Before you add a node to an existing cluster or plan a new one, check that the node models are actually compatible. This page covers the terms, the supported and unsupported combinations, and best practices for mixing hardware. For numeric sizing limits (max nodes, max VMs per limit type, etc.), see Appendix C: System Limits.
Definitions
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Single Node System (SNS) | A single node initialized as a standalone entity. |
| Cluster | A minimum of 3 nodes initialized as an entity. |
| Tiering | The ability of SC//HyperCore™ HyperVisor software to pool different drive types as different storage levels — all spinning disks in one tier, all SSDs in another — so administrators can customize access to each pool at the virtual disk level. |
| Non-Tiered Node | A node model with 100% spinning drives and no SSDs. |
| Tiered Node | A node model with roughly 25% SSD drives and 75% spinning drives. |
| All Flash Node | A node model with 100% SSD drives and no spinning drives. |
| Edge Node | A small form factor node using NVMe and a single network port, for Edge deployments. |
| Business Resiliency System (BRS) | A dedicated backup node or cluster, licensed for use with Acronis as a local backup target for production SC//HyperCore systems. |
Cluster Combination Rules
- Nodes in a cluster should share the same storage type: Non-Tiered with Non-Tiered, Tiered with Tiered, All Flash with All Flash.
- NUC-based systems (such as the HE151 and HE250) can only be combined with other NUC-based systems.
- Match the networking capabilities of all nodes in a cluster. Don’t combine 1GbE and 10GbE SFP+ nodes. 10GBase-T nodes work with 1GbE nodes. 10GBase-T nodes do not work with 10GbE SFP+ or 10/25GbE SFP28 nodes.
- Cluster storage is limited to 100 physical drives per tier.
Unsupported combinations:
- A cluster initialized with All Flash nodes can only accept additional All Flash nodes.
- You can’t currently decommission Tiered nodes from a mixed Tiered + All Flash cluster to migrate to an All-Flash-only configuration.
- Non-Tiered (spinning disk) nodes cannot be mixed with All Flash nodes in any configuration unless you first add 3 or more Tiered nodes.
- NUC-based nodes cannot be mixed with any other node type.
- GPU nodes cannot be mixed with any other node type. They can only be clustered with more nodes from the same GPU node line.
- All Flash nodes added to a Tiered cluster are treated as “tier 0” (cache) storage. This is not a recommended configuration.
Single Node Systems (SNS)
- An SNS must have an SC//HyperCore replication target for full production support, unless it’s from the Edge product line. Third-party backup and replication services can also meet this requirement.
- An SNS without a replication target is not supported for production use, because it lacks high availability. Edge-line systems are the exception.
- Tiered nodes with fewer than 3 SSDs are not supported as an SNS.
BRS (Business Resiliency System)
- BRS is supported as either an SNS or a cluster.
- BRS must use Acronis (with an Acronis license) as its backup solution.
- BRS is not supported as an SC//HyperCore replication backup target.