Category Archives: Servers

Hyper-Converged with Dell-VMware EVO:RAIL

Posted on May 29, 2015 by Humair

There’s a lot of interesting things going on in the industry with servers, storage, and networking: SDN (software defined networking), SDS (software defined storage), NFV (network function virtualization), SD-WAN (software defined WAN), hyper-convergence, and more and more focus on private … Continue reading →

Posted in Dell, Dell Force10, Dell-VMware EVO:RAIL, Labs, Network Architecture, Networking, Servers, Software Defined Storage (SDS), Technology, Virtualization and Cloud Computing, VMware, VMware, VMware VSAN | Tagged Dell, Dell EVO:RAIL RA, Dell EVO:RAIL Reference Architecture, Dell N4064, Dell Networking, Dell Networking Dell-EVO:RAIL RA, Dell Networking Dell-EVO:RAIL Reference Architecture, Dell Networking EVO:RAIL RA, Dell Networking EVO:RAIL Reference Architecture, Dell Networking N-series, Dell Networking N4032, Dell Networking N4064, Dell Networking S4048-ON, Dell Networking S4810, Dell Networking S4820T, Dell Networking S5000, Dell Networking S6000, Dell Networking S6000-ON, Dell Networking Z9500, Dell S4048-ON, Dell S4810, Dell S4820T, Dell S5000, Dell S6000, Dell S6000-ON, Dell VMware EVO-RAIL, Dell VMware EVO:RAIL RA, Dell VMware EVO:RAIL Reference Architecture, Dell Z9500, Dell-VMware EVO RAIL solution, Dell-VMware EVO:RAIL, Dell-VMware EVO:RAIL solution, EVO, EVO RAIL Appliance, EVO RAIL configuration, EVO-RAIL, EVO:RAIL, EVO:RAIL Appliance, EVO:RAIL cluster, EVO:RAIL configuration, EVO:RAIL management daemon, EVO:RAIL MARVIN, EVO:RAIL MARVIN daemon, EVO:RAIL Marvin Management, EVO:RAIL Reference Architecture, hyper-converged, hyper-converged infrastructure appliance, hyperconverged, IPv4 multicast, IPv6 multicast, Loudmouth, MARVIN, N-series, N4000, N4000-series, N4032, N4064, RAIL, S-series, S4048-ON, S4810, S4820T, S5000, S6000, S6000-ON, SDS, software defined storage, vCenter Server Appliance, VCSA, virtualization platform, vmware, VMware EVO:RAIL, VMware EVO:RAIL cluster, VMware EVO:RAIL configuration, VMware EVO:RAIL Reference Architecture, VMware Loudmouth, VMware vCenter Server Appliance, VMware VCSA, VMware VSAN, VSAN, VSAN Cache, VSAN storage, Z-series, Z9500, Zeroconf | Leave a comment

Dell Networking with Dell-VMware EVO:RAIL

Posted on May 24, 2015 by Humair

Checkout the Dell Networking with Dell-VMware EVO:RAIL Reference Architecture available here on Dell.com. In this white paper, I discuss the details of the network connectivity at the ToR for the Dell-VMware EVO:RAIL appliance, reference architecture and respective network configuration required, … Continue reading →

Posted in Dell, Dell Force10, Dell-VMware EVO:RAIL, Labs, Network Architecture, Networking, Servers, Storage, Virtualization and Cloud Computing, VMware, VMware, VMware VSAN | Tagged Dell, Dell EVO:RAIL RA, Dell EVO:RAIL Reference Architecture, Dell N4064, Dell Networking, Dell Networking Dell-EVO:RAIL RA, Dell Networking Dell-EVO:RAIL Reference Architecture, Dell Networking EVO:RAIL RA, Dell Networking EVO:RAIL Reference Architecture, Dell Networking N-series, Dell Networking N4032, Dell Networking N4064, Dell Networking S4048-ON, Dell Networking S4810, Dell Networking S4820T, Dell Networking S5000, Dell Networking S6000, Dell Networking S6000-ON, Dell Networking Z9500, Dell S4048-ON, Dell S4810, Dell S4820T, Dell S5000, Dell S6000, Dell S6000-ON, Dell VMware EVO-RAIL, Dell VMware EVO:RAIL RA, Dell VMware EVO:RAIL Reference Architecture, Dell Z9500, Dell-VMware EVO RAIL solution, Dell-VMware EVO:RAIL, Dell-VMware EVO:RAIL solution, EVO, EVO RAIL Appliance, EVO RAIL configuration, EVO-RAIL, EVO:RAIL, EVO:RAIL Appliance, EVO:RAIL cluster, EVO:RAIL configuration, EVO:RAIL management daemon, EVO:RAIL MARVIN, EVO:RAIL MARVIN daemon, EVO:RAIL Marvin Management, EVO:RAIL Reference Architecture, hyper-converged, hyper-converged infrastructure appliance, hyperconverged, IPv4 multicast, IPv6 multicast, Loudmouth, MARVIN, N-series, N4000, N4000-series, N4032, N4064, RAIL, S-series, S4048-ON, S4810, S4820T, S5000, S6000, S6000-ON, SDS, software defined storage, vCenter Server Appliance, VCSA, virtualization platform, vmware, VMware EVO:RAIL, VMware EVO:RAIL cluster, VMware EVO:RAIL configuration, VMware EVO:RAIL Reference Architecture, VMware Loudmouth, VMware vCenter Server Appliance, VMware VCSA, VMware VSAN, VSAN, VSAN Cache, VSAN storage, Z-series, Z9500, Zeroconf | Leave a comment

