Introduction; About The Dell X4012 Switch; About The Hc3 Cluster; Requirements And Assumptions - Dell X4012 Quick Setup Manual

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Introduction

This guide provides a basic overview and information on how to configure and deploy the Dell X4012

switch with a Scale Computing HC3 cluster. Specifics for mounting hardware and installation of brackets

are provided with guides inside the box the switch was delivered in.

The Dell Networking X4012 switch is a compact and affordable switch that provides 12 ten-gigabit (10

Gb) ethernet SFP+ interfaces. With a small form-factor and low power consumption, the X4012 is a

perfect entry into a 10 Gb ethernet deployment with a Scale Computing HC3 cluster.

HC3 combines the benefits of server virtualization and shared storage into a converged IT infrastructure

platform where virtualized workloads have direct access to a distributed, scalable pool of shared storage

and computing resources. The cluster eliminates complex virtualization and storage architectures for

greater cost savings while greatly simplifying management of your IT resources.

• Windows, Linux, or Mac workstation with a USB port and a terminal emulation program

(puTTY, screen, HyperTerminal, etc.).

• 10 GbE SFP+ Twinax cables for connecting the HC3 nodes to the switch.

• The switch[es] have been mounted and are within 15 meters of the cluster.

• The X4012 switch will be installed in an appropriately cooled environment with adequate

power and airflow.

• The switch will be deployed with a single VLAN (default) as a switching fabric for the HC3

backplane network only.

• This guide assumes a 3 node Hz (10 GbE) HC3 cluster.

The Dell X4012 switches are ideally suited as a dedicated backplane- only switch. This minimizes the

configuration requirements and ensures the backplane switching fabric has dedicated resources.

In order to achieve full fault tolerance and high availability for the cluster, each node has independent,

redundant Network Interface Cards (NICs). As the X4012 switch does not have redundancy in power

supplies, in order to mitigate a single point- of-failure, two switches are recommended to ensure a single

switch disruption does not cause a loss of access to guest VMs on the HC3 cluster.

See the diagram below for a visualization of the ideal cabling and setup with two switches:

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