Step 1

Log into the HX Data Platform Installer using the following steps:

1. In a browser, enter the URL for the VM where HX Data Platform Installer was installed.

2. Use the credentials: username: root, password: Cisco123

   Important

   Systems ship with a default password of Cisco123 that must be changed during installation. You cannot continue installation unless you specify a new user supplied password.

3. Read the EULA. Click I accept the terms and conditions. Click Login.

Step 2

In the Select a Workflow page, select Expand Cluster > Compute Node.

Step 3

In the next screen, click Run UCS Manager Configuration and then Continue.

Caution

Do not choose any other workflow option at this point.

Step 4

Click Confirm in the pop-up that displays.

Step 5

In the Credentials page, complete the following fields for UCS Manager.

Click Continue to proceed. The installer will now try to connect to the UCS Manager and query for available servers. The configuration pane will be populated as the installer progresses. After the query finishes a screen with the available servers is displayed.

Step 6

In the Server Selection page, choose all the servers that you want to install in the cluster and click Continue.

Step 7

In the UCSM Configuration page, complete the following fields for VLAN Configuration.

HyperFlex needs to have at least 4 VLANs to function, each needs to be on different IP subnets and extended from the fabric interconnects to the connecting uplink switches, to ensure that traffic can flow from the Primary Fabric Interconnect (Fabric A) to the Subordinate Fabric Interconnect (Fabric B).

Name	Usage	ID
hx-inband-mgmt	Hyper-V and HyperFlex VM mgmt.	10
hx-storage-data	HyperFlex storage traffic	20
hx-livemigrate	Hyper-V Live Migration network	30
vm-network	VM guest network	100,101

Use the following illustration as a reference for entering values in this page.

Note	Do not use VLAN 1 as it is not best practice and can cause issues with disjoint layer 2. vm-network can be multiple VLANs added as a comma separated list.

Caution

Renaming the 4 core networks is not supported.

Step 8

Enter the remaining network configuration for MAC Pool, 'hx' IP Pool for Cisco IMC, Cisco IMC access management (Out of band or in band)

Field	Description	Value
MAC Pool
MAC pool prefix	MAC address pool for the HX cluster, to be configured in UCSM by the installer. Ensure that the mac address pool isn’t used anywhere else in your layer 2 environment.	00:25:b5:xx
'hx' IP Pool for Cisco IMC
IP Blocks	The range of IP addresses that are used for Out-Of-Band management of the HyperFlex nodes.	10.193.211.124-.127
Subnet Mask	The subnet mask for the Out-Of-Band network	255.255.0.0
Gateway	The gateway address for the Out-Of-Band network	10.193.0.1
Cisco IMC access management (Out of band or In band)
In band (recommended) Out of Band	Select the option that was used for converged-nodes cluster creation.

Note	The Out-Of-Band network needs to be on the same subnet as UCS Manager. You can add multiple blocks of addresses as a comma separated line.

Important

If you choose to expand your Hyper-V cluster using M4 blade servers with FC SAN boot option, you must enable FC Storage. Complete the fields for FC Storage.

Table 1. (Optional) Applicable for M4 blade servers with FC SAN

Field	Description	Example Value
FC Storage	Checkbox that indicates if FX Storage should be enabled.	Check to enable FC Storage
WWxN Pool	A WWN pool that contains both WW node names and WW port names. For each fabric interconnect, a WWxN pool is created for WWPN and WWNN.	20:00:25:B5:C2
VSAN A Name	The name of the VSAN for the primary fabric interconnect (FI-A). By default, this is set to hx-ext-storage-fc-a.	hx-ext-storage-fc-a
VSAN A ID	The unique identifier assigned to the network for the primary fabric interconnect (FI-A).	70
VSAN B Name	The name of the VSAN for the subordinate fabric interconnect (FI-B). By default, this is set to hx-ext-storage-fc-b.	hx-ext-storage-fc-b
VSAN B ID	The unique identifier assigned to the network for the subordinate fabric interconnect (FI-B).	70

Step 9

Advanced Section

Step 10

When you click Start, the installer validates your input and then begins configuring UCS Manager.

Step 11

When the HX Data Platform Installer is finished, then you are ready to proceed to next step.

