Reference Guide

vStart 100 and 200 VMware vSphere Reference Architecture
Dell Inc 8
With a 24 drive chassis full of 600GB SAS drives, the PS6100X array delivers 14.4 Terabyte (TB) of iSCSI-
based storage built on fully-redundant, hot-swappable enterprise hardware. Scale out capacity and
performance is provided by adding additional arrays. Built-in software functionality includes automated
load balancing, snapshots and replication, multi-path I/O (MPIO), and consistency sets. SAN HQ is also
available for Multi-SAN historical performance monitoring.
Advanced data protection features such as Auto Replication and Auto-Snapshot Manager (ASM) also
come standard. The ASM integrates with VMware vCenter and VMware’s native snapshot technology to
provide intelligent and consistent snapshots.
EqualLogic also provides a Multipath Extension Module (MEM) for VMware vSphere to enable MPIO for
the iSCSI storage. EqualLogic MEM offers:
 Ease of installation and iSCSI configuration in ESXi servers
 Increased bandwidth
 Reduced network latency
 Automatic load balancing across multiple active paths
 Automatic connection management
 Automatic failure detection and failover
 Multiple connections to a single iSCSI target
3.1.3 PowerEdge R620 management server
The Dell PowerEdge R620 uses Intel® Xeon® E5 2600 series processors and Intel chipset architecture in
a 1U rack mount form factor. The R620 supports up to ten 2.5‖ drives. There is also an option for an
LCD on the front of the server for system health monitoring, alerting, and basic management
configuration. The server features two CPU sockets and 24 memory DIMM slots supporting 2, 4, 8, 16 or
32GB DIMMs to meet the memory demands of a virtualized infrastructure.
3.1.4 PowerConnect 7048 or 6248 for LAN and SAN Traffic
At the heart of the solutions network configuration are four Dell PowerConnect 7048 and 6248
switches. This managed Layer 3 Gigabit Ethernet switch offers the enterprise-class level of
performance required for this configuration. The LAN switches use a stacked configuration that enables
connection redundancy and added bandwidth where required. Additionally, its 10Gb uplink enables
design and implementation flexibility needed by advanced users. LAN and SAN switches are physically
and logically separated per best practices to support security and network traffic segmentation. VLANs
are implemented to support solution management, security, and network traffic segmentation, and
routing is leveraged to provide flexible connectivity.