- Notes, cautions, and warnings
- Introduction
- Revision history
- Monitoring system health
- Configuring and viewing alerts
- Managing components with PowerFlex Manager
- Administering the network
- Add a network to a service
- Administering the network outside of PowerFlex Manager
- Optimizing the network
- Monitoring the network
- Measuring the bi-directional bandwidth between VMware ESXi hosts in the PowerFlex node
- Verifying connectivity between storage data servers and storage data clients
- Checking the maximum transmission unit on all switches and servers
- Gathering logs from the Cisco Nexus network for troubleshooting
- Gathering logs from the Dell EMC network for troubleshooting
- Adding a VLAN to the network
- Add a VLAN to a Cisco Nexus production network
- Verify the network configuration
- Identify the Dell EMC PowerSwitch access switches
- Configure the Dell EMC PowerSwitch access switches
- Configure the Dell EMC PowerSwitch aggregation switches
- Configure the PowerFlex rack service port for a Dell EMC PowerSwitch management switch
- Add a network interface card to the service port
- Configure the Windows-based jump server to use the service port
- Configure the embedded operating system-based jump server to use the service port
- Creating a network interface card team for Windows Server 2016 or 2019
- Registering and configuring Cisco Nexus switches on the Cisco Smart Account portal
- Administering the storage
- Considerations
- PowerFlex management controller datastore and virtual machine details
- Viewing PowerFlex gateway details
- Administering the CloudLink Center
- Configure the PowerFlex compute-only nodes outside of PowerFlex Manager
- Administering the storage outside of PowerFlex Manager
- Configuring DNS
- Configure PowerFlex storage-only nodes and PowerFlex hyperconverged nodes with static route for SDC reachability
- Retrieving PowerFlex performance metrics
- Verifying VMware vSphere host settings
- Configuring compression on PowerFlex storage-only nodes with NVDIMMs
- Identify NVDIMM acceleration pool in a protection domain
- Identify NVDIMM acceleration pool in a protection domain using a PowerFlex version prior to 3.5
- Enable fine granularity metadata read cache using the command line
- Create a compression storage pool using the PowerFlex GUI presentation server
- Create a compression storage pool using the PowerFlex GUI
- Create a compression volume using the PowerFlex GUI presentation server
- Create a compression volume using PowerFlex GUI
- Verify the VMware ESXi host recognizes the NVDIMM
- Migrate vCLS VMs for PowerFlex hyperconverged nodes and PowerFlex compute-only nodes
- Set V-Tree compression mode for PowerFlex GUI
- Defining rebuild and rebalance settings for PowerFlex
- Adding a PowerFlex storage-only node to PowerFlex
- Adding a PowerFlex storage-only node with an NVMe disk to PowerFlex
- Configuring replication on PowerFlex storage-only nodes
- Add storage data replication to PowerFlex
- Disable replication on the PowerFlex storage-only nodes
- Freeze the remote consistency group
- Remove the remote consistency group
- Remove a peer system
- Remove replication trust for peer system
- Enter SDS in maintenance mode
- Remove storage data replication from PowerFlex
- Remove a storage data replication RPM
- Clean up network configurations
- Exit SDS in maintenance mode
- Remove journal capacity
- Remove target volumes from the destination system
- Remote asynchronous replication on PowerFlex hyperconverged nodes
- Remote consistency group
- Replication direction and mapping
- Add the replication consistency group
- Modify the recovery point objective
- Add a replication pair to the replication consistency group
- Unpair from the replication consistency group
- Freeze the replication consistency group
- Unfreeze the replication consistency group
- Set the target to consistent mode
- Setting the target to inconsistent mode
- Running a test failover
- Stopping test failover
- Restoring replication
- Reversing replication
- Running a failover
- Creating a snapshot of the remote consistency group (RCG) volume
- Pausing the remote consistency group
- Resuming the remote consistency group
- Pausing the initial copy
- Resuming the initial copy
- Setting priority
- Mapping remote consistency groups to the storage data clients (SDC)
- Unmapping an storage data client (SDC) from the remote consistency group target volumes
- Mounting a VMFS datastore copy on the target VMware ESXi cluster
- Determining and switching the PowerFlex metadata manager
- Rebooting PowerFlex nodes
- Rebooting a PowerFlex node in a hyperconverged deployment using PowerFlex GUI presentation server
- Rebooting a PowerFlex node in a hyperconverged deployment using PowerFlex GUI
- Rebooting a PowerFlex rack storage node in a two-layer deployment using the PowerFlex GUI presentation server