Step 1

Launch Cisco UCS Manager:

1. In your web browser, type the Cisco UCS Manager IP address.

2. Click Launch UCS Manager.

3. In the login screen, enter the with the username as admin and the password set in the beginning of the installation. Click Log in.

Step 2

Create a vMedia policy for the Windows OS and Cisco driver images:

1. In the Navigation pane, click Servers.

2. Expand Servers > Policies > root > Sub-Organizations > hx-cluster_name > vMedia Policies

3. Right-click vMedia Policies and select Create vMedia Policy HyperFlex.

   

4. In the Create vMedia Policy dialog box, complete the following fields:

   Field Name	Description
   Name	The name of the vMedia policy. For example, HX-vMedia. This name can be between 1 and 16 alphanumeric characters. You cannot use spaces or any special characters other than - (hyphen), _ (underscore), : (colon), and . (period), and you cannot change this name after the object is saved.
   Description	A description of the policy. We recommend including information about where and when the policy should be used. Maximum 115 characters.
   Retry on Mount Failure	Designates if the vMedia will continue mounting when a mount failure occurs. This can be: Yes No Note   The default setting is Yes. When Yes is selected the remote server will continue to try to mount the vMedia mount process until it is successful, or you disable this option. If you select No, a warning message will appear indicating retry on mount failure will not work in case of mount failure.

   Refer to the following screenshot as an example:

   

5. On the icon bar under the vMedia Mounts pane, click + Add. In the Create vMedia Mount dialog box, complete the following fields:

   Field Name	Description	Example Value
   Name	Name for the mount point.	Windows-ISO
   Description	Can be used for more information.	Windows Server 2016 image or Windows Server 2019 image
   Device Type	Type of image that you want to mount. This can be: CDD—Scriptable vMedia CD. HDD—Scriptable vMedia HDD.	CDD
   Protocol	The protocol used for accessing the share where the ISO files are located.	HTTP
   Hostname/IP Address	IP address or FQDN of the server hosting the images.	10.101.1.92
   Image Name Variable	This value is not used in HyperFlex installation.	None
   Remote File	The filename of the ISO file that you want to mount.
   Remote Path	The path on the remote server to where the file resides
   Username	If you use CIFS or NFS a username might be necessary
   Password	If you use CIFS or NFS a password might be necessary

   Refer to the screenshot below as an example:

   

6. Click OK. When you click OK, you will now be returned to the vMedia Policies screen, and you should see the information that you just submitted.

   

7. Repeat Steps 2e and 2f, however, change the type to HDD and the remote file name to the Cisco HyperFlex driver image.

8. At the end of this step, the two vMedia mounts will be listed in the Create vMedia Policy screen as shown in the following screenshot:

   

Step 3

Associate the vMedia Policy to a Service Profile:

1. In the Navigation pane, select Servers > Service Profile Templates > root > Sub-Organizations > hx-cluster_name > Service Template compute-nodes, or compute-nodes-m5

   

2. Click the vMedia Policy tab. Then, click Modify vMedia Policy

3. Choose the vMedia Policy that you created earlier from the drop-down selection, and click OK twice.

   

4. Under the General tab, verify that the vMedia policy is added to the Service Profile.

   

Step 4

Modify Boot Policy and set the boot order to have CIMC CD/DVD to the list:

1. In the Navigation pane, click the Servers tab.

2. Expand Servers > Policies > root > > Boot Policies > hx-compute, or hx-compute-m5

   

3. In the Boot Order configuration pane, click CIMC Mounted CD/DVD . Then, click Add CIMC Mounted CD/DVD to add this to the boot order. Move it to the top of the boot order using the Move up button.

   Important

   As shown in the screenshot below, the CIMC Mounted CD/DVD option must be highest in the boot order preceding the other options, Embedded Local Disk and CD/DVD.

   

4. Click Save Changes, and click OK in the Success dialog box. The modified boot policy is saved.

Step 5

Verify successful vMedia mounting:

1. On the Equipment tab, select one of the servers.

2. Click Inventory > CIMC, scroll down and ensure for mount entry #1(OS image) and mount entry #2 (Cisco HyperFlex driver image) you see status as Mounted and there are no failures.

