Verify that your system meets the HX Data Platform system requirements.

Log in to the HX Data Platform Installer. If needed, read and accept the End User License Agreement.

On the Workflow page, select Cluster Creation with HyperFlex (FI) or Cluster Creation with HyperFlex Edge, and click Continue.

On the Credentials page, enter the UCS Manager (only FI workflow) and HX Data Platform (hypervisor) credentials, and click Continue.

When prompted to confirm that the installation is being started without a vCenter, click Continue.

On the Server Selection page, select the servers under Unassociated to include in the HX storage cluster, and click Continue.

(Only FI workflow) On the UCS Manager Configuration page, enter the UCS Manager configuration information, and click Continue.

(Only FI workflow) On the Hypervisor Configuration page, enter common hypervisor settings, such as subnet mask, gateway, DNS server, static IP addresses, and hostnames for the HyperFlex nodes, and click Continue.

On the IP Addresses page, for each HyperFlex node, complete the listed fields for Hypervisor Management, Data IP addresses, subnet masks, and gateways. For the IP addresses, specify the network that the IP address should belong to (Data Network and Management Network).

On the Cluster Configuration page, enter the HX storage cluster settings, such as HX storage cluster name, controller VM credentials, Data Replication Factor, DNS and NTP servers, and Auto Support (ASUP). Skip the vCenter configuration inputs and leave the fields blank.

Click Start.

When cluster creation completes and the summary page displays, click Launch HyperFlex Connect to launch the Cisco HyperFlex Connect user interface, and log in with credentials for local/root (username) and the controller VM password that you used on the Cluster Configuration page.

Verify that your system meets the HX Data Platform system requirements.

Log in to the Cisco Intersight with CEC Credentials or with SSO.

In the Devices Details page, select Claim a New Device and claim the servers you will deploy in the cluster. For additional information, see See the Cisco HyperFlex Systems Installation Guide for Cisco Intersight, Chapter: Deploying HyperFlex Edge Cluster.

In the left navigation panel, click Profiles.

In the Profiles page, make sure that the HyperFlex Cluster Profiles tab is selected and click Create HyperFlex Cluster Profile to launch the Create HX Cluster Profile installation wizard. by selecting Create HyperFlex Cluster Profile.

1. Complete the following fields: Organization, Name, HX Date Platform Version, Type radio button, select Cisco HyperFlex Edge, and optional Tags and Description.

Click Next.

In the Cluster Configuration Page, complete the following fields: Security, DNS, NTP, and Time Zone. Leave the vCenter Configrutaion field blank.

In the Nodes Assignment page, you can assign nodes now or optionally, you can choose to assign the nodes later. To Assign nodes, click the Assign nodes check box and select the node you want to assign.

Click Next.

In the Nodes Configuration page, you can view the IP and Hostname settings that were automatically assigned. Additionally, you can enter the Cluster Management IP Address and the MAC Prefix Address. Enter the MAC address prefix range in the form of 00:25:B5:XX. The cluster management IP address must belong to the management subnet.

In the Summary page, you can view the cluster configuration and node configuration details. Review and confirm that all information entered is correct. Ensure that there are no errors triggered under the Errors/Warnings tab.

Click Validate and Deploy to begin the deployment. Optionally, click Validate, and click Save & Close to complete deployment later. The Results page displays the progress of the various configuration tasks.

Log in to HX Connect.

Click Dashboard > Datastores > Create Datastore, enter Datastore Name (for example, VC-DS01, Size, and Block Size, and click Create Datastore.

Using the vCenter installer wizard, deploy a new vCenter to any of the HyperFlex servers in the cluster.

After successfully deploying vCenter, log in to the vSphere Web Client using a supported browser and do the following:

1. Create a new datacenter; for example, DC1.

2. Create a new cluster in the new datacenter (for example, Cluster1) leaving HA and DRS disabled. They are enabled after running the post_install script.

3. Depending on which VMware vSphere ESXi version you are running:

   If running VMware vSphere version ESXi 6.5 or earlier, manually add all HyperFlex servers to the newly created vCenter cluster.

   If running VMware vSphere version ESXi 6.7 or later, first add the HyperFlex node to the destination datacenter and then move into it to the newly created vCenter cluster.

4. Log out of the vSphere Web Client using the option in the top-right menu.

Register the HX storage cluster to the newly configured vCenter server:

1. Log in to any controller VM using ssh, and run the following command:

   stcli cluster reregister --vcenter-datacenter <DC Name> --vcenter-cluster <Cluster Name>  --vcenter-url <URL or IP of vCenter> --vcenter-user <admin username>

   Note	Run this command on any controller VM only once. After successfully running the command, log in to the vSphere Web Client and verify that the HX Data Platform Plug-in displays in the extension list.

   The following sample command shows successful output:

   
   root@SpringpathControllerE1M9XZGRFM:~# stcli cluster reregister --vcenter-datacenter Edge --vcenter-cluster HX-01 --vcenter-url 10.1.1.70 --vcenter-user administrator@vsphere.local
   
   Reregister StorFS cluster with a new vCenter ...
   
   Enter NEW vCenter Administrator password:***********
   Cluster reregistration with new vCenter succeeded
   
   

2. After successfully running the command, log in to vSphere Web Client and verify the HX Data Platform Plug-in displays in the extension list.

