Transcript
Page 1: VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture · PDF fileVCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Revision history VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

1 © 2012 VCE Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Revision history

VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

Version 1.5 June 2012

© 2012 VCE Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

www.vce.com

Page 2: VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture · PDF fileVCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Revision history VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

2 © 2012 VCE Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Revision history VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

Revision history

Date Version Author Description of changes

November 2011 1.0 Sandy Guardiani Release for 700MX February 2012 1.1 Sandy Guardiani First Customer Ship for 700LX March 2012 1.2 Sandy Guardiani General Availability release May 2012 1.3 Sandy Guardiani For the 700MX, added the Cisco UCS 6248UP Fabric

Interconnects and the Cisco UCS 2208XP Series Fabric Extenders

May 2012 1.4 Sandy Guardiani Updated VMAXe Enginuity version. Updated 700MX elevations. June 2012 1.5 Sandy Guardiani • Added Vblock Data Protection information

• Added external NFS and CIFS access information • Updated block storage, SAN boot storage, unified storage,

and aggregation common services graphics • Added new SAN switch line card options • Added new storage drives for 700LX • Updated for EMC Symmetrix VMAX and VCE rebranding

Page 3: VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture · PDF fileVCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Revision history VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

3 © 2012 VCE Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Table of contents

Table of contents

Introduction ................................................................................................................................................. 6

Accessing VCE documentation ................................................................................................................. 7

Overview ...................................................................................................................................................... 8 Vblock™ Systems Series 700 overview ................................................................................................. 8

700MX .............................................................................................................................................. 8 700LX ............................................................................................................................................. 10

Base configurations and scaling ........................................................................................................... 12 Connectivity overview ........................................................................................................................... 13 Block storage configuration .................................................................................................................. 14

700MX block configuration ............................................................................................................. 14 700LX block configuration .............................................................................................................. 15

SAN boot storage configuration ............................................................................................................ 16 Unified storage configuration ................................................................................................................ 17 Aggregating multiple Vblock systems ................................................................................................... 18

Aggregation common services ....................................................................................................... 19

Compute layer hardware .......................................................................................................................... 20 Compute overview ................................................................................................................................ 20 Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS) .............................................................................................. 21 Cisco UCS fabric interconnects ............................................................................................................ 22 Scaling up compute resources ............................................................................................................. 22

Blade packs .................................................................................................................................... 22 Chassis activation kits (CAK) ......................................................................................................... 23

Bare-metal support ............................................................................................................................... 23

Storage layer hardware ............................................................................................................................ 24 Storage overview .................................................................................................................................. 24 EMC Symmetrix VMAX 20K Series storage arrays .............................................................................. 25

EMC Data at Rest Encryption (700MX only).................................................................................. 26 EMC Symmetrix VMAX 10K Series storage arrays .............................................................................. 27

EMC RecoverPoint (700LX) ........................................................................................................... 28 EMC VNX VG2 Gateway and EMC VNX VG8 Gateway ...................................................................... 29 Scaling up storage resources ............................................................................................................... 30

RAID packs .................................................................................................................................... 30 Storage cabinet expansion ............................................................................................................ 32 Disk array enclosure (DAE) packs (700LX) ................................................................................... 32 Adding engines .............................................................................................................................. 32

Network layer hardware ............................................................................................................................ 33 Network overview ................................................................................................................................. 33 700MX network components ................................................................................................................ 34

Cisco MDS 9148 Multilayer Fabric switch ...................................................................................... 34

Page 4: VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture · PDF fileVCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Revision history VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

4 © 2012 VCE Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Table of contents VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

Cisco MDS 9506 Multilayer Director .............................................................................................. 34 Cisco MDS 9513 Multilayer Director .............................................................................................. 35 Optional network layer components ............................................................................................... 35

700LX network components ................................................................................................................. 37 IP networking components ............................................................................................................. 37 Storage switching components ...................................................................................................... 38

Virtualization components ....................................................................................................................... 39 Virtualization overview .......................................................................................................................... 39 VMware vSphere Hypervisor ESXi ....................................................................................................... 39

Cluster configuration ...................................................................................................................... 39 Datastores ...................................................................................................................................... 39 Virtual networks .............................................................................................................................. 39

VMware vCenter Server ....................................................................................................................... 40 Databases ...................................................................................................................................... 40 Authentication ................................................................................................................................ 40 VCE supported features ................................................................................................................. 41

Management components ........................................................................................................................ 42 Management hardware components .................................................................................................... 42 Management software tools ................................................................................................................. 43

AMP software tools ........................................................................................................................ 43 Storage features support ...................................................................................................................... 44

vStorage APIs for Array Integration (VAAI).................................................................................... 44 File deduplication ........................................................................................................................... 44 External NFS and CIFS access ..................................................................................................... 44

Data protection .......................................................................................................................................... 45 Vblock Data Protection overview .......................................................................................................... 45

Data protection defined .................................................................................................................. 45 VCE Vblock Data Protection capabilities .............................................................................................. 46 Backup and recovery ............................................................................................................................ 47

One VCE cabinet that contains EMC Avamar ............................................................................... 47 Multiple VCE cabinets that contain EMC Avamar .......................................................................... 49 One VCE cabinet that contains EMC Avamar and EMC Data Domain 670 .................................. 50 One VCE cabinet that contains EMC Avamar and another VCE cabinet that contains EMC Data Domain 890 .................................................................................................................................... 52 One VCE cabinet that contains EMC Avamar and multiple cabinets that contain EMC Data Domain 890 .................................................................................................................................... 53

Business continuity and workload mobility ........................................................................................... 54 EMC VPLEX ................................................................................................................................... 54 Cluster configurations .................................................................................................................... 54 Recommended configurations ....................................................................................................... 55 Single engine ................................................................................................................................. 56 Dual engine .................................................................................................................................... 57 Quad engine ................................................................................................................................... 58

Page 5: VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture · PDF fileVCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Revision history VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

5 © 2012 VCE Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Table of contents

Vblock Series 700 cabinets ...................................................................................................................... 59 Cabinets overview ................................................................................................................................ 59 700MX cabinet types ............................................................................................................................ 59

CB compute base cabinet .............................................................................................................. 60 CE compute expansion (CE) cabinet ............................................................................................. 60 Storage cabinets ............................................................................................................................ 60 Network cabinets ............................................................................................................................ 60 Maximum number of cabinets ........................................................................................................ 61

700LX cabinet types ............................................................................................................................. 62 Compute and network (CNB A and CNB B) base configuration cabinets ..................................... 62 Compute and network (CNB A and CNB B) maximum configuration cabinets ............................. 65 Compute and network expansion (CNE) cabinet ........................................................................... 67 Storage cabinets ............................................................................................................................ 68 Maximum number of cabinets ........................................................................................................ 68

Vblock Series 700 models ........................................................................................................................ 69 Vblock Series 700 model overview ....................................................................................................... 69 Power options for 700MX ..................................................................................................................... 70

North America power options for Vblock system cabinets ............................................................. 70 Power options outside of North America for Vblock system cabinets ........................................... 70 North America power options for EMC Symmetrix VMAX 20K ..................................................... 70 Power options outside of North America for EMC Symmetrix VMAX 20K .................................... 70

Power options for 700LX ...................................................................................................................... 71 North America power options for Vblock system cabinets ............................................................. 71 Power options outside of North America for Vblock system cabinets ........................................... 71 North America power options for EMC Symmetrix VMAX 10K ..................................................... 71 Power options outside of North America for EMC Symmetrix VMAX 10K .................................... 71

Vblock Series 700 model MX ............................................................................................................... 72 700MX compute and storage configuration ................................................................................... 72 700MX compute and network configuration .................................................................................. 73

Vblock Series 700 model LX ................................................................................................................ 74 700LX base configuration .............................................................................................................. 74 700LX maximum configuration ...................................................................................................... 75

Additional references ............................................................................................................................... 76 References overview ............................................................................................................................ 76 Virtualization components .................................................................................................................... 76 Compute components .......................................................................................................................... 77 Network components ............................................................................................................................ 78 Storage components ............................................................................................................................ 78

Page 6: VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture · PDF fileVCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Revision history VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

6 © 2012 VCE Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Introduction VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

Introduction

Growing business challenges and fleeting opportunities demand an infrastructure that is swift, agile, and economical—enabling enterprises to adapt to change quickly and cost-effectively. VCE represents the next evolution of IT, one focused on the next generation data center and the future of cloud computing. VCE seeks to eliminate challenges that consume today's data center resources.

VCE designs and delivers Vblock™ Systems that seamlessly integrate leading compute, network, and storage technologies. Through intelligent discovery, awareness and automation, Vblock systems provide the highest levels of virtualization and application performance.

The Vblock Series 700 is an enterprise-class mission-critical system for the world's most demanding workloads and service levels. It includes best director-class fabric switch, most advanced fabric based blade server, and most trusted storage platform. It is available in two models - Vblock Series 700 Model MX (700MX) and Vblock Series 700 Model LX (700LX).

This document describes the high-level design of the Vblock 700. This document also describes the hardware and software components that VCE includes in each Vblock 700 model.

The target audience for this document includes sales engineers, field consultants, advanced services specialists, and customers who want to deploy a virtualized infrastructure by using a Vblock 700 model.

The VCE Glossary provides terms, definitions, and acronyms that are related to Vblock systems. Refer to Accessing VCE documentation.

To suggest documentation changes and provide feedback on this book, send an e-mail to [email protected]. Include the name of the topic to which your feedback applies.

Page 7: VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture · PDF fileVCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Revision history VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

7 © 2012 VCE Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Accessing VCE documentation

Accessing VCE documentation

Select the documentation resource that applies to your role:

Role Resource

Customer support.vce.com A valid username and password are required.

VCE Partner www.vcepartnerportal.com/resourcelib-vce.asp?loc=331 A valid username and password are required.

Cisco, EMC, VCE, or VMware employee www.vceportal.com/solutions/68580567.html

VCE employee www.vceview.com/solutions/products/ or vblockproductdocs.ent.vce.com

Page 8: VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture · PDF fileVCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Revision history VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

8 © 2012 VCE Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Overview VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

Overview

Vblock™ Systems Series 700 overview

The Vblock™ Systems Series 700 is designed for deployments involving large numbers of virtual machines and users. The Vblock Series 700 is available in two models:

• Vblock Series 700 model MX (700MX)

• Vblock Series 700 model LX (700LX)

700MX

The 700MX utilizes a SAN storage medium or a NAS (File) storage medium. UCS local book disks are optional. The 700MX contains the following key hardware and software components:

Resource Components

Compute • Cisco UCS 5108 Blade Server Chassis • Cisco UCS B-Series blades • Cisco M81KR Virtual Interface Card converged network adapter • Cisco UCS 2104XP Series Fabric Extenders or Cisco UCS 2208XP Series Fabric Extenders • Cisco UCS 6248UP Series Fabric Interconnects or Cisco UCS 6140XP Fabric Interconnects

Network The default configuration does not include a Cisco Nexus switch. • (Optional) Cisco Nexus 5548UP Series Ethernet switches required for two compute cabinets

unless a Cisco Nexus 7010 switch is selected • (Optional) Cisco Nexus 7010 switch (requires two or more compute cabinets) • Cisco Nexus 1000V VSM and VEM virtual switch • Cisco MDS 9148 Multilayer Fabric Switch • (Optional) Cisco MDS 9506 Multilayer Director • (Optional) Cisco MDS 9513 Multilayer Director

Storage • EMC Symmetrix VMAX 20K • (Optional) EMC VNX VG2 Gateway or EMC VNX VG8 Gateway • (Optional) EMC Symmetrix Data at Rest Encryption (DARE)

Virtualization VMware ESX and VMware ESXi, VMware vCenter Server Management • EMC PowerPath/VE

• Cisco UCS Manager • Cisco Secure Access Control Server (ACS) • EMC Ionix Unified Infrastructure Manager (UIM/P) • EMC Secure Remote Support (ESRS) on Windows • EMC Symmetrix Management Console (SMC) on Windows • EMC Symmetrix Performance Analyzer (SPA) on Windows • VMware vSphere Server Enterprise Plus

Page 9: VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture · PDF fileVCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Revision history VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

9 © 2012 VCE Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Overview

The following illustration provides a high-level overview of the components in the 700MX architecture:

The VCE Vblock Systems Release Certification Matrix provides a list of the certified versions of components for Vblock 700. Refer to Accessing VCE documentation.

