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vmware evo:rail

EVO:RAIL vs VSAN Ready Node vs Component based

Duncan Epping · Sep 12, 2014 ·

EVO:RAIL is awesome! That is typically what I hear from customers when pitching the EVO:RAIL play and showing the config and management demo. Customers are all over it I can tell you. They love the ease of deployment, management, procurement and support… Now, every now and then this geeky person pops up and say: but euuhm, I want more disks and I want to scale per node and all of my configuration stuff is scripted. How will that work with EVO:RAIL?

This is when I show them this slide:

It is a very very valid question to be honest. It is something which I, as a geek, would ask as well. How can I tweak the configuration so that it meets my requirements, and can I just use my own deployment mechanism? Sure you can, but not necessarily with EVO:RAIL. Keep in mind that EVO:RAIL is build using trusted VMware technology like VMware vSphere, vCenter Server, Virtual SAN and Log Insight. Although the EVO:RAIL engine (configuration and management interface) cannot be downloaded separately the components can be. We very much realize that EVO:RAIL may not be a fit for all customers and that is exactly why VMware offers choice as the slide above shows.

If you are a geek, love digging through hardware compatibility lists, like to configure your own servers part by part and have absolute maximum flexibility then option 1 is your best choice. Using the “Component Based” approach you can select your own: Server (vSphere HCL) and then from the VSAN HCL pick your components like the disk controller, SSD and magnetic drives. You get to pick how many drives, which type of flash, how much memory, how many cores per CPU… you name it. Note though, that it does mean you will need to do research to find out which components work well together, what kind of performance you can expect from disk controller x, y or z. But it is doable, many customers have already done this and it will allow you to design to your specific needs. Do note, you will need to configure it yourself and purchase licenses / support.

If you prefer a simpler approach, but still a certain level of flexibility then the “Virtual SAN Ready Node” approach is definitely a great option. It provides you a selection of around 40 different OEM configurations which have been validated by both the OEMs and VMware. Note though that these configurations are typically based on VM configuration profiles and IO profiles. This is mentioned in the Virtual SAN Ready Node list, there are low / medium / high configurations and also two different VDI configurations for each of the different server platforms. If you prefer a pre-validated solution, but need some flexibility then this is the way to go. Again, you will need to install/configure it yourself and purchase licenses / support, but it definitely easier than “component based”.

The third option is “VMware EVO:RAIL“. EVO:RAIL is at the far right of the slider –> Maximum Ease of Use. EVO:RAIL is pre-built on a qualified platform. This means that it comes pre-installed, and can be configured within 15 minutes. It has an easy / simple management interface that allows for easy patching/updating, simple VM creation and management, and even easier automatic scale-out (a couple of clicks). On top of that, it is sold as a single SKU (all licenses and support included) and all support will go through 1 channel. No more being pointed from one vendor to the other, no you contact that single vendor for both support of software as for hardware… Maximum Ease of Use as I said. If this is what you are looking for, EVO:RAIL is what you need.

As you see, when it comes to scale-out server SAN / hyper(visor) converged solutions… VMware offers you maximum choice.

VMware EVO:RAIL use case: ROBO

Duncan Epping · Sep 8, 2014 ·

Something that came up a couple of days back was a question around how VMware EVO:RAIL fits the ROBO (remote office branch office) use case. If you watched the demo you will have seen that it is very simple / easy to configure. It takes about 15 minutes to get you up and running and all you need to do is provide details like “IP ranges”, “Subnet mask”, “Gateway” and a couple of other globals.

