Dell Technologies Presents at Cloud Field Day 19

A Strategy for Multicloud by Design with Dell Technologies

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How can organizations architect their IT infrastructure to maximize advantage of using multiple cloud platforms? Damon will provide an overview of Dell’s approach to helping customers optimize multicloud infrastructure and set the context for the rest of the sessions.

Prateesh Sharma, a Product Manager at Dell Technologies, discusses the concept of “multicloud by design” and how Dell is assisting customers in managing their multicloud infrastructure. He highlights the common scenario where organizations use both public cloud services for their scalability and innovative features, and on-premises infrastructure for business-critical workloads. Sharma points out the challenges of using multiple clouds, such as experience inconsistencies, unpredictable costs, management complexity, skill gaps, and visibility issues.

To address these challenges, Dell proposes a universal storage layer that acts as a foundation for multicloud by design. This layer offers a consistent set of storage services that are software-defined and behave like cloud services, supporting both VMs and containers with Kubernetes. These services are designed to be automated through standardized, open APIs and to provide a consistent application environment across different cloud ecosystems.

Dell’s solution includes a centralized management portal to enhance visibility and automation across the multicloud landscape. The company’s approach, termed “ground to Cloud strategy,” ensures that the same enterprise storage infrastructure available on-premises is also offered in the cloud, behaving like native cloud services. Furthermore, Dell’s Apex Cloud platform brings cloud applications to the ground, creating a seamless experience for customers.

Sharma emphasizes that Dell not only provides a unified environment but also facilitates the orchestration of data mobility and workload management between on-premises and cloud environments, ensuring a seamless and efficient customer experience.

Personnel: Prateesh Sharma

Dell Technologies APEX Block Storage For Public Cloud Overview

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Krithika Gopal, a product manager at Dell Technologies, is discussing the features and benefits of Dell APEX Block Storage, which is part of Dell’s universal storage layer initiative aimed at bringing Dell storage to the public cloud. APEX Block Storage is based on PowerFlex IP, a software-defined storage solution that has been around for over a decade, known for its performance, scalability, and flexibility.

APEX Block Storage is available on both AWS and Azure through their respective marketplaces or directly from Dell. It aims to lower the total cost of ownership (TCO) for customers and allows for the deployment of high-performance, mission-critical applications in the public cloud. It also supports seamless data mobility across different environments and offers a unique Multi-AZ Durability feature to increase resiliency.

Krithika highlights the product’s ability to deliver 100x better performance compared to existing public cloud storage, based on internal testing. She explains that APEX Block Storage can scale up to hundreds of nodes, achieving millions of IOPS. The product is designed to not compete with public cloud providers but to enhance the customer experience by addressing needs not currently met in the public cloud.

The discussion also covers the technical aspects of deploying APEX Block Storage, including the use of EC2 instances on AWS and virtual machines on Azure, as well as the integration with Dell Data Domain Virtual Edition for data backup. Additionally, Krithika addresses questions about the product’s performance, cost-effectiveness, software client requirements, and the six-nines availability claim.

Personnel: Kiruthika Gopal

Dell Technologies APEX Block Storage For Public Cloud Deep Dive

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Kiruthika Gopal, a product manager, presents the key features and differentiators of APEX Block Storage. The main points of differentiation include extreme performance, with millions of IOPS for a single volume; flexibility and scalability, with the ability to scale up to 512 storage nodes and independently scale compute and storage; multi-AZ durability, offering the option to deploy storage clusters within a single or multiple availability zones without requiring additional capacity; and hybrid cloud mobility, allowing seamless data movement between on-prem and cloud across regions.

APEX Block Storage offers up to one petabyte per volume, multi-AZ deployment without extra capacity penalties, thin provisioning, snapshots and clones without additional fees, and asynchronous replication with a feature called snap mobility.

The product also provides multi-AZ durability by spreading storage nodes across availability zones, offering protection against entire rack failures. This feature has been tested in on-prem environments for over a decade and is now extended to the public cloud.

Questions from the audience cover topics such as the upgrade process for new instance types, the potential for split-brain scenarios in multi-AZ deployments, the testing methodology used to generate performance numbers, and the orchestration of testing and recovery processes.

Kiruthika also discusses cost savings through thin provisioning and snapshot savings, and the scalability of APEX Block Storage, with deployments ranging from 10 terabytes to multiple petabytes. The pricing model is subscription-based, factoring in capacity and the number of storage nodes.

Finally, Kiruthika touches on the ease of deployment using Dell APEX Navigator, which can set up the necessary AWS infrastructure and deploy the software in four simple steps based on inputted IOPS and capacity requirements.

