Azure Stack HCI on the new HPE Apollo 4200 Gen10 Plus offers more capacity and performance. And now itโs validated with the latest software to provide the best hybrid cloud infrastructure for data-centric workloads.
BIG news: HPE has updated the Azure Stack HCI on Apollo 4200 validated solution
This is BIG news in that itโs a completely new solution โ both hardware and software. Yet it still delivers the same benefits: the most cloud-connected infrastructure with the simplicity of hyperconverged and optimized for data-centric workloads.
Azure Stack HCI brings hybrid cloud to your datacenter in a very manageable, seamless way. Itโs driven by the software-defined intelligence of Microsoft, leveraging that familiarity and expertise, while hard-wiring your IT effort into all the on-demand agility and cloud-based power of the Azure cloud.
With our updated solution comes new deployment guides and tech whitepapers, solution resources, and the beginning of a series of workload optimized solutions built-on this foundational solution design โ all rolling out over the coming year.
Putting the BIG in big data HCI
Weโve always talked about the HPE Apollo 4200 as having the biggest data capacity for an Azure Stack HCI validated 2U system. The engineering required to cram 800TB+ into only a 3-inch-high device is a big deal. But our bigger value turns out to be the storage media flexibility and choice than just the capacity. The Apollo 4200 architecture can accommodate a variety of storage media types, including Intel Optane Persistent Memory(PMEM), high-performance NVMe, and SAS/SATA solid-state drives (SSDs), plus capacity-oriented large-form factor (LFF) hard disk drives (HDD) or small-form factor (SFF) HDD.
With all these options, you can design a single-tier HCI system with SAS/SATA SFF SSD, or a two-tier HCI system with NVME + HDD, or PMEM + SSD, or even a three-tier system with them. More storage options let you tailor the solution more efficiently and optimize systems for particular requirements, while ensuring an overall lower cost per GB solution.
The HPE Apollo 4200 Gen 10 Plus is a heavy lift over previous Gen10 system. It features an updated processor (Intel Ice Lake), faster and larger capacity of 3200MT/s DRAM support, Intel Optane Persistent memory 200 series, and select GPU/FPGA support. Already the leading platform for big data HCI, this update further enhances the solutionโs ability to handle demanding data-centric workloads such as databases, email and collaboration, analytics, and video.
Hyperconverged and hypercharged feature roadmap
In case you didnโt already know, Azure Stack HCI is a bare-metal O/S installed in on-prem systems that is connected to, and consumed as, an Azure service. Along with simplifying your infrastructure stack, the software is licensed per node/per month, making the resources manageable through the Azure portal.
As to the HPE solution, weโve updated the software to the latest version, Azure Stack HCI version 21H2. New product features were announced at the recent Microsoft Ignite show. These include support for Azure workloads, along with benefits like Azure Virtual Desktop (in preview) and new Azure management capabilities like Azure Arc-enabled VM provisioning and management.
We plan to make the most of a product roadmap that includes expanded hybrid cloud capabilities like Azure Arc enablement, support for GPUs, and tying in with other updated (or on the way) Microsoft products including Windows Server 2022 and SQL Server 2022.
At the time of this blog, HPE is working on to get Apollo 4200 Gen10 Plus into Azure Stack HCI catalog as soon as General Availability of Azure Stack HCI version 21H2.
Meanwhile, we conducted some tests based on Apollo 4200 Gen10 Plus all-flash configuration and hybrid configuration based on Azure Stack HCI 21H2 public preview version. As a result, we have some exciting results to share.
BIG time benefits found in initial lab results
Our engineers are working with the new Azure Stack code on the updated HPE Apollo 4200 Gen10+ system and are confirming the improvements of the solution. Theyโve shared some initial impressions from the lab:
- The Gen10 Plus system works well with the Azure Stack HCI 21H2 public preview. Weโre busy completing related testing. You may have already seen this hardware listed within Windows Server Catalog as supporting Windows Server 2022, and weโre completing the latest HCI validation testing now.
- One surprising discovery is how the performance of the hybrid configuration of Apollo 4200 delivers performance similar to an all-flash configuration. (Iโm guessing this has to do with the Storage Spaces Direct server-side cache, but Iโm sure weโll learn more as our testing results and best practices are published.)
Go BIG or go home
Azure Stack HCI on the HPE Apollo 4200 Gen10 Plus is the ideal hybrid cloud infrastructure for data-centric workloads such as databases, email, analytics, video, and big data. And youโll see us make an even bigger deal on this foundation with specific solutions for SQL Server, VDI, enterprise virtualization and Kubernetes-based solutions such as Azure Arc.
Catch my video below for a deeper discussion on this topic.
Info on all our HPE Storage solutions for Microsoft are available at the recently update webpage: HPE.com/Storage/Microsoft. Or see whatโs the big deal with Microsoft Storage solutions from HPE on a daily basis by tracking us on Twitter at #HPEMSData or @mhardi01.
Mike Harding
Hewlett Packard Enterprise
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