Step 1
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Launch the Cisco HX Data Platform Installer.
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In your web browser, enter the IP address or the node name for the HX
Data Platform Installer VM. Click Accept or Continue to bypass any SSL certificate errors. The Cisco HX Data Platform Installer login page appears. Verify the HX
Data Platform Installer
Build ID in the lower right corner of the login screen.
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In the login page, enter the following credentials:
Username: root
Password (Default): Cisco123
Note
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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.
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Read the EULA, check the I accept the terms and conditions checkbox, and click Login.
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Step 2
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On the Workflow page, select Cluster Expansion.
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Step 3
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On the Credentials page, complete the following fields.
To perform cluster creation, you can import a JSON configuration file with the required configuration data. The following two steps are optional if importing a JSON file, otherwise you can
input data into the required fields manually.
Note
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For a first-time installation, contact your Cisco representative to procure the factory preinstallation JSON file.
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Click Select a file and choose your JSON file to load the configuration. Select Use Configuration.
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An Overwrite Imported Values dialog box displays if your imported values for Cisco UCS Manager are different. Select Use Discovered Values.
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Field
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Description
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UCS Manager Credentials
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UCS Manager Host Name
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UCS Manager FQDN or IP address.
For example, 10.193.211.120.
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User Name
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<admin> username.
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Password
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<admin> password.
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vCenter Credentials
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vCenter Server
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vCenter server FQDN or IP address.
For example, 10.193.211.120.
Note
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A vCenter server is required before the cluster can be made operational.
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The vCenter address and credentials must have root level administrator permissions to the vCenter.
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vCenter server input is optional if you are building a nested vCenter. See the Nested vCenter TechNote for more details.
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User Name
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<admin> username.
For example, administrator@vsphere.local.
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Admin Password
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<root> password.
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Hypervisor Credentials
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Admin User Name
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<admin> username.
This is root for factory nodes.
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Admin Password
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<root> password.
Default password is Cisco123 for factory nodes.
Note
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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.
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Step 4
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Click Continue. A Cluster Expand Configuration page is displayed. Select the HX Cluster that you want to expand.
If the HX cluster to be expanded is not found, or if loading the cluster takes time, enter the IP of the Cluster Management
Address in the Management IP Address field.
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Step 5
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The Server Selection page displays a list of unassociated HX servers under the Unassociated tab, and the list of discovered servers under the Associated tab. Select the servers under the Unassociated tab to include in the HyperFlex cluster.
If HX servers do not appear in this list, check Cisco UCS Manager and ensure that they have been discovered.
For each server you can use the Actions drop-down list to set the following:
Note
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If there are no unassociated servers, the following error message is displayed:
No unassociated servers found. Please login to UCS Manager and ensure server ports are enabled.
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The Configure Server Ports button allows you to discover any new HX nodes. Typically, the server ports are configured in Cisco UCS Manager before you start the configuration.
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Step 6
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Click Continue. The UCSM Configuration page appears.
Note
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If you imported a JSON file at the beginning, the Credentials page should be populated with the required configuration data from the preexisting HX cluster. This information must match
your existing cluster configuration.
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Step 7
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Click Continue. The Hypervisor Configuration page appears. Complete the following fields:
Attention
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You can skip the completion of the fields described in this step in case of a reinstall, and if ESXi networking has been completed.
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Field
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Description
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Configure Common Hypervisor Settings
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Subnet Mask
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Set the subnet mask to the appropriate level to limit and control IP addresses.
For example, 255.255.0.0.
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Gateway
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IP address of gateway.
For example, 10.193.0.1.
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DNS Server(s)
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IP address for the DNS Server.
If you do not have a DNS server, do not enter a hostname in any of the fields on the Cluster Configuration page of the HX Data Platform installer. Use only static IP addresses and hostnames for all ESXi hosts.
Note
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If you are providing more than one DNS server, check carefully to ensure that both DNS servers are correctly entered, separated
by a comma.
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Hypervisor Settings
Ensure to select Make IP Addresses and Hostnames Sequential, to make the IP addresses sequential.
Note
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You can rearrange the servers using drag and drop.
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Name
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Server name.
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Serial
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Serial number of the server.
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Static IP Address
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Input static IP addresses and hostnames for all ESXi hosts.
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Hostname
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Do not leave the hostname fields empty.