Personnel: Kiruthika Gopal

Dell Technologies APEX Navigator for Managing Multicloud Storage

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With IT infrastructure distributed across multiple cloud environments, centralized management becomes a key element for multicloud operations. Prateesh Sharma, Product Manager, will highlight key capabilities of Dell Navigator for Multicloud Storage, including security, deployment, management, monitoring and data mobility across multicloud infrastructure.

Sharma presents the capabilities of Dell Apex Navigator for Multicloud Storage, which is a centralized management console designed to manage IT infrastructure across multiple cloud environments. He outlines five key capabilities of the tool:

1. Security: Apex Navigator emphasizes security with an API-first approach, federation, identity provider support, and single sign-on (SSO) to align with zero trust policies.
2. Deployment: It simplifies deployment to the cloud with four configuration steps, automating the provisioning of AWS resources.
3. Management: The tool offers in-context navigation to storage management tools for a seamless management experience.
4. Monitoring: Apex Navigator provides a single view for monitoring capacity and inventory, aiming to save time for users.
5. Data Mobility: It supports data movement across multicloud infrastructure, reducing manual interventions and custom processes.

Apex Navigator is built to accommodate different operating models, whether users prefer a graphical interface or API integration for automation. It can also be integrated with tools like Terraform.

The tool is offered as a SaaS-based solution, hosted on the web, and comes with a separate cost due to the value it provides in terms of automation, management, and complexity reduction. The presentation also touches on the future vision and strategy for Apex Navigator, including its support for deployments on Azure and other hyperscalers, as well as data mobility across different cloud providers.

Personnel: Kiruthika Gopal, Prateesh Sharma

Dell Technologies APEX Navigator for Multicloud Storage AWS Account Connection Demo

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Chad Gray of Dell Technologies presented APEX Navigator, a product designed to simplify the management of multicloud storage, particularly block storage for AWS. He discussed the product’s five focus areas: security, deployment, management, monitoring, and mobility. Gray emphasized the importance of secure access to customer AWS accounts and explained how APEX Navigator uses AWS roles and policies to access these accounts without the need for exchanging access keys.

During the presentation, Gray demonstrated how to connect an AWS account to APEX Navigator using a custom trust policy and permission policy generated by the platform. He also discussed federated login capabilities with identity providers such as Active Directory, allowing for single sign-on across Dell’s APEX and Cloud IQ services.

Gray mentioned that all the steps he demonstrated in the UI can be automated through APIs, and that Dell recently released a Terraform provider for APEX. He highlighted the availability of infrastructure as code examples for teams using tools like Terraform.

Lastly, Gray showed how to audit access and account management activities within APEX Navigator and within the AWS account using CloudTrail. He pointed out features like tagging sessions with job names and IDs, and passing the source identity of the user for better traceability of actions taken within the customer’s AWS environment.

Personnel: Chad Gray

Dell Technologies APEX Navigator for Multicloud Storage APEX Block Storage for AWS Deployment

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In this presentation, Chad Gray from Dell Technologies is demonstrating how to deploy the APEX Block Storage for AWS using APEX Navigator. He explains the process in four easy steps:

1. Select Product, Cloud, and Region: Chad selects APEX Block Storage for AWS with Navigator, version 4.5.1, and chooses a region available in the US.
2. Connect Cloud Account: He selects a previously set up cloud account that was added to APEX Navigator.
3. Deployment Configuration: Here, Chad provides a deployment name, selects a performance tier (balanced or performance optimized), sets the minimum usable capacity and IOPS, chooses the availability level (single AZ or multi AZ), and decides whether to deploy to an existing VPC or create a new one. He opts to create a new VPC and inputs IP ranges. He also names a key pair for SSH access into the storage instances, which will be stored in AWS Secret Manager.
4. Review Configuration and Deployment: Chad mentions that there’s a free 90-day evaluation license, and he reviews the AWS resources that will be deployed, noting that they will incur costs.

The deployment can be monitored through APEX Navigator, and the process takes around two hours to complete. The demonstration shows how APEX Navigator simplifies the setup of APEX Block Storage in AWS by automating the deployment, which would be more complex if done manually.

Personnel: Chad Gray

Dell Technologies APEX Block Storage for Public Cloud Multi-AZ Storage Resilience

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Krithika Gopal, a Product Manager at Dell Technologies, discusses the deployment and resilience of APEX Block Storage, particularly in a scenario where one of the three availability zones (AZs) is taken offline. The demonstration uses SQL Server 2022 to illustrate the process, but the principles apply to any application.

The APEX Block Storage cluster is set up with six storage instances, two in each AZ. Krithika emphasizes the importance of verifying the system’s health before simulating an outage by shutting down all instances in one AZ. Using PowerFlex Manager, they browse block volumes and check the health statistics and metadata manager to ensure everything is connected and functioning correctly.

