Users Guide

Hardware symmetry check
Hardware symmetry check ensures nodes selected for an Azure Stack HCI cluster are supported and have symmetrical
hardware configurations as recommended by Dell EMC.
Azure stack HCI cluster works best when the hardware configurations of all the selected nodes are compliant with Dell EMC
recommendations.
The Integrated Deploy and Update feature in OMIMSWAC helps you to maintain hardware symmetry and update nodes
while creating an Azure Stack HCI cluster using AX nodes (running Azure Stack HCI OS) in Windows Admin Center. The
Hardware symmetry check runs a set of rules on nodes and helps you to align their hardware configurations with Dell EMC
recommendations.
Before you create an Azure Stack HCI cluster, ensure to run and comply with all the rules of Hardware symmetry checks.
Hardware symmetry checks are intended to do the following:
● Find hardware or configuration issues before an Azure stack HCI cluster goes into production.
● Ensure that the Azure stack HCI cluster you deploy is reliable and the cluster performance is optimal.
This topic explains the Hardware symmetry rules and provides examples of supported and unsupported configurations. For
information about supported and validated components required for hardware symmetry, see AS HCI support matrix. If any
of the hardware symmetry checks fail with a "Critical" or "Warning" error, review the recommendations and show details and
contact the Dell support team to resolve the issue before proceeding to the next step.
The critical error states that this aspect of nodes configuration is not supported. You must correct the issue before you can
deploy an symmetric Azure Stack HCI cluster. And Warning states that this aspect of nodes configuration can be supported for
cluster deployment, but might result in sub-optimal cluster performance. Therefore, it should be reviewed.
Symmetry rules
Processor
● It is recommended for all nodes to have processors from the same model. Using nodes with different processor models
results in a warning.
For example: if one node has a processor of X model, they should all have processors from the X model.
● All nodes must have same number of processor sockets. Using nodes with different processor sockets results in Hardware
symmetry failure.
For example, if one node has 2 processor sockets, then they should all have 2 processor sockets.
Memory
● If one node has persistent memory, it is recommended they should all have the persistent memory of same number and
capacity. Using nodes with different numbers or capacities of persistent memory results in a warning.
● It is recommended to have the same amount of physical memory for all nodes. Using physical memory of different capacity
results in a warning.
Platform
●
All nodes must have a BOSS adapter. Using nodes without a BOSS adapter results in Hardware symmetry failure.
Storage
● It is recommended to have compatible drives of same media type such as SSD, NVMe, and HDD for all nodes. Using nodes
with incompatible drives results in a warning.
● All nodes must have the same Host Bus Adapter (HBA) except for all NVMe configurations. Using nodes with different HBA
results in Hardware symmetry failure.
For example, if one node has HBA 330, they should all have the same HBA 330.
Network
● It is recommended that all nodes should have compatible network adapters. Using nodes with incompatible network adapters
results in a warning.
● At least one RDMA network adapters must be common across all nodes. Using nodes without any common network adapters
results in Hardware symmetry failure.
Integrated deploy and update of Azure Stack HCI clusters
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