DELL EMC VXRAIL™ SYSTEM

Technical FAQ

Table of Contents

WHAT’S NEW WITH VXRAIL 3

VxRail ACE ........................................................................................................................................................................... 4

VxRail Management Pack for vRealize Operations .............................................................................................. 5

VxRail 4.7.410 ................................................................................................................................................................... 5

VxRail 4.7.400 ................................................................................................................................................................... 6

VxRail 4.7.3xx ................................................................................................................................................................... 7

VxRail 4.7.2xx ................................................................................................................................................................... 9

New Hardware Options ................................................................................................................................................ 10

VxRail Integrated Rack ................................................................................................................................................ 11

VXRAIL ACE 12

VXRAIL SOFTWARE 16

VXRAIL ON 14TH GENERATION POWEREDGE SERVERS 18

2-NODE VSAN CONFIGURATION 20

TECHNOLOGY 21

GPU 25

SECURITY 26

NETWORKING 28

RPQ’S 31

LICENSING 31

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 VMWARE AND VIRTUALIZATION 33

TOOLS 34

SOLUTIONS 35

COMPETITION 35

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 WHAT’S NEW WITH VXRAIL
This VxRail Technical FAQ should be used as a companion to the VxRail General FAQ which can be found at http://vxrail.is/everything.
This document describes technical details related to VxRail features and functionality.

Are there new GPUs supported on VxRail?

A Yes, for February 2020 orderability; the NVIDIA Quadro RTX6000, RTX8000 and V100S are supported on the VxRail V570/F platforms.

A The V100s, RTX6000 and RTX8000 GPUs are supported on the V series with a maximum of 3 GPUs/node.

A The V100s and the V100 will be sold concurrently until the V100 is EOL’d at the end of May. These cards cannot be mixed in the same node.

A RTX6000 is supported on the V570/F only and offers a 24GB buffer size, while the RTX8000 (also supported on the V570/F only) offers a 48GB

buffer size.

What benefits do the L CPUs provide?

A Six new L CPU processors are available February orderability. These processors support different configurations and provide the potential for

upgrading to larger memory capacities in the future. Since CPU upgrades are not allowed, customers who may want more memory above what

“M” CPUs support, should purchase the L CPU. The L CPUs should be considered future proofing for the possibility that larger memory capacities

will be available in the future.

When will the Mellanox 100GbE PCIe NIC be supported?

A For December orderability, the Mellanox CX-5 is an add-on PCIe NIC option only, and not available as NDC.

A At initial release, this card is not life-cycle managed by VxRail.

A Best use case for this PCIe NIC is media broadcast. For more information refer to; https://www.mellanox.com/related-

docs/prod_adapter_cards/PB_ConnectX-5_EN_Card.pdf

Does VxRail support the 7.68TB SAS drive?

A The Toshiba 7.68TB “value SAS” SSD drive will be supported for all-flash VxRail models on December 2019. This drive is priced higher than a

SATA drive, and offers performance slightly lower than a typical SAS SSD.

When can customers order the 8TB HDD drive?

A The 8TB 7200 RPM HDD drive will be supported on the S series VxRail model in December 2019. A common use case for these high capacity

drives is video surveillance.

What’s new with VxRail GPU cards?

A The P40 GPU will be discontinued for all PowerEdge servers on January 11, 2020. This also includes VxRail, however, the Nvidia T4 GPU

provides an alternative replacement for the P40 and offers a GPU solution to customers running on 1U platforms.

Which GPU cards does the VxRail E Series now support?

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 A In December 2019, all E series models (E560/E560F/E560N) will support the Nvidia T4 GPU card. The T4 GPU is optimized for high-performance

and suitable for running entry-level machine learning, VDI and data inferencing. Note: T4 GPU cards will initially be available as an upgrade (APOS

customer kit) on E560N.

A All E series models with redundant 1100W PSU support 1 T4 GPU card, providing GPU support for VxRail customers on a 1U platform with support

for low line voltage (110-120VAC) and -48VDC. E series models with redundant 1600W PSU support up to 2 T4 GPU cards, but please note that

this PSU only supports high line voltage providing GPU support for VxRail customers running on a 1U platform.

What is the current status of 1st Generation Intel Xeon Scalable (Skylake) processors end of life (EOL)?

A The Skylake processors went EOL on VxRail as of November 2019 (November 16th, 2019 in MyQuotes and November 19th, 2019 in DSA/Gii).

However, a subset of those processors has temporarily returned to orderability on DSA/Gii only as of January 2020. Please refer to the VxRail 411

announcement distributed in January 2020 and the DSA/Gii Ordering and Licensing guide for additional details.

A Although Intel will discontinue Skylake processors, there is a select list of Intel Global Standard Product (GSP) processors that will continue to be

orderable throughout the life of the 14G PowerEdge servers. The GSP processor models are: 8160, 6152, 6148, 6130, 5120, 5118, 4114, 4112,

and 4110. Refer to the Hardware Configurations spreadsheet for the processor specifications.

Where do I find more information on the 2nd generation Intel Xeon Scalable (Cascade Lake) processors?

A Refer to this section of the FAQ for more information and orderability guidance.

Are there changes to the number of allowable NDC and add-on PCIe NIC ports?

A Yes. The total maximum is now one NDC and up to three PCIe NICs on P, V, and S series models. The maximum number of NICs allowed on E

and G series modes has not changed.

Why has the number of allowable NDC or add-on NIC ports changed?

A VxRail has traditionally supported more NDC/NIC ports, called “extended maximums” which required special procedures for qualifying and testing

VxRail configurations. The decrease aligns VxRail with VMware’s standard maximums.

When will the 2TB 2.5” SAS HDD go end-of-life?

A Sale of the 2TB 2.5” SAS HDD will be discontinued on January 11, 2020, however, this drive will still be supported.

VxRail ACE
What’s new in ACE as of February 27th?

A ACE users can execute on-demand pre-update health checks on clusters. This health check allows users to identify which clusters are ready for a

system update. Users can run this health check on any VxRail cluster seen on the ACE web portal.

A ACE can distinguish VxRail clusters by deployment types: standard VxRail cluster, cluster in a VVD deployment, cluster in a VCF on VxRail

deployment, cluster used in Dell Technologies Datacenter-as-a-Service, 2-node vSAN cluster, and stretched cluster.

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 VxRail Management Pack for vRealize Operations
What is VxRail Management Pack for vRealize Operations?

A The VxRail Management Pack is an additional free-of-charge software pack that can be installed onto vRealize Operations to provide VxRail cluster

awareness. Without this Management Pack, vRealize Operations can still detect vSAN clusters but cannot discern that they are VxRail clusters.

The Management Pack consists of an adapter that collects 65 distinct VxRail events, analytics logic specific to VxRail, and three custom

dashboards. These VxRail events are translated into VxRail alerts on vRealize Operations so that users have helpful information to understand

health issues along with recommended course of resolution. With custom dashboards, users can easily go to VxRail-specific views to troubleshoot

issues and make use of existing vRealize Operations capabilities in the context of VxRail clusters.

How are vRealize Operations and VxRail ACE different?

A With both products at their initial versions, much of the feature sets are similar in order to deliver the minimum standards of monitoring capabilities.

Both products have visibility into the health status, health events, and topology and provide resource metrics charting, anomaly detection, and

capacity forecasting of the VxRail clusters. However, vRealize Operations and VxRail ACE are designed to solve different customer problems.

vRealize Operations focuses on the management and optimization of the virtual application infrastructure for the complete SDDC stack as well as

hybrid/public cloud. VxRail ACE focuses on active multi-cluster management of customer’s entire VxRail footprint from a centralized point. It does

not manage the virtualized workload running on the VxRail clusters. As the VxRail Management Pack’s and VxRail ACE’s feature sets evolve, the

differences in capabilities will become more obvious.

A vRealize Operations can be installed on-premises or consumed as a cloud-based service. VxRail ACE is a cloud-based service.

When should I position VxRail Management Pack for vRealize Operations vs. VxRail ACE?

A The Management Pack itself is free of charge but requires a vRealize Operations Advanced or Enterprise license. Because the use of VxRail

Management Pack requires that the customer invests in vRealize Operations, the target market is mostly enterprise customers with extensive

investment in the VMware portfolio. Customers already using vRealize Operations can benefit by adding VxRail context into their existing

monitoring, troubleshooting, and optimization activities of their virtual infrastructure.

A VxRail ACE is free of charge. It is suitable for the majority of the VxRail customer base. It requires VxRail clusters to be able to connect to Dell

EMC via Secure Remote Services. Customers looking to more efficiently manage their VxRail clusters at scale and leverage operational

intelligence to simplify administration can benefit from VxRail ACE.

VxRail 4.7.410
When will VxRail 4.7.410 software be released?

A VxRail 4.7.410 software will release to the web on December 17 and available for new installs on January 8, 2020.

What are the highlights in this version?

A 4.7.410 platform updates enable our customers to expand workload possibilities, extend network configuration automation to data center scale, and

provides the ability for VxRail to recognize external storage arrays connected by FC HBA.

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 Can VxRail external storage include any vendor storage array or type?

A Yes. External storage can be connected via FC. It is up to the customer to verify the VxRail FC HBA is qualified with their storage array.

Does VxRail include LCM for the FC HBA and external storage array?

A No. Customers must manually update the firmware and drivers of FC HBAs installed in VxRail. In addition, customers are responsible for

managing, upgrading, and supporting their external storage array(s).

Can 2-node implementations support top of rack switching?

A Yes, configuring a ToR switch for 2-node is allowed and gives customers alternate connectivity choices beyond direct switch connection.

VxRail 4.7.400
What are the highlights of the VxRail 4.7.400 software release?

A VxRail 4.7.400 software release is only intended to introduce support for two new hardware platforms: 2U 4-socket All-NVMe P580N and 1U 2-

socket All-NVMe E560N.