Page 10: VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture · PDF fileVCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Revision history VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

10 © 2012 VCE Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Overview VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

700LX

The 700LX delivers a multi-controller, scale-out storage architecture with consolidation and efficiency for the enterprise. It allows scaling of storage resources through common and fully redundant building blocks called VMAX 10K series engines. The 700LX is designed for deployments of large numbers of virtual machines and users. It meets the higher performance and availability requirements of an enterprise's business-critical applications.

The 700LX contains the following key hardware and software components:

Resource Components

Compute • Cisco UCS 5108 Blade Server Chassis • Cisco UCS B-Series Blades • Cisco M81KR Virtual Interface Card converged network adapter • Cisco UCS 2104XP Series Fabric Extenders or Cisco UCS 2208XP Series Fabric Extenders • Cisco UCS 6248UP Series Fabric Interconnects

Network • Cisco Nexus 5548UP Series Ethernet switches • Cisco MDS 9148 Multilayer Fabric Switch • Cisco Nexus 1000V Series virtual switch

Storage • EMC Symmetrix VMAX 10K • (Optional) EMC VNX VG2 Gateway or EMC VNX VG8 Gateway • (Optional) EMC RecoverPoint

Virtualization VMware ESXi, VMware vCenter Server Management • EMC PowerPath/VE

• Cisco UCS Manager • Cisco Secure Access Control Server (ACS) • EMC Ionix Unified Infrastructure Manager (UIM) • EMC Secure Remote Support (ESRS) on Windows • EMC Symmetrix Management Console (SMC) on Windows • EMC Symmetrix Performance Analyzer (SPA) on Windows • VMware vSphere Server Enterprise Plus

Page 11: VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture · PDF fileVCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Revision history VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

11 © 2012 VCE Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Overview

The following illustration provides a high-level overview of the components in the 700LX architecture:

The VCE Vblock Systems Release Certification Matrix provides a list of the certified versions of components for Vblock 700. Refer to Accessing VCE documentation.

Page 12: VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture · PDF fileVCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Revision history VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

12 © 2012 VCE Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Overview VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

Base configurations and scaling

For each Vblock system model, there is a base configuration, which is a minimum set of compute and storage components as well as fixed network resources. These components are integrated within one or more 28-inch 42U cabinets. Within the base configuration, the following hardware aspects can be customized:

Hardware How it can be customized

Compute blades B-series blade type including all supported VCE blade configurations Compute chassis 700MX

Four to eight Cisco UCS Blade Server Chassis per Cisco UCS domain (pair of fabric interconnects) Up to five Cisco UCS domains supported (five pair of fabric interconnects) yielding support for up to 40 Cisco UCS Blade Server chassis 700LX Six to eight Cisco UCS Blade Server Chassis

Storage hardware Drive types for up to three tiers of storage, the number of drives in each tier, the RAID protection for all tiers, and the number of disk array enclosures (DAEs)

Storage 700MX EMC VMAX 20K storage. Contains two to eight engines and 88 - 1920 drives in up to nine cabinets including one system cabinet and one to nine storage cabinets including the system storage bay. Refer to EMC Symmetrix VMAX 20K Series storage arrays. 700LX EMC VMAX 10K storage. Contains one to four engines and 24 - 1080 drives in up to seven cabinets. Refer to EMC Symmetrix VMAX 10K Series storage arrays.

Supported disk drives

700MX 200/400 GB EFD, 300/450/600 GB 15K FC, 1/2 TB 7.2K SATA 700LX 100/200 GB EFD, 300/600 GB 10K SAS, 300/450/600 GB 15K FC, 2 TB 7.2K SATA

Supported RAID types

Tier 1: RAID 1, RAID 5 Tier 2: RAID 1, RAID 5, RAID 6 Tier 3: RAID 1, RAID 5, RAID 6 RAID 10 striping is accomplished through striped meta volumes and striped virtual pools. Refer to Scaling up storage resources.

Management hardware options

An AMP centralizes management of Vblock system components. Optionally, a high-availability version of the AMP can be substituted. Refer to Management hardware components.

EMC RecoverPoint appliances (RPAs)

700LX Two to eight clustered appliances that facilitate storage replication and rapid disaster recovery. Refer to EMC RecoverPoint.

Data Mover Enclosure (DME) packs

Base configuration has two control stations configured with one DME and one pair of X-Blades. Upgrades are available on the EMC VNX VG8 Gateway with two X-Blades in a DME. Refer to EMC VNX VG2 Gateway and EMC VNX VG8 Gateway .

Together, the components offer balanced CPU, I/O bandwidth, and storage capacity relative to the compute and storage arrays in the system. All components have N+N or N+1 redundancy.

These resources can be scaled up as necessary to meet increasingly stringent requirements. The maximum supported configuration differs from model to model. To scale up compute resources, add blade packs and chassis activation kits. Refer to Scaling up compute resources. To scale up storage resources, add engines, cache, RAID packs, and DME packs. Optionally, add expansion cabinets with additional resources. Refer to Scaling up storage resources.

Page 13: VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture · PDF fileVCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Revision history VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

13 © 2012 VCE Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Overview

Vblock systems are designed to keep hardware changes to a minimum should the customer decide to change the storage protocol after installation (for example, from block storage to unified storage).

For the 700LX, cabinet space is reserved for all components that are needed for each storage configuration (MDS switches, X-Blades, etc.). All network and power cabling for these components are in place.

Connectivity overview

Components and interconnectivity within Vblock systems are conceptually subdivided into three layers:

Layer Description

Compute Contains the components that provide the computing power within the Vblock system. The Cisco UCS blade servers, chassis, and fabric interconnects belong in this layer. Refer to Compute overview.

Storage Contains the storage components for both block and file storage types. In the 700MX, the EMC VMAX 20K array components belong in this layer. In the 700LX, the EMC VMAX 10K array components belong in this layer. Both Vblock 700 models offer the VG NAS gateway components for file storage. Refer to Storage overview.

Network Contains the components that provide switching and routing between the compute and storage layers within a Vblock system, and between the Vblock system and the customer network. The Cisco Nexus switches and the Cisco MDS switches belong in this layer. Refer to Network overview.

All components incorporate redundancy into the design.

The following topics present connectivity configurations for the Vblock Series 700:

• Block storage configuration

• SAN boot storage configuration

• Unified storage configuration

The VCE Vblock Systems Series 700 Model LX Port Assignments Reference provides information about the assigned use for each port in the Vblock system. Refer to Accessing VCE documentation.

Page 14: VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture · PDF fileVCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Revision history VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

14 © 2012 VCE Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Overview VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

Block storage configuration

This topic shows a block-only storage configuration for a 700MX and a 700LX.

700MX block configuration

The following illustration shows a block (and file) storage configuration for a 700MX. The compute layer within a 700MX connects to both the Ethernet and Fibre Channel (FC) components of the network layer. The UCS connects to the Nexus switches in the Ethernet network through 10 GbE port channels and to the MDS switches through 8 Gb Fibre Channel (FC) links. The storage layer consists of an EMC VMAX storage array. The front-end expansion cards connect to the Cisco MDS switches within the network layer over 8 Gb Fibre Channel (FC).

Page 15: VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture · PDF fileVCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Revision history VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

15 © 2012 VCE Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Overview

700LX block configuration

The following illustration shows a block-only storage configuration for a 700LX. The X-Blades and control stations are absent from the cabinets. However, space can be reserved in the cabinets for these components (including EMC RecoverPoint), and all power and network cabling is present. This design makes it easier to add the components later if the customer upgrades to unified storage.

Page 16: VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture · PDF fileVCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Revision history VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

16 © 2012 VCE Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Overview VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

SAN boot storage configuration

The ESXi hosts always boot over the FC SAN. The remainder of the storage can be presented either as NFS or as VMFS datastores. Storage can also be presented directly to the virtual machines as CIFS shares. The following illustration shows the components (highlighted in a red, dashed line) that are leveraged to support SAN booting in Vblock Series 700 systems:

Page 17: VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture · PDF fileVCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Revision history VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

17 © 2012 VCE Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Overview

Unified storage configuration

In a unified storage configuration for Vblock Series 700, the compute layer accesses the storage layer through both file and block methods in the network layer using NFS/CIFS and Fibre Channel (FC) respectively. The engines within the array connect to NAS gateway X-Blades through the fibre channel SAN. The X-Blades also connect to the Cisco Nexus switches within the network layer over 10 GbE to provide NFS access to the compute layer in addition to the block access described in Block storage configuration. The unified topology is shown in the following illustration:

Page 18: VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture · PDF fileVCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Revision history VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

18 © 2012 VCE Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Overview VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

Aggregating multiple Vblock systems

Multiple Vblock systems can be connected into a common network at a high level. The following illustration shows a configuration in which two Vblock systems are aggregated. The UCS domain and SAN on each Vblock system are maintained separately. The SANs within the Vblock systems share common services, such as migration and backup/data recovery, within an aggregated Cisco MDS 9500 Series Director. However, no resources are shared between the Vblock system SANs.

Page 19: VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture · PDF fileVCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Revision history VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

19 © 2012 VCE Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Overview

Aggregation common services

The VCE aggregation solution supports the connection of multiple Vblock systems in a single physical environment to shared disaster recovery, replication, and backup services. It also provides cross-Vblock system IP connectivity and facilitates data movement both into and out of the Vblock system from the customer environment. The aggregation solution also delivers a standardization of connections into the Vblock system which provides clarity for support personnel, and expansion flexibility.

The following aggregation topologies are available:

• SAN only

• Ethernet only

• Mixed SAN and Ethernet

These topologies have various scaling points using different Cisco MDS and Cisco Nexus solutions to provide the required connectivity among the Vblock system, customer network, and external common services appliances.

Page 20: VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture · PDF fileVCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Revision history VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

20 © 2012 VCE Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Compute layer hardware VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

Compute layer hardware

Compute overview

Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS) B-series blades provide the computing power within a Vblock system. The blades are installed in Cisco UCS chassis.

