Microsoft Azure Stack HCI on Inte l-based Lenovo ThinkSystem V3 server

Here are the benefits of Microsoft Azure Stack HCIs on the new Lenovo Thinkagile MX and ThinkSystem V3 servers equipped with the 5th and 4th generation Intel® Xeon® Scalable processors.

Change history

March 2024 Added information and performance about the 5th generation Intel® Xeon® Scalable processor.

Accelerate business

The introduction of the hyperconverted infrastructure (HCI) is a de facto standard for organizations aiming to modernize aging infrastructure. The introduction of larg e-scale storage is being replaced by HC I-based solutions for most genera l-purpose workloads. HCI has proved to achieve better efficiency and price performance in data centers. In addition, customers have chosen a hybrid approach that moves specific workloads to the cloud and maintains other workloads o n-premises.

Azure Stack HCI is a Microsoft HCI solution for customers who want to easily extend hybrid functions such as backup, site recovery, storage, clou d-based monitoring, etc. to Azure.

Azure Stack HCI provides security, performance and function updates in Microsoft's new HCI host operating system provided as Azure services. Azure Stack HCI is built on the foundation of the Microsoft Windows Server Software Defined program and provides a certified path for Storage Spaces Direct solutions.

The Lenovo Thinkagile MX series (integrated system and certified node) combines the Storage Spaces Direct technology contained in this new host OS, and for infrastructure solutions Providing I Building Block Masu. The Lenovo Thinkagile MX integrated system is mapped to the Microsoft Azure Stack HCI integrated system, and the Thinkagile MX certified node is mapped to Microsoft Azure Stack HCI Validated Nordes.

The Thinkagile MX series is built with a certified hardware component, can be easily ordered as an appliance, and has a development/ update function built into Windows Admin Center. With these advantages, companies can quickly and easily introduce solutions.

The main merit

• Simple: Lenovo XCLARITY is integrated with Microsoft's Windows Admin Center and provides simple singl e-pane o f-glass expenses for infrastructure, software, and hardware. 。
• Flexibility: Thinkagile MX nodes provide a wide range of options of processors, memory, and storage, and provides maximum flexibility to customize infrastructure.
• Shortening of time to the value realization: The conventional IT requires a great deal of time and energy for solution design, testing, implementation, and conservative. In HCI, this burden has moved to a solution provider. Microsoft has developed an S2D to solve storage issues and has developed Azure Stack HCI solutions to secure a robust and executable platform.

Lenovo has designed, test, verifies the Thinkagile MX series, provides the solutions needed by customers quickly and easily, and exceeds the strict requirements of today's IT. As a result, it is possible to quickly introduce a robust and hig h-performance HCI solution and quickly solve IT issues.

Reliability: Equipped with Lenovo server

ThinkSystem SR650 V3 2U Server Node and ThinkSystem SR630 V3 1U Server Node Thinkagile MX model is equipped with two strong 5th generation or 4th generation Intel® Xeon® Scalable. High It provides reliability, huge internal storage and memory capacity, and a large number of I/O slots, making it an ideal base for this solution.

The SR650 V3 configuration used in this solution is a high-density storage with high-performance 4-SSD/NVME cache layer, 14-HDD capacity layer, and two mirrored boot drives.

Thinkagile MX also offers an all-flash with high-performance 4-NVME cache layer and 20-SSD capacity layer. Starting with a minimum of 1 node, you can extend up to 16 nodes.

SR630 V3 Configuration is an alternative product of a smaller 1U foam factor. In these configurations, the high-performance 2-SSD/NVME cache layer and 10-HDD capacity layer are available.

The Thinkagile MX is a small form factor platform based on the ThinkSystem SE350, and can be used as a Thinkagile MX1000 series (MX1021 certified node and MX1020 integrated system). With a small installation area and power efficiency, many edg e-rosion achieves highly reliable server class performances. Furthermore, with the advantages of robustness and diverse installation options, these servers are perfect for small locations.

This server corresponds to the temperature of 0 ° to 55 ° C and can withstand dust and vibration. The hal f-wide and short depth 1U server does not select the installation location, such as a wall, shelves, or rack mount. This high-performance server, which uses the Intel Xeon-D processor, has 8 to 16 cores and has various storage options.

The Lenovo ThinkSystem server is always ranked high in the customer satisfaction ranking, and has won the first place in the X86 server reliability ranking for the ninth consecutive year. It is also known for its high performance and is currently achieving a 537 world record benchmark (as of March 1, 2024).

Excellent value

The Thinkagile MX integrated system includes Microsoft Azure Stack HCI and if an unlimited guest OS virtual machine license is required, optional Windows Server 2022 DataCenter is also included. The Thinkagile MX certified node includes Azure Stack HCI software or Windows Server 2022 DataCenter as options. Azure Stack HCI OS license has the following benefits:

• Storage Spaces Direct (S2D): Storage Spaces Direct (S2D): Microsoft's stat e-o f-th e-art software definition storage with multiple hig h-performance recovery options, duplicate exclusion, compression, etc.
• Windows Admin Center (WAC): The we b-based management portal is included in the software without additional costs. The deployment of the WAC and the update feature allows the deployment to be very simple and easy. In addition, Lenovo's XCLARITY plu g-in allows you to develop not only hardware but also software from the same interface, so you can manage it with a single pane.
• Hyper-V: Hypervisor is included in the license.
• Software-Defined Networking: Functions such as virtual network encryption, firewall audits, virtual networkpearing, etc. can provide the benefits of a more secure software definition network in Azure Stack HCI.
• Azure Stack HCI is a hybrid design, enjoys the merit of native integration between Azure Arc and Azure Monitor, and can seamlessly connect to Azure Hybrid Service Azure. Host and VM fleet management allows for larg e-scale cluster monitoring and management.

