VMware vSAN Ready Nodes – Product Brief - August 31, 2017

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VMware vSAN Ready Nodes

Hyperconverged Infrastructure Appliance

August 2017

MakingthebestdecisionsforInformationManagement

VMware vSAN Ready Nodes – Product Brief - August 31, 2017

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VMware vSAN Ready Nodes Overview ReadyNodesareHyperconvergedInfrastructure(HCI)appliancesbasedonVMwarevSANsoftware-definedstorage,vSpherehypervisorandvCenterunifiedmanagement.Thisstackrunsonx86-basedserverhardwareprovidedbyanumberofdifferentvendors.ThesecompaniessellthesolutionastheirownHCIapplianceproducts,eachcertifiedbyVMware.Therearewellover100ReadyNodemodelsavailablefromthefollowingvendorsinvarioushybridandall-flashconfigurations.SeecurrentdatasheetsfromeachvendortodeterminewhichReadyNodeconfigurationsor“profiles”theycurrentlysupport.

Cisco Intel

Dell Inspur

Ericsson Lenovo

Fujitsu NEC

HP Quanta

HPE Sugan

Hitachi Supermicro

Huawei

EvaluatorGroupComment:

vSANwasoriginallysoldasasoftware-definedstoragesolutionforuseinVMwareenvironments,onethatrequireduserstoselecttheirownhardwareandinstallthesoftware.ReadyNodesaredesignedtoimprovetheuser’sexperiencebycreatingturnkeyHCIapplianceproductsthatarepurchasedandsupportedbytheirhardwarevendorofchoice.

Highlights

§ 4Hybridand3All-flashprofiles

§ Overadozenhardwarevendors

§ EnablesHCIappliancetobesourcedfromexistinghardwarevendor

§ Wellover100modelsavailable(allvendorscombined)

§ IncludesvSAN,vSphere,vCenter

Product Brief

©2017EvaluatorGroup,Inc.Allrightsreserved.

About vSAN LikeothervirtualSANproducts,vSANaggregatesstoragemediaoneachphysicalhostintosharedstoragepoolscomprisedofdiskdrivesand/orflashdrives.Embeddedintothehypervisorkernel,vSANallowsformoreoptimizationofthedatapathandsimplermanagement.

DesignedspecificallyforvSphereclusters,vSANwillscaletothemaximumnumberofnodesthataparticularvSphereversionsupports,currently64nodes.vSANhasinlinededuplicationandcompression,butisonlyavailablewithall-flashnodesandatthesystemlevel.Italsoofferssingle-anddouble-parityRAIDbetweennodes,commonlyknownasRAID5or6butwhatvSANiscalling“erasurecoding”.

SincevSANisanintegratedpartofthehypervisoritleveragesthefeaturesofvSphere,includingHighAvailability(HA),DistributedResourceScheduler(DRS),vMotion,vSphereSnapshotsandvSphereDataProtection.Additionally,vSANcooperateswithVMwareSiteRecoveryManager(SRM)andvRealizeAutomationforclouddeploymentsandVMwareViewfordesktopdeployments.(Formoreinformation,seeEvaluatorGroupProductBriefonVMwarevSAN.)

Ready Node Profile Characteristics ReadyNodemodelscomeinsingle-nodeandmulti-nodechassis(betweenoneandfournodes),basedonthevendor.Whilehardwarevendorsofferdifferentcombinationsofstorage,memoryandCPUresources,thefollowinglistshowstheminimumrequiredforeachReadyNodeprofile,inall-flash(AF-)andhybrid(HY-)configurations.Allcapacitiesshownareraw.

AF-4:2x10-coreCPUs,128GBRAM,1x200GBSSDcachingtier,4x1TBSSDscapacitytier

AF-6:2x12-coreCPUs,256GBRAM,2x200GBSSDcachingtier,8x1TBSSDcapacitytier

AF-8:2x12-coreCPU,384GBRAM,2x400GBSSDcachingtier,12x1TBSSDcapacitytier

HY-2:1x6-coreCPU,32GBRAM,1x200GBSSDcachingtier,2x1TBHDDcapacitytier

HY-4:2x8-coreCPUs,128GBRAM,1x200GBSSDcachingtier,4x1TBHDDcapacitytier

HY-6:2x10-coreCPUs,256GBRAM,2x200GBSSDscachingtier,8x1TBHDDcapacitytier

HY-8:2x12-coreCPUs,384GBRAM,2x400GBSSDscachingtier,12x1TBHDDs

HCIAccelerationKit:3-nodeclusterof1-socketservers,forsingle-siteenvironments

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VMwarepublishesdatatohelpprospectiveuserschoosewhichprofilebestfitstheirneeds.Thefollowingchartsprovidespecificsonminimumresourcesprovidedbyeachprofile,estimatesonVMdensityandperformance,etc.

