Dell PowerFlex with VMware Cloud Foundation
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Dell PowerFlex with VMware Cloud Foundation

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Article ID: 376430

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Updated On:

Products

VMware SDDC Manager VMware Cloud Foundation

Issue/Introduction

This article provides information about support for the deployment of Dell PowerFlex software in VMware Cloud Foundation environments.

Disclaimer: The partner products referenced in this article are hardware devices or software that are developed and supported by stated partners. Use of these products is also governed by the end user license agreements of the partners. You must obtain the application, support and licensing for using these products from the partners. For more information, see Dell Support 

Support for Dell PowerFlex utilizes a proprietary approach called SDC (Storage Data Client). It has been determined that the current SDC must be deprecated due to use of private kernel APIs. As a result, the current SDC will be deprecated in VCF 9.0 and VVF 9.0. Support for Dell PowerFlex SDC in vSphere 8.x, VCF/VVF 5.x, and other older supported versions remains unchanged. For more information, see  KB article 401071.

Environment

VMware Cloud Foundation 5.x


VMware Cloud Foundation 9.x

Resolution

Dell PowerFlex

  • Dell PowerFlex is software-defined infrastructure that enables broad consolidation across the data center, encompassing almost any type of workload and architecture. The software-defined architecture offers automation and programmability of the complete infrastructure and provides scalability, performance, and resiliency to enable effortless adherence to stringent workload SLAs.
  • The PowerFlex family provides a foundation that combines compute and high-performance storage resources in a managed unified fabric. PowerFlex comes in flexible deployment options (rack, appliance, or custom nodes and in the public cloud) that enables independent (two-layer), HCI (single-layer), or mixed architectures. PowerFlex is ideal for high-performance applications and databases, building an agile private-hybrid cloud, or consolidating resources in heterogeneous environments.
  • For a detailed matrix of PowerFlex versions please refer to Dell Simple Support Matrices

PowerFlex consists of several key components:

  • Metadata Manager (MDM): Manages the storage cluster, keeps track of the state of the system, and issues directives to other components.
  • Storage Data Server (SDS): Provides storage resources to the system.
  • Storage Data Client (SDC): Consumes storage resources from the SDS.


The following diagram represents ESXi compute nodes in a VCF workload domain and Linux storage nodes.

Storage Data Client (SDC)
The SDC is a lightweight device driver that presents PowerFlex volumes as block devices to the application located on the server on which the SDC is installed. The SDC creates a logical adapter, which is an ESXi kernel construct. The adapter informs ESXi about the arrival and disappearance of SCSI devices. These LUNs can be formatted with VMFS and then exposed using the ESXi host to the virtual machine or can be used as RDM devices. Note that the SDC is installed within the ESXi kernel similar to any other VIB.

Because the SDC mimics an FC adapter, VMFS datastores created on SDC-presented volumes can be utilized as Principal storage (VMFS on FC) with VCF 4.x and 5.x.

Supported Architecture with VCF and SDC

  • VCF with SDC is only supported on PowerFlex when using an independent or two-layer architecture (VMware refers to this as disaggregated). PowerFlex HCI architecture is not supported with VCF today. In a two-layer architecture some nodes provide storage capacity for data in applications, while other separate, and independent nodes, in this case ESXi VCF hosts, provide compute resources for applications and workloads. Compute and storage resources can be scaled independently by adding nodes to the cluster while it remains active. This architecture can be ideal for high-performance databases and application workloads like those deployed on VCF.

PowerFlex network requirements with VMware Cloud Foundation

VMware Cloud Foundation 5.x
  • PowerFlex versions 4.5.x, 4.6.x, 5.x require a flat network. Both the management and data networks must be accessible from the same physical NIC. The VMware Cloud Builder does not support a PowerFlex system which physically separates the management and data networks.

VMware Cloud Foundation 9.x
  • Greenfield deployment: PowerFlex versions 4.5.x, 4.6.x, 5.x require a flat network. Both the management and data networks must be accessible from the same physical NIC. The VCF Installer does not support a PowerFlex system which physically separates the management and data networks.
    Brownfield deployment: PowerFlex versions 4.5.x, 4.6.x, 5.x with separate management and data networks are supported. Implementation requires you to deploy a new vCenter and configure the VDS for the networks prior to ingesting into the VCF Installer.


PowerFlex version and protocol support with VMware Cloud Foundation

VMware Cloud Foundation 5.x
  • PowerFlex versions 4.5.x, 4.6.x, 5.x with SDC (principal storage)
  • PowerFlex version 4.5.x, 4.6.x, 5.x with NVMe/TCP (supplemental storage)
  • PowerFlex version 4.5.x and 4.6.x with NFS (principal storage)

VMware Cloud Foundation 9.x
  • PowerFlex versions 4.5.x, 4.6.x, 5.x with SDC (principal storage)
  • PowerFlex version 4.5.x, 4.6.x, 5.x with NVMe/TCP (supplemental storage)
  • PowerFlex version 4.5.x and 4.6.x with NFS (principal storage)

Additional Information

For more information on configuration guidelines and deployment best practices, see Dell PowerFlex Software - Technical Documentation 

Note: The links in this KB are correct as of (01/09/2026). Some documents require the user to register with Dell. If you find the link is broken, provide feedback and a Broadcom employee will update the link.

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