Run the post_install script from the installer VM and follow the prompts. For more information, see Post Installation Tasks in the Cisco HyperFlex Systems Installation Guide for Cisco Intersight.

Create DRS pin rules.

1. Click cluster > Manage > Settings > Configuration > VM/Host Groups.

2. Click Add, and select Type: VM group.

3. Click Add, select the vCenter VM, click OK, and click OK again.

4. Click Add, select Type: Host group, add an ESXi host, click OK, and click OK again.

5. Click VM/Host Rules, and select Type: Virtual Machines to Hosts.

6. Select the VM group created earlier, select Should run on hosts in group, select the Host group created earlier, and click OK.

7. Configure the vSphere HA Advanced Options parameter das.respectvmhostsoftaffinityrules.

   Note

   This parameter determines if vSphere HA enforces VM-VM anti-affinity rules. The default value is "true" and rules are enforced even if vSphere DRS is not enabled. In this case, vSphere HA does not fail over a virtual machine if doing so violates a rule, but it issues an event reporting there are insufficient resources to perform the failover. This option can also be set to "false", whereby the rules are not enforced.

Verify that your system meets the HX Data Platform system requirements.

Log in to the HX Data Platform Installer. If needed, read and accept the End User License Agreement.

On the Workflow page, select Cluster Creation, and click Continue.

On the Credentials page, enter the UCS Manager, vCenter, and HX Data Platform (hypervisor) credentials, and click Continue.

On the Server Selection page, select the servers under Unassociated to include in the HX storage cluster, and click Continue.

On the UCS Manager Configuration page, enter the UCS Manager configuration information, and click Continue.

On the Hypervisor Configuration page, enter common hypervisor settings, such as subnet mask, gateway, DNS server, static IP addresses, and hostnames for the HyperFlex nodes, and click Continue.

On the IP Addresses page, for each HyperFlex node, complete the listed fields for Hypervisor Management, Data IP addresses, subnet masks, and gateways. For the IP addresses, specify the network that the IP address should belong to (Data Network and Management Network).

On the Cluster Configuration page, enter the HX storage cluster settings, such as HX storage cluster name, controller VM credentials, Data Replication Factor, vCenter information, DNS and NTP servers, and Auto Support (ASUP).

Click Start.

Run the post_install script from the installer VM and follow the prompts. For more information on running the post install script, see Run Post Installation Script in the Cisco HyperFlex Systems Installation Guide for VMware ESXi, Release 4.0.

From the HX Data Platform Plug-in, create a new HyperFlex datastore; for example, ds1.

Perform storage vMotion from the current external location to a new HyperFlex datastore through vCenter.

1. Connect directly to the external ESXi server hosting the vCenter VM.

2. Power off the vCenter VM.

3. Click File > Export > Export OVF Template.

4. Connect directly to any HyperFlex ESXi server.

5. Click File > Deploy OVF Template.

6. Power on the vCenter VM.

If not already done, configure vMotion interfaces to allow DRS to move VMs.

1. Log in to vSphere, and view Networking.

   From vSphere Home, click vCenter Inventory Lists Resources > Resources > Hosts > host > Manage > Networking > VMKernel adapters.

2. Click the Add host networking icon.

   Through the Add Networking wizard:

   1. Select VMKernel Network Adapter, and click Next.

   2. Select an existing standard switch, click Browse, select the Switch, select vMotion, and click OK.

   3. Enter a Network label name, define the proper VLAN ID, accept TCP/IP stack as the default unless you require L3 for your vMotion network, check vMotion traffic, and click Next.

   4. Enter a static IPv4 address, click Next, and click Finish.

Create DRS pin rules.

1. Click cluster > Manage > Settings > Configuration > VM/Host Groups.

2. Click Add, and select Type: VM group.

3. Click Add, select the vCenter VM, click OK, and click OK again.

4. Click Add, select Type: Host group, add an ESXi host, click OK, and click OK again.

5. Click VM/Host Rules, and select Type: Virtual Machines to Hosts.

6. Select the VM group created earlier, select Should run on hosts in group, select the Host group created earlier, and click OK.

7. From the VM/Host Rules > vSphere HA Rule Settings section, click Edit.

8. Check vSphere HA should respect VM to Host affinity rules during failover.

Shutdown all User VMs on a cluster.

Shutdown vCenter.

Note down the name of host on which vCenter is running, as the vCenter VM must be manually started later.

Stop Storfs on all controllers for HXDP version 4.5 and later.

priv stop storfs
For 4.0x HXDP versions and earlier
  stop storfs

Manually power off stCTLVMs from all ESXi hosts.

Put all individual hosts in maintenance mode, by running the following command:

esxcli system maintenanceMode set -e true

Shutdown the ESX hosts.

Boot up the ESX hosts.

Exit all hosts from maintenance mode, by running the following command:

esxcli system maintenanceMode set -e false

Manually start the stCTLVMs (as vCenter is down, they may not start automatically).

Verify if Storfs is running on each controller, by running the following command:

# pidof storfs

For HXDP version 4.5 and later
priv start storfs
For HXDP versions 4.0x and earlier
start storfs

From the controller, check for the cluster status by running the following command:

sysmtool --ns cluster --cmd info

Power on vCenter from the host (use the host name note down in step 3).

stcli cluster info  | grep -A 1 vCluster

Power on all User VMs.