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Step 8
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Click Continue. The IP Addresses page appears. You can add more compute or converged servers, by clicking Add Compute Server or Add Converged Server.
Ensure to select Make IP Addresses Sequential, to make the IP addresses sequential. For the IP addresses, specify if the network should belong to Data Network or Management
Network.
For each HX node, complete the following fields for Hypervisor Management and Data IP addresses.
Field
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Description
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Management Hypervisor
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Enter the static IP address that handles the Hypervisor management network connection between the ESXi host and the storage
cluster.
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Management Storage Controller
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Enter the static IP address that handles the HX Data Platform storage controller VM management network connection between
the storage controller VM and the storage cluster.
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Data Hypervisor
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Enter the static IP address that handles the Hypervisor data network connection between the ESXi host and the storage cluster.
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Data Storage Controller
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Enter the static IP address that handles the HX Data Platform storage controller VM data network connection between the storage
controller VM and the storage cluster.
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When you enter IP addresses in the first row for Hypervisor (Management), Storage Controller VM (Management), Hypervisor (Data),
and Storage Controller VM (Data) columns, the HX
Data Platform Installer applies an incremental auto-fill to the node information for the rest of the nodes. The minimum number of nodes in the storage
cluster is three. If you have more nodes, use the Add button to provide the address information.
Note
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Compute-only nodes can be added only after the storage cluster is created.
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Controller VM Password
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A default administrator username and password are applied to the controller VMs. The VMs are installed on all converged and
compute-only nodes.
Important
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You cannot change the name of the controller VM or the controller VM’s datastore.
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Use the same password for all controller VMs. The use of different passwords is not supported.
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Provide a complex password that includes 1 uppercase character, 1 digit, 1 special character, and a minimum of 10 characters
in total.
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You can provide a user-defined password for the controller VMs and for the HX cluster to be created. For password character
and format limitations, see the section on Guidelines for HX Data Platform Special Characters in the Cisco HX Data Platform Management Guide.
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Advanced Configuration
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Jumbo frames
Enable Jumbo Frames checkbox
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Check to set the MTU size for the storage data network on the host vSwitches and vNICs, and each storage controller VM.
The default value is 9000.
Note
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To set your MTU size to a value other than 9000, contact Cisco TAC.
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Disk Partitions
Clean up Disk Partitions checkbox
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Check to remove all existing data and partitions from all nodes added to the storage cluster. You must backup any data that
should be retained.
Important
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Do not select this option for factory prepared systems. The disk partitions on factory prepared systems are properly configured.
For manually prepared servers, select this option to delete existing data and partitions.
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Step 9
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Click
Start. A
Progress page displays the progress of various
configuration tasks.
Note
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If the vCenter cluster has EVC enabled, the deploy process fails with a message: The host needs to be manually added to vCenter. To successfully perform the deploy action, do the following:
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Log into the ESXi host to be added in vSphere Client.
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Power off the controller VM.
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Add the host to the vCenter cluster in vSphere Web Client.
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In the HX
Data Platform Installer, click Retry Deploy.
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Step 10
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When cluster expansion is complete, click Launch HyperFlex Connect to start managing your storage cluster.
Note
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When you add a node to an existing storage cluster, the cluster continues to have the same HA resiliency as the original storage
cluster until auto-rebalancing takes place at the scheduled time.
Rebalancing is typically scheduled during a 24-hour period, either 2 hours after a node fails or if the storage cluster is
out of space.
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To rebalance the storage cluster before the scheduled time, perform the following steps to manually initiate rebalance storage
cluster command.
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From a storage cluster controller VM command line, run the # stcli rebalance start --force command:
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To monitor rebalance status, run the # stcli rebalance status command.
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Step 11
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Create the required VM Network port groups and vMotion vmkernel interfaces using HyperFlex hx_post_install script or manually to match the other nodes in the cluster.
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SSH to HyperFlex cluster management IP.
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Log in as the admin user.
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Run the hx_post_install command.
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Follow the on-screen instructions, starting with vMotion and VM network creation. The other configuration steps are optional.
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Step 12
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After the new nodes are added to the storage cluster the High Availability (HA) services are reset so that HA can recognize
the added nodes.
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Log into vCenter.
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In the vSphere Web Client, navigate to the Host:
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Select the new node.
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Right-click and select Reconfigure for vSphere HA.
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