Setup Guide

vSAN ReadyNode (vSRN)
A vSRN is a certified hardware form factor for vSAN deployment, which is recommended by the server OEM and VMware.
vSRN is ideal for larger data center environments looking for hyper-converged building blocks for automation. The predefined
hardware configuration is certified with specific versions of vSAN and listed in the VMware Compatibility Guide (VCG). Dell
EMC provides multiple vSAN ReadyNodes that are built on PowerEdge servers and certified to run different VMware vSAN
versions. For more information, see VMware Compatibility Guide for Dell EMC. Each Dell EMC vSRN contains predefined
components such as processor, memory, network, storage I/O Controller, HDDs, and SSDs combined with a VMware ESXi
certified PowerEdge server. So, multiple ReadyNode options on different performance profiles are available to meet various
types of workload requirements. For more information, see vSAN Hardware Quick Reference Guide. To understand the
correlation between ESXi builds and vSAN versions, see ESXi-vSAN versioning.
vSRNs contain the following features:
● vSRN are classified into All Flash (AF) and Hybrid (HY) profiles
NOTE: The vSRN profile is created based on different design considerations. For more information, see vSAN Hardware
Quick Reference Guide.
● AF contains only SSD drives (SAS/SATA/NVMe) that are required for both cache and capacity tier
● HY vSRNs use HDDs in capacity tier and SSDs in caching tier
NOTE:
For more information about the components that can be changed in vSRN and the components that are not
suitable for vSRN, see VMware blog.
Following are the conditions to replace the drives in vSAN:
● Dell EMC vSRNs are available in multiple profiles to meet various workload requirements. Dell EMC provides NVMe AF
ReadyNodes that have high-performance NVMe drives used in cache and capacity tiers.
NOTE:
Dell EMC offers vSAN with NVMe All Flash vSRNs configuration and the cache and capacity tiers that are
configured with high-performance NVMe drives.
● Drives that are part of cache tier and capacity tier can be replaced with the drives having increased capacity size,
performance class, and endurance class. Ensure that the drives that are selected for replacements are listed in VCG.
● VMware and Dell EMC recommends that you use a homogenous vSAN cluster.
NOTE:
If you want to replace the drive with a different model, ensure that the previous condition is satisfied. However,
you may face performance issues when you replace the drive with a different model.
● When the capacity tier drive is replaced with a higher capacity drive, the overall size of vSAN increases accordingly.
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