Deployment Guide

5 VxRail Networking Guide with Dell EMC S4148-ON Switches | version 1.0
1 Introduction
VxRail™ sits at the forefront of a fundamental shift in IT infrastructure consumption away from application-
specific, build-your-own infrastructure and toward virtualized, general-purpose, engineered systems. Dell
EMC and VMware have embraced this shift with the VxRail hyper-converged appliance that delivers
compelling economics, faster time-to-value, linear scaling over time, and operational simplicity.
To take full advantage of the value of a VxRail solution, one must carefully consider the network that not only
enables multiple nodes to function as cluster, but also enables connectivity to the customer’s IT environment.
The inclusion of dedicated switches for a VxRail cluster can massively simplify this process and avoid many
of the pitfalls associated with the deployment of a hyper-converged solution that originates in network
connectivity.
The audience for this deployment guide is professional services personnel responsible for the deployment of
the VxRail cluster when purchased with a pair of dedicated Dell EMC Networking S4148-ON switches and
cluster. The deployment guide covers the process of connecting a cluster of VxRail nodes (minimum of three
nodes, maximum of 64 nodes) to the pair of Dell EMC Networking S4148-ON switches in a high-availability
configuration, and configuring those switches to connect to the customer’s IP network. Figure 1. An overview
of a VxRail node with dual S4148-ON Top-of-Rack (ToR) leaf switches outlines configuration. The document
provides guidelines for VxRail appliances built on 13th and 14th generation PowerEdge servers, however the
configuration examples are for 13
th
generation appliances.
VxRail cluster with dual S4148-ON Top-of-Rack switches