Cisco Compute Hyperconverged with vSAN C245 M8 All-NVMe Node Data Sheet
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Cisco Compute Hyperconverged with vSAN
Cisco Compute Hyperconverged with vSAN is a purpose-built platform that unifies compute, storage, and networking into a single, software-defined infrastructure. Cisco and VMware by Broadcom have partnered to deliver a robust, scalable, and high-performance Hyperconverged Infrastructure (HCI) solution for modern workloads.
VMware vSAN Express Storage Architecture (ESA) is a next-generation hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) architecture designed to deliver exceptional performance, scalability, and resilience. vSAN ESA is optimized for high-performance NVMe-based storage and modern server platforms, offering a simplified, flash-optimized data path that enables faster I/O, improved efficiency, and lower latency. By decoupling performance from capacity, vSAN ESA supports mission-critical workloads with enhanced data services and streamlined operations—making it ideal for modern enterprise environments. vSAN ReadyNodes are pre-configured, tested, and jointly certified by Broadcom and Cisco to deliver enterprise-grade storage performance and reliability for IT customers. When deployed on Cisco UCS® servers qualified as vSAN ReadyNodes, customers can confidently build a robust hyperconverged infrastructure stack that maximizes hardware utilization, simplifies operations, and scales linearly with business growth.
Cisco Compute Hyperconverged with vSAN C245 M8 All-NVMe Node family
Cisco Compute Hyperconverged C245 M8 All-NVMe Node family are powered by 5th Gen AMD EPYC Processors with 160 percent more cores per socket designed using AMD’s chiplet architecture. With advanced features such as AMD Infinity Guard, compute-intensive applications will see significant performance improvements and reap other benefits such as power and cost efficiencies.
These servers can be interconnected and managed in two different ways:
● Cisco Intersight® Standalone Mode: The servers (nodes) are connected to a pair of Top-of-Rack (ToR) switches and are centrally managed using Cisco Intersight (SaaS, Connected Virtual Appliance (CVA), or Private Virtual Appliance (PVA)). While a minimum of three nodes are required to deploy a standard vSAN cluster, we also offer an option to deploy to Remote Offices / Branch Offices (ROBOs) that have a small number of workloads but require high availability. Refer to the Cisco spec sheets for further details on the use of two-node vSAN clusters.
● Cisco Intersight Managed Mode: The nodes are connected to a pair of Cisco UCS 6400 Series or a pair of Cisco UCS 6500 Series fabric interconnects running in Intersight Managed Mode (IMM) and managed as a single system using Cisco Intersight (SaaS, Connected Virtual Appliance (CVA), or Private Virtual Appliance (PVA)). These clusters can be deployed with a minimum of two nodes (two-node cluster) for remote-office/branch-office environments. A standard vSAN cluster requires a minimum of three nodes and can scale up to 64 nodes in a single cluster. These clusters can support both general-purpose deployments and mission-critical high-performance environments.
Note: Cisco UCS Managed Mode (UMM) is not recommended. M8 will be the last generation of hardware that will support UMM. It is recommended to deploy all new clusters in Intersight Managed Mode or in Intersight Standalone Mode.
Cisco Compute Hyperconverged with vSAN C245 M8 All-NVMe with 5th Gen AMD EPYC processors are excellent for a wide range of workloads, including virtualization, collaboration, and bare-metal applications.
Table 1. Summary of features and benefits of Cisco Compute Hyperconverged with vSAN C245 M8 All-NVMe Node
| Feature |
Benefit |
|
| Memory |
● High memory capacity
● Up to 6 TB (24 x 256 GB DDR5 DIMMs)
|
|
| Processors |
5th Gen AMD EPYC processors (Turin)
● Massive processing power with up to 160 cores per socket
● High-speed DDR5 memory technology for up to 6400 MT/s
● Advanced capabilities, such as AMD Infinity Guard,
enhance security in virtualized environments.
● Designed for compute-intensive applications
|
|
| Unified network fabric (optional) |
● Low latency, up to 8 x 10/25/50 Gigabit Ethernet connections or up to 4 x 40/100 Gigabit Ethernet connections
● Wire-once deployment model, eliminating the need to install adapters and re-cable racks and switches when changing I/O configurations
● Fewer interface cards, cables, and upstream network ports to purchase, power, configure, and maintain
|
|
| Cloud-based services and management |
Cisco Intersight simplifies infrastructure operations across on-premises data centers, edge sites, and public clouds.
● Use a software-as-a-service platform that bridges applications with infrastructure.
● Correlate visibility and management across bare-metal servers, hypervisors, and application components.
● Transform operations with artificial intelligence to reach needed scale and velocity.
|
● VMware vCenter is the centralized management platform for vSphere environments, including vSAN:
● Configure, control, scale and monitor your vSphere environment.
● Exercise full control over Virtual Machines (VMs), the virtualization layer, and software-defined storage.
● Leverage Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS) to balance workloads across the cluster.
|
| Storage |
● U.2/U.3 All-NVMe configurations
● Deliver high-capacity configurations for the Cisco Compute Hyperconverged platform capacity layer
● vSAN ESA eliminates traditional disk groups and instead pools all local NVMe devices into a single storage tier, enabling direct, parallel access across drives. This architecture simplifies storage management and improves performance by allowing dynamic distribution of data and metadata. Data is stored using a log-structured, object-based model with built-in services such as compression and erasure coding applied in the write path.
|
|
| Enterprise data protection |
● Synchronous and asynchronous replication allows for flexible disaster recovery strategies tailored to specific needs.
