How Much Variety is there in Customer VxRail installs?

I just finished teaching my first VxRail Installation and Implementation class for a single customer team, and I think they enjoyed the class! Here was the one issue that I noted: the class covers the variety of VxRail designs that the Configuration Portal can produce, but the customer really just deploys the same VxRail again and again. They effectively use the same JSON file every time. This makes sense from the customer’s point of view because they really only have one configuration to support.

How does this compare to your installs? If you are a customer performing your own VxRail installs, use the comments below to let me know. Some topics you might hit:

Do you use the Configuration Portal to generate JSON files for install?
Do you always install the same VxRail Architecture, or do you change it up?
Did the VxRail Installation and Implementation class fully prepare you to do your own installs?

#IWork4Dell

Responses(1)

Dell-RobertH

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March 7th, 2023 06:00

That customer's use case seems like an opportunity for automation. Day 1 (VxRail implementation) activities could be automated using:

The VxRail REST API directly using the programming language of your choice.
The "VxRail API PowerShell Modules" search for the keyword "PowerShell" on the "Drivers and Downloads" page of the Dell Support site. Day 1 related Cmdlets include: "Start-SystemBringup", "Get-BringUpProgressStatus", "Get-AutoDiscoveryHosts", "Set-VxmNetworkConfiguration" among others.
The "Ansible Modules for Dell EMC VxRail". The "day1_auto_discovery_hosts.yml" and "day1_initialization.yml" sample playbooks are a good place to start.

We have educational resources in this area including the "Automation with VxRail" Instructor Session or one of the on-demand or upcoming VxRail Tech Exchange events. Both the Instructor Session and Tech Exchange events are automation primers for VxRail.

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How Much Variety is there in Customer VxRail installs?