Lenovo Converged HX3500, HX5500, and HX7500 Nutanix Appliances

Lenovo Converged HX Series Nutanix Appliances are designed to help you simplify IT infrastructure, reduce costs, and accelerate time to value. These hyperconverged appliances from Lenovo combine industry-leading hyperconvergence software from Nutanix with Lenovo enterprise platforms.

Several common uses for the Lenovo Converged HX Series appliances that feature Intel Xeon processors include virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI), server virtualization, private/hybrid clouds, enterprise applications and remote/branch office. Starting with as few as three nodes to keep your acquisition costs down, the HX Series is capable of immense scalability as your needs grow.

The Lenovo Converged HX Series appliances are available in three models (shown in the following figure) that can be tailored to your needs:

• Lenovo Converged HX3500: Optimized for compute-heavy environments.
• Lenovo Converged HX5500: Optimized for storage-heavy workloads.
• Lenovo Converged HX7500: Optimized for high-performance workloads.

Figure 1. Lenovo Converged HX Series appliances: HX3500 (top), HX5500 (middle), HX7500 (bottom)

The Lenovo Converged HX Series appliances are built on industry-leading Lenovo System x servers that consistently achieve the highest reliability ratings and top customer satisfaction scores:

• #1 in customer satisfaction for 14 out of 16 quarters (TBR 2Q15 Survey, August 2015):
  http://www.lenovo.com/images/products/system-x/pdfs/white-papers/tbr_x86servers_top_csat_2q15_wp.pdf
• #1 in reliability for 3 years running (ITIC 2015-2016 Reliability Survey, July 2015):
  http://www.lenovo.com/images/products/system-x/pdfs/white-papers/itic_2015_reliability_wp.pdf

Nutanix named a leader in the Magic Quadrant for Integrated Systems report (Gartner, August 2015):
http://go.nutanix.com/2015-gartner-magic-quadrant-integrated-systems.html

The Lenovo Converged HX Series Nutanix Appliances deliver the industry’s most feature-rich hyperconverged infrastructure to enterprise datacenters (shown in the following figure). Nutanix brings the benefits of web-scale technologies to enterprise applications through enterprise storage, data protection, infrastructure resilience, management and analytics, and security.

Figure 2. HX Series hyperconverged infrastructure

The Lenovo Converged HX Series appliances offer the following key features:

• Enterprise storage

  The Lenovo Converged HX Series Nutanix Appliances deliver enterprise data storage as an on-demand service by employing highly distributed software architecture. The Nutanix Software eliminates the need for traditional SAN and NAS solutions, and delivers a rich set of software-defined services that are entirely VM-centric, including snapshots, high availability, disaster recovery, deduplication and more.

  • Inline and post-process compression at the sub-block level increase effective storage capacity by up to four times.
  • Redirect-on-write snapshots and writeable clones at the granularity of a single VM increase efficiency.
  • Distributed caching of VM data improves performance in multi-reader scenarios, such as VDI with linked clones.
  • Inline deduplication in the read cache and post-process deduplication in the capacity tier improve performance and effective capacity.
  • Powerful acceleration capabilities such as caching, automatic data tiering and data locality speed storage performance.
• Data protection

  The Nutanix Software offers a natively integrated solution for data protection and continuous availability at VM granularity. It gives administrators an affordable range of options to meet the recovery point objectives (RPO) and recovery time objectives (RTO) for different applications.

  • Unlimited local backups using VM-centric snapshots and integrated workflows delivering RPO in minutes.
  • Natively integrated solution for disaster recovery enables simple VM-centric backup, recovery and replication with application-level consistency.
  • Built-in Cloud Connect hybrid cloud technology enables seamless backup of data to public cloud services.
  • Metro availability feature provides continuous availability of data across different sites during planned maintenance or disasters through synchronous replication.
  • Support for Microsoft Volume Shadow Services (VSS), VMware vStorage API for Data Protection (VADP), and seamless integration with third-party backup providers.
• Infrastructure resilience

  The platform for the Lenovo Converged HX Series Nutanix Appliances is fault resistant, with no single point of failure and no bottlenecks. The system uses a shared-nothing architecture, where all data, metadata and services are distributed to all nodes within the cluster, and is built to detect, isolate and recover from failures anywhere in the system. Lenovo hyperconverged appliances deliver always-on operation, and can survive system hardware, software and hypervisor issues and maintain 100% availability to applications and data.

