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vStart 50 VMware vSphere Solution Overview
Dell Inc. 6
Below is the description of the solution components:
Component Logical Groups Table 1.
Component
Description
Role
ESXi Cluster
PowerEdge R620 servers running
VMware ESXi Embedded
Host virtual machines (VMs)
iSCSI Storage
EqualLogic PS6100X with 24 x
300 GB 10K RPM 2.5” SAS Drives
Provide shared storage for the
ESXi cluster to host the VMs
Management Server
PowerEdge R420 server running
Microsoft
®
Windows Server
®
2008 R2 SP1 Standard Edition
Host VMware vCenter Server and
EqualLogic SAN HQ
LAN Traffic Switches
PowerConnect 7024 or 6224
switches
Support VM, vMotion,
Management, and Out-of-Band
Management traffic
SAN Traffic Switches
PowerConnect 7024 or 6224
switches
Support iSCSI data and iSCSI
management traffic
Dell Management Plug-in for
VMware vCenter
Dell virtual appliance hosted on
the ESXi Cluster
Enables hardware monitoring,
inventory, firmware updates,
bare metal deployment of
hypervisors, and warranty
retrieval, all integrated into the
vCenter Server user interface
Dell EqualLogic HIT/VE Plug-in
for VMware vCenter
Dell virtual appliance hosted on
the ESXi Cluster
Enables Auto Snapshots and
storage volume management, all
integrated into the vCenter
Server user interface
3.1 Storage Expansion Options
This section provides an overview for the vStart 50 storage expansion options.
As previously shown in Figure 1 above, the vStart 50 comes with one PS6100X array. For customers
whose VM profiles and workloads require additional storage capacity or IOPS, an additional PS6100
array can be added as an upgrade for existing vStart 50’s with one array (vStart 50+). For customers
who are considering purchasing a vStart 50, the option for two PS arrays is available.
vStart 50 Storage Expansion Options Table 2.
vStart Model
vStart 50: Base vStart Storage
Array Configuration
vStart 50+: With Storage
Expansion Configuration
vStart 50
1 x PS6100X
2 x PS6100 Series Arrays
It’s important to note that adding an additional storage array will not require customers to purchase
additional PowerConnect switches, management servers, or software since the vStart architecture was
designed with storage and host expansion in mind.