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Dell VxRail Network Planning Guide

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VxRail network considerations after implementation

Other actions are provided to optimize VxRail cluster operations. The cluster version, the configuration settings, and supported features on your data center network determine the options available to modify the VxRail networking. If the VxRail cluster was originally configured using only the integrated NDC/OCP ports, you can configure the ports on the optional PCIe adapter cards to support VxRail network traffic. Network redundancy across NDC/OCP and PCIe Ethernet ports can be enabled by reconfiguring the VxRail networks and migrating selected VxRail network traffic from the original NDC/OCP-based ports over to PCIe-based ports.

The following table describes the starting and ending network reconfiguration that VxRail supports:

Table 1. NDC/OCP port configurationsIdentify starting and ending configurations for NDS/OCP ports.
Starting configuration Ending configuration
2 NDC/OCP ports 1 NDC/OCP port and 1 PCIe port
2 NDC/OCP ports 2 NDC/OCP ports and 2 PCIe ports
4 NDC/OCP ports 2 NDC/OCP ports and 2 PCIe ports
4 NDC/OCP ports 1 NDC/OCP port and 1 PCIe port
The following rules apply for migrating VxRail networks from NDC/OCP-only ports to mixed NDC/OCP-PCIe ports:
  • The VxRail version on your cluster is 7.0.010 or later.
  • Reserve the first port configured for VxRail networking, which is known as vmnic0 or vmnic1, for VxRail management and node discovery. Do not migrate VxRail management or node discovery off this first reserved port.
  • The switch ports enabling connectivity to the PCIe-based ports are properly configured to support VxRail network traffic.
  • All the network ports supporting VxRail network traffic must be running the same speed.
  • The network reconfiguration requires a one-to-one swap. For example, a VxRail network that is running on two NDC/OCP ports can be reconfigured to run on one NDC/OCP port and one PCIe port.

Follow the official instructions or procedures from VMware and Dell for these operations.

The supported operations include:
  • Create a VMware Standard Switch and connect to unused ports.
  • Connect unused ports to new port groups on the default VMware VDS.
  • Create a VMware VDS and add VxRail nodes. Connect their unused network ports to the VMware VDS.
  • Create VMkernel adapters, and enable services of IP storage and VMware vSphere replication.
  • Create VM Networks and assign them to new port groups.
The following operations are unsupported in versions earlier than VxRail 7.0.010:
  • You cannot migrate or move VxRail traffic to the optional ports. VxRail traffic includes the management, vSAN, VMware vCenter Server, and VMware vSphere vMotion Networks.
  • You cannot migrate VxRail traffic to other port groups.
  • You cannot migrate VxRail traffic to another VMware VDS.
CAUTION:Unsupported operations impact the stability and operations of the VxRail cluster and cause a failure.

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