● Deduplication and compression
● Virtual-machine data protection and disaster recovery with VMware vSphere Replication
● Disaster recovery with VMware’s DRaaS (Disaster-as-a-Service)
|
|
| Security |
● Data-at-rest encryption using enterprise key management integration
● Trusted Platform Module (TPM), a chip (microcontroller) that can securely store artifacts, including passwords, certificates, and encryption keys, which are used to authenticate the platform (node). Supports TPM 2.0.
● Software-based data-at-rest encryption and microsegmentation
|
|
| Software |
●
Management software: Cisco Intersight and Broadcom VMware vCenter
●
Storage software: Broadcom VMware vSAN ESA
●
Hypervisor choice: support for Broadcom VMware ESXi/vSphere
|
|
Table 2 lists the specifications for the Cisco Compute Hyperconverged with vSAN C245 M8 All-NVMe Node.
Table 2. Common specifications for Cisco Compute Hyperconverged with vSAN C245 M8 All-NVMe Node
| Item |
Common specifications across the Cisco Compute Hyperconverged with vSAN C245 M8 All-NVMe Node family |
| Form factor |
2RU rack server |
| Processors |
5th Gen AMD EPYC Processors (1 or 2) |
| Memory |
24 DDR5 DIMM slots: 16, 32, 64, 96, 128, and 256 GB up to 6000MT/s with 5th Gen AMD EPYC Processors |
| Storage |
Specific drive options are available for Cisco Compute Hyperconverged C245 M8 All-NVMe Nodes with vSAN:
● Cisco Compute Hyperconverged C245 All-NVMe M8 Node: various capacity options from 1.6 TB to 15.3 TB U.2/U.3 NVMe drives (up to 8 drives per node)
● Dual M.2 SATA SSDs with HW RAID support
|
| PCIe |
Up to 8 PCIe Gen 4.0 slots or up to 4 PCIe Gen 5.0 slots and 1 dedicated mLOM slot |
| Internal storage |
Backplane options:
● Up to 28 x 2.5-inch SAS, SATA HDDs, SSDs or NVMe SSDs (up to 8 NVMe direct attach)
|
| Graphic Processing Units (GPUs) |
Up to eight GPUs supported |
| Network |
One dedicated socket (PCIe Gen5 x16) that can be used to add an mLOM or OCP 3.0 card for additional rear-panel connectivity
● mLOM slot can flexibly accommodate 10/25/50 and 40/100/200 100-Gbps Cisco VIC adapters.
● OCP 3.0 slot features full out-of-band management with Intel
® X710 OCP Dual 10GBase-T via mLOM interposer.
● Several other OCP card offerings
|
| Management |
|
| Power supplies |
Hot-pluggable, redundant platinum and titanium options:
● Platinum: 1050W DC and 1600W AC
● Titanium: 1200W AC and 2300W AC
|
| Rail-kit options |
● Cisco
® ball-bearing rail kit with optional reversible cable management arm
|
Table 3 lists system requirements for the Cisco Compute Hyperconverged with vSAN C245 M8 All-NVMe Node.
Table 3. System requirements
| Item |
Requirements |
| Fabric interconnect |
Cisco UCS 6454, 64108, and 6536 fabric interconnects (for Intersight Managed Mode only) |
| Cisco Intersight |
Intersight Managed Mode and Intersight Standalone Mode (minimum Intersight Essentials license per server) |
| Cisco IMC |
Release 4.3(5) or later |
Table 4. Ordering information
| Part # |
Product description |
| HCI-M8-VSAN-MLB |
Cisco Compute Hyperconverged with vSAN M8 Rack Server MLB |
| HCIVS245C-M8SN |
Cisco Compute Hyperconverged with vSAN C245 M8 2RU standard rack server with up to 8x U.2/U.3 drives |
For ordering information, see the Cisco Compute Hyperconverged with vSAN C245 M8 All-NVMe Node specification sheet and Cisco Compute Hyperconverged C245 M8 with vSAN MLB ordering guide.
Enhance your investment in Cisco Hyperconverged Infrastructure (HCI) with Cisco Services
How can you quickly adopt and maximize the value of your investments in Cisco Hyperconverged with vSAN to accelerate business outcomes? To achieve enhanced performance and reliability for your HCI solutions, Cisco services ensure seamless integration, efficient deployment, and scalability of vSAN powered environments on Cisco platforms. From expert guidance and troubleshooting to best practices, Cisco and our certified partners provide comprehensive services to help you maximize your HCI investment while minimizing risks and downtime. For more information, contact your Cisco representative or trusted partner.
Information about Cisco’s Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) initiatives and performance is provided in Cisco’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and sustainability reporting.
Table 5. Cisco environmental sustainability information
| Sustainability topic |
Reference |
|
| General |
Information on product-material-content laws and regulations |
|
| Information on electronic waste laws and regulations, including our products, batteries, and packaging |
||
| Information on our product takeback and reuse program |
||
| Sustainability inquiries |
Contact: csr_inquiries@cisco.com |
|
| Operating and non-operating conditions |
||
| Material |
Product packaging weight and materials |
Contact: environment@cisco.com |
Cisco makes the packaging data available for informational purposes only. It may not reflect the most current legal developments, and Cisco does not represent, warrant, or guarantee that it is complete, accurate, or up to date. This information is subject to change without notice.
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