- 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
Plan the VxRail network
When you plan your data center network for VxRail, consider availability, performance, and extensibility.
VxRail is manufactured in the factory from your purchase order and delivered to your data center ready for deployment. The VxRail nodes can connect to any compatible network infrastructure to enable operations.
Follow all the guidance and decision points that are described in this document. If there are separate teams for network and servers in your data center, work together to design the network and configure the switches. To ensure proper deployment and functioning of VxRail, perform the following:
- Select the VxRail hardware and physical network infrastructure that best aligns with your business and operational objectives.
- Plan and prepare for VxRail implementation in your data center.
- Set up the network switch infrastructure in your data center for VxRail.
- Prepare for physical installation and VxRail initialization into the final product.
The VxRail nodes connect to one or more network switches to form a VxRail cluster. VxRail communicates with the physical data center network through one or more VMware VDS that are deployed in the VxRail cluster. VMware VDS integrates with the physical network infrastructure to provide connectivity for the virtual infrastructure. Virtual network traffic is enabled to pass through the physical switch infrastructure. In this relationship, the physical switch infrastructure serves as a backplane, supporting network traffic between virtual machines in the cluster, and enabling VM mobility and resiliency.
Physical network infrastructure enables I/O operations between the storage objects in the VMware vSAN data store. The infrastructure also provides connectivity to applications and end-users outside of the cluster.
The following physical components are the selection criteria for VxRail clusters:
- VxRail clusters and nodes
- Network switch
- Data center network
- Topology and connections
- Workstation or laptop
- Out of band management (optional)
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