This by itself makes EVO:RAIL a perfect solution for ROBO deployments… but there is more. When it comes to ROBO deployments and simplifying the roll out there are two more options:

  1. Provide configuration details during procurement process
  2. Specify configuration details in a file and insert in to appliance before shipment to remote office

evo:rail UI

I won’t discuss option 1 in-depth, as this will very much depend on how each of the EVO:RAIL Qualified Partners handles this on their website / during the procurement process. Basically what happens is that you provide your preferred server vendor with configuration details and they put it in to a file called “default-config-static.json” and this is injected in to the vCenter Server Appliance which also runs the EVO:RAIL engine. For the hackers who want to play around with EVO:RAIL, note that the location of the json file and the format may change with newer versions so make sure to always use the latest and greatest if you want to play around. If you have filled out these details, you can just click

Option 2 is also very interesting if you ask me. If you look at EVO:RAIL as it stands today, you have the option to upload a JSON file when you hit the configuration screen (as shown in the screenshot above). This JSON should contain all of your configuration details and then will allow you to configure EVO:RAIL with the click of a button. In other words, you ship the appliance to your remote office. You email them the JSON file (in a secured manner hopefully) and ask them to click “upload configuration file”. They upload the file and then run “Validate”, and probably fill out the password as you don’t want to sent that in clear text. That is it… Nice right :). Of course, if you want … you could even go as far as injecting the .json file into the vCenter Server Appliance yourself, but I am not sure if that will be supported.

As you can imagine, this greatly simplifies the deployment of EVO:RAIL as all it takes is just one click to configure, which is ideal for a ROBO scenario. Anyone can do it!

VMware EVO:RAIL demo

Duncan Epping · Sep 4, 2014 ·

I just wanted to share the VMware EVO:RAIL demo with my readers. I shared it on twitter / linkedin but figured it made sense as well to have it here. The demo shows both the configuration and the management interface. Note that it takes less than 15 minutes normally to complete the configuration, but of course the video has been edited to keep it short and sweet… No point in watching a percentage completed counter go up.

VMware EVO:RAIL FAQ

Duncan Epping · Sep 2, 2014 ·

Over the last couple of days the same VMware EVO:RAIL questions keep popping up over and over again. I figured I would do a quick VMware EVO:RAIL Q&A post so that I can point people to that instead of constantly answering them on twitter.

  • Can you explain what EVO:RAIL is?
    • EVO:RAIL is the next evolution of infrastructure building blocks for the SDDC. It delivers compute, storage and networking in a 2U / 4 node package with an intuitive interface that allows for full configuration within 15 minutes. The appliance bundles hardware+software+support/maintenance to simplify both procurement and support in a true “appliance” fashion. EVO:RAIL provides the density of blade with the flexibility of rack. Each appliance comes with 100GHz of compute power, 768GB of memory capacity and 14.4TB of raw storage capacity (plus 1.6TB of flash for IO acceleration purposes). For full details, read my intro post.
  • Where can I find the datasheet?
    • http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/products/evo-rail/vmware-evo-rail-datasheet.pdf
  • What is the minimum number of EVO:RAIL hosts?
    • Minimum number is 4 hosts. Each appliance comes with 4 independent hosts, which means that 1 appliance is the start. It scales per appliance!
  • What is included with an EVO:RAIL appliance?
    • 4 independent hosts each with the following resources
      • 2 x E5-2620 6 core
      • 192GB Memory
      • 3 x 1.2TB 10K RPM Drive for VSAN
      • 1 x 400Gb eMLC SSD for VSAN
      • 1 x ESXi boot device
      • 2 x 10GbE NIC port (SFP / RJ45 can be selected)
      • 1 x IPMI port
    • vSphere Enterprise Plus
    • vCenter Server
    • Virtual SAN
    • Log Insight
    • Support and Maintenance for 3 years
  • What is the total available storage capacity?
    • After the VSAN Datastore is formed and vCenter Server is installed / configured there is about 13.1TB left
  • How many VMs can I run on one appliance?
    • That will very much depend on the size of the virtual machine and the workload. We have been able to comfortably run 250 desktops on one appliance. With Server VMs we ended up with around 100. However, again this very much depends on things like workload / capacity etc.
  • How many EVO:RAIL appliance can I scale to?
    • With the current release EVO:RAIL scales to 4 appliance (aka 16 hosts)
  • If licensing / maintenance / support is three 3 years, what happens after?
    • After 3 years support/maintenance expires. It can be extended, or the appliance can be replaced when desired.
  • How is support handled?
    • All support is handled through the OEM the EVO:RAIL HCIA has been procured through. This ensures that “end to end” support will be provided through the same channel.
  • Who are the EVO:RAIL qualified partners?
    • The following partners were announced at VMworld: Dell, EMC, Fujitsu, Inspur, Net One Systems, Supermicro, Hitachi Data Systems, HP, NetApp
  • How much does an EVO:RAIL appliance cost?
    • Pricing will be set by qualified partners
  • I was told Support and Maintenance is for 3 years, what happens after 3 years?
    • You can renew your support and maintenance with 2 years at most (as far as I know).
    • If not renewed then the EVO:RAIL appliance will remain functioning, but entitlement to support is gone.
  • What if I buy a new appliance after 3 years, can I re-use my licenses that come with the EVO:RAIL appliance??
    • No, the licenses are directly tied to the appliance and cannot be transferred to any other appliance or hardware.
  • Will NSX work with EVO:RAIL?
    • EVO:RAIL uses vSphere 5.5 and Virtual SAN. Anything that works with that will work with EVO:RAIL. NSX has not been explicitly tested but I expect that this should be no problem.
  • Does it use VMware Update Manager (VUM) for updating/patching?
    • No EVO:RAIL does not use VUM for updating and patching. It uses a new mechanism which is built from scratch and comes as part of the EVO:RAIL engine. This to provide a simple updating and patching mechanism, while avoiding the need for a Windows VM (VUM requires Windows).
  • What kind of NIC card is included?
    • 10GbE dual port NIC per host. Majority of vendors will offer both SFP+ and RJ45. This means there is 8 x 10GbE switch port per EVO:RAIL appliance required!
  • Is there a physical switch included?
    • A physical switch is not part of the “recipe” VMware provided to qualified partners, but some may package one (or multiple) with it to simplify green field deployments.
  • What is MARVIN or Mystic ?
    • MARVIN (Modular Automated Rackable Virtual Infrastructure Node) was the codename used by VMware internally for EVO:RAIL. Mystic was the codename used by EMC. Both of them refer to EVO:RAIL
  • Where does EVO:RAIL run?
    • EVO:RAIL runs on vCenter Server. vCenter Server is powered-on automatically when the appliance is started and the EVO:RAIL engine can then be used to configure the appliance
  • Which version of vCenter Server do you use, the Windows version or the Appliance?
    • In order to simplify deployment EVO:RAIL uses the vCenter Server Appliance.
  • Can I use the vCenter Web Client to manage my VMs or do I need to use the EVO:RAIL engine?
    • You can use whatever you like to manage your VMs. Web Client is fully supported and configured for you!
  • Are there networking requirements?
    • IPv6 is required for configuration of the appliance and auto-discovery. Multicast traffic on L2 is required for Virtual SAN
  • …

Some great EVO:RAIL links:

  • Introducing EVO:RAIL
  • EVO:RAIL configuration and management Demo
  • VMTN Community – EVO:RAIL
  • Linkedin Group – EVO:RAIL
  • VMware blog: VMware Horizon and EVO: RAIL – Value Add For Customers
  • Chad Sakac – VMworld 2014 – EVO:RAIL and EMC’s approach
  • Julian Wood – VMware Marvin comes alive as EVO:Rail, a Hyper-Converged Infrastructure Appliance
  • Chris Wahl – VMware announces software defined infrastructure with EVO:RAIL
  • Ivan Pepelnjak – VMware EVO:RAIL – One stop shop for your private cloud
  • Podcast on EVO:RAIL with Mike Laverick
  • EVO:RAIL engineering interview with Dave Shanley
  • EVO:RAIL vs VSAN Ready Node vs Component based
  • …

If you have any questions, feel free to drop them in comments section and I will do my best to answer them.

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About the author

Duncan Epping is a Chief Technologist in the Office of CTO of the Cloud Platform BU at VMware. He is a VCDX (# 007), the author of the "vSAN Deep Dive" and the “vSphere Clustering Technical Deep Dive” series, and he is the host of the "In de aap gelogeerd" (Dutch) and "unexplored territory" (English) podcasts.

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