A The two new hardware platforms with be ready for shipping on December 10th, 2019.

A VxRail 4.7.400 software release does support any other platform except P580N and E560N.

What are the use cases for the P580N?

A The P580N features first time support for a 4-socket platform as well as an all-NVMe offering in the VxRail portfolio.

A The P580N is ideal for memory-intensive and compute dense workloads like in-memory databases. The P580N is certified by SAP for SAP HANA.

A It is important to note that the 4-socket platform does not improve storage backend IOPs as vSAN architecture is designed to only use two sockets

for backend IO.

What are the use cases for the E560N?

A The E560N features first time support for a 2-socket all-NVME platform in the VxRail portfolio.

A The E560N provides a cost-effective platform to run data warehouse, ecommerce, databases, and high-performance computing workloads.

A The E560N also supports Nvidia T4 GPU which equips the platform to run a wide range of cloud-based applications, as well as machine learning,

deep learning, and virtual desktop workloads.

What are notable features in the P580N and E560N?

A Both platforms support the 2nd Generation Intel Xeon Scalable processors.

A Both platforms support 10GbE and 25GbE base connectivity with optional connectivity that includes 16Gb FC and 100GbE.

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 A Both platforms support Intel Optane SSD as cache.

A Both platforms support Toshiba and Intel NVMe read-intensive drives as capacity drives.

A The E560N supports Nvidia T4 GPU.

What are considerations you should be aware for the P580N and E560N?

A Both platforms are supported for VCF.

A Mixing of all-flash and all-NVMe nodes in the same cluster is not supported.

A E560N is supported in a 2-node vSAN configuration.

A Converting an E560/F to an E560N is not supported.

A While the Host Bus Adapter (HBA330) is part of the platform configuration per technical implementation defined by PowerEdge, it is not used in the

P580N and E560N as IO travels over the PCIe bus. Therefore, an HBA failure does not impact NVMe IO to the drives.

A While the processor architecture can support more than 1.5TB per socket, VxRail’s largest DIMM is 128Gb. There are plans to introduce larger

memory cards. The Intel L CPUs can support up to 4.5TB per socket. Customers wanting to future proof for large memory per socket workloads

should consider these processors.

VxRail 4.7.3xx
What are the highlights of the VxRail 4.7.300 software release?

A VxRail 4.7.300 software will release to the web on September 18th, 2019. VxRail systems will start shipping with VxRail 4.7.300 starting October

15th, 2019.

A VxRail 4.7.300 release has the following software highlights: support for vSphere 6.7 U3, LCM upgrade optimizations, enhanced native VxRail

management integration on vCenter Server with VxRail Manager plugin, layer 3 network support for multi-rack clusters, cluster scale-out

enhancements, additional REST API support, and customer-driven LCM upgrade of stretched clusters.

What are the enhancements to VxRail Manager plugin for native VxRail management on vCenter Server?

A VxRail 4.7.300 now supports Physical Views and LCM functionality natively on vCenter Server. Marketplace now is the only feature that requires a

link-and-launch from the VxRail Manager plugin.

What are the enhancements and optimizations made to the LCM upgrade process in VxRail 4.7.300?

A The LCM upgrade process has been enhanced to include only two areas of engagement from the VxRail user. The user selects where to

download the full composite upgrade bundle onto the VxRail Manager VM. LCM then automatically downloads, pre-stages the package onto the

VxRail Manager VM, and runs prechecks to identify the cluster’s readiness, caveats, and components that require an update. Next, the second

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 touchpoint for the user is to initiate the upgrade and provide the proper credentials to reboot the system during the upgrade. LCM then starts and

completes the upgrade process and performs post-checks to ensure the cluster’s readiness.

A Now the LCM upgrade process will include time estimation for the upgrade to complete as well as a time remaining indicator while the upgrade is

running. These new features allow users to set a more accurate expectation of the upgrade window required and the upgrade progress. It is

important to note that these two indicators are estimates and do not factor in the size of the workloads running on the cluster. It is important to

consider the time needed to migrate and resync workloads during the cluster upgrade.

A New to LCM is the option to schedule the upgrade. After prechecks are done, a user can either start the upgrade now or schedule for the upgrade

to start later. The scheduled time can be modified.

A The LCM has the intelligence to now identify which components require an update and then only update those components during a cluster

upgrade. This feature can be particularly beneficial for patch updates (i.e. security patches, or emergency VMware patches) that do not need

firmware/drivers updates, thus saving valuable time for the customer. The LCM prechecks will output a list of components that require an update.

A In VxRail 4.7.300, there is an optimized flow of the automatic rolling node upgrades. While nodes continue to be updated in sequential order, pre-

staging of the update bundle onto the next node will now be done concurrent to when the current node in the order is being updated. This pre-

staging saves valuable time, and provides significant savings for large clusters.

Does VxRail provide Layer 3 (L3) Network support?

A 4.7.300 introduces support for L3 networking allowing multi-rack support. Users may create single cluster across multiple racks or create stretched

clusters over L3 vs. running Layer 2 on a Layer 3 network. L3 networking is supported with the following considerations:

• The vCenter and VxRail Manager must be on the first rack because system VMs will lose network connectivity when moved off of the first rack
unless multi-rack is on the same vLAN.

• All VxRail networks must share the same IP subnet.

• All VxRail networks are non-routable by default.

• The same IP gateway used for VxRail networks.

• Maximum of 6 racks per VxRail cluster is allowed.

A If customer does not want to use L3 feature, there is no action needed. vSAN will continue using default TCP/IP stack.

Are there differences in the upgrade workflow with the VxRail Manager LCM upgrade process?

A Once VxRail has been upgraded to 4.7.300, there are no visible changes. Note; LCM user interaction has been reduced.

What are smart logging snapshots for events, and how do they benefit a user?

A Users have the option to create a synchronous smart log bundle. The bundle is attached to the event for call-home, and temporarily stored on

VxRail Manager’s vdisk on vSAN. The smart log bundle is transferred via the SRS backend, and thus, made available to technical support for

analysis.

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 Does VxRail have any self-healing capabilities?

A Yes. Self-healing for alerts is introduced in 4.7.300. VxRail captures alerts and throttles them to filter for any “real” events that require action such

as; dial home, create smart log bundle, or alert/flag for user interaction via events details.

What are the enhancements for cluster scale-out?

A The LCM automated process to add nodes to clusters has been modified to reduce the risk of errors when a user performs a cluster expansion.

Previously, there were numerous service calls that were made because of version incompatibility of the node with the cluster which caused the

cluster expansion to fail in flight. Now the LCM process includes a version compatibility precheck to ensure readiness. If there is a version

incompatibility, the LCM process will now also perform a full composite update to the node before adding the node to the cluster.

What’s new for VxRail and the RESTful API suite?

A The 4.7.000 and 4.7.100 releases introduced many new capabilities for the API suite including; LCM upgrade, node removal, eServices features.

4.7.300 provides support for full VxRail functionality and includes the use of Swagger OpenAPI specs which serves as interactive API

documentation. Swagger ensures the docs are up-to-date as the APIs evolve and provides users a trial platform to test their API calls directly in a

browser. API documentation is available at: https://<VxRail_Manager_IP>/rest/vxm/api-doc.html

VxRail 4.7.2xx
What major features should I be aware of with VxRail 4.7.200?

A The VxRail 4.7.200 software provides support for vSphere 6.7 U2 and SmartFabric support for Dell EMC S4100 (10GbE) and S5200 (25GbE) top-

of-rack switch.

When is the Intel MLK for VxRail taking place?

A The mid-life kicker (MLK) is in conjunction with the VxRail 4.7.210 release. The first wave of new Cascade Lake processors will be orderable on

July 16, 2019. Find more information on the 2nd Generation Intel Xeon Processors (known as Cascade Lake) here:

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/design/products-and-solutions/processors-and-chipsets/cascade-lake/2nd-gen-intel-xeon-scalable-

processors.html

Can my customer upgrade from 1st generation Intel Xeon Scalable (Skylake) processors to 2nd generation (Cascade Lake) processors?

A No. Customers cannot upgrade/swap from their 1st generation processors to 2nd generation processors. However, customer can add a node with

Cascade Lake processors to a cluster with Skylake processors.

What 2nd generation Intel Xeon Scalable processors will be supported in the VxRail 4.7.210 release?

A Refer to the VxRail Hardware Configuration Guide for the latest list of supported 2nd generation processors.

What are the benefits of the 2nd generation Intel Xeon Scalable processors?

A The 2nd generation Intel Xeon Scalable processors provide significant processor performance improvement averaging 28%.

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 A 2nd generation Intel Xeon Scalable processors have more cores per socket, larger LLC cache, faster clock speeds, better turbo management, faster

memory, and better HW mitigation.

New Hardware Options

When can customers order Fibre Channel (FC) Host Bus Adapter (HBA) cards?

A FC HBA cards are now orderable for VxRail in MyQuotes. Refer to the MyQuotes Ordering and Licensing Guide.

What else do I need to know about FC HBA cards?

A Lifecycle Management is not included. Customers must manually upgrade and maintain the FC HBA cards.

A Initial use cases for FC HBAs cards are as follows: fibre channel host bus adapters allow VxRail customers to use existing storage arrays as

secondary storage to VxRail, and for migration purposes.

A FC HBA options include: the Qlogic Qlipper E2692, and the Emulex LPe31002.

A FC HBAs are supported for VxRail E, P, V, and S series models. G series hardware cannot support FC HBAs.

A Customers may install VM/VIB/Drivers to operationalize the use of the external storage as required.

A Customers may install multiple HBAs as long as there are slots available in the PCIe bus.

Will VxRail FC HBAs support 3rd party storage arrays?

A Customers may connect to any storage array vendors for external storage on the VxRail. However, Dell EMC will only provide support for

connection of an HBA via FC switch to Dell EMC storage arrays that have been qualified via the Dell EMC eLab support matrix. For more

information refer to: https://elabnavigator.emc.com/eln/elnhome

Does VxRail support Optane drives?