  • Intelligent data placement in different physical failure domains, or availability domains, (for example, separate racks or power sources) delivers greater fault tolerance.
  • Data and metadata replicated across multiple nodes provide user-defined resilience against hardware failures.
  • Multiple copies of data ensure 100% data availability in the event that a Nutanix controller VM is unavailable due to failure or maintenance.
  • Automatic integrity checks during reads and silent at-rest error detection for data consistency.
• Management and analytics

  The platform for the Lenovo Converged HX Series Nutanix Appliances marries web-scale capabilities with an intuitive user-centric management experience to simplify every aspect of the IT infrastructure lifecycle. Nutanix Prism provides a single pane of glass to monitor and control one or more Nutanix clusters, with simplified workflows and rich automation for common administrative tasks.

  • Elegantly simple management framework with intuitive workflows delivers radical simplicity and powerful control to IT management.
  • Single pane of glass delivers centralized visibility and management of multiple Nutanix clusters across the world.
  • Rich automation and intuitive workflows simplify deployment, provisioning, orchestration and maintenance of Nutanix clusters.
  • End-to-end visibility of VMs, nodes and disks and the ability to visually diagnose potential issues gives administrators total infrastructure control.
  • Programmatic control of every aspect of cluster management, including deployment, upgrades, data protection, and performance management enables powerful automation.
  • Streamlined management for hypervisor and virtual machines on Nutanix.
• Security

  Nutanix software combines powerful features, such as two-factor authentication and data-at-rest encryption, with a security development lifecycle that is integrated into product development to help customers meet the most stringent security requirements.

  • Security incorporated into every step of the software development process enables verifiably secure software releases.
  • Two-step authentication using a client certificate and username/password, along with cluster lockdown, provides protection against unauthorized access.

The following figure shows the front view of the HX3500 appliance.

Figure 3. HX3500 front view

The following figure shows the front view of the HX5500 appliance.

Figure 4. HX5500 front view

The following figure shows the front view of the HX7500 appliance.

Figure 5. HX7500 front view

Figure 6. HX3500 and HX5500 rear view

The following figure shows the rear view of the HX7500 appliance.

Figure 7. HX7500 rear view

The following table lists the system specifications of the Converged HX Series appliances.

The Converged HX Series appliances are factory-integrated offerings only; they are configured by using the System x and Cluster Solutions Configurator (x-config):
http://lesc.lenovo.com/products/hardware/configurator/worldwide/bhui/asit/

During the configuration process, you are selecting one of the base models first, and then you are adding components to the selected model according to the output from the Nutanix Sizer tool:
http://services.nutanix.com/

Note: You are required to engage a Lenovo representative in the project that includes the Converged HX Series appliances.

The following table lists the base models of the Converged HX Series appliances.

The following table lists the default configurations of each appliance.

• Enterprise Slides Kit
• Enterprise 2U Cable Management Arm (CMA)
• Two 2.8 m IEC 320-C13 to C14 rack power cables
• Documentation package

The Lenovo Converged HX Series appliances ship two processors. The following table lists the processor options that are available for selection.

The Lenovo Converged HX Series appliances support Lenovo TruDDR4 memory. TruDDR memory is selected, tested and tuned to maximize performance and reliability, and it enables extended memory performance features to support memory speeds that exceed industry standards.

The appliances support up to 24 DIMMs (12 DIMMs per processor). Each processor has four memory channels, and there are three DIMMs per channel.

The following memory protection technologies are supported:

• ECC
• Chipkill

The following table lists supported memory configurations and maximum operating speeds.

Note: Cells highlighted with a gray background indicate when the number of DIMMs per channel allows the DIMMs to operate faster than Intel processor specifications define, while still maintaining world-class reliability.

The Lenovo Converged HX Series appliances support the internal drive bay configurations that are listed in the following table.

