FlexPod Datacenter with VMware vSphere 6.7 U1, Cisco UCS 4th Generation Fabric, and NetApp AFF A-Series

FlexPod Datacenter with VMware vSphere 6.7 U1, Cisco UCS 4th Generation Fabric, and NetApp AFF A-Series

Deployment Guide for FlexPod Datacenter with VMware vSphere 6.7 U1, Cisco UCS Manager 4.0(2), and ONTAP 9.5

Published: November 2019

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Table of Contents

Executive Summary. 9

Solution Overview.. 10

Introduction. 10

Audience. 10

Purpose of this Document 10

What’s New in this Release?. 10

Deployment Hardware and Software. 11

Architecture. 11

Topology. 12

Software Revisions. 12

Configuration Guidelines. 13

Physical Infrastructure. 14

Network Switch Configuration. 17

Physical Connectivity. 17

FlexPod Cisco Nexus Base. 17

Set Up Initial Configuration. 17

FlexPod Cisco Nexus Switch Configuration. 19

Enable Licenses. 19

Set Global Configurations. 19

Create VLANs. 19

Add NTP Distribution Interface. 20

Add Individual Port Descriptions for Troubleshooting and Enable UDLD for UCS Interfaces. 20

Create Port Channels. 21

Configure Port Channel Parameters. 22

Configure Virtual Port Channels. 23

Uplink into Existing Network Infrastructure. 23

Switch Testing Commands. 24

Storage Configuration. 25

NetApp All Flash FAS A800 Controllers. 25

NetApp Hardware Universe. 25

Controllers. 25

Disk Shelves. 25

NetApp ONTAP 9.5. 25

Complete Configuration Worksheet 25

Configure ONTAP Nodes. 26

Set Up Node. 29

Log into the Cluster 35

Verify Storage Failover 35

Set Auto-Revert on Cluster Management 36

Zero All Spare Disks. 36

Set Up Service Processor Network Interface. 36

Create Aggregates. 37

Remove Ports from Default Broadcast Domain. 37

Disable Flow Control on 10GbE and 100GbE ports. 37

Disable Auto-negotiate on 100GbE Ports. 38

Disable Auto-negotiate on Fibre Channel Ports. 38

Enable Cisco Discovery Protocol 39

Enable Link-layer Discovery Protocol on all Ethernet Ports. 39

Create Management Broadcast Domain. 39

Create NFS Broadcast Domain. 39

Create Interface Groups. 39

Change MTU on Interface Groups. 39

Create VLANs. 40

Configure Network Time Protocol 40

Configure Simple Network Management Protocol 40

Configure SNMPv1 Access. 41

Create SVM.. 41

Create Load-Sharing Mirrors of SVM Root Volume. 41

Create Block Protocol (FC) Service. 42

Configure HTTPS Access. 42

Configure NFSv3. 43

Create FlexVol Volumes. 44

Create Boot LUNs. 44

Schedule Deduplication. 44

Create FC LIFs. 44

Create NFS LIFs. 45

Add Infrastructure SVM Administrator 45

Configure and Test AutoSupport 45

Cisco UCS Configuration. 47

Cisco UCS Base Configuration. 47

Perform Initial Setup of Cisco UCS 6454 Fabric Interconnects for FlexPod Environments. 47

Cisco UCS Setup. 48

Log into Cisco UCS Manager 48

Upgrade Cisco UCS Manager Software to Version 4.0(2d) 48

Anonymous Reporting. 49

Configure Cisco UCS Call Home. 49

Configure Unified Ports (FCP) 49

Add Block of IP Addresses for KVM Access. 52

Synchronize Cisco UCS to NTP. 52

Add Additional DNS Server(s) 54

Add an Additional Administrative User 55

Enable Port Auto-Discovery Policy. 56

Enable Info Policy for Neighbor Discovery. 57

Edit Chassis Discovery Policy. 58

Enable Server and Uplink Ports. 58

Acknowledge Cisco UCS Chassis and FEX. 59

Create Uplink Port Channels to Cisco Nexus Switches. 60

Add UDLD to Uplink Port Channels. 63

Create a WWNN Pool for FC Boot (FCP) 66

Create WWPN Pools (FCP) 67

Create VSANs (FCP) 70

Enable FC Uplink VSAN Trunking (FCP) 72

Create FC Uplink Port Channels (FCP) 73

Disable Unused FC Uplink Ports (FCP) 76

Create an Organization. 76

Create vHBA Templates (FCP) 77

Create SAN Connectivity Policy (FCP) 79

Create MAC Address Pools. 81

Create UUID Suffix Pool 83

Create Server Pool 84

Create VLANs. 84

Modify Default Host Firmware Package. 87

Set Jumbo Frames in Cisco UCS Fabric. 88

Create Local Disk Configuration Policy (Optional) 89

Create Network Control Policy for Cisco Discovery Protocol (CDP) and Link Layer Discovery Protocol (LLDP) 91

Create Power Control Policy. 92

Create Server BIOS Policy. 94

Update the Default Maintenance Policy. 99

Create vNIC Templates. 100

Create High Traffic VMware Adapter Policy. 104

Create LAN Connectivity Policy for FC Boot (FCP) 106

Create FC Boot Policy (FCP) 112

Create Service Profile Template (FCP) 117

Configure Storage Provisioning. 118

Configure Networking. 118

Configure SAN Connectivity. 119

Configure Zoning. 120

Configure vNIC/HBA Placement 120

Configure vMedia Policy. 120

Configure Server Boot Order 121

Configure Maintenance Policy. 121

Configure Server Assignment 122

Configure Operational Policies. 123

Create vMedia-Enabled Service Profile Template. 124

Create Service Profiles. 125

Add More Servers to FlexPod Unit 125

Gather Necessary Information. 126

SAN Switch Configuration. 127

Physical Connectivity. 127

FlexPod Cisco MDS Base. 127

Cisco MDS 9132T A. 127

FlexPod Cisco MDS Switch Configuration. 130

Enable Licenses. 130

Add Second NTP Server 130

Configure Individual Ports. 130

Create VSANs. 131

Create Device Aliases. 132

Create Zones and Zoneset 132

Storage Configuration – Boot LUNs. 134

ONTAP Boot Storage Setup. 134

Create igroups. 134

Map Boot LUNs to igroups. 134

VMware vSphere 6.7U1 Setup. 135

VMware ESXi 6.7U1. 135

Download ESXi 6.7U1 from VMware. 135

Log into Cisco UCS 6454 Fabric Interconnect 135

Set Up VMware ESXi Installation. 136

Install ESXi 136

Set Up Management Networking for ESXi Hosts. 137

Reset VMware ESXi Host VMkernel Port vmk0 MAC Address (Optional) 139

Log into VMware ESXi Hosts by Using VMware Host Client 139

Set Up VMkernel Ports and Virtual Switch. 140

Install VMware Drivers for the Cisco Virtual Interface Card (VIC) 142

Mount Required Datastores. 143

Configure NTP on ESXi Hosts. 146

VMware vCenter 6.7U1. 147

Build the VMware vCenter Server Appliance. 148

Adjust vCenter CPU Settings. 158

Setup VMware vCenter Server 160

Add AD User Authentication to vCenter (Optional) 164

FlexPod VMware vSphere Distributed Switch (vDS) 166

Configure the VMware vDS in vCenter 166

VMware ESXi 6.7U1 TPM Attestation. 170

FlexPod Management Tools Setup. 172

Cisco UCS Manager Plug-in for VMware vSphere Web Client 172

Cisco UCS Manager Plug-in Installation. 172

FlexPod UCS Domain Registration. 174

Use the Cisco UCS vCenter Plugin. 175

NetApp Virtual Storage Console 7.2.1 Deployment Procedure. 178

Virtual Storage Console 7.2.1 Pre-installation Considerations. 178

Install Virtual Storage Console 7.2.1. 178

Download the NetApp NFS VAAI Plug-In. 180

Discover and Add Storage Resources. 180

Optimal Storage Settings for ESXi Hosts. 181

Virtual Storage Console 7.2.1 Provisioning Datastores. 182

NetApp SnapCenter 188

Deploy NetApp SnapCenter 188

SnapCenter Server Requirements. 188

SnapCenter 4.1.1 License Requirements. 189

SnapCenter Server 190

SnapCenter Plug-In for VMware vSphere. 190

Support for Virtualized Databases and File Systems. 190

SnapCenter Installation. 190

SnapCenter Configuration. 191

Install SnapCenter Plug-In for VMware. 191

Host and Privilege Requirements for the Plug-In for VMware vSphere. 191

Run As Credentials. 192

Install the Plug-in for VMware vSphere from the SnapCenter GUI 193

Configure SnapCenter Plug-In for vCenter 193

View Virtual Machine Backups and Restore from vCenter by Using SnapCenter Plug-In. 202

View Backups. 202

Restore from vCenter by Using SnapCenter Plug-In. 204

Install OnCommand Unified Manager 9.5. 207

Install the Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux (EPEL) and MySQL Repositories. 214

Install Open VM Tools on the CentOS Virtual Machine. 214

Configure CentOS Firewall 214

Install OnCommand Unified Manager 215

Add Storage Systems to OnCommand Unified Manager 216

Sample Tenant Provisioning. 220

Provision a Sample Application Tenant 220

Appendix. 222

FlexPod iSCSI Addition. 222

Cisco Nexus Switch Configuration. 222

NetApp Storage Configuration. 222

Create Block Protocol (iSCSI) Service. 222

Create iSCSI Broadcast Domains. 223

Create iSCSI VLANs. 223

Add VLANs to iSCSI Broadcast Domains. 223

Create iSCSI LIFs. 223

Create igroups. 224

Map Boot LUNs to igroups. 224

Cisco UCS iSCSI Configuration. 224

VMware vSphere Configuration. 247

Create a FlexPod ESXi Custom ISO using VMware vCenter 252

FlexPod Backups. 256

Cisco UCS Backup. 256

Cisco Nexus and MDS Backups. 259

VMware VCSA Backup. 259

About the Authors. 263

Acknowledgements. 263

 

 

Cisco Validated Designs include systems and solutions that are designed, tested, and documented to facilitate and improve customer deployments. These designs incorporate a wide range of technologies and products into a portfolio of solutions that have been developed to address the business needs of customers. Cisco and NetApp have partnered to deliver FlexPod, which serves as the foundation for a variety of workloads and enables efficient architectural designs that are based on customer requirements. A FlexPod solution is a validated approach for deploying Cisco and NetApp technologies as a shared cloud infrastructure.

This document describes the Cisco and NetApp® FlexPod Datacenter with Cisco UCS Manager unified software release 4.0(2) and VMware vSphere 6.7 U1. Cisco UCS Manager (UCSM) 4.0(2) provides consolidated support of all current Cisco UCS Fabric Interconnect models (6200, 6300, 6324 (Cisco UCS Mini)), 6454,2200/2300 series IOM, Cisco UCS B-Series, and Cisco UCS C-Series.  FlexPod Datacenter with Cisco UCS unified software release 4.0(2), and VMware vSphere 6.7 U1 is a predesigned, best-practice data center architecture built on the Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS), the Cisco Nexus® 9000 family of switches, MDS 9000 multilayer fabric switches, and NetApp AFF A-Series storage arrays running ONTAP® 9 storage OS.

Introduction

The current industry trend in data center design is towards shared infrastructures. By using virtualization along with pre-validated IT platforms, enterprise customers have embarked on the journey to the cloud by moving away from application silos and toward shared infrastructure that can be quickly deployed, thereby increasing agility and reducing costs. Cisco and NetApp have partnered to deliver FlexPod, which uses best of breed storage, server and network components to serve as the foundation for a variety of workloads, enabling efficient architectural designs that can be quickly and confidently deployed.

Audience

The audience for this document includes, but is not limited to; sales engineers, field consultants, professional services, IT managers, partner engineers, and customers who want to take advantage of an infrastructure built to deliver IT efficiency and enable IT innovation.

Purpose of this Document

This document provides a step by step configuration and implementation guide for the FlexPod Datacenter with Cisco UCS Fabric Interconnects, NetApp AFF storage, Cisco MDS, and Cisco Nexus 9000 solution.

What’s New in this Release?

The following design elements distinguish this version of FlexPod from previous FlexPod models:

·       Support for the Cisco UCS 4.0(2) unified software release, Cisco UCS B200-M5 servers, and Cisco UCS C220-M5 servers, Cisco 1400 Series Virtual Interface Cards (VICs)

·       Support for the latest Cisco UCS 6454 Fabric Interconnect

·       Support for the NetApp AFF A800 storage controller

·       Support for the latest release of NetApp ONTAP® 9.5

·       Support for NetApp Virtual Storage Console (VSC) 7.2.1

·       Support for NetApp SnapCenter 4.1.1

·       Fibre channel, NFS, iSCSI (appendix) storage design

·       Validation of VMware vSphere 6.7 U1

·       Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) Secure Boot of VMware ESXi 6.7 U1

·       Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 2.0 Attestation of UEFI Secure Boot of VMware ESXi 6.7 U1

·       100 Gigabit per second Ethernet Connectivity

·       32 Gigabit per second Fibre Channel Connectivity

Architecture

FlexPod is a defined set of hardware and software that serves as an integrated foundation for both virtualized and non-virtualized solutions. VMware vSphere® built on FlexPod includes NetApp All Flash FAS storage, Cisco Nexus® networking, Cisco MDS storage networking, the Cisco Unified Computing System (Cisco UCS®), and VMware vSphere software in a single package. The design is flexible enough that the networking, computing, and storage can fit in one data center rack or be deployed according to a customer's data center design. Port density enables the networking components to accommodate multiple configurations of this kind.

One benefit of the FlexPod architecture is the ability to customize or "flex" the environment to suit a customer's requirements. A FlexPod can easily be scaled as requirements and demand change. The unit can be scaled both up (adding resources to a FlexPod unit) and out (adding more FlexPod units). The reference architecture detailed in this document highlights the resiliency, cost benefit, and ease of deployment of a Fibre Channel and IP-based storage solution. A storage system capable of serving multiple protocols across a single interface allows for customer choice and investment protection because it truly is a wire-once architecture.

Figure 1 shows the VMware vSphere built on FlexPod components and the network connections for a configuration with the Cisco UCS 6454 Fabric Interconnects. This design has port-channeled 10 Gb Ethernet connections between the Cisco UCS 5108 Blade Chassis and the Cisco UCS Fabric Interconnects, port-channeled 25 Gb Ethernet connections between the C-Series rackmounts and the Cisco UCS Fabric Interconnects, and 100 Gb Ethernet connections between the Cisco UCS Fabric Interconnect and Cisco Nexus 9000, and between Cisco Nexus 9000 and NetApp AFF A800 storage array. This infrastructure option expanded with Cisco MDS switches sitting between the Cisco UCS Fabric Interconnect and the NetApp AFF A800 to provide FC-booted hosts with 32 Gb FC block-level access to shared storage.  The reference architecture reinforces the "wire-once" strategy, because as additional storage is added to the architecture, no re-cabling is required from the hosts to the Cisco UCS fabric interconnect.

Topology

The reference 100Gb based hardware configuration includes:

·       Two Cisco Nexus 9336c-FX2 switches

·       Two Cisco UCS 6454 fabric interconnects

·       Two Cisco MDS 9132T multilayer fabric switches

·       One NetApp AFF A800 (HA pair) running ONTAP 9.5 with internal NVMe SSD disks

Software Revisions

Table 1   lists the software revisions for this solution.

Table 1    Software Revisions

Configuration Guidelines

This document explains how to configure a fully redundant, highly available configuration for a FlexPod unit with ONTAP storage. Therefore, reference is made to which component is being configured with each step, either 01 or 02 or A and B. For example, node01 and node02 are used to identify the two NetApp storage controllers that are provisioned with this document, and Cisco Nexus A or Cisco Nexus B identifies the pair of Cisco Nexus switches that are configured. The Cisco UCS fabric interconnects are similarly configured. Additionally, this document details the steps for provisioning multiple Cisco UCS hosts, and these examples are identified as: VM-Host-Infra-01, VM-Host-Infra-02 to represent infrastructure hosts deployed to each of the fabric interconnects in this document. Finally, to indicate that you should include information pertinent to your environment in a given step, <text> appears as part of the command structure. See the following example for the network port vlan create command:

Usage:

network port vlan create ?

 [-node] <nodename>                  Node

 { [-vlan-name] {<netport>|<ifgrp>}  VLAN Name

 |  -port {<netport>|<ifgrp>}        Associated Network Port

 [-vlan-id] <integer> }              Network Switch VLAN Identifier

Example:

network port vlan create -node <node01> -vlan-name a0a-<vlan id>

This document is intended to enable you to fully configure the customer environment. In this process, various steps require you to insert customer-specific naming conventions, IP addresses, and VLAN schemes, as well as to record appropriate MAC addresses. Table 2  describes the VLANs necessary for deployment as outlined in this guide.

Table 2    Necessary VLANs

Table 3   lists the VMs necessary for deployment as outlined in this document.

Table 3    Virtual Machines

Physical Infrastructure

FlexPod Cabling

The information in this section is provided as a reference for cabling the physical equipment in a FlexPod environment. To simplify cabling requirements, a cabling diagram was used.

The cabling diagram in this section contains details for the prescribed and supported configuration of the NetApp AFF A800 running NetApp ONTAP® 9.5.

This document assumes that out-of-band management ports are plugged into an existing management infrastructure at the deployment site. These interfaces will be used in various configuration steps.

The NetApp storage controller and disk shelves should be connected according to best practices for the specific storage controller and disk shelves. For disk shelf cabling, refer to NetApp Support.

Figure 2 details the cable connections used in the validation lab for the FlexPod topology based on the Cisco UCS 6454 fabric interconnect.  Two 32Gb uplinks connect as port-channels to each Cisco UCS Fabric Interconnect from the MDS switches, and a total of four 32Gb links connect the MDS switches to the NetApp AFF controllers.  Also, 100Gb links connect the Cisco UCS Fabric Interconnects to the Cisco Nexus Switches and the NetApp AFF controllers to the Cisco Nexus Switches. Additional 1Gb management connections will be needed for an out-of-band network switch that sits apart from the FlexPod infrastructure.  Each Cisco UCS fabric interconnect and Cisco Nexus switch is connected to the out-of-band network switch, and each AFF controller has two connections to the out-of-band network switch. Layer 3 network connectivity is required between the Out-of-Band (OOB) and In-Band (IB) Management Subnets.

