Deploy Dell PowerFlex v3.6.x

Deploy PowerFlex with DirectPath device management

Use the vSphere PowerFlex plug-in deployment wizard to deploy PowerFlex when devices are managed by VMware DirectPath I/O.

1. From the Basic tasks section of the screen, click Deploy PowerFlex environment.

   The PowerFlexPowerFlex plug-in deployment wizard begins. If you exited the previous deployment before completion, you will be able to return from where you left off.

   NOTE: The PowerFlex plug-in deployment wizard operates on the assumption that you are using the provided PowerFlex OVA template to create the PowerFlex virtual machines.
2. In the Select Installation screen, start the deployment of a new system:
   1. Select Create new PowerFlex system.
   2. Review and approve the license terms.
   3. Click Next.
3. In the Create New System screen, type the following, then click Next:
   • System Name: Type a unique name for this system.
   • Admin Password: Type and confirm a password for the PowerFlex admin user. The password must meet the listed criteria.
4. In the Add ESXi Hosts to Cluster screen, select the ESXi hosts to add as part of the system:
   1. Select the vCenter on which to deploy the PowerFlex system.
      The vCenter information is populated in the lower part of the screen.
   2. Select Set up a DirectPath-based system.
   3. Expand the vCenter, select the ESXi hosts to add to the PowerFlex system, then click Next.
      NOTE: To configure PowerFlex, you must select a minimum of three ESXi hosts. ESXi hosts that do not have the SDC installed, or hosts for which DirectPath was configured before deployment, but DirectPath was not selected in the previous step, will not be available.
   The Select Management Components screen appears:
   
   
5. Configure the management components:
   1. Select to deploy a 3-node or 5-node cluster.
      The next fields on this screen will change, depending on your choice.
   2. Select an ESXi server to serve for each of the MDM cluster roles.
      You can give a name to the MDM servers, such as Manager1, etc.
   3. Select ESXi servers to serve as Standby Manager and tiebreaker roles (optional).
   4. Click Next.
   The Configure Performance, Sizing, and Syslog screen appears.
6. Configure the following settings (optional), then click Next:
   • To remove the high-performance profile from components, clear their check boxes.
   • To configure the allocation of storage virtual machine (SVM) RAM, select from the following:
     • To use default RAM allocation, select Standard size.
     • To use custom settings, select Custom size, and type the maximum capacity and maximum number of volumes.
   • To configure syslog reporting, select Configure syslog, and type the syslog server, port (default: 1468), and facility (default: 0).
   • To configure DNS servers, type their details.
   The Configure Protection Domains screen appears:
   
   

   You can create (or remove) Protection Domains (PD). You must create at least one PD.

7. Create a Protection Domain:
   1. Enter the following information:
      • Protection Domain name: It is recommended to use a meaningful name.
      • Read RAM Cache size per SDS: Minimum 128 MB (You can increase this for your environment needs.)
        NOTE: If you enter a RMcache size that is over the limit, the memory calculator will set the size according to the calculation that is performed on each host during deployment.
   2. Click Add.
      The added PDs appear in the lower section of the screen, together with the existing PDs. To remove a newly created PD, select it and click Remove.
   3. To create additional PD, repeat this step.
   4. Click Next.
   The Configure Acceleration Pools screen appears. In this screen, you can create one or more Acceleration Pools, which will be used to accelerate storage.
8. Create an Acceleration Pool:
   1. Enter the Acceleration Pool name.
   2. Select the Protection Domain to which the Acceleration Pool will belong.
   3. Click Add, and then Next.

   The Create a new Storage Pool screen appears.

   In the Configure Storage Pools screen, you can create (or remove) Storage Pools (SP). You must create at least one SP.

9. Create a Storage Pool:
   1. Type the Storage Pool name: It is recommended to use meaningful names.
   2. Select the PD to which to add the SP.
   3. Select the expected Device Media Type of the devices that will be added to the SP.
   4. Select the External Acceleration type (if used):
      • none—No devices are accelerated by a non-PowerFlex read or write cache
      • read—All devices are accelerated by a non-PowerFlex read cache
      • write—All devices are accelerated by a non-PowerFlex write cache
      • read_and_write—All devices are accelerated by both non-PowerFlex read and write cache
   5. To enable zero padding, select Enable zero padding. Zero padding must be enabled for using the background scanner in data comparison mode.
   6. To enable Read Flash cache, select Enable RFcache.
   7. Click Add.
      The added SPs appear in the lower section of the screen, together with the existing PDs. To remove a newly created SP, select it and click Remove.
   8. To create additional SPs, repeat this step.
   9. Click Next.
   The Create Fault Sets screen appears. You can use this screen to create Fault Sets (optional).

   NOTE: When defining Fault Sets, you must follow the guidelines described in the "Architecture" section of the Getting to Know PowerFlex guide. Failure to do so may prevent creation of volumes.
10. Create a Fault Set (optional):
    1. Type the Fault Set name. It is recommended to use meaningful names.
    2. Select to which PD to add the Fault Set.
    3. Click Add
       Added Fault Sets appear in the lower section of the screen, inside the folder of the parent PD. You can remove a newly created Fault Set by selecting it and clicking Remove.
    4. Repeat to create additional Fault Sets (a minimum of three is required), then click Next.
    The Add SDSs screen appears.
11. Configure the following for every ESXi host or SVM, then click Next:
    1. For every SVM in a DirectPath deployment, you must select SDS and assign a Protection Domain.
       NOTE: To make the same selections for every ESX in a cluster, you can make your selections per cluster or datacenter.
    2. You can select a Fault Set (optional).
    3. Type the Total Planned Capacity for the SDS, even if it is only being partially populated now. This sets the memory allocation for the SVM, thus avoiding manual memory calculations.
       If you do not configure this now, you can set the SVM memory later manually, as described in "SVM manual memory allocation."
    4. Click Next.
       Adding devices to SDS is done after the deployment is complete.
       The Add SDCs screen appears.
12. Configure the SDCs:
    1. For each ESXi to be added as an SDC:
       1. Select the SDC check box.
       2. Type the ESXi root password.

