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Based on the vSphere v6.0 platform the Enterprise Hybrid Cloud 3.5 solution has a host of new features, code upgrades and converged platforms support which result in an impressive release of the product.

What’s New

Feature wise here are some of the notable feature additions included with EHC 3.5:

•XtremIO DR support with RecoverPoint (Source & Target = XtremIO)
•VMAX3 DR support with VPLEX and RecoverPoint (Source & Target = VMAX3)
•Encryption Services: CloudLink SecureVM v5.0 support
•Add EHC BaaS to existing or imported VMs (New workflow ‘Ingest for DP’)
•Add EHC DRaaS to existing or imported VMs (New workflow ‘Ingest for DR’)
•VMware PSC replaces SSO
•Updated EHC Sizing Tool (platform-driven)

Some of the major code upgrades include:

•vSphere v6.0
•vRealize Suite
•PowerPath/VE 6.0 SP1
•Storage Analytics Suite
•ViPR 2.4 SP1
•NSX 6.2.1
•XtremIO 4.0 SP2 (allows for 8x 40TB X-Brick configs)
•Avamar v7.2
•RecoverPoint & vCenter SRM
•CloudLink SecureVM v5.0

Note: vRealize Orchestrator v6.0.2 is now fully supported in place of vCenter Orchestrator.

For a full and up-to-date listing of all software versions qualified as part of the EHC 3.5 release please refer to the EHC ESSM (EMC Simple Support Matrix) which can be found at either at https://support.emc.com/ or Elab Navigator

Supported EMC Storage Arrays: VMAX 2|3, VNX 1|2, ScaleIO, VPLEX, XtremIO and Isilon (Isilon is supported for IAAS only).

Converged Platforms

EHC 3.5 ESSM aligns with VCE Release Certification Matrix (RCM)  6.0.x

In the Converged Platforms space a new EHC management model has been introduced referred to as the ‘EHC Hybrid Management Model‘ which is supported on the VxBlock 340, 540 and 740 models. This new EHC Management model includes a single vCenter by default and utilises the resources and components available in the VxBlock Advanced Management Pod ‘AMP-2HAP’ to include and overlay the EHC Core Pod components allowing for the efficient use of available hardware and software resources. The single cloud vCenter will manage the three associated management pods AMP/Core, Auto and NEI in addition to the Tenant clusters.

‘AMP-2HAP’ – This is the Highly Available Performance AMP which includes three Cisco UCS C220|240 servers and additional ‘FAST VP’ VNXe3200 storage (more detail on AMP-2 Here).

Here is an example diagram of the VxBlock EHC Hybrid Management Model architecture as it applies to a single site VxBlock EHC 3.5 solution (Source: EHC Reference Architecture Guide):

EHC Demo

The Enterprise Hybrid Cloud demo site is a fantastic resource in order to get a look and feel for the solution:

http://ehcdemo.com

EHC Solution Documentation

Please refer to the EHC solution documentation for more in-depth architectural and solution details, links to EHC solution docs provided below: