vSphere Cluster Design Pattern One: Multi-Rack Compute VI Workload Domain Cluster

This design pattern lists the design choices and resulting requirements and recommendations to deploy a compute cluster that spans multiple racks with vSAN storage and a Layer 3 network fabric in a VI workload domain.

This design provides rack resiliency for the applications running on the cluster that span multiple racks in a VMware Cloud Foundation instance with a single availability zone.

Figure 1. Multi-Rack Compute Cluster with Layer 3 Networks

Design Choices for vSphere Cluster Design Pattern One

This design requires the following VMware Cloud Foundation deployment choices:

Table 1. Design Choices for vSphere Cluster Design Pattern One
Design Aspect	Choice Made
Architecture model	Standard
Workload domain type	VI workload domain
Topology	Single Instance - Single Availability Zone
Workload domain cluster to rack mapping	Workload domain cluster spanning multiple racks
Physical network configuration	Leaf-spine
Workload domain principal storage	vSAN

Design Elements for vSphere Cluster Design Pattern One

Table 2. External Services Design Elements
Design Area	Applicable Design Elements
External services	External Services Design Requirements

Table 3. Physical Network Design Elements
Design Area	Applicable Design Elements
Physical network	Leaf-Spine Physical Network Design Requirements
	Leaf-Spine Physical Network Design Requirements for L3 Multi-Rack Compute Cluster
	Leaf-Spine Physical Network Design Recommendations

Table 4. Multi-Rack Compute VI Workload Domain Cluster Design Elements
Design Area	Applicable Design Elements
vSAN	vSAN Design Requirements
	vSAN Design Requirements for Multi-Rack Compute VI Workload Domain Cluster
	vSAN ESA Design Requirements for Multi-Rack Compute VI Workload Domain Cluster (applicable for vSAN ESA)
	vSAN OSA Design Requirements for Multi-Rack Compute VI Workload Domain Cluster (applicable for vSAN OSA)
	vSAN Design Recommendations
ESXi	ESXi Server Design Requirements
ESXi	ESXi Server Design Recommendations
vSphere cluster	vSphere Cluster Design Requirements
	vSphere Cluster Design Requirements for Multi-Rack Compute VI Workload Domain Cluster
	vSphere Cluster Design Recommendations
vSphere networking	vSphere Networking Design Requirements for Multi-Rack Compute VI Workload Domain Cluster
vSphere networking	vSphere Networking Design Recommendations
Overlay	Overlay Design Requirements
	Overlay Design Requirements for Multi-Rack Compute VI Workload Domain Cluster
	Overlay Design Recommendations

Table 5. Life Cycle Management Design Elements
Design Area	Applicable Design Elements
Life cycle management	Life Cycle Management Design Requirements

Table 6. Account and Password Management Design Elements
Design Area	Applicable Design Elements
Account and password management	Account and Password Management Design Recommendations

Table 7. Certificate Management Design Elements
Design Area	Applicable Design Elements
Certificate management	Certificate Management Design Recommendations