Based on customer and partner feedback, we are in the process providing additional guidance to simplify the workflow of building or choosing a hardware platform for Virtual SAN. The first steps in providing additional guidance will take the form of the following two updates.
The goal of these two updates is to provide a simple workflow allowing a customer to choose a prescriptive Virtual SAN Ready Node configuration from the vendor of your choice, based on either “Server” or “VDI” virtual machine workloads. Each server vendor (Cisco, Dell, Fujitsu, HP, SuperMicro, etc) will provide configurations categorized into either server Ready Nodes (High, Medium, or Low), or VDI specific Ready Nodes (Linked Clone or Full Clone). You can also use the Virtual SAN Hardware Quick Reference Guide as a starting point to build your own custom Virtual SAN Node, or to retrofit existing server nodes in your data center to utilize Virtual SAN.
Below are more details around the implemented changes.
Release of the Virtual SAN Hardware Quick Reference Guide, found on the VMware Compatibility Guide for Virtual SAN page. Use this guide as your first step toward determining a hardware configuration for Virtual SAN. This document provides sample server configurations as directional guidelines for the hardware choices of a Virtual SAN solution, along with the infrastructure sizing assumptions and design considerations made to create the sample configurations.
Ready Nodes are no longer listed under the “Build your Own” section of the VMware Compatibility Guide for Virtual SAN page. The VCG for Virtual SAN “Build your own” section lists IO Controllers, SSDs, and HDDs, which can be paired with any vendor appropriate server on the VCG server page to build a custom Virtual SAN node.
The concept of the Ready System has been removed, and replaced by prescriptive Ready Node guidance, categorized into server workload nodes (High, Medium, Low) or VDI workload nodes (Linked Clone or Full Clone).
Ready Nodes will now include prescriptive guidance that provides the size and quantity of CPU, Memory, Network, IO controller, SSD and HDD for a Virtual SAN node, and mapped to sample workload profiles. This is a major change from the old Ready Nodes, which were a validated combination of components only, without sizing specifics. The new Ready Nodes provide valuable additional guidance to customers and partners designing and implementing Virtual SAN solutions.
Over the coming weeks, we will be adding a plethora of Virtual SAN Ready Nodes from all your favorite server vendors, categorized into the aforementioned Server or VDI workload categories. And of course, you can still build a Virtual SAN solution today from any VCG supported server, along with components listed on the VCG for Virtual SAN. So stay tuned, and go Virtual SAN!
Based on customer and partner feedback, we are in the process providing additional guidance to simplify the workflow of building or choosing a hardware platform for Virtual SAN. The first steps in providing additional guidance will take the form of the following two updates.