This section provides a detailed procedure for configuring the Cisco Nexus 9000s for use in a FlexPod environment. Follow these steps precisely because failure to do so could result in an improper configuration.

Physical Connectivity

Follow the physical connectivity guidelines for FlexPod as explained in the section FlexPod Cabling.

FlexPod Cisco Nexus Base

The following procedures describe how to configure the Cisco Nexus switches for use in a base FlexPod environment.  This procedure assumes the use of Cisco Nexus 9000 7.0(3)I7(6), the Cisco suggested Nexus switch release at the time of this validation.

 

Set Up Initial Configuration

Cisco Nexus A

To set up the initial configuration for the Cisco Nexus A switch on <nexus-A-hostname>, follow these steps:

1.     Configure the switch.

2.     Review the configuration summary before enabling the configuration.

Use this configuration and save it? (yes/no) [y]: Enter

Cisco Nexus B

To set up the initial configuration for the Cisco Nexus B switch on <nexus-B-hostname>, follow these steps:

1.     Configure the switch.

2.     Review the configuration summary before enabling the configuration.

Use this configuration and save it? (yes/no) [y]: Enter

FlexPod Cisco Nexus Switch Configuration

Enable Licenses

Cisco Nexus A and Cisco Nexus B

To license the Cisco Nexus switches, follow these steps:

1.     Log in as admin.

2.     Run the following commands:

Set Global Configurations

Cisco Nexus A and Cisco Nexus B

To set global configurations, complete the following step on both switches:

1.     Run the following commands to set global configurations:

Create VLANs

Cisco Nexus A and Cisco Nexus B

To create the necessary virtual local area networks (VLANs), complete the following step on both switches:

1.     From the global configuration mode, run the following commands:

Add NTP Distribution Interface

Cisco Nexus A

1.     From the global configuration mode, run the following commands:

Cisco Nexus B

1.     From the global configuration mode, run the following commands:

Add Individual Port Descriptions for Troubleshooting and Enable UDLD for UCS Interfaces

Cisco Nexus A

To add individual port descriptions for troubleshooting activity and verification for switch A and to enable aggressive unidirectional link detection (UDLD) on copper interfaces connected to Cisco UCS systems, complete the following step:

1.     From the global configuration mode, run the following commands:

Cisco Nexus B

To add individual port descriptions for troubleshooting activity and verification for switch B and to enable aggressive UDLD on copper interfaces connected to Cisco UCS systems, complete the following step:

1.     From the global configuration mode, run the following commands:

Create Port Channels

Cisco Nexus A and Cisco Nexus B

To create the necessary port channels between devices, complete the following step on both switches:

1.     From the global configuration mode, run the following commands:

Configure Port Channel Parameters

Cisco Nexus A and Cisco Nexus B

To configure port channel parameters, complete the following step on both switches:

1.     From the global configuration mode, run the following commands:

Configure Virtual Port Channels

Cisco Nexus A

To configure virtual port channels (vPCs) for switch A, complete the following step:

1.     From the global configuration mode, run the following commands:

Cisco Nexus B

To configure vPCs for switch B, complete the following step:

1.     From the global configuration mode, run the following commands:

Uplink into Existing Network Infrastructure

Depending on the available network infrastructure, several methods and features can be used to uplink the FlexPod environment. If an existing Cisco Nexus environment is present, we recommend using vPCs to uplink the Cisco Nexus switches included in the FlexPod environment into the infrastructure. The previously described procedures can be used to create an uplink vPC to the existing environment. Make sure to run copy run start to save the configuration on each switch after the configuration is completed.

Switch Testing Commands

The following commands can be used to check for correct switch configuration:

NetApp All Flash FAS A800 Controllers

See the following section (NetApp Hardware Universe) for planning the physical location of the storage systems:

·       Site Preparation

·       System Connectivity Requirements

·       Circuit Breaker, Power Outlet Balancing, System Cabinet Power Cord Plugs, and Console Pinout Requirements

·       AFF Series Systems

NetApp Hardware Universe

The NetApp Hardware Universe (HWU) application provides supported hardware and software components for any specific ONTAP version. It also provides configuration information for all the NetApp storage appliances currently supported by ONTAP software and a table of component compatibilities.

To confirm that the hardware and software components that you would like to use are supported with the version of ONTAP that you plan to install, follow these steps at the NetApp Support site.

1.     Access the HWU application to view the System Configuration guides. Click the Platforms menu to view the compatibility between different version of the ONTAP software and the NetApp storage appliances with your desired specifications.

2.     Alternatively, to compare components by storage appliance, click Compare Storage Systems.

Controllers

Follow the physical installation procedures for the controllers found in the AFF A800 Series product documentation at the NetApp Support site.

Disk Shelves

NetApp storage systems support a wide variety of disk shelves and disk drives. The complete list of disk shelves that are supported by the AFF A800 is available at the NetApp Support site.

When using SAS disk shelves with NetApp storage controllers, refer to section SAS shelves with IOM12 modules in the AFF and FAS System Documentation Center for proper cabling guidelines.

NetApp ONTAP 9.5

Complete Configuration Worksheet

Before running the setup script, complete the Cluster setup worksheet in the ONTAP 9 Documentation Center. You must have access to the NetApp Support site to open the cluster setup worksheet.

Configure ONTAP Nodes

Before running the setup script, review the configuration worksheets in the Software setup section of the ONTAP 9 Documentation Center to learn about configuring ONTAP. Table 4  lists the information needed to configure two ONTAP nodes. Customize the cluster detail values with the information applicable to your deployment.

Table 4    ONTAP Software Installation Prerequisites

Configure Node 01

To configure node 01, follow these steps:

1.     Connect to the storage system console port. You should see a Loader-A prompt. However, if the storage system is in a reboot loop, press Ctrl-C to exit the autoboot loop when the following message displays:

2.     Allow the system to boot up.

3.     Press Ctrl-C when prompted.

4.     To install new software, select option 7.

5.     Enter y to perform an upgrade.

6.     Select e0M for the network port you want to use for the download.

7.     Enter y to reboot now.

8.     Enter the IP address, netmask, and default gateway for e0M.

9.     Enter the URL where the software can be found.

10.  Press Enter for the user name, indicating no user name.

11.  Enter y to set the newly installed software as the default to be used for subsequent reboots.

12.  Enter y to reboot the node.

13.  Press Ctrl-C when the following message displays:

14.  Select option 4 for Clean Configuration and Initialize All Disks.

15.  Enter y to zero disks, reset config, and install a new file system.

16.  Enter y to erase all the data on the disks.

Configure Node 02

To configure node 02, follow these steps:

1.     Connect to the storage system console port. You should see a Loader-A prompt. However, if the storage system is in a reboot loop, press Ctrl-C to exit the autoboot loop when the following message displays:

2.     Allow the system to boot up.

3.     Press Ctrl-C when prompted.

4.     To install new software, select option 7.

5.     Enter y to perform an upgrade.

6.     Select e0M for the network port you want to use for the download.

7.     Enter y to reboot now.

8.     Enter the IP address, netmask, and default gateway for e0M.

9.     Enter the URL where the software can be found.

10.  Press Enter for the user name, indicating no user name.

11.  Enter y to set the newly installed software as the default to be used for subsequent reboots.

12.  Enter y to reboot the node.

13.  Press Ctrl-C when you see this message:

14.  Select option 4 for Clean Configuration and Initialize All Disks.

15.  Enter y to zero disks, reset config, and install a new file system.

16.  Enter y to erase all the data on the disks.

Set Up Node

From a console port program attached to the storage controller A (node 01) console port, run the node setup script. This script appears when ONTAP 9.5 boots on the node for the first time.

1.     Follow the prompts to set up node 01:

2.     To complete the cluster setup, open a web browser and navigate to https://<node01-mgmt-ip>.

Table 5    Cluster Create in ONTAP Prerequisites

3.     Click Guided Setup on the Welcome screen.

 

4.     In the Cluster screen, follow these steps:

a.     Enter the cluster and node names.

b.     Select the cluster configuration.

c.     Enter and confirm the password.

d.     (Optional) Enter the cluster base and feature licenses.

5.     Click Submit.

6.     In the network page, complete the following sections:

a.     Cluster Management

§  Enter the IP address, netmask, gateway and port details.

b.     Node Management

§  Enter the node management IP addresses and port details for all the nodes.

c.     Service Processor Management

§  Enter the IP addresses for all the nodes.

d.     DNS Details

§  Enter the DNS domain names and server address.

e.     NTP Details

§  Enter the primary and alternate NTP server.

7.     Click Submit.

8.     In the Support page, configure the AutoSupport and Event Notifications sections.

9.     Click Submit.

10.  In the Summary page, review the configuration details if needed.

Log into the Cluster

To log into the cluster, follow these steps:

1.     Open an SSH connection to either the cluster IP or the host name.

2.     Log in to the admin user with the password you provided earlier.

Verify Storage Failover

To confirm that storage failover is enabled, run the following commands for a failover pair:

1.     Verify the status of the storage failover.

2.     Enable failover on one of the two nodes if it was not completed during the installation.

3.     Verify the HA status for a two-node cluster.

4.     Continue with step 5 if high availability is not configured.

5.     Only enable HA mode for two-node clusters. Do not run this command for clusters with more than two nodes because it causes problems with failover.

6.     Verify that hardware assist is correctly configured and, if needed, modify the partner IP address.

Set Auto-Revert on Cluster Management

To set the auto-revert parameter on the cluster management interface, complete the following step:

Run the following command:

Zero All Spare Disks

To zero all spare disks in the cluster, run the following command:

Set Up Service Processor Network Interface

To assign a static IPv4 address to the service processor on each node, run the following commands:

Create Aggregates

An aggregate containing the root volume is created during the ONTAP setup process. To create additional aggregates, determine the aggregate name, the node on which to create it, and the number of disks it should contain.

To create new aggregates, follow these steps:

1.     Run the following commands:

Remove Ports from Default Broadcast Domain

By default, all network ports are included in the default broadcast domain. Network ports used for data services (for example, e5a, e5b, and so on) should be removed from the default broadcast domain, leaving just the management network port (e0M). To perform this task, run the following commands:

Disable Flow Control on 10GbE and 100GbE ports

NetApp recommends disabling flow control on all the 10/40/100GbE and UTA2 ports that are connected to external devices. To disable flow control, follow these steps:

1.     Run the following commands to configure node 01:

2.     Run the following commands to configure node 02:

Disable Auto-negotiate on 100GbE Ports

To disable auto-negotiate on the 100GbE ports, follow these steps:

1.     Run the following command to configure the ports on node 01:

2.     Run the following command to configure the ports on node 02:

Disable Auto-negotiate on Fibre Channel Ports

In accordance with best practices for Fibre Channel host ports, disable auto-negotiate on each FCP adapter in each controller node.

1.     Disable each fibre channel adapter in the controllers with the fcp adapter modify command.

2.     Set the desired speed on the adapter and return it to the online state.

Enable Cisco Discovery Protocol

To enable the Cisco Discovery Protocol (CDP) on the NetApp storage controllers, run the following command to enable CDP on ONTAP:

Enable Link-layer Discovery Protocol on all Ethernet Ports

Enable the exchange of Link-layer Discovery Protocol (LLDP) neighbor information between the storage and network switches with the following step:

1.     Enable LLDP on all ports of all nodes in the cluster.

Create Management Broadcast Domain

If the management interfaces are required to be on a separate VLAN, create a new broadcast domain for those interfaces.

Create NFS Broadcast Domain

To create an NFS data broadcast domain with an MTU of 9000, run the following commands to create a broadcast domain for NFS in ONTAP:

Create Interface Groups

To create the LACP interface groups for the 100GbE data interfaces, run the following commands:

Change MTU on Interface Groups

Change the MTU size on the base Interface Group ports before creating the VLAN ports.

Create VLANs

To create VLANs, follow these steps:

1.     Create the management VLAN ports and adding them to the Management broadcast domain.

2.     Create the NFS VLAN ports and add them to the Infra_NFS broadcast domain.

Configure Network Time Protocol

To configure time synchronization on the cluster, follow these steps:

1.     Set the time zone for the cluster.

2.     Set the date for the cluster.

3.     Configure the Network Time Protocol (NTP) servers for the cluster.

Configure Simple Network Management Protocol

To configure the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP), follow these steps:

1.     Configure basic SNMP information, such as the location and contact. When polled, this information is visible as the sysLocation and sysContact variables in SNMP.

2.     Configure SNMP traps to send to remote hosts, such as a DFM server or another fault management system.

Configure SNMPv1 Access

To configure SNMPv1 access, set the shared, secret plain-text password (called a community).

Create SVM

To create an infrastructure SVM, follow these steps:

1.     Run the vserver create command.

2.     Remove the unused data protocols from the SVM: CIFS, iSCSI and NVMe.

3.     Add the two data aggregates to the Infra-SVM aggregate list for the NetApp VSC.

4.     Enable and run the NFS protocol in the Infra-SVM.

5.     Turn on the SVM vstorage parameter for the NetApp NFS VAAI plug-in.

Create Load-Sharing Mirrors of SVM Root Volume

To create a load-sharing mirror of an SVM root volume, follow these steps:

1.     Create a volume to be the load-sharing mirror of the infrastructure SVM root volume on each node.

2.     Create a job schedule to update the root volume mirror relationships every 15 minutes.

3.     Create the mirroring relationships.

4.     Initialize the mirroring relationship.

Create Block Protocol (FC) Service

Run the following command to create the FCP service on each SVM. This command also starts the FCP service and sets the WWN for the SVM.

Configure HTTPS Access

To configure secure access to the storage controller, follow these steps:

1.     Increase the privilege level to access the certificate commands.

2.     Generally, a self-signed certificate is already in place. Verify the certificate and obtain parameters (for example, the <serial-number>) by running the following command:

3.     For each SVM shown, the certificate common name should match the DNS FQDN of the SVM. Delete the two default certificates and replace them with either self-signed certificates or certificates from a certificate authority (CA). To delete the default certificates, run the following commands:

4.     To generate and install self-signed certificates, run the following commands as one-time commands. Generate a server certificate for the Infra-SVM and the cluster SVM. Use TAB completion to aid in the completion of these commands.

5.     To obtain the values for the parameters required in step 5 (<cert-ca> and <cert-serial>), run the security certificate show command.

6.     Enable each certificate that was just created by using the –server-enabled true and –client-enabled false parameters. Use TAB completion to aid in the completion of these commands.

7.     Disable HTTP cluster management access.

8.     Change back to the normal admin privilege level and verify the system logs are available in a web browser.

 

Configure NFSv3

To configure NFSv3 on the SVM, follow these steps:

1.     Create a new rule for the infrastructure NFS subnet in the default export policy.

2.     Assign the FlexPod export policy to the infrastructure SVM root volume.

Create FlexVol Volumes

The following information is required to create a NetApp FlexVol^® volume:

·       The volume name

·       The volume size

·       The aggregate on which the volume exists

To create a FlexVol volume, run the following commands:

Create Boot LUNs

To create two boot LUNs, run the following commands:

Schedule Deduplication

On NetApp All Flash FAS systems, deduplication is enabled by default. To schedule deduplication, complete the following step:

1.     After the volumes are created, assign a once-a-day deduplication schedule to esxi_boot, infra_datastore_1 and infra_datastore_2:

Create FC LIFs

Run the following commands to create four FC LIFs (two on each node):

Create NFS LIFs

To create NFS LIFs, run the following commands:

Add Infrastructure SVM Administrator

To add the infrastructure SVM administrator and SVM administration LIF in the out-of-band management network, follow these steps:

1.     Run the following commands:

2.     Create a default route to allow the SVM management interface to reach the outside world.

3.     Set a password for the SVM vsadmin user and unlock the user.

Configure and Test AutoSupport

NetApp AutoSupport® sends support summary information to NetApp through HTTPS. To configure AutoSupport, run the following command:

Test the AutoSupport configuration by sending a message from all nodes of the cluster:

Cisco UCS Base Configuration

This FlexPod deployment explains the configuration steps for the Cisco UCS 6454 Fabric Interconnects (FI) in a design that will support Fibre Channel SAN boot.  If setting up a system with iSCSI boot, the sections with (FCP) in the heading can be skipped and then complete the Cisco UCS iSCSI Configuration section in the Appendix.

Perform Initial Setup of Cisco UCS 6454 Fabric Interconnects for FlexPod Environments

This section provides the detailed procedures for configuring the Cisco Unified Computing System (Cisco UCS) for use in a FlexPod environment. The steps are necessary to provision the Cisco UCS B-Series and C-Series servers and should be followed precisely to avoid improper configuration.

Cisco UCS Fabric Interconnect A

To configure the Cisco UCS for use in a FlexPod environment, follow these steps:

1.     Connect to the console port on the first Cisco UCS fabric interconnect.

2.     Wait for the login prompt for UCS Fabric Interconnect A before proceeding to the next section.

Cisco UCS Fabric Interconnect B

To configure the Cisco UCS for use in a FlexPod environment, follow these steps:

1.     Connect to the console port on the second Cisco UCS fabric interconnect.

2.     Wait for the login prompt for UCS Fabric Interconnect B before proceeding to the next section.

Cisco UCS Setup

Log into Cisco UCS Manager

To log into the Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS) environment, follow these steps:

1.     Open a web browser and navigate to the Cisco UCS fabric interconnect cluster address.

2.     Click the Launch UCS Manager link to launch Cisco UCS Manager.

3.     If prompted to accept security certificates, accept as necessary.

4.     When prompted, enter admin as the user name and enter the administrative password.

5.     Click Login to log in to Cisco UCS Manager.

Upgrade Cisco UCS Manager Software to Version 4.0(2d)

This document assumes the use of Cisco UCS 4.0(2d). To upgrade the Cisco UCS Manager software and the Cisco UCS Fabric Interconnect software to version 4.0(2d), refer to Cisco UCS Manager Install and Upgrade Guides.

