The difference between VMware vSphere LCM (vLCM) and Dell EMC VxRail LCM is still a trending topic that most HCI customers and prospects want more information about. While we compared the two methods at a high level in our previous blog post, let’s dive into the more technical aspects of the LCM operations of VMware vLCM and VxRail LCM. The detailed explanation in this blog post should give you a more complete understanding of your role as an administrator for cluster lifecycle management with vLCM versus VxRail LCM.

Even though vLCM has introduced a vast improvement in automating cluster updates, lifecycle management is more than executing cluster updates. With vLCM, lifecycle management is still very much a customer-driven endeavor. By contrast, VxRail’s overarching goal for LCM is operational simplicity, by leveraging Continuously Validated States to drive cluster LCM for the customer. This is a large part of why VxRail has over 8,600 customers since it was launched in early 2016.

In this blog post, I’ll explain the four major areas of LCM:

• Defining the initial baseline configuration
• Planning for a cluster update
• Executing the cluster update
• Sustaining cluster integrity over the long term

Defining the initial baseline configuration

The baseline configuration is a vital part of establishing a steady state for the life of your cluster. The baseline configuration is the current known good state of your HCI stack. In this configuration, all the component software and firmware versions are compatible with one another. Interoperability testing has validated full stack integrity for application performance and availability while also meeting security standards in place. This is the ‘happy’ state for you and your cluster. Any changes to the configuration use this baseline to know what needs to be rectified to return to the ‘happy’ state.

How is it done with vLCM?

vLCM depends on the hardware vendor to provide a Hardware Management Services virtual machine. Dell provides this support for its Dell EMC PowerEdge servers, including vSAN ReadyNodes. I’ll use this implementation to explain the overall process. Dell EMC vSAN ReadyNodes use the OpenManage Integration for VMware vCenter (OMIVV) plugin to connect to and register with the vCenter Server.

Once the VM is deployed and registered, you need to create a credential-based profile. This profile captures two accounts: one for the out-of-band hardware interface, the iDRAC, and the other for the root credentials for the ESXi host. Future changes to the passwords require updating the profile accordingly.

With the VM connection and profile in place, a Catalog XML file is used by vLCM to define the initial baseline configuration. To create the Catalog XML file, you need to install and configure the Dell Repository Manager (DRM) to build the hardware profile. Once a profile is defined to your specification, it must then be exported and stored on an NFS or CIFS share. The profile is then used to populate the Repository Profile data in the OMIVVV UI. If you are unsure of your configuration, refer to the vSAN Hardware Compatibility List (HCL) for the specific supported firmware versions. Once the hardware profile is created, you can then associate it with the cluster profile. With the cluster profile defined, you can enable drift detection. Any future change to the Catalog XML file is done within the DRM.

It’s important to note that vLCM was introduced in vSphere 7.0. To use vLCM, you must first update or deploy your clusters to run vSphere 7.x.

How is it done with VxRail LCM?

With VxRail, when the cluster arrives at the customer data center, it’s already running in a ‘happy’ state. For VxRail, the ‘happy’ state is called Continuously Validated States. The term is pluralized because VxRail defines all the ‘happy’ states that your cluster will update to over time. This means that your cluster is always running in a ‘happy’ state without you needing to research, define, and test to arrive at Continuously Validated States throughout the life of your cluster. VxRail – well, specifically the VxRail engineering team - does it for you. This has been a central tenet of VxRail since the product first launched with vSphere 6.0. Since then it has helped customers transition to vSphere 6.5, 6.7, and now 7.0.

Once the VxRail cluster initialization is completed, use your Dell EMC Support credentials to configure the VxRail repository setting within vCenter. VxRail Manager plugin to vCenter will automatically connect to the VxRail repository at Dell EMC and pull down the next available update package.