For the 700MX and the 700LX, fabric extenders within the Cisco UCS chassis connect to Cisco fabric interconnects over converged Ethernet. Up to four 10 GbE ports on each fabric extender connect northbound to the fabric interconnects regardless of the number of blades in the chassis. These connections carry IP and storage traffic. The universal ports on the Cisco UCS 6248UP Series Fabric Interconnects can handle Ethernet, Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE), and Fibre Channel (FC) transports eliminating the need for special-purpose expansion cards that are needed for the Cisco UCS 6140XP Fabric Interconnects.

The 700MX has an additional option of the Cisco UCS 6140XP Fabric Interconnects. Fabric extenders within the Cisco UCS chassis connect to Cisco fabric interconnects over converged Ethernet. Four 10 GbE ports on each fabric extender connect northbound to the fabric interconnects regardless of the number of blades in the chassis. These connections carry IP and storage traffic.

For the 700MX and the 700LX, each fabric interconnect has multiple ports reserved by VCE for 10 GbE ports. VCE has reserved these ports for southbound connections to the Cisco UCS 5108 chassis or for northbound connections to the network connectivity layer. The northbound ports connect to upstream access/aggregation switches. These connections carry IP traffic to and from the customer network. In a unified storage configuration, these ports also carry IP traffic to the X-Blades within the storage layer.

Each fabric interconnect also has multiple ports reserved by VCE for 8 Gb Fibre Channel. These ports connect to Cisco MDS storage switches. These connections carry FC traffic between the compute layer and the storage layer. In a unified storage configuration, these connections also enable storage area network (SAN) booting of the UCS blades.

Page 21: VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture · PDF fileVCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Revision history VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

21 © 2012 VCE Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Compute layer hardware

Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS)

The Cisco UCS data center platform unites compute, network, and storage access. Optimized for virtualization, the Cisco UCS integrates a low-latency, lossless 10 GB Ethernet unified network fabric with enterprise-class, x86-based servers (the Cisco B series).

Vblock systems contain a number of Cisco UCS 5100 Series Blade Server Chassis. Each chassis can contain up to eight half-width Cisco UCS B-Series Blade Servers or four full-width blades. In Vblock systems, each chassis also includes Cisco UCS fabric extenders and Cisco UCS B-Series Converged Network Adapters.

The VCE Vblock Systems Series 700 Model LX Port Assignments Reference provides information about the assigned use for each port in the Vblock system. Refer to Accessing VCE documentation.

Vblock systems powered by Cisco UCS feature:

• Built-in redundancy for high availability

• Hot-swappable components for serviceability, upgrade, or expansion

• Fewer physical components than in a comparable system built piece-by-piece

• Reduced cabling

• Improved energy efficiency over traditional blade server chassis

The VCE Vblock Systems Blade Pack Reference provides a list of supported Cisco UCS blades in Vblock Series 700 models. Refer to Accessing VCE documentation.

Page 22: VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture · PDF fileVCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Revision history VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

22 © 2012 VCE Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Compute layer hardware VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

Cisco UCS fabric interconnects

The Cisco UCS fabric interconnects provide network connectivity and management capabilities to the Cisco UCS blades and chassis. The Cisco UCS fabric interconnects offer line-rate, low-latency, lossless 10 Gigabit Ethernet and Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) functions.

The interconnects provide the management and communication backbone for the blades and chassis. The interconnects provide LAN and SAN connectivity for all blades within their domain.

The Vblock Series 700 models use Cisco UCS 6248UP Series Fabric Interconnects. Optionally, the 700MX uses the Cisco UCS 6140XP Fabric Interconnects.

Scaling up compute resources

To scale up compute resources, you can add blade packs and chassis activation kits. You can add packs and kits either when Vblock systems are built or after they are deployed.

Blade packs

Cisco UCS blades are sold in packs of two. Each blade pack includes:

• Two identical Cisco UCS blades

• Two fabric interconnect port licenses

The base configuration of each Vblock system model includes two blade packs. The maximum number of blade packs depends on the model.

Each blade type must have a minimum of two blade packs as a base configuration and can then be increased in single blade pack increments thereafter.

Each blade pack is added along with license packs for the following software:

• Cisco UCS Manager (UCSM)

• VMware ESXi

• Cisco Nexus 1000V virtual switch

• EMC Ionix UIM

• EMC PowerPath

Note: License packs for VMware ESXi, Cisco Nexus 1000v virtual switch, and EMC PowerPath are not available for bare-metal blades.

The VCE Vblock Systems Blade Pack Reference provides a list of supported Cisco UCS blades in Vblock Series 700 models. Refer to Accessing VCE documentation.

Page 23: VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture · PDF fileVCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Revision history VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

23 © 2012 VCE Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Compute layer hardware

Chassis activation kits (CAK)

The power supplies and fabric extenders for all chassis are pre-populated and cabled, and all required Twinax cables and transceivers are populated. However, in a base Vblock system configuration, only two of the Cisco UCS 5100 series blade server chassis are licensed for fabric interconnect ports. This limited licensing reduces the entry cost for Vblock systems.

As more blades are added and additional chassis are required, chassis activation kits are added automatically by the VCE configuration tool. The kit contains software licenses to enable additional fabric interconnect ports.

The VCE configuration tool enables only enough port licenses for the minimum number of chassis to contain the blades ordered. At the customer's discretion, chassis activation kits can be added up-front to allow for flexibility in the field or to initially spread the blades across a larger number of chassis.

Bare-metal support

If applications cannot be virtualized due to technical or commercial reasons, Vblock system blades can be deployed bare-metal; that is, with non-virtualized operating system and application configurations. Bare-metal workloads always require separate physical spindles, disk groups, and pools to ensure that bare-metal workloads do not adversely impact Vblock system workloads.

VCE can provide reasonable-effort support for bare-metal blades only if the bare-metal deployment complies with the following requirements:

• The base Vblock system contains only VCE published, tested, and validated hardware and software components. The VCE Vblock Systems Release Certification Matrix provides a list of the certified versions of components for Vblock Series 700. Refer to Accessing VCE documentation.

• The applications and operating systems for tested Vblock systems software for both compute and storage components are included in published support matrices from EMC and Cisco.

For bare-metal deployments that include other hypervisor technologies (Hyper-V, KVM, etc.), those hypervisor technologies are not supported by VCE.

VCE reasonable effort support means that VCE determines that the base Vblock system is operating correctly, and assists in problem resolution to a reasonable extent. VCE is unable to reproduce problems or provide support on the operating systems installed for bare-metal deployments. VCE cannot provide updates to those operating systems or test them. Customers must work directly with their support vendors for issues and patches for those operating systems.

Page 24: VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture · PDF fileVCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Revision history VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

24 © 2012 VCE Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Storage layer hardware VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

Storage layer hardware

Storage overview

The EMC Symmetrix VMAX 20K series and the EMC Symmetrix VMAX 10K series are high-end storage systems built for the virtual data center. Built for reliability, availability, and scalability, EMC Symmetrix VMAX 20K and EMC Symmetrix VMAX 10K use specialized engines, each of which includes two redundant director modules providing parallel access and replicated copies of all critical data.

The EMC Symmetrix VMAX 20K and the EMC Symmetrix VMAX 10K offer the following software components:

Component Description

EMC Symmetrix Fully Automated Storage Tiering (FAST)

Puts the right data in the right place at the right time to improve performance and reduce costs of tiered environments. FAST uses simplified policies to manage storage resources based on built-in automation and intelligence. FAST can optimize placement of data at either the volume/LUN or sub-LUN level. Supported on the 700MX.

EMC Symmetrix Fully Automated Storage Tiering for Virtual Pools (FAST VP)

Enables your business to optimize system performance while reducing cost. This optimizes array performance across drive types (Flash, SATA, and fibre channel) and across all engines in the array. Tiering is automatically optimized by dynamically allocating and relocating application workloads based on defined policies. FAST VP non-disruptively moves workloads across storage types, optimizing the overall system performance. Supported on the 700MX and the 700LX.

EMC Symmetrix Virtual Provisioning

Virtual Provisioning, based on thin provisioning, is the ability to present an application with more capacity than is physically allocated in the storage array. The physical storage is then allocated to the application on demand as it is needed from the shared pool of capacity. This lowers cost of ownership by reducing initial over-allocation of storage capacity and reducing labor costs by simplifying data layout and eliminating the steps required to accommodate capacity growth. 700MX allows for either traditional thick provisioning, virtual provisioning, or a combination of both provisioning methodologies. 700LX storage is designed for a 100% virtual provisioned environment.

EMC Enginuity Storage operating environment for the EMC Symmetrix VMAX 20K and the EMC Symmetrix VMAX 10K. Delivers performance, array tiering, availability, and data integrity.

EMC Symmetrix Management Console (SMC) and EMC Symmetrix Performance Analyzer (SPA)

These applications simplify management and provide advanced monitoring capabilities for Symmetrix environments. EMC SMC is a browser-based graphical interface for device creation and management on Symmetrix arrays. EMC SPA is an automated monitoring and trending tool launched through EMC SMC to assist in long-term planning, diagnostic drill-down to identify performance issues, root cause, and real-time monitoring.

EMC RecoverPoint EX IO Splitter

Provides an array-based IO splitter for use with EMC RecoverPoint EX replication software to eliminate the need for an expensive SAN-based IO splitter. Supported on the 700LX.

For an overview of the EMC Symmetrix VMAX 20K series used in the 700MX, refer to EMC Symmetrix VMAX 20K Series storage arrays.

Page 25: VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture · PDF fileVCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Revision history VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

25 © 2012 VCE Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Storage layer hardware

For an overview of the EMC Symmetrix VMAX 10K series used in the 700LX, refer to EMC Symmetrix VMAX 10K Series storage arrays.

The VCE Vblock Systems Series 700 Model LX Port Assignments Reference provides information about the assigned use for each port in the 700LX. Refer to Accessing VCE documentation.

EMC Symmetrix VMAX 20K Series storage arrays

The following illustration shows the interconnection of the EMC Symmetrix VMAX 20K in the 700MX:

This illustration shows one UCS domain. With the 700MX, you can have a maximum of five UCS domains and four EMC VMAX 20K engine pairs in a maximum configuration.

A 700MX enabled by SAN storage can support NAS with the provision that primary boot services are provided across the SAN. Mission-critical applications are hosted that require fibre channel access to maintain performance. It is recommended that one or more NAS gateways are deployed for VMware vSphere, the exact number required being determined during the planning phase.

EMC PowerPath/VE (PP/VE) provides several benefits for block-based IOs in terms of performance, availability, and operations. The base PP/VE license is mandatory for the 700MX.

Page 26: VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture · PDF fileVCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Revision history VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

26 © 2012 VCE Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Storage layer hardware VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

EMC Data at Rest Encryption (700MX only)

EMC Data at Rest Encryption (DARE) protects data on hard drives that are members of EMC Symmetrix VMAX 20K arrays, by adding back-end encryption to the entire array. While the mechanics of DARE deal with keeping encryption in running systems, the objective is to minimize data-exposure risks for drives outside of operational arrays, such as failed or retired drives, or drives in EMC Symmetrix VMAX 20K arrays being moved between facilities.

The following list summarizes the main features of EMC DARE that are supported on a Vblock 700MX:

• Hardware-based XTS-AES 256 bit encryption at the disk level.

• Leverages EMC RSA key management to provide secure encryption keys for each drive.

• EMC RSA Data Protection Manager is the default setting. It requires no user interaction.

• Functionality is provided by encryption-capable EMC Symmetrix engines.