6WIND – From Data Plane Acceleration to Virtual Appliances

Posted on April 12, 2015 by Humair

6WIND is an interesting company I’ve been following for some time now, initially out of curiosity, and then out of more curiosity :-). They first started as a networking software company claiming to solve performance challenges for software defined networks … Continue reading →

Posted in 6WIND, 6WIND, Dell, Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers, Linux, Network Architecture, Networking, Operating Systems, Servers, Technology, Virtualization and Cloud Computing | Tagged 6WIND, 6WIND packet processing software, 6WIND Turbo IPsec, 6WIND Turbo Router, 6WIND Virtual Accelerator, 6WINDGate, 6WINDGate packet processing software, CPU core, CPU cores, CPU multi-core multi-processor architecture, Data Plane Acceleration, Data Plane Development Kit, Dell, Dell PowerEdge, Dell PowerEdge Server, Dell Server, DPDK, Emulex, forwarding throughput, hypervisor, Intel, Intel CPU multi-core multi-processor architecture, Intel Data Plane Development Kit, Intel DPDK, Intel Xeon, Intel Xeon processor, kernel, KVM, L3 forwarding throughput, linux, Linux kernel, Linux network stack, Linux networking stack, Linux Open vSwitch, Linux operating system, Linux OS, Linux OVS switch, Linux user space, Mellanox, multi-core multi-processor architecture, network function virtualization, network packet processing, networking software company, networking stack, NFV, Open Networking Summit, Open vSwitch, Open vSwitch Conference, OVDK, OVS, OVS switch, packet processing, packet processing software, PowerEdge, PowerEdge server, SDN, Separate Control Plane and Data Plane, software defined networking, standard Linux networking stack, TCP/IP stack, throughput, user space, Vincent Jardin, Virtual Accelerator, virtual appliance, virtual networking, virtualization, Xeon, Xeon processor, zero-copy, zero-copy mode | Leave a comment

VMware NSX Service Composer: Advanced Security & Micro-segmentation

Posted on March 16, 2015 by Humair

In a prior blog, Firewalling & Micro-segmentation with VMware NSX, I discussed some of the basics of firewalls and micro-segmentation with VMware NSX. In this blog, I’ll introduce how security groups via NSX Service Composer can be used with VMware … Continue reading →

Posted in Dell, Dell EqualLogic, Dell Force10, Dell PowerEdge Blade Servers, Dell PowerEdge Rack Servers, iSCSI, Labs, Network Architecture, Network Security, Networking, Security, Servers, Storage, Technology, Virtualization and Cloud Computing, VMware, VMware | Tagged advanced security, advanced security policies, container, converged network, DCB, Dell, Dell DCB iSCSI, Dell end-to-end converged infrastructure, Dell iSCSI, Dell MXL, Dell S4810, Dell S6000, Dell VMware NSX, Dell VMware NSX Architecture, Dell VMware NSX design, Dell VMware NSX Guide, Dell VMware NSX RA, Dell-VMware NSX Reference Architecture, dynamic membership, end-to-end converged infrastructure, ESXi, firewall, firewall rules, iSCSI, iSCSI converged network, logical switch, micro-segmentation, Micro-segmentation with VMware NSX, microsegmentation, microsegmentation with VMware NSX, MXL, NSX, NSX advanced security policies, NSX Distributed Firewall, NSX firewall, NSX firewall rules, NSX logical switch, NSX partners, NSX security group container, NSX Security Group dynamic membership, NSX Security Groups, NSX security policy, NSX service chaining, NSX Service Composer, NSX Service Composer advanced security policies, NSX Service Composer Canvas View, NSX Service Composer container, NSX Service Composer Security Group, NSX Service Composer security policy, NSX-V, Palo Alto, Palo Alto Networks, Palo Alto Panorama, Palo Alto's Panorama, Panorama, S4810, S6000, security, security group container, Security Group dynamic membership, Security Groups, security policy, service chaining, Service Composer, Service Composer advanced security policies, Service Composer Canvas View, Service Composer container, Service Composer Security Group, Service Composer security policy, symantec, virtual machines, vms, VMware achitecture, VMware design, VMware ESXi, VMware logical switch, VMware NSX, VMware NSX advanced security policies, VMware NSX architecture, VMware NSX design, VMware NSX Distributed Firewall, VMware NSX firewall rules, VMware NSX logical switch, VMware NSX partners, VMware NSX security group container, VMware NSX Security Group dynamic membership, VMware NSX Security Groups, VMware NSX security policy, VMware NSX service chaining, VMware NSX Service Composer, VMware NSX Service Composer advanced security policies, VMware NSX Service Composer Canvas View, VMware NSX Service Composer container, VMware NSX Service Composer Security Group, VMware NSX Service Composer security policy, VMware NSX-V, VMware NSX-v design, VMware NSX-vSphere design, VMware Security Groups, VMware Service Composer, VMware virtual machine, VMware VM, VMware vSphere, vSphere | Leave a comment

