- Notes, cautions, and warnings
- Revision history
- Introduction
- VxRail network planning overview
- Plan the VxRail network
- VxRail cluster types
- VxRail hardware and switch selection decision points
- Prepare the data center to implement VxRail
- Decide on an IP address scheme
- Prepare external network connectivity for VxRail
- Prepare service connectivity for VxRail
- Prepare for VMware vSphere+ subscription licensing
- Prepare data center routing services
- Prepare for multirack VxRail cluster
- Prepare for VMware vSAN HCI mesh topology
- Prepare external FC storage for dynamic clusters
- Prepare for VxRail custom uplink assignments
- Prepare data center network MTU
- Prepare for LAG of VxRail networks
- Plan LAG on switch port pairs
- Prepare certificate authority server for VxRail
- Identify isolation IP addresses for VMware vSphere High Availability
- Plan the VxRail cluster implementation
- Decide on VxRail single point of management
- Decide on VxRail network traffic segmentation
- Decide on teaming and failover policies for VxRail networks
- Plan the VxRail logical network
- Plan network settings for VxRail management components
- Plan network settings for VMware vCenter Server management network
- Identify IP addresses for VxRail management components
- Select hostnames for VxRail management components
- Identify external applications and settings for VxRail
- Prepare the customer-managed VMware vCenter Server
- Prepare a customer-managed VMware VDS
- Reserve IP addresses for VxRail-managed VMware vSphere vMotion network
- Reserve IPv4/IPv6 addresses for VxRail vSAN network
- Decide on VxRail logging solution
- Assign passwords for VxRail management
- Plan VMware vSAN witness networking
- Plan networking for VxRail Satellite Nodes
- Configure the Network for VxRail
- Prepare to build the VxRail cluster
- VxRail network considerations after implementation
- Appendix A: VxRail Network Configuration Table
- Appendix B: VxRail Passwords
- Appendix C: VxRail cluster setup checklist
- Appendix D: VxRail Open Ports Requirements
- Appendix E: VMware VDS port group default settings
- Appendix F: Physical Network Switch Examples
- Pre-defined network profile: 2x10gb or 2x25gb from a single NDC/OCP
- Predefined network profile: 4x10gb or 4x25gb NDC/OCP
- Predefined network profile: 2 x 10/25 GB NDC/OCP and 2 x 10/25 GB PCIe
- Custom option: Any NDC/OCP ports paired with PCIe ports
- Custom option: Two NDC/OCP ports paired with PCIe ports other than the first slot
- Custom option: PCIe ports only
- Custom option: Six ports
- Custom option: Eight ports
- Custom option: Eight ports connected to four Ethernet switches
Dell VxRail Network Planning Guide
2-node cluster
A 2-node cluster supports small-scale deployments with reduced workload and availability requirements, such as those in a remote office setting.
The solution is limited to two VxRail nodes only, and like the stretched cluster solution, requires a witness.
To deploy 2-node VxRail clusters, note the following:
- The minimum VxRail software version for the 2-node cluster is 4.7.100.
- The deployment is limited to a pair of VxRail nodes.
- Verify that your workload requirements do not exceed the resource capacity of this small-scale solution.
- You cannot expand to three or more nodes unless the cluster is running version 7.0.130 or later.
- A single ToR switch is supported.
- Four Ethernet ports per node are required to deploy a 2-node cluster. Supported networking options include:
- Four 10 GbE NICs.
- Four 25 GbE NICs.
- Two 10 GbE NICs and two 25 GbE NICs.
- Two 1 GbE NICs and two 10 GbE NICs.
- Two 1 GbE NICs and two 25 GbE NICs.
- In a mixed network configuration, the vSAN network must be placed on the pair of Ethernet ports running at the higher speed.
- A 2-node cluster can be deployed with one of two network topologies:
- Two Ethernet ports connect to create two links between the physical VxRail nodes, and the other two Ethernet ports connect to the ToR switch.
Figure 1. Direct connect option for a 2-node cluster. Direct connect option for a 2-node cluster 
- All four Ethernet ports connect to the ToR switch or switches.
Figure 2. Switch-only option for a 2-node cluster. Switch-only option for a 2-node cluster 
- Two Ethernet ports connect to create two links between the physical VxRail nodes, and the other two Ethernet ports connect to the ToR switch.
Follow these guidelines for the required witness:
- Network connectivity is required between the 2-node cluster and the witness.
- Witness can be deployed at the same physical site as the VxRail nodes but cannot be deployed on the 2-node cluster.
- If there is more than one 2-node cluster deployed at the site, the witness can reside on a 2-node cluster it is not monitoring.
- For a 2-node cluster based on the VxRail XR-Series hardware, which is targeted for edge use cases:
- The witness sled integrated into the XR-Series chassis can support only one VxRail 2-node cluster.
- The witness sled and witness VM must have IP addresses in the same subnet as the VxRail hosts.
- The Ethernet ports on the witness sled supporting the 2-node cluster only support 1 GbE.
Figure 3. 2-node cluster on VD-Series compute sleds and a witness sled. 2-node cluster on VD-Series compute sleds and a witness sled 
- The VMware vCenter Server instance supporting the 2-node cluster can be either:
- A VxRail-managed VMware vCenter Server that is deployed on the cluster.
- A customer-managed VMware vCenter Server external to the 2-node cluster.
Figure 4. Two VMware vCenter Server placement options for a 2-node cluster. Two VMware vCenter Server placement options for a 2-node cluster 
Like the VMware vSAN stretched cluster feature, this small-scale solution has strict networking guidelines that must be adhered to for the solution to work. For more information about the planning and preparation for a deployment of a 2-node VxRail cluster, see the Planning Guide—vSAN 2-Node Cluster on VxRail.
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