- Rebooting a PowerFlex rack storage node in a two-layer deployment using PowerFlex GUI
- Entering protected maintenance mode using the PowerFlex GUI presentation server
- Exiting protected maintenance mode using the PowerFlex GUI presentation server
- Adding and removing a PowerFlex device for server maintenance
- Unmapping and mapping a volume
- Install and configure a Windows-based compute-only node to PowerFlex
- Updating a PowerFlex device path
- Disabling the PowerFlex RAM read cache
- Configuring PowerFlex for Secure Remote Services
- Preparing to configure PowerFlex for Secure Remote Services
- Licensing PowerFlex for PowerFlex management controller 1.0
- Licensing PowerFlex for PowerFlex management controller 2.0
- Editing the PowerFlex gateway
- Adding PowerFlex metadata manager credentials to lockbox
- Adding PowerFlex SSL certificates to lockbox
- Linking an MDM to the PowerFlex GUI presentation server
- Unlinking an MDM from the PowerFlex GUI presentation server
- Registering the PowerFlex gateway with Secure Remote Services
- Enabling and disabling SDC authentication
- Disabling persistent checksum on medium granularity storage pools
- Modify SVM RAM size to upgrade to PowerFlex 3.5.x
- Backing up and restoring
- Powering on and off
- Powering on
- Power on a Technology Extension with Isilon Storage
- Power on a PowerFlex rack
- Power on the PowerFlex management controller 1.0
- Power on the PowerFlex management controller 2.0
- Power on the VMware NSX-T Edge nodes
- Power on the MDM cluster
- Power on PowerFlex storage-only nodes
- Power on all PowerFlex hyperconverged nodes
- Activate PowerFlex protection domains
- Power on all PowerFlex compute-only nodes
- Complete the powering on of PowerFlex rack
- Verify that asynchronous replication is enabled (optional)
- Powering off
- Verify the cluster health and power off the virtual machine
- Power off PowerFlex compute-only nodes with VMware ESXi
- Power off PowerFlex hyperconverged nodes with VMware ESXi
- Power off PowerFlex compute-only nodes with Windows Server 2016 or 2019
- Deactivate PowerFlex protection domains
- Deactivate PowerFlex protection domains using PowerFlex version prior to 3.5
- Power off non-mdm and non-tiebreaker PowerFlex storage-only nodes
- Power off non-mdm and non-tiebreaker PowerFlex hyperconverged nodes with VMware ESXi
- Power off the MDM cluster
- Power off the VMware NSX-T Edge nodes
- Power off the PowerFlex management controller 1.0
- Power off the PowerFlex management controller 2.0
- Complete the powering off of PowerFlex rack
- Power off a Technology Extension with Isilon Storage
- Powering on
- PowerFlex rack password management
- Updating passwords for system components
- Update a credential in PowerFlex Manager
- Updating passwords outside of PowerFlex Manager
- Compute
- Storage
- Virtualization
- Changing a VMware ESXi host root password
- Modifying the VMware vCenter Server Single Sign On default administrator password
- Changing a VMware vCenter Single Sign On password
- Changing VM operating system administrative passwords
- Changing the administrator password for VMware vCenter Server Appliance
- Resetting the VMware vCenter Server Appliance root password
- Changing CloudLink passwords
- Changing the PowerFlex management controller password
- Managing embedded operating system users and password
- Managing SUSE users and passwords
- Managing Red Hat Enterprise Linux users and passwords
- Changing the IPI appliance password
- Changing a user account password on the IPI appliance
- Installing and configuring PowerFlex Manager
- Installation prerequisites
- Configuring the operating system installation (PXE) network
- Deploy PowerFlex Manager
- Setting up PowerFlex Manager
- Enable remote access to the PowerFlex Manager VM
- Configuring PowerFlex Manager
- Discover resources
- Discover an existing cluster
- Configure the operating system installation (PXE) network in PowerFlex Manager
- Clone a template
- Configuring network settings in PowerFlex Manager templates
- Publish a template
- Add a new compatibility management file
- Deploying the PowerFlex GUI presentation server
- Deploy the PowerFlex gateway
- Deploy the CloudLink Center
- Deploy a service
- Add volumes to a service
- Resize a volume
- Migrate vCLS VMs for PowerFlex hyperconverged nodes and PowerFlex compute-only nodes
- Provide a PowerFlex Manager license key after initial setup
- Configure the alert connector
- Configuring SNMP trap and syslog forwarding
- Deploying Windows-based PowerFlex compute-only nodes with PowerFlex Manager (bare metal deployment)
- Managing users
- Minimum VMware vCenter permissions
- Administering fault sets
- Configure VMware vCenter high availability
Dell PowerFlex Rack with PowerFlex 3.x Administration Guide
PowerFlex rack deployment options
PowerFlex rack has several options for deployment.
