What to look for in your first Azure Stack Cloud HCI system
Why choose between cloud and on-site servers when you can combine the best of both worlds?
That’s the promise of Microsoft’s new Azure Stack HCI solution. Azure Stack provides consistent services – both IaaS for virtualisation and PaaS for application development – to enable businesses to run cloud apps offline or through on-premise servers as well as via the cloud. Azure Stack HCI serves the specific needs of those who want to run virtualised apps on-premises, while wanting to connect to Azure for specific cloud services, such as Azure Site Recovery, Azure Backup and Azure Monitor. Azure Stack HCI solutions are Microsoft-validated, ensuring the hardware you buy has been fully tested and is ready to go with the minimal amount of configuration. It’s powered by Windows Server 2019, while connections to Azure cloud services are controlled using Windows Admin Center. Ultimately, an Azure Stack HCI system is a great choice for those looking to add a new server to either augment or replace existing (and potentially ageing) server infrastructure. But what should you be looking for when it comes to purchasing an Azure Stack HCI system? Discover the many benefits of Azure Stack systems How many nodes do you need? Server stacks are split into so-called ‘nodes’ or connection points, either for redistributing data or to act as an end point for data transmissions. Azure Stack HCI solutions can support up to 16 nodes, but most needs can be met by just one or two – the key thing being that those nodes are capable of handling lots of network bandwidth.
When starting out, two nodes should be adequate, particularly if each one can handle up to 25GB throughput, as is the case with the ASUS Azure Stack HCI integrated system. It’s powered by the RS520-E9-RS12-E 2U high-performance rack-mounted server and comes equipped with a dual-port 25GbE OCP Mezzanine Adapter to ensure peak performance across your network. Choose scalable specs By default, each ASUS Azure Stack HCI integrated system comes equipped with an Intel Xeon Scalable Silver 4110 processor offering 2 x 4 cores and 128GB RAM. The Intel Xeon Scalable platform supports up to 4.2x the number of virtual machines than previous-generation server processors. At the heart of each RS520 node is the ASUS Z11PR-D16 scalable server motherboard. This supports twin Intel Xeon Scalable processors, each one capable of delivering up to 26 cores of processing power, enabling the system to grow to accommodate your changing business demands. The server also boasts 16 DIMM slots, supporting up to 2TB of RAM, plus dual M.2 SSD slots with RAID support for ultra-fast main storage or memory caching. The ASUS Azure Stack HCI system is supplied with two 240GB high-endurance SSDs for caching, as well as an ASUS PIKE II 3008 8-port Serial Attached SCSCI (SAS) HBA card, which powers 4x 16TB Seagate SAS drives. Need more storage? The motherboard’s built-in SATA controller has 11 SATA-III ports, supported by 12 2.5/3.5-inch hot-swappable storage bays plus two additional hot-swappable 2.5-inch bays on the back panel to augment the onboard M.2 SSD slots. Just as the server’s processor, memory and storage are all upgradeable in line with your growing business, it’s also equipped with six PCI-Express ports (2x PCI-E x16, 4x PCI-E x8) for adding graphics and other high-performance peripherals. Put all of this together and the ASUS Azure Stack HCI system has got your business needs covered – both now and in the future. Find out more about ASUS’s Azure Stack HCI integrated system