Dell PowerEdge M1000e – FlexAddressing

Posted on January 31, 2014 by Humair

Let’s say you have a Dell PowerEdge M1000e chassis populated with Dell blade servers with CNAs. Let’s also assume you enable FCoE on the CNA and utilize it for LAN and SAN traffic. What if you were to use the … Continue reading →

Posted in Dell, Dell Force10, Dell PowerEdge Blade Servers, Labs, Networking, Servers, Technology, Troubleshooting, Troubleshooting | Tagged Dell, Dell blade, Dell Blade Server, Dell M1000e chassis, Dell M1000e Chassis CMC, Dell M60 Blade server, Dell M620, Dell PowerEdge, Dell PowerEdge M1000e, Flex, FlexAddressing, FlexAddressing technology, FlexAddrress, M1000e, MAC address, PowerEdge, PowerEdge M1000e, virtual address, virtual MAC address, virtual World Wide Port Name, virtual WWPN, World Wide Port Name, WWPN, zoning | 1 Comment

Understanding and Implementing Flow Control on Dell Force10 Switches

Posted on January 28, 2013 by Humair

Ethernet flow control allows for a receiving node to temporarily stop the transmission of data from the sending node. As defined by IEEE 802.3x this is accomplished via the PAUSE frame.

Posted in Dell Force10, Force10 Networks, Labs, Networking, Servers, Technology | Tagged 01-80-C2-00-00-01, 01:80:C2:00:00:01, 802.1Qbb, 802.3x, 802.3x flow control, Class of Service, converged network, converged networks, CoS, DCB, Dell, Dell Force10, Dell Force10 S50N, Dell S50N, Ethernet Pause Frame, Flow Control, Force10, Force10 Networks, Force10 S50N, IEEE 802.1Qbb, IEEE 802.3x flow control, network congestion, pause, PAUSE frame, PAUSE frame capture, PAUSE frame propogation, pause traffic, PFC, priority-based flow control, propogate PAUSE frame, QoS, Quality of Service, wireshark, Wireshark PAUSE frame, Wireshark PAUSE frame capture | 2 Comments

Distributed Core Network Architecture

Posted on January 18, 2013 by Humair

There is no doubt you have probably heard by now the importance of supporting ‘east-west’ traffic flow in large data center networks. So why is this and what does it mean? And when Gartner claims that 80 percent of data … Continue reading →

Posted in Dell Force10, Force10 Networks, Hadoop, Network Architecture, Networking, Servers, Technology, Virtualization and Cloud Computing | Tagged 'east-west' traffic flow, 10 GbE, 10 gig, 3-Tier, 3-Tier Network Architecture, 40 GbE, 40 gig, Data Center, Dell, Dell Force10, Dell Force10 S4810, Dell Force10 Z9000, Dell S4810, Dell Z9000, distributed cloud computing, distributed cloud computing platform, distributed cloud computing platforms, distributed core architecture, Distributed Core Network Architecture, east-west, east-west traffic, Facebook, Force10, Force10 Networks, Force10 Networks S4810, Force10 Networks Z9000, Force10 S4810, Force10 Z9000, Hadoop, server-to-server, server-to-server traffic, server-to-server traffic flow, Spanning Tree Protocol, spine and leaf, spine and leaf architecture, spine and leaf network, STP, Traditional 3-Tier Network Architecture, Z9000 | 3 Comments

Tech Tips – Check if your E-mail Server is Running [Video]

Posted on December 7, 2011 by Humair

I created and uploaded this video to youtube back in 2009, but I thought it might be helpful for others if I post the link here. It’s just a simple video that shows you how you can use telnet to … Continue reading →

Posted in E-mail, Networking, Servers, Technology, Troubleshooting, Troubleshooting | Tagged Check if your E-mail Server is Running, e-mail, e-mail server, e-mail troubleshooting, email, imap, pop, pop3, smtp, telnet, troubleshooting connectivity and server issues | Leave a comment