Tag Archives: SDDC

VMware Cloud on AWS – TMCHAM – Part 3 – SDDC Lifecycle

Posted on by

In this episode of Things My Customers Have Asked Me (TMCHAM), I’m going to delve into some questions around the lifecycle of the VMware-managed VMware Cloud on AWS platform, and what customers need to know to make sense of it all.

 

The SDDC

If you talk to VMware folks about VMware Cloud on AWS, you’ll hear a lot of talk about software-defined data centres (SDDCs). This is the logical construct in place that you use within your Organization to manage your hosts and clusters, in much the same fashion as you would your on-premises workloads. Unlike most on-premises workloads, however, the feeding and watering of the SDDC, from a software currency perspective, is done by VMware.

Release Notes

If you’ve read the VMware Cloud on AWS Release Notes, you’ll see something like this at the start:

“Beginning with the SDDC version 1.11 release, odd-numbered releases of the SDDC software are optional and available for new SDDC deployments only. By default, all new SDDC deployments and upgrades will use the most recent even-numbered release. If you want to deploy an SDDC with an odd-numbered release version, contact your VMware TAM, sales, or customer success representative to make the request.”

Updated on: 5 April  2022

Essential Release: VMware Cloud on AWS (SDDC Version 1.18) | 5 April 2022

Optional Release: VMware Cloud on AWS (SDDC Version 1.17) | 19 November 2021

Basically, when you deploy onto the platform, you’ll usually get put on what VMware calls an “Essential” release. From time to time, customers may have requirements that mean that they qualify to be deployed on an “Optional” release. This might be because they have a software integration requirement that hasn’t been handled in 1.16, for example, but is available for 1.17. It’s also important to note that each major release will have a variety of minor releases as well, depending on issues that need to be resolved or features that need to be rolled out. So you’ll also see references to 1.16v5 in places, for example.

Upgrades and Maintenance

So what happens when your SDDC is going to be upgraded? Well, we let you know in advance, and it’s done in phases, as you’d imagine.

[image courtesy of VMware]

You can read more about the process here, and there’s a blog post that covers the release cadence here. VMware also does the rollout of releases in waves, so not every customer has the upgrade done at the same time. If you’re the type of customer that needs to be on the latest version of everything, or perhaps you have a real requirement to be near the front of the line, you should talk to your account team and they’ll liaise with the folks who can make it happen for you. When the upgrades are happening, you should be careful not to:

  • Perform hot or cold workload migrations. Migrations fail if they are started or in progress during maintenance.
  • Perform workload provisioning (New/Clone VM). Provisioning operations fail if they are started or in progress during maintenance.
  • Make changes to Storage-based Policy Management settings for workload VMs.

You should also ensure that there is enough storage capacity (> 30% slack space) in each cluster.

How Long Will It Take?

As usual, it depends. But you can make some (very) rough estimates by following the guidance on this page.

Will My SDDC Expire?

Yes, your SDDC version will some day expire. But it will be upgraded before that happens. There’s a page where you can look up the expiration dates of the various SDDC releases. It’s all part of the lifecycle part of the SDDC lifecycle.

Correlating VMware Cloud on AWS with Component Releases

Ever found yourself wondering what component versions are being used in VMware Cloud on AWS? Wonder no more with this very handy reference.

 

Conclusion

There’s obviously a lot more that goes on behind the scenes to keep everything running in tip-top shape for our customers. All of this talk of phases, waves, and release notes can be a little confusing if you’re new to the platform. Having worked in a variety of (managed and unmanaged) service providers over the years, I do like that VMware has bundled up all of this information and put it out there for people to check out. As always, if you’ve got questions about how the various software integrations work, and you can’t find the information in the documentation, reach out to your local account team and they’ll be able to help.

VMware – Enabling the Digital Enterprise Event in February

Posted on by

This is just a quick post to talk about VMware‘s “Digital Enterprise Event” coming up in February. It’s an online event divided into two tracks:

  • Deliver and Secure Your Digital Workspace; and
  • Build and Manage Your Hybrid Cloud.

The first track covers “VMware’s digital workspace vision and share exciting announcements that help companies securely deliver and manage any app on any device”.

The second track is a bit more interesting to me, and covers both the cloud management platform and hyperconverged infrastructure (you’ll have to choose one or the other when you register).