A Yes. Intel Optane 375GB drives are supported for cache not capacity. Note: Optane DC for persistent memory is not supported.

What VxRail models support Optane cache drives?

A Optane drives are supported in the dual-socket E, P and G series models (not supported in the V or S series).

Is it possible to mix Optane drives and NAND SSDs in the same node configuration?

A Yes. However, customers should be aware of latency differences between these SSD drives. For more information refer to the ESG technical

validation white paper that can be found here.

What is MU cache and does VxRail support it?

A Mixed-use are SAS cache drives developed and sold by Dell. VxRail is supporting the 800GB MU drive for cache only; not to be used as a capacity

drive. MU cache is supported on all VxRail series models.

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 When should the use of the MU (mixed-use) SAS cache drive or SATA cache drive be avoided?

A Avoid using these drives for write intensive workloads. Use NVMe or SAS cache for workloads with high write expectations.

What vSAN durability classes are VxRail cache drives?

A They are Class D, with the exception of the 800 GB MU SAS Cache drive which is Class C.

VxRail Integrated Rack

How does the new delivery option called VxRail Integrated Rack Services differ from the existing delivery option?

A Customers who decide on the existing delivery option are looking for flexibility in networking and racking options. Customers who decide on the

VxRail Integrated Rack Services option chose to have Dell EMC rack and stack the VxRail systems and customer-selected networking. This

delivery option has a set of fixed rack design configurations that use Dell EMC management and TOR switches and a Dell EMC rack supplied by

Dell partner, APC. More information on fixed rack design configurations can be found in the VxRail Ordering and License Guide.

What rack design configurations are available for VxRail Integrated Rack?

A There are fixed or flexible configuration options for the VxRail Integrated Rack. Fixed rack design configurations will be based a specific set of

hardware and software requirements that have been validated and tested. This is for customers who prefer a preconfigured racked and stacked

VxRail system with VCF. Refer to the VxRail Integrated Rack Ordering Guide on the VxRail Knowledge Center for configuration details. The flexible

configuration option is for customers looking to adopt VCF on VxRail using heterogeneous models (VVD on VxRail, VxRail edge, or Standard

VxRail with vSAN) and have specific networking requirements or want no networking at all.

Can VxRail Integrated Rack be built in a Dell 2nd Touch Facility where it can be assembled with Dell EMC switching and Dell provided
racks? Can a customer procure other switching or racks and send it to the 2nd Touch Facility for a factory-like build?

A Yes. Dell GiS will ship a VxRail Integrated Rack from the Dell 2nd Touch Facility to the customer. Note that this is not an engineered solution or new

product. It is a one-time rack integrated factory service. Sales and services are at the component-level, but an Integrated Rack will ship to the

customer. A fixed scope rack design configuration service is available in order to support this capability for VCF on VxRail, Standard VxRail with

vSAN, and Edge VxRail use cases.

Are GiS configuration services available for VxRail Integrated Rack?

A Flexible rack design configuration GiS services are available in order to support customers whose requirements are not met with fixed rack design

configurations, or those using consigned (customer procured) rack or network switch equipment that they would like the Dell GiS team to rack and

stack on their behalf. These flexible rack design configuration options can be used for VCF on VxRail, VVD on VxRail, Standard VxRail with vSAN,

and Edge VxRail use cases.

How do customers order VxRail Integrated Rack?

A When a VxRail Integrated Rack deliverable is desired, VxRail nodes, Dell EMC switches, and GiS services must be ordered using the DSA/Gii

ordering tools.

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 Are the fixed rack design configuration service templates only for VCF on VxRail? Could they also be used for VVD and/or other VxRail
use cases?

A Fixed rack design configurations are available for VCF on VxRail and Standard VxRail with vSAN use cases only. For VVD, it is recommended that

customers leverage the flexible rack design configuration VxRail Integrated Rack services.

Are custom services using a SOW still required to implement and install VCF on VxRail?

A Standard VxRail with vSAN use cases do not require custom services. The Standard VxRail Integrated Rack fixed rack design configuration

template will be used for deployment and installation.

A For guidance on ordering any VxRail Integrated Rack, please refer to the VxRail Integrated Rack Ordering Guide located on the VxRail Knowledge

Center.

What networking/scale requirements will be supported (single rack only, multi-rack) for GiS services?

A The GIS services will support individual rack configurations only, however, customers can order multiple racks. Racks will include ToR switches and

management switches (when required).

Can Dell sell Panduit racks for integration in the 2nd Touch Facility?

A Panduit is not in the Dell price book catalog nor is it orderable in DSA/Gii. It must be customer consigned material if a customer desires to use

Panduit racks.

VxRail ACE
What is VxRail ACE?

A VxRail ACE (Analytical Consulting Engine) is a centralized data collection and analytics platform that streamlines monitoring and VxRail cluster

management at scale, improves serviceability, and helps users make better decisions to manage the performance and capacity of their

hyperconverged infrastructure.

What are the features in VxRail ACE?

A Global visualization – VxRail ACE provides a centralized topology of all customers’ VxRail clusters in one global view, which is different than how

user locally manages their VxRail clusters per vCenter Server. There are two views. Customers’ clusters are organized logically by the vCenter

Servers in the Logical View and physically according to their geographic location depicted on a global map in the Physical View. As the user

navigates from the vCenter Server down to individual VxRail nodes, corresponding information about the selected object, its health, its resource

(CPU, memory, capacity, network) usage, and underlying VM counts are shown to the user.

A Simplified health scores – VxRail ACE can identify and assess impact of health issues present and future at the cluster and node levels so the user

can quickly pinpoint problem areas to troubleshoot to improve performance, availability, and IT resource planning. With infrastructure machine

learning, VxRail ACE can learn behavior patterns of their VxRail clusters and more accurately identify anomalies that may signal potential issues to

address.

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 A Advanced metrics charting – With intelligent health reporting, the user can pinpoint problem areas using metrics charting of CPU, memory,

capacity, and networking resources.

A Future capacity planning – VxRail ACE also uses infrastructure machine learning to project future usage so the user can have better insight into

their current usage and projected IT resource needs.

A Cluster management – VxRail ACE can orchestrate system update bundle downloads onto their VxRail clusters. VxRail ACE can execute on-

demand pre-update cluster health checks to determine whether the cluster is ready to start the system update process.

How does VxRail ACE work?

A VxRail ACE does not require additional hardware or software on customers’ VxRail cluster.

A VxRail ACE requires the customer to establish a connection with Dell EMC using the Secure Remote Services (SRS). SRS is a software-based

secure communication channel for remote support activities between Dell EMC and their VxRail cluster.

A The VxRail HCI System Software running on their clusters collect advanced telemetry data. The data is bundled and sent to the secure data lake in

Dell EMC for VxRail ACE to apply infrastructure machine learning for valuable insight that the user can view on a Dell EMC managed ACE web

portal.

A The collection of advanced telemetry data is performed by services running on the VxRail HCI System Software to fetch metrics from the underlying

vSAN cluster and PowerEdge servers, along with VxRail system data. A local service running on their VxRail cluster called the Adaptive Data

Collector (ADC) is responsible for transferring this data to the data lake at Dell EMC. The data bundle is sent to the VxRail ACE data lake using the

existing Secure Remote Services (SRS) mechanism.

A VxRail ACE has built-in knowledge of Dell EMC best practices and more than 700 common issues. With this foundational knowledge, VxRail ACE

ingests the advanced telemetry data and utilizes unsupervised machine learning to produce insight to improve serviceability and predict future

resource usage.

A With the combination of the collected health events and VxRail ACE’s infrastructure machine learning to produce insight, VxRail ACE can calculate

health scores so the user can easily assess the state of their VxRail cluster environments.

A VxRail ACE also uses the advanced telemetry data to provide centralized monitoring of all customers’ VxRail clusters in one global view.

A To deliver intelligent update bundle staging, ACE houses its own repository of all available VxRail system composite update bundles by frequently

scanning the VxRail system update file catalog. ACE builds a manifest file for each bundle that includes metadata of each component within

including version and file size. Because ACE already collects cluster telemetry data, it can list all possible update paths for each cluster and

compare the component version running on the cluster with the manifest file of the user-selected update bundle. ACE determines the required

components for the system update and packages them into a bundle to transfer using the established SRS communication channel to the VxRail

Manager VM of the targeted cluster.

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 How is it built?

A VxRail ACE is a cloud platform built on Pivotal Cloud Foundry using a secure data lake that resides at Dell EMC with support and enablement by

the VxRail development team.

A This cloud platform enables a cloud development model that will allow rapid, real-time enhancements that can be introduced asynchronous to

VxRail software releases.

A The Adaptive Data Collector (ADC) service was developed as a local service running on VxRail nodes as part of the VxRail HCI System Software.

Based on the frequency that the user can configure, it aggregates advanced telemetry data about the cluster from various VMware software

components, iDRAC service on PowerEdge Server, and VxRail cluster. It then uses the secure transport mechanism from SRS to transfer the data

package to the VxRail ACE platform. To enable ACE users to take advantage of the latest software features, enhancements, or bug fixes, ACE

can push updates to the ADC service.

A SRS is a software-based secure communication channel for remote support activities between Dell EMC and customer’s VxRail system. VxRail

ACE utilizes this connection for secure data transfer to the Dell EMC ACE data lake. It is a bi-directional pipeline. ACE is designed to support

active management of the VxRail cluster and transferring system update bundles from the ACE platform to the VxRail cluster is the first capability

we are introducing.

