VMware Cloud on Dell EMC is a complete hardware and software SDDC rack that is easy to order so you can quickly provision infrastructure for your on-premises applications. It is fully assembled, cabled, and configured before it arrives – ready to connect to your network. VMware takes care of the lifecycle management, so your valuable IT resources can focus on business applications instead of patching and updating software and firmware in the data center.
The latest release of VMware Cloud on Dell EMC brings capabilities that are perfect for enterprise data center use cases: more resources, rapid physical expansion, improved monitoring, and bulk migration of workloads from older VMware vSphere environments.
One of the biggest changes in this release is the addition of a new full height 42U rack, designated as R2, to complement the initial 24U half-height R1 rack that is primarily intended for edge, manufacturing, and remote office deployments.
The full height R2 rack omits the backup battery found in its shorter sibling, as the expectation for deployment of the R2 rack is that it will be in a data center environment with reliable power infrastructure. In fact, the R2 rack offers greatly enhanced power capacity: up to 4 single-phase or 2 three-phase circuits. More kilowatts enable you to now order the rack with up to 12 or 16 hosts, respectively. You’ll also be glad to know that those power cables can exit from either the top or the bottom of the rack to align with your particular data center setup. The following table summarizes the differences.
Growing Portfolio of Physical Host Configurations
Now with the latest VMware Cloud on Dell EMC release, there are three different host sizes to offer a broad range of resource configuration to suit workload requirements. The new M1d.medium has double the CPU and memory, plus faster NVMe flash storage. Please see the following table for details on the current host portfolio.
Easy Capacity Expansion
In this release, it’s easy to order additional hosts for your existing SDDC rack deployments. Using the web-based portal that is part of the VMware Cloud Services platform, you can initiate an order for additional hosts, track the delivery progress, and arrange for deployment and integration. The additional capacity is added to your cluster through automated workflows, so you don’t need to worry about any complex configuration procedures. There is also an integrated calculator that clearly illustrates the additional resources that will be added, as shown below.
Easier to Move Applications to the New SDDC
After your new rack is up and running, one of the logical next steps is to move existing workloads off of aging or underperforming infrastructure. With the addition of VMware HCX, orchestrating bulk migration of applications with little or no downtime is amazingly efficient.
Data Protection for Workloads
Once you’ve tested and deemed your VMware Cloud on Dell EMC rack ready for production workloads, you can leverage data protection solutions from the VMware ecosystem to keep your business information securely backed up. The first partner products certified for this amazing new on-prem, fully managed data center are now ready. Get in touch with your Dell Power Protect or Veeam account teams to learn more about version compatibility and integration processes.
Takeaways
VMware Cloud on Dell EMC continues to expand capabilities to accommodate the demands of enterprise workloads in your data center. The full-height rack is capable of running a larger number of higher-performance VxRail servers, along with the ability to expand the number of hosts in an existing rack. The SDDC is fully equipped with VMware vSphere, vSAN, and NSX-T – and when updates are released, VMware takes care of the lifecycle management so your valuable IT staff can focus on supporting business-critical applications.