• System-wide setting. It is not possible to have a mix of encryption engines and non-encryption engines.

• All disks, regardless of type, are encrypted.

• Supported on 4 Gb/s FC I/O Module with Encryption (backend module).

• Configurable when the storage array is installed. Cannot be enabled at a later time.

• Once enabled, it cannot be disabled.

• Provides Embedded Key Management and External Key Management. However, Vblock systems currently support only Embedded Key Management. Embedded Key Management resides on the EMC Symmetrix Service Processor. The key is obtained for the DPM when the EMC Symmetrix array is initially installed or when a drive, director, or SP is added or replaced.

The Data at Rest Encryption on Vblock Systems with Symmetrix VMAX 20K Overview provides detailed information about EMC DARE on a 700MX. Refer to Accessing VCE documentation.

Page 27: VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture · PDF fileVCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Revision history VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

27 © 2012 VCE Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Storage layer hardware

EMC Symmetrix VMAX 10K Series storage arrays

The following illustration shows the interconnection of the EMC Symmetrix VMAX 10K in the 700LX:

A Vblock 700LX enabled by SAN storage can support NAS with the provision that primary boot services are provided across the SAN. Mission-critical applications are hosted that require fibre channel access to maintain performance. It is recommended that one or more NAS gateways are deployed for VMware vSphere, the exact number required being determined during the planning phase.

EMC PowerPath/VE (PP/VE) provides several benefits in terms of performance, availability, and operations. The base PP/VE license is mandatory for the 700LX.

The 700LX base configuration for storage is a single engine with 96 GB or 128 GB of cache and 16 8 Gb fibre channel front-end ports (per engine). There are three available tiers of storage (EFD, FC, and SATA). In a base configuration, one storage cabinet and Tier 2 storage drives are populated with a minimum of 24 drives or 36 drives depending upon the RAID configuration. The base configuration can be expanded to four engines with up to 512 GB of cache and 64 fibre channel front-end ports. The storage drives can be increased to a maximum of 1080 drives which can be configured within the three storage tiers.

The maximum configuration requires seven storage cabinets. Some of the front-end fibre channel ports are reserved for replication, external SAN access, and X-Blades. The EMC Symmetrix VMAX 10K chassis has two power supplies for full redundancy. Refer to Vblock Series 700 model LX for more information.

Page 28: VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture · PDF fileVCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Revision history VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

28 © 2012 VCE Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Storage layer hardware VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

EMC RecoverPoint (700LX)

For block storage configurations, 700LX can be upgraded to include EMC RecoverPoint. This replication technology provides continuous data protection and continuous remote replication for on-demand protection and recovery to any point in time. EMC RecoverPoint advanced capabilities include policy-based management, application integration, and bandwidth reduction. RecoverPoint is included in the EMC Local Protection Suite and EMC Remote Protection Suite.

To implement EMC RecoverPoint within a 700LX, add two or more EMC RecoverPoint Appliances (RPA) in a cluster to the 700LX. This cluster can accommodate approximately 80 MB/s sustained throughput through each RPA.

To ensure proper sizing and performance of an EMC RecoverPoint solution, VCE works with an EMC Technical Consultant and the customer. They collect information about the data to be replicated, as well as data change rates, data growth rates, network speeds, and other information that is needed to ensure that all business requirements are met.

Page 29: VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture · PDF fileVCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Revision history VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

29 © 2012 VCE Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Storage layer hardware

EMC VNX VG2 Gateway and EMC VNX VG8 Gateway

The 700MX and the 700LX configurations can be upgraded to include file-based storage by adding the optional EMC VNX VG2 Gateway or the EMC VNX VG8 Gateway. The EMC gateways provide NAS storage in a centrally managed information storage system. The gateways allow you to grow, share, and cost-effectively manage the Vblock system with multiprotocol file access.

The EMC VNX VG2 Gateway is an entry-level SAN and NAS storage platform.

The EMC VNX VG8 Gateway is a massively scalable, enterprise, SAN, and NAS platform.

The following table compares the EMC VNX Gateways available in Vblock Series 700:

EMC VNX VG2 Gateway EMC VNX VG8 Gateway

Two X-Blades Two to eight X-Blades Four core 2.40 GHz Intel Xeon 5600 processors with 6 GB memory

Six core 2.83 GHz Intel Xeon 5600 processors with 24 GB memory

200 TB usable capacity per X-Blade (200 TB per system)

256 TB usable capacity per X-Blade (1792 TB per system)

Page 30: VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture · PDF fileVCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Revision history VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

30 © 2012 VCE Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Storage layer hardware VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

Scaling up storage resources

To scale up storage resources, you can add RAID packs, engines, cache, and DAE packs. Optionally, expansion cabinets can be added with additional resources.

RAID packs

Storage capacity can be increased by adding RAID packs. Each pack contains a number of drives of a given type, speed, and capacity. The number of drives in a pack depends upon the RAID level that it supports.

The number and types of RAID packs to include in a Vblock system is based upon the following:

• The number of storage pools that are needed.

• The storage tiers that each pool contains, and the speed and capacity of the drives in each tier. The following table lists tiers, supported drive types, and supported speeds and capacities.

Note: The speed and capacity of all drives within a given tier in a given pool must be the same.

Tier Drive type 700MX supported speeds and capacities

700LX supported speeds and capacities

1 Solid-state Enterprise Flash drives (EFD)

200 GB 400 GB

100 GB 200 GB

2 Fibre Channel (FC) 300 GB 15K RPM 450 GB 15K RPM 600 GB 15K RPM

300 GB 10K RPM 600 GB 10K RPM 300 GB 15K RPM 450 GB 15K RPM 600 GB 15K RPM

3 SATA 1 TB 7.2K RPM 2 TB 7.2K RPM

2 TB 7.2K RPM

Page 31: VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture · PDF fileVCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Revision history VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

31 © 2012 VCE Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Storage layer hardware

• The RAID protection for the tiers in each pool. The following table describes each supported RAID protection level.

Note: The RAID protection level for each of the three separate tier-related pools can be different. More than three pools can exist but only three pools and tiers can exist in a single auto-tiering FAST policy.

RAID protection level Description

RAID 1 • A set of mirrored drives. • Offers the best overall performance of the three supported RAID protection levels. • Offers robust protection. Can sustain double-drive failures that are not in the same

mirror set. • Offers the best write performance since only two IOs are required to perform a single

write. • Lowest economy of the three supported RAID levels since usable capacity is only

50% of raw capacity. • Supported on EFD, FC, and SATA drives.

RAID 5 • Block-level striping with a single parity block, where the parity data is distributed across all the drives in the set.

• Offers the best mix of performance, protection, and economy. • Has a higher write performance penalty than RAID 1 because multiple IOs are

required to perform a single write. • With single parity, can sustain a single drive failure with no data loss. Vulnerable to

data loss or unrecoverable read errors on a track during a drive rebuild. • Highest economy of the three supported RAID levels. Usable capacity is 80% of raw

capacity. • EMC best practice for EFD and FC drives. Supported on SATA drives but not

recommended..

RAID 6 • Block-level striping with two parity blocks, distributed across all of the drives in the set.

• Offers increased protection and read performance comparable to RAID 5. • Has a significant write performance penalty because multiple IOs are required to

perform a single write. • Economy is very good. Usable capacity is 75% of raw capacity or better. • EMC best practice for SATA drives. Supported on FC drives but not on EFD drives.

There are RAID packs for each RAID protection level/tier type combination. The RAID levels dictate the number of drives that are included in the packs. The following table lists RAID protection levels and the number of drives in the packs for each level:

RAID protection level Number of drives per RAID pack

RAID 1 8 (4 + 4) RAID 5 Should always be in quantities of 8 drives

4 (3 + 1) * 2 or 8 (7 + 1). Requires a minimum of 8 DAEs.

RAID 6 8 (6 drives + 2 parity) or 16 (14 drives + 2 parity)

Page 32: VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture · PDF fileVCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Revision history VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

32 © 2012 VCE Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Storage layer hardware VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

Storage cabinet expansion

Storage for the 700MX and the 700LX can be expanded by adding additional storage cabinets.

EMC Symmetrix VMAX 20K storage cabinets for 700MX

If the number of RAID packs in a 700MX is expanded, more EMC Symmetrix VMAX 20K storage cabinets might be required. Each storage cabinet can hold 240 drives, 120 from each engine in a pair. The DAEs are preconfigured.

EMC Symmetrix VMAX 10K storage cabinets for 700LX

If the number of RAID packs in a 700LX is expanded, an additional storage expansion cabinet might be required. Each storage engine cabinet can hold 150 drives. Due to back-end bus structures, storage growth beyond 120 drives requires a storage expansion cabinet.

Disk array enclosure (DAE) packs (700LX)

If there are not enough drive slots to support additional storage, slots can be added based on the EMC minimums for the EMC Symmetrix VMAX 10K. DAEs are added in multiples of four.

Adding engines

For the 700MX, there are two engines in the base configuration with growth up to eight engines. You can increment engines two engines at a time.

For the 700LX, there is one engine in the base configuration with growth up to four engines. You can increment engines one engine at a time.

Page 33: VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture · PDF fileVCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Revision history VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

33 © 2012 VCE Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Network layer hardware

Network layer hardware

Network overview

The Cisco Nexus 5000 series switches in the network layer provide 10 GbE IP connectivity between the components within the Vblock system and to the outside world. In a unified storage configuration, the switches also connect the fabric interconnects in the compute layer to the X-Blades in the storage layer. The switches also provide connectivity to the Advanced Management Pod (AMP) through redundant connections to the Cisco Catalyst 3560X Ethernet switch or switches in the AMP. Refer to Management hardware components for information about the AMP. Ports are reserved or identified for special Vblock system services such as backup connectivity.

The Cisco MDS 9000 series switches in the aggregation layer provide Fibre Channel links between the Cisco fabric interconnects and the engines. In a unified storage configuration, this connection also supports SAN booting of the blades in the compute layer. Ports are also reserved for special Vblock system services such as SAN backup connectivity and aggregation uplinks.

Page 34: VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture · PDF fileVCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Revision history VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

34 © 2012 VCE Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Network layer hardware VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

700MX network components

Each 700MX model includes either two Cisco MDS 9148 Multilayer Fabric switches or two Cisco MDS 9506 Multilayer Director switches or two Cisco MDS 9513 Multilayer Director switches. In the Vblock system, these switches provide Fibre Channel connectivity between the compute layer components and the storage layer components. These switches also provide connectivity for backup and business continuity requirements when configured.

Cisco MDS 9148 Multilayer Fabric switch

In a 700MX, the Cisco MDS 9148 switch provides 16 to 48 line-rate ports for non-blocking 8 Gbps throughput depending upon the configuration. The ports are licensed on an as needed basis.

Cisco MDS 9506 Multilayer Director

In a 700MX, the Cisco MDS 9506 Multilayer Director switch provides 96 Gbps of back-panel throughput. VCE provides 24 port line cards at line rate of 4 Gbps for all ports. The base configuration consists of two 24 port line cards. Additional 24 port line cards can be added, as required.