A To deliver intelligent update bundle staging, there are three elements on the ACE platform to first explain:

A The user interface is where the user would trigger an update staging job

A The update bundle staging service responsible for executing the request

A Repository that stores the update bundles

The update bundle staging service is responsible for collecting the full composite update bundles, responding to user requests for bundle

downloads, and facilitating the transfer of the bundle to the VxRail clusters. ACE will constantly scan for new bundles to download from the VxRail

repository into its database. Each bundle pairs with a manifest file that has a component list of the bundle. When a user triggers a download

request from the ACE web portal, the update bundle staging service will compare the running component versions on the selected cluster with the

target bundle’s component versions. The service then packages only the component files required for the update from its repository and transfers

the bundle using the established SRS connection to the VxRail cluster.

How do I get access to VxRail ACE?

A VxRail ACE web portal: https://vxrailace.emc.com/

A VxRail does not require additional hardware or software. It does require the customer to have an Online Support account and for the customer to

install and activate Secure Remote Services so that their cluster can securely send telemetry data to the VxRail ACE platform. Their VxRail

clusters need to be registered to that Online Support account for ACE to report on them.

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 A The VxRail cluster needs to be running VxRail software 4.5.215 or later, or 4.7.100 or later.

A Access to VxRail ACE is through a web portal. The web portal includes online documentation to educate a user on the functionality and a user

guide to instruct the user how to navigate the product.

A Though Dell employees had access to the web portal in the ACE Early Access program, Dell employees no longer have access to the ACE web

portal in the official release. The VxRail business is presently refining requirements to provide employee access to ACE in a future release. In the

meantime, internal teams who wish to gather information from ACE should consult directly with their customers to view the web portal in their

presence.

Does VxRail ACE require extra licensing?

A The current feature set provided by the ACE is free of charge. Future capabilities may be licensed but no pricing has been set.

How does VxRail ACE differ from vRealize Operations?

A They each address a different need. vRealize Operations is designed for monitoring and performance optimization of virtualized operations,

workloads, and infrastructure. VxRail ACE is designed for the VxRail hyperconverged infrastructure with proactive and prescriptive monitoring and

reporting to improve serviceability and infrastructure planning, along with bidirectional capability for future active multi-cluster management and self-

healing features.

A VxRail ACE is designed for extensibility so that future visibility between VxRail ACE and vRealize Operations is possible. While discussions are

happening, there is not a confirmed plan.

How does VxRail ACE differ from CloudIQ?

A VxRail ACE is independent of CloudIQ.

A CloudIQ is a SaaS-based offering that provides centralized monitoring, proactive health scoring, and capacity planning to Dell EMC storage arrays.

At present VxRail ACE delivers similar capabilities but it is designed with bi-directional capability between the VxRail Cluster and ACE for future

active multi-cluster management and self-healing features.

A VxRail ACE is designed for extensibility so that future visibility between VxRail ACE and CloudIQ is possible. While discussions are happening,

there is no confirmed plan.

Is this available for dark sites that have no access to the internet?

A VxRail ACE uses SRS for secure data transfer and it requires an internet connection. VxRail clusters that do not have internet access will not be

able to use VxRail ACE.

How often does VxRail cluster collect data and send to VxRail ACE?

A There are four settings for data collection frequencies: do not collect (NONE), once a day (BASIC), once every hour (MEDIUM, which is the default

setting), or once every half hour (ADVANCED). Data collection frequency is configured in the telemetry settings either using REST API commands

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 or the VxRail Manager plugin. The timeliness of VxRail ACE reporting is dependent on the frequency of the data collection a user configures for

their clusters. VxRail ACE uses infrastructure machine learning to model and train data to create accurate predictions. The more data it can

analyze, the better the models will be.

A ACE data collection can be turned off by setting the frequency to NONE.

A The ACE service can assess the delta from the last collection of data to produce space efficient data bundles to send to VxRail ACE.

Does VxRail ACE secure the customer cluster data and access to it?

A VxRail ACE does not collect customer data.

A While the data collector service does aggregate machine data relative to the cluster, software, hardware topology, and performance, users can be

assured that there is no customer or personal data collected.

A VxRail ACE uses the Dell EMC SRS mechanism that assures data transfer between customer site and Dell EMC is secure. For more information,

refer to this guide: https://support.emc.com/docu55298_Secure-Remote-Services-3.34-Technical-Description.pdf.

A Though the customer cluster metadata is not anonymized when it is stored in the data lake, the data cannot be mapped to a customer account

without Dell EMC support services which is separate from VxRail ACE. If the customer does have concerns that the topology data may contain

sensitive VM names, they have the option of not using VxRail ACE by turning off the collection service.

A Access to the cluster metadata is restricted to the VxRail engineering team.

Does the on-demand pre-update health check differ from the VxRail Manager LCM pre-upgrade health check?

A At its initial introduction, yes. The health check list run by on-demand pre-update health check on ACE has subtle differences compared to that of

the VxRail Manager LCM pre-upgrade health check. That means there can be rare occasions where passing the former health check does not

lead a successful health check of the latter, provided all variables remain the same.

VXRAIL SOFTWARE
What is the difference between RTW and RTS?

A RTW means Release to Web and the VxRail software for existing clusters can be upgraded. RTS means Release to Ship from factory and new

clusters and net new nodes can be ordered.

What is the VxRail Manager plugin for vCenter Server?

A The VxRail Manager plugin for vCenter Server allows users to administer all VxRail operations within vCenter Server for an integrated management

experience.

Does the VxRail Manager plugin for vCenter Server affect the way I use VxRail Manager?

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 A Starting with 4.7.100, users will manage VxRail cluster from the vCenter Server. Users will now log into vCenter using their “VMware vCenter

Single Sign-On” and find VxRail Manager functionality added to relevant areas of the vCenter framework for local cluster management.

A The functionality that existed prior to VxRail Manager 4.7.100 will still be available in the vCenter Server plugin for VxRail Manager and includes:

System, Market, Scale-out (add nodes), Host, Support, Networking (including SRS (Secure Remote Services) and OpenSwitch), Health Monitoring

and Troubleshooting.

How do VxRail systems simplify deployment and configuration?

A VxRail’s automated deployment and configuration accelerates the time from power-on to provisioning virtual machines by eliminating more than

200 manual configuration tasks and workflows and reducing operator errors.

Will there be a management interface that ties in all VMware and storage management into one portal across all VxRail clusters a
customer might have?

A vRealize Automation (optional) allows for management and orchestration of workloads across VxRail clusters. It also provides a unified service

catalog that gives consumers an App Store ordering experience to make requests from a personalized collection of application and infrastructure

services. All physical system management requires VxRail Manager.

How are the VxRail systems managed?

A VxRail systems are managed using the VxRail Manager plug-in to vCenter for hardware and system maintenance tasks. VxRail Manager

incorporates vRealize Log Insight functionality, SRS and other serviceability capabilities. For day-to-day VM management, customers manage the

VMware stack on VxRail directly from the vSphere Web Client.

How are VxRail software updates handled for systems that are installed in “dark sites”, i.e. locations without any Internet access?

A Call Dell EMC Support to coordinate the upgrade. Dark sites (sites with no internet connection) can work with support to get the software upgrade

bundle, and then sneakernet the software upgrade bundle into the dark site.

What vCenter deployment options are supported with VxRail?

A The vCenter Planning Guide should be used for determining the correct configuration and deployment options. Find the guide in the VxRail

Enablement Center at: http://vxrail.is/everything

Do VxRail systems support out of band management?

A All single node-based systems come with one 1GbE remote management port called iDRAC. In general, customers use iDRAC for out-of-band

remote management, such as remote server console, power on/off operations, etc. Single node VxRail systems also leverage the iDRAC port for

in-band hardware management. The iDRAC port is represented in VxRail as a USB port. VxRail creates a standard vSwitch called vSwitch iDRAC

USB which connects to vusb0. The standard switch and USB port are reserved for VxRail system management. Please do not touch them.

Correspondingly, an iDRAC OS pass through setting is pre-configured during factory configuration to facilitate in-band communication. And this

setting is NOT allowed to be changed either.

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 What is the upgrade path for VxRail?

A Please refer to the VxRail system software release notes that can be found at; https://support.emc.com/products/39970_VxRail-Appliance-

Series/Documentation/

Does VxRail 4.5 still require multicast?

A IPv6 multicast is still required for node discovery. IPv4 multicast is no longer required starting in VxRail 4.5.xxx.

Is an external vCenter Server still required for vSAN encryption?

A No. VxRail 4.5.200 supports the use of VxRail internally deployed vCenter for vSAN encryption.

Do VxRail systems address customer encryption and compliance needs?

A Yes, starting with VxRail 4.5, vSAN now includes Data at Rest Encryption, or DARE. vSAN’s version of DARE is native to HCI and is set at the

cluster level (supporting hybrid, all-flash and stretched clusters) for broad protection. Alternatively, vSphere Encryption can be used for VM level

encryption

Where should the Key Management Server (KMS) be hosted?

A When using vSAN or vSphere encryption, the KMS cannot be in the same cluster that is being encrypted. It must be hosted in an external host or

cluster.

Can a customer-supplied vCenter be used to manage a VxRail cluster it is hosted in?

A Starting with 4.5.200 you can use a customer-supplied vCenter for a VxRail cluster. The customer supplied vCenter can be used to manage other

VxRail clusters and/or other related vCenter management responsibilities.

What’s should I know about Stretched Clusters in VxRail?

A Please see the VxRail Stretched Cluster Planning Guide: https://www.dellemc.com/resources/en-us/asset/white-papers/products/converged-

infrastructure/h15275-vxrail-planning-guide-virtual-san-stretched-cluster.pdf

VXRAIL ON 14TH GENERATION POWEREDGE SERVERS

Is the G Series available with 14th generation servers?

A As of July 2018, the G560 is available and built on 14th generation hardware. This is a 2U4N chassis based on the Dell EMC PowerEdge C6420.

What memory options does VxRail support on 14th gen?

A Refer to the 14G Hardware Ordering Configuration Guide for the latest memory options and features.

Which memory options are recommended for performance?

