Reference Guide

Introduction

Topics:

• Document scope

• Audience and assumptions

• Known issues

• Dell EMC Solutions for Azure Stack HCI overview

• Deployment guidance

Document scope

This operations guide focuses on operational aspects of a hyperconverged infrastructure solution on Azure Stack HCI with Hyper-V and

Storage Spaces Direct.

This guide includes an overview of Dell EMC Solutions for Microsoft Azure Stack HCI, guidance to monitor and manage bare metal, and

instructions for performing operations on an Azure Stack HCI cluster and updating the cluster-aware system. This guide is applicable only

to infrastructure that is built by using the validated and certified Dell EMC Solutions for Microsoft Azure Stack HCI.

Instructions in this guide are applicable only to the generally available operating system build of Windows Server 2016 and Windows Server

2019 with the latest applicable updates. These instructions are not validated with Windows Server version 1709. Dell EMC Solutions for

Microsoft Azure Stack HCI do not support the Windows Server Semi-Annual Channel release. Dell Technologies recommends updating the

host operating system with the latest cumulative updates from Microsoft before starting the cluster creation and configuration tasks.

Audience and assumptions

The audience for this operations guide includes systems administrators, systems engineers, field consultants, partner engineering team

members, and customers with a fair amount of knowledge in deploying hyperconverged infrastructures with Microsoft Windows Server

2016 and Windows Server 2019 Hyper-V and Storage Spaces Direct.

We assume that deployment personnel have prerequisite knowledge, including knowledge of:

• Dell EMC Solutions for Azure Stack HCI, and deployment and configuration of BIOS and iDRAC settings on the Dell EMC AX nodes

• Deployment and configuration of Windows Server 2016 and Windows Server 2019 Hyper-V infrastructure

Known issues

Before starting the cluster deployment, review the known issues and workarounds.

For information about known issues and workarounds, see https://www.dell.com/support/article/sln313305.

Dell EMC Solutions for Azure Stack HCI overview

Dell EMC Solutions for Azure Stack HCI encompass various configurations of Dell EMC AX-740xd, AX-640, and AX-6515 nodes to power

the primary compute cluster that is deployed as a hyperconverged infrastructure. This hyperconverged infrastructure that is built by using

these AX nodes uses a flexible solution architecture rather than a fixed component design. The following figure illustrates one of the

flexible solution architectures. It consists of a compute cluster alongside the redundant top-of-rack (ToR) switches, a separate out-of-

band network, and an existing management infrastructure in the data center.

NOTE:

Dell EMC Solutions for Azure Stack HCI are available in both hybrid and all-flash configurations. For more

information about available configurations, see the solution overview.

4 Introduction