Reference Architecture

vStart 100 and 200 Reference Architecture
Dell Inc. 4
Table 1 below describes the solution components:
Component Logical Groups Table 1.
Component
Description
Role
Hyper-V Cluster
PowerEdge R720 servers running
Windows Server 2008 R2
Datacenter Edition with SP1 and
Hyper-V role enabled
Host virtual machines (VMs)
iSCSI Storage
EqualLogic PS6100X with 24 x
600 Gigabyte (GB) 10,000 RPM
SAS Drives
Provide shared storage for the
Hyper-V cluster to host the VMs
Management Server
PowerEdge R620 server running
Microsoft ® Windows Server
®2008 R2 Standard Edition with
SP1
Host optional SCVMM 2008 R2,
and EqualLogic SAN HQ
LAN Traffic Switches
PowerConnect 7048 or 6248
switches
Support VM, Live Migration,
Management, Cluster and Out-
of-Band Management traffic
SAN Traffic Switches
PowerConnect 7048 or 6248
switches
Support iSCSI data
3.1 Product Overview
This section provides an overview of the components in the solution.
3.1.1 PowerEdge R720 for Hyper-V Cluster
The Dell PowerEdge R720 uses Intel® Xeon® E5-2600 series processors and Intel chipset architecture in
a 2U rack mount form factor. The R720 is a powerful general purpose platform with highly expandable
memory and I/O capabilities to match. Its extensive scalability and balanced design, allows it to handle
very demanding workloads. The server features two CPU sockets and 24 memory slots supporting 2, 4,
8, 16, or 32GB DIMMs to meet the memory demands of a virtualized infrastructure.
Energy-efficient design features include power-supply units sized appropriately for system
requirements, innovative system-level design efficiency, policy-driven power and thermal
management, and highly efficient standards-based Energy Smart components. For more information,
see the PowerEdge R720 Technical Guide.
3.1.2 EqualLogic PS6100 for iSCSI Storage
The Dell EqualLogic PS6100 is a virtualized iSCSI SAN that combines intelligence and automation with
fault tolerance to provide simplified administration, rapid deployment, enterprise performance and
reliability, and seamless scalability. The storage architecture delivers a self-optimizing SAN that is
simple to manage and has an all-inclusive software suite to help reduce Total Cost of Ownership (TCO).
In the vStart 100 and 200, the PS6100X uses 10,000 RPM Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) 2.5” form factor disk
drives to provide capacity and performance for a range of applications.