Dell PowerFlex Appliance with PowerFlex 3.x Architecture Overview
Deployment options overview
There are several options for a PowerFlex appliance deployment.
PowerFlex appliance nodes use PowerFlex to operate storage and tie in workloads. PowerFlex appliance uses these PowerFlex features:
- Storage data client (SDC), which consumes storage from the PowerFlex appliance.
- Storage data server (SDS), which contributes node storage to PowerFlex appliance.
- PowerFlex metadata manager (MDM), which manages the storage blocks and tracks data location across the system.
- Storage data replication (SDR), which enables native asynchronous replication on PowerFlex 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 appliance deployment options:
| Deployment type | Description |
|---|---|
| Hyperconverged |
Metadata manager, compute, and storage reside within the same server. SDR is supported on PowerFlex hyperconverged 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. PowerFlex metadata manager (MDM) runs on PowerFlex storage-only nodes. |
| Hybrid hyperconverged |
Consists of PowerFlex hyperconverged nodes, PowerFlex compute-only nodes, and PowerFlex storage-only nodes. Some 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). PowerFlex metadata manager (MDM) runs either on PowerFlex hyperconverged nodes or PowerFlex storage-only nodes. |
| PowerFlex compute-only nodes |
Consists of PowerFlex compute-only nodes (supporting the SDC) on Microsoft Windows, VMware ESXi, CentOS, and Red Hat Enterprise Linux. PowerFlex compute-only nodes hosts end-user applications. NOTE: Red Hat Enterprise Linux, CentOS, and Windows compute-only nodes must be deployed by the customer instead of using
PowerFlex Manager.
|
| PowerFlex storage-only nodes |
Consists of embedded operating system nodes which contribute storage resources to the virtual environment. The back-end traffic shares the same PowerFlex data networks. No SDC components are installed on this node. PowerFlex metadata manager (MDM) runs on PowerFlex storage-only nodes. SDR is supported on PowerFlex storage-only nodes with a dual CPU. |
PowerFlex storage-only nodes two-layer deployments use the same four PowerFlex data networks for both SDC and SDS communications. Two-layer deployment allows the rebooting of PowerFlex compute-only nodes without PowerFlex ramifications.
When designing initial deployment or specifying later growth, use PowerFlex hyperconverged nodes. 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 nodes that support storage. This deployment is a pure two-layer deployment. Extra workloads are supported or added using:
- PowerFlex hyperconverged nodes
- PowerFlex compute-only nodes
- PowerFlex storage-only nodes
When hyperconverged nodes are mixed with PowerFlex compute-only nodes or PowerFlex storage-only nodes, it creates a hybrid deployment.
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