vSAN 'Build your own' Hardware vendor support?

[mythumbsclick]

Hi All

These question is leaning more towards hardware vendors but Im hoping the vSAN community might be able to chime in on this.

I am currently in the process of putting together a spec for a 3-node vSAN. I have a couple of questions regarding vendor (Dell) support for the hardware.

I have a spare Poweredge R730XD in stock from a previous purchase. My plan is to purchase from Dell 2 more R730XDs with RAID/HDD/SSD on the vSAN HCL. They are in fact part of this ready node configuration however; I will be using different processor/RAM quantity and different NICs. For the existing R730 chassis that I have, I will purchase the components (the same as the other 2).

One of my suppliers quoting for this has thrown a spanner in the works pointing out the following:

1. Because I am not using a vSAN ready node configuration (Although RAID/SSD/HDD are on the vSAN HCL), Dell won’t ‘fully’ support the configuration. I am not sure what this means and they were vague. They made it sound as though hardware vendors will not support vSAN configs that deviate from the ready node configs.Surely this cant be the case as nobody would build there own.
2. Using the existing 730XD chassis may also not be supported by Dell because it was not purchased as a vSAN ready node – Maybe something to with firmware.

My understanding is that as long as applicable hardware is on the vSAN HCL then you are OK, as Dell will support the hardware as it is purchased from them. Is anyone able to verify these points?

Many thanks

[TheBobkin]

Hello mythumbsclick,

"Using the existing 730XD chassis may also not be supported by Dell because it was not purchased as a vSAN ready node"

My understanding of it is that hardware vendors can have somewhat different (and potentially vSAN-specific) support structures for Ready-Nodes, so while you are entitled to hardware support this may not be handled by the same teams or same manner as if they were all bought as Ready-Nodes.

What would also trouble me (no idea if possible) is the possibility to be denied Ready-node support for the whole cluster due to one node not being purchased as such, this is something that should be clarified with the vendor directly, had a look and cannot find a solid answer regarding this point.

While I am aware you are asking specifically about non-Ready-Node configured like one, I think this article is extremely relevant from a functional perspective as it outlines what is okay and not okay to deviate from in Ready-Nodes and the components you have noted are okay to do so in this respect:

https://blogs.vmware.com/virtualblocks/2017/03/14/can-cannot-change-vsan-readynode/

Do note that switching IO controllers is not-supported from a Ready-node perspective and if you research a bit you will find that many Ready-Node configurations have very specific variants of other more common controllers - whether this is for specific functionality/stability reasons or quality-control I cannot determine.

If all nodes are using stock H730P/H730P Mini/slim this should not be an issue as they would be using the same driver/firmware as the other controllers (but again, how it is supported by hardware vendor is only something they can answer).

With regard to VMware vSAN support: from a hardware perspective the only things that are required are that all hardware is supported for the version of ESXi installed and that the controller(s) + cache-tier SSDs + capacity-tier SSDs/HDDs are certified for use with the version of vSAN installed (and that you are using supported controller-mode, driver/firmware for these and for that build). (Source - On a daily-basis I don't discriminate between Ready-node or non-Ready-Node I just want to fix the cluster :smileygrin: )

Hope this helps

Bob

[mythumbsclick]

Thank you Bob

That was really helpful!

[wreedMH]

I have 64+ R730xd nodes at work, we use the HBA330 in all of them.

They work great! They were purchased as "ready-nodes" but I dont think there is much difference. Support seems to be from the same team as regular nodes. One thing our rep did say if they are set to Maximum Performance in the BIOS from the factory. Not sure what else is different from regular nodes. Like I said I dont think all that much. You still use all the same drives/firmware/Dell ESXi loads from support.dell.com

[elerium]

I build my own (also using Dell) with all components on ESXi and VSAN HCL. My cache SSDs and hard disks aren't even from Dell.

Regarding hardware issues, I've had some issues in the past with Dell (mainly with the H730 controller) as they immediately fingerpoint to my non Dell hardware despite all signs pointing to problems with the raid controller/driver. Even when the raid log shows the controller resetting and crashing, they were completely unwilling to budge in their position until I used some spare Dell hardware I had to show them that even with Dell drives the controller was crapping out. Eventually was resolved with a new driver which fixed the issue.

My experience with VMWare has been exactly as TheBobkin describes, they check that the server model is on ESXi HCL and controller, cache and capacity are on VSAN HCL for the version of VSAN you're running. I've never been asked if it's readynode or not.

[elerium]

Also do yourself a big favor and go with 4 nodes. If you ever experience any serious host or upgrade issues, you will really appreciate having at least 4 nodes.