UsageandDeployment Basedontherangeofresourcecapacitiesavailable,itwouldappearReadyNodeconfigurationsaredesignedtosupportamajorityofhyperconvergedusecases.Atthelowend,theHY-2configurationhasasingle6-coreCPU,whichcanmakeitcost-effectiveinthesmallestROBOordepartmentalenvironment.Atthehighend,theHY-8andAF-8offeraminimumofdual,12-coreCPUsand12TBofstorage.Itshouldbenoted,however,thattheseareminimumrequirementsandmosthardware

Copyright © 2010-2016 VMware, Inc. All rights reserved.1 / 7

The purpose of this document is to provide sample server configurations as directional guidelines for use with VMware® Virtual SAN™. Use these guidelines as your first step toward determining theconfiguration for Virtual SAN.

How to use this document ?1. Determine your workload profile requirement for your use case2. Refer to Ready Node profiles to determine the approximate configuration that meets your needs3. Use VSAN Hardware Compatibility Guide to pick a Ready Node aligned with the selected profile from the OEM server vendor of choice

Virtual SAN 6.0 All Flash Hardware GuidanceAF-8 Series AF-6 Series AF-4 Series

Number of VMs per Node* Up to 120 Up to 60 Up to 30

IOPs per Node Up to 80K Up to 50K Up to 25K

Raw Storage Capacity per Node 12 TB 8 TB 4 TB

CPU** 2x12 core 2x12 core 2x10 core

Memory 384 GB 256 GB 128 GB

Capacity Tier Flash 12x1 TB SSD Endurance Class A orabove Performance Class C or above

8x1 TB SSD Endurance Class A orabove Performance Class C or above

4x1 TB SSD Endurance Class A orabove Performance Class C or above

Caching Tier Flash 2x400 GB SSD Endurance Class D orabove Performance Class F or above

2x200 GB SSD Endurance Class C orabove Performance Class D or above

1x200 GB SSD Endurance Class C orabove Performance Class C or above

IO Controller*** Queue Depth >= 512 Queue Depth >=512 Queue Depth >= 256

NIC 10 GbE 10 GbE 10 GbE

* VM density can vary based on use case** Assumes latest generation CPU architecture*** Pass through mode recommended; additional controller may be required depending on maximum number of drives supported by the controller

Copyright © 2010-2016 VMware, Inc. All rights reserved.2 / 7

Virtual SAN 6.0 Hybrid Hardware GuidanceHY-8 Series HY-6 Series HY-4 Series HY-2 Series

Number of VMs per Node* Up to 100 Up to 50 Up to 30 Up to 20

IOPs per Node Up to 40K Up to 20K Up to 10K Up to 4K

Raw Storage Capacity per Node 12 TB 8 TB 4 TB 2 TB

CPU** 2x12 core 2x10 core 2x8 core 1x6 core

Memory 384 GB 256 GB 128 GB 32 GB

Capacity Tier Flash 12x1 TB SAS 10K RPM 8x1 TB NL-SAS 7.2K RPM 4x1 TB NL-SAS 7.2K RPM 2x1 TB NL-SAS 7.2K RPM

Caching Tier Flash 2x400 GB SSD Endurance Class>=D Performance Class >=E

2x200 GB SSD Endurance Class>=C Performance Class >=D

1x200 GB SSD Endurance Class>=C Performance Class >=D

1x200 GB SSD or EnduranceClass >=B Performance Class >=B

IO Controller*** Queue Depth >= 512 Queue Depth >= 256 Queue Depth >=256 Queue Depth >=256

NIC 10 GbE 10 GbE 10 GbE 10 GbE

* VM density can vary based on use case** Assumes latest generation CPU architecture*** Pass through mode recommended; additional controller may be required depending on maximum number of drives supported by the controller

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vendorsofferplatformswithlargerconfigurations,ashighas20-coreCPUsand20TBofstoragepernode,basedoncurrentlyavailableproducts.

HCIappliancesaredesignedtoprovideaturnkeycomputeandstoragesolutionforarangeofenvironments,onethat’seasytoorder(typicallyasingleSKU)andeasytodeploywithoutextensiveITexperience(ofteninanhourorless).First-callsupportisprovidedbythehardwarevendor.

ReadyNodesgivecompaniesconsideringanHCIapplianceanextendedrangeofhardwareconfigurationoptions(withsevenhybridandall-flashprofiles)andtheabilitytopickthehardwarevendoroftheirchoice,oronetheyhaveanexitingrelationshipwith.Itshouldbenotedhowever,thatnotallvendorsoffertheentirerangeofhybridandall-flashReadyNodeprofiles.