Anonymous Reporting

To enable anonymous reporting, follow this step:

1.     In the Anonymous Reporting window, select whether to send anonymous data to Cisco for improving future products. If you select Yes, enter the IP address of your SMTP Server.  Click OK.

Configure Cisco UCS Call Home

It is highly recommended by Cisco to configure Call Home in Cisco UCS Manager.  Configuring Call Home will accelerate resolution of support cases.  To configure Call Home, follow these steps:

1.     In Cisco UCS Manager, click Admin.

2.     Select All > Communication Management > Call Home.

3.     Change the State to On.

4.     Fill in all the fields according to your Management preferences and click Save Changes and OK to complete configuring Call Home.

Configure Unified Ports (FCP)

Fibre Channel port configurations differ between the 6454, 6332-16UP and the 6248UP Fabric Interconnects.  All Fabric Interconnects have a slider mechanism within the Cisco UCS Manager GUI interface, but the fibre channel port selection options for the 6454 are from the first 8 ports starting from the first port  and configured in increments of 4 ports from the left. For the 6332-16UP the port selection options are from the first 16 ports starting from the first port , and configured in increments of the first 6, 12, or all 16 of the unified ports.  With the 6248UP, the port selection options will start from the right of the 32 fixed ports, or the right of the 16 ports of the expansion module, going down in contiguous increments of 2. The remainder of this section shows configuration of the 6454. Modify as necessary for the 6332-16UP or 6248UP.

To enable the fibre channel ports, follow these steps for the 6454:

1.     In Cisco UCS Manager, click Equipment .

2.     Select Equipment > Fabric Interconnects > Fabric Interconnect B (subordinate).

3.     Select Configure Unified Ports.

4.     Click Yes on the pop-up window warning that changes to the fixed module will require a reboot of the fabric interconnect and changes to the expansion module will require a reboot of that module.

5.     Within the Configured Fixed Ports pop-up window move the gray slider bar from the left to the right to select either 4 or 8 ports to be set as FC Uplinks.

6.     Click OK, then click Yes, then click OK to continue.

7.     Select Equipment > Fabric Interconnects > Fabric Interconnect A (primary).

8.     Select Configure Unified Ports.

9.     Click Yes on the pop-up window warning that changes to the fixed module will require a reboot of the fabric interconnect and changes to the expansion module will require a reboot of that module.

10.  Within the Configured Fixed Ports pop-up window move the gray slider bar from the left to the right to select either 4 or 8 ports to be set as FC Uplinks.

11.  Click OK, then click Yes, then OK to continue.

12.  Wait for both Fabric Interconnects to reboot.

13.  Log back into Cisco UCS Manager.

Add Block of IP Addresses for KVM Access

To create a block of IP addresses for in band server Keyboard, Video, Mouse (KVM) access in the Cisco UCS environment, follow these steps:

1.     In Cisco UCS Manager, click LAN .

2.     Expand Pools > root > IP Pools.

3.     Right-click IP Pool ext-mgmt and select Create Block of IPv4 Addresses.

4.     Enter the starting IP address of the block, number of IP addresses required, and the subnet mask and gateway information. Optionally, enter the Primary and Secondary DNS server addresses.

5.     Click OK to create the block.

6.     Click OK in the confirmation message.

Synchronize Cisco UCS to NTP

To synchronize the Cisco UCS environment to the NTP servers in the Nexus switches, follow these steps:

1.     In Cisco UCS Manager, click Admin.

2.     Expand All > Time Zone Management.

3.     Select Timezone.

4.     In the Properties pane, select the appropriate time zone in the Timezone menu.

5.     Click Save Changes, and then click OK.

6.     Click Add NTP Server.

7.     Enter <nexus-A-mgmt0-ip> and click OK. Click OK on the confirmation.

8.     Click Add NTP Server.

9.     Enter <nexus-B-mgmt0-ip> and click OK. Click OK.

Add Additional DNS Server(s)

To add one or more additional DNS servers to the UCS environment, follow these steps:

1.     In Cisco UCS Manager, click Admin .

2.     Expand All > Communications Management.

3.     Select DNS Management.

4.     In the Properties pane, select Specify DNS Server.

5.     Enter the IP address of the additional DNS server.

6.     Click OK and then click OK again. Repeat this process for any additional DNS servers.

Add an Additional Administrative User

To add an additional locally authenticated Administrative user (flexadmin) to the Cisco UCS environment in case issues arise with the admin user, follow these steps:

1.     In Cisco UCS Manager, click Admin.

2.     Expand User Management > User Services > Locally Authenticated Users.

3.     Right-click Locally Authenticated Users and select Create User.

4.     In the Create User fields it is only necessary to fill in the Login ID, Password, and Confirm Password fields. Fill in the Create User fields according to your local security policy.

5.     Leave the Account Status field set to Active.

6.     Set Account Expires according to your local security policy.

7.     Under Roles, select admin.

8.     Leave Password Required selected for the SSH Type field.

9.     Click OK and then click OK again to complete adding the user.

Enable Port Auto-Discovery Policy

Setting the port auto-discovery policy enables automatic discovery of Cisco UCS B-Series chassis server ports. To modify the port auto-discovery policy, follow these steps:

1.     In Cisco UCS Manager, click Equipment , select All > Equipment in the Navigation Pane, and select the Policies tab on the right.

2.     Under Port Auto-Discovery Policy, set Auto Configure Server Port to Enabled.

3.     Click Save Changes and then OK.

Enable Info Policy for Neighbor Discovery

Enabling the info policy enables Fabric Interconnect neighbor information to be displayed. To modify the info policy, follow these steps:

1.     In Cisco UCS Manager, click Equipment , select All > Equipment in the Navigation Pane, and select the Policies tab on the right.

2.     Under Global Policies, scroll down to Info Policy and select Enabled for Action.

3.     Click Save Changes and then OK.

4.     Under Equipment, select Fabric Interconnect A (primary). On the right, select the Neighbors tab. CDP information is shown under the LAN tab and LLDP information is shown under the LLDP tab.

Edit Chassis Discovery Policy

Setting the discovery policy simplifies the addition of Cisco UCS B-Series chassis and of additional fabric extenders for further Cisco UCS C-Series connectivity. To modify the chassis discovery policy, follow these steps:

1.     In Cisco UCS Manager, click Equipment  and select the Policies tab on the right.

2.     Under Global Policies, set the Chassis/FEX Discovery Policy to match the minimum number of ports that are cabled between the chassis or fabric extenders (FEXes) and the fabric interconnects.

3.     On the 6454 Fabric Interconnects, the Link Grouping Preference is automatically set to Port Channel and is greyed out.  On a 6300 Series or 6200 Series Fabric Interconnect, set the Link Grouping Preference to Port Channel. If Backplane Speed Preference appears, leave it set at 40G.

4.     If any changes have been made, click Save Changes and then click OK.

Enable Server and Uplink Ports

To enable and verify server and uplink ports, follow these steps:

1.     In Cisco UCS Manager, click Equipment.

2.     Expand Equipment > Fabric Interconnects > Fabric Interconnect A (primary) > Fixed Module.

3.     Expand and select Ethernet Ports.

4.     Verify that all ports connected to UCS chassis are configured as Server ports and have a status of Up.

5.     Select the ports that are connected to Cisco FEXes and direct connect Cisco UCS C-Series servers, right-click them, and select Configure as Server Port.

6.     Click Yes to confirm server ports and click OK.

7.     Verify that the ports connected to the chassis, C-series servers and Cisco FEX are now configured as server ports.

8.     Select the ports that are connected to the Cisco Nexus switches, right-click them, and select Configure as Uplink Port.

9.     Click Yes to confirm uplink ports and click OK.

10.  Select Equipment > Fabric Interconnects > Fabric Interconnect B (subordinate) > Fixed Module.

11.  Expand and select Ethernet Ports.

12.  Verify that all ports connected to UCS chassis are configured as Server ports and have a status of Up.

13.  Select the ports that are connected to Cisco FEXes and direct connect C-series servers, right-click them, and select Configure as Server Port.

14.  Click Yes to confirm server ports and click OK.

15.  Verify that the ports connected to the chassis, C-series servers and Cisco FEX are now configured as server ports.

16.  Select the ports that are connected to the Cisco Nexus switches, right-click them, and select Configure as Uplink Port.

17.  Click Yes to confirm the uplink ports and click OK.

Acknowledge Cisco UCS Chassis and FEX

To acknowledge all Cisco UCS chassis and any external FEX modules, follow these steps:

1.     In Cisco UCS Manager, click Equipment .

2.     Expand Chassis and select each chassis that is listed.

3.     Right-click each chassis and select Acknowledge Chassis.

4.     Click Yes and then click OK to complete acknowledging the chassis.

5.     If Nexus FEXes are part of the configuration, expand Rack Mounts and FEX.

6.     Right-click each FEX that is listed and select Acknowledge FEX.

7.     Click Yes and then click OK to complete acknowledging the FEX.

Create Uplink Port Channels to Cisco Nexus Switches

To configure the necessary port channels out of the Cisco UCS environment, follow these steps:

1.     In Cisco UCS Manager, click LAN.

2.     Under LAN > LAN Cloud, expand the Fabric A tree.

3.     Right-click Port Channels under Fabric A.

4.     Select Create Port Channel.

5.     Enter 153 as the unique ID of the port channel.

6.     Enter Po153-Nexus as the name of the port channel.

7.     Click Next.

8.     Select the uplink ports connected to the Nexus switches to be added to the port channel.

9.     Click >> to add the ports to the port channel.

10.  Click Finish to create the port channel.

11.  Click OK.

12.  In the navigation pane, under LAN > LAN Cloud > Fabric A > Port Channels, select Port-Channel 153. Select 100 Gbps for the Admin Speed.

13.  Click Save Changes and OK. After a few minutes, verify that the Overall Status is Up and the Operational Speed is correct.

14.  In the navigation pane, under LAN > LAN Cloud, expand the fabric B tree.

15.  Right-click Port Channels under Fabric B.

16.  Select Create Port Channel.

17.  Enter 154 as the unique ID of the port channel.

18.  Enter Po154-Nexus as the name of the port channel.

19.  Click Next.

20.  Select the ports connected to the Nexus switches to be added to the port channel:

21.  Click >> to add the ports to the port channel.

22.  Click Finish to create the port channel.

23.  Click OK.

24.  In the navigation pane, under LAN > LAN Cloud > Fabric B > Port Channels, select Port-Channel 154. Select 100 Gbps for the Admin Speed.

25.  Click Save Changes and OK. After a few minutes, verify that the Overall Status is Up and the Operational Speed is correct.

Add UDLD to Uplink Port Channels

To configure the unidirectional link detection (UDLD) on the Uplink Port Channels to the Nexus switches, follow these steps:

1.     In Cisco UCS Manager, click LAN.

2.     Expand Policies > LAN Cloud > UDLD Link Policy.

3.     Right-click UDLD Link Policy and select Create UDLD Link Policy.

4.     If the uplink cables to the Nexus switches are copper cables, name the Policy UDLD-Aggressive and select Enabled for the Admin State and Aggressive for the Mode. If the uplink cables to the Nexus switches are fibre optic cables, name the Policy UDLD-Normal and select Enabled for the Admin State and Normal for the Mode. In the validation lab configuration, UDLD-Aggressive was created.

5.     Click OK, then OK again to complete creating the policy.

6.     Expand Policies > LAN Cloud > Link Profile.

7.     Right-click Link Profile and select Create Link Profile.

8.     Give the Link Profile the same name as the UDLD Link Policy above and select the UDLD Link Policy created above.

9.     Click OK, then click OK again to complete creating the profile.

10.  In the navigation pane, under LAN > LAN Cloud > Fabric A > Port Channels, expand Port-Channel 153.

11.  Select the first Eth Interface under Port-Channel 153. From the drop-down list, select the Link Profile created above, click Save Changes and OK. Repeat this process for each Eth Interface under Port-Channel 153 and for each Eth Interface under Port-Channel 154 on Fabric B.

Create a WWNN Pool for FC Boot (FCP)

To configure the necessary WWNN pool for the Cisco UCS environment, follow these steps on Cisco UCS Manager.

1.     Select SAN.

2.     Select Pools > root.

3.     Right-click WWNN Pools under the root organization.

4.     Select Create WWNN Pool to create the WWNN pool.

5.     Enter WWNN-Pool for the name of the WWNN pool.

6.     Optional: Enter a description for the WWNN pool.

7.     Select Sequential for Assignment Order.

8.     Click Next.

9.     Click Add.

10.  Modify the From field as necessary for the UCS Environment

11.  Specify a size of the WWNN block sufficient to support the available server resources.

12.  Click OK.

13.  Click Finish and click OK to complete creating the WWNN pool.

Create WWPN Pools (FCP)

To configure the necessary WWPN pools for the Cisco UCS environment, follow these steps:

1.     In Cisco UCS Manager, click SAN.

2.     Select Pools > root.

3.     Right-click WWPN Pools under the root organization.

4.     Select Create WWPN Pool to create the WWPN pool.

5.     Enter WWPN-Pool-A as the name of the WWPN pool.

6.     Optional: Enter a description for the WWPN pool.

7.     Select Sequential for Assignment Order.

8.     Click Next.

9.     Click Add.

10.  Specify a starting WWPN.

11.  Specify a size for the WWPN pool that is sufficient to support the available blade or server resources remembering that servers could have multiple vHBAs and unassociated service profiles could be created.

12.  Click OK.

13.  Click Finish.

14.  In the confirmation message, click OK.

15.  Right-click WWPN Pools under the root organization.

16.  Select Create WWPN Pool to create the WWPN pool.

17.  Enter WWPN-Pool-B as the name of the WWPN pool.

18.  Optional: Enter a description for the WWPN pool.

19.  Select Sequential for Assignment Order.

20.  Click Next.

21.  Click Add.

22.  Specify a starting WWPN.

23.  Specify a size for the WWPN address pool that is sufficient to support the available blade or server resources remembering that servers could have multiple vHBAs and unassociated service profiles could be created.

24.  Click OK.

25.  Click Finish.

26.  In the confirmation message, click OK.

Create VSANs (FCP)

To configure the necessary virtual storage area networks (VSANs) for the Cisco UCS environment, follow these steps:

1.     In Cisco UCS Manager, click the SAN.

2.     Select SAN > SAN Cloud.

3.     Right-click VSANs.

4.     Select Create VSAN.

5.     Enter VSAN-A as the name of the VSAN to be used for Fabric A.

6.     Leave FC Zoning set at Disabled.

7.     Select Fabric A.

8.     Enter a unique VSAN ID and a corresponding FCoE VLAN ID that matches the configuration in the MDS switch for Fabric A.  It is recommended to use the same ID for both parameters and to use something other than 1.

9.     Click OK and then click OK again.

10.  Under SAN Cloud, right-click VSANs.

11.  Select Create VSAN.

12.  Enter VSAN-B as the name of the VSAN to be used for Fabric B.

13.  Leave FC Zoning set at Disabled.

14.  Select Fabric B.

15.  Enter a unique VSAN ID and a corresponding FCoE VLAN ID that matches the configuration in the MDS switch for Fabric B.  It is recommended use the same ID for both parameters and to use something other than 1.

16.  Click OK and then click OK again.

Enable FC Uplink VSAN Trunking (FCP)

To enable VSAN trunking on the FC Uplinks in the Cisco UCS environment, follow these steps:

1.     In Cisco UCS Manager, click SAN.

2.     Expand SAN > SAN Cloud.

3.     Select Fabric A and in the Actions pane select Enable FC Uplink Trunking.

4.     Click Yes on the Confirmation and Warning.

5.     Click OK.

6.     Select Fabric B and in the Actions pane select Enable FC Uplink Trunking.

7.     Click Yes on the Confirmation and Warning.

8.     Click OK.

Create FC Uplink Port Channels (FCP)

To create the FC Uplink Port Channels and assign the appropriate VSANs to them for the Cisco UCS environment, follow these steps:

1.     In Cisco UCS Manager, click SAN.

2.     Select SAN > SAN Cloud.

3.     Expand Fabric A and select FC Port Channels.

4.     Right-click FC Port Channels and select Create FC Port Channel.

5.     Set a unique ID for the port channel and provide a unique name for the port channel.

6.     Click Next.

7.     Select the appropriate Port Channel Admin Speed.

8.     Select the ports connected to Cisco MDS A and use >> to add them to the port channel.

9.     Click Finish to complete creating the port channel.

10.  Click OK the confirmation.

11.  Under FC Port-Channels, select the newly created port channel.

12.  In the right pane, view the drop-down list to select VSAN-A.

13.  Click Save Changes to assign the VSAN.

14.  Click OK.

15.  Expand Fabric B and select FC Port Channels.

16.  Right-click FC Port Channels and select Create FC Port Channel.

17.  Set a unique ID for the port channel and provide a unique name for the port channel.

18.  Click Next.

19.  Select the ports connected to Cisco MDS B and use >> to add them to the port channel.

20.  Click Finish to complete creating the port channel.

21.  Click OK on the confirmation.

22.  Under FC Port-Channels, select the newly created port channel.

23.  In the right pane, use the drop-down to select VSAN-B.

24.  Click Save Changes to assign the VSAN.

25.  Click OK.

Disable Unused FC Uplink Ports (FCP)

When Unified Ports were configured earlier in this procedure, on the Cisco UCS 6454 FI and the Cisco UCS 6332-16UP FI, FC ports were configured in groups. Because of this group configuration, some FC ports are unused and need to be disabled to prevent alerts. To disable the unused FC ports 3 and 4 on the Cisco UCS 6454 FIs, follow these steps:

1.     In Cisco UCS Manager, click Equipment.

2.     In the Navigation Pane, expand Equipment > Fabric Interconnects > Fabric Interconnect A > Fixed Module > FC Ports.

3.     Select FC Port 3 and FC Port 4. Right-click and select Disable.

4.     Click Yes and OK to complete disabling the unused FC ports.

5.     In the Navigation Pane, expand Equipment > Fabric Interconnects > Fabric Interconnect B > Fixed Module > FC Ports.

6.     Select FC Port 3 and FC Port 4. Right-click and select Disable.

7.     Click Yes and OK to complete disabling the unused FC ports.

Create an Organization

To this point in the UCS deployment, all items have been deployed at the root level in Cisco UCS Manager. To allow this UCS to be shared among different projects, UCS Organizations can be created.  To create an organization for this FlexPod deployment, follow these steps:

1.     In Cisco UCS Manager, click Servers.

2.     In the Navigation Pane, expand Servers > Service Profiles.

3.     Right-click root under Service Profiles and select Create Organization.

4.     Provide a name for the Organization to indicate this FlexPod deployment and optionally provide a Description.

5.     Click OK, then click OK again to complete creating the organization.

Create vHBA Templates (FCP)

To create the necessary virtual host bus adapter (vHBA) templates for the Cisco UCS environment within the FlexPod organization, follow these steps:

1.     In Cisco UCS Manager, click SAN.

2.     Expand Policies > root > Sub-Organizations > FlexPod Organization.

3.     Right-click vHBA Templates under the FlexPod Organization.

4.     Select Create vHBA Template.

5.     Enter FCP-vHBA-A as the vHBA template name.

6.     Keep Fabric A selected.

7.     Leave Redundancy Type set to No Redundancy.

8.     Select VSAN-A.

9.     Leave Initial Template as the Template Type.

10.   Select WWPN-Pool-A as the WWPN Pool.

11.  Click OK to create the vHBA template.

12.  Click OK.

13.  Right-click vHBA Templates under the FlexPod Organization.

14.  Select Create vHBA Template.

15.  Enter FCP-vHBA-B as the vHBA template name.

16.  Select Fabric B as the Fabric ID.

17.  Leave Redundancy Type set to No Redundancy.

18.  Select VSAN-B.

19.  Leave Initial Template as the Template Type.

20.  Select WWPN-Pool-B as the WWPN Pool.

21.  Click OK to create the vHBA template.

22.  Click OK.

Create SAN Connectivity Policy (FCP)

To configure the necessary Infrastructure SAN Connectivity Policy within the FlexPod organization, follow these steps:

1.     In Cisco UCS Manager, click SAN.

2.     Select SAN > Policies > root > Sub-Organizations > FlexPod Organization.

3.     Right-click SAN Connectivity Policies under the FlexPod Organization.

4.     Select Create SAN Connectivity Policy.

5.     Enter FC-Boot as the name of the policy.

6.     Select the previously created WWNN-Pool for the WWNN Assignment.

7.     Click the Add button at the bottom to add a vHBA.

8.     In the Create vHBA dialog box, enter FCP-Fabric-A as the name of the vHBA.

9.     Select the Use vHBA Template checkbox.

10.  In the vHBA Template list, select FCP-vHBA-A.

11.  In the Adapter Policy list, select VMWare.

12.  Click OK.

13.  Click the Add button at the bottom to add a second vHBA.

14.  In the Create vHBA dialog box, enter FCP-Fabric-B as the name of the vHBA.

15.  Select the Use vHBA Template checkbox.

16.  In the vHBA Template list, select FCP-vHBA-B.

17.  In the Adapter Policy list, select VMWare.

18.  Click OK.

19.  Click OK to create the SAN Connectivity Policy.

20.  Click OK to confirm creation.

Create MAC Address Pools

To configure the necessary MAC address pools for the Cisco UCS environment, follow these steps:

1.     In Cisco UCS Manager, click LAN.

2.     Select Pools > root.

3.     Right-click MAC Pools under the root organization.

4.     Select Create MAC Pool to create the MAC address pool.

5.     Enter MAC-Pool-A as the name of the MAC pool.

6.     Optional: Enter a description for the MAC pool.

7.     Select Sequential as the option for Assignment Order.

8.     Click Next.

9.     Click Add.

10.  Specify a starting MAC address.

11.  Specify a size for the MAC address pool that is sufficient to support the available blade or server resources remembering that a server may contain multiple vNICs and that multiple unassociated Service Profiles can be created.

12.  Click OK.

13.  Click Finish.

14.  In the confirmation message, click OK.

15.  Right-click MAC Pools under the root organization.

16.  Select Create MAC Pool to create the MAC address pool.

17.  Enter MAC-Pool-B as the name of the MAC pool.

18.  Optional: Enter a description for the MAC pool.

19.  Select Sequential as the option for Assignment Order.

20.  Click Next.

21.  Click Add.

22.  Specify a starting MAC address.

23.  Specify a size for the MAC address pool that is sufficient to support the available blade or server resources remembering that a server may contain multiple vNICs and that multiple unassociated Service Profiles can be created.

24.  Click OK.

25.  Click Finish.

26.  In the confirmation message, click OK.

Create UUID Suffix Pool

To configure the necessary universally unique identifier (UUID) suffix pool for the Cisco UCS environment, follow these steps:

1.     In Cisco UCS Manager, click Servers.

2.     Select Pools > root.

3.     Right-click UUID Suffix Pools.

4.     Select Create UUID Suffix Pool.

5.     Enter UUID-Pool as the name of the UUID suffix pool.

6.     Optional: Enter a description for the UUID suffix pool.

7.     Keep the prefix at the derived option.

8.     Select Sequential for the Assignment Order.

9.     Click Next.

10.  Click Add to add a block of UUIDs.

11.  Keep the From field at the default setting.

12.  Specify a size for the UUID block that is sufficient to support the available blade or server resources.

13.  Click OK.

14.  Click Finish.

15.  Click OK.

Create Server Pool

To configure the necessary server pool for the Cisco UCS environment in the FlexPod Organization, follow these steps:

1.     In Cisco UCS Manager, click Servers.

2.     Select and expand Pools > root > Sub-Organizations > FlexPod Organization.

3.     Right-click Server Pools under the FlexPod Organization.

4.     Select Create Server Pool.

5.     Enter Infra-Pool as the name of the server pool.

6.     Optional: Enter a description for the server pool.

7.     Click Next.

8.     Select two (or more) servers to be used for the VMware management cluster and click >> to add them to the Infra-Pool server pool.

9.     Click Finish.

10.  Click OK.

Create VLANs

To configure the necessary virtual local area networks (VLANs) for the Cisco UCS environment, follow these steps:

1.     In Cisco UCS Manager, click LAN.

2.     Expand LAN > LAN Cloud.

3.     Right-click VLANs.

4.     Select Create VLANs.

5.     Enter Native-VLAN as the name of the VLAN to be used as the native VLAN.

6.     Keep the Common/Global option selected for the scope of the VLAN.

7.     Enter the native VLAN ID.

8.     Keep the Sharing Type as None.

9.     Click OK and then click OK again.

10.  Expand the list of VLANs in the navigation pane, right-click the newly created Native-VLAN and select Set as Native VLAN.

11.  Click Yes and then click OK.

12.  Right-click VLANs.

13.  Select Create VLANs

14.  Enter IB-MGMT as the name of the VLAN to be used for management traffic.

15.  Keep the Common/Global option selected for the scope of the VLAN.

16.  Enter the In-Band management VLAN ID.

17.  Keep the Sharing Type as None.

18.  Click OK, and then click OK again.

19.  Right-click VLANs.

20.  Select Create VLANs.

21.  Enter Infra-NFS as the name of the VLAN to be used for NFS.

22.  Keep the Common/Global option selected for the scope of the VLAN.

23.  Enter the Infrastructure NFS VLAN ID.

24.  Keep the Sharing Type as None.

25.  Click OK, and then click OK again.

26.  Right-click VLANs.

27.  Select Create VLANs.

28.  Enter vMotion as the name of the VLAN to be used for vMotion.

29.  Keep the Common/Global option selected for the scope of the VLAN.

30.  Enter the vMotion VLAN ID.

31.  Keep the Sharing Type as None.

32.  Click OK and then click OK again.

33.  Select Create VLANs.

34.  Enter VM-Traffic as the name of the VLAN to be used for VM Traffic.

35.  Keep the Common/Global option selected for the scope of the VLAN.

36.  Enter the VM-Traffic VLAN ID.

37.  Keep the Sharing Type as None.

38.  Click OK and then click OK again.

Modify Default Host Firmware Package

Firmware management policies allow the administrator to select the corresponding packages for a given server configuration. These policies often include packages for adapter, BIOS, board controller, FC adapters, host bus adapter (HBA) option ROM, and storage controller properties.

To modify the default firmware management policy in the Cisco UCS environment, follow these steps:

1.     In Cisco UCS Manager, click Servers .

2.     Expand Policies > root.

3.     Expand Host Firmware Packages.

4.     Select default.

5.     In the Actions pane, select Modify Package Versions.

6.     Select version 4.0(2d) for both the Blade and Rack Packages.

7.     Click OK, then click OK again to modify the host firmware package.

Set Jumbo Frames in Cisco UCS Fabric

Jumbo Frames are used in FlexPod for the NFS and iSCSI storage protocols. The normal best practice in FlexPod has been to set the MTU of the Best Effort QoS System Class in Cisco UCS Manager to 9216 for Jumbo Frames. In the Cisco UCS 6454 Fabric Interconnect the MTU for the Best Effort QoS System Class is fixed at normal and cannot be changed.  Testing has shown that even with this setting of normal in the 6454, Jumbo Frames can pass through the Cisco UCS fabric without being dropped. The screenshot below is from Cisco UCS Manager on a 6454 Fabric Interconnect, where the MTU for the Best Effort class is not settable.  To configure jumbo frames in the Cisco UCS fabric in a 6300 or 6200 series Fabric Interconnect, follow these steps:

1.     In Cisco UCS Manager, click LAN.

2.     Expand LAN > LAN Cloud > QoS System Class.

3.     In the right pane, click the General tab.

4.     On the Best Effort row, enter 9216 in the box under the MTU column.

5.     Click Save Changes.

6.     Click OK.

Create Local Disk Configuration Policy (Optional)

A local disk configuration specifying no local disks for the Cisco UCS environment is necessary if the servers in the environment do not have a local disk.

To create a local disk configuration policy, follow these steps:

1.     In Cisco UCS Manager, click Servers .

2.     Expand Policies > root.

3.     Right-click Local Disk Config Policies.

4.     Select Create Local Disk Configuration Policy.

5.     Enter SAN-Boot as the local disk configuration policy name.

6.     Change the mode to No Local Storage.

7.     Click OK to create the local disk configuration policy.

8.     Click OK.

Create Network Control Policy for Cisco Discovery Protocol (CDP) and Link Layer Discovery Protocol (LLDP)

To create a network control policy that enables CDP and LLDP on server virtual network controller (vNIC) ports, follow these steps:

1.     In Cisco UCS Manager, click LAN.

2.     Expand Policies > root.

3.     Right-click Network Control Policies.

4.     Select Create Network Control Policy.

5.     Enter Enable-CDP-LLDP as the policy name.

6.     For CDP, select the Enabled option.

7.     For LLDP, scroll down and select Enabled for both Transmit and Receive.

8.     Click OK to create the network control policy.

9.     Click OK.

Create Power Control Policy

To create a power control policy for the Cisco UCS environment, follow these steps:

1.     In Cisco UCS Manager, click Servers.

2.     Expand Policies > root.

3.     Right-click Power Control Policies.

4.     Select Create Power Control Policy.

5.     Enter No-Power-Cap as the power control policy name.

6.     Change the power capping setting to No Cap.

7.     Click OK to create the power control policy.

8.     Click OK.

 Create Server Pool Qualification Policy (Optional)

To create an optional server pool qualification policy for the Cisco UCS environment, follow these steps:

1.     In Cisco UCS Manager, click Servers .

2.     Expand Policies > root.

3.     Right-click Server Pool Policy Qualifications.

4.     Select Create Server Pool Policy Qualification.

5.     Name the policy UCS-B200M5.

6.     Select Create Server PID Qualifications.

7.     Select UCSB-B200-M5 from the PID drop-down.

8.     Click OK

9.     Optionally select additional qualifications to refine server selection parameters for the server pool.

10.  Click OK to create the policy then OK for the confirmation.

Create Server BIOS Policy

To create a server BIOS policy for VMware ESXi hosts within the FlexPod organization, follow these steps:

1.     In Cisco UCS Manager, click Servers.

2.     Expand Policies > root > Sub-Organizations > FlexPod Organization.

3.     Right-click BIOS Policies under FlexPod Organization.

4.     Select Create BIOS Policy.

5.     Enter VM-Host as the BIOS policy name.

6.     Click OK, then OK again to create the BIOS Policy.

7.     Under the FlexPod Organization, expand BIOS Policies and select the newly created BIOS Policy. Set the following within the Main tab of the Policy:

a.     CDN Control -> Enabled

b.     Quiet Boot -> Disabled

8.     Click the Advanced tab, leaving the Processor tab selected within the Advanced tab. Set the following within the Processor tab:

a.     DRAM Clock Throttling -> Performance

b.     Frequency Floor Override -> Enabled

9.     Scroll down to the remaining Processor options and select:

a.     Processor C State -> Disabled

b.     Processor C1E -> Disabled

c.     Processor C3 Report -> Disabled

d.     Processor C7 Report -> Disabled

e.     Energy Performance -> Performance

10.  Click the RAS Memory tab, and select:

a.     LV DDR Mode -> Performance Mode

11.  Click Save Changes.

12.  Click OK.

Update the Default Maintenance Policy

To update the default Maintenance Policy to either require user acknowledgement before server boot when service profiles change or to make the changes on the next server reboot, follow these steps:

1.     In Cisco UCS Manager, click Servers.

2.     Expand Policies > root.

3.     Select Maintenance Policies > default.

4.     Change the Reboot Policy to User Ack.

5.     Select “On Next Boot” to delegate maintenance windows to server administrators.

6.     Click Save Changes.

7.     Click OK to accept the changes.

Create vNIC Templates

To create multiple virtual network interface card (vNIC) templates within the FlexPod organization, follow these steps. A total of 4 vNIC Templates will be created. Two of the vNIC templates (Infra-A and Infra-B) will be created for vNICs to connect to VMware ESXi vSwitch0. vSwitch0 will have port groups for the IB-MGMT, Infra-NFS, vMotion, and VM-Traffic VLANs.  The third and fourth vNIC templates (Infra-vDS-A and Infra-vDS-B) will be created for vNICs to connect to the VMware Virtual Distributed Switch (vDS). The vDS will have port groups for the IB-MGMT, vMotion, and VM-Traffic VLANs. The vMotion VLAN is being placed on both vSwitch0 and the vDS so that the vMotion VMkernel port can initially be created on vSwitch0 then migrated to the vDS to allow QoS marking of vMotion packets to occur within the vDS if QoS policies need to be applied to vMotion in the future. The IB-MGMT VLAN is being placed on both vSwitch0 and the vDS so that management virtual machines other than vCenter can be placed on the vDS. The VM-Traffic VLAN is being placed on both vSwitch0 and the vDS so that it will be allowed on vSwitch0 in case the customer chooses not to implement the vDS on the management ESXi hosts.

Create Infrastructure vNIC Templates

To create the infrastructure vNIC templates, follow these steps:

1.     In Cisco UCS Manager, click LAN.

2.     Expand Policies > root > Sub-Organizations > FlexPod Organization.

3.     Under the FlexPod Organization, right-click vNIC Templates.

4.     Select Create vNIC Template.

5.     Enter Infra-A as the vNIC template name.

6.     Keep Fabric A selected.

7.     Select the Enable Failover checkbox.

8.     Select Primary Template for Redundancy Type.

9.     Leave the Peer Redundancy Template set to <not set>.

10.  Under Target, make sure that only the Adapter checkbox is selected.

11.  Select Updating Template as the Template Type.

12.  Under VLANs, select the checkboxes for IB-MGMT, Infra-NFS, vMotion, VM-Traffic, and Native-VLAN VLANs.

13.  Set Native-VLAN as the native VLAN.

14.  Select vNIC Name for the CDN Source.

15.  For MTU, enter 9000.

16.  In the MAC Pool list, select MAC-Pool-A.

17.  In the Network Control Policy list, select Enable-CDP-LLDP.

 

18.  Click OK to create the vNIC template.

19.  Click OK.

20.  Under the FlexPod organization, right-click vNIC Templates.

21.  Select Create vNIC Template.

22.  Enter Infra-B as the vNIC template name.

23.  Select Fabric B.

24.  Select the Enable Failover checkbox.

25.  Set Redundancy Type to Secondary Template.

26.  Select Infra-A for the Peer Redundancy Template.

27.  In the MAC Pool list, select MAC-Pool-B.

28.  Click OK to create the vNIC template.

29.  Click OK.

30.  Under the FlexPod Organization, right-click vNIC Templates.

31.  Select Create vNIC Template.

32.  Enter Infra-vDS-A as the vNIC template name.

33.  Keep Fabric A selected.

34.  Select the Enable Failover checkbox.

35.  Select Primary Template for Redundancy Type.

36.  Leave the Peer Redundancy Template set to <not set>.

37.  Under Target, make sure that only the Adapter checkbox is selected.

38.  Select Updating Template as the Template Type.

39.  Under VLANs, select the checkboxes for IB-MGMT, vMotion, VM-Traffic, and Native-VLAN VLANs.

40.  Set Native-VLAN as the native VLAN.

41.  Select vNIC Name for the CDN Source.

42.  For MTU, enter 9000.

43.  In the MAC Pool list, select MAC-Pool-A.

44.  In the Network Control Policy list, select Enable-CDP-LLDP.

 

45.  Click OK to create the vNIC template.

46.  Click OK.

47.  Under the FlexPod organization, right-click vNIC Templates.

48.  Select Create vNIC Template

49.  Enter Infra-vDS-B as the vNIC template name.

50.  Select Fabric B.

51.  Select the Enable Failover checkbox.

52.  Set Redundancy Type to Secondary Template.

53.  Select Infra-vDS-A for the Peer Redundancy Template.

54.  In the MAC Pool list, select MAC-Pool-B.

55.  Click OK to create the vNIC template.

56.  Click OK.

Create High Traffic VMware Adapter Policy

To create the optional VMware-High-Traffic Ethernet Adapter policy to provide higher vNIC performance, follow these steps:

1.     In Cisco UCS Manager, click Servers.

2.     Expand Policies > root.

3.     Right-click Adapter Policies and select Create Ethernet Adapter Policy.

4.     Name the policy VMware-HighTrf.

5.     Expand Resources and set the values as shown below.

6.     Expand Options and select Enabled for Receive Side Scaling (RSS).

 

7.     Click OK, then click OK again to complete creating the Ethernet Adapter Policy.

Create LAN Connectivity Policy for FC Boot (FCP)

To configure the necessary Infrastructure LAN Connectivity Policy within the FlexPod organization, follow these steps:

1.     In Cisco UCS Manager, click LAN.

2.     Expand LAN > Policies > root > Sub-Organizations > FlexPod Organization.

3.     Under the FlexPod Organization, right-click LAN Connectivity Policies.

4.     Select Create LAN Connectivity Policy.

5.     Enter FC-Boot as the name of the policy.

6.     Click the upper Add button to add a vNIC.

7.     In the Create vNIC dialog box, enter 00-Infra-A as the name of the vNIC.

8.     Select the Use vNIC Template checkbox.

9.     In the vNIC Template list, select Infra-A.

10.  In the Adapter Policy list, select VMWare.

11.  Click OK to add this vNIC to the policy.

12.  Click Add to add another vNIC to the policy.

13.  In the Create vNIC box, enter 01-Infra-B as the name of the vNIC.

14.  Select the Use vNIC Template checkbox.

15.  In the vNIC Template list, select Infra-B.

16.  In the Adapter Policy list, select VMWare.

17.  Click OK to add the vNIC to the policy.

18.  Click Add to add another vNIC to the policy.

19.  In the Create vNIC dialog box, enter 02-Infra-vDS-A as the name of the vNIC.

20.  Select the Use vNIC Template checkbox.

21.  In the vNIC Template list, select Infra-vDS-A.

22.  In the Adapter Policy list, select VMWare.

23.  Click OK to add this vNIC to the policy.

24.  Click Add to add another vNIC to the policy.

25.  In the Create vNIC box, enter 03-Infra-vDS-B as the name of the vNIC.

26.  Select the Use vNIC Template checkbox.

27.  In the vNIC Template list, select Infra-vDS-B.

28.  In the Adapter Policy list, select VMWare.

29.  Click OK to add this vNIC to the policy.

 

30.  Click OK, then click OK again to create the LAN Connectivity Policy.

Create vMedia Policy for VMware ESXi 6.7U1 ISO Install Boot

In the NetApp ONTAP setup steps, an HTTP web server is required, which is used for hosting ONTAP as well as VMware software. The vMedia Policy created will map the VMware ESXi 6.7U1 Cisco Custom ISO to the Cisco UCS server in order to boot the ESXi installation.  To create this policy, follow these steps:

1.     In Cisco UCS Manager, select Servers .

2.     Select Policies > root.

3.     Right-click vMedia Policies.

4.     Select Create vMedia Policy.

5.     Name the policy ESXi-6.7U1-HTTP.

6.     Enter “Mounts Cisco Custom ISO for ESXi 6.7U1” in the Description field.

7.     Click Add.

8.     Name the mount ESXi-6.7U1-HTTP.

9.     Select the CDD Device Type.

10.  Select the HTTP Protocol.

11.  Enter the IP Address of the web server.

12.  Enter VMware_ESXi_6.7.0_10302608_Custom_Cisco_6.7.1.1.iso as the Remote File name.

13.  Enter the web server path to the ISO file in the Remote Path field.

 

14.  Click OK to create the vMedia Mount.

15.  Click OK then click OK again to complete creating the vMedia Policy.

Create FC Boot Policy (FCP)

This procedure applies to a Cisco UCS environment in which two Fibre Channel logical interfaces (LIFs) are on cluster node 1 (fcp-lif01a and fcp-lif01b) and two Fibre Channel LIFs are on cluster node 2 (fcp-lif02a and fcp-lif02b). Also, it is assumed that the A LIFs are connected to Fabric A (Cisco UCS Fabric Interconnect A) and the B LIFs are connected to Fabric B (Cisco UCS Fabric Interconnect B).

To create a boot policy for the within the FlexPod organization, follow these steps:

1.     In Cisco UCS Manager, click Servers .

2.     Expand Policies > root > Sub-Organizations > FlexPod Organization.

3.     Under the FlexPod Organization, right-click Boot Policies.

4.     Select Create Boot Policy.

5.     Enter Boot-FCP-A as the name of the boot policy.

6.     Optional: Enter a description for the boot policy.

7.     Do not select the Reboot on Boot Order Change checkbox.

8.     Select the Uefi Boot Mode.

9.     Select the Boot Security checkbox.

10.  Expand Local Devices and select Add Remote CD/DVD.

11.  Expand vHBAs and select Add SAN Boot.

12.  Select Primary for the type field.

13.  Enter FCP-Fabric-A in the vHBA field.

14.  Click OK.

15.  From vHBAs, select Add SAN Boot Target.

16.  Keep 0 as the value for Boot Target LUN.

17.  Enter the WWPN for fcp-lif01a.

18.  Select Primary for the SAN boot target type.

19.  Click OK to add the SAN boot target.

20.  From vHBAs, select Add SAN Boot Target.

21.  Enter 0 as the value for Boot Target LUN.

22.  Enter the WWPN for fcp-lif02a.

23.  Click OK to add the SAN boot target.

24.  From vHBAs, select Add SAN Boot.

25.  In the Add SAN Boot dialog box, enter FCP-Fabric-B in the vHBA box.

26.  The SAN boot type should automatically be set to Secondary.

27.  Click OK.

28.  From vHBAs, select Add SAN Boot Target.

29.  Keep 0 as the value for Boot Target LUN.

30.  Enter the WWPN for fcp-lif01b.

31.  Select Primary for the SAN boot target type.

32.  Click OK to add the SAN boot target.

33.  From vHBAs, select Add SAN Boot Target.

34.  Keep 0 as the value for Boot Target LUN.

35.  Enter the WWPN for fcp-lif02b.

36.  Click OK to add the SAN boot target.

37.  Expand CIMC Mounted Media and select Add CIMC Mounted CD/DVD.

38.  Expand San > SAN Primary and select SAN Target Primary. Select Set Uefi Boot Parameters.

39.  Fill in the Set Uefi Boot Parameters exactly as shown in the following screenshot:

40.  Click OK to complete setting the Uefi Boot Parameters for the SAN Boot Target.

41.  Repeat this process to set Uefi Boot Parameters for each of the 4 SAN Boot Targets.

42.  Click OK, then click OK again to create the boot policy.

Create Service Profile Template (FCP)

In this procedure, one service profile template for Infrastructure ESXi hosts is created for Fabric A boot within the FlexPod organization. To create the service profile template, follow these steps:

1.     In Cisco UCS Manager, click Servers.

2.     Expand Service Profile Templates > root > Sub-Organizations > FlexPod Organization.

3.     Right-click the FlexPod Organization.

4.     Select Create Service Profile Template to open the Create Service Profile Template wizard.

5.     Enter VM-Host-Infra-FCP-A as the name of the service profile template. This service profile template is configured to boot from storage node 1 on fabric A.

6.     Select the “Updating Template” option.

7.     Under UUID, select UUID_Pool as the UUID pool.

8.     Click Next.

Configure Storage Provisioning

To configure storage provisioning, follow these steps:

1.     If you have servers with no physical disks, click on the Local Disk Configuration Policy and select the SAN-Boot Local Storage Policy. Otherwise, select the default Local Storage Policy.

2.     Click Next.

Configure Networking

To configure networking, follow these steps:

1.     Keep the default setting for Dynamic vNIC Connection Policy.

2.     Select the “Use Connectivity Policy” option to configure the LAN connectivity.

3.     Select FC-Boot from the LAN Connectivity Policy drop-down list.

4.     Leave Initiator Name Assignment at <not set>.

5.     Click Next.

Configure SAN Connectivity

To configure SAN connectivity, follow these steps:

1.     Select the Use Connectivity Policy option for the “How would you like to configure SAN connectivity?” field.

2.     Select the FC-Boot option from the SAN Connectivity Policy drop-down list.

3.     Click Next.

Configure Zoning

To configure zoning, follow this step:

1.     Set no zoning options and click Next.

Configure vNIC/HBA Placement

To configure vNIC/HBA placement, follow these steps:

1.     In the Select Placement list, retain the placement policy as Let System Perform Placement.

2.     Click Next.

Configure vMedia Policy

To configure the vMedia policy, follow these steps:

1.     Do not select a vMedia Policy.

2.     Click Next.

Configure Server Boot Order

To configure the server boot order, follow these steps:

1.     Select Boot-FCP-A for Boot Policy.

2.     Click Next.

Configure Maintenance Policy

To configure the maintenance policy, follow these steps:

1.     Change the Maintenance Policy to default.

 

2.     Click Next.

Configure Server Assignment

To configure server assignment, follow these steps:

1.     In the Pool Assignment list, select Infra-Pool.

2.     Select Down as the power state to be applied when the profile is associated with the server.

3.     Optional: select “B200-M5” for the Server Pool Qualification to select only B200 M5 servers in the pool.

4.     Expand Firmware Management and select the default Host Firmware Package.

 

5.     Click Next.

Configure Operational Policies

To configure the operational policies, follow these steps:

1.     In the BIOS Policy list, select VM-Host.

2.     Expand Power Control Policy Configuration and select No-Power-Cap in the Power Control Policy list.

 

3.     Click Finish to create the service profile template.

4.     Click OK in the confirmation message.

Create vMedia-Enabled Service Profile Template

To create a service profile template with vMedia enabled, follow these steps:

1.     Connect to UCS Manager and click Servers .

2.     Select Service Profile Templates > root > Sub-Organizations > FlexPod Organization > Service Template VM-Host-Infra-FCP-A.

3.     Right-click VM-Host-Infra-FCP-A and select Create a Clone.

4.     Name the clone VM-Host-Infra-FC-A-vM.

5.     Click OK then OK again to create the Service Profile Template clone.

6.     Select the newly-created VM-Host-Infra-FCP-A-vM and select the vMedia Policy tab.

7.     Click Modify vMedia Policy.

8.     Select the ESXi-6.7U1-HTTP vMedia Policy and click OK.

9.     Click OK to confirm.

Create Service Profiles

To create service profiles from the service profile template within the FlexPod organization, follow these steps:

1.     Connect to UCS Manager and click Servers .

2.     Select Service Profile Templates > root > Sub-Organizations > FlexPod Organization > Service Template VM-Host-Infra-FCP-A-vM.

3.     Right-click VM-Host-Infra-FCP-A-vM and select Create Service Profiles from Template.

4.     Enter VM-Host-Infra-0 as the service profile prefix.

5.     Enter 1 as “Name Suffix Starting Number.”

6.     Enter 2 as the “Number of Instances.”

7.     Click OK to create the service profiles.

8.     Click OK in the confirmation message.

9.     When VMware ESXi 6.7U1 has been installed on the hosts, the host Service Profiles can be bound to the VM-Host-Infra-FCP-A Service Profile Template to remove the vMedia Mapping from the host.

Add More Servers to FlexPod Unit

Additional server pools, service profile templates, and service profiles can be created in the respective organizations to add more servers to the FlexPod unit. All other pools and policies are at the root level and can be shared among the organizations.

Gather Necessary Information

After the Cisco UCS service profiles have been created, each infrastructure server in the environment will have a unique configuration. To proceed with the FlexPod deployment, specific information must be gathered from each Cisco UCS server and from the NetApp controllers. Insert the required information into Table 6  and Table 7  .

Table 6    WWPNs from NetApp Storage

Table 7    WWPNs for Cisco UCS Service Profiles

This section explains how to configure the Cisco MDS 9000s for use in a FlexPod environment. Follow the steps precisely because failure to do so could result in an improper configuration.

If directly connecting storage to the Cisco UCS fabric interconnects, skip this section.

Physical Connectivity

Follow the physical connectivity guidelines for FlexPod as explained in the section FlexPod Cabling.

FlexPod Cisco MDS Base

The following procedures describe how to configure the Cisco Nexus switches for use in a base FlexPod environment. This procedure assumes you are using the Cisco MDS 9132T with NX-OS 8.3(2).

Cisco MDS 9132T A

To set up the initial configuration for the Cisco MDS A switch, <mds-A-hostname>, follow these steps:

1.     Configure the switch using the command line.

2.     Review the configuration.

Cisco MDS 9132T B

To set up the initial configuration for the Cisco MDS B switch, <mds-B-hostname>, follow these steps:

1.     Configure the switch using the command line.

2.     Review the configuration.

FlexPod Cisco MDS Switch Configuration

Enable Licenses

Cisco MDS 9132T A and Cisco MDS 9132T B

To enable the correct features on the Cisco MDS switches, follow these steps:

1.     Log in as admin.

2.     Run the following commands:

Add Second NTP Server

Cisco MDS 9132T A and Cisco MDS 9132T B

To configure the second NTP server, complete the following step:

From the global configuration mode, run the following command:

Configure Individual Ports

Cisco MDS 9132T A

To configure individual ports and port-channels for switch A, complete the following step:

From the global configuration mode, run the following commands:

Cisco MDS 9132T B

To configure individual ports and port-channels for switch B, complete the following step:

From the global configuration mode, run the following commands:

Create VSANs

Cisco MDS 9132T A

To create the necessary VSANs for fabric A and add ports to them, follow these steps:

From the global configuration mode, run the following commands:

Cisco MDS 9132T B

To create the necessary VSANs for fabric B and add ports to them, follow these steps:

From the global configuration mode, run the following commands:

Create Device Aliases

Cisco MDS 9132T A

To create device aliases for Fabric A that will be used to create zones, follow these steps:

From the global configuration mode, run the following commands:

Cisco MDS 9132T B

To create device aliases for Fabric B that will be used to create zones, follow these steps:

From the global configuration mode, run the following commands:

Create Zones and Zoneset

Cisco MDS 9132T A

To create the required zones and zoneset on Fabric A, run the following commands:

Cisco MDS 9132T B

To create the required zones and zoneset on Fabric B, run the following commands:

ONTAP Boot Storage Setup

Create igroups

Create igroups by entering the following commands from the storage cluster management node SSH connection:

To view the three igroups just created, use the command lun igroup show.

Map Boot LUNs to igroups

From the storage cluster management SSH connection, enter the following commands:

VMware ESXi 6.7U1

This section provides detailed instructions for installing VMware ESXi 6.7U1 in a FlexPod environment. After the procedures are completed, two booted ESXi hosts will be provisioned.

Several methods exist for installing ESXi in a VMware environment. These procedures focus on how to use the built-in keyboard, video, mouse (KVM) console and virtual media features in Cisco UCS Manager to map remote installation media to individual servers and connect to their boot logical unit numbers (LUNs).

Download ESXi 6.7U1 from VMware

If the VMware ESXi ISO has not been downloaded, follow these steps:

1.     Click the following link: Cisco Custom ESXi 6.7U1 ISO.

2.     You will need a user id and password on vmware.com to download this software.

3.     Download the .iso file.

Log into Cisco UCS 6454 Fabric Interconnect

Cisco UCS Manager

The Cisco UCS IP KVM enables the administrator to begin the installation of the operating system (OS) through remote media. It is necessary to log in to the Cisco UCS environment to run the IP KVM.

To log into the Cisco UCS environment, follow these steps:

1.     Open a web browser and enter the IP address for the Cisco UCS cluster address. This step launches the Cisco UCS Manager application.

2.     Click the Launch UCS Manager link to launch the HTML 5 UCS Manager GUI.

3.     If prompted to accept security certificates, accept as necessary.

4.     When prompted, enter admin as the user name and enter the administrative password.

5.     To log in to Cisco UCS Manager, click Login.

6.     From the main menu, click Servers .

7.     Select Servers > Service Profiles > root > Sub-Organizations > FlexPod Organization > VM-Host-Infra-01.

8.     In the Actions pane, click >> to the right of KVM Console.

9.     Select the “Launch Java KVM Console” checkbox and click OK to launch the console.

10.  Follow the prompts to launch the Java-based KVM console.

11.  Select Servers > Service Profiles > root > Sub-Organizations > FlexPod Organization > VM-Host-Infra-02.

12.  In the Actions pane, click >> to the right of KVM Console.

13.  Select the “Launch Java KVM Console” checkbox and click OK to launch the console.

14.  Follow the prompts to launch the Java-based KVM console.

Set Up VMware ESXi Installation

ESXi Hosts VM-Host-Infra-01 and VM-Host-Infra-02

To prepare the server for the OS installation, follow these steps on each ESXi host:

1.     In the KVM window, click Virtual Media.

2.     Select Activate Virtual Devices.

3.     If prompted to accept an Unencrypted KVM session, accept as necessary.

4.     Click Virtual Media and select Map CD/DVD.

5.     Browse to the ESXi installer ISO image file and click Open.

6.     Click Map Device.

7.     Click the KVM Console tab to monitor the server boot.

Install ESXi

ESXi Hosts VM-Host-Infra-01 and VM-Host-Infra-02

To install VMware ESXi to the bootable LUN of the hosts, follow these steps on each host:

1.     Boot the server by selecting Boot Server in the KVM and click OK, then click OK again.

2.     On boot, the machine detects the presence of the ESXi installation media and loads the ESXi installer.

3.     After the installer is finished loading, press Enter to continue with the installation.

4.     Read and accept the end-user license agreement (EULA). Press F11 to accept and continue.

5.     Select the LUN that was previously set up as the installation disk for ESXi and press Enter to continue with the installation.

6.     Select the appropriate keyboard layout and press Enter.

7.     Enter and confirm the root password and press Enter.

8.     The installer issues a warning that the selected disk will be repartitioned. Press F11 to continue with the installation.

9.     After the installation is complete, press Enter to reboot the server.

10.  In Cisco UCS Manager, bind the current service profile to the non-vMedia service profile template to prevent mounting the ESXi installation iso over HTTP.