The simulation involves manually stopping two instances in one AZ through the AWS portal and observing the impact on the cluster. Despite a temporary dip in transactions per minute (TPM), the cluster remains online, and the application continues to function. The cluster demonstrates self-healing capabilities, as the rebuild process completes in under 30 seconds, restoring the cluster to a healthy state with four nodes.

Next, Krithika restarts the two stopped instances to observe how the cluster rebalances the workload. With all six instances running again, the cluster quickly returns to normal performance after a brief dip during the rebuild. This test confirms the resilience and self-healing nature of the APEX Block Storage cluster in the event of an AZ outage.

Personnel: Kiruthika Gopal

Dell Technologies APEX Cloud Platform Deep Dive

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If data is the fuel then applications are the engine for innovation in the digital age. Applications teams need a consistent environment across multicloud infrastructure to enable seamless workload compatibility for VMs and Containers, as well as streamlined operations between private and public cloud locations. Sam Niemi, Product Manager, will lay out Dell’s strategy for multicloud platforms and overview the key features of Dell’s APEX Cloud Platforms, that bring native cloud ecosystems on premises in a turnkey package.

Sam Niemi presents an overview of Dell’s APEX Cloud Platforms, which aim to address challenges in deploying multicloud infrastructure. These challenges include unpredictable costs, management complexity due to multiple cloud vendors, inconsistencies across clouds, skills gaps, and limited visibility.

The APEX Cloud Platforms are designed to provide a consistent environment across multicloud infrastructures, enabling seamless workload compatibility for VMs and Containers and streamlined operations between private and public cloud locations. They offer a “cloud to ground” approach by bringing native cloud ecosystems on-premises in a turnkey package.

APEX Cloud Platforms focus on the “three Cs”: Choice, Consistency, and Control. They offer a choice of vendors, consistent management across different cloud platforms, and control that simplifies operations.

Key features of APEX Cloud Platforms include:

– Foundation software for consistent management regardless of the cloud platform (Azure, Red Hat OpenShift, VMware).
– Integration with Dell Enterprise SDS (Software-Defined Storage), specifically PowerFlex, for storage scalability and performance.
– Utilization of PowerEdge servers with the latest generation Intel Xeon processors for hardware resilience.

Sam emphasizes the importance of common building blocks in APEX Cloud Platforms, which ensure consistent management and operations (MNO), flexibility in deployment, shared storage capabilities, embedded security features, and uniform support services.

He also discusses the Cloud Platform Foundation software, which provides lifecycle management, fleet management, integrated support, and other functionalities built into the vendor’s control plane. The platform supports continuous validation and patching, ensuring systems remain up-to-date without requiring extensive testing from the customer.

In summary, APEX Cloud Platforms offer a standardized, integrated solution for multicloud environments, enabling customers to manage various cloud services with greater ease and efficiency.

Personnel: Samuel Niemi

Dell Technologies APEX Cloud Platform Cluster Deployment

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Michael Wells, a Tech Marketing Engineer at Dell Technologies, discusses the APEX Cloud Platform and its deployment process for Microsoft Azure and Red Hat OpenShift. He explains that the deployment for both platforms involves a similar set of steps, such as node discovery, configuration settings, and network information. APEX Cloud Platform for Azure is built on Microsoft’s HCI OS as part of the new Premier partner tier, which allows for deeper integration and collaboration with Microsoft.

The deployment results in a fully configured cluster, an OpenShift cluster on one side and an Azure Stack HCI cluster on the other. The OpenShift cluster includes Red Hat Core OS, Kubernetes, and Dell SDS storage, while the Azure Stack HCI cluster uses Storage Spaces Direct, Hyper-V, and the Microsoft SDN stack. Both deployments include the APEX Cloud Platform Foundation software, which integrates with the cloud OS management experience.

Michael also discusses licensing, entitlements for advanced cluster management and security included with the OpenShift Platform Plus subscription, and the unique capabilities of the Cloud Platform Foundation software. He emphasizes that the APEX Cloud Platform family is designed to offer the same types of results and efficiencies across different cloud OSes.

Lastly, Michael hints at upcoming features, such as the addition of Dell SDS support for the APEX Cloud Platform for Microsoft Azure, which will allow for greater scalability and storage independence.

Personnel: Michael Wells

Dell Technologies APEX Cloud Platform Hardware Configurations

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Michael Wells, Tech Marketing Engineer for Dell Technologies, discusses the hardware configurations for the APEX Cloud Platform.