       NOTE: To show the entered ESXi passwords, select Show passwords.
    2. Choose whether to enable or disable the LUN comparison for ESXi hosts.

       In general, in environments where the SDC is installed on ESXi and also on physical hosts, you should set this to Disable.

       NOTE: Before disabling LUN comparison, consult your environment administrator.
    3. Click Next.
    The Configure Upgrade Components dialog box appears.
13. Configure the PowerFlex Gateway and Lightweight Installation Agent (LIA):
    1. Select an ESXi to host the PowerFlex Gateway SVM.
       A unique SVM will be created for the PowerFlex Gateway.

       If the previously-selected ESXi servers do not have sufficient free space (on any datastore) to contain the PowerFlex SVM template, an SVM, and the PowerFlex Gateway SVM, the option to select an ESXi host in this step will not be available. It will be done automatically.

    2. Type and confirm a password for the PowerFlex Gateway administrative user.
    3. Type and confirm a password for the LIA.
       The password must be the same across all SVMs in the system.
    4. Click Next.
       NOTE: You can only move to the next step if the passwords meet the listed criteria, and if the confirmation passwords match the entered passwords.
    The Select OVA Template screen appears.
14. Configure templates:
    1. Select the template to use to create the SVM.

       The default is PowerFlex SVM Template. If you uploaded a template to multiple datastores, you can select them all, for faster deployment.

       If the PowerFlex Gateway selection was performed automatically in the previous step (indicating insufficient space), you must choose at least two templates in this step, one of which will be converted to the PowerFlex Gateway SVM.

       After selecting the templates, the deployment wizard will automatically select one of the ESXis with the templates to host the PowerFlex Gateway, and during deployment will convert the template to a VM for the PowerFlex Gateway (instead of cloning the template).

       NOTE: If you select a custom template, ensure that it is compatible with the PowerFlex plug-in and the PowerFlex MDM.
    2. Type and confirm a new root password that will be used for all SVMs to be created.
    3. Click Next.
    The Configure Networks screen appears:
    
    
15. Select the network configuration. You can select an existing (simple or distributed) network, or select Create a new network.

    The Create a new network command is only relevant for a regular vSwitch, and not for a distributed vSwitch.

    You can use a single network for management and data transfer or separate networks. Separating the networks is recommended for security and increased efficiency. You can select one data network or two data networks.

    The management network, used to connect and manage the SVMs, is normally connected to the client management network, a 1 GB network.

    The data network is internal, enabling communication between the PowerFlex components, and is recommended to be at least a 10 GB network.

    For high availability and performance, it is recommended to have two data networks.

    NOTE: The selected networks must have communication with all of the system nodes. In some cases, while the wizard does verify that the network names match, this does not guarantee communication, as the VLAN IDs may have been manually altered.
    1. To use one network, select a protocol (IPv4 or IPv6) and a management network, click Next and proceed with SVM configuration.

       For best results, it is highly recommended to use the plug-in to create the data networks, as opposed to creating them manually.

    2. To use separate networks, select a protocol (IPv4 or IPv6) for the management network label and one or two data network labels. If the data network already exists (such as a customer pre-configured distributed switch or a simple vswitch), select it from the drop-down box. Otherwise, configure the data network by clicking Create new network.

       The Create New Data Network screen appears:

       
       
       
    3. Configure the networks:
       • Network name: The name of the VMware network
       • VMkernel name: The name of the VMkernel (used to support multipathing)
       • VLAN ID: the network ID
       • Network type: IPv4 or IPv6
       • For each ESXi, select a Data NIC, a VMkernel IP, and a VmKernel Subnet Mask.
         NOTE: You can click to auto-fill the values for Data NIC and VMkernel IP.
    4. Click OK.

       The data network is created.

       The wizard will automatically configure the following for the data network:

       • vSwitch
       • VMkernel Port
       • Virtual Machine Port Group
       • VMkernel Port Binding
    5. Click Next.
    The Configure SVM screen appears.
    
    
16. Configure all the SVMs:
    1. Type the IP address, subnet mask, and default gateway for the management network, then the data network.
    2. Type the Cluster Virtual IP address for each network interface.
    3. Select a datastore, or allow automatic selection.
    4. Configure the cluster's virtual IP addresses by entering the virtual IP address for each data network.
    5. Click Next.
    Icons indicate the role that the server plays in the PowerFlex system. You can select to auto-fill the values for IP addresses.
    The Review Summary screen appears.
17. Review the configuration.
    Click Finish to begin deployment or Back to make changes.
18. Type the vCenter user name and password, then click OK to begin the deployment.

    The Deployment Progress screen appears.

    During the deployment process you can view progress, pause the deployment, and view logs.

    To pause the deployment, click Pause. Steps that are already in progress will pause when they are complete.

    After pausing, select one of the following options:

    • Continue deployment to continue.
    • Abort to abort the deployment process.
    • Cancel and Rollback entire deployment to roll back all deployment activities (rollback cannot be canceled once started).
    • Rollback failed tasks to roll back only the tasks that failed (rollback cannot be canceled once started).
19. When the deployment is complete, click Finish.
    If a task failed, click Continue deployment to try again.