As NetApp continues to make its mark on and help define the Next Generation Data Centre, the need for more node types of their HCI offering has become apparent and they are responding in kind.

First up, staying current by using the latest generation of Intel Skylake processors in the new nodes is a given; as well as offering myriad combinations of both CPU and memory while maintaining interoperability with the current generation of HCI nodes.

First up, are a raft of new compute nodes, some of which are optimized around core count which you can use to satisfy various licensing models.

Model # Processor Memory H410C-14020 2 x Xeon Silver 4110

(8 core @ 2.1GHz) 384 GB H410C-15020 512 GB H410C-17020 768 GB H410C-25020 2 x Xeon Gold 5120

(14 core @ 2.2GHz) 512 GB H410C-27020 768 GB H410C-28020 1 TB H410C-35020 2 x Xeon Gold 5122

(4 core @ 3.6GHz) 512 GB H410C-37020 768 GB H410C-57020 2 x Xeon Gold 6138

(20 core @ 2.0GHz) 768 GB H410C-58020 1 TB

Next up, the much-requested GPU accelerated compute nodes have been announced, optimized for Windows 10 VDI deployments. This one moves away from the 2 RU chassis with 4 compute nodes and is one 2 RU server in itself consisting of:

2 x NVIDIA Tesla M10 GPUs

An Intel Skylake Xeon 6130 (16 cores @ 2.1GHz)

512MB RAM

On to the networking-side of things, your concerns have been heard. NetApp will soon begin offering their H-Series switch, the Mellanox SN2010 to help complete your HCI build-outs. This switch is a paltry 1RU, half-width consisting of 18 SFP+/28 ports with optional cable and transceiver bundles. Support for this switch will be NetApp-direct, so no worries around cross-vendor finger pointing.

Keeping in the network mindset, NetApp is making things simpler by reducing the required network port count and associated infrastructure by 40%. HCI compute nodes now only require two SFP28 connections, down from four, vSphere distributed switch is a requirement.

Tied closely to NetApp’s HCI offering is their Solidfire storage whose latest release, version 11, provides some great new features. Version 11 brings to the table the ability to SnapMirror to ONTAP Cloud, IPv6 management network, 16TB maximum volume size and protection domains. This last feature helps protect your HCI deployments against chassis failure by automatically detecting HCI chassis and node configuration. Solidfire’s double-helix data layout ensures that secondary blocks span domains.

All the above should allow you to build a truly Next Generation Data Centre for your employer or your customers.