We are going to build a new All Flash VSAN 7.0 setup with following specs.
Hardware model R730 PowerEdge.
DELL HBA 330 controller.
I have a doubt on disk selection.
8 drives in total(total drives we are going to use on R730).
I wish to use 1 TB SSD SAS drives for cache tier and 2 TB SSD SAS drives for capacity tier. The most economical SSD drives that are fully supported from both VSAN and DELL.
I'm not sure what SSD drives(with SAS protocol) are compatible with my R730 servers and also it should be on the vSAN HCL (which is crucial)
The VMware HCL does not mention the Dell part numbers so matching them is proving very difficult. My supplier is sending me pricing for drives that differ hugely but still hasn't confirmed support on both platforms.
Please can someone help me identify which 1 TB SSD SAS drives for cache tier and 2 TB SSD SAS drives for capacity tier so that I can double check and use in R730 servers. Whatever we choose, that also should be listed on the VMware vSAN Hardware Compatibility list,
https://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/pdf/vi_vsan_guide.pdf dell disk starts from page 237.
Thanks.
Manivel RR
Use this URL instead. when you click on a device it actually also shows you the partnumber?
Thanks Duncan for reply.
Yes.I noticed this link and part no of disk is available there in VSAN compatibility URL.
My doubt:- As I'm using Dell R730 server, mostly all the listed SSD from VSAN guide will be compatible against R730 ?
Whatever the SSD drive(for example Dell SSD,Intel,Samsung,WD etc..) listed in VSAN,Im not able to see those SSD drives in Dell compatibility list of R730.
Thats my confusion.
Thanks,
Manivel RR
That is something you should work with Dell on, they should have lists internally as well with the combination of those requirements. Many customers simply look at the ready node configurations and pick those drives, typically a bit easier.
Well, i see different challenges here.
4. Investing "money" in servers which are half of their live time isnt that easy to argument all the time
If you the guy who stands 24/7 in front your servers with a Eprom burner and serial cable in the hand and philipps screwdriver between your tooth's you can think about using non $vendor stuff in your major brand server but if youre only visiting your server once a year to check if its there dont do it.
In the past there was a support max. size for the cache/buffer device. In a AFA config only the writes are buffered so it depends on the amount of writes how large the disk should be. Instead of using a large cache disk and 7 capacity drives you should go for 2 diskgroup with a smaller cache device and 4 capacity drives each. The cache device isnt use as a Read Cache!
The HBA330 supports both SATA and SAS.
We use the 960GB and 1.92TB Read Intensive/or mixed used cheap SATA SSDs from Dell in our Poweredge servers and they are on the HCL. In the older ones the cache device is a Intel DC P3600 and in the newer its a Write Intensive 400GB SAS SSD.
Regards,
Joerg
If you use the vSAN VGC and select "dell", "12G IO/Controller" together with keyword "r730" you will get a list of ready nodes. You can expand every solution and see in detail which type of drive they have choose.
If you send me some drive specs per PM i can see if i can find the customer Kit SKUs.
Regards,
Joerg