   

3. In the menu bar, click Servers and choose the first HyperFlex service profile.

4. Click the General tab and choose Actions > KVM Console>>.

   Note	The KVM console will try to open in a new browser. Be aware of any pop-up blockers. Allow the pop-ups and re-open the KVM

   

5. Reboot the host, launch the KVM Console, and power on the server to monitor the progress of the Windows installation. You should see the Loading Files screen appear. Windows should install automatically without user intervention.

   Note	The option to install Windows automatically without user intervention is applicable for fresh or first-time installations only. For reinstallations, or if the node already contains a Windows partition, you will need to respond to the prompt to "Press any key to boot from CD/DVD".

   You should see a blue screen and within a few moments you should see the Setup is starting message. The host will reboot a few times. If automated installation does not begin, double-check that both images are mounted to the server.

6. The installation is complete when you get a clear command prompt at c:\users\administrator>. This is applicable for both Windows Core and Desktop Experience installations. It may take several minutes for the Driver Image to be copied and installed.

   Note	Ignore the prompt with the The system cannot find the file specified message.

   Important

   Ensure that you have completed Steps e and f, on ALL servers that will be part of the HX cluster.

   Note

   If Microsoft Windows OS is already installed on the node, you must click any key to continue when the node boots back up so that the fresh OS installation can happen. If you haven't clicked any key to continue, and an existing node with a previous OS installed is used to expand, then the new installation is skipped causing further expansion to fail.

7. Log into each server and verify the following:

   Run the powershell command: Get-ScheduledTask -TaskName HXInstallbootstraplauncherTask. Verify that the HX Install Bootstrap Launcher task is running. Sample output as follows:

   TaskPath                              TaskName                          State
   --------                                       --------                          -----
   \                                              HXInstallbootstraplauncherTask    Running

   Validate that the log line "Done with HX PostSysPrepSetup" exists in C:\ProgramData\Cisco\HyperFlex\Install\Log\PostSysprepSetup.log.

   Run powershell command: Get-Command Get-VMSwitch. Verify that the command runs successfully (no exception). Sample output as follows:

   
   CommandType     Name                                               Version    Source
   -----------     ----                                               -------    ------
   Cmdlet          Get-VMSwitch                                       2.0.0.0    Hyper-V
   

Step 6

Reset the vMedia policy back to the default HyperFlex policy:

1. Update the vMedia policy for compute nodes. Go to Servers > Service Profile Templates > root > Sub-Organizations > hx-cluster_name > Service Template compute-nodes, or compute-nodes-m5. Then, click on Modify vMedia Policy.

2. Under the vMedia Policy drop-down selection, choose "HyperFlex" policy.

Step 7

Restore the boot order to the one before installation:

1. In the Navigation pane, click the Servers tab.

2. Expand Servers > Policies > root > > Boot Policies > hx-compute, or hx-compute-m5

3. In the Boot Order configuration pane, use the Move Down button to move CIMC Mounted CD/DVD option to the bottom of the list.

Step 8

Change the local Administrator password to match the password on the existing cluster.

1. Log into the newly-installed compute node.

2. Open a command prompt.

3. Run the following command: net user Administrator <password>.

Step 9

Update the password for HXInstallbootstraplauncherTask and verify that it is Running:

1. Stop the scheduled task "HXInstallbootstraplauncherTask" if it is running.

   For example:

   Get-ScheduledTask -TaskName "HXInstallbootstraplauncherTask" | Stop-ScheduledTask

2. Update task credentials.

   For example:

   Get-ScheduledTask -TaskName "HXInstallbootstraplauncherTask" | Set-ScheduledTask -User "Administrator" -Password <password>

3. Start the scheduled task and verify that it is Running.

   For example:

   Get-ScheduledTask -TaskName "HXInstallbootstraplauncherTask" | Start-ScheduledTask

   Get-ScheduledTask -TaskName "HXInstallbootstraplauncherTask"

Step 1

Re-open the HX Data Platform Installer and log in.

Step 2

You might need to “start over” because the previous workflow was finished. Click on the gear icon in the top right corner and select Start Over.

Step 3

In the Select a Workflow page, select Expand Cluster > Compute Node.

Step 4

In the Select a Workflow page, select Expand HX Cluster. Leave the Is OS installed on the Node, Run Hypervisor Configuration and Deploy HX Software checkboxes selected.

Step 5

In the Warning dialog box, click Confirm and Proceed.