A Best practice with Intel Scalable processors is to have balanced and preferably fully populated memory channels and configure the same DIMMs

size across the DIMM banks. (6 or 12 DIMM Configurations).

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 A Memory channels that are balanced, but not fully populated can impact performance by up to 30%. (4 or 8 DIMM configurations).

Why doesn’t VxRail support memory swapping or upgrades?

A Depending on the VxRail model and the processors involved, swapping memory with higher core count and/or clock speeds may require new fans,

new heat sinks, and/or new PSUs. In addition, there is no ‘standard’ service offering for processor swaps/upgrades.

What is the minimum number of identical nodes in a cluster?

A Starting with 4.5.150, a cluster must be implemented with a minimum of 3 identical nodes.

How can a customer expand a 3-node 13th generation cluster?

A Beginning with version 4.5.150 VxRail supports a different 4th node. Therefore, a 3-node 13th generation cluster may be expanded with a 14th

generation based VxRail node. All nodes in a G series chassis must remain homogeneous and be of the same generation of hardware. This means

once a 14th generation node is added to the cluster, a partially populated G Series chassis can no longer add a node to the empty slots.

What is the difference between the flash SATA and the SAS SSD drives?

A SATA SSD capacity drives will lower drive costs by up to 30%. The best use case for SATA drives are; general purpose VMs and their workloads.

SAS SSD are more expensive but better suited for high write I/O activities. SATA SSD and SAS should not be mixed in the same node at the cache

or capacity tier.

Does Dell EMC replace SSD drives that wear out?

A Yes, ProSupport and ProSupport Plus include drive replacements for solid-state drive wear-outs.

What other differences between 13th generation and 14th generation should customers be aware of?

A The 14th Generation PowerEdge server platform provides significant enhancements for VxRail, which now delivers 2X better response times, 2X

more IOPs, 1.75X more processor options, 2X more flash options and 2X more network connectivity. 14th Generation servers include things like

selection of SSDs based on consistent performance, better drive cooling that improves reliability, OME systems management, and a resilient pair of

BOSS cards as the boot device. Notable difference will be called out in the items below and in the VxRail Technical Deck on the VxRail Knowledge

Center.

Which VxRail models are supported on 14th Generation PowerEdge Servers?

A All VxRail models including the G, E, P, S and V Series systems are now available on 14th generation PowerEdge hardware.

What is the minimal software required for VxRail to run on 14th Generation PowerEdge servers?

A 14th Generation servers require VxRail 4.5 software. Refer to the ESSM for detailed install and upgrade code level information. Initial code version

for these systems will be 4.5.100.

A VxRail 4.0.x is not supported on 14G hardware.

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 Can customers add 14th Generation servers to an existing cluster?

A Yes, but cluster must first be upgraded to 4.5.150. Once a 14th Generation node has been added to a cluster, all future nodes must be 14th

Generation.

Do the V and P Series support more drives than the previous generation?

A Yes. These now support 24 drives (previously 16). They now allow for up to 4 disk groups of up to 5 capacity drives each – 2 more capacity drives

per disk group than the previous generation.

Did power supply options change with the 14th generation PowerEdge servers?

A The 14th generation PowerEdge servers have higher power supply options (1600W and 2000W). These are necessary to handle the higher power

requirements for the Intel® Scalable® processors.

When would a customer need to use higher wattage power supplies?

A VxRail V Series models requires a 2000W power supply. The P Series defaults to a 1600W power supply. When the P Series is configured with

CPUs with power ratings of 165W or higher, throttling of CPU performance may result if the 1100W power supplies are used.

What is the BOSS card?

A Boot Optimized Storage Solution (BOSS) is a new boot device type introduced by Dell EMC for the 14th generation of PowerEdge servers. The

BOSS provides a more resilient hardware design with RAID1 protection. Like the previous generation SATADOM it is used to boot and install the

operating system.

2-NODE VSAN CONFIGURATION

What constitutes a VxRail 2-node cluster?

A A 2-node cluster consists of 2 Dell E560/F nodes at a single location, typically stacked on top of each other in a single rack.

A 2-node configurations require a witness node at the same or a different location, but not in the same cluster.

A The 2-node cluster must use 4x10GbE base connectivity, and Witness Traffic Separation (WTS).

A Each node is a fault domain for a total of three fault domains in the cluster.

A Each node must be running at a minimum, VxRail 4.7.100.

A A 2-node cluster cannot be expanded.

My customer would like to remove one node from a VxRail 3-node cluster to make a 2-node cluster. Is this possible?

A No. A 2-node cluster must be a newly defined configuration. Therefore, removing a single node from a cluster to form a 2-node configuration is not

supported.

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 Is an embedded vCenter supported with 2-node configurations?

A 2-node configurations require a customer-supplied external vCenter running at a minimum, vSphere 6.7U1. Dell EMC will not support a VxRail 2-

node first run to deploy using an internal or embedded vCenter.

Can a customer use an external vCenter VM and migrate it back onto the 2-node VxRail it is managing?

A This is not supported.

What are the vSAN licensing options for the 2-node cluster?

A vSAN Standard, Advanced, and Enterprise license editions are supported. vSAN ROBO licenses are not supported (as ROBO is an entirely

different implementation).

TECHNOLOGY
What is the Dell EMC VxRail system architecture?

A The VxRail system architecture is a scale-out distributed system consisting of modular building blocks that scale linearly from 3 to 64 nodes using a

combination of 1U1N, 2U1N, and 2U4N form factors. A Dell EMC x86 node delivers compute, network, storage, virtualization, and management in

a hyperconverged infrastructure system powered by VMware and Dell EMC software.

Are VxRail systems designed to meet five 9’s of availability?

A All VxRail system node types are designed to meet 99.999% uptime, which equates to less than 1 minute of unplanned downtime per year. When

used with additional included software features that provide further high availability, like fault domains or stretched cluster, VxRail can achieve

greater than 5 x 9’s availability at the per VM level.

How do VxRail systems scale?

A VxRail systems scale out linearly from 3 to 64 nodes. Each system adds compute, storage, virtualization, and management resources. An system

can be joined to a cluster with just one click—and once added, automatically rebalances resources and workloads across the cluster, creating a

single pool of resources. A system can take on the form of a 1U1N, a 2U1N, or a 2U4N form factor. VxRail systems can also scale up by adding

additional caching and/or capacity drives to available empty drive slots that exist within the system.

What is the minimum initial scale point and scaling increments?

A The minimum initial VxRail configuration is 3 nodes starting with VxRail 4.0. Customers can order and scale their VxRail systems in single-node

increments once the 3-node minimum is met. With 4.5.150, the first 3 nodes in a VxRail cluster must be of the same type and configuration before

being able to populate the cluster with other types of nodes.

How does VxRail load balance storage when a node is added?

A VxRail can rebalance storage assuming there is available slack space to do so. While DRS (if licensed) will handle moving VMs, vSAN will not

rebalance data to the drives of the newly added node, unless a capacity drive has reached 80% full If any capacity drive in the cluster has reached

80% full, vSAN will automatically rebalance the cluster, until the space available on all capacity drives is below the 80% threshold. You can

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 manually start a rebalance from the storage perspective, which may be beneficial as the timing of it can be controlled. See vSAN documentation for

additional details.

Can I mix different VxRail Series systems in a cluster?

A Yes, customers can mix different VxRail Series systems within a cluster, except where doing so would create highly unbalanced performance. All-

Flash and Hybrid nodes cannot be mixed in the same cluster. VxRail nodes with different base networking connectivity cannot be mixed in a

cluster. Also, the first three nodes in a cluster must be of the same series type and configuration before being able to mix other series node types in

the same cluster.

When should I upgrade capacity with additional drives or upgrading to higher capacity drives versus adding additional nodes?

A Hyper-converged systems scale best when adding compute and storage together and this should be the primary way of scaling VxRail systems as

it adds both additional storage capability and the ability to support additional workloads. Expanding capacity through; adding additional capacity

drives to existing disk groups, or adding additional disk groups, or by swapping out existing capacity drives can be used to increase capacity when

there is no need to support additional or expanded compute workloads.

What are the supported VxRail high availability configuration options when using 3-node and 4-node deployments?

A With a 3-node vSAN cluster configuration there are three physical hosts, and the data and witness components are distributed across all three

nodes. This configuration provides a lower entry point for customers, however, there are trade-offs with respect to functionality and data protection.

This configuration can only support failures to tolerate (FTT) = 1, with RAID-1. It does not have spare resources to self-heal. If a customer desires

the resiliency of automatic self-healing from a component failure, then a 4-node minimum is required. In a four-node configuration, should one node

fail, there remains the sufficient minimal three node to meet the requirement of FTT = 1, RAID-1. A four-node configuration also supports the

failures to tolerate (FTT) = 1, with RAID-5 (Erasure Coding). However, the self-healing resilience is lost, as four nodes is the minimal required to

support RAID-5 (Erasure Coding). Five nodes would be required to support this self-healing resilience.

Which models of VxRail support NVMe cache drives?

A VxRail E, G, and P series models fully support NVMe cache for both hybrid and all flash configurations for nodes delivered from the factory with

version 4.7.100. These cache devices are 1.6TB in size. Hybrid nodes will also support NVMe using cache drive slots.

Will all flash using NVMe have a greater portion of the drive usable for write cache?

A No. For 1.6TB NVMe drive capacities, the 600GB write cache buffer size of vSAN remains unchanged.

Can a customer upgrade to NVMe cache drives?

A Nodes shipped from factory after 4.5.200 factory release on April 10, 2018 can upgrade a cache SSD with an NVMe cache drive but would require

additional installation kit to add the NVMe cache drive into the node.

What is the performance improvement of the NVMe cache drives with VxRail?

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 A In the initial release, NVMe is primarily a future proofing technology. Future releases of vSAN will provide enhancements to harness the

performance capabilities of NVMe.

Should customers use software, other than VxRail Manager to perform upgrades?