Set Up Management Networking for ESXi Hosts

Adding a management network for each VMware host is necessary for managing the host. To add a management network for the VMware hosts, follow these steps on each ESXi host:

ESXi Host VM-Host-Infra-01 and VM-Host-Infra-02

To configure each ESXi host with access to the management network, follow these steps:

1.     After the server has finished rebooting, press F2 to customize VMware ESXi.

2.     Log in as root, enter the corresponding password, and press Enter to log in.

3.     Select Troubleshooting Options and press Enter.

4.     Select Enable ESXi Shell and press Enter.

5.     Select Enable SSH and press Enter.

6.     Press Esc to exit the Troubleshooting Options menu.

7.     Select the Configure Management Network option and press Enter.

8.     Select Network Adapters and press Enter.

9.     Verify that the numbers in the Hardware Label field match the numbers in the Device Name field.

10.  Using the spacebar, select vmnic1.

 

11.  Press Enter.

12.  Select the VLAN (Optional) option and press Enter.

13.  Enter the <ib-mgmt-vlan-id> and press Enter.

14.  Select IPv4 Configuration and press Enter.

15.  Select the “Set static IPv4 address and network configuration” option by using the arrow keys and space bar.

16.  Move to the IPv4 Address field and enter the IP address for managing the ESXi host.

17.  Move to the Subnet Mask field and enter the subnet mask for the ESXi host.

18.  Move to the Default Gateway field and enter the default gateway for the ESXi host.

19.  Press Enter to accept the changes to the IP configuration.

20.  Select the IPv6 Configuration option and press Enter.

21.  Using the spacebar, select Disable IPv6 (restart required) and press Enter.

22.  Select the DNS Configuration option and press Enter.

23.  Using the spacebar, select “Use the following DNS server addresses and hostname:”

24.  Move to the Primary DNS Server field and enter the IP address of the primary DNS server.

25.  Optional: Move to the Alternate DNS Server field and enter the IP address of the secondary DNS server.

26.  Move to the Hostname field and enter the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) for the ESXi host.

27.  Press Enter to accept the changes to the DNS configuration.

28.  Press Esc to exit the Configure Management Network submenu.

29.  Press Y to confirm the changes and reboot the ESXi host.

Reset VMware ESXi Host VMkernel Port vmk0 MAC Address (Optional)

ESXi Host VM-Host-Infra-01 and VM-Host-Infra-02

By default, the MAC address of the management VMkernel port vmk0 is the same as the MAC address of the Ethernet port it is placed on.  If the ESXi host’s boot LUN is remapped to a different server with different MAC addresses, a MAC address conflict will exist because vmk0 will retain the assigned MAC address unless the ESXi System Configuration is reset.  To reset the MAC address of vmk0 to a random VMware-assigned MAC address, follow these steps:

1.     From the ESXi console menu main screen, type Ctrl-Alt-F1 to access the VMware console command line interface.  In the UCSM KVM, Ctrl-Alt-F1 appears in the list of Static Macros.

2.     Log in as root.

3.     Type “esxcfg-vmknic –l” to get a detailed listing of interface vmk0.  vmk0 should be a part of the “Management Network” port group. Note the IP address and netmask of vmk0.

4.     To remove vmk0, type “esxcfg-vmknic –d “Management Network””.

5.     To re-add vmk0 with a random MAC address, type “esxcfg-vmknic –a –i <vmk0-ip> -n <vmk0-netmask> “Management Network””.

6.     Verify vmk0 has been re-added with a random MAC address by typing “esxcfg-vmknic –l”.

7.     Type “exit” to log out of the command line interface.

8.     Type Ctrl-Alt-F2 to return to the ESXi console menu interface.

Log into VMware ESXi Hosts by Using VMware Host Client

ESXi Host VM-Host-Infra-01

To log into the VM-Host-Infra-01 ESXi host by using the VMware Host Client, follow these steps:

1.     Open a web browser on the management workstation and navigate to the VM-Host-Infra-01 management IP address.

2.     Click Open the VMware Host Client.

3.     Enter root for the user name.

4.     Enter the root password.

5.     Click Login to connect.

6.     Decide whether to join the VMware Customer Experience Improvement Program and click OK.

7.     Repeat this process to log into VM-Host-Infra-02 in a separate browser tab or window.

Set Up VMkernel Ports and Virtual Switch

ESXi Host VM-Host-Infra-01 and VM-Host-Infra-02

To set up the VMkernel ports and the virtual switches on the ESXi hosts, follow these steps:

1.     From the Host Client, select Networking .

2.     In the center pane, select the Virtual switches tab.

3.     Highlight the vSwitch0 line.

4.     Select Edit settings.

5.     Change the MTU to 9000.

6.     Expand NIC teaming.

7.     In the Failover order section, select vmnic1 and click Mark active.

8.     Verify that vmnic1 now has a status of Active.

9.     Click Save.

10.  Select Networking, then select the Port groups tab.

11.  In the center pane, right-click VM Network and select Remove.

12.  Click Remove to complete removing the port group.

13.  In the center pane, select Add port group.

14.  Name the port group IB-MGMT Network and enter <ib-mgmt-vlan-id> in the VLAN ID field, and make sure Virtual switch vSwitch0 is selected.

15.  Click Add to finalize the edits for the IB-MGMT Network.

16.  At the top, select the VMkernel NICs tab.

17.  Click Add VMkernel NIC.

18.  For New port group, enter VMkernel-vMotion.

19.  For Virtual switch, select vSwitch0.

20.  Enter <vmotion-vlan-id> for the VLAN ID.

21.  Change the MTU to 9000.

22.  Select Static IPv4 settings and expand IPv4 settings.

23.  Enter the ESXi host vMotion IP address and netmask.

24.  Select the vMotion stack for TCP/IP stack.

25.  Click Create.

26.  Click Add VMkernel NIC.

27.  For New port group, enter VMkernel-Infra-NFS

28.  For Virtual switch, select vSwitch0.

29.  Enter <infra-nfs-vlan-id> for the VLAN ID

30.  Change the MTU to 9000.

31.  Select Static IPv4 settings and expand IPv4 settings.

32.  Enter the ESXi host Infrastructure NFS IP address and netmask.

33.  Do not select any of the Services.

34.  Click Create.

35.  Select the Virtual Switches tab, then vSwitch0. The properties for vSwitch0 VMkernel NICs should be similar to the following example:

 

36.  Select Networking  and the VMkernel NICs tab to confirm configured virtual adapters. The adapters listed should be similar to the following example:

Install VMware Drivers for the Cisco Virtual Interface Card (VIC)

Download and extract the offline bundle for the following VMware VIC Driver to the Management workstation:

nfnic Driver version 4.0.0.24

nenic Driver version 1.0.27.0

ESXi Hosts VM-Host-Infra-01 and VM-Host-Infra-02

To install VMware VIC Drivers on the ESXi host VM-Host-Infra-01 and VM-Host-Infra-02, follow these steps:

1.     From each Host Client, select Storage .

2.     Right-click datastore1 and select Browse.

3.     In the Datastore browser, click Upload.

4.     Navigate to the saved location for the downloaded VIC drivers and select VMW-ESX-6.7.0-nenic-1.0.27.0-offline_bundle-11271332.zip.

5.     In the Datastore browser, click Upload.

6.     Navigate to the saved location for the downloaded VIC drivers and select VMW-ESX-6.7.0-nfnic-4.0.0.24-offline_bundle-12271979.zip.

7.     Click Open to upload the file to datastore1.

8.     Make sure the file has been uploaded to both ESXi hosts.

9.     Place each host into Maintenance mode if it isn’t already.

10.  Connect to each ESXi host through ssh from a shell connection or putty terminal.

11.  Login as root with the root password.

12.  Run the following commands on each host:

13.  Log into the Host Client on each host once reboot is complete and exit Maintenance Mode.

Mount Required Datastores

ESXi Hosts VM-Host-Infra-01 and VM-Host-Infra-02

To mount the required datastores, follow these steps on each ESXi host:

1.     From the Host Client, select Storage .

2.     In the center pane, select the Datastores tab.

3.     In the center pane, select New Datastore to add a new datastore.

4.     In the New datastore popup, select Mount NFS datastore and click Next.

 

5.     Input infra_datastore_1 for the datastore name.  Input the IP address for the nfs_lif01 LIF for the NFS server.  Input /infra_datastore_1 for the NFS share.  Leave the NFS version set at NFS 3.  Click Next.

6.     Click Finish. The datastore should now appear in the datastore list.

7.     In the center pane, select New Datastore to add a new datastore.

8.     In the New datastore popup, select Mount NFS datastore and click Next.

9.     Input infra_datastore_2 for the datastore name.  Input the IP address for the nfs_lif02 LIF for the NFS server.  Input /infra_datastore_2 for the NFS share.  Leave the NFS version set at NFS 3.  Click Next.

10.  Click Finish. The datastore should now appear in the datastore list.

11.  In the center pane, select New Datastore to add a new datastore.

12.  In the New datastore popup, select Mount NFS datastore and click Next.

13.  Input infra_swap for the datastore name.  Input the IP address for the nfs_lif01 LIF for the NFS server.  Input /infra_swap for the NFS share.  Leave the NFS version set at NFS 3.  Click Next.

14.  Click Finish. The datastore should now appear in the datastore list.

 

15.  Mount all three datastores on both ESXi hosts.

Configure NTP on ESXi Hosts

ESXi Hosts VM-Host-Infra-01 and VM-Host-Infra-02

To configure Network Time Protocol (NTP) on the ESXi hosts, follow these steps on each host:

1.     From the Host Client, select Manage.

2.     In the center pane, select Time & date.

3.     Click Edit settings.

4.     Make sure Use Network Time Protocol (enable NTP client) is selected.

5.     Use the drop-down to select Start and stop with host.

6.     Enter the two Nexus switch NTP addresses in the NTP servers box separated by a comma.

 

7.     Click Save to save the configuration changes.

8.     Select Actions > NTP service > Start.

9.     Verify that NTP service is now running and the clock is now set to approximately the correct time.

Configure ESXi Host Swap

ESXi Hosts VM-Host-Infra-01 and VM-Host-Infra-02

To configure host swap on the ESXi hosts, follow these steps on each host:

1.     From the Host Client, select Manage.

2.     In the center pane, select Swap.

3.     Click Edit settings.

4.     Use the drop-down list to select infra_swap. Leave all other settings unchanged.

5.     Click Save to save the configuration changes.

6.     If you are implementing iSCSI boot, execute the VMware ESXi setup scripts in the iSCSI Addition Appendix.

VMware vCenter 6.7U1

The procedures in the following subsections provide detailed instructions for installing the VMware vCenter 6.7U1 Server Appliance in a FlexPod environment. After the procedures are completed, a VMware vCenter Server will be configured.

Build the VMware vCenter Server Appliance

The VCSA deployment consists of 2 stages: install and configuration. To build the VMware vCenter virtual machine, follow these steps:

1.     Locate and copy the VMware-VCSA-all-6.7.0-11726888.iso file to the desktop of the management workstation.  This ISO is for the VMware vSphere 6.5 U1 vCenter Server Appliance.

2.     Using ISO mounting software, mount the ISO image as a disk on the management workstation. (For example, with the Mount command in Windows Server 2012).

3.     In the mounted disk directory, navigate to the vcsa-ui-installer > win32 directory and double-click installer.exe. The vCenter Server Appliance Installer wizard appears.

4.     Click Install to start the vCenter Server Appliance deployment wizard.

5.     Click Next in the Introduction section.

6.     Read and accept the license agreement and click NEXT.

7.     In the “Select deployment type” section, select Embedded Platform Services Controller and click NEXT.

8.     In the “Appliance deployment target”, enter the host name or IP address of the first ESXi host, User name (root) and Password.

   

9.     Click Yes to accept the certificate.

10.  Enter the Appliance VM name and password details in the “Set up appliance VM” section. Click NEXT.

   

11.  In the “Select deployment size” section, Select the deployment size and Storage size. For example, “Small.”

12.  Click NEXT.

 

13.  Select infra_datastore_2. Click NEXT.

 

14.  In the “Network Settings” section, configure the below settings:

a.     Choose a Network: IB-MGMT Network.

b.     IP version: IPV4

c.     IP assignment: static

d.     System name: <vcenter-fqdn>

e.     IP address: <vcenter-ip>

f.      Subnet mask or prefix length: <vcenter-subnet-mask>

g.     Default gateway: <vcenter-gateway>

h.     DNS Servers: <dns-server1>, <dns-server2>

15.  Click NEXT.

16.  Review all values and click Finish to complete the installation.

17.  The vCenter appliance installation will take a few minutes to complete.

    

18.  Click CONTINUE to proceed with stage 2 configuration.

19.  Click NEXT.

20.  In the Appliance Configuration, configure these settings:

a.     Time Synchronization Mode: Synchronize time with NTP servers.

b.     NTP Servers: <switch-a-ntp-ip>, <switch-b-ntp-ip>

c.     SSH access: Enabled.

 

21.  Click NEXT.

22.  Complete the SSO configuration as shown below:

 

23.  Click NEXT.

24.  Decide whether to join VMware’s Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP).

25.  Click NEXT.

26.  Review the configuration and click FINISH.

27.  Click OK.

 

28.  Click CLOSE. Eject or unmount the VCSA installer ISO.

Adjust vCenter CPU Settings

If a vCenter deployment size of Small or larger was selected in the vCenter setup, it is possible that the VCSA’s CPU setup does not match the UCS server CPU hardware configuration. Cisco UCS B200 and C220 servers are 2-socket servers. In this validation, the Small deployment size was selected and vCenter was setup for a 4-socket server.  This setup will cause issues in the VMware ESXi cluster Admission Control.  To resolve the Admission Control issue, follow these steps:

1.     Open a web browser on the management workstation and navigate to the VM-Host-Infra-01 management IP address.

2.     Click Open the VMware Host Client.

3.     Enter root for the user name.

4.     Enter the root password.

5.     Click Login to connect.

6.     In the center pane, right-click the vCenter VM and select Edit settings.

7.     In the Edit settings window, expand CPU and check the value of Sockets.

8.     If the number of Sockets is greater than 2, it will need to be adjusted. Click Cancel.

9.     If the number of Sockets needs to be adjusted:

a.     Right-click the vCenter VM and select Guest OS > Shut down. Click Yes on the confirmation.

b.     Once vCenter is shut down, right-click the vCenter VM and select Edit settings.

c.     In the Edit settings window, expand CPU and change the Cores per Socket value to make the Sockets value 2.

d.     Click Save.

e.     Right-click the vCenter VM and select Power > Power on. Wait approximately 10 minutes for vCenter to come up.

Setup VMware vCenter Server

To setup the VMware vCenter Server, follow these steps:

1.     Using a web browser, navigate to Error! Hyperlink reference not valid..

2.     If the link is available, click Download Enhanced Authentication Plugin. Install the same by double-clicking the downloaded file.

3.     Log in using the Single Sign-On username (administrator@vsphere.local) and password created during the vCenter installation.

4.     Click “Create Datacenter” in the center pane.

5.     Type “FlexPod-DC” in the Datacenter name field.

6.     Click OK.

  

7.     Right-click the data center FlexPod-DC in the list in the left pane. Click New Cluster.

8.     Name the cluster FlexPod-Management.

9.     Check the box to turn on DRS. Leave the default values.

10.  Check the box to turn on vSphere HA. Leave the default values.

11.  Click OK to create the new cluster.

12.   Expand “FlexPod-DC”.

13.  Right-click “FlexPod-Management” and select Settings.

14.  Select Configuration > General in the list  and select Edit to the right of General.

15.  Select Datastore specified by host and click OK.

 

16.  Right-click “FlexPod-Management” and click Add Host.

17.  In the Host field, enter either the IP address or the FQDN name of one of the VMware ESXi hosts. Click Next.

18.  Type root as the user name and the root password. Click Next to continue.

19.  Click Yes to accept the certificate.

20.  Review the host details and click Next to continue.

21.  Assign a license or leave in evaluation mode and click Next to continue.

22.  Click Next to continue.

23.  Click Next to continue.

24.  Review the configuration parameters and click Finish to add the host.

 

25.  Repeat steps 16 to 24 to add the remaining VMware ESXi hosts to the cluster.

26.  In the list, right-click the first ESXi host and select Settings.

27.  In the center pane under Virtual Machines, select Swap file location.

28.  On the right, click Edit.

29.  Select the infra_swap datastore and click OK.

30.  Repeat this process to configure the Swap file location on the second ESXi host.

Add AD User Authentication to vCenter (Optional)

If an AD Infrastructure is set up in this FlexPod environment, you can setup in AD and authenticate from vCenter.

To add an AD user authentication to the vCenter, follow these steps:

1.     In the AD Infrastructure, using the Active Directory Users and Computers tool, setup a Domain Administrator user with a user name such as flexadmin (FlexPod Admin).

2.     Connect to https://<vcenter-ip> and select Log into vSphere Web Client.

3.     Log in as Administrator@vsphere.local (or the SSO user set up in vCenter installation) with the corresponding password.

4.     Navigate to Home. In the center pane, select System Configuration under Administration.

5.     Select Nodes and under Nodes select the vCenter.

6.     In the center pane, select the Manage tab, and within the Settings select Active Directory and click Join.

7.     Fill in the AD domain name, the Administrator user, and the domain Administrator password.  Click OK.

8.     Right-click the vCenter and select Reboot.

9.     Input a reboot reason and click OK.  The reboot will take approximately 10 minutes for full vCenter initialization. 

10.  Log back into the vCenter Web Client.

11.  Navigate to Home. In the center pane, select System Configuration under Administration.

12.  Select Nodes and under Nodes select the vCenter.

13.  In the center pane under the Manage tab, select Active Directory.  Make sure your Active Directory Domain is listed.

14.  Navigate back to the vCenter Home.

15.  In the center pane under Administration, select Roles.

16.  Under Single Sign-On, select Configuration.

17.  In the center pane, select the Identity Sources tab.

18.  Click the green + sign to add an Identity Source.

19.  Select the Active Directory (Integrated Windows Authentication) Identity source type and click Next.

20.  Your AD domain name should be filled in.  Leave Use machine account selected and click Next.

21.  Click Finish to complete adding the AD Domain.

22.  Your AD domain should now appear in the Identity Sources list.

23.  Under Access Control, select Global Permissions.

24.  In the center pane, click the green + sign to add a Global Permission.

25.  In the Global Permission Root – Add Permission window, click Add.

26.  In the Select Users/Groups window, select your AD domain for the Domain.

27.  Under Users and Groups, select either the FlexPod Admin user or the Domain Admins group.

28.  Click Add, then click Check names to verify correctness of the names. Click OK to acknowledge the correctness of the names.