• The APEX Cloud Platform uses specialized configurations of PowerEdge servers called MC nodes, specifically the MC660 (1U 10 drive) and MC760 (2U 24 drive).
• The nodes support Intel scalable fourth-generation processors with 2 to 4 terabytes of memory per node, which is currently limited by supply chain issues rather than technical constraints.
• There are options for NVMe and SSD storage configurations, as well as Nvidia GPU support, with the 1U supporting single-width cards and the 2U supporting both single-width and double-width cards.
• Michael mentions a white paper released in November of the previous year about implementing OpenShift AI and a generative AI solution on the APEX Cloud Platform, using Lama 2 and RAG to build a chatbot trained against Dell’s technical documentation.

Michael explains that the MC nodes have a subset of components that are continuously validated to ensure support and control over the configurations. This approach excludes the possibility of using existing servers customers may already have, as the solution requires common building blocks for simplicity and manageability.

There’s also a mention of the possibility of connecting to PowerFlex storage, which supports various operating systems and allows for the connection of bare metal, hypervisors, and other systems. This could be a way for customers to use existing hardware and gradually transition to the APEX Cloud Platform.

Personnel: Michael Wells

Dell Technologies APEX Cloud Platform Management Experience

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In this presentation, Michael Wells, Tech Marketing Engineer at Dell Technologies, discusses the management experience of the APEX Cloud Platform. He highlights the platform’s ability to provide a consistent hybrid management experience across different environments without requiring users to leave their usual management interfaces.

Wells demonstrates the integration of Dell APEX Cloud Platform within the OpenShift web console, showing how users can view node information, cluster status, CPU and memory usage, and manage hardware components directly from the console. He mentions that the platform is set to support hosted control planes (formerly HyperShift) and discusses the ability to expand or remove worker nodes within the cluster.

He also covers the platform’s update mechanism, security features (including certificate management), and support capabilities, such as dial-home alerts and integration with Cloud IQ for hardware-related issues. Additionally, Wells touches on how hardware alerts are integrated into OpenShift alerting, allowing users to leverage existing monitoring and notification setups.

Wells then shifts to discussing the Azure side of things, showing similar capabilities within the Windows Admin Center for Azure Stack HCI, including physical views of nodes, detailed component information, and compliance checks.

Finally, he emphasizes the consistency of the Dell APEX Cloud Platform across different cloud operating systems and how it integrates infrastructure management with cluster management tools used by administrators. He notes the upcoming VMware integration and the ability to lock infrastructure settings for security.

Personnel: Michael Wells

Dell Technologies APEX Cloud Platform Lifecycle Management

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Michael Wells, a Tech Marketing Engineer for the APEX Cloud Platform at Dell Technologies, demonstrates the lifecycle management process for updating Red Hat OpenShift and Azure clusters on the platform. The process involves:

1. Configuring support portal access with a username and password to check for online updates from the Dell support site.
2. Using a local update process when no online updates are available by uploading and decompressing an update bundle.
3. Running pre-checks to ensure the cluster is healthy and in a suitable state for updating.
4. Reviewing the update details, including versions of software to be updated.
5. Executing the update, which includes hardware (BIOS, firmware, drivers), OpenShift software, core OS, CSI, and Apex Cloud Platform Foundation software, all in a single workflow to optimize efficiency and minimize reboots.
6. Applying updates to Azure clusters in a similar fashion, including compliance checks and cluster health pre-checks.
7. Temporarily disabling lockdown mode on servers during the update process and re-enabling it afterward.
8. Performing a rolling update across nodes, with each node being updated one at a time in a non-disruptive manner.

The update process is designed to be efficient, reducing downtime by controlling the sequence of updates and using parallel staging where possible. The system provides detailed progress information and time estimates throughout the process.

Personnel: Michael Wells

Dell Technologies APEX Cloud Platform Cluster Expansion

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Michael Wells, a Tech Marketing Engineer at Dell Technologies, presents a demonstration on scalability and cluster expansion using the APEX Cloud Platform, specifically focusing on adding worker nodes to an OpenShift cluster. The process involves searching for new nodes, running compatibility checks to ensure they match the existing cluster, and then configuring settings such as the node name, IP address, TPM passphrase, location information, NIC settings, and network settings. The system pre-populates certain values like VLAN IDs based on the existing setup and then validates the configuration before adding the node to the cluster.

He highlights how the APEX Cloud Platform integrates infrastructure management directly into the cloud OS experience, offering a unique solution for different cloud operating models. He also discusses the advantages of installing Red Hat OpenShift on bare metal, which includes better performance due to the absence of a hypervisor, reduced licensing requirements, and a smaller attack surface. Additionally, he explains the benefits of lifecycle management of both OpenShift and hardware together, simplifying the deployment process and providing developers with more direct access to hardware resources.

Wells also touches on the topic of OpenShift virtualization, explaining that running virtual machines inside of OpenShift as pods allows for pod-to-pod networking and avoids the need for routing traffic through an ingress controller. This setup can be more efficient for workloads that need to communicate with other OpenShift services.

Personnel: Michael Wells