* The rear SSD boot drive is 120GB SATA 2.5" MLC G3HS Enterprise Value SSD, feature code A577.
** Each N2215 controls eight drives.

For more information, see the list of Product Guides in the RAID adapters category:
https://lenovopress.com/servers/options/raid

The following table lists the hard drive options that are available for selection.

The following table lists the solid-state drive options that are available for selection.

The Converged HX Series appliances provide two- or four-port 10 GbE network connectivity. 10 GbE ports are bonded with the 1 GbE ports on the system board.

The onboard 1 GbE network interface controller (NIC) that is based on the Broadcom BCM5719 chip provides four 10/100/1000 Mb Ethernet ports with RJ-45 connectors.

The following table lists the 10 GbE network adapter options that are available for selection.

The Intel X520 Dual Port 10GbE SFP+ Adapter has the following specifications:

• Intel 82599 dual-port 10 Gb Ethernet controller (supports 10 Gbps speeds)
• Two SFP+ ports for SFP+ transceivers or DAC cables
• Standard PCIe low-profile card form factor
• PCIe 2.0 x8 host interface

The Intel X520 10GbE SFP+ Adapter requires SFP+ transceivers or direct-attach copper (DAC) cables that must be ordered separately (two SFP+ transceivers or DAC cables per adapter). The following table lists supported SFP+ transceiver and cable options.

The Lenovo Converged HX Series appliances support the following hypervisors:

• Nutanix Acropolis Hypervisor (AHV)
• VMware ESXi 5.5 Update 2
• VMware ESXi 5.5 Update 3
• VMware ESXi 6.0 Update 1

Notes:

• The Lenovo Converged HX Series appliances come standard with the Acropolis Hypervisor preloaded.
• VMware ESXi hypervisors are supported as a field-installable option.

The Lenovo Converged HX Series appliances can be configured with one of the Nutanix Software editions that are listed in the following table. The Starter edition is factory-preloaded and the appropriate license can be downloaded from the Nutanix website to match the serial number of the appliance.

The Starter edition offers the core set of Nutanix software functionality. This edition is ideal for small-scale deployments with a limited set of workloads.

The Pro edition offers rich data services, along with resilience and management features. This edition is ideal for enterprises running multiple applications on a Nutanix cluster or with large-scale single workload deployments.

The Ultimate edition offers the full suite of Nutanix software capabilities to tackle complex infrastructure challenges. This edition is ideal for multi-site deployments.

The Lenovo Converged HX Series appliances support the following systems management tools:

• Integrated Management Module
• Light path diagnostics
• XClarity Administrator
• Nutanix Prism

Integrated Management Module

The Converged HX Series appliances contain Integrated Management Module II (IMM2.1), which provides advanced service-processor control, monitoring, and an alerting function. If an environmental condition exceeds a threshold or if a system component fails, the IMM2 lights LEDs to help you diagnose the problem, records the error in the event log, and alerts you to the problem. The Integrated Management Module Advanced Upgrade comes standard with the appliances, and it provides a virtual presence for remote management capabilities of the appliances.

The IMM provides remote appliance management through industry-standard interfaces:

• Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI) Version 2.0
• Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) Version 3
• Common Information Model (CIM)
• Web browser

The remote presence feature provides the following functions:

• Remotely viewing video with graphics resolutions up to 1600x1200 at 75 Hz with up to 23 bits per pixel colors, regardless of the system state
• Remotely accessing the appliance using the keyboard and mouse from a remote client
• Mapping the CD or DVD drive, diskette drive, and USB flash drive on a remote client, and mapping ISO and diskette image files as virtual drives that are available for use by the appliance
• Uploading a diskette image to the IMM memory and mapping it to the appliance as a virtual drive

Light path diagnostics

All appliances include basic light path diagnostics, which include system LEDs on the front of the appliance and LEDs near the monitored components (for example, the DIMM error LED on the system board).

The Lenovo Converged HX3500 and HX5500 appliances also include a next-gen light path diagnostics LCD display panel. With LCD display, you have quick access to system status, firmware, network, and health
information.

