White Paper

Use Case Study: Using Active System For VMware Cluster Environment Configuration
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Introduction
This whitepaper describes how to use Active System Manager (ASM) Management and Deployment
templates to configure a blade system infrastructure to host a VMware cluster. The servers in this
cluster will be configured by Active System Manager to boot from an ESXi 5.1 image on their internal
redundant SD cards which have been pre-installed with ESX 5.1 at the factory. Active System Manager
will assist with enabling Converged Network Adapter (CNA) iSCSI connectivity and configuring I/O
Module Network to support the iSCSI data volume connections to the required shared storage for the
cluster. The network containing only the storage traffic is the iSCSI-only network. Active System will
also assist with configuration of the CNA partitioning for the networking required for hypervisor
management, vMotion, and the virtual machine networks. The network containing all other traffic
aside from the storage traffic is the LAN-only network. This white paper introduces several Active
System concepts for infrastructure management and walks through the real world use case of Active
System iSCSI-Only and LAN-only infrastructure setup, blade environment setup with Active System
Manager, and finally VMware host and cluster configuration.
Active Infrastructure
Dell’s Active Infrastructure is a family of converged infrastructure offerings that combine servers,
storage, networking, and infrastructure management into an integrated system that provides general
purpose virtual resource pools for applications and private clouds. These systems blend intuitive
infrastructure management, an open architecture, flexible delivery models, and a unified support
model to allow IT to rapidly respond to dynamic business needs, maximize efficiency, and strengthen IT
service quality.
In this use case Active Infrastructure is used to provide compute resources and required connectivity to
both storage networks and standard Ethernet networks in order to support a VMware cluster. The
infrastructure to support these connections is provided via two separate fabrics in the blade chassis,
one containing only iSCSI traffic and one containing only standard Ethernet networking traffic. Fabric A
in the blade chassis provides two independent Dell Force10 PowerEdge M I/O Aggregators (IOAs) for
redundant connections to the storage distribution devices. Fabric B in the blade chassis provides two
independent IOAs for redundant connections to the LAN distribution devices. The iSCSI Storage Area
Network (SAN) will allow the VMware ESXi 5.1 hosts to connect to the two or more shared volumes on
the EqualLogic storage array required to create a cluster. The LAN network will carry the standard
Ethernet traffic to support various required networks such as the hypervisor management network, the
vMotion network, and the VM Networks which will provide networking for the virtual machines running
on the various hosts.
Active System Manager (ASM)
Active System Manager simplifies infrastructure configuration, collapses management tools, and drives
automation and consistency. Through capabilities such as template-based provisioning, automated
configuration, and infrastructure lifecycle management, Active System Manager enables IT to respond
rapidly to business needs, maximize data center efficiency, and strengthen quality of IT service
delivery.