I noticed this new SuperMicro VSAN Ready Node being published last week. The configuration is potentially a nice solution for ROBO deployments, primarily due to the cost of the system.
Supermicro SuperServer SYS-1018D-73MTF latest addition to @VMwareVSAN vSAN Ready line-up – http://t.co/G07r0InPps pic.twitter.com/p9gz3yRF4S
— Supermicro (@Supermicro_SMCI) April 4, 2014
When I did the math it came in around $ 3800,-. This is the configuration:
- SuperMicro SuperServer 1018D-73MTF
- 1 x Intel E3-1270 V3 3.5GHz- Quadcore
- 32GB Memory
- 5 x 1TB 7200 RPM NL-SAS HDD
- 1 x 200GB Intel S3700 SSD
- LSI 2308 Disk controller
- 4 x 1GbE NIC port
It is a nice configuration that will allow for roughly fifteen 1 vCPU Virtual Machines with 3GB of memory and 60GB disk capacity per host. Personally I would use a different CPU and some more memory probably as that gives you a bit more headroom, especially during maintenance. The cost from a software point of view is socket based so you can increase memory and change the type of CPU with relative low cost impact. The SuperMicro server listed however is limited to the E3 CPU family and to 32GB but there are alternatives out there. (For instance the Dell R320 or maybe even the R210 etc)
From a software point of view the cost of this configuration is limited to 3 x VSAN license and 3 x vSphere. As VSAN even works with Essentials Plus and Standard you could leverage that to keep the cost down, but keep in mind that you won’t have DRS if you drop down to Standard or lower. Still sounds like a nice ROBO package to me, especially when you have many sites this could be a great way to create a standardized packaged solution.
Hi Duncan. What VSAN solution would you lean towards if the requirement was to include nVidia GRID cards (at least one)?
I think there needs to be an Essentials Plus bundle with VSAN included (limited to 3 hosts) to keep costs low.
I relayed it to the VSAN PMM team, not much more I can do about it unfortunately…
great to hear, thanks Duncan! I’m sure they’ll offer something for these types of customers in the near future.
I agree with Ronny, especially now, with the EOL of VMware VSA.
Why not a VSAN bundled with the Essential Plus license?
Relayed it to the VSAN product marketing team.
The Cpu for 349 $ is cheap. The Performance is faster than an amd operton from the list.http://www.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html
10 Gigabit is missing.
10GbE is a recommendation, not a requirement. And with a low number of VMs 1GbE should be sufficient.