PowerFlex runs on PowerFlex rack nodes to operate the management and customer storage and tie in workloads. PowerFlex has the following components:
- Storage data client (SDC): Consumes storage from the PowerFlex rack
- Storage data server (SDS): Contributes node storage to PowerFlex rack
- PowerFlex metadata manager (MDM): Manages the storage blocks and tracks data location across the system
- Storage data replication (SDR): Enables replication on PowerFlex storage-only nodes
PowerFlex enables flexible deployment options by allowing the separation of SDC and SDS components. It addresses data center workload requirements through the following PowerFlex rack deployment options:
| Deployment type | Description |
|---|---|
| Full hyperconverged |
Consists of PowerFlex hyperconverged nodes, which contribute both compute and storage resources to the virtual environment. Front-end (application) and back-end (storage) traffic share the same PowerFlex data networks. This includes PowerFlex hyperconverged nodes and PowerFlex storage-only nodes with NVMe. NVDIMM data compression is supported on PowerFlex hyperconverged nodes and PowerFlex storage-only nodes. |
| Two-layer |
Separates compute resources from storage resources, allowing the independent expansion of compute or storage resources. Consists of PowerFlex compute-only nodes (supporting the SDC) and PowerFlex storage-only nodes (connected to and managed by the SDS). PowerFlex compute-only nodes host end-user applications. PowerFlex storage-only nodes contribute storage to the system pool. |
| Hybrid hyperconverged |
Consists of PowerFlex hyperconverged nodes, PowerFlex compute-only nodes, and PowerFlex storage-only nodes. Some PowerFlex nodes contribute both compute resources and storage resources (PowerFlex hyperconverged nodes), some contribute only compute resources (PowerFlex compute-only nodes), and some contribute only storage resources (PowerFlex storage-only nodes). |
| Storage-only |
Consists of nodes that contribute storage resources to the virtual environment. The back-end traffic shares the same PowerFlex data networks. The storage-only PowerFlex rack provide volumes to an external customer compute limited to Dell PowerEdge servers. storage data replication (SDR) is installed to enable native asynchronous replication on the PowerFlex storage-only nodes. No SDC components are installed on these nodes. |
| Dual network |
Consists of a solution that is integrated into your existing software-defined network (SDN), such as Cisco ACI. Only PowerFlex hyperconverged nodes and PowerFlex compute-only nodes are affected and have two NICs cabled to a pair of customer access/leaf switches. Aggregation switches by default are tied into the customer SDN border for L2/L3 access. The solution uses two new customer access switches, two additional network ports on the host, and a new distributed virtual switch to carry traffic seamlessly into the software-defined network. |
Two-layer deployments allow rebooting of VMware cluster nodes without PowerFlex ramifications.
When designing initial deployment or specifying later growth, use PowerFlex hyperconverged nodes if both PowerFlex compute-only nodes and PowerFlex storage-only nodes are needed. You can add PowerFlex compute-only nodes or PowerFlex storage-only nodes as needed.
To control the number of processors or cores, consider separating the compute for the application from the
PowerFlex nodes that support storage. This deployment is a pure two-layer deployment. Extra workloads are supported or added on:
- PowerFlex hyperconverged nodes
- Two-layer PowerFlex compute-only nodes
- PowerFlex storage-only nodes
PowerFlex rack is configured with a single VMware vCenter, consisting of separate datacenters for controller and customer nodes. To access controller nodes, use the PowerFlex management controller. To access customer nodes, use the PowerFlex operating system for the customer cluster.
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