Virtual SAN Ready Systems - Recommended Configurations vs HCL

[garcher1]

I'm looking at the 1.1 version of the document, it shows a Dell R280 which is not on the VSAN HCL and it includes SuperMicro that is also not on the HCL.  It does not have the Dell R720, R720xd and T620 that is on the HCL.  How do I resolve these two?

[vm_dig_deep]

Hello Garcher,

Though the Specified hardware is not present on the VMware HCL for Virtual SAN Ready nodes,you will have to look for compatibility of RAID Controller,Magnetic Disks and SSDs with virtual SAN and then proceed.

You should also look for the models of Dell and Super Micro servers compatible with ESXi 5.5 Update 1.

Please let me know if you are referring to http://partnerweb.vmware.com/programs/vsan/VMW-VIRTUAL-SAN-RDY-NODE-RDY-BLK-v1.0.pdf

Thanks

Arvind

[depping]

Hi garcher@mac.com,

The document was created by vwade and team and it should be rolled up in to the HCL soon. It should be noted that you can select ANY server from the vSphere HCL and the just make sure that your SSD+HDD and Diskcontrollers are on the VSAN HCL.

I wrote about it here:

VSAN HCL more than VSAN-ready nodes

[garcher1]

Correct,

Duncan -- thanks for the reply.   I was concerned about some servers that were  listed in one place, not both.

[depping · Accepted solution]

garcher@mac.com wrote:

Correct,

Duncan -- thanks for the reply.   I was concerned about some servers that were  listed in one place, not both.

Spoke with Wade about this last week and he is aiming to get this fixed in a reasonable amount of time, it is not ideal indeed.

[Madura]

Hi Depping,

I have a similar query on the supported configuration of servers for VSAN and thought of posting it here than opening a new thread.

I could find only the following configuration for C240 servers on the HCL for VSAN.

This configuration uses 800GB performance SSDs (for cache), 1TB SATA (for persistent disks) and LSI MegaRAID 9271CV Supercap (RAID controller). The 800GB SSDs would cost a fortune for a small/medium enterprise looking out for VDI and it would make VSAN not be price competitive against a small NAS that could sacrifice the requirement.

Cisco C240 now supports a new RAID controller from LSI (UCSC-NYTRO-200GB - Cisco Nytro MegaRAID 200GB Controller) which has a 200GB internal cache. I was wondering if I could replace the 800GB SSDs with a cheaper SSD (may be a 100GB or 200GB performance SSD) and use the new RAID controller to match up with the VSAN configuration above for a more cost effective VSAN configuration for VDI?

Or any other SSD configuration where the price would not be as high as buying a shared storage? Something like:

2 x 2.50 GHz E5-2609 v2/80W 4C/10MB Cache/DDR3 1333MHz

16 x 16GB DDR3-1600-MHz RDIMM

3 x 200GB 2.5 inch Enterprise Performamce SAS SSD

21 x 1TB SAS 7.2K RPM 2.5 inch HDD

1 x MegaRAID 9271CV with Supercap

1 x Cisco VIC 1225 Dual Port 10Gb SFP+ CNA

[depping]

That is a VSAN Ready Node and not the only supported configuration for VSAN. You can select ANY server from the vSphere HCL and then use the VSAN Components HCL to make a supported config.

So, just look at the "IO Controller", "HDD" and "SSD" and use parts on that list to form your supported config.

[depping]

I don't see the Cisco Nytro controller listed at the moment by the way... So the question would be for your Cisco rep and ask them when they are going to certify more drives / flash devices. You could of course alternatively use any regular intel / sandisk (etc) SSD which is on the HCL. But not sure what that would do to Cisco support.