Help as much as you need

Lenovo and Lenovo partners have a comprehensive portfolio for professional services that support the entire infrastructure life cycle. From the plan to the introduction, optimization, support, and the end of life cycle, you will be able to use support to accelerate your business goals at all steps.

Thinkagile MX series

The Lenovo Thinkagile MX series is a flexible building block for Microsoft Azure Stack HCI solutions.

THINKAGILE MX model specifications

Model name	Thinkagile MX series (integrated system and certified node) --SR650 V3	Thinkagile MX series (integrated system and certified node) --SR630 V3
Form factor	2U	1U
segment	Hyper Converted Infrastructur e-Microsoft Azure Stack HCI Solution
processor	2x 5th generation Intel Xeon Scalable processor, 8-128 core, or 2X 4th generation Intel Xeon Scalable processor, 8-120 core
Memory	Up to 8TB (32X slot, 16GB-256GB DIMMS)
network	10/25GBE adapter (ROCE or Iwarp), 100GBE (ROCE) RDMA network adapter
Drive bay	3. 5 "x 16, 2. 5" x 28	4x3. 5 ", 12x2. 5"
Storage optio n-capacity hierarchy	4-14x HDD: 1TB ~ 14TB 4 ~ 30X SSD: 480GB ~ ​​7. 68TB, 4-24X NVME, 750GB ~ ​​7. 68TB	4-10x speed HDD: 600GB to 14TB 4-12 times SSD: 480GB-7. 68TB, 4-12X NVME, 750GB-7. 68TB 4-16X E1. s NVME, 4TB
Cache layer	Depending on the configuration: 2-6X SSD: 800GB to 6. 4TB, 2-8x hot plug compatible NVME: 750GB to 6. 4TB	Depending on the configuration: 2-4X SSD: 800GB ~ ​​6. 4TB 2-4X Hot plug compatible NVME: 750GB to 6. 4TB
System management	Optional Lenovo XCLARITY hardware management and resource management by Microsoft Windows Admin Center
License option	Azure Stack HCI Software (included in integrated system), Windows Server 2022 Datacenter (optional)
Guarantee and support	Lenovo's 3 years, 4 years, 5 years of hardware warranty, Thinkagile Advantage Single Point Support (when available) (included in the integrated system)

Performance indicators

Composition of Thinkagile MX650 V3
processor	2 X Intel XEON 5th generation GOLD 6530 32 Core @ 2. 10 GHz (4. 00 GHz Turbo)	2 X Intel Xeon 4th generation Platinum 8444H @ 2. 90 GHz (4. 00 GHz Turbo)
Memory	1. 5TB DDR5 @ 5600 MT/S (16 x 96GB	1024GB DDR5 @ 4800 MT/S (16 x 64GB)
Storage	All NVME configuration: 16x 3. 48tb Micron NVME Drive	Capacity Drive: 4x 3. 84TB SATA SSD Cash Drive: 2x 1. 92TB NVME Drive
network	Mellanox CX-6 10/25GBE PCIE Ethernet Adapter	Mellanox ConnectX-6 LX 10/25GBE SFP28 2 Port PCIE Ethernet Adapter
performance
4K random 90/10 R/W ratio	2, 010, 527 IOPS	1, 646, 251 IOPS

Lenovo and Microsoft

With co-located engineering organizations and a history of technical collaboration, Microsoft and Lenovo have consistently delivered innovative joint solutions for the data center. Lenovo's leadership in reliability, customer satisfaction, and performance, combined with Microsoft's leadership in software and cloud services, delivers innovative data center solutions and lower TCO.

Why Lenovo?

Lenovo is a leading provider of x86 servers for the data center. Featuring rack, tower, blade, high-density, and converged systems, Lenovo's server portfolio delivers superior performance, reliability, and security. Lenovo also offers storage, software, solutions, and comprehensive services to support your business needs throughout the IT lifecycle.

More Information

For more information about ThinkAgile MX Certified Nodes, contact your Lenovo representative or business partner or visit lenovo. com/thinkagile. For detailed specifications, see the ThinkAgile MX Product Guide.

Trademarks

Lenovo and the Lenovo logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Lenovo in the United States, other countries, or both. For a current list of Lenovo trademarks, go to https://www. lenovo. com/us/en/legal/copytrade/.

The following terms are trademarks of Lenovo in the United States, other countries, or both: Lenovo® ThinkAgile® ThinkSystem® XClarity®

The following terms may be trademarks of other companies:

Intel® and Xeon® are trademarks of Intel Corporation or its subsidiaries.

Microsoft®, Azure®, Hyper-V®, Windows Server®, and Windows® are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States, other countries, or both.

Other company, product, or service names may be trademarks or service marks of others.