In an 8 Gbps configuration, the Cisco MDS 9506 Multilayer Director switch provides:

• 16 ports at 8 Gbps in a base configuration

• 24 ports at 8 Gbps with three line cards

• 32 ports at 8 Gbps in a maximum configuration

Page 35: VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture · PDF fileVCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Revision history VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

35 © 2012 VCE Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Network layer hardware

Cisco MDS 9513 Multilayer Director

In a 700MX, the Cisco MDS 9513 Multilayer Director switch provides 256 Gbps of back-panel throughput. VCE leverages advanced 32 port line cards at line rate of 8 Gbps for all ports. The base configuration consists of two 32 port line cards. Additional 32 port line cards can be added, as required.

The following statement applies to Vblock systems that are running EMC Symmetrix VMAX Enginuity 5875 but does not apply to Vblock systems that are running EMC Symmetrix VMAX Enginuity 5876. The Cisco MDS 9506 Multilayer Director switch and the Cisco MDS 9513 Multilayer Director switch can also provide FCIP and SAN Tap capabilities for advanced SAN services through the 18 / 4 line card that provides 18 4 Gbps ports and 4 GbE ports or the 16-port SSN card that provides 16 GbE ports.

Optional network layer components

700MX supports additional network layer components for extremely high-throughput IP networking scenarios. These additional components must be installed in a separate network cabinet. VCE does not support Vblock system configurations where these components are installed within the storage/compute cabinets. Refer to 700MX cabinet types.

Cisco Nexus 5548UP Ethernet switches

Each Vblock 700MX model includes two Cisco Nexus 5548UP Ethernet switches as a base configuration. In the Vblock system, these switches provide Ethernet connectivity:

• Between the Vblock system internal components

• To the customer site network

• To the Advanced Management Pod (AMP) through redundant connections to the Cisco Catalyst 3000 Ethernet switches in the AMP

Page 36: VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture · PDF fileVCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Revision history VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

36 © 2012 VCE Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Network layer hardware VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

The Cisco Nexus 5548UP Ethernet switch supports low latency line-rate 10 GB Ethernet and Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) connectivity on up to 32 ports or 48 ports including the expansion module. Fibre Channel on a Cisco Nexus 5548UP is not supported by VCE.

Cisco Nexus 7010 IP switches

For extremely demanding IP networking scenarios for the 700MX, Cisco Nexus 7010 switches can replace the Cisco Nexus 5548UP Ethernet switches.

Page 37: VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture · PDF fileVCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Revision history VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

37 © 2012 VCE Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Network layer hardware

700LX network components

The 700LX contains components for IP and SAN connectivity. Each 700LX model includes two Cisco Nexus 5548UP IP switches and two Cisco MDS 9148 Multilayer Fabric switches. These switches provide IP and Fibre Channel connectivity respectively between the compute layer components and the storage layer components.

The VCE Vblock Systems Series 700 Model LX Port Assignments Reference provides information about the assigned use for each port in the Vblock system. Refer to Accessing VCE documentation.

IP networking components

Each 700LX includes two Cisco Nexus 5548UP Ethernet switches. In the Vblock system, these switches provide Ethernet connectivity:

• Between the Vblock system internal components

• To the customer site network

• To the Advanced Management Pod (AMP) through redundant connections to the Cisco Catalyst 3000 Ethernet switches in the AMP

• For backup and business continuity requirements when configured

The Cisco Nexus 5548UP Ethernet switch supports low latency line-rate 10 GB Ethernet and Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) connectivity on up to 32 ports or 48 ports including the expansion module. Fibre Channel on a Cisco Nexus 5548UP is not supported by VCE.

Page 38: VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture · PDF fileVCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Revision history VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

38 © 2012 VCE Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Network layer hardware VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

Storage switching components

Each 700LX includes two Cisco MDS 9148 Multilayer Fabric Switches. In the Vblock system, these switches provide:

• Fibre Channel connectivity between the compute layer components and the storage layer components

• Connectivity for backup and business continuity requirements when configured

The Cisco MDS 9148 switch provides 48 line-rate ports for non-blocking 8 Gbps throughput. 16 ports are licensed. Additional ports can be licensed on an as needed basis.

Page 39: VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture · PDF fileVCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Revision history VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

39 © 2012 VCE Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Virtualization components

Virtualization components

Virtualization overview

VMware vSphere is the virtualization platform that provides the foundation for the private cloud. The core VMware vSphere components are the VMware vSphere Hypervisor ESXi and VMware vCenter Server for management.

The hypervisors are deployed in a cluster configuration and can scale up to 32 nodes per cluster. The cluster allows dynamic allocation of resources, such as CPU, memory, and storage. The cluster also provides workload mobility and flexibility with the use of VMware vMotion and Storage vMotion technology.

VMware vSphere Hypervisor ESXi

The VMware vSphere Hypervisor ESXi runs in the AMP and in the Vblock system. This lightweight hypervisor requires very little space to run (less than 6 GB of storage required to install) and has minimal management overhead. ESXi does not contain a console operating system. ESXi is booted from a dedicated SAN volume to provide stateless computing within a Vblock system. The stateless hypervisor is not currently supported.

Cluster configuration

ESXi hosts and their resources are pooled together into clusters. These clusters contain the CPU, memory, network, and storage resources available for allocation to virtual machines. Clusters can scale up to a maximum of 32 hosts. Clusters can support thousands of virtual machines.

The clusters can also support a variety of Cisco UCS blades running inside the same cluster.

Note: Some advanced CPU functionality might be unavailable if more than one blade model is running in a given cluster.

Datastores

Vblock systems support a mixture of datastore types: block level storage using VMFS or file level storage using NFS.

The maximum size per VMFS5 volume is 64 TB (50 TB VMFS3 @ 1 MB). Each host/cluster can support a maximum of 255 volumes.

VCE optimizes the advanced settings for ESXi hosts that are deployed in Vblock systems to maximize the throughput and scalability of NFS datastores. Vblock systems currently support a maximum of 256 NFS datastores per host.

Virtual networks

Virtual networking in the AMP uses the VMware standard vSwitch. Virtual networking in Vblock systems is managed by the Cisco Nexus 1000v distributed virtual switch.

Page 40: VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture · PDF fileVCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Revision history VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

40 © 2012 VCE Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Virtualization components VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

VMware vCenter Server

VMware vCenter Server is a central management point for the hypervisors and virtual machines. VMware vCenter is installed on a 64-bit Windows Server and runs as a service.

The AMP and the Vblock system each have a unified VMware vCenter Server instance, as well as an accompanying instance of VMware Update Manager to assist with upgrades and host patch management. VMware Update Manager is installed on a separate Windows Server and runs as a Windows service. Each of these systems resides in the AMP.

VMware vCenter Server provides the following functionality:

• Cloning of virtual machines

• Creating templates

• VMware vMotion and VMware Storage vMotion

• Initial configuration of DRS and VMware vSphere high availability clusters

VMware vCenter Server also provides monitoring and alerting capabilities for hosts and virtual machines. Vblock system administrators can create and apply alarms to all managed objects in VMware vCenter Server. These alarms include:

• Datacenter, cluster, and host health, inventory, and performance

• Datastore health and capacity

• Virtual machine usage, performance, and health

• Virtual network usage and health

Databases

The backend database that supports VMware vCenter Server and VMware Update Manager (VUM) is remote Microsoft SQL Server 2008. Vblock systems also support the use of Oracle databases for vCenter and VUM databases. The SQL Server service requires a dedicated service account.

Authentication

Vblock systems support the integration of client-side Active Directory for authentication. VMware vCenter Server and Update Manager run as separate Windows services. Each service is configured to use a dedicated service account.

A separate Active Directory domain can be provisioned by VCE if required. This domain is configured with the service accounts, user accounts, and groups required to manage the virtual environment.

Page 41: VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture · PDF fileVCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Revision history VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

41 © 2012 VCE Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Virtualization components

VCE supported features

VCE supports the following VMware vCenter Server features:

• vSphere high availability

• DRS

• Fault Tolerance

• VMware vMotion

• VMware Storage vMotion

• Raw Device Maps

• Resource Pools

• Storage DRS (capacity only)

• VMware vSphere Storage APIs for Array Integration (VAAI) (except TP reclaim primitive)

• Storage driven profiles (user-defined only)

• Distributed power management (up to 50 percent of ESXi hosts/blades)

• VMware Syslog Service

• VMware Core Dump Collector

• VMware vCenter Web Services

Page 42: VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture · PDF fileVCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Revision history VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

42 © 2012 VCE Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Management components VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

Management components

Management hardware components

Vblock systems include an AMP. The AMP provides a single management point for Vblock systems . It enables the following benefits:

• Monitors and manages Vblock system health, performance, and capacity

• Provides fault isolation for management

• Eliminates resource overhead on the Vblock system

• Provides a clear demarcation point for remote operations

The following table describes the AMPs:

AMP Description

Mini • One Cisco UCS C200 server • Two Cisco Catalyst 3560X Ethernet switches

High-availability (HA) • Two Cisco UCS C200 Servers • One EMC VNXe3100 • Two Cisco Catalyst 3560X Ethernet switches

In a Vblock system configuration with a mini-AMP, space is reserved in the cabinet for the additional HA AMP components to make it easy to upgrade to the HA AMP later.

Cisco UCS C200 server Cisco Catalyst 3560X Ethernet switch EMC VNXe3100

Page 43: VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture · PDF fileVCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Revision history VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

43 © 2012 VCE Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Management components

Management software tools

This topic describes the management software tools available on Vblock Series 700.

AMP software tools

Each AMP is delivered pre-configured with the following software tools:

• VMware vCenter, VCDB built on Microsoft Windows SQL Server, and vCenter Update Manager

• EMC Ionix UIM/P

• Cisco Nexus 1000v virtual switch manager

• EMC PowerPath/VE License Management Server

• (Optional) EMC VG gateway management software that includes Unisphere Client and Unisphere Service Manager

• (Optional) EMC RecoverPoint management software that includes RecoverPoint Management Application and RecoverPoint Deployment Manager

• EMC Symmetrix Management containing EMC Symmetrix Management Console (SMC) on Windows and EMC Symmetrix Performance Analyzer (SPA) on Windows

• EMC Secure Remote Support (ESRS)

• EMC Solutions Enabler with SMIS

• Cisco Device Manager and Cisco Fabric Manager

• System administration utilities such as PuTTY, TFTP Server, Java, etc.

Page 44: VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture · PDF fileVCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Revision history VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

44 © 2012 VCE Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Management components VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

Storage features support

This topic presents additional storage features available on Vblock Series 700.

vStorage APIs for Array Integration (VAAI)

Vblock 700 models support VMware vStorage APIs for Array Integration (VAAI). This technology improves overall storage performance by offloading various host resource-intensive tasks to the SAN hardware.

VAAI is supported for block protocols only. VAAI is automatically enabled within a Vblock system with the following software version or higher: EMC Symmetrix VMAX Enginuity 5875 and VMware ESX(i) 5.0. The following features are supported:

• Full copy offload

• Block zeroing (Copy Same)

• Hardware assisted lock management

• Thin provisioning (TP) stun

File deduplication

File deduplication is supported on the EMC VNX VG2 Gateway or the EMC VNX VG8 Gateway, but is not enabled by default. Note that enabling this feature requires thorough knowledge of capacity and storage requirements. Refer to EMC VNX VG2 Gateway and EMC VNX VG8 Gateway.

