Module 2: Sizing & Design

Learning Objectives

By the end of this module, you will be able to:

• Evaluate customer requirements and recommend an appropriate VergeOS topology (HCI, UCI, or hybrid)
• Size hardware for HCI and UCI deployments based on workload profiles
• Use reference architectures as starting points for customer designs
• Create a bill of materials for a VergeOS deployment proposal

Prerequisites

• Completion of Module 1: Architecture Fundamentals — you should understand HCI vs UCI trade-offs, node types, and cluster concepts

Estimated Time

2 hours (1 hour reading + 1 hour lab)

VMware Bridge

If you have experience sizing VMware vSphere + vSAN deployments, many concepts carry over. Key differences: VergeOS has significantly lower overhead per node (no separate vCenter appliance, no per-socket licensing constraints), and the UCI model has no direct VMware equivalent — it separates compute and storage into independent failure domains.

Topics

Hardware Requirements

Minimum and recommended specs for controller nodes, scale-out nodes, and storage-only nodes. CPU, memory, disk, and NIC considerations.

Reference Architectures

Pre-validated designs for common deployment sizes: small (2-node HCI), medium (4-node HCI), large (UCI multi-cluster), and edge.

Customer Scoping

How to gather requirements, translate workload profiles into resource estimates, and select the right topology.

Lab: Design Exercise

Given a customer scenario, produce a hardware recommendation and topology diagram.

Module Outline

1. Hardware Requirements — CPU, memory, storage, and networking minimums for each node role
2. Reference Architectures — Starter topologies from the VergeOS reference architecture library
3. Customer Scoping Process — Requirements gathering checklist and sizing methodology
4. Lab — Design a VergeOS deployment for a fictional customer scenario