A No. VxRail Manager is the sole and primary source for VxRail lifecycle management, cluster compatibility, software updates, and version control.

VxRail Manager further reduces operational complexity and provides software upgrade automation. Software tools such as vSAN Config Assist and

Updates, or vSphere Update Manager, or OME are not supported for performing VxRail upgrades.

What does the customer receive when ordering G Series system configurations where the number of nodes is not evenly divisible by
four?

A VxRail G-Series systems are designed to hold up to 4 nodes in a two rack unit chassis. When the number of nodes is not divisible by four, the last

chassis will be partially filled. Subsequent additional nodes will fill the empty slots in the chassis but must be of the same identical node

configuration.

Can I mix node types within a VxRail G Series system?

A No, all nodes in the G-Series System (in the same chassis) must be of the same VxRail node type/configuration.

Do the VxRail G Series systems have a redundant backplane? What about power supplies and fans?

A The G560 has a single passive backplane with redundant power supplies and fans. The backplane has power distribution, management (i2c), and

data. Data is provided through SAS / SATA connectivity which connects from the backplane to the HBA, or for NVMe using PCIe connections from

backplane directly connected to the motherboard.

Is there a best practice for ordering a system when the customer plans to later add additional drives?

A Yes, configure the system with maximum capacity in the cache tier if you plan on adding to the capacity tier later. If initial cost is a limiting factor,

customers can choose to start with a smaller cache configuration and upgrade the cache disks during a future upgrade.

What components in a VxRail system are upgradable?

A All upgradable components are listed in the VxRail Ordering and Licensing Guide which can be found in the enablement center at

http://vxrail.is/everything.

What important points related to VxRail software upgrades, should I be aware of?

A Customer-driven upgrades are supported starting with 4.5.200.

A Cannot skip a software generation in the upgrade (e.g. no v1.0 to v4.0). Follow the upgrade paths in the release notes.

A Dark sites (sites with no internet connection) can work with support to get the software upgrade bundle, and then sneakernet the software upgrade

bundle into the dark site.

A The software upgrade bundle may also update VMware components by applying appropriate patches.

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 A While vRealize Log Insight, Secure Remote Services, and RecoverPoint for VMs licenses are included with the purchase of a VxRail system, they

are not part of the VxRail LCM. They would need to be upgraded separately. Refer to SolVe procedures to upgrade SRS and RecoverPoint for

VMs. Refer to VMware documentation to upgrade vRealize Log Insight.

Are the VxRail systems built with ScaleIO technology?

A No, VxRail systems are not built with ScaleIO technology or intellectual property. Dell EMC and VMware jointly developed the VxRail system

powered by VMware vSAN software-defined storage.

Do VxRail systems offer data reduction capabilities?

A Yes, all-flash VxRail system configurations offer a full complement of data efficiency services, including deduplication, compression, and erasure

coding.

What is the best practice for when to enable data efficiency services?

A If customers plan to use deduplication and compression, it is best to activate them at install and to have the maximum intended capacity installed in

the node prior to activating data services. This will avoid recreating disk groups while the system is running a workload.

Are data reduction capabilities supported on hybrid configurations?

A No, only all-flash configurations support data reduction capabilities.

Are data reduction services usable with both vSphere and vSAN encryption?

A There is no impact to vSAN encryption when using data services, including deduplication and compression.

A Note: vSphere Encryption will significantly limit any benefits of dedupe and compression.

What are the differences between vSAN encryption and virtual machine encryption?

A Virtual machine encryption is enabled on a per VM bases, whereas, vSAN encryption is enabled for the entire cluster datastore. vSAN data at rest

encryption is a better option for concerns of media theft and allows data reduction to be applied. VM Encryption is a better option for concerns of a

rogue admin but does prevents any benefit from data duplication due to randomizing the data. Both forms of encryption require an external KMS,

Read https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/2148947 for more details.

Would a customer ever utilize both vSphere and vSAN encryption?

A There are a few scenarios where customers may choose to encrypt some critical VMs with vSphere Encryption for the benefits provided above,

primarily to protect against network intrusion or rogue admin. Using both encryption methods will significantly increase CPU overhead as now data

is encrypted (and decrypted) twice.

Is a Key Management Server (KMS) required when using Encryption with VxRail?

A Yes. A KMIP compliant KMS is required for either vSphere or vSAN encryption. CloudLink from Dell EMC, HyTrust, or any other vSphere

compatible KMS is recommended. It should never be hosted on the same cluster of which it is managing the encryption keys.

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 Does iDRAC provide any power consumption benefits?

A Yes. All PowerEdge based systems come equipped with iDRAC take advantage of this. Even if the configuration should somehow exceed its

capacity, iDRAC will start throttling CPUs to gracefully handle the situation thus ensuring proper power consumption. This situation would be more

common in V-Series and P-Series systems, as they tend to push the power envelope more than other series systems.

How does one determine VxRail longevity on current hardware platform?

A Dell’s hardware policy ensures that End-of-Sale is announced 3 months in advance. From a software perspective, our policy is to offer N and N-1

versions of VxRail and ESXi out of the factory.

GPU
Are GPU’s included in the LCM process?

A No. Lifecycle Management for GPU cards is not included because Dell EMC is not authorized to publish the firmware for Nvidia cards.

Which GPUs are supported on the VxRail V Series (V570/570F)?

A VxRail V Series models will support Tesla M10 V100, V100S, RTX6000, RTX8000 and T4 GPU cards.

A The M60 and P40 are no longer available for sale.

A The GPU software and drivers are sold separately.

A The M10 and M60 GPU can only address up to 1TB of memory, therefore, note the 1TB limitation when using these GPU’s. The P40 can utilize the

full 3TB with the ‘M’ designated processors.

A The Nvidia M10 and M60 cards cannot be mixed in the same node because this is an untested and uncertified combination of hardware.

A M60 is no longer orderable and a GPU swap of all M60 cards is supported.

Which GPU card should I use for each use case?

A The M60 and P40 are best for high end graphical processing. The Tesla P40 is a replacement for the M60.

A The Tesla M10 remains the preferred choice for high VDI density.

A The Tesla V100 is designed for machine learning use cases.

A The T4 can be suitable for various use cases such as HPC workloads and entry level machine learning training, while focusing on machine learning

inferencing and VDI.

Specific to hardware generations, what GPU options are available and supported for VxRail?

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 A For VxRail on 13th generation servers, Nvidia® Tesla™ M series GPUs are the graphics cards supported on VxRail V Series systems only. The use

of graphics cards requires vSphere Enterprise Plus licensing. Customers must separately obtain and configure any required GPU software and

drivers.

A For VxRail on 14th generation servers, V570 and V570F can be ordered with up to 6 GPUs depending on the GPU option. As always, the GPU

software and drivers are sold separately and only the Nvidia Tesla M10, M60, P40, V100, and T4 are supported. Only Nvidia cards are only

supported.

A The Nvidia Tesla P40 GPU card delivers up to 2X the graphics performance and, supports up to 50% more users.

A The Tesla P40 is a replacement for the M60, however, the Tesla M10 remains the preferred choice for high VDI density.

A The Nvidia M60 continues to be supported but is no longer available for sale. GPU swap of all M60 cards is supported. In addition to the M10, the

P40 and T4 GPUs can be used as replacements to the M60. The T4 GPUs are available APOS now and POS in September 2019.

SECURITY
What is vSphere Platinum?

A vSphere Platinum is a purpose-built security solution designed to protect applications, infrastructure, data, and its access. It combines two proven

products: vSphere to secure the infrastructure, data, and access; and AppDefense to secure the applications running on the VMs. AppDefense

protects the integrity of applications running on vSphere by using machine learning to understand the intended state and behavior of the application

and machine in order to detect and prevent threats.

Can I use VMware vSphere Platinum with VxRail?

A Yes, VxRail customers who have purchased Platinum licenses (including subscriptions) from VMware are entitled to use their Platinum license on

VxRail running vSphere Enterprise Plus. It is important to note that LCM of the AppDefense portion of vSphere Platinum is the customer’s

responsibility. Refer to the KB article for more details: https://support.emc.com/docu94013_Installing-and-Configuring-VMware-AppDefense-on-

VxRail-Tech-Note.pdf?language=en_US.

What security assurance does VxRail provide?

A Every VxRail provides the highest levels of security to enable customers to build and sustain a compliant and cost-effective cybersecurity solution

for Federal, financial services, healthcare, cloud computing, and other industry sectors. Refer to the VxRail Security presentation that can be found

at: https://www.dellemc.com/resources/en-us/auth/asset/presentations/products/converged-infrastructure/vxrail_security_presentation.pptx.

A VxRail Comprehensive Security by Design (whitepaper) covers both integrated and optional security features, best practices, and proven

techniques for securing your VxRail: https://www.emc.com/collateral/white-papers/vxrail-comprehensive-security-design.pdf

What capabilities does VxRail provide to ensure that critical data is always accessible when and where it is needed by authorized
entities?

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 A VxRail ensures maximum availability of customer data to authorized entities that are provided by VxRail lifecycle management of vSphere

availability, proactive security, and built-in data recovery features.

How does VxRail isolate private network traffic from public traffic?

A VxRail is engineered with multiple levels of network segmentation, including physical segmentation of the hardware management network, virtual

segmentation of application and infrastructure networks, and micro-segmentation at the VM and application level with optional NSX software from

VMware. Through segmentation, the visibility of critical administrative tools is limited, preventing attackers from using them against any

environment.

Does VxRail transmit management traffic securely over the network?

A Yes, VxRail requires management traffic to be transmitted over HTTPS using TLS 1.2. VxRail Manager, vCenter, and iDRAC all disable the HTTP

interface, thus preventing management traffic from being transmitted in the clear.

What does VxRail do to ensure the integrity of a company’s data?

A VxRail ensures the integrity of a company’s data by maintaining the consistency, accuracy, and trustworthiness of data over its lifecycle with built-in

integrity features such as Secure Boot and Software Checksums. Secure Boot protects the operating system from corruption and root kit attacks.

