VxRail 7.0.100 UI with new 4x25GBe Network Profile

It’s been a while since I had time to write one of these. I wanted to provide a quick walkthrough guide of the shiny VxRail Manager Bring up UI and showcase the new 4x25GBe Extreme Speed network profile that has been introduced in new the VxRail 7.0.100 release code. VxRail 7.0.100 aligns with vSphere 7U1. So most of the awesome new vSAN features that accompany vSphere 7U1 are introduced in VxRail 7.0.100 also.

I am most excited about HCI Mesh I plan on testing this later in the week but also, Compression Only and its amazing performance increases (I Will do a bake off I promise), Efficient Spare Capacity Management and Enhanced Availability during maintenance mode.

But Today, I wanted to show off the new 4x25GBe profile and felt it would be a good opportunity to show the new Install UI as well.

Man the 14G VxRail Bezel looks nice . I really like the new cleaner UI . Lets Gets Started

Even the Eula looks better. I read it all . Accept

Choosing between a 2 node vSAN Cluster or Standard (3 nodes or more). Up to 6 nodes can be selected during the installation of a standard cluster. Of course more nodes can be added after the fact (64 Max Cluster Size). Standard.

I am building a 4 node cluster today. All discovered using the zero touch discovery protocol. Simple.

Confirming that I have defined the correct VLANs for my TORs. 4 are required in total.

MGTM
VxRail Discovery
vSan
vMotion

Confirmed.

Here you can simply upload a .json file with all the config details or step through the Wizard. I am going to step through the wizard. Easy

Notice the NIC Configuration 4x25GBe. Nice.

Going to deploy a vCenter as part of the install. VxRail manager will keep the vCenter software updated with each cluster update. Operational Efficiency

Define your ESXi Server hostname and IP address. Set some credentials or access and management. Personality.

Don’t forget about VxRail Manager. It wants its own hostname and IP address configured as well. Included.

Set some vSan and vMotion IPs and VLAN ID for the VM Kernel Interfaces. Networked

Validate the Configuration. VxRail Manager will check, NTP , DNS, Networking and Node Physical health is all good before it gives you the all clear. Down the configuration file for your future records. Validated.

Apply the configuration and build the cluster. Lets Go.

45 mins later my cluster is deployed. You can see my Physical Network Adapters. I have 2 2x25GBe Cards. Fast.

vSAN VMKs are using uplink 2 and 4. By default in active/standby configuration. Can be changed to Active/Active if required. Uplink 2 is sitting on the NDC Card and Uplink 4 is sitting on the PCI-e card. Physical Redundancy. Safe.