Figure 1  Defining the initial baseline configuration

Planning for a cluster update

Updates are a constant in IT, and VMware is constantly adding new capabilities or product/security fixes that require updating to newer versions of software. Take for example the vSphere 7.0 Update 1 release that VMware and Dell Technologies just announced. Those eye-opening features are available to you when you update to that release. You can check out just how often VMware has historically updated vSphere here: https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/2143832.

As you know, planning for a cluster update is an iterative process with inherent risk associated with it. Failing to plan diligently can cause adverse effects on your cluster, ranging from network outages and node failure to data unavailability or data loss. That said, it’s important to mitigate the risk where you can.

How is it done with vLCM?

With vLCM, the responsibility of planning for a cluster update rests on the customers’ shoulders, including the risk. Understanding the Bill of Materials that makes up your server’s hardware profile is paramount to success. Once all the components are known, and a target version of vSphere ESXi is specified, the supported driver and firmware version needs to be investigated and documented. You must consult the VMware Compatibility Guide to find out which drivers/firmware are supported for each ESXi release.

It is important to note that although vLCM gives you the toolset to apply firmware and driver updates, it does not validate compatibility or support for each combination for you, except for the HBA Driver. This task is firmly in the customer’s domain. It is advisable to validate and test the combination in a separate test environment to ensure that no performance regression or issues are introduced into the production environment. Interoperability testing can be an extensive and expensive undertaking. Customers should create and define robust testing processes to ensure that full interoperability and compatibility is met for all components managed and upgraded by vLCM.

With Dell EMC vSAN Ready Nodes, customers can rest assured that the HCL certification and compatibility validation steps have been performed. However, the customer is still responsible for interoperability testing.

How is it done with VxRail LCM?

VxRail engineering has taken a unique approach to LCM. Rather than leaving the time-consuming LCM planning to already overburdened IT departments, they have drastically reduced the risk by investing over $60 million, more than 25,000 hours of testing for major releases, and more than 100 team members into a comprehensive regression test plan. This plan is completed prior to every VxRail code release. (This is in addition to the testing and validation performed by PowerEdge, on which VxRail nodes are built.)

Dell EMC VxRail engineering performs this testing within 30 days of any new VMware release (even quicker for express patches), so that customers can continually benefit from the latest VMware software innovations and confidently address security vulnerabilities. You may have heard this called “synchronous release”.

The outcome of this effort is a single update bundle that is used to update the entire HCI stack, including the operating system, the hardware’s drivers and firmware, and management components such as VxRail Manager and vCenter. This allows VxRail to define the declarative configuration we mentioned previously (“Continuously Validated States”), allowing us to move easily from one validated state to the next with each update.

Figure 2  Planning for a cluster update

Executing the cluster update

The biggest improvement with vLCM is its ability to orchestrate and automate a full stack HCI cluster update. This simplifies the update operation and brings enormous time savings. This process is showcased in a recent study performed by Principled Technologies with PowerEdge Servers with vSphere (not including vSAN).

How is it done with vLCM?

The first step is to import the ESXi ISO via the vLCM tab in the vCenter Server UI. Once uploaded, select the relevant cluster, ensure that the cluster profile (created in the initial baseline configuration phase) is associated with the cluster being updated. Now, you can apply the target configuration by editing the ESXi image and, from the OMIVV UI, choose the correct firmware and driver to apply to the hardware profile. Once a compliance scan is complete, you will have the option to remediate all hosts.

If there are multiple homogenous clusters you need to update, it can be as easy as using the same cluster profile to execute the cluster update against. However, if the next cluster has a different hardware configuration, then you would have to perform the above steps over again. Customers with varying hardware and software requirements for their clusters will have to repeat many of these steps, including the planning tasks, to ensure stack integrity.

How it is done with VxRail LCM?

With VxRail and Continuously Validated States, updating from one configuration to another is even simpler. You can access the VxRail Manager directly within the vCenter Server UI to initiate the update. The LCM operation automatically retrieves the update bundle from the VxRail repository, runs a full stack pre-update health check, and performs the cluster update.