Step 6

In the Cluster page, complete the following fields:

Step 7

In the Credentials page, complete the following fields:

Step 8

In the Node Selection page, choose all the servers that you want to install in the cluster and click Continue.

Step 9

In the Hypervisor Configuration page, complete the following fields for VLAN Configuration, Hypervisor Settings, and Hypervisor Credentials.

Step 10

In the Node Configuration page, complete the fields for Hypervisor Settings and IP Addresses.

Click Start to begin the Hypervisor Configuration. The installation now continues and configures the Hypervisor hosts.

Step 11

In the Warning dialog box, click Confirm and Proceed.

Step 12

The Progress screen displays the status of the hypervisor configuration and cluster expansion.

Step 13

When the process finishes successfully, the Summary page displays the completion status.

Step 1

Launch UCS Manager and log in.

Step 2

Perform the following steps to clone a Service Profile template:

1. In the Navigation pane, click Servers.

2. Expand the node for the organization where you want to clone and select Create a Clone

3. In the Create Clone from Service Profile dialog box, enter a name you to use for the new profile in the Clone Name field (Example: hx-compute. Click OK.

Step 3

Perform the following steps to enable FC Zoning:

1. In the Navigation pane, go to SAN > VSAN.

2. Ensure that the Enabled radio-button is selected under FC Zoning.

Step 4

Unbind your blade server from the current Service Profile template, and bind it to the newly created template in Step 2.

Step 5

Perform the following steps to mount the HyperFlex Driver Image file and modify the autounattend.xml file:

1. Connect to your HX Installer VM and navigate to the shared folder that contains the Windows ISO and HyperFlex Driver Image files.

2. Run the following commands to mount the HyperFlex image:

   
   mkdir /mnt/hx-img
   mount /var/www/localhost/images/latest.img /mnt/hx-img

3. Open the autounattend.xml file, search for DiskID and change the value from 0 to the value in Windows PE ( WinPE).

Step 6

Perform the following steps to configure a SAN boot policy:

1. Select the newly created Service Profile Template from Step 2 and go to the Boot Order tab. Click Modify Boot Policy. In the Modify Boot Policy page, click Create Boot Policy.

2. Expand vHBAs, select Add SAN Boot, and in the name field, type the name of the vHBA(Example: hx-ext-fc-a).

3. Select Primary and click OK.

4. In the Add SAN Boot Target, leave the Boot Target LUN set to 0. In the Boot Target WWPN field, type the WWPN from your storage array. Verify Type is set to Primary and click OK.

Step 7

Create a vMedia policy for the Windows OS and Cisco driver images:

1. In the Navigation pane, click Servers.

2. Expand Servers > Policies > root > Sub-Organizations > hx-cluster_name > vMedia Policies

3. Right-click vMedia Policies and select Create vMedia Policy HyperFlex.

   

4. In the Create vMedia Policy dialog box, complete the following fields:

   Field Name	Description
   Name	The name of the vMedia policy. For example, HX-vMedia. This name can be between 1 and 16 alphanumeric characters. You cannot use spaces or any special characters other than - (hyphen), _ (underscore), : (colon), and . (period), and you cannot change this name after the object is saved.
   Description	A description of the policy. We recommend including information about where and when the policy should be used. Maximum 115 characters.
   Retry on Mount Failure	Designates if the vMedia will continue mounting when a mount failure occurs. This can be: Yes No Note   The default setting is Yes. When Yes is selected the remote server will continue to try to mount the vMedia mount process until it is successful or you disable this option. If you select No, a warning message will appear indicating retry on mount failure will not work in case of mount failure.

   Refer to the following screenshot as an example:

   

5. On the icon bar under the vMedia Mounts pane, click + Add. In the Create vMedia Mount dialog box, complete the following fields:

   Field Name	Description	Example Value
   Name	Name for the mount point.	Windows-ISO
   Description	Can be used for more information.	Windows Server 2016 image
   Device Type	Type of image that you want to mount. This can be: CDD—Scriptable vMedia CD. HDD—Scriptable vMedia HDD.	CDD
   Protocol	The protocol used for accessing the share where the ISO files are located.	HTTP
   Hostname/IP Address	IP address or FQDN of the server hosting the images.	10.101.1.92
   Image Name Variable	This value is not used in HyperFlex installation.	None
   Remote File	The filename of the ISO file that you want to mount.
   Remote Path	The path on the remote server to where the file resides
   Username	If you use CIFS or NFS a username might be necessary
   Password	If you use CIFS or NFS a password might be necessary

   Refer to the screenshot below as an example:

   

6. Click OK. When you click OK, you will now be returned to the vMedia Policies screen, and you should see the information that you just submitted.