Lenovo XClarity is a centralized systems management solution that helps administrators deliver infrastructure faster. This solution integrates easily with Lenovo System x M5 and X6 rack servers, Converged HX Series appliances, and Flex System, providing automated agent-less discovery, monitoring, firmware updates, configuration management, and bare metal deployment of operating systems and hypervisors across multiple systems.

Lenovo XClarity is an optional software component for the Lenovo Converged HX Series appliances which can be used to manage firmware upgrades outside of the Nutanix Prism software.

The following table lists the Lenovo XClarity software options.

Notes:

• When the required edition of Lenovo XClarity software is selected in the configurator, the appropriate software option will be derived automatically based on the duration of a selected warranty period.
• The default selection is Lenovo XClarity Pro.

Lenovo XClarity Administrator offers the following features:

• Auto-discovery and monitoring of Converged HX Series appliances, System x servers, and Flex System chassis, nodes and I/O modules
• Firmware updates and compliance enforcement
• Pattern-based configuration management that allows to define configurations once and apply repeatedly without errors when deploying new servers or redeploying existing servers without disrupting the fabric
• External alerts and notifications via SNMP traps, syslog remote logging, and e-mail
• Secure connections to managed endpoints
• NIST 800-131A or FIPS 140-2 compliant cryptographic standards between the management solution and managed endpoints
• Integration into existing higher level management systems such as cloud automation and orchestration tools through REST APIs, providing extensive external visibility and control over hardware resources
• An intuitive, easy-to-use GUI
• Scripting support with Windows PowerShell, providing command-line visibility and control over hardware resources

Lenovo XClarity Pro includes Lenovo XClarity Administrator and two software plug-in modules:

• Lenovo XClarity Integrator for Microsoft System Center
• Lenovo XClarity Integrator for VMware vCenter

Lenovo XClarity Pro delivers all the features of Lenovo XClarity Administrator, while also allowing administrators to manage physical infrastructure from leading external virtualization management software tools from Microsoft and VMware.

Lenovo XClarity Pro offers the following additional features:

• Ability to discover, manage, and monitor Lenovo server hardware from VMware vCenter or Microsoft System Center
• Deployment of firmware updates and configuration patterns to System x M5 and X6 rack servers, Converged HX Series appliances, and Flex System from the virtualization management tool
• Non-disruptive server maintenance in clustered environments that reduces workload downtime by dynamically migrating workloads from affected hosts during rolling server updates or reboots
• Greater service level uptime and assurance in clustered environments during unplanned hardware events by dynamically triggering workload migration from impacted hosts when impending hardware failures are predicted

Nutanix Prism

Nutanix Prism gives administrators a simple and elegant way to manage virtual environments. Powered by advanced data analytics and heuristics, Prism simplifies and streamlines common workflows within a datacenter eliminating the need to have disparate management solutions. Nutanix Prism is a part of the Nutanix software preloaded on the appliances.

Nutanix Prism offers the following features:

• Single point of control
  • Accelerates enterprise-wide deployment
  • Manages capacity centrally
  • Adds nodes in minutes
  • Supports non-disruptive software upgrades with zero downtime
  • Integrates with REST APIs and PowerShell
• Monitoring and alerting
  • Tracks infrastructure utilization (storage, processor, memory)
  • Centrally monitors multiple clusters across multiple sites
  • Monitors per-VM performance and resource usage
  • Checks system health
  • Generates alerts and notifications
• Integrated data protection
  • Offers customizable RPO/RTO and retention policies
  • Supports configurable per-VM replication (1:1, 1:many and many:1)
  • Provides efficient VM recovery
  • Deploys affordable DR and backup to the cloud
• Diagnostics and troubleshooting
  • Provides time-based historical views of VM activity
  • Performs proactive alert analysis
  • Correlates alerts and events to quickly diagnose issues
  • Generates actionable alerts and reduces resolution times
  • Analyzes trending patterns for accurate capacity planning

The Lenovo Converged HX Series appliances have the following dimensions and weight (approximate):

• Height: 87 mm (3.4 in.)
• Width: 446 mm (17.5 in.)
• Depth: 800 mm (31.5 in.)
• Weight (maximum): 34 kg (75 lb)

