Category Archives: VMware

Looking for vSAN Ready Nodes that Run vSAN 8 – Your Choices Are Limited

Now that VMware has released vSphere 8.0, I thought it would be interesting to gather up all of the blade servers that are certified as “vSphere Ready Nodes.”  The results were quite shocking. Continue reading

What Blade Servers Are Certified as VMware vSAN Ready Nodes?

In this day and age, 99% of datacenter environments are virtualized, however a fraction of those environments are using virtualized storage, aka “vSAN”.  I thought it would be interesting to take a look at the full 1000+ page list of VMware vSAN Ready Nodes and deduct all non blade server systems.  In this post, I’ll be highlighting only blade server vSAN Ready Nodes. Continue reading

Want 400GbE in a Blade Server? Here’s How

A few years ago, the thought of needing multiple 25GbE ports on a blade server was not even a consideration.  In fact, I did a survey 6 years ago and got an overwhelming response that only a couple of 10GbE ports was needed for VMware virtualization efforts.  Today there is now an option to have 8 x 25GbE ports in a 2 CPU blade server – but there are some things you need to know. Continue reading

Dell EMC Launches Something New, But Don’t Refer to It as AI

Earlier this month Dell EMC unveiled their newest solution of products that combines all of their core products into one system known as PowerOne.  This new system will be fully-engineered and highly-automated with autonomous operations and flexible consumption options and is being positioned as “Autonomous Infrastructure” – but don’t call it AI.  If you haven’t heard of Autonomous Infrastructure before, it’s because it’s a new category for products that are beyond Converged Infrastructure. The Dell EMC PowerOne combines PowerEdge MX blade servers with PowerMax storage and connects it via Dell EMC Networking while protecting it with Dell EMC Data Protection.  I’ll go more into the components at the end of this post, but first I want to focus on what makes PowerOne unique – the automation. Continue reading

Why Blade Servers Could Be the Future of the Datacenter

One of my tasks as Chief Technology Architect at Dell is to talk with customers about future technologies.  When I reflect on my past vision of where the blade server is heading (“The Blade Server of the Future“) I’m surprised at how close we are to that vision becoming a reality.  Based upon where we are heading, the blade server format could be the perfect model for the future datacenter, so let me explain why. Continue reading

What You May Not Know About PowerEdge VRTX

We just learned this week that the PowerEdge VRTX, which was announced in June of 2013, will remain in the Dell EMC portfolio into 2021.  This is great news for customers who have invested into the “datacenter in a box” platform and opens up an opportunity for those who aren’t using it.  It’s been a while since I’ve talked about the PowerEdge VRTX platform, so here are a few things you may not know. Continue reading

UCS vs PowerEdge MX – Comparison of Admin Tasks

Principled Technologies released a report earlier this month that compared certain administrative tasks between a Cisco UCS blade server solution and a Dell EMC PowerEdge MX solution and the results were quite surprising. Continue reading

Managing Server Hardware and VMs – You Need This Tool

If your organization has teams that are responsible for managing both the physical server hardware (rack or blade server) lifecycle and the virtual environment, there is a tool that is ideal for you.  Continue reading

New Study Compares Networking Capabilities of Blade Server Solutions

An independent testing company, Principled Technologies, recently released a study that compared the networking capabilities of Dell EMC PowerEdge MX, HPE Synergy and Cisco UCS using VMware vMotion.  Their findings:

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A First Look at the Dell EMC PowerEdge MX

After teasing the public at Dell Technologies World, Dell EMC has finally released details of its next generation modular architecture – the PowerEdge MX.  This generation of modular has something that gives you investment protection for years to come.  In this post, you’ll get a good overview of Dell EMC’s new blade server architecture, so grab a cup of coffee and enjoy this first look. Continue reading