   

7. Repeat Steps 2e and 2f, however, change the type to HDD and the remote file name to the Cisco HyperFlex driver image.

8. At the end of this step, the two vMedia mounts will be listed in the Create vMedia Policy screen as shown in the following screenshot:

   

Step 8

Associate the vMedia Policy to a Service Profile:

1. In the Navigation pane, select Servers > Service Profile Templates > root > Sub-Organizations > hx-cluster_name > Service Template compute-nodes, or compute-nodes-m5

   

2. Click the vMedia Policy tab. Then, click Modify vMedia Policy

3. Choose the vMedia Policy that you created earlier from the drop-down selection, and click OK twice.

   

4. Under the General tab, verify that the vMedia policy is added to the Service Profile.

   

Step 9

Modify Boot Policy and set the boot order to have CIMC CD/DVD to the list:

1. In the Navigation pane, click the Servers tab.

2. Expand Servers > Policies > root > > Boot Policies > hx-compute, or hx-compute-m5

   

3. ( For M5 Servers only) In the Boot Order configuration pane, click CIMC Mounted CD/DVD . Then, click Add CIMC Mounted CD/DVD to add this to the boot order. Move it to the top of the boot order using the Move up button.

   Important

   The CIMC Mounted CD/DVD option must be highest in the boot order preceding the other options, Embedded Local Disk and CD/DVD.

   (For M4 Servers with Local SAS Drivers) In the Boot Order configuration pane, click vHBAs. Then, click Add SAN Boot to add this to the boot order.

4. Click Save Changes, and click OK in the Success dialog box. The modified boot policy is saved.

Step 10

Verify successful vMedia mounting:

1. On the Equipment tab, select one of the servers.

2. Click Inventory > CIMC, scroll down and ensure for mount entry #1(OS image) and mount entry #2 (Cisco HyperFlex driver image) you see status as Mounted and there are no failures.

   

3. In the menu bar, click Servers and choose the first HyperFlex service profile.

4. Click the General tab and choose Actions > KVM Console>>.

   Note	The KVM console will try to open in a new browser. Be aware of any pop-up blockers. Allow the pop-ups and re-open the KVM

   

5. Reboot the host, launch the KVM Console, and power on the server to monitor the progress of the Windows installation. You should see the Loading Files screen appear. Windows should install automatically without user intervention. You should see a blue screen and within a few moments you should see the Setup is starting message. If automated installation does not begin, double-check that both images are mounted to the server.

6. Once Windows installation completes, a command prompt will show up. Wait for the installation to complete. The host will then reboot a few times. The installation is complete when you get a clear command prompt at c:\users\administrator>. It may take several minutes and reboot operations for the Driver Image to be copied and installed.

   Note	Ignore the prompt with the The system cannot find the file specified message.

   Important

   Ensure that you have completed Steps e and f, on ALL servers that will be part of the HX cluster.

7. Log into each server, enter the command C>Users>Administrator>Get-ScheduledTask and verify that the HX Install Bootstrap Launcher task is running.

Step 11

Remove the vMedia policy from the service profile:

1. To un-map the vMedia policy from the service profile, go to Servers > Service Profile Templates > root > Sub-Organizations > hx-cluster_name > Service Template compute-nodes, or compute-nodes-m5. Then, click on Modify vMedia Policy.

2. Under the vMedia Policy drop-down selection, deselect the vMedia policy (HX-vMedia) previously used to map the two images.

Step 12

Restore the boot order to the one before installation:

1. In the Navigation pane, click the Servers tab.

2. Expand Servers > Policies > root > > Boot Policies > hx-compute, or hx-compute-m5

3. In the Boot Order configuration pane, use the Move Down button to move CIMC Mounted CD/DVD option to the bottom of the list.

   Refer to the screenshot below for the boot order after it is restored in this step: