Dell™ vStart is a complete virtualization infrastructure solution that tightly integrates with VMware® at all levels. vStart is offered in several configurations that are determined by the number of virtual machines you want to run. All vStart solutions contain a cluster of Dell™ PowerEdge servers running VMware® ESXi™, Dell EqualLogic™ storage, and Dell PowerConnect™ switches. All of this is centrally managed through a Dell PowerEdge server hosting VMware vCenter Server and EqualLogic SAN HQ storage management tools.
Integration with VMware begins with the PowerEdge server cluster, which runs ESXi to host virtual machines. These servers allow for quick virtualization deployment with embedded hypervisors from VMware.
EqualLogic storage consists of a virtualized iSCSI SAN that provides shared storage for the ESXi cluster. The EqualLogic SAN includes Auto Replication and Auto Snapshot Manager software to facilitate business continuity and disaster recovery. Additionally EqualLogic supports VMware vStorage APIs for Array Integration (VAII) to improve the performance of critical operations such as creating, cloning, starting and stopping virtual machines.
Four Dell PowerConnect 6248 switches reside at the heart of the solution’s network configuration to provide the enterprise-class level of performance required for virtualization; two for LAN and two for SAN. The LAN switches use a stacked configuration that enables connection redundancy and added bandwidth. The SAN switches support iSCSI data and manage traffic across the network.
The management server consists of one Dell PowerEdge server that hosts VMware vCenter, Dell plug-ins for vCenter that enable it to manage the physical server infrastructure in addition to the virtual one, and EqualLogic SAN HQ for managing the SAN. The Dell Management Plug-in for VMware vCenter provides seamless integration and comprehensive management of your PowerEdge virtualized infrastructure from your vCenter console. Administrators can deploy and update BIOS and firmware, monitor hardware, view server resources, retrieve warranty information and create and use hardware and hypervisor templates to ensure consistency and maintain corporate-approved standards.
The tight integration between VMware vCenter and EqualLogic enables vCenter to use snapshots generated by EqualLogic to enable protection of folders, data stores and virtual machines. It also enables the vCenter Site Recover Manager (SRM) to use EqualLogic replication for full SRM integration, which optimizes Disaster Recovery automation and testing.
EqualLogic SAN HQ provides centralized access to detailed performance and event data, reporting, and intelligent alerts from the EqualLogic SAN. IT managers can see information on all of the monitored SAN at a glance as well as any alerts.
Key Benefits
- All the infrastructure you need to host virtual machines in one pre-sized, pre-wired, pre-configured, pre-integrated and pre-tested rack that arrives on site, ready-to-run
- Initial setup and deployment into your environment is included with every vStart
- Integrated snapshots for VMware®
- Auto-replication integration with VMware® Site Recovery Manager for optimized Disaster Recovery automation and testing Auto-replication integration with VMware® Site Recovery Manager for optimized Disaster Recovery automation and testing
- Unique Dell Server storage and management plug-ins for vCenter Server enable a single management interface for virtual and physical infrastructure
- Full integration with VMware vStorage APIs for enhanced manageability and performance
- Ability to deploy BIOS & firmware updates from vCenter
