PowerFlex: Power Loss Troubleshooting and Recovery ESXi Management nodes

Recovery Checklist: PowerFlex Management Cluster (ESXi)

Management Infrastructure

• Management Infrastructure
  • Ensure all power distribution units (PDUs) are powered on
  • Power on all the network switches
    • Confirm green status lights on each switch
• Out-of-Band Management Switches
  • Login and verify the configuration:
    • Validate the configuration

show running-configuration

• • • Validate uplink status

show interface brief

• • • Validate iDRAC connectivity

show interface brief

• • • Validate switch hardware

show hardware (cisco only)

• For non-management switches
  • Login and verify the configuration:
    • Validate the configuration

show running-configuration

• • • Validate uplink status

show interface brief

• • • Validate port channels

show port-channel summary

• • • Validate switch hardware

show hardware (cisco only)

Management Nodes

• Power on all management nodes

• Confirm that status LED indicators are not blinking amber
• Log in to each iDRAC:
  • Check for hardware alarms or errors
  • Confirm that the OS has booted successfully
• Log in to each VMware ESXi host using the web client:
  • Go to Virtual Machines
  • Ensure Storage Virtual Machines (SVMs) are powered on
  • Wait for PowerFlex storage to fully boot before proceeding
• Start all management Virtual Machines(VMs):
  • CloudLink
  • Secure Connect Gateway
  • Jump Server
  • VMware vCenter
  • Other management Virtual Machines (VMs)
  • Customer workload VMs
• After 15 minutes, login to PowerFlex Manager

PowerFlex Manager Verification

• Check alerts

  • Go to Monitoring > Alerts and review any active alerts
• Management Diagnostics (PowerFlex 4.8+)
  • Go to Monitoring > Management Diagnostics
  • Run all diagnostic tests
  • Ensure that all statuses are green
• Storage Data Servers (SDS)
  • Go to Block > SDS
  • Confirm:
    • The State is Healthy
    • The Connected State is Connected
• Storage Data Clients (SDC)
  • Go to Block > Hosts
  • Confirm that the Connected State is Connected
• Resource Health
  • Go to the Resources tab
  • Confirm that Health Status is green across all components

Production Node Recovery

Use PowerFlex Manager to verify power and health status for each node type:

• Storage-Only Nodes
  • Confirm that the nodes are powered on and the resource group is healthy
• Hyperconverged Nodes
  • Confirm that the nodes are powered on and the resource group is healthy
• Compute-Only Nodes
  • Confirm that the nodes are powered on and the resource group is healthy

Optional Checks

• Replication Status:
  • Go to Protection > Overview
• CloudLink Status:
  • Go to Resource Group > Overview

Single ESXi PowerFlex Management Node

Follow the same steps as above, adapted for a single-node deployment: 

• Management Infrastructure
  • Power on PDUs and switches
  • Validate switch configurations and hardware as described above
• Management Node
  • Confirm that the LED indicators are off (no amber blinking)
  • Log in to iDRAC and ESXi web client
  • Ensure SVMs, and management VMs are powered on
  • Wait 15 minutes, then log in to PowerFlex manager
• PowerFlex Manager Checks
  • Review alerts and diagnostics
  • Confirm SDS and SDC health and connectivity.
  • Verify overall resource health
• Production Nodes
  • Validate power and health status for storage-only, hyperconverged, and compute-only nodes
  • Check replication and CloudLink status if applicable

Need Help?

If any step fails or you encounter unexpected behavior, contact Dell Technologies Support for further assistance.