Frequently asked questions about HPE solutions for Azure Stack HCI

[MassimilianoG]

What is Microsoft Azure Stack HCI?

Microsoft^® Azure Stack HCI is an on-premises hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) solution validation program based on the Storage Spaces Direct and Hyper-V^® roles in Windows Server 2019 Datacenter. Azure Stack HCI is the new name for what used to be called the Windows Server Software-Defined (WSSD) solution validation program, which Microsoft renamed in 2019. The program enables customers to deploy HPE Solutions for Microsoft Azure Stack HCI with the confidence that they’ve been carefully sized and tested by HPE and fully validated by Microsoft.

These hyperconverged solutions bring together software-defined compute, storage, and networking on industry-standard HPE ProLiant, Apollo, and Synergy servers and components. The Storage Spaces Direct software essentially uses the locally attached server drives to create highly available, highly scalable software-defined storage at a fraction of the cost of traditional SAN or NAS arrays.

What kinds of customers will be interested in HCI?

These are ideal solutions for organizations that want to refresh aging servers and storage, consolidate virtualized workloads, and/or gain cloud efficiencies on premises. They help customers extend to the Microsoft Azure cloud quickly and easily with simplified access to cloud management and security servers for off-site backup, site recovery, file synchronization, update management, monitoring, and more.

What HPE solutions are available?

HPE solutions for Azure Stack HCI are built on award-winning HPE ProLiant rack and tower servers and converged and hyperconverged systems such as HPE Apollo and HPE Synergy. They give customers easy deployment, scale, and management with a choice of ready-to-go, validated solution configurations.

We offer a wide range of validated solutions, spanning from entry-level solutions suitable for small to midsized businesses (SMBs), remote office/branch office (ROBO), or edge deployments in 2-node configurations that scale up to 16-node clusters for intense workloads. HPE offers detailed, step-by-step setup guidance in a Storage Spaces Direct technical paper to help ease deployment and configuration.

Where can I learn more?

You can read more about HPE solutions for Azure Stack HCI (including a short video) at our recent blog posts: “What is Microsoft Azure Stack HCI?” and “Azure Stack HCI: Where do HPE Solutions fit in?”

We’ll also be promoting HPE solutions for Azure Stack HCI at Microsoft Ignite 2021. Make plans now to virtually attend this spring’s Microsoft Ignite (March 2-4) to get the latest insights from HPE and Microsoft experts at the digital transformation roundtable. If you’re interested in Azure Stack HCI, you can access the Microsoft Ignite 2020 Virtual Booth to view presentations on:

• HPE solutions for Microsoft Azure Stack with Mark Mortimore
• Simplifying your big data with Microsoft Azure Stack HCI with Mike Harding

See you there!

[vmigliacc]

Hi team,

I read about the december 2020 Microsoft change about Azure Stack HCI.

While in the past it was a solution comprising all the Win2019 DC edition features, now it has a separate codebase from Win Server; it is a focused HCI solution without GUI, and with just required components, but not the rest of win server.

I read about the chance to purchase it as an integrated solution (certified hw, and pre-imaged sw and current firmware together), but it's not clear to me how to trigger the "pre-imaged software" option.

Do you know if is there any specific SKU or service?