VMware Cloud on AWS – I4i.metal – A Few Notes …

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At VMware Explore 2022 in the US, VMware announced a number of new offerings for VMware Cloud on AWS, including a new bare-metal instance type: the I4i.metal. You can read the official blog post here. I thought it would be useful to provide some high-level details and cover some of the caveats that punters should be aware of.

 

By The Numbers

What do you get from a specifications perspective?
  • The CPU is 3rd generation Intel Xeon Ice Lake @ 2.4GHz / Turbo 3.5GHz
  • 64 physical cores, supporting 128 logical cores with Hyper Threading (HT)
  • 1024 GiB memory
  • 30 TiB NVMe (Raw local capacity)
  • Up to 75 Gbps networking speed
So, how does the I4i.metal compare with the i3.metal? You get roughly 2x compute, storage, and memory, with improved network speed as well.
FAQ Highlights
Can I use custom core counts? Yep, the I4i will support physical custom core counts of 8, 16, 24, 30, 36, 48, 64.
Is there stretched cluster support? Yes, you can deploy these in stretched clusters (of the same host type).
Can I do in-cluster conversions? Yes, read more about that here.
Other Considerations
Why does the sizer say 20 TiB useable for the I4i? Around 7 TiB is consumed by the cache tier at the moment, so you’ll see different numbers in the sizer. And your useable storage numbers will obviously be impacted by the usual constraints around failures to tolerate (FTT) and RAID settings.
Region Support?
The I4i.metal instances will be available in the following Regions (and Availability Zones):
  • US East (N. Virginia) – use1-az1, use1-az2, use1-az4, use1-az5, use1-az6
  • US West (Oregon) – usw2-az1, usw2-az2, usw2-az3, usw2-az4
  • US West (N. California) – usw1-az1, usw1-az3
  • US East (Ohio) – use2-az1, use2-az2, use2-az3
  • Canada (Central) – cac1-az1, cac1-az2
  • Europe (Ireland) – euw1-az1, euw1-az2, euw1-az3
  • Europe (London) – euw2-az1, euw2-az2, euw2-az3
  • Europe (Frankfurt) – euc1-az1, euc1-az2, euc1-az3
  • Europe (Paris) –  euw3-az1, euw3-az2, euw3-az3
  • Asia Pacific (Singapore) – apse1-az1, apse1-az2, apse1-az3
  • Asia Pacific (Sydney) – apse2-az1, apse2-az2, apse2-az3
  • Asia Pacific (Tokyo) – apne1-az1, apne1-az2, apne1-az4

Other Regions will have availability over the coming months.

 

Thoughts

The i3.metal isn’t going anywhere, but it’s nice to have an option that supports more cores and it a bit more storage and RAM. The I4i.metal is great for SQL workloads and VDI deployments where core count can really make a difference. Coupled with the addition of supplemental storage via VMware Cloud Flex Storage and Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP, there are some great options available to deal with the variety of workloads customers are looking to deploy on VMware Cloud on AWS.

On another note, if you want to hear more about all the cloudy news from VMware Explore US, I’ll be presenting at the Brisbane VMUG meeting on October 12th, and my colleague Ray will be doing something in Sydney on October 19th. If you’re in the area, come along.