EMC VXRail
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Hi folks,
I've been looking at VXRail, have any of you had experience of them? How would you rate them?
From what I can see it seems DAS storage is shared on the box to local compute nodes. Sort of how the Vrtx ran. Am I right? In this case, it's not really HC and defo not HA, right?
Wouldn't a better option be a starwind vsan appliance or Vmware vsan on top of some r740xd?
Best,
Jim -
@Jimmy9008 said in EMC VXRail:
From what I can see it seems DAS storage is shared on the box to local compute nodes. Sort of how the Vrtx ran. Am I right?
No, VxRail is hyperconverged. VRTX was a "3-2-1 in a Box". So very opposite.
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Ok, so... the nodes and storage are in one box right? So, it's one spof?
Unless I get multiple VXRail units and theybbetqeen boxes replicate...
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@Jimmy9008 said in EMC VXRail:
In this case, it's not really HC and defo not HA, right?
It is individual nodes, in some cases there could be some consolidation, but all CPU, RAM, Storage, etc. is broken up by node. Every node has that stuff discretely. So same as Starwind, Scale, Simplivity, etc.
It's just based on VMware ESXi and VSAN instead of whatever stacks those others use. It's good stuff, but generally a little expensive.
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@Jimmy9008 said in EMC VXRail:
Ok, so... the nodes and storage are in one box right? So, it's one spof?
No, minimum of three boxes. It's 100% by the book hyperconvergence.
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@Jimmy9008 said in EMC VXRail:
Unless I get multiple VXRail units and theybbetqeen boxes replicate...
This is the case with all hyperconvergence. You always have to buy multiple boxes to... have multiple boxes
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So, data will be sync'd from box 1, to box 2 etc?
If a node on box 1 dies, the nodes on 2 and 3 will share the load? -
@Jimmy9008 said in EMC VXRail:
So, data will be sync'd from box 1, to box 2 etc?
If a node on box 1 dies, the nodes on 2 and 3 will share the load?Yes, absolutely.
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How would you rate their solution overall? Amy other serious contenders to consider like a starwind hca?
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@Jimmy9008 There is Scale computing as well.
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@Jimmy9008 said in EMC VXRail:
How would you rate their solution overall? Amy other serious contenders to consider like a starwind hca?
Starwind, Scale, and Simplivity are the shortlist. Those three you consider first.
VxRail is a perfectly good competitor, but as it is Vmware, it is a lot more costly than the three main players. It's high quality with 100% Dell parts end to end (compute, storage, software, support), but you really only look at it or anyone other than the main three, when you have a niche need. VxRail would probably be in my top five, but really I essentially never need more than the top two.
Starwind and Scale HC3 are so good, and so different from each other, that nearly all use cases are covered by them. It's extremely rare that one of the two aren't your best choice, especially in an SMB.
VxRail is designed around very large shops, predominantly already entrenched with Vmware.
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@wrx7m said in EMC VXRail:
@scottalanmiller said in EMC VXRail:
Simplivity
Don't recall hearing about them before.
HPE ring any bells?
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@DustinB3403 said in EMC VXRail:
@wrx7m said in EMC VXRail:
@scottalanmiller said in EMC VXRail:
Simplivity
Don't recall hearing about them before.
HPE ring any bells?
Oh. OK. Didn't realize it was HPE
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@scottalanmiller said in EMC VXRail:
Starwind
IIRC, at some point you said that starwind was good at 2 nodes, but 3 was way too complex. Also, how much overhead does running starwind produce?
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@wrx7m said in EMC VXRail:
@scottalanmiller said in EMC VXRail:
Starwind
IIRC, at some point you said that starwind was good at 2 nodes, but 3 was way too complex. Also, how much overhead does running starwind produce?
It's too complex without additional networking infrastructure. They have a 3-node system and appliances available. I'm sure @KOOLER can comment.
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consider also Nutanix , i have three different sites with 4 of them each , run very good . not flawless . of course you need to run their AHV software and not vmware as base .
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@galezer said in EMC VXRail:
consider also Nutanix , i have three different sites with 4 of them each , run very good . not flawless . of course you need to run their AHV software and not vmware as base .
But keep in mind that they are quite expensive and slow. They "work", but they will sue anyone who discloses problems with them. If there is one company in this field I'd avoid like the plague, it's them. If for no other reason than their ethics, I would never trust them on my network or in our office.
https://mangolassi.it/topic/5681/why-there-is-no-nutanix-review
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@galezer said in EMC VXRail:
of course you need to run their AHV software and not vmware as base .
Because famously they didn't license the VMware that they sold and left their customers vulnerable
AHV is KVM for those not aware.
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It's pretty expensive and it's kind of not the same vCenter. It looks the same but the VxRail Manager controls everything. I haven't used it since the VxRail Manager was integrated in vCenter. It used to be a completely separate interface and everything. There's something weird about how you have to replace nodes too. I'll have to verify what it was. You also can't go from a centralized vCenter to a VxRail local vCenter but you can go the other way.