With VxRail, performing multi-cluster updates is as simple as performing a single-cluster update. The same LCM cluster update workflow is followed. While different hardware configurations on separate clusters will add more labor for IT staff for vSAN Ready Nodes, this doesn’t apply to VxRail.  In fact, in the latest release of our SaaS multi-cluster management capability set, customers can now easily perform cluster updates at scale from our cloud-based management platform, MyVxRail.

Figure 3  Executing a cluster update

Sustaining cluster integrity over the long term

The long-term integrity of a cluster outlasts the software and hardware in it. As mentioned earlier, because new releases are made available frequently, software has a very short life span. While hardware has more staying power, it won’t outlast some of the applications running on them. New hardware platforms will emerge. New hardware devices will enter the market that will launch new workloads, such as machine learning, graphics rendering, and visualization workflows. You will need the cluster to evolve non-disruptively to deliver the application performance, availability, and diversity your end-users require.

How is it done with vLCM?

In its current form, vLCM will struggle in long-term cluster lifecycle management. In particular, its inability to support heterogeneous nodes (nodes with different hardware configurations) in the same cluster will limit its application diversification and its ability to take advantage of new hardware platforms without impacting end-users.

How it is done with VxRail LCM?

VxRail LCM touts its ability to allow customers to grow non-disruptively and to scale their clusters over time. That includes adding non-identical nodes into the clusters for new applications, adding new hardware devices for new applications or more capacity, or retiring old hardware from the cluster.

Conclusion 

Figure 4  Comparing vSphere LCM and VxRail LCM cluster update operations driven by the customer

The VMware vLCM approach empowers customers who are looking for more configuration flexibility and control. They have the option to select their own hardware components and firmware to build the cluster profile. With this freedom comes the responsibility to define the HCI stack and make investments in equipment and personnel to ensure stack integrity. vLCM supports this customer-driven approach with improvements in cluster update execution for faster outcomes.

Dell EMC VxRail LCM continues to take a more comprehensive approach to optimize operational efficiency from the point of the view of the customer. VxRail customers value its LCM capabilities because it reduces operational time and effort which can be diverted into other areas of need in IT. VxRail takes on the responsibility to drive stack integrity for the lifecycle management of the cluster with Continuously Validated States. And VxRail sustains stack integrity throughout the life of the cluster, allowing you to simply and predictably evolve with technology trends.

Cliff Cahill
VxRail Engineering Technologist
Twitter @cliffcahill
LinkedIn http://linkedin.com/in/cliffcahill

VxRail Edge Automation Unleashed

Simplifying Satellite Node Management with Ansible

In the previous blog, Infrastructure as Code with VxRail made easier with Ansible Modules for Dell VxRail, I introduced the modules which enable the automation of VxRail operations through code-driven processes using Ansible and VxRail API. This approach not only streamlines IT infrastructure management but also aligns with Infrastructure as Code (IaC) principles, benefiting both technical experts and business leaders.

The corresponding demo is available on YouTube:

The previous blog laid the foundation for the continued journey where we explore more advanced Ansible automation techniques, with a focus on satellite node management in the VxRail ecosystem. I highly recommend checking out that blog before diving deeper into the topics discussed here - as the concepts discussed in this demo will be much easier to absorb

What are the VxRail satellite nodes?

VxRail satellite nodes are individual nodes designed specifically for deployment in edge environments and are managed through a centralized primary VxRail cluster. Satellite nodes do not leverage vSAN to provide storage resources and are an ideal solution for those workloads where the SLA and compute demands do not justify even the smallest of VxRail 2-node vSAN clusters.

Satellite nodes enable customers to achieve uniform and centralized operations within the data center and at the edge, ensuring VxRail management throughout. This includes comprehensive, automated lifecycle management for VxRail satellite nodes, while encompassing hardware and software and significantly reducing the need for manual intervention.