For end-to-end data integrity, VxRail uses software checksums to ensure data wasn’t modified in storage; and vSAN also uses a proactive scrubber

mechanism to detect and correct potential data corruption, even on infrequently accessed data.

What does VxRail do to ensure that authorized entities can access data when and how they are permitted to do so?

A VxRail software lifecycle management, vSphere availability features, proactive monitoring, and built-in data recovery, as well as physical security of

the hardware and secure system configuration ensure maximum availability of customer data to authorized entities.

How does VxRail prevent unwarranted/unauthorized user access?

A VxRail leverages ACLs (Access Control Lists) and RBAC (Role-Based Access Controls) to restrict host and management access to only authorized

users. All management traffic is protected by the three A’s of Authentication, Access Control, and Auditing. In addition, the physical security of the

VxRail hardware in combination with secure system configuration ensure maximum defense-in-depth protection.

Does VxRail support ESXi Lockdown Mode?

A Yes, Lockdown mode is supported with the following restrictions as follows; the only supported "Lockdown Mode is "Normal" and the VxRail

Management, Platform services account and Root accounts all need to be added to the "Exception Users”.

Can management traffic within VxRail be securely logged?

A Yes, all management traffic can be securely logged VMware vRealize Log Insight, which is bundled with VxRail. Log Insight monitors system

events and provides ongoing comprehensive notifications about the state of the virtual environment and system hardware. The output from Log

Insight can be streamed to a centralized syslog server for integration with customer’s existing SIEM or log monitoring software.

Does VxRail provide DISA STIG compliant hardening guidelines and scripts?

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 A Yes, VxRail provides manual and automated steps for configuring any VxRail system to comply with DISA STIG requirements in support of the

NIST Cybersecurity Framework. In addition, VxRail provides security configuration guidance for protecting the system post-deployment.

Does VxRail have Common Criteria certification?

A Yes, VxRail has an EAL 2+ certification that provides customers with the assurance that our process of specification, implementation and

evaluation of VxRail security has been conducted in a rigorous, standard and repeatable manner for its environment.

Does VxRail provide HIPAA level 2 certification?

A HIPAA requirements apply to the environment in which VxRail is deployed and not to VxRail itself. VxRail can influence the compliance of the

environment in two ways: 1- It may prevent customers from meeting their compliance requirements, and 2- it may provide critical capabilities to

enable the customer to reach compliance. In other words, the customer gets HIPAA certified based on the environment in which VxRail runs;

VxRail does not itself get certified.

Is VxRail IPv6 Ready?

A Yes, VxRail obtained the IPv6 Ready Logo by successfully passing all USGv6 Compliance and Interop testing, including the more rigorous IPv6

Ready Standards.

How do VxRail features align with the NIST Cybersecurity Framework?

A The NIST Cybersecurity Framework (CSF) provides a policy framework of computer security guidance for how private sector organizations can

assess and improve their ability to prevent, detect, and respond to cyber-attacks. VxRail has numerous features that align to the NIST CSF. The

following paper describes how VxRail technology features can be used to support an organization planning for their people and processes to

simplify framework implementation: http://www.emc.com/collateral/whitepaper/h17103-vxrail-features-nist-cyber-security-framework.pdf

What are the Meltdown and Intel Spectre flaws?

A These were security vulnerabilities in memory processors which forced a redesign of the operation system kernel. Performance will be impacted

because of the Spectre bug fixes.

What version(s) of VxRail include the “Meltdown and Intel Spectre” flaw bug fixes?

A The first versions of VxRail to include the Intel Meltdown and Spectre bug fixes were the 4.5.152 and 4.0.402 code releases. All current versions of

VxRail software shipping from the factory include these fixes.

A These fixes impact top end performance (IOPS) by high single digits based on synthetic workload tests. A slightly higher area of impact is expected

with applications that have a “highly cached random memory, with buffered IO”.

NETWORKING
Will VxRail support SmartFabric Services?

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 A Yes, beginning with version 4.7.000 (RTS) SmartFabric will provide switch/node awareness, and automated network set-up and deployment.

SmartFabric for VxRail 4.7.100 (Jan. 2019) features will include the capability to add nodes.

What are SmartFabric Services?

A SmartFabric is automated networking integration between VxRail and the Dell OS10 switch. The integration enables nodes and switches to

automatically discover each other. After the auto-discovery, VxRail will fully configure the switch fabric to support the VxRail cluster (this feature is

in the factory release 4.7.000, in December 2018). When new nodes are added to the cluster, the node(s) will automatically be discovered as well

(this feature is part of the January 2019 release, 4.7.100).

Are there considerations for implementing SmartFabric Services?

A Yes. The switches must be dedicated to the VxRail cluster, the first phase (day 0 automation) must be a single-rack only configuration, and Multi-

homing is enabled by default. Note: SmartFabric Services requires a pair of identical Dell switches.

How are Dell switches ordered?

A Dell switches are ordered using Velocity or Dell direct. Switches cannot be purchased from MyQuotes.

What software is used to manage SmartFabric?

A Professional Services will install the OMNI plug-in after the VxRail cluster is built. The OMNI plug-in is the only supported method for day-2 switch

administration.

How many fabrics does the OMNI plug-in manage?

A OMNI only manages one fabric, but the plug-in can be registered with up to 10 separate instances of vCenter connected to the same fabric.

Can customers switch between manual and automated services?

A No. The auto-switch feature (SmartFabric) or manual switch configuration method must be chosen at the time of purchase.

What is multi-homing?

A Multi-homing enables VxRail Manager to simultaneously connect to an external management network for administrative purposes and an internal

network for device discovery. We still need multicast on the internal network.

What is the key benefit of 25GbE?

A 25GbE networking provides additional connectivity options and more network bandwidth than previously available.

Can VxRail nodes utilize different base networking speeds in the same cluster?

A No. Mixing of network speeds is not permitted in the same cluster.

If a customer has 25GbE nodes running on a 10GbE switch, can they upgrade the switch to 25GbE?

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 A Yes. During this migration period from 10GbE switching to 25GbE switching is the only time mixed networking speeds are supported. All the nodes

must have the same base networking card speed.

Do VxRail systems include Top of Rack switch networking?

A No, VxRail systems use the customer’s existing network or a new switch for connectivity between nodes. A 1GbE.10GbE, or 25GbE top of rack

switch (TOR) that supports IPv4, IPv6, and Multicast (only on the ports VxRail connects to) is required. IGMP Snooper, and IGMP Querier is

required for 10GbE and preferred for 1GbE.

Can I sell networking with VxRail systems?

A Yes, VxRail systems are an opportunity to sell additional network capacity from the customer’s preferred vendor to support the new system

connectivity. The Dell Networking S4100 and S5200 are great options to sell with VxRail.

Do VxRail systems configured for SFP+, SFP28 interfaces ship with compatible cables or transceivers?

A No, VxRail systems do not ship with SFP+/SFP28 cables or transceivers – they are specific to each switch type and are best provided separately

so that they match. If the customer is using SFP+/SFP28/Twinax/optic cables and transceivers, purchase those compliant to the switch vendor

specifications and specifications for the Intel NICs on VxRail. Additional information on optics and what is included in the MyQuotes ordering path

can be found in the Ordering and Licensing Guide.

What network speeds do VxRail systems support?

A For 14th Gen, VxRail systems comes with an NDC consisting of 4x10GbE in either SFP+ or RJ45 NIC ports, or 2x10GbE in SFP+ ports.

Additionally, a 2x25GbE SFP28 NDC is available for customers with higher throughput or larger workload block size requirements. Environments

requiring 1GbE connectivity should use the 10GbE base T and 10GbE SFP+ ports as they can auto-negotiate down to 1GbE.

A For 13th Gen, VxRail systems can support operating at 1GbE or 10GbE network speeds. Except for the G-Series system, all single node-based

systems that come equipped with 2x10GbE + 2x1GbE ports NDCs (Network Daughter Cards) can be configured to operate as 4x1GbE ports as the

2x10GbE ports can be auto-negotiated down to operate at 1GbE speeds. These 1GbE ports are RJ45 only. If customer needs to configure their

system with 4x1GbE connections, ensure you select the RJ45 interface type and be familiar with the limitations regarding VxRail systems

configured with 1GbE connectivity.

How are VxRail systems connected to the customer network?

A Each node of a VxRail system is connected to a top-of-rack (TOR) switch, by either SFP28, SFP+ (Twinax or optic) or RJ45 ports (CAT 6 cables)

for cluster interconnect and uplinks to the customer network. See the latest VxRail Networking Guide for further details on supported VxRail

networking configuration options.

What are some things to consider and limitations when using 1GbE networking on VxRail?

A There are limitations to consider when using 1GbE networking on VxRail. Remember, the network is the backplane for all network traffic and

storage traffic. Therefore, the reduced bandwidth of a 1GbE network will have a lower performance ceiling compared to a 10GbE or 25GbE network

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 and may have negative performance consequences. Because of this, there are some hardware limitations imposed when deploying VxRail in 1GbE

environments:

• VxRail nodes are limited to supporting only a single processor configuration

• VxRail cluster is restricted to a maximum of 8 nodes

• All Flash node configurations are not supported, only hybrid configurations are supported

• All four 10GbE network ports on each node, and therefore twice the number of switch ports and cables must be used compared to the two

required in a 10GbE or 25GbE configuration.

Do VxRail systems support VMware NSX Network Virtualization?

A Yes, the VxRail system can be installed in NSX virtualized networks. One NSX controller per cluster is required. NSX must be purchased and

licensed separately from VxRail.

Can I expand my VxRail systems by adding additional network cards to support additional traffic bandwidth or traffic configurations?

A Yes. All single node based VxRail systems (except the Quanta G-Series system) support the addition of PCI-e network expansion cards. Refer to

the VxRail Networking guide and Ordering & Licensing Guide for further details on supported network expansion configurations.

