This is the lab behind VirtualBytes: a VCF 9 private cloud, two tiers of storage and a 100G core, running in a dedicated room at home. The cards above list the hardware. Below is how it fits together and why.
How it’s laid out
VCF 9 runs on an all-flash vSAN ESA cluster of three R740XDs, each with an Intel Optane NVMe for memory tiering. A fourth R740XD is Workload Domain 1 and handles HPC and AI jobs on 20TB of local storage.
Storage is split in two. An R740XD2 is the primary tier (120TB over iSCSI, NFS and SMB) on a 200Gb/s NAS/SAN backbone. An R740XD holds 50TB of archive on 80Gb/s.
Network design
- Two ISPs: Lumen 1G and Conexon 2.5G, both symmetrical.
- Routing: eBGP, iBGP and static routes across a pair of Palo Alto PA-5520s.
- Core: dual 100Gb/s QSFP+ backbone for management and vSAN on two Arista DCS-7160s.
- Management: 1Gb/s for server management, edge and misc devices.
- DMZ: an isolated segment for web hosting. This site is served from it.
Power and cooling
Two APC Smart-UPS SRT 2200s feed four managed PDUs on three 20A circuits in an A/B layout. A 14,000 BTU portable A/C cools the room. An 8″ inline fan pushes hot air into the house HVAC and a 6″ fan pulls fresh air in from outside.