29.  Click OK to add the selected User or Group.

30.  Verify the added User or Group is listed under Users and Groups and the Administrator role is assigned.

31.  Click OK.

32.  Log out and log back into the vCenter Web Client as the FlexPod Admin user.  You will need to add the domain name to the user, for example, flexadmin@domain.

33.  If implementing iSCSI boot, complete the VMware ESXI Dump Collector steps in the iSCSI Addition Appendix.

FlexPod VMware vSphere Distributed Switch (vDS)

This section provides detailed procedures for installing the VMware vDS on the FlexPod ESXi Management Hosts. 

In the Cisco UCS setup section of this document two sets of vNICs were setup.  The vmnic ports associated with the Infra-vDS-A and B vNICs will be placed on the VMware vDS in this procedure. The vMotion interfaces will be placed on the vDS.

An IB-MGMT, vMotion, and a VM-Traffic port group will be added to the vDS.  Any additional VLAN-based port groups added to the vDS would need to have the corresponding VLANs added to the Cisco UCS LAN cloud, to the Cisco UCS Infra-vDS-A and B vNIC templates, and to the Cisco Nexus 9K switches and vPC peer-link interfaces on the switches.

In this document, the infrastructure ESXi management VMkernel ports, the vCenter management interface, and the infrastructure NFS VMkernel ports are left on vSwitch0 to facilitate bringing the virtual environment back up in the event it needs to be completely shut down. The vMotion VMkernel ports are moved to the vDS to allow QoS marking of vMotion to be done at the VLAN level in the vDS if vMotion needs to have QoS policies applied in the future. The vMotion port group is also pinned to UCS fabric B.  Pinning is better done in a vDS to ensure consistency across all ESXi hosts.

Configure the VMware vDS in vCenter

VMware vSphere Web Client

To configure the vDS, follow these steps:

1.     After logging into the VMware vSphere Web Client, select Networking under Home. 

2.     Right-click the FlexPod-DC datacenter and select Distributed Switch > New Distributed Switch.

3.     Give the Distributed Switch a descriptive name and click Next.

4.     Make sure Distributed switch: 6.6.0 is selected and click Next.

5.     Change the Number of uplinks to 2. If VMware Network I/O Control is to be used for Quality of Service, leave Network I/O Control Enabled.  Otherwise, Disable Network I/O Control. Enter VM-Traffic for the Port group name. Click Next.

6.     Review the information and click Finish to complete creating the vDS.

7.     Expand the FlexPod-DC datacenter and the newly created vDS.  Select the newly created vDS.

8.     Select the VM-Traffic port group.  In the center pane, select the Edit distributed port group settings icon . The Edit button can be used to change the number of ports in the port group to a number larger than the default of 8.  All of the other properties of the port group can also be changed under Edit.

9.     Select VLAN.

10.  Select VLAN for VLAN type and enter the VM-Traffic VLAN ID. Click OK.

11.  Select the vDS . Click the Edit distributed switch settings icon on the right .

12.   in the Edit Settings window, select Advanced.

13.  Change the MTU to 9000.  The Discovery Protocol can optionally be changed to Link Layer Discovery Protocol and the Operation to Both.  Click OK.

14.  For the first port group used for vMotion, right-click the vDS, select Distributed Port Group, and select New Distributed Port Group.

15.  Enter vMotion as the name and click Next.

16.  Set the VLAN type to VLAN, enter the VLAN ID used for vMotion, click the Customize default policies configuration check box, and click Next.

17.  Leave the Security options set to Reject and click Next.

18.  Leave the Ingress and Egress traffic shaping options as Disabled and click Next.

19.  Select Uplink 1 from the list of Active uplinks and click the down arrow icon twice to place Uplink 1 in the list of Standby uplinks. This will pin all vMotion traffic to UCS Fabric Interconnect B except when a failure occurs.

 

20.  Click Next.

21.  Leave NetFlow disabled and click Next.

22.  Leave Block all ports set as No and click Next.

23.  Leave the additional settings dialogue options as they are shown and click Next.

24.  Confirm the options and click Finish to create the port group.

25.  For the second port group used for Infrastructure In-Band Management, , right-click the vDS, select Distributed Port Group, and select New Distributed Port Group.

26.  Enter IB-MGMT as the name and click Next.

27.  Set the VLAN type to VLAN, enter the VLAN ID used for In-Band Management, do not select the Customize default policies configuration check box, and click Next.

28.  Confirm the options and click Finish to create the port group.

29.  Right-click the vDS and select Add and Manage Hosts.

30.  Make sure Add hosts is selected and click Next.

31.  Click the green + sign to add New hosts.  Select the two FlexPod Management hosts and click OK. Click Next.

32.  Leave Manage physical adapters and Manage VMkernel adapters selected. Do not select Migrate virtual machine networking and click Next.

33.  Select vmnic2 on the first host and click Assign uplink. Select Uplink 1 and click OK. Select vmnic3 on the first host and click Assign uplink. Select Uplink 2 and click OK. Repeat this process to assign uplinks from both hosts to the vDS.

 

34.  Click Next.

35.  Select vmk1 (VMkernel vMotion) on the first host and click Assign port group.

36.  Select the vMotion destination port group and click OK.

37.  Do not assign the other VMkernel ports.

38.  Repeat this process for the second ESXi host.

 

39.  Confirm the vMotion VMkernel adapter on each host has a valid and correct Destination Port Group and Click Next.

40.  Click Next after confirming there is no impact detected in the Analyze impact screen.

41.  Click Finish to complete adding the two ESXi hosts to the vDS.

VMware ESXi 6.7U1 TPM Attestation

If your Cisco UCS servers have Trusted Platform Module (TPM) 2.0 modules installed, the TPM can provide assurance that ESXi has booted with UEFI Secure Boot enabled and using only digitally signed code. In the Cisco UCS section of this document, the secure boot was enabled in the boot policy. A server can boot with UEFI Secure Boot with or without a TPM 2.0 module. If it has a TPM, VMware vCenter can attest that the server booted with UEFI Secure Boot. Follow these steps:

1.     If you Cisco UCS servers have TPM 2.0 modules installed, TPM Attestation can be verified in the vSphere HTML5 Client.  To get to the HTML5 client from the Web Client, click “Launch vSphere Client (HTML5) in the upper center portion of the Web Client window.

2.     From the Hosts and Clusters window in the vSphere Client, select the vCenter . In the center pane, select Monitor > Security. The Attestation status will appear as shown below:

Cisco UCS Manager Plug-in for VMware vSphere Web Client

The Cisco UCS Manager Plug-in for VMware vSphere Web Client allows administration of UCS domains through the VMware vCenter administrative interface.  The capabilities of the plug-in include:

·       View Cisco UCS physical hierarchy

·       View inventory, installed firmware, faults, power and temperature statistics

·       Map the ESXi host to the physical server

·       Manage firmware for Cisco UCS B and C series servers

·       View VIF paths for servers

·       Launch the Cisco UCS Manager GUI

·       Launch the KVM consoles of UCS servers

·       Switch the existing state of the locator LEDs

The installation is only valid for VMware vCenter 5.5 or higher and will require revisions of .NET Framework 4.5 and VMware PowerCLI 5.1 or greater.

Cisco UCS Manager Plug-in Installation

To begin the plug-in installation on a Windows system that meets the previously stated requirements, follow these steps:

1.     Download the plugin and registration tool from: https://software.cisco.com/download/home/286282669/type/286282010/release/2.0.4?catid=282558030.

2.     Place the downloaded ucs-vcplugin-2.0.4.zip file onto the web server used for hosting the ONTAP software and VMware ESXi ISO.

3.     Unzip the Cisco_UCS_Plugin_Registration_Tool_1.2.2.zip and open the executable file within it.

4.     Leave Register Plugin selected for the Action, fill in the following vCenter information and click Submit:

a.     IP/Hostname

b.     Username

c.     Password

d.     URL that plugin has been uploaded to

 

5.     A pop-up will appear explaining that ‘allowHttp=true’ will need to be added to the webclient.properties file on the VCSA in the /etc/vmware/vsphere-client directory.

 

6.     Take care of this issue after the plugin has been registered, click OK to close the Information dialogue box.

7.     Click OK to confirm that the Cisco UCS Plugin registered successfully.

8.     To resolve the change needed for the HTTP download of the vSphere Web Client launch, connect to the VCSA with ssh using the root account, open the BASH shell, and type:

echo ‘allowHttp=true’ >> /etc/vmware/vsphere-client/webclient.properties

9.     Reboot the VCSA.

FlexPod UCS Domain Registration

Registration of the FlexPod UCS Domain can now be performed. The account used will correlate to the permissions allowed to the plugin, admin will be used in our example, but a read only account could be used with the plugin if that was appropriate for the environment.

To register the UCS Domain, follow these steps:

1.     Open the vSphere Web Client.

2.     Select the Home from the Navigator or drop-down list and select the Cisco UCS icon appearing in the Administration section.

3.     Click the Register button and provide the following options in the Register UCS Domain dialogue box that appears:

a.     UCS Hostname/IP

b.     Username

c.     Password

d.     Port (if different than 443)

e.     Leave SSL selected and click the Visible to All users option

 

4.     Click OK then click OK again to register the UCS Domain.

Use the Cisco UCS vCenter Plugin

The plugin can now enable the functions described at the start of this section by double-clicking the registered UCS Domain:

 

You can view the components associated to the domain:

Selecting within the chassis or rack mounts will provide a list of ESXi or non-ESXi servers to perform operations on the following:

 

In addition to viewing and working within objects shown in the UCS Plugin’s view of the UCS Domain, direct access of UCS functions provided by the plugin can be selected within the drop-down list of hosts registered to vCenter:

For detailed installation instructions and usage information, please refer to the Cisco UCS Manager Plug-in for VMware vSphere Web Client User Guide: http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/unified_computing/ucs/sw/vmware_tools/vCenter/vCenter_Plugin_User_Guide/2x/b_vCenter_2x.html.

NetApp Virtual Storage Console 7.2.1 Deployment Procedure

This section describes the deployment procedures for the NetApp Virtual Storage Console (VSC).

Virtual Storage Console 7.2.1 Pre-installation Considerations

The following licenses are required for VSC on storage systems that run ONTAP 9.5:

·       Protocol licenses (NFS)

·       NetApp FlexClone® (for provisioning and cloning only)

·       NetApp SnapRestore® (for backup and recovery)

·       The NetApp SnapManager® Suite

Install Virtual Storage Console 7.2.1

To install the VSC 7.2.1 software by using an Open Virtualization Format (OVF) deployment, follow these steps:

1.     Go to vSphere Web Client > Host Cluster > Deploy OVF Template.

2.     Browse to the VSC OVF file downloaded from the NetApp Support site.

3.     Enter the VM name and select a datacenter or folder in which to deploy. Click Next.

4.     Select a host cluster resource in which to deploy OVF. Click Next.

5.     Review the details and accept the license agreement.

6.     Select Storage.

7.     From Select Networks, choose a destination network and click Next.

8.     From Customize Template, enter the VSC administrator password, vCenter name or IP address and other configuration details and click Next.   

9.     Review the configuration details entered and click Finish to complete the deployment of NetApp-VSC VM.

10.  Power on the NetApp-VSC VM and open the VM console.

11.  During the NetApp-VSC VM boot process, you see a prompt to install VMware Tools. From vCenter, select NetApp-VSC VM > Guest OS > Install VMware Tools.

12.  Networking configuration and vCenter registration information was provided during the OVF template customization, therefore after NetApp-VSC VM is running, VSC, vSphere API for Storage Awareness (VASA), and VMware Storage Replication Adapter (SRA) are registered with vCenter.

13.  Log out of the vCenter Client and log in again. From the Home menu, confirm that the NetApp VSC is installed.

Download the NetApp NFS VAAI Plug-In

To install the NetApp NFS VAAI Plug-In, follow this step:

1.     Download the NetApp NFS Plug-In 1.1.2 for VMware .vib file from the NFS Plugin Download  page and save it to your local machine or admin host.

Discover and Add Storage Resources

To discover storage resources for the Monitoring and Host Configuration capability and the Provisioning and Cloning capability, follow these steps:

1.     Using the vSphere web client, log in to the vCenter Server as the FlexPod admin user. If the vSphere web client was previously opened, close it and then reopen it.

2.     In the Home screen, click the Home tab and click Virtual Storage Console.

3.     Select Storage Systems. Under the Objects tab, click Actions > Modify.

4.     In the IP Address/Hostname field, enter the storage cluster management IP. Enter admin for the user name and the admin password for password. Confirm that Use TLS to Connect to This Storage System is selected. Click OK.

5.     Click OK to accept the controller privileges.

6.     Wait for the Storage Systems to update. You might need to click Refresh to complete this update.

To add the discovered cluster and SVMs with the cluster admin account, follow these steps:

1.     Click Storage Systems and select Add in the tool bar in the Objects tab.

2.     Enter the DNS name or IP address of the cluster management LIF.

3.     Enter the cluster admin credentials and click OK to add the storage system.

Optimal Storage Settings for ESXi Hosts

VSC enables the automated configuration of storage-related settings for all ESXi hosts that are connected to NetApp storage controllers. To use these settings, follow these steps:

1.     From the Home screen, select vCenter > Hosts and Clusters. For each ESXi host, right-click and select NetApp VSC > Set Recommended Values.

2.     Check the settings that are to be applied to the selected vSphere hosts. Click OK to apply the settings.

3.     Click OK.

 

4.     From the Home screen in the vSphere web client, select Virtual Storage Console.

5.     Under Virtual Storage Console, select NFS VAAI Tools.

6.     Upload the NFS Plug-in by choosing Select File and browsing to the location where the downloaded plug-in is stored.

7.     Click Upload to transfer the plug-in to vCenter.

8.     Click Install on Host.

9.     Select both ESXi hosts and click Install.

10.  For each host for which settings were adjusted in the previous step, place the host in maintenance mode, reboot the host, and exit maintenance mode.

Virtual Storage Console 7.2.1 Provisioning Datastores

Using VSC, the administrator can provision an NFS, FC or iSCSI datastore and attach it to a single host or multiple hosts in the cluster. The following steps describe provisioning a datastore and attaching it to the cluster.

Provision NFS Datastore

To provision the NFS datastore, follow these steps:

1.     From the Home screen of the vSphere web client, right-click the FlexPod-Management cluster and select NetApp VSC > Provision Datastore.

 

2.     Enter the datastore name and select the type as NFS.

3.     Click Next.

4.     Select the cluster name and the desired SVM to create the datastore. In this example, the Infra-SVM is selected.

5.     Click Next.

6.     Enter the size of the datastore and select the aggregate name.

7.     Click Next.

8.     Review the details and click Finish.

 

9.      Click Ok.

Provision FC Datastore

To provision the FC datastore, follow these steps:

1.     From the Home screen of the vSphere web client, right-click the FlexPod-Management cluster and select NetApp VSC > Provision Datastore.

2.     Enter the datastore name and select the type as VMFS. For the VMFS protocol, select FC/FCoE.

3.     Click Next.

4.     Select the cluster name and the desired SVM to create the datastore. In this example, Infra-SVM is selected.

5.     Click Next.

6.     Enter the size of the datastore. Select the Create New Volume checkbox and select the aggregate name.

7.     Click Next.

8.     Review the details and click Finish.

9.      Click Ok.

NetApp SnapCenter

Deploy NetApp SnapCenter

The SnapCenter platform is based on a multitier architecture that includes a centralized management server (SnapCenter Server) and a SnapCenter host agent.

SnapCenter Server Requirements

Table 8  lists the minimum requirements for installing SnapCenter Server and the SnapCenter plug-in on a Windows server. For the latest version compatibility and other plug-in information, refer to the NetApp Interoperability Matrix Tool.

See the SnapCenter 4.1.1 Installation and Setup Guide for the complete documentation.

Table 8     SnapCenter Server Requirements

Table 9    Port Requirements

SnapCenter 4.1.1 License Requirements

The following licenses are required for SnapCenter on storage systems that run ONTAP 9.5. These licenses do not need to be added into the SnapCenter GUI:

·       Protocol licenses (NFS, FCP, or iSCSI as per protocol selection for deployment)

·       NetApp FlexClone (for provisioning and cloning only)

·       NetApp SnapRestore (for backup and recovery)

·       The NetApp SnapManager Suite

SnapCenter Server

The SnapCenter Server includes a web server, a centralized HTML5-based user interface, PowerShell cmdlets, APIs, and the SnapCenter repository. SnapCenter enables load balancing, high availability, and horizontal scaling across multiple SnapCenter Servers within a single user interface. You can accomplish high availability by using network load balancing (NLB) and Application Request Routing (ARR) with SnapCenter. For larger environments with thousands of hosts, adding multiple SnapCenterServers can help balance the load.

SnapCenter Plug-In for VMware vSphere

The Plug-in for VMware vSphere is a host-side component of the NetApp storage solution. It provides a vSphere web client GUI on vCenter to protect VMware VMs and datastores, and it helps SnapCenter application-specific plug-ins to protect virtualized databases and file systems.

Support for Virtualized Databases and File Systems

The Plug-in for VMware vSphere provides native backup, recovery, and cloning of virtualized applications (virtualized SQL and Oracle databases and Windows file systems) when using the SnapCenter GUI. 

SnapCenter natively leverages the Plug-in for VMware vSphere for all SQL, Oracle, and Windows file system data protection operations on VM disks (VMDKs), raw device mappings (RDMs), and NFS datastores.

SnapCenter Installation

Before you install SnapCenter, the SnapCenter Server host system must be up-to-date with Windows updates and no pending system restarts.

1.     Download the SnapCenter Server installation package from the NetApp Support site.

2.     Install the SnapCenter Server by double-clicking the downloadable .exe file to launch the SnapCenter Server installer.