Evaluator Group Eval(u)Scale™: VMware vSAN Ready Nodes

Criteria DescriptionEGViewofvSANReady

NodesExplanationforvSANReadyNodes

1

ModelOptionsVarietyofavailableappliancemodelsandconfigurations

Exceedsrequirements

OvertenOEMsofferReadyNodemodelsin1-nodeor4-nodechassis,3AF,4hybridconfigs,multipleresourceoptions

2

Scalability

Totalstorageandcomputecapacity(lowtohigh),flexible,efficientexpansion

Meetsrequirements

Upto24drives/chassis,64-nodemaxclusters,singleCPUmodels,AFandresourceconfgoptions(OEMdependent)

3Vendor/Product

Stability

Companyviability,productlongevity,impactofOEMpartnerships

Areafordevelopment

Enterprisevendor,vSANmaturity,questionofOEMcommitmentlongterm

4

Economics

Effectivecostofsystemandoperation(CapExandOpEx),incldatareduction

Meetsrequirements

System-widedatareduction(on/off,AFonly),multipleOEMsuppliers,integrationw/vSphereoperation

5

Performance

Resourcesanddesignelementstomaximizeperformance

Exceedsrequirements

Highflashcapacity,read/writecache,multipleAFoptions,notieringorNVMe,goodIOmarkresultsforvSAN

6

DataProtection/BusinessContinuity

Device-andnode-levelfailureprotection,BU/DRoptions,stretchedclusters,HA,failover

Areafordevelopment

DistributedRAID10andRAID5/6,stretechedclusterswithsecondarysiteRAIDprotection,nointernalBUfunctions

7

PlatformOptions

Hypervisorsupport,containersupport,relatedfeatures

Areafordevelopment

OnlyVMwaresupported,vSphereIntegratedContainers,Photon

8

CloudOptions

Privatecloudfeatures/functionality,publiccloudconnectivityforhybriddeployments

Meetsrequirements

VmwareCloudFoundation,Cross-CloudArch

9 ManagementOptions

Hypervisormgmtintegration,internal/ISV

Meetsrequirements

EmbeddedinvSphere,nopluginsreq’d,vCenterintegration,policy-basedVM-

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mgmtpkg,automation,VM-levelmgmt

centricconfig

10

AdvancedFeatures

LeveragefunctionalityenabledbySDS,provideuniqueoradvefficiencyormgmtfeatures

Meetsrequirements

Mostlystandarddataservices,someQoS,VM-centricmanagement,cluster-levelencryption,iSCSIdatasharing

Evaluator Group Opinion: Differentiating elements for VMware vSAN Ready Nodes Withsevenhybridandall-flashmodelsinmultipleconfigurations,vSANReadyNodesofferawiderrangeofhardwareoptionsthanotherHCIsolutions,andtheabilitytosourcefromadozenOEMvendorsshouldbeanadvantageforcompaniesthatwanttouseaspecificserverplatform.vSANprovidesmostofthebasicdataservicesthatHCIusershavecometoexpect,however,doesn’tofferadvancedfeatureslikebuilt-indataprotectionorotherautomatedfunctions.Also,datareductionisavailableonlywithall-flashmodelsandonlyatthesystemlevel.VM-levelconfigurationandmanagement(StoragePolicyBasedManagement)isafeaturethatcanimprovedataefficiencyandmanageability,andonethatmostHCIvendorsdon’thavetothisextent.vSANscoredwellonEvaluatorGroup’sIOmarktestingforperformanceandcost-effectiveness,(usingIntelservers),showingthatall-flashconfigurationscouldactuallybemoreeconomicalonper-VMbasisthanhybridconfigurations.VMwareprovidescloudconnectivityoptionswithCloudFoundationandtheCross-CloudArchitecture,andwhilevSANdoesnotprovideanyotherhypervisoroptions,itdoessupportcontainerswithvSphereIntegratedContainersandPhoton.Informationthatismoredetailedisavailableathttp://evaluatorgroup.comCopyright2017EvaluatorGroup,Inc.Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproducedortransmittedinanyformorbyanymeans,electronicormechanical,includingphotocopyingandrecording,orstoredinadatabaseorretrievalsystemforanypurposewithouttheexpresswrittenconsentofEvaluatorGroupInc.Theinformationcontainedinthisdocumentissubjecttochangewithoutnotice.EvaluatorGroupassumesnoresponsibilityforerrorsoromissions.EvaluatorGroupmakesnoexpressedorimpliedwarrantiesinthisdocumentrelatingtotheuseoroperationoftheproductsdescribedherein.InnoeventshallEvaluatorGroupbeliableforanyindirect,special,inconsequentialorincidentaldamagesarisingoutoforassociatedwithanyaspectofthispublication,evenifadvisedofthepossibilityofsuchdamages.TheEvaluatorSeriesisatrademarkofEvaluatorGroup,Inc.Allothertrademarksarethepropertyoftheirrespectivecompanies.

Eval(u)Scale™isamethodologydevelopedbyEvaluatorGrouptodeterminethevalueofferedbyaproductwithinatechnologyarea.EvaluationcriteriaaredevelopedthroughITclientengagementsandanunderstandingsystemusage.ThedefinitionsofthecriteriaandexplanationsofhowproductsarereviewedcanbefoundintheEvaluatorGroupEvaluationGuide,whichisreflectedinthe

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Eval(u)ScalepublishedinindividualProductBriefs.TheEval(u)Scaleforeachproductisdeterminedthroughin-depthreviewandanalysisattainedfromvendorinterviews,reviewsofuser/administrationguides,hands-ontestingand/orclientengagements.