The Lenovo Converged HX Series appliances are supported in the following environment:

• Air temperature:
  • System on: 5 °C to 40 °C (41 °F to 104 °F); altitude: 0 to 950 m (3,117 ft); decrease the maximum system temperature by 1 °C for every 175-m increase in altitude above 950 m.
  • System off: 5 °C to 45 °C (41 °F to 113 °F)
  • Shipment: -40 °C to +60 °C (-40 °F to 140 °F) at up to 10,700 m (35,105 ft)
• Maximum altitude: 3,050 m (10,000 ft) at 5 °C to 28 °C (41 °F to 82 °F)
• Humidity:
  • System on: 8% to 85%, maximum dew point 24 °C, maximum rate of change 5 °C/hr
  • System off: 8% to 85%, maximum dew point 27 °C
• Design to ASHRAE Class A3, ambient of 36 °C to 40 °C (96.8 °F to 104 °F), with relaxed support:
  • Supports cloud-like workload with no performance degradation acceptable (Turbo-Off).
  • Under no circumstance can any combination of worst-case workload and configuration result in system shutdown or design exposure at 40 °C.
  • The worst-case workload (like Linpack, Turbo-On) might have performance degradation.
• Electrical:
  • 100 to 127 (nominal) V AC; 50 Hz or 60 Hz; 10.0 A
  • 200 to 240 (nominal) V AC; 50 Hz or 60 Hz; 5.0 A
  • Input kilovolt-amperes (kVA) (approximately): 1.194 kVA
• BTU output (maximum): 4073 Btu/hr (1194 watts)
• Noise level:
  • 6.6 bels (operating)
  • 6.4 bels (idle)

The Lenovo Converged HX Series appliances conform to the following regulations:

• FCC - Verified to comply with Part 15 of the FCC Rules, Class A
• Canada ICES-003, issue 5, Class A
• UL/IEC 60950-1
• CSA C22.2 No. 60950-1
• NOM-019
• Argentina IEC60950-1
• Japan VCCI, Class A
• Australia/New Zealand AS/NZS CISPR 22, Class A; AS/NZS 60950.1
• China CCC GB4943.1, GB9254 Class A, GB17625.1
• Taiwan BSMI CNS13438, Class A; CNS14336-1
• Korea KN22, Class A; KN24
• Russia, Belorussia and Kazakhstan, TR CU 020/2011 (for EMC) and TR CU 004/2011 (for safety)
• IEC 60950-1 (CB Certificate and CB Test Report)
• CE Mark (EN55022 Class A, EN60950-1, EN55024, EN61000-3-2, EN61000-3-3)
• CISPR 22, Class A
• TUV-GS (EN60950-1 /IEC60950-1,EK1-ITB2000)
• RoHS Directive

The Lenovo Converged HX Series appliances can be configured with a three-year or five-year hardware warranty and software support with 24x7 standard call center support and various levels of onsite coverage with a well-defined scope of services, including service hours, response time, term of service, and service agreement terms and conditions.

The Lenovo local support centers perform problem determination and resolution for hardware-related issues and escalate to Nutanix, on behalf of the customer, for software-related problem determination. Nutanix will contact the customer and will own the software-related problem resolution until closure.

Note: Lenovo warranty service coverage levels are region-specific. Not all warranty service levels are available in every region.

The following table explains warranty service definitions in more detail.

In general, the following Lenovo warranty service levels are available for the Converged HX Series appliances:

• Three or five years of 9x5 or 24x7 service coverage
• Onsite response from next business day to 4 or 2 hours
• Committed repair service
  • Priority handling to meet defined time frames to restore the failing machine to good working condition
  • Committed repair service levels are measured within the following coverage hours:
    • 24x7x6: Service performed 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, within 6 hours
    • 24x7x8: Service performed 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, within 8 hours
    • 24x7x24: Service performed 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, within 24 hours
• Hard Disk Drive Retention (HDDR)

  Lenovo’s Hard Drive Retention service is a multi-drive hard drive retention offering that ensures your data is always under your control, regardless of the number of hard drives that are installed in your Lenovo appliance. In the unlikely event of a hard drive failure, you retain possession of your hard drive while Lenovo replaces the failed drive part. Your data stays safely on your premises, in your hands.

