The team that works on VxRail and VxRack SDDC have a simple mission – to be the ultimate, most turnkey manifestation of the VMware SDDC stack – including the SDS layer for VxRail, and the SDS and SDN layer for VxRack SDDC.
They aren’t just “VMware aligned” – they are one team, led by a single clearly accountable individual, and built up with a great team that is built of VMware and Dell EMC employees.
The roadmaps for the VMware software stack and their HCI manifestation in VxRail and VxRack SDDC – they are one.
The dates don’t always match up (the appliances take a little time to qualify, and since they bring together multiple moving parts) – there can be a little lag. But the question of “will vSAN 6.6 come into VxRail?” or “will VMware Cloud Foundation 2.1.2 and 2.2 and NSX 6.3 show up in VxRack SDDC?”… the answer to those questions is always “YES”.
And the answer to “when will ____ be in” is “as soon as is possible, and as soon as customers who are serious about a turnkey experience should adopt the ingredient technologies – if you REALLY want to be on the bleeding edge – you are a builder, not someone who wants to buy an outcome”.
Do we get it perfect? Nope – although we’re always striving for that. But if you want the “easy button” for the VMware stack – VxRail and VxRack SDDC are it.
Does this mean that VMware and more “horizontal” infrastructure stacks (like VxBlock and VxRack FLEX) are not for VMware? Of course not, silly. But – by defintion, since they need to support non-VMware use cases, they will never be as simple, as integrated, as “roadmap aligned” as VxRail and VxRack SDDC. I’ve talked about the the use cases for VxRack FLEX here (which I think becomes – over time – the “go to” HCI rack-scale system for people who have a horizontal, multi-stack orientation to infrastructure). If you want to understand more – also read my post this week on VxRack FLEX updates.
So… What’s the latest on VxRail?
Reminder – VxRail in a sentence: “VxRail is the simplest, most powerful, most integrated HCI appliance for customers standardized on VMware”
So, subjectively, how is it going? VxRail is at rocketship “hang on to the tiger by the tail” stage. We are well on our way to our plan from the start of 2016 to be the #1 marketshare, revenue share, and customer count leader by the end of 2017 – with VxRail alone. To our customers, our partners, and the VMware/Dell EMC team behind VxRail – THANK YOU.
Lots of updates this week!
This week we’re talking about what’s coming soon – with the next generation PowerEdge platforms based on the Intel Purley platform, with all sorts of new goodies. We are also tipping our hat a bit towards the next major VxRail 4.5 release train that will bring in vSphere 6.5 and resynchronize with the vSAN release train.
But – there’s also important updates that are here and now:
First – let’s talk about the software updates – and there are lots. We’re mid-life of the 4.0 release train – and the team is correctly focused on serviceability, ease-of-deployment and management. We crossed a milestone with 4.0 where VxRail hit the “critical feature requirements to take off”. We’re not resting on our laurels – but for a little bit, new features are not the priority – servicing thousands and thousands of customers is the name of the game.
So what’s new?
- Flexible object renaming for large data center deployments (previously quite rigid – this was a popular feature request)
- Guided upgrade for vSphere Standard Edition customers
- Improved first run status reporting
- Migrations from internal to external vCenters (very important for our earlier customers who started with the internal vCenter deployment model).
- External ESRS gateway support (we will keep expanding the ESRS reporting – an area where we can do more)
- vAPI and PowerCLI support for lifecycle management (programmability is key for all CI/HCI…)
- Batch Mode expansion (another one of these classic “when you get more than 10 customers, this one comes up a lot…)
- Expanded iDRAC support
Second, more networking options are important. Every VxRail appliance comes with pretty potent connectivity – but the max expandability was one NIC per node, for a max of 2 extra ports. That’s been upped by 3x, and that includes an option for the Intel X550 with a VxLAN offload. This extra choice is powerful because there are cases where you want to be able to segregate certain traffic and cannot simply do it logically… and that’s in addition to the raw bandwidth question.
Thirdly, we are adding more host types. The continuously broadening platform support gives some important choices – there are cases where you are not CPU bound, and single CPU options can reduce licensing costs – and give even lower entry points (below $25K for a 3-node configuration).
But – the biggest news on VxRail is the new Cloud Flex offer – though that warrants a post of it’s own.
Beyond updates this week, how about in general?
- 4.0.132 (see the post here) is an important update for all VxRail customers. We’re doing a Field Change Order (FCO) which is a process used to make sure all customers do critical updates – a normal, but very important process whn you are in the data persistence business. A few weeks in, and as of May 3rd, we have 41.8% of the install base updated – a fascinating real-world case of how easy it is to update/lifecycle HCI when it’s done right. Normally an FCO goes slowly. Here, customers can do it themselves (just auto update – it’s like updating your iPhone) and we’re getting through the installed base at a record clip.
- More global availability. This is currently the biggest single challenge. We worked through the spike in demand/component supply (thank you to the greatest supply chain team on earth) – and right now we’re plowing through the stuff that comes with the largest high tech merger ever – namely system/process stuff. I can’t thank the teams working through this enough – I know it’s really, really challenging, but as one of the first fully integrated products that has to flow through common systems and process – VxRail is plowing through the barriers first. For people where the PowerEdge-based vRail systems are not yet shipping – know we’re working very fast, and expect updates in days when VxRail will be available in your country.
What’s the latest on VxRack SDDC?
Reminder – VxRack SDDC in a sentence: “If you’re considering VxRail – but are also ready for network and SDN transformation with NSX – VxRack SDDC is for you.”
VxRack SDDC builds on the VMware Cloud Foundation software release – and is currently using the vCF 2.1.1 release. Like VxRail – VxRack SDDC the roadmaps are tight (not 100% synchronous, but we aim to be close). There will be late summer vCF update that becomes a fall release of VxRack SDDC using the vCF 2.2.x + vSphere 6.5 (and associated NSX/vSAN version) release train.
At Dell EMC World, we talked about not only how (of course), we will be adding the next generation of Dell EMC PowerEdge platforms – but how already we’re broadening out VxRack SDDC use cases and hardware platforms:
So, subjectively - how is it going? VxRack SDDC is ramping. It’s ahead of our plan for Q1. The “feeling” for VxRack SDDC is a lot like it was for VxRail in 2016. We’re not aiming for a ton of customers – we’re looking for customers who will operate very close to engineering/product management, share feedback (positive, neutral, and negative), who will be references if they are happy. We do this not because VxRack SDDC isn’t ready – but because in the early days of any product – it’s important to stay close. We’re about to finish our Directed Availability exit criteria and move into a more accelerated rollout in the 2H of this year.
It is deploying? Yup. And so far, so good!
These are pictures of a VxRack SDDC as we finished up the deployment at a large service provider:
.. and you’ve got to love seeing stuff like this cross your twitter stream :-)
Are you a VxRail or VxRack SDDC customer? How’s it going? Give me feedback and comment!
Highly illuminating posts as always, Chad. Quick pointer to a typo: In the excerpt below, I think you meant to write "VxRack SDDC in a sentence."
What’s the latest on VxRack SDDC?
Reminder – VxRail in a sentence: “If you’re considering VxRail – but are also ready for network and SDN transformation with NSX – VxRack SDDC is for you.”
Posted by: Christo Darsch | May 09, 2017 at 09:50 AM