External NFS and CIFS access

Vblock systems can present CIFS and NFS shares to external clients provided that these provisions are followed:

• Requires dedicated X-Blades for access by hosts outside of Vblock systems

• Vblock system shares cannot be mounted internally by Vblock system hosts and external to the Vblock system at the same time

• In a configuration with two X-Blades, mixed internal and external access is not supported. The following configurations are supported:

– External NFS and external CIFS only

– Internal NFS and internal CIFS only

• In a configuration with more than two X-Blades, external NFS and CIFS access runs on one or more X-Blades that are physically separate from the X-Blades serving VMFS datastores to the Vblock system compute layer

Page 45: VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture · PDF fileVCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Revision history VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

45 © 2012 VCE Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Data protection

Data protection

Vblock Data Protection overview

This section presents the following information:

• Defines data protection

• Describes the optional VCE Vblock Data Protection capabilities

• Illustrates and describes the typical, standard data protection configurations for backup and recovery

• Illustrates and describes the typical, standard data protection configurations for business continuity and workload mobility

The information in this section assumes prior knowledge of EMC Avamar, EMC Data Domain, and EMC VPLEX.

Data protection defined

Data protection encompasses a wide range of different technologies, techniques and methodologies used to ensure the integrity, availability, and currency of both the data and the underlying delivery systems in an IT environment. For Vblock systems, data protection is defined as:

• Backup and recovery: Minimum required data insurance.

– Provides protection against data corruption, accidental data deletion, storage component failure, and site disaster.

– Ensures backups are fully recoverable, point-in-time copies of data that are typically done once per day.

• Replication of data snapshots: Additional data insurance.

– Provides additional level of data protection on top of daily backups since replication cannot always protect against data corruption.

– Takes multiple snapshots, or nearly continuous snapshots, throughout the day to reduce worst case data loss from 24 hours to time of last snapshot.

• Business continuity: Application availability insurance

– Ensures zero data loss and near-zero recovery time for business-critical data.

– Provides additional level of data protection on top of daily backups since replication cannot always protect against data corruption.

Page 46: VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture · PDF fileVCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Revision history VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

46 © 2012 VCE Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Data protection VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

• Workload mobility:

– Moves workload to another site in anticipation of a disaster.

– Moves workload for balancing sites or systems.

• Archive:

– Provides long-term copy of data that is typically done for legal compliance reasons whose retention period spans multiple years.

Refer to the VCE Vblock Data Protection white paper for more information about VCE data protection strategies and solutions. Consult with a VCE vArchitect or VCE Partner about data protection requirements and determine what type of solution is best for your environment.

VCE Vblock Data Protection capabilities

The optional VCE Vblock Data Protection ensures continuous availability of the IT infrastructure, applications, and workloads running within VCE virtualized and cloud computing environments. The Vblock Data Protection family of solutions allows a choice of streamlined backup and recovery, data replication, business continuity, and workload mobility to deliver reliable, predictable, and cost-effective availability for Vblock systems.

Vblock Data Protection scales from one to many Vblock systems within and across data centers to provide the necessary data protection. The following table describes how Vblock Data Protection solutions provide data protection for the Vblock system:

Capability Solution Solution description

Deduplication backup software and system

EMC Avamar Provides highly efficient, variable-length deduplication, with tight integration to EMC purpose-built, backup appliances. Enables fast, complete daily backups of virtualized environments including the IT infrastructure, enterprise applications, and data. Deduplication on the client side reduces ESX contention and network traffic by sending only changed blocks to the backup target. This shortens backup times while keeping full backups available for rapid, single-step restores.

Deduplication backup software and system, and deduplication storage systems

EMC Avamar and EMC Data Domain

Client-side and target-based deduplication backup and recovery. Leverages high speed technology to reduce the backup data storage footprint at the target device by 10 times to 30 times.

Business continuity (disaster avoidance) and workload mobility

EMC VPLEX Shares, protects, or load-balances infrastructure resources across multiple Vblock systems in the same data center or in different data centers within a campus or metro area. Moves live virtual machines between locations to avoid planned downtime. Handles unplanned events automatically with zero data-loss and zero to near-zero application recovery time.

Vblock Data Protection solutions are extensions of the Vblock system and are contained in VCE cabinets. The solutions contain standardized components and are designed to be fully scalable.

Vblock Data Protection solutions are individually sized for each customer based on specific customer requirements and based on the results of the EMC sizing tool. The EMC sizing tool assessment must be completed by personnel who have been trained and certified by EMC.

Page 47: VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture · PDF fileVCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Revision history VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

47 © 2012 VCE Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Data protection

Backup and recovery

The Vblock Data Protection solution for backup and recovery is available in the following VCE configurations:

• One VCE cabinet that contains EMC Avamar

• Multiple VCE cabinets that contain EMC Avamar

• One VCE cabinet that contains EMC Avamar and EMC Data Domain 670

• One VCE cabinet that contains EMC Avamar and another VCE cabinet that contains EMC Data Domain 890

• One VCE cabinet that contains EMC Avamar and multiple cabinets that contain EMC Data Domain 890

Refer to the Vblock Systems Backup and Recovery Best Practices white paper for more information about the Vblock Data Protection solution for backup and recovery.

One VCE cabinet that contains EMC Avamar

This solution is best used when the EMC sizing tool determines that an EMC Avamar-only deployment is the most effective solution.

The VCE backup and recovery solution that contains EMC Avamar in one VCE cabinet contains EMC Avamar switches, Cisco Nexus 5548UP switches, EMC Avamar data nodes, and utility nodes with built-in networking, and two external connection cables to the Vblock system. The minimum configuration has three data nodes and one utility node. Expansion space is provided in the cabinet for up to 13 additional nodes in any combination of spare node, data nodes (16 total maximum), and NDMP accelerator nodes. The Cisco Nexus 5548UP switches connect the data protection cabinet to the Vblock system. When you add additional components in the available expansion area, add components starting from the bottom of the expansion area.

Page 48: VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture · PDF fileVCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Revision history VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

48 © 2012 VCE Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Data protection VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

The following illustration shows the rear view of the VCE data protection cabinet with EMC Avamar solution:

Page 49: VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture · PDF fileVCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Revision history VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

49 © 2012 VCE Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Data protection

Multiple VCE cabinets that contain EMC Avamar

When the Vblock system to be backed up requires more than one EMC Avamar instance, the solution scales up by simply adding additional EMC Avamar instances.

The following illustration shows the rear view of the multiple VCE data protection cabinets with EMC Avamar:

Page 50: VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture · PDF fileVCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Revision history VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

50 © 2012 VCE Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Data protection VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

One VCE cabinet that contains EMC Avamar and EMC Data Domain 670

This solution is best used when the Vblock system will not require more than one cabinet of EMC Avamar and EMC Data Domain components to meet the backup requirements (single cabinet excluding the backup replication system).

The VCE backup and recovery solution that contains EMC Avamar and EMC Data Domain 670 in one VCE cabinet has EMC Avamar switches, Cisco Nexus 5548UP switches, a minimum of one EMC Data Domain 670 Head Unit, one EMC ES30 expansion (storage) shelf, three EMC Avamar data nodes, and one EMC Avamar utility node. This solution includes built-in networking and two external connection cables to the Vblock system. It contains three expansion spaces providing room for an additional head unit, an additional storage unit, and an additional ten nodes in any combinations of data notes and accelerator nodes. The Cisco Nexus 5548UP switches connect the data protection cabinet to the Vblock system. When you add additional components in the available expansion area, add components starting from the bottom of the expansion area.

Note: If backing up multiple Vblock systems to one VCE Vblock Data Protection cabinet that contains EMC Avamar and EMC Data Domain, each Vblock system must be connected to a group of dedicated uplink ports from the data protection cabinet.

Page 51: VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture · PDF fileVCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Revision history VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

51 © 2012 VCE Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Data protection

The following illustration shows the rear view of the VCE data protection cabinet with EMC Avamar and EMC Data Domain 670:

Page 52: VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture · PDF fileVCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Revision history VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

52 © 2012 VCE Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Data protection VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

One VCE cabinet that contains EMC Avamar and another VCE cabinet that contains EMC Data Domain 890

This solution is best used when the EMC sizing tool determines that an EMC Avamar with EMC Data Domain 890 deployment is the most effective solution. This solution provides a single instance backup deployment that is highly scalable.

The first VCE cabinet is identical to the VCE data protection cabinet that contains EMC Avamar only, with the addition of inter-cabinet connections for connection of VCE cabinets containing EMC Data Domain 890 systems.

The second cabinet contains one EMC Data Domain 890 Head Unit, up to 12 EMC ES30 expansion (storage) shelves with 2 TB drives, and 2U space for a future head unit upgrade.

Note: If backing up multiple Vblock systems to one VCE Vblock Data Protection cabinet that contains EMC Avamar and EMC Data Domain, each Vblock system must be connected to a group of dedicated uplink ports from the data protection cabinet.

The following illustration shows the rear view of the minimum configuration for the combination of the VCE data protection cabinet with EMC Avamar and the VCE cabinet with EMC Data Domain 890:

Page 53: VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture · PDF fileVCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Revision history VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

53 © 2012 VCE Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Data protection

One VCE cabinet that contains EMC Avamar and multiple cabinets that contain EMC Data Domain 890

The following illustration shows the rear view of the VCE data protection scaled-up solution with EMC Avamar in one VCE cabinet and EMC Data Domain 890 in multiple cabinets.

This solution includes one cabinet that contains EMC Avamar components and can scale beyond two cabinets with EMC Data Domain components.

Page 54: VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture · PDF fileVCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Revision history VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

54 © 2012 VCE Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Data protection VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

Business continuity and workload mobility

The Vblock Data Protection solution addresses the two most common use cases:

• Business continuity (disaster avoidance) that keeps the critical business applications operational, even after a disaster

• Workload mobility is the ability to identify and migrate a workload without disruption to the most appropriate platform at that point in time

EMC VPLEX

EMC VPLEX is an enterprise-class, storage federation technology that aggregates and manages pools of Vblock system storage within and among data centers. EMC VPLEX resides between the virtual machine servers and the FC attached storage. It presents local and distributed volumes to hosts.

EMC VPLEX enables dynamic workload mobility and continuous availability within and between Vblock systems over distance. It provides simultaneous access to storage devices at two sites through the creation of EMC VPLEX Distributed Virtual Volumes, supported on each side by an EMC VPLEX cluster.

The EMC VPLEX data protection solution for Vblock systems uses the following hardware and software components and technologies:

• Vblock systems

• VMware vCenter Server

• VMware vCenter Server Heartbeat

• VMware vSphere High Availability

• VMware vMotion

Refer to the Vblock Data Protection: Best Practices for EMC VPLEX with Vblock Systems white paper for more information about the business continuity and workload mobility solution. Refer to the EMC VPLEX Architecture Guide for more information about EMC VPLEX.

Cluster configurations

A single Vblock 700LX can be connected to a single engine or a dual engine EMC VPLEX cluster. It cannot be connected to a quad engine EMC VPLEX cluster. The Vblock 700LX has only 16 ports available for EMC VPLEX front-end and back-end connections.

A single Vblock 700MX can be connected to a single engine, dual engine, or quad engine EMC VPLEX cluster.