The first one (for APAC audiences) is running on Tuesday, February 16 at 9am (AEDST). The second track runs at the same time, but they’re on-demand, so you can attend at a later time.

It looks like it should be an interesting set of sessions, and I recommend you get along if you can. Register here. And while I’m at it, if you’re an APAC virtualisation bod, check out VMware’s Tech Day Online. The agenda is here and registration for that event can be found here.

‘Building a Modern Data Center’ Now Available

Posted on by

In my post on the Atlantis CX-4 announcement last week I mentioned that ActualTech Media would be releasing a new book in conjunction with Atlantis Computing – “Building a Modern Data Center: Principles and Strategies of Design”. The book is now available for download here and I highly recommend you check it out. If you have anything to do with data centres then this is an invaluable resource that covers a bunch of different aspects, not just the marketecture of hyperconvergence.  I’ve said on the record that it’s a ripping yarn, and there are a number of people who agree. A Kindle version is available here for US $2.99, with print copies (US $9.99) available from Amazon next month.  ActualTech Media are also running a webinar on February 2 that I’d recommend checking out if you have the time.

EMC Announces VSPEX BLUE

Posted on by

EMC today announced their VSPEX BLUE offering and I thought I’d share some pictures and words from the briefing I received recently. PowerPoint presentations always look worse when I distil them down to a long series of dot points, so I’ll try and add some colour commentary along the way. Please note that I’m only going off EMC’s presentation, and haven’t had an opportunity to try the solution for myself. Nor do I know what the pricing is like. Get in touch with your local EMC representative or partner if you want to know more about that kind of thing.

EMC describe VSPEX BLUE as “an all-inclusive, Hyper-Converged Infrastructure Appliance, powered by VMware EVO:RAIL software”. Which seems like a nice thing to have in the DC. With VSPEX BLUE, the key EMC message is simplicity:

  • Simple to order – purchase with a single SKU
  • Simple to configure – through an automated, wizard driven interface
  • Simple to manage – with the new VSPEX BLUE Manager
  • Simple to scale – with automatic scale-out, where new appliances are automatically discovered and easily added to a cluster with a few mouse clicks
  • Simple to support  – with EMC 24 x 7 Global support offering a single point of accountability for all hardware and software, including all VMware software

It also “eliminates the need for advanced infrastructure planning” by letting you “start with one 2U/4-node appliance and scale up to four”.

Awwww, this guy seems sad. Maybe he doesn’t believe that the hyperconverged unicorn warriors of the data centre are here to save us all from ourselves.

BLUE_man

I imagine the marketing line would be something like “IT is hard, but you don’t need to be blue with VSPEX BLUE”.

Foundation

VSPEX BLUE Software

  • VSPEX BLUE Manager extends hardware monitoring, and integrates with EMC Connect Home and online support facilities.
  • VSPEX BLUE Market offers value-add EMC software products included with VSPEX BLUE.

VMware EVO:RAIL Engine

  • Automates cluster deployment and configuration, as well as scale-out and non-disruptive updates
  • Simple design with a clean interface, pre-sized VM templates and single-click policies

Resilient Cluster Architecture

  • VSAN distributed datastore provides consistent and resilient fault tolerance
  • VMotion provides system availability during maintenance and DRS load balances workloads

Software-defined data center (SDDC) building block

  • Combines compute, storage, network and management resources into a single virtualized software stack with vSphere and VSAN

Hardware

While we live in a software-defined world, the hardware is still somewhat important. EMC is offering 2 basic configurations to keep ordering and buying simple. You getting it yet? It’s all very simple.

  • VSPEX BLUE Standard which comes with 128GB of memory per node; or
  • VSPEX BLUE Performance comes with 192GB of memory per node.

Each configuration has a choice of a 1GbE copper or 10GbE fibre network interface. Here’re some pretty pictures of what the chassis looks like, sans EMC bezel. Note the similarities with EMC’s ECS offering.