3.     On the Prerequisites Validation screen, the host is validated to see if it meets the requirements to install the SnapCenter Server. If the minimum requirements are not met appropriate error or warning messages are displayed. If the restart of the host is pending, a warning message is displayed.

4.     In the Network Load Balancing screen, enable and configure NLB on the host if desired.

a.     Select Create New NLB Cluster and enter the details for first node.

b.     After creating the NLB cluster on the first node, when you run the installer on a second node, select Join Existing NLB Cluster and enter the details.

5.     On the Credentials screen, enter the credentials that you want to use to log in to SnapCenter as the administrator.

a.     The SnapCenter Server web component and SnapCenter SMCore Service are installed in the corresponding folders at the default location C:\Program Files\NetApp.

b.     The repository component is installed at the default location C:\ProgramData\NetApp\SnapCenter.

6.     On the SnapCenter Ports Configuration screen, enter the port details. The default ports are auto populated but you can specify a custom port. In a NLB setup for the second node, the ports used while installing on the first node are auto populated and are not configurable.

7.     On the MySQL Database Connection screen, enter the MySQL database password.

8.     On the Ready to Install screen, click Install. Log files are listed (oldest first) in the %temp% folder.

SnapCenter Configuration

The default GUI URL is a secure connection to the default port 8146 on the server where the SnapCenter Server is installed (https://server:8146). If you provided a different server port during the SnapCenter installation, that port is used instead.

For NLB deployment, you must access SnapCenter using the NLB cluster IP (https://NLB_Cluster_IP:8146). If you do not see the SnapCenter UI when you navigate to https://NLB_Cluster_IP:8146 in IE, you must add the NLB IP address as a trusted site in IE on each plug-in host, or you must disable IE Enhanced Security on each plug-in host.

Add a User or Group to a Role

To add a user or group to a role, follow these steps:

1.     In the left navigation pane, click Settings.

2.     In the Settings page, click Roles.

3.     In the Roles page, select the role to which you want to add the user.

4.     Click Modify.

5.     Click Next until you reach the Users/Groups page of the wizard.

6.     Select Domain or Workgroup as the Authentication type. For Domain authentication type, you should specify the domain name of the user or group to which you want to add the user to a role.

7.     Select either User or Group.

8.     In the User Name or Group Name field, enter a user or group name, and then click Add.

9.     Repeat this step to add additional users or groups to the selected role.

10.  Click Next to view the summary and then click Finish.

Configure Storage System Connections

To perform data protection and provisioning operations with SnapCenter, you must first set up the storage system connections that give SnapCenter access to ONTAP storage. Storage systems can also be added thru SnapCenter Plugin for vCenter. Both methods require the same set of information.

Install SnapCenter Plug-In for VMware

Host and Privilege Requirements for the Plug-In for VMware vSphere

Review the following requirements before you install the SnapCenter Plug-In for VMware vSphere:

·       You must have SnapCenter admin privileges to install and manage the SnapCenter GUI.

·       You must install the Plug-In for VMware vSphere on a Windows host (virtual host or physical host). The Plug-In for VMware vSphere must be installed on a Windows host regardless of whether you use the plug-In to protect data on Windows systems or Linux systems.

·       When installing a plug-in on a Windows host, if you specify a Run As account that is not built-in or if the Run As user belongs to a local workgroup user, you must disable UAC on the host.

·       Do not install the Plug-In for VMware vSphere on the vCenter Server appliance, which is a Linux host. You can only install the Plug-In for VMware vSphere on a Windows hosts.

·       You must not install other plug-ins on the host on which the Plug-In for VMware vSphere is installed.

·       You must install and register a separate, unique instance of the Plug-In for VMware vSphere for each vCenter Server.

-      Each vCenter Server, whether or not it is in Linked mode, must be paired with a separate instance of the Plug-In for VMware vSphere.

-      Each instance of the Plug-In for VMware vSphere must be installed on a separate Windows host. One instance can be installed on the SnapCenter Server host.

-      vCenter instances in Linked mode must all be paired with the same SnapCenter Server.

For example, if you want to perform backups from six different instances of the vCenter Server, then you must install the Plug-In for VMware vSphere on six hosts (one host can be the SnapCenter Server host) and each vCenter Server must paired with a unique instance of the Plug-In for VMware vSphere.

Run As Credentials

Before you can perform data protection operations, you must set up the SVM connections and add Run As credentials that the SnapCenter Server and the SnapCenter plug-ins use.

1.     Domain administrator or any member of the administrator group. Specify the domain administrator or any member of the administrator group on the system on which you are installing the SnapCenter plug-in. Valid formats for the Username field are as follows:

2.     Local administrator (for workgroups only). For systems that belong to a workgroup, specify the built-in local administrator on the system on which you are installing the SnapCenter plug-in. You can specify a local user account that belongs to the local administrator’s group if the user account has elevated privileges or the User Access control feature is disabled on the host system. The valid format for the username field is: UserName

3.     Run As credentials for individual resource groups. If you set up Run As credentials for individual resource groups and the username does not have full admin privileges, you must assign at least the resource group and backup privileges to the username.

To perform data protection and provisioning operations with SnapCenter, first you must set up the storage system connections using the SnapCenter Plug-In for vCenter GUI that, to give SnapCenter access to ONTAP storage as described in next section.

Install the Plug-in for VMware vSphere from the SnapCenter GUI

To install the plug-in for VMware vSphere from the SnapCenter GUI, follow these steps:

1.     In the left navigation pane, click Hosts. Verify that Managed Hosts is selected at the top.

2.     Click Add.

3.     On the Hosts page, specify:

a.     Host OS. vSphere

b.     Host Name. Host on which you want to install the Plug-in for VMware

c.     Run As Name. Run As account configured with user credentials with access to the host

d.     Port. Leave the default of 8145

4.     On the Plug-Ins to Install page, specify the vCenter information

5.     Review the summary, and then click Finish.

6.     SnapCenter Server performs the following tasks during the installation process:

a.     Adds the host to the SnapCenter registry.

b.     Installs the Plug-In for VMware vSphere, if the plug-in is not already installed on the host.

c.     If the Plug-In for VMware vSphere is installed on the SnapCenter Server host, it also installs the SnapCenter Plug-In for Microsoft Windows to support SnapCenter repository backup operations by using PowerShell cmdlets. You cannot use any other features of this instance of the Plug-In for Windows.

d.     Adds the Plug-In for VMware vSphere web client to vCenter.

Configure SnapCenter Plug-In for vCenter

After you have successfully installed the Plug-in for VMware vSphere, to configure SnapCenter and make it ready to backup virtual machines, follow these steps:

1.     In your browser, navigate to VMware vSphere web client URL https://<vCenter Server>/vsphere-client/?csp.

2.     On the VMware vCenter Single Sign-On page, login.

3.     On the VMware vSphere web client page, click Home and select SnapCenter Plug-In for VMware vSphere to bring up the SnapCenter Plug-In for VMware GUI. It will take you to the SnapCenter Plug-In for VMware dashboard.

Add Storage Systems (SVM)

To add storage systems, follow these steps:

1.     Go to the Storage Systems page.

2.     Click + Add Storage System to add an SVM.

3.     Enter vCenter, Storage System, user credentials, and other required information in following dialog box.

Create Backup Policies for Virtual Machines and Datastores

To create backup policies for VMs and datastores, follow these steps:

1.     In the left Navigator pane of the VMware vSphere web client, click Policies.

4.     On the Policies page, click + New Policy in the toolbar.

5.     On the New Backup Policy page, follow these steps:

a.     Enter the policy name and a description.

b.     Enter the backups to keep.

c.     From the Frequency drop-down list, select the backup frequency (hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, and on-demand only).

d.     Click Add.

6.     Create multiple policies as required for different sets of VMs or datastores.

Create Resource Groups

Resource groups are groups of virtual machine or datastores that are backed up together. A backup policy is associated with the resource group to back up the virtual machines and retain a certain number of backups as defined in the policy.

To create resource groups, follow these steps:

1.     In the left Navigator pane of the VMware vSphere web client, click Resource Groups and then click Create Resource Group. This is the easiest way to create a resource group. However, you can also create a resource group with one resource by performing one of the following steps:

a.     To create a resource group for one virtual machine, click VMs and Templates, right-click a virtual machine, select NetApp SnapCenter from the drop-down list, and then select Create Resource Group from the secondary drop-down list.

b.     To create a resource group for one datastore, click Storage, right-click a datastore, select NetApp SnapCenter from the drop-down list, and then select Create Resource Group from the secondary drop-down list.

  

2.     On the General Info & Notification page, enter the resource group name and complete the notification settings. Click Next.

3.     Select a datastore as a parent entity to create a resource group of virtual machines, and then select the virtual machines from the available list. Click Next.

4.     From the Spanning Disks options, select the Always Include all Spanning Datastores option.

5.     From the Policies options, select the policies (from those already created earlier) that you want to associate with the resource group. Click Next.

6.     From the Schedules options, select the schedule for backups for each selected policy. Click Next.

7.     Review the summary and click Finish to complete the creation of the resource group.

View Virtual Machine Backups and Restore from vCenter by Using SnapCenter Plug-In

View Backups

Backups of the resources included in the resource group occurs according to the schedule of the policies associated with the resource group. To view the backups associated with each schedule, follow these steps:

1.     Go to any virtual machine that has been added to Resource Group > More Objects > Backups. It shows all the backups for that resource.

2.     On the VMware vSphere Web Client page, click Home and select SnapCenter Plug-In for VMware vSphere to bring up the SnapCenter Plug-In for VMware GUI. Click Resource Groups and select any resource group. In the right pane, the completed backups are displayed.

3.     An on-demand backup can also be created for any resource group by following these steps:

a.     Click the virtual machine or datastore resource > More Objects > Resource Groups. Select the Resource Group and click Run Now. This process triggers the backup of the resource group containing a particular resource.

Restore from vCenter by Using SnapCenter Plug-In

To restore from vCenter by using SnapCenter Plug-In, follow these steps:

1.     The Plug-In for VMware vSphere provides native backup, recovery, and cloning of virtualized applications. Go to vCenter Web Client GUI > Select a VM > right-click and select NetApp SnapCenter.

2.     Select a backup from which to restore. Click Next.

3.     From the Restore Scope drop-down list, select either Entire virtual machine to restore the virtual machine with all VMDKs, or select Particular Virtual Disk to restore the VMDK without affecting the virtual machine configuration and other VMDKs.

4.     Select the destination datastore. Click Next.

5.     Review the Summary and click Finish to complete the restore process.

Install OnCommand Unified Manager 9.5

This section describes the steps to deploy NetApp OnCommand Unified Manager 9.5.  These steps will demonstrate deploying OnCommand Unified Manager 9.5 on a CentOS Linux 7.6 virtual machine.  The following table lists the recommended configuration for the virtual machine to install and run OnCommand Unified Manager (OCUM) to ensure acceptable performance.

Table 10      Virtual Machine Configuration

To install OnCommand Unified Manager 9.5, follow these steps:

1.     Download the Minimal ISO image of CentOS 7 Linux from the centos.org mirror site closest to your location.  Save the ISO image to one of the infra datastores created in a previous step to a folder called vmimages.

2.     Log into vSphere and right-click the FlexPod-DC object in the Navigator panel and select New Virtual Machine -> New Virtual Machine.

3.     Choose the FlexPod-DC datacenter location and provide a name for the virtual machine.

4.     Select the FlexPod-Management cluster and choose next to proceed to the next screen.

5.     Choose the datastore where the virtual machine will be deployed and leave the default VM storage policy unchanged.

6.     Select next to advance the following screen.

7.     Set the Guest OS Family to Linux and the Guest OS Version to CentOS 7 (64-bit).

8.     Edit the settings of the virtual machine to the following specifications:

a.     CPU:  4 cores

b.     Memory:  16GB

c.     Hard disk 1:  200GB

d.     New Network: IB-MGMT Network

9.     Connect the CD/DVD drive 1 by selecting the Connect check box and browse the host datastore for the CentOS 7 Linux ISO image uploaded to the datastore.

10.  Choose next and review the virtual machine summary and select Finish.

11.  Power-on the new virtual machine and open the console to observe the virtual machine booting to the CentOS 7 setup screen.  Press Enter to start the installation.

12.  Select the desired language and continue.

13.  When prompted, enter the time zone information to specify the geographic area and region.

14.  Complete the required installation sections to specify the following information:

a.     Date & Time

b.     Keyboard layout

c.     Installation Destination

d.     Network & Hostname

15.  When finished, begin the installation.

16.  While the installation is occurring, set the password for the root user account.

17.  When the installation script is finished, a summary screen will display. Reboot the virtual machine to complete the installation and boot into CentOS Linux.

18.  Log into the console of the CentOS virtual machine as the root user.

19.  Verify IP connectivity and update the installation with the latest patches available for CentOS.

20.  Download required tools needed to install the EPEL and MySQL repositories with the following steps.

Install the Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux (EPEL) and MySQL Repositories

To install the extra packages for EPEL and MySQL repositories, follow this step:

1.     Download and install the EPEL and MySQL repositories with the following command:

Install Open VM Tools on the CentOS Virtual Machine

To install the Open VM tools on the CentOS virtual machine, follow this step:

1.     Run the following command from the console as the root user to install open-vm-tools:

Configure CentOS Firewall

To configure the CentOS firewall, follow this step:

1.     Run the following command to permit HTTPS traffic over TCP port 443 for secure OCUM communication.

Install OnCommand Unified Manager

To install the OnCommand Unified Manager, follow these steps:

1.     Browse to the NetApp support website to download OnCommand Unified Manager 9.5 and review the security vulnerability disclosures concerning MySQL components in OnCommand Unified Manager.  

2.     Accept the license agreement and choose Accept & Continue to proceed.  Select the Red Hat and CentOS Linux Installation and Upgrade file option from the list.  Download the installation package .zip file and the associated SHA256 checksum file:

a.     OnCommandUnifiedManager-rhel7-9.5.zip

b.     OnCommandUnifiedManager-rhel7-9.5.zip.sha256.

3.     Copy the OnCommand Unified Manager package and the OnCommand Unified Manager SHA256 checksum files to the /tmp directory of the CentOS virtual machine via SCP.

4.     Compute the hash value of the OnCommand package and verify the file hash to ensure the integrity of the OnCommand Unified Manager installation package.

5.     Unzip the OnCommand Unified installation package and verify the contents are all present.

6.     Review the output and ensure the following files were extracted to the /tmp directory:

a.     ocie-au-9.5.0-2018.11.J119.x86_64.rpm

b.     ocie-server-9.5.0-2018.11.J119.x86_64.rpm

c.     ocie-serverbase-9.5.0-2018.11.J53.x86_64.rpm

d.     netapp-application-server-9.5.0-2018.11.J53.x86_64.rpm

e.     netapp-platform-base-9.5.0-2018.11.J53.x86_64.rpm

f.      netapp-ocum-9.5-x86_64.rpm

7.     Run the pre-installation script to ensure there are no system configuration settings that will conflict with the installation of OnCommand Unified Manager.

8.     If no issues are identified continue with the installation as show below:

9.     After the installation messages are complete, navigate to the web UI of OnCommand Unified Manager with the IP address or the FQDN of the host via HTTPS.

10.  Log into the OnCommand Unified Manager web UI with the maintenance user name (umadmin), and admin for the default password.

Add Storage Systems to OnCommand Unified Manager

To configure OnCommand Unified Manager and add a storage system for monitoring, follow these steps:

1.     In a web browser navigate to the IP address or FQDN of the OnCommand Unified Manager installation and login with the maintenance user that was created in the previous section.

2.     Enter the email address that OnCommand will use to send alerts, enter the mail server configuration, and the IP address or hostname of the NTP server.  Select Next and complete the AutoSupport configuration.

3.     Change the default umadmin password by choosing the change password link on the Change Admin Credentials page.

4.     Save and complete the configuration and continue to the next step.

5.     Click Add on the Configuration/Cluster Data Sources screen to add the storage cluster.

6.     Enter the hostname and login credentials to the storage cluster.

7.     When prompted to trust the self-signed certificate from OnCommand Unified Manager, select Yes to finish and add the storage system.  The initial discovery process can take up to 15 minutes to complete.

Provision a Sample Application Tenant

This section describes a sample procedure for provisioning an application tenant. The procedure refers to previous sections of this document and can be used as a guide and modified as needed when provisioning an application tenant.

1.     Plan your application tenant and determine what storage protocols will be provided in the tenant.  In the architecture explained in this document, fibre channel, NFS, iSCSI, and CIFS/SMB can be provided to the tenant.  Also, plan what network VLANs the tenant will use.  It is recommended to have a VLAN for virtual machine management traffic.  One or two VLANs (iSCSI needs two if VMware RDM LUNs or iSCSI datastores will be provisioned) are also needed for each storage protocol used except fibre channel.  Fibre channel will have new storage LIFs defined with the same VSANs configured for the FlexPod Infrastructure.

2.     In the Nexus switches, declare all added VLANs and configure the VM VLAN as an allowed VLAN on the UCS port channels and the vPC peer link.  Also, Layer 3 with HSRP or VRRP can be configured in the Nexus switches to provide this VLAN access to the outside.  Layer 3 setup is not explained in this document but is explained in the Nexus 9000 documentation. Configure the storage VLANs on the UCS and storage port channels, and on the vPC peer link. The VM VLAN can also be added to the storage port channels in order to configure the tenant SVM management interface on this VLAN.

3.     In the storage cluster:

a.     Create a broadcast domain with MTU 1500 for the tenant SVM management interface. Create a broadcast domain with MTU 9000 for each tenant storage protocol except fibre channel.

b.     Create VLAN interface ports on the node interface group on each node for tenant SVM management (VM VLAN) and for the VLAN for each storage protocol except fibre channel.  Add these VLAN ports to the appropriate broadcast domains.

c.     Create the tenant SVM and follow all procedures in that section.

d.     Create Load-Sharing Mirrors for the tenant SVM.

e.     Create the FC service for the tenant SVM if fibre channel is being deployed in this tenant.

f.      Optionally, create a self-signed security certificate for the tenant SVM.

g.     Configure NFSv3 for the tenant SVM.