Page 55: VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture · PDF fileVCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Revision history VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

55 © 2012 VCE Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Data protection

Recommended configurations

The recommended configurations for the Vblock Data Protection solution for business continuity and workload mobility are:

Configuration Description

Non cross-cluster connect

• Delivers zero Recovery Point Objective (RPO) in all single failures including that of an entire site

• Delivers zero Recovery Time Objective (RTO) in the event of a storage array failure • For a server domain failure or EMC VPLEX failure, limits RTO to the application restart time • Requires a ping round-trip time of less than five milliseconds

Cross-cluster connect

Servers in cross-cluster connect configuration can access data from the EMC VPLEX cabinet at either site. Cross-cluster connect is suitable for deploying within a campus, or in multiple isolated zones within a single data center. This configuration eliminates the need to do server failover when an entire storage cluster (EMC VPLEX) or the storage behind it) goes down. A cross-cluster configuration: • Delivers zero RPO in all single failures including that of an entire site • Delivers zero RTO in the event of a storage domain failure • For a server domain failure, limits RTO to the application restart time • Requires a ping round-trip time of less than one millisecond

Page 56: VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture · PDF fileVCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Revision history VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

56 © 2012 VCE Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Data protection VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

Single engine

The following illustration shows the single engine configuration:

Page 57: VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture · PDF fileVCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Revision history VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

57 © 2012 VCE Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Data protection

Dual engine

The following illustration shows the dual engine configuration:

Page 58: VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture · PDF fileVCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Revision history VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

58 © 2012 VCE Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Data protection VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

Quad engine

The following illustration shows the quad engine configuration available with the 700MX:

Page 59: VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture · PDF fileVCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Revision history VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

59 © 2012 VCE Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Vblock Series 700 cabinets

Vblock Series 700 cabinets

Cabinets overview

Within each Vblock 700 model, the compute and network layer components are distributed within the cabinets. Distributing the components in this manner balances out the power draw and reduces the size of the power outlet units (POUs) that are required. Refer to Power options for 700MX or Power options for 700LX for more information.

Each cabinet conforms to a standard predefined layout. Space is reserved for specific components even if they are not present or required for the customer configuration. This design makes it easier to upgrade or expand each Vblock system as capacity needs increase.

For 700LX, VCE preinstalls all wiring based on the predefined layouts.

Vblock system cabinets are designed to be installed next to one another within the data center (that is, contiguously). If a customer requires the base and expansion cabinets to be physically separated, customized cabling is needed, which incurs additional cost and delivery delays.

Note: The cable length is NOT the same as distance between cabinets. The cable must route through the cabinets and through the cable channels overhead or in the floor.

700MX cabinet types

The VCE standard cabinet configurations for Vblock 700MX include two standard layouts:

• Compute and storage

• Compute, storage, and network

The following table describes the cabinet types in each layout:

700MX layout Cabinet types

Compute and storage • CB compute base cabinet • Optional CE compute cabinet • EMC Symmetrix VMAX 20K system/storage cabinets

Compute and network • CB compute base cabinet • Optional CE compute cabinet • Network cabinets • EMC Symmetrix VMAX 20K system/storage cabinets

The compute, network, and storage cabinets can be physically separated but will require custom cabling to enable a distributed configuration.

Page 60: VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture · PDF fileVCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Revision history VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

60 © 2012 VCE Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Vblock Series 700 cabinets VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

CB compute base cabinet

The CB compute base cabinet contains the following components:

• One fibre patch panel

• Two Cisco UCS 6248UP Fabric Interconnects or two Cisco UCS 6140XP Fabric Interconnects

• Four Cisco UCS 5108 blade chassis, each containing up to four full-width blades or eight half-width blades.

CE compute expansion (CE) cabinet

The CE compute cabinet consists of four Cisco UCS 5108 chassis each containing up to four full-width blades or eight half-width blades.

Storage cabinets

700MX can contain one EMC Symmetrix VMAX 20K system cabinet and one storage cabinet and up to seven optional EMC Symmetrix VMAX 20K storage cabinets.

Network cabinets

If additional space is required for networking or storage switching components, one or more network cabinets are added.

Network cabinets serve as aggregation points for:

• IP networking components for cross-Vblock system communication and customer access points

• The core portion of core-edge block fabrics to support shared replication and fabric services

• AMP IP management connectivity consolidation

Use network cabinets to house the following components:

• A centralized AMP for large Vblock system environments

• Fibre patch panels

• Two Cisco MDS SAN switches

• Two Cisco Ethernet switches

Page 61: VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture · PDF fileVCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Revision history VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

61 © 2012 VCE Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Vblock Series 700 cabinets

Maximum number of cabinets

The following table lists the maximum number of cabinets allowed in a 700MX configuration:

Cabinet type Maximum number allowed

CB 5 CE 5 Network 4 EMC Symmetrix VMAX 20K 9

Page 62: VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture · PDF fileVCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Revision history VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

62 © 2012 VCE Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Vblock Series 700 cabinets VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

700LX cabinet types

The 700LX is available in a base configuration up to a maximum configuration. The following table describes the cabinet types in each configuration:

700LX configuration Cabinet types

Base • Compute and network base (CNB A and CNB B) • EMC Symmetrix VMAX 10K storage base (SB 1) • Reserved floor space for one EMC Symmetrix VMAX 10K disk expansion cabinet

(SE 1A).

Maximum • Compute and network base (CNB A and CNB B) • EMC Symmetrix VMAX 10K storage base (SB 1) • Compute and network expansion (CNE) • Up to six EMC Symmetrix VMAX 10K engine/disk expansion

(SE 1A, SB 2, SB 3, SB 4, SE 1B, SE 2B).

Compute and network (CNB A and CNB B) base configuration cabinets

The CNB A and CNB B cabinets each contain the following set of base compute and networking components:

• Three Cisco UCS 5108 chassis, each containing up to four full-width blades or eight half-width blades

• One Cisco UCS 6248UP Fabric Interconnect

• One Cisco Nexus 5548UP switch

• One Cisco MDS 9148 switch

• Advanced Management Pod (AMP) components

• Two interconnect patch panels

• One customer/aggregation patch panel

Page 63: VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture · PDF fileVCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Revision history VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

63 © 2012 VCE Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Vblock Series 700 cabinets

CNB A cabinet base configuration

The following illustration shows the components in a CNB A cabinet base configuration:

Page 64: VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture · PDF fileVCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Revision history VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

64 © 2012 VCE Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Vblock Series 700 cabinets VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

CNB B cabinet base configuration

The following illustration shows the components in a CNB B cabinet base configuration:

Page 65: VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture · PDF fileVCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Revision history VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

65 © 2012 VCE Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Vblock Series 700 cabinets

Compute and network (CNB A and CNB B) maximum configuration cabinets

In the 700LX maximum configuration, the CNB A and CNB B cabinets each contain the following components:

• EMC VG2/VG8 Gateway control station

• Two EMC DMEs

• Two EMC RecoverPoint Appliances (RPAs)

CNB A cabinet maximum configuration

The following illustration shows the components in a CNB A cabinet maximum configuration:

Page 66: VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture · PDF fileVCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Revision history VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

66 © 2012 VCE Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Vblock Series 700 cabinets VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

CNB B cabinet maximum configuration

The following illustration shows the components in a CNB B cabinet maximum configuration:

Page 67: VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture · PDF fileVCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Revision history VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

67 © 2012 VCE Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Vblock Series 700 cabinets

Compute and network expansion (CNE) cabinet

If a 700LX maximum configuration expands beyond its CNB A and CNB B cabinets, a CNE cabinet can be added for two additional Cisco UCS 5108 chassis. Space is reserved for an additional chassis. This design makes it easier to add this hardware later if necessary.

Page 68: VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture · PDF fileVCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Revision history VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

68 © 2012 VCE Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Vblock Series 700 cabinets VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

Storage cabinets

The 700LX base configuration includes one EMC Symmetrix VMAX 10K base (SB 1) cabinet and reserved floor space for one EMC Symmetrix VMAX 10K disk expansion cabinet (SE 1A).

As shown in the following illustration, the 700LX maximum configuration contains one EMC Symmetrix VMAX 10K base (SB 1) cabinet and up to six optional EMC Symmetrix VMAX 10K engine/disk expansion cabinets (SE 1A, SB 2, SB 3, SB 4, SE 1B, and SE 2B).

Maximum number of cabinets

The following table lists the maximum number of cabinets allowed in a 700LX configuration:

Cabinet type Maximum number allowed per cabinet

CNB 2 CNE 1 EMC Symmetrix VMAX 10K 7

Page 69: VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture · PDF fileVCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Revision history VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

69 © 2012 VCE Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Vblock Series 700 models

Vblock Series 700 models

Vblock Series 700 model overview

The following table compares the architecture of the Vblock 700 models:

700MX 700LX

Storage access Block or unified Block or unified Fabric interconnect model

Up to five pairs of Cisco UCS 6248UP (one pair with UIM support) or Up to five pairs of Cisco UCS 6140XP (one pair with UIM support)

One pair of Cisco UCS 6248UP

Cisco B-series blade chassis

40 maximum (8 maximum with UIM support)

8 maximum

B-series blades (maximum)

Half-width = 320 Full-width = 160

Half-width = 64 Full-width = 32

IP switches (Optional) Cisco Nexus 5548UP Series IP switches (Optional) Cisco Nexus 7010 Series IP switches

Cisco Nexus 5548UP Series IP switches

SAN switches Cisco MDS 9148 Multilayer Fabric Switch (Optional) Cisco MDS 9506 Multilayer Director (Optional) Cisco MDS 9513 Multilayer Director

Cisco MDS 9148 Multilayer Fabric Switch

Array EMC Symmetrix VMAX 20K EMC Symmetrix VMAX 10K Back-end FC buses 32 - 128 16 - 64 Storage protocol Block = FC

Unified = FC, CIFS, and NFS Block = FC Unified = FC, CIFS, and NFS

Datastore type Block = VMFS Unified = NFS and VMFS

Block = VMFS Unified = NFS and VMFS

X-Blades (Unified only) Minimum = 2 Maximum = 8

Minimum = 2 Maximum = 8

Boot path SAN SAN Disk drives Minimum = 80

Maximum = 1920 Minimum = 24 Maximum = 1080

Page 70: VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture · PDF fileVCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Revision history VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

70 © 2012 VCE Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Vblock Series 700 models VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

Power options for 700MX

Vblock 700MX supports several power outlet unit (POU) options inside and outside of North America.

North America power options for Vblock system cabinets

The following table lists the POUs that are available for 700MX in North America:

POU Power specifications Number per CB/CE cabinet Number per network cabinet

IEC 309 3P+PE 3-phase delta / 60A /208V 2 POUs per cabinet 0 POUs per cabinet Hubbell CS8365 3-phase delta / 50A /208V 0 POUs per cabinet 2 POUs per cabinet

Power options outside of North America for Vblock system cabinets

The following table lists the POUs that are available for 700MX outside of North America:

POU Power specifications Number per CB/CE cabinet Number per network cabinet

IEC 309 3P+N+PE 3-phase wye / 32A / 230 / 400V 2 POUs per cabinet 0 POUs per cabinet IEC 309 2P+E 1-phase / 32A / 230 / 400V 0 POUs per cabinet 2 POUs per cabinet

North America power options for EMC Symmetrix VMAX 20K

The following table lists the POUs that are available for EMC Symmetrix VMAX 20K in North America:

POU Power specifications Number per cabinet

Hubbell CS8365C 3-phase delta / 50A /208V 2 POUs per cabinet NEMA L6-30P Single phase / 30A / 208V 4 POUs per cabinet

Power options outside of North America for EMC Symmetrix VMAX 20K

The following table lists the POUs that are available for EMC Symmetrix VMAX 20K outside of North America:

POU Power specifications Number per CB/CE cabinet

Flying leads (add own plug) 3-phase wye / 32A / 230/400V 2 POUs per cabinet

The VCE Vblock Systems Series 700 Physical Planning Guide provides more information about power requirements. Refer to Accessing VCE documentation.