BLUE_front

BLUE_rear

Processors (per node)

  • Intel Ivy Bridge (up to 130W)
  • Dual processor

Memory/processors (per node)

  • Four channels of Native DDR3 (1333)
  • Up to eight DDR3 ECC R-DIMMS per server node

Inputs/outputs (I/Os) (per node)

  • Dual GbE ports
  • Optional IB QDR/FDR or 10GbE integrated
  • 1 x 8 PCIe Gen3 I/O Mezz Option (Quad GbE or Dual 10GbE)
  • 1 x 16 PCIe Gen3HBA slots
  • Integrated BMC with RMM4 support

Chassis

  • 2U chassis supporting four hot swap nodes with half-width MBs
  • 2 x 1200W (80+ & CS Platoinum) redundant hot-swap PS
  • Dedicated cooling/node (no SPoF) – 3 x 40mm dual rotor fans
  • Front panel with separate power control per node
  • 17.24” x 30.35” x 3.46”

Disk

  • Integrated 4-Port SATA/SAS controller (SW RAID)
  • Up to 16 (four per node) 2.5” HDD

BLUE12

The VSPEX BLUE Standard configuration consists of four independent nodes consisting of the following:

  • 2 x Intel Dual Intel Ivy Bridge E5-2620 V2 (12 cores, 2.1 Ghz)
  • 8 x 16GB (128GB) , 1666MHz DIMMS Memory
  • 3 x 1.2TB 2.5” 10K RPM SASHDD
  • 1 x 400GB 2.5” SAS SSD (VSAN Cache)
  • 1 x 32GB SLC SATADOM  (ESXi Boot Image)
  • 2 x 10GBE BaseT or SFP+

The Performance configuration only differs from the standard in the amount of memory it contains, going from 128GB in the standard configuration to 192GB in the performance model, ideal for applications such as VDI.

VSPEX BLUE Manager

EMC had a number of design goals for the VSPEX BLUE Manager product, including:

  • Simplified the support experience
  • Embedded ESRS/VE
  • Seamless integration with EVO:RAIL and its facilities
  • The implementation of a management framework that allows driving EMC value-add software as services
  • Extended management orchestration for other use cases
  • Enablement of the VSPEX partner ecosystem

Software Inventory Management

  • Displays installed software versions
  • Discovers and downloads software updates
  • Automated, non-disruptive software upgrades

VB_market

Hardware Awareness

In my mind, this is the key bit of value-add that EMC offer with VSPEX BLUE – seeing what else is going on outside of EVO:RAIL.

  • Provides  information not available in EVO:RAIL
  • Maps alerts to graphical representation of hardware configuration
  • Displays detailed configuration of hardware parts for field services
  • Aggregates health monitoring from vCenter and hardware BMC IPMI
  • Integrates with ESRS Connect Home for proactive notification and problem resolution
  • Integrates with eServices online support resources
  • Automatically collects diagnostic logs and ingrates with vRealize Log Insight

RecoverPoint for VMs

I’m a bit of a fan of RecoverPoint for VMs. The VSPEX BLUE appliance includes an EMC Recoverpoint for VMs license entitling 15 VMs with support for free. The version shipping with this solution also no longer requires storage external to VMware VSAN to store replica and journal volumes.

  • Protect VMs at VM-level granularity
  • Asynchronous and synchronous replication
  • Consistency group for application-consistent recovery
  • vCenter plug-in integration
  • Discovery, provisioning, and orchestration of DR workflow management
  • WAN compression and deduplication to optimize bandwidth utilization

Conclusion

One final thing to note – VMware ELAs not supported. VSPEX BLUE is an all-inclusive SKU, so you can’t modify support options, licensing, etc. But the EVO:RAIL thing was never really a good option for people who want that kind of ability to tinker with configurations.

Based on the briefing I received, the on-paper specs, and the general thought that seems to have gone into the overall delivery of this product, it all looks pretty solid. I’ll be interested to see if any of my customers will be deploying this in the wild. If you’re hyperconverged-curious and want to look into this kind of thing then the EMC VSPEX BLUE may well be just the thing for you.

Brisbane VMUG – October 2014

Posted on by

The Brisbane VMUG meeting on October 2 looks good. Key highlights include:
1) End User Computing:
• New CloudVolumes Acquisition
• Airwatch Integration
• Latest Horizon Workspace Suite
• Google and Nvidia Partnership News

 

2) SDDC:
• EVO Rack and Rail!
• OpenStack and Containers
• New vCloud Suite Features
• vSphere 6.0 Capabilities
• NSX 6.1 News

 

3) HYBRID:
• vCloud Air Announcements
• vCloud Automation
• PAYG and Cost Options
• New Object Storage Options in BETA

 

It will be held at the EMC office in Brisbane on Thursday, October 2nd from 4pm – 6pm. You can get more details about the event (including registration) from here. I look forward to seeing you there.