To learn more about satellite nodes, please check the following blogs from my colleagues:

• David’s introduction: Satellite nodes: Because sometimes even a 2-node cluster is too much
• Stephen’s update on enhancements: Enhancing Satellite Node Management at Scale

Automating VxRail satellite node operations using Ansible

You can leverage the Ansible Modules for Dell VxRail to automate various VxRail operations, including more advanced use cases, like satellite node management. It’s possible today by using the provided samples available in the official repository on GitHub.

Have a look at the following demo, which leverages the latest available version of these modules at the time of recording – 2.2.0. In the demo, I discuss and demonstrate how you can perform the following operations from Ansible:

• Collecting information about the number of satellite nodes added to the primary VxRail cluster
• Adding a new satellite node to the primary VxRail cluster
• Performing lifecycle management operations – staging the upgrade bundle and executing the upgrade on managed satellite nodes
• Removing a satellite node from the primary cluster

The examples used in the demo are slightly modified versions of the following samples from the modules' documentation on GitHub. If you’d like to replicate these in your environment, here are the links to the corresponding samples for your reference, which need slight modification:

• Retrieving system information: systeminfo.yml
• Adding a new satellite node: add_satellite_node.yml
• Performing LCM operations: upgrade_host_folder.yml (both staging and upgrading as explained in the demo)
• Removing a satellite node: remove_satellite_node.yml.

In the demo, you can also observe one of the interesting features of the Ansible Modules for Dell VxRail that is shown in action but not explained explicitly. You might be aware that some of the VxRail API functions are available in multiple versions – typically, a new version is made available when some new features are available in the VxRail HCI System Software, while the previous versions are stored to provide backward compatibility. The example is “GET /vX/system”, which is used to retrieve the number of the satellite nodes – this property was introduced in version 4. If you avoid specifying the version, the modules will automatically select the latest supported version, simplifying the end-user experience.

How can you get more hands-on experience with automating VxRail operations programmatically?

The above demo, discussing the satellite nodes management using Ansible, was configured in the VxRail API hands-on lab which is available in the Dell Technologies Demo Center. With the help of the Demo Center team, we built this lab as the self-education tool for learning VxRail API and how it can be used for automating VxRail operations using various methods – through exploring the built-in, interactive, web-based documentation, VxRail API PowerShell Modules, Ansible Modules for Dell VxRail and Postman.

The hands-on lab provides a safe VxRail API sandbox, where you can easily start experimenting by following the exercises from the lab guide or trying some other use cases on your own without any concerns about making configuration changes to the VxRail system.

The lab was refreshed for the Dell Technologies World 2023 conference to leverage VxRail HCI System Software 8.0.x and the latest version of the Ansible Modules. If you’re a Dell partner, you should have access directly, and if you’re a customer who’d like to get access – please contact your Account SE from Dell or Dell Partner. The lab is available in the catalog as: “HOL-0310-01 - Scalable Virtualization, Compute, and Storage with the VxRail REST API”.

Conclusion

In the fast-evolving landscape of IT infrastructure, the ability to automate operations efficiently is not just a convenience but a necessity. With the power of Ansible Modules for Dell VxRail, we've explored how this necessity can be met, looking at the examples of satellite nodes use case. We encourage you to embrace the full potential of VxRail automation using VxRail API and Ansible or other tools. If it is something new, you can get the experience by experimenting with the hands-on lab available in the Demo Center catalog.

Resources

• Previous blog: Infrastructure as Code with VxRail Made Easier with Ansible Modules for Dell VxRail
• The “master” blog containing a curated list of publicly-available educational resources about the VxRail API: VxRail API - Updated List of Useful Public Resources
• Ansible Modules for Dell VxRail on GitHub, which is the central code repository for the modules. It also contains complete product documentation and examples.
• Dell Technologies Demo Center, which includes VxRail API hands-on lab.

Author: Karol Boguniewicz, Senior Principal Engineering Technologist, VxRail Technical Marketing
Twitter/X: @cl0udguide
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/boguniewicz/