System information

A Principled Technologies test report 8
Dell PowerEdge VRTX and M-series compute nodes configuration study
To learn more about VMware vSphere 5, visit
www.vmware.com/products/vsphere/overview.html.
IN CONCLUSION
When considering whether to upgrade to the new Dell PowerEdge VRTX or
repurpose older hardware, the advantages of new hardware are clear. Not only do you
get newer hardware that is faster and is better-equipped to handle the increasing
demands of today’s business applications and workloads, but you also benefit from
advances that make deployment and management easier than ever.
In our labs, we compared the Dell PowerEdge VRTX with four server nodes and
shared storage and networking to a similar infrastructure using four legacy tower
servers, external network switches, and an external SAN. Our testing revealed the
following:
 PowerEdge VRTX took 78.5 percent less time and 150 fewer steps to
configure and deploy out of the box compared to the legacy solution.
 PowerEdge VRTX It took less than 1 hour to unbox and configure into a
highly available VMware vSphere cluster compared to over 4 hours on the
legacy solution.
 Deploying the Dell PowerEdge VRTX used just a single management tool, the
integrated Chassis Management Controller, whereas the tower solution
required six separate management tools.
Choosing such a complete solution during your next server refresh can simplify
infrastructure setup and configuration, boost performance through built-in high
availability features, and potentially save your organization space and operating costs
over the life of the hardware.