and commitment to deliver adaptive, frequent releases.
Figure 1 ACE Design Principles and Goals
VxRail ACE is a centralized data collection and analytics platform that uses machine learning capabilities to perform capacity forecasting and self-optimization helping you keep your HCI stack operating at peak performance and ready for future workloads. In addition to some of the initial features available during early access, ACE now provides new functionality for intelligent upgrades of multiple clusters (see image below). You can now see the current software version of each cluster along with all available upgrade versions. ACE will allow you to select the desired version per each VxRail cluster. You can now manage at scale to standardize across all sites and clusters with the ability to customize by cluster. This becomes advantageous when some sites or clusters might need to remain at a specific version of VxRail software.
If you haven’t seen ACE in action yet, check out the additional links and videos below that showcase the features described in this post. For our 6,000+ VxRail customers, please visit our support site and Admin Guide to learn how to access ACE.
Christine Spartichino, Twitter - @cspartichino Linked In - linkedin.com/in/spartichino
For more information on VxRail, check out these great resources:
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Mike Athanasiou and Karol Boguniewicz discuss the advantages and capabilities of VxRail API.
- VxRail API Public Resources: https://infohub.delltechnologies.com/p/vxrail-api-updated-list-of-useful-public-resources/
- Dell EMC Behind the Bezel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLc_4J--7fM&feature=youtu.be
Deploying SAP HANA at the Rugged Edge
Mon, 14 Dec 2020 18:38:19 -0000
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SAP HANA is one of those demanding workloads that has been steadfastly contained within the clean walls of the core data center. However, this time last year VxRail began to chip away at these walls and brought you SAP HANA certified configurations based on the VxRail all-flash P570F workhorse and powerful quad socket all-NVMe P580N. This year, we are once again in the giving mood and are bringing SAP HANA to the edge. Let us explain.
Dell Technologies defines the edge as “The edge exists wherever the digital world & physical world intersect. It’s where data is securely collected, generated and processed to create new value.” This is a very broad definition that extends the edge from the data center to oil rigs, to mobile response centers for natural disasters. It is a broad claim not only to provide compute and storage in such harsh locations, but also to provide enough of it that meets the strict and demanding needs of SAP HANA, all while not consuming a lot of physical space. After all -- it is the edge where space is at a premium.
Shrinking the amount of rack space needed was the easier of the two challenges, and our 1U E for Everything (or should that be E for Everywhere?) was a perfect fit. The all-flash E560F and all-NVMe E560N, both of which can be enhanced with Intel Optane Persistent Memory, can be thought of as the shorter sibling of our 2U P570F, packing a powerful punch with equivalent processor and memory configurations.
While the E Series fits the bill for space constrained environments, it still needs data center like conditions. This is not the case for the durable D560F, the tough little champion that joined the VxRail family in June of this year, and which is now the only SAP HANA certified ruggedized platform in the industry. Weighing in at a lightweight 28 lbs. and a short depth of 20 inches, this little fighter will run all day at 45°C with eight hour sprints of up to 55°C, all while enduring shock, vibration, dust, humidity, and EMI, as this little box is MIL-STD 810G and DNV-GL Maritime certified. In other words, if your holiday plans involve a trip to hot sand beaches, a ship cruise through a hurricane, or an alpine climb, and you’re bringing SAP HANA with you (we promise we won’t ask why), then the durable D560F is for you.
The best presents sometimes come in small packages. So, we won’t belabor this blog with anything more than to announce that these two little gems, the E560 and the D560, are now SAP HANA certified.
Author: David Glynn, Sr. Principal Engineer, VxRail Tech Marketing
References:
360° View: VxRail D Series: The Toughest VxRail Yet
Video: HCI Computing at the Edge
Solution brief: Taking HCI to the Edge: Rugged Efficiency for Federal Teams
Press release: Dell Technologies Brings IT Infrastructure and Cloud Capabilities to Edge Environments
SAP Certification link: Certified and Supported SAP HANA® Hardware Directory