When can my customer upgrade their 10GbE switch to a 25GbE switch?

A For customers that may have deployed 10GbE switches with VxRail systems shipped with 25GbE NDC’s, VxRail 4.7 seamlessly migrates from the

10GbE switch to a 25GbE switch. Note: Seamless switch migration does not support systems that were shipped with 10GbE NDC’s.

RPQ’S
What do I need to know about VxRail and RPQ’s?

A The process and steps for submitting an RPQ are outlined here; https://www.dellemc.com/resources/en-us/auth/asset/technical-guides-support-

information/products/converged-infrastructure/basic-steps-submitting-rpq.

LICENSING
What is the new vSAN licensing model in VxRail 4.7?

A The most notable changes affecting licensing will include a tiered vSAN licensing model giving customers more flexibility and options. Customers

have the option to order vSAN licensing as a part of their VxRail order or apply a license from a vSAN ELA. Tiered licensing will be available on the

factory release 4.7.000 on RTS date; 12/18/2018.

Will a customer get vSAN license keys as a part of the change?

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 A Yes. A license key purchased with VxRail will be provided in the same way that vSphere licenses are provided. Account teams need to make sure

that when they quote, the right customer email is included to receive the license key. If the customer email provided is not correct, it will cause

issue with the key delivery.

What vSAN licensing options will be offered?

A Beginning with the factory release of 4.7.000, VxRail will offer tiered vSAN support with the following licensing choices; vSAN Standard, Advanced,

Enterprise.

Can vSAN licensing be upgraded?

A As of August 2019, customers can upgrade vSAN licensing as follows; Standard to Enterprise. Standard to Advanced. Advanced to Enterprise.

Will standalone or partner sold vSAN licenses be supported?

A Only vSAN OEM licenses purchased with VxRail, or vSAN licenses on ELAs will be supported. Refer to the Partner Tracker FAQ in the Ordering

and Licensing Guide here.

How does the new vSAN licensing model affect upgrades?

A For customers who purchased earlier versions of VxRail, current licensing will remain in place. When they upgrade to 4.7, they will need to make

sure any new nodes added to the cluster have vSAN Enterprise licenses.

Can a standalone vSAN license from VMware or a partner be used like we do for vSphere licenses?

A No. The vSAN license must be ordered with the VxRail or applied from an vSAN ELA.

Are vSAN ROBO licenses supported with VxRail?

A No.

Does VxRail include a vSphere license?

A No. VxRail has moved to a vSphere license independent model where customers can bring any eligible vSphere license. This “bring your own”

model allows VxRail to satisfy customer requests to leverage a variety of vSphere licenses they may have already purchased through an ELA or

other method. If you need to order vSphere licenses please do so through the customer’s preferred VMware channel partner, from VMware directly

or from EMC Brokerage. Refer to the vSAN License FAQ or Partner Tracker FAQ in the Ordering and Licensing Guide here.Do vSphere licenses

expire over time?

A Licenses (and embedded software) purchased from Dell EMC are OEM live and expire with the node in which they are deployed, and they are not

transferrable.

Which vSphere license editions can be used with VxRail systems?

A Please refer to the vSAN License FAQ in the Ordering and Licensing Guide. .

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 Can a customer downgrade or down version a vSAN license?

A No. Customers may upgrade, but not downgrade licenses.

Are Horizon Cloud, EMC Data Protection Suite for VMware or Data Domain Virtual Edition included with VxRail?

A No, these qualified solutions are sold separately and customers looking to use them must order them in addition to VxRail systems. See the

Ordering and Configuration Guide on the Enablement Center for details.

A The Horizon Cloud Bootstrap Virtual Appliance is needed to use that service and can be downloaded from the VxRail Marketplace.

A VMware currently does not allow the use of vSAN through Horizon for any VxRail ELA configuration.

What is VCPP and does VxRail support it?

A The VMware Cloud Provider Program is supported with VMware approval for VxRail. More information can be found here at;

https://www.dellemc.com/resources/en-us/auth/asset/technical-guides-support-information/products/converged-

infrastructure/Quoting_the_VxRail_Appliance_ELA_or_VCPP_Exception_Process.pptx

Can I use the vCenter Server license that is included with VxRail and apply it to my external vCenter Server?

A No, the vCenter Server license that is included with the VxRail system can only be applied to the vCenter Server that is deployed by VxRail

Manager as an embedded vCenter and is not transferrable to any customer deployed vCenter Server. A customer must purchase/use their own

vCenter Server license when using an external vCenter configuration.

How is RecoverPoint for Virtual Machines (RP4VM) starter packs affected by the new licensing model?

A Licensing for RP4VM will not change as a part of the 4.7.000 release. Standard support includes 5 licenses for single node systems (E, P, V, and S

Series) and 15 licenses per VxRail G Series chassis.

Is RP4VM starter pack moving to a 1-year subscription instead of a per VM starter pack?

A No. RP4VM includes the ESXi sockets where protected VMs reside, and only “production” ESXi sockets are counted. RP4VM starter packs remain

a perpetual license.

Where do I get additional information on licensing?

A The VxRail Ordering and Licensing Guide for Dell Sales Tools can be found here.

VMWARE AND VIRTUALIZATION

Where can I learn more about the Dell EMC and VMware Cloud strategy, including VVD and VCF?

A Find more information in a separate FAQ dedicated to our cloud strategy and VVD on VxRail at the Knowledge Center at; http://vxrail.is/everything.

What is synchronous release?

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 A Starting with VxRail 4.7, VxRail software will provide synchronous availability with VMware software releases within 30 days of VMware GA. This

includes alignment for Update 1 releases, maintenance, and emergency patches. Best effort is given to emergency patches to deliver even more

quickly (sometimes in a few business days).

Is VDP included with VxRail 4.7?

A VDP is no longer offered in vSphere 6.7 and therefore is not included with VxRail.

Is any of the VMware software that comes with VxRail transferrable?

A No. OEM licenses are non-transferrable from the hardware they were purchased with.

Can customers add VxRail systems to an existing vCenter Server?

A Yes, the VxRail system can be managed by an external vCenter server.

Can I use vRealize Automation or vRealize Operations with VxRail systems?

A Yes. However, vRealize Automation and vRealize Operations are not included in the VxRail system software suite. The VxRail system integrates

into any VMware environment, including those managed by vRealize Automation or vRealize Operations.

Is vSphere Fault Tolerance supported on VxRail?

A Yes, vSphere Fault Tolerance is qualified for use on VxRail starting with the web release 4.7.000 and 4.5.300 (December 2018) releases.

Do VxRail systems support Microsoft Hyper-V or KVM?

A The VxRail system and VMware software are optimized and deeply integrated to make it more efficient and easier to deploy, configure, and

manage in a VMware environment. Other hypervisors are not supported, but the VxRail system supports customer-deployed Microsoft applications,

such as Office, Exchange, SQL Server, etc.

Do VxRail systems support Citrix XenDesktop?

A Yes, VxRail systems support Citrix End-User Computing, just as it does any other application running in a VMware-enabled virtualized

environment.

Does VxRail support VMware Host Profiles?

A No, not currently.

Can VxRail system be sold as a Technology Extension to a Vblock® System or VxBlock™ System?

A No, VxRail system cannot be sold as a Technology Extension for Blocks, though it can be monitored with Dell EMC Vision software.

TOOLS
Can the EIPT (Enterprise Infrastructure Planning Tool) be used for VxRail?

A For specific power, cooling, weight, dimensions, etc. VxRail is now included in the EIPT Tool. Access the tool here at: https://www.dell.com/calc

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 Is there a sizing tool available for VxRail systems?

A Yes, there is the online VxRail Sizing Tool: https://vxrailsizing.emc.com/.

Have the latest industry and Intel security fixes been introduced into the VxRail sizing tool?

A Yes. The latest version of the VxRail sizing tool allows users to calculate the impact based on “moderate” or “worst” case scenarios. Find the latest

version on the VxRail Knowledge Center at; https://www.dellemc.com/resources/en-us/auth/products/converged-infrastructure/hyperconverged-

systems/vxrail.htm#

How do I determine effective capacity with data reduction capabilities on all-flash configurations?

A Deduplication and compression use conservative factors to calculate data reduction in VxRail sizing. Until more empirical data is collected we rely

on estimates when sizing VxRail. When using the VxRail sizing tool you can choose three data reduction ratios based on your knowledge of your

customers’ data: Conservative = 1.5:1, Moderate = 2.0:1, Optimistic = 3.0:1.

SOLUTIONS
Is VxRail SAP HANA certified?

A Yes. Full SAP HANA support currently includes only the VxRail P Series, all-flash model, dual socket, and all memory channels must be fully and

homogenously populated.

Is CloudArray still offered with VxRail?

A No. CloudArray is removed from the VxRail offering (all generations) as of the introduction of VxRail 4.7. Protect VxRail using Stretched Cluster,

and/or RP4VM. Other alternatives are DPS4VM and DDVE.

Can I use VxRail systems to access external storage?

A Yes, VxRail systems can utilize external iSCSI and NFS datastores on Dell EMC arrays, in addition to Fibre Channel storage. This external storage

is accessible from a VxRail system using vCenter.

What native file services are supported for VxRail?

A There are no native file services options at this time. vSAN is in Tech Preview for native file services. Once it is part of GA vSAN code used by

VxRail, native file services will be available.

COMPETITION
Can other server, storage, or virtualization vendors sell a version of the VxRail appliance software?

A No, the VxRail system is exclusive to Dell EMC and Dell EMC partners. VxRail system IP is not available to other OEMs.

Where do I get additional information about positioning VxRail systems against the competition?

A See the VxRail system battle cards in the VxRail Enablement Center (http://vxrail.is/everything).

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 A Visit the competitive Klue site here: https://app.klue.com/

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