Dell PowerFlex Appliance with PowerFlex 4.x Architecture Overview

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System components

PowerFlex appliance contains compute, network, software-defined storage, virtualization, and management and orchestration (M&O) control plane.

The following tables list the PowerFlex appliance software and hardware components:

Table 1. Software componentsThe following table describes the software components of a PowerFlex rack.
Software	Function	Description
PowerFlex Manager	Management and orchestration	PowerFlex Manager is the management layer of the PowerFlex system. It provides the user interface for both the block storage (PowerFlex software) and file storage services as well as lifecycle management of the hardware components in the PowerFlex appliance.
PowerFlex	Software defined storage	PowerFlex software provides block services to the PowerFlex system and is the software-defined storage layer that forms the core of the offer.
PowerFlex file	Software defined file storage	Network-attached storage enables data access through files, rather than block devices. This is the software that provides file services to the PowerFlex system.
VMware vSphere	Virtualization	VMware ESXi: This is the default supported hypervisor for PowerFlex compute-only and PowerFlex hyperconverged nodes. VMware vCenter Server Appliance (vCSA): The VMware vCSA provides management services to the VMware compute environment including both compute-only and hyper-converged nodes in the PowerFlex system. For PowerFlex appliance deployments it also manages the virtual machines of the PowerFlex Management controller.
Secure connect gateway	Call home	Secure connect gateway is an enterprise monitoring technology that monitors your devices and proactively detects hardware issues that may occur. It automates support request creation for issues that are detected on the monitored devices. NOTE:Secure connect gateway automatically collects the telemetry that is required to troubleshoot the issue that is detected. The collected telemetry helps technical support provide a proactive and personalized support experience. Secure connect gateway can be set up with policy manager. Policy manager is a device access management technology delivered as a virtual appliance.
CloudLink (optional)	Software encryption and key management	CloudLink is an optional component of the system that provides key management for self-encrypting drives, and software data-at-rest encryption for non-self-encrypting units.

Table 2. Hardware componentsThe following table describes the key hardware components of a PowerFlex rack.
Resource	Vendor	Components
Compute	Dell	PowerFlex nodes PowerEdge R660/R760 servers, PowerEdge R650/R750 servers or PowerEdge R640/R740xd/R840 servers () for PowerFlex hyperconverged nodes PowerEdge servers (R660/R760/R6625/R7625), PowerEdge servers (R650/R750/R6525/R7525) or PowerEdge servers (R640/R740xd/R840) for PowerFlex compute-only nodes PowerEdge servers R660 or PowerEdge servers R650 for PowerFlex file nodes 4 x 25 Gbe or 4 x 100 Gbe NIC options
Storage	Dell	PowerFlex nodes PowerFlex nodes, PowerEdge servers (R660/R760/R650/R750) and/or PowerEdge servers (R640/R740/R840) with PowerFlex software-defined storage
Network (PowerFlex Manager supports full network automation for the listed switches. Customer-preferred switches are supported with partial network automation.)	Cisco	Preferred validated switch options: Management switch options: Cisco Nexus 92348GC-X Aggregation switch option: Cisco Nexus 9336C-FX2 Access switch options: Cisco Nexus 93240YC-FX2 Cisco Nexus 93180YC-FX3 Spine switch options: Cisco Nexus 9336C-FX2 Cisco Nexus 9364C-GX Leaf switch options: Cisco Nexus 93240YC-FX2 Cisco Nexus 9336C-FX2 Cisco Nexus 9364C-GX Border-leaf switch option: Cisco Nexus 9336C-FX2 Customer access switch (for optional ACI connectivity using dual network) Cisco Nexus 93240YC-FX2
	Dell	Management switch options: Dell PowerSwitch S4148T-ON Aggregation switch option: Dell PowerSwitch S5232F-ON Access switch options: Dell PowerSwitch S5224F-ON Dell PowerSwitch S5248F-ON Dell PowerSwitch S5296F-ON Dell PowerSwitch S4148F-ON
Management control plane	Dell	PowerFlex management controller: PowerEdge R660 or PowerEdge R650 servers custom configuration