Easy install of Hyperflex 1.8.1c

Hyperflex 1.8.1c installation Cisco Hyperflex Hyper converged (HCI) solution is getting easier and easier ! Before installing the only thing you will have to do is to download the Hyperflex 1.8 installer software from http://www.cisco.com/go/software The Fabric Interconnect and servers are already with the correct version of the needed software. The hyperflex 1.8 installer is an … Read more

Simplivity OmniStack installation

We got a demo unit of Simplivity and some documentation, but unfortunally that documentation isn’t very clear. Maybe the docs at the site are good, but I don’t have access to that. After some time spending with support I created this article just for my own knowledge.

Here are the requirements before doing the steps below :

Read more

Howto Build Your Own Hyper-converged server with FreeNas in 7 steps!

Hyper-converged systems are hot, but what is it ?

In short : It’s a server where you run VMWare vsphere and you’re using local storage for your NAS/SAN with some better functions than the standard local datastores of VMWare got.

Is it possible to create one for home/SMB purpose ? Well.. I saw the page FreeNas on VMWare ESXi 6.0 and I thought ; Let’s give it a try.

What do you need :

  • a x86 server with lots of memory (for deduplication)
  • Some harddisks.
  • Bootable USD/SDCard
  • Two raid controllers ! One for the disks you want to put in FreeNas. One other harddisk (non-usb or sdcard) for a local datastore for the FreeNas image.
  • VMWare vsphere software
  • FreeNas software.

Howto start :

Read more

FlexPod is here for 5 years now and is it dead ?

UCP, vSpex, VersaStack, OmniStack, FlashStack and the list is going on and on. So manyFlexPod Converged Infrastructures and/or hyper-converged solutions. All based with Cisco Networking and Cisco UCS. But what about FlexPod ? It’s here for 5 years right now and is it still up to date and relevant? What are the key differentiators for the customer to still have a closer look at this solution ?

FlexPod is alive and kicking !

Read more

SDN. The old future ?

Software Defined Networking (SDN), Software Defined Data Centers (SDDC), Software Defined Storage (SDS). A lot of buzz words and is it really something new ? Let’s focus on SDN. What is the problem and what is SDN resolving. More then 15 years ago I was a networking guy. At greenfields I had to deploy sometimes … Read more