The Lenovo Converged HX Series appliances include a three-year or five-year software support and subscription (matches the duration of the selected hardware warranty period) that entitles you to submit service requests to troubleshoot Nutanix software issues and receive code updates, including fixes, patches, and new software releases.

The Lenovo local support centers perform problem determination and resolution for hardware-related issues and escalate to Nutanix, on behalf of the customer, for software-related problem determination. Nutanix will contact the customer and will own the software-related problem resolution until closure.

Software support that is provided by Nutanix includes 24x7 phone and web coverage with the following target response times (priorities are assigned by Nutanix based on the impact on productivity):

• Priority 1 (Emergency: Productivity halted): 2 hours
• Priority 2 (Critical: Significant impact on productivity): 4 hours
• Priority 3 (Normal: Minimal impact on productivity): 8 hours (by next business day)

The following table lists the top-of-rack Ethernet switches that are offered by Lenovo that can be used in Lenovo Converged HX Series solutions.

For more information, see the list of Product Guides in the Top-of-rack Switches category:
http://lenovopress.com/servers/options/switches

The following table lists the rack cabinets that are offered by Lenovo that can be used in Lenovo Converged HX Series solutions.

For more information, see the list of Product Guides in the Rack Cabinets category:
http://lenovopress.com/servers/options/racks

The following table lists the power distribution units (PDUs) that are offered by Lenovo that can be used in Lenovo Converged HX Series solutions.

For more information, see the list of Product Guides in the Power Distribution Units category:
http://lenovopress.com/servers/options/pdu

The following table lists the uninterruptible power supply (UPS) units that are offered by Lenovo that can be used in Lenovo Converged HX Series solutions.

For more information, see the list of Product Guides in the Uninterruptible Power Supply Units category:
http://lenovopress.com/servers/options/ups

Lenovo Financial Services reinforces Lenovo’s commitment to deliver pioneering products and services that are recognized for their quality, excellence, and trustworthiness. Lenovo Financial Services offers financing solutions and services that complement your technology solution anywhere in the world.

We are dedicated to delivering a positive finance experience for customers like you who want to maximize your purchase power by obtaining the technology you need today, protect against technology obsolescence, and preserve your capital for other uses.

We work with businesses, non-profit organizations, governments and educational institutions to finance their entire technology solution. We focus on making it easy to do business with us. Our highly experienced team of finance professionals operates in a work culture that emphasizes the importance of providing outstanding customer service. Our systems, processes and flexible policies support our goal of providing customers with a positive experience.

We finance your entire solution. Unlike others, we allow you to bundle everything you need from hardware and software to service contracts, installation costs, training fees, and sales tax. If you decide weeks or months later to add to your solution, we can consolidate everything into a single invoice.

Our Premier Client services provide large accounts with special handling services to ensure these complex transactions are serviced properly. As a premier client, you have a dedicated finance specialist who manages your account through its life, from first invoice through asset return or purchase. This specialist develops an in-depth understanding of your invoice and payment requirements. For you, this dedication provides a high-quality, easy, and positive financing experience.

For your region specific offers please ask your Lenovo sales representative or your technology provider about the use of Lenovo Financial Services. For more information, see the following Lenovo website:
http://www.lenovofs.com

For more information, see these resources:

• Lenovo Converged HX Series appliances product page
  https://www3.lenovo.com/us/en/data-center/converged-systems/hx-series/Lenovo-Converged-HX-Series/p/WMD00000036
• US Announcement Letter - January 19, 2016
  http://ibm.com/common/ssi/cgi-bin/ssialias?infotype=dd&subtype=ca&htmlfid=897/ENUS116-007
• System x and Cluster Solutions Configurator (x-config)
  http://lesc.lenovo.com/products/hardware/configurator/worldwide/bhui/asit/
• Nutanix documentation
  http://portal.nutanix.com/#/page/docs
• Support Portal - Lenovo Converged HX Series appliances
  http://support.lenovo.com/products/servers/lenovo-x86-servers/lenovo-converged-hx-series