Hi @Richardkm ,
My knee-jerk reaction was to say "Google it mate" - then my mind recycled some of the memories I've had trying to get past all the marketing hype you get when you "Google it mate"
So here it is - there will be variations - I'm going to stick with "typical" scenarios
HyperFlex:
Cisco's AWESOME Hyper Converged Infrastructure solution. Comes with 3 (or more) UCS ESXi Servers connected to a pair of Cisco Fabric Interconnects (a specialised Switch - you can build your HX (HyperFlex) Cluster without them if you like) AND (most importantly) the HyperFlex Software.
The key point about HX .i.e HyperFlex (as opposed to FlexPod) is that it is ALL Cisco kit and Cisco Software, apart from the VMware ESXi Hypervisor which MUST be part of the solution - HX is used for VMs - it CAN be used as a storage platform kind-of, but it is NOT designed for that - whereas FlexPod is
Here's a pic from one of my training slides - it includes an install I did with the Fabric Interconnects at the top
FlexPod
I don't teach FlexPod courses, so don't have any slides or pictures, but this one this Cisco site from does a good job
FlexPod is a collaboration between Cisco and NetApp.
Like HyperFlex, there is a pair of Fabric Interconnects involved, and a number of UCS servers as well, but the servers are for compute purposes, not storage.
Storage is taken care of by adding the NetApp Storage and NetApp ONTAP software.
Typically, you'll still run VMs on the servers and the VM images will be stored on the NetApp storage. Here's another layout diagram I stole from here, so so you get a NetApp view
Differences between HyperFlex and FlexPod
If you go with HyperFlex, you'll be limited somewhat by the size of the nodes you start with, and is limited to a maximum of 32 Storage nodes, each with a maximum of 32TiB - so you max out at 1PiB of storage - but you can add another 32 Compute only nodes to your HX cluster. Of course, that's assuming you start with the nodes that can accommodate the 32TiB storage.
If you go with FlexPod, you'll have the basics of a full-blown data centre Siloed Architecture network that can scale to almost anything. I don't know the figures off the top of my head for FlexPod.
Intersight
Intersight is a SAS management platform. It is not required to run either HX or FlexPod (unless you go with the FLexPod that uses the new UCS-X series servers - they Do require Intersight management)
However, going forward, I suspect pretty much everything that comes out of Cisco will require Intersight.
I was working on a HyperFlex cluster a week or so ago. It was Intersight connected. TAC were able to access it while I slept and do some analysis. Before that I was configuring a new UCS-X chassis, had a problem and again, TAC diagnosed the problem and shipped a replacement module while I was in bed.
Don't leave home without Intersight - Cisco will give it to you for free to begin with anyway. (Probably)
I hope this helps.
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