Page 71: VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture · PDF fileVCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Revision history VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

71 © 2012 VCE Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Vblock Series 700 models

Power options for 700LX

Vblock 700LX supports several power outlet unit (POU) options inside and outside of North America.

North America power options for Vblock system cabinets

The following table lists the POUs that are available for 700LX in North America:

POU Power specifications Number per CNB A and CNB B cabinet Number per CNE cabinet

NEMA L15-30P 3-phase delta / 30A /208V 4 4 IEC 60309 3-phase delta / 60A /208V 2 2 IEC 60309 Single phase / 60A / 208V 4 4 NEMA L6-30P Single phase / 30A / 208V 6 4

Power options outside of North America for Vblock system cabinets

The following table lists the POUs that are available for 700LX outside of North America:

POU Power specifications Number per CNB A and CNB B cabinet

Number per CNE cabinet

IEC 60309 2P+E Single phase / 32A / 230V 6 4 IEC 60309 3-phase wye / 32A / 230 / 400V 2 2 IEC 60309 3-phase wye / 16A / 230 / 400V 4 4

North America power options for EMC Symmetrix VMAX 10K

The following table lists the POUs that are available for EMC Symmetrix VMAX 10K in North America:

POU Power specifications Number per cabinet

NEMA L6-30P Single phase / 30A / 208V 2 POUs per cabinet

Power options outside of North America for EMC Symmetrix VMAX 10K

The following table lists the POUs that are available for EMC Symmetrix VMAX 10K outside of North America:

POU Power specifications Number per cabinet

IEC 60309 2P+E Single phase / 32A / 230V 2 POUs per cabinet

The VCE Vblock Systems Series 700 Physical Planning Guide provides more information about power requirements. Refer to Accessing VCE documentation.

Page 72: VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture · PDF fileVCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Revision history VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

72 © 2012 VCE Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Vblock Series 700 models VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

Vblock Series 700 model MX

Vblock 700MX is deployed for massive scaling with ERP, CRM, and virtual desktops in configurations that are extensible to meet the most demanding IT requirements of any enterprises or service providers and utilizes a SAN storage medium or a NAS (File) storage medium. UCS local boot disks are optional.

Note: When installing 700MX cabinets, it is important to leave sufficient space between the CB cabinet or network cabinets and the EMC Symmetrix VMAX 20K storage bay to allow for as many storage expansion bays as the customer plans to grow to. If this space is not pre-allocated, it will require an outage or exception request to move the cabinets during an upgrade.

The illustrations show the Cisco UCS 6248UP Series Fabric Interconnect. Cisco UCS 6140XP Series Fabric Interconnect is also a valid option.

700MX compute and storage configuration

The following illustration shows the 700MX base compute and storage configuration: The networking components are not shown in this illustration.

Page 73: VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture · PDF fileVCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Revision history VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

73 © 2012 VCE Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Vblock Series 700 models

700MX compute and network configuration

The following illustration shows the 700MX base compute and network configuration. The storage cabinets are not shown in this illustration.

Page 74: VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture · PDF fileVCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Revision history VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

74 © 2012 VCE Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Vblock Series 700 models VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

Vblock Series 700 model LX

Vblock 700LX provides high-end virtual storage capabilities to IT organizations and service providers with demanding storage requirements and limited resources. The EMC Symmetrix VMAX 10K delivers scalable performance, simplified management and provisioning, automated tiering, local and remote replication, and the ability to support numerous virtual machines.

The core element of the EMC Symmetrix VMAX 10K is the VMAX 10K engine, which includes the Intel XEON quad-core processors, cache, and front-end and back-end connectivity. The EMC Symmetrix VMAX 10K can scale by aggregating up to four EMC Symmetrix VMAX 10K engines with a total of eight redundant directors.

700LX base configuration

As shown in the following illustration, the 700LX base configuration has the following cabinets:

• Compute and network base cabinets (CNB A and CNB B)

• EMX Symmetrix VMAX 10K storage base (SB 1) cabinet

Page 75: VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture · PDF fileVCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Revision history VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

75 © 2012 VCE Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Vblock Series 700 models

The 700LX base configuration has reserved floor space for an EMC Symmetrix VMAX 10K disk expansion cabinet (SE 1A).

The base configuration contains six Cisco UCS 5108 blade chassis, two Cisco UCS 6248UP fabric interconnects, and blade servers. The base configuration can be expanded to up to eight Cisco UCS 5108 blade chassis with the addition of the EMC Symmetrix VMAX 10K disk expansion cabinet (SE 1). Each Cisco UCS 5108 blade chassis has two fabric extenders that have four connectors to each of the fabric interconnects. Each Cisco UCS 5108 blade chassis also has four power supplies (2500 W each) for full redundancy. Only two of the six installed Cisco UCS 5108 blade chassis are licensed in the base configuration. Additional chassis require chassis activation licenses that must be purchased separately. Refer to Chassis activation kits.

700LX maximum configuration

As shown in the following illustration, the 700LX maximum configuration has the following cabinets:

• Compute and network base cabinets (CNB A and CNB B)

• Compute network expansion (CNE) cabinet

• EMX Symmetrix VMAX 10K storage base (SB 1) cabinet

• Space for up to six EMC Symmetrix VMAX 10K disk expansion (SE 1A, SB 2, SB 3, SB 4, SE 1B, SE 2B) cabinets

Page 76: VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture · PDF fileVCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Revision history VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

76 © 2012 VCE Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Additional references VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

Additional references

References overview

The following tables provide links to documentation provided by Cisco, EMC, and VMware for each of the product lines that are discussed in this document.

• Virtualization

• Compute

• Network

• Storage

Virtualization components

Product Description Link to documentation

VMware vCenter Server

Provides a scalable and extensible platform that forms the foundation for virtualization management.

www.vmware.com/solutions/virtualization-management/

VMware vSphere ESXi

Virtualized infrastructure for Vblock systems. Virtualizes all application servers and provides VMware High Availability (HA) and Dynamic Resource Scheduling (DRS).

www.vmware.com/products/vsphere/

Page 77: VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture · PDF fileVCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Revision history VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

77 © 2012 VCE Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Additional references

Compute components

Product Description Link to documentation

Cisco UCS 6200 Series Fabric Interconnects

UCS family of line-rate, low-latency, lossless, 10 Gigabit Ethernet, Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE), and Fibre Channel functions. Provide network connectivity and management capabilities.

www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps11544/index.html

Cisco UCS 6100 Series Fabric Interconnects

UCS family of line-rate, low-latency, lossless, 10 Gbps Ethernet and Fibre Channel over Ethernet interconnect switches

www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps10276/index.html

Cisco UCS 5100 Series Blade Server Chassis

Chassis that supports up to eight blade servers and up to two fabric extenders in a six rack unit (RU) enclosure.

www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps10279/index.html

Cisco UCS 2200 Series Fabric Extenders

Bring unified fabric into the blade-server chassis, providing up to four 10 Gbps connections each between blade servers and the fabric interconnect

www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/ps10265/ps10276/data_sheet_c78-675243.html

Cisco UCS 2100 Series Fabric Extenders

Bring unified fabric into the blade-server chassis, providing up to four 10 Gbps connections each between blade servers and the fabric interconnect

www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps10278/index.html

Cisco UCS B-Series Blade Servers

Servers that adapt to application demands, intelligently scale energy use, and offer best-in-class virtualization

www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps10280/index.html

Cisco UCS Manager

Provides centralized management capabilities for the Cisco Unified Computing System

www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps10281/index.html

Page 78: VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture · PDF fileVCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Revision history VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

78 © 2012 VCE Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Additional references VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

Network components

Product Description Link to documentation

Cisco Nexus 1000V Series Switches

A software switch on a server that delivers Cisco VN-Link services to virtual machines hosted on that server

www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps9902/index.html

Cisco MDS 9500 Series Multilayer Directors

Provides industry-leading availability, scalability, security, and management. The Cisco MDS 9000 family allows deployment of high-performance SANs with the lowest TCO.

www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps5990/index.html

Cisco MDS 9148 Multilayer Fabric Switch

Provides 48 line-rate 8-Gbps ports and offers cost-effective scalability through on-demand activation of ports

www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps10703/index.html

Cisco Nexus 5000 Series Switches

Simplifies data center transformation by enabling a standards-based, high-performance unified fabric

www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps9670/index.html

Cisco Nexus 7000 Series Switches

A single end-to-end platform designed around infrastructure scalability, operational continuity, and transport flexibility

www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps9402/index.html

Storage components

Product Description Link to documentation

EMC Symmetrix VMAX 20K

EMC high-end storage array that delivers infrastructure services in the next generation data center. Built for reliability, availability, and scalability, EMC Symmetrix VMAX 20K uses specialized engines, each of which includes two redundant director modules providing parallel access and replicated copies of all critical data.

www.emc.com/storage/symmetrix-vmax/vmax-20k.htm

EMC Symmetrix VMAX 10K

Delivers full enterprise-class availability, data integrity, and security.

www.emc.com/storage/symmetrix-vmax/vmax-10k.htm

EMC VNX VG2 Gateway EMC VNX VG8 Gateway

Provide NAS storage in a centrally managed information storage system. The Gateways allow you to grow, share, and cost effectively manage the Vblock system with multi-protocol file access.

www.emc.com/collateral/hardware/data-sheet/c1119-celerra-gateway-storage-ds.pdf www.emc.com/collateral/hardware/specification-sheet/h7292-celerra-vg2-ss.pdf www.emc.com/collateral/hardware/specification-sheet/h7293-celerra-vg8-gateway-ss.pdf

EMC RecoverPoint

Provides continuous data protection for operational and disaster recovery of information on the Vblock system.

www.emc.com/replication/recoverpoint/recoverpoint.htm

Page 79: VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture · PDF fileVCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Revision history VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview
Page 80: VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture · PDF fileVCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Revision history VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview

80 © 2012 VCE Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

VCE Vblock™ Systems Series 700 Architecture Overview Additional references

ABOUT VCE

VCE, formed by Cisco and EMC with investments from VMware and Intel, accelerates the adoption of converged infrastructure and cloud-based computing models that dramatically reduce the cost of IT while improving time to market for our customers. VCE, through the Vblock system, delivers the industry's only fully integrated and fully virtualized cloud infrastructure system. VCE solutions are available through an extensive partner network, and cover horizontal applications, vertical industry offerings, and application development environments, allowing customers to focus on business innovation instead of integrating, validating, and managing IT infrastructure.

For more information, go to www.vce.com.

Copyright © 2012 VCE Company, LLC. All rights reserved. Vblock and the VCE logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of VCE Company, LLC. and/or its affiliates in the United States or other countries. All other trademarks used herein are the property of their respective owners.


Recommended