Cisco HyperFlex Systems Customized Installation Method

Customized Installation Overview

Factory shipped servers are shipped without VMware ESXi preinstalled. This chapter describes the process for manually preparing factory shipped servers for the Cisco HyperFlex install. Complete this process before moving to the HyperFlex installation steps.

This customized installation method can be used during the following scenarios:

  • Adding a compute-only node to the HyperFlex cluster.

  • Redeploying your Cisco HyperFlex system.


Note

The customized installation workflow tasks are essentially the same as for deploying pre-configured HyperFlex Systems. The difference is that this workfow includes the additional task of installing VMware ESXi .

Installation and Configuration Workflow for Non Pre-Configured Cisco HyperFlex Systems

Before you begin

Review the installation and configuration requirements for Cisco HyperFlex Systems. See Installation Prerequisites for more details.

Procedure

Step 1

Clean up the existing environment by deleting the cluster in vCenter. Remove the vCenter MOB entries, UCS Manager service profiles, and VLANs in Cisco UCS.

Step 2

Download the Cisco HyperFlex Data Platform Installer OVA file from Download Software.

Example:

Cisco-HX-Data-Platform-Installer-v5.0.2a-41731-esx.ova

Step 3

Launch the HX Data Platform Installer and sign-in.

  1. Select Customized Workflow.

  2. Select Run UCS Manager configuration to configure UCS service profiles. Follow the steps as described in Configuring Cisco UCS Manager and HX Data Platform section of the Cisco HyperFlex Systems Installation Guide for VMware ESXi.

Step 4

Perform a fresh ESXi installation using the vMedia method.

Note

 

Using Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) for automatic IP address assignment in not recommended. By default, the HX Data Platform Installer assigns static IP addresses to the ESXi servers. If you are using DHCP, configure the networking in the ESXi manually with the proper VLANs.

Step 5

Relaunch the HX Data Platform Installer .

  1. Select Customized Workflow.

  2. Select Run ESX Configuration, Deploy HX Software, and Create HX Cluster.

Ensure that you select Delete Existing Partitions in the wizard.

Installing VMware ESXi

A supported version of VMware ESXi must be installed on all HX servers in your deployment. At the time this was authored, Cisco recommended installing ESXi 7.0 U2 or later to attain the best HX snapshot performance and functionality. See the Cisco HyperFlex Software Requirements and Recommendations document for the current list of supported ESXi versions.

To install VMware ESXi complete the following tasks in order.

  1. Download the ESXi Image (below).

  2. Configure vMedia and Boot Policies Through Cisco UCS Manager

  3. Monitor the Install using a Remote KVM Console

  4. Undo vMedia and Boot Policy Changes

Procedure

Step 1

Download the VMware ESXi image from the Cisco HyperFlex Data Platform Download Software page. Select a networked location that can be accessed through Cisco UCS Manager.

Example:

The HX custom ISO is based on the Cisco custom ESXi release. 

HX-ESXi-7.0U3-21930508-Cisco-Custom-7.3.0.16-install-only.iso

Step 2

Continue to Configure vMedia and Boot Policies Through Cisco UCS Manager.

Configure vMedia and Boot Policies Through Cisco UCS Manager

To configure the Cisco UCS vMedia and Boot Policies, complete the following steps:

Before you begin

Log into HX Data Platform Installer. Run the Create Cluster workflow for standard cluster. up to Cisco UCS Manager configuration.


Note

Create a cluster with name as Temporary, so it is easier to identify it during service profile disassociation from the server.

Procedure

Step 1

In Cisco UCS Manager, click the Servers tab in the Navigation Pane.

Step 2

Expand Servers > Policies > root > Sub-Organizations > hx-cluster > vMedia Policies

Step 3

Click vMedia Policy HyperFlex.

Step 4

In the configuration pane, click Create vMedia Mount.

Step 5

Type a name for the mount, for example: ESX.

Step 6

Select the CDD option.

Step 7

Select the HTTP as the protocol.

Step 8

Type the IP Address of the HyperFlex installer VM, for example: 192.168.10.210.

Step 9

Select None as the Image Variable Name.

Step 10

Type HX-ESXi-7.0U3-21930508-Cisco-Custom-7.3.0.16-install-only.iso as the Remote File.

Step 11

Enter /images/ as the Remote Path.

Step 12

Click Save Changes, and click OK.

Step 13

Select the HX Node you want to configure in the Configuration Pane, select Servers > Service Profile Templates > root > Sub-Organizations > hx-cluster > Service Template hx-nodes

Step 14

Click the vMedia Policy tab.

Step 15

Click Modify vMedia Policy.

Step 16

Choose the HyperFlex vMedia Policy from the drop-down selection, and click OK twice.

Step 17

Select Servers > Policies > root > Sub-Organizations > hx-cluster > Boot Policy HyperFlex.

Step 18

In the Navigation Pane, expand the section titled CIMC Mounted vMedia.

Step 19

Click the entry labeled Add CIMC Mounted CD/DVD.

Step 20

Select the CIMC Mounted CD/DVD entry in the Boot Order list, and click the Move Up button until the CIMC Mounted CD/DVD entry is listed first.

Step 21

Click Save Changes, and click OK.

Step 22

Continue to Monitor the Install using a Remote KVM Console.

What to do next

Delete the Sub-Organization Temporary.

Rebooting Servers

Reboot the servers to begin the installation after modifying the vMedia policy, boot policy, and service profile template.

To reboot servers, complete the following steps:

Before you begin

Open a remote KVM Console sessions to monitor the progress of rebooting servers.

Procedure

Step 1

In Cisco UCS Manager, click Servers in the Navigation pane.

Step 2

Expand Equipment > Rack Mounts > Servers.

Step 3

In the Work pane, click the first server to be rebooted, then shift+click the last server to be rebooted, selecting them all.

Step 4

Right-click the mouse, and click Reset.

Step 5

Click OK.

Step 6

Select Power Cycle and click OK.

Now, the servers that you are monitoring in the KVM console windows immediately reboot, then boot from the remote vMedia mount, and install the Cisco customized ESXi ISO. If there are any error messages, they can be safely ignored.

In the event you receive the Warning: DHCP lookup failed. You may be unable to access this system until you customized it's network configuration.

Monitor the Install using a Remote KVM Console

To monitor the install progress of one or more servers, it is advisable to open a remote KVM console session to watch the installation.

To open the KVM console, complete the following steps:

Procedure

Step 1

In Cisco UCS Manager, click Servers in the Navigation pane.

Step 2

Expand Servers > Service Profiles > Root > Sub-Organizations > hx-cluster > rack-unit-number.

Step 3

In the Work pane, click the General tab.

Step 4

In the Actions area, click KVM Console.

Step 5

Click Continue to any security alerts that appear. The remote KVM Console window appears shortly and shows the server’s local console output.

Step 6

Repeat Steps 2-4 for any additional servers whose KVM Console you wish to monitor during the installation.

Step 7

Continue to Undo vMedia and Boot Policy Changes.

Undo vMedia and Boot Policy Changes

To prevent the servers from going into a boot loop, constantly booting from the installation ISO file, undo the changes to the boot policy.

Before you begin

Ensure that all the servers have booted from the remote vMedia file and have begun their installation process.

Procedure

Step 1

In Cisco UCS Manager, click Servers in the Navigation pane.

Step 2

Expand Servers > Policies > Root > Sub-Organizations > hx-cluster_name > Boot Policies > Boot Policy HyperFlex .

Step 3

In the Work pane, click the General tab.

Step 4

In the Actions area, click CIMC Mounted CD/DVD.

Step 5

Select the CIMC Mounted CD/DVD entry in the Boot Order list, and click Delete.

Step 6

Click Save Changes, and click OK.

What to do next

New Node

If you are adding a new node, never used before in the cluster, expand the HX cluster. See the Cluster Expansion Guidelines section for more details.

Reinstalling an Existing Node

If this node was part of the cluster in the past and was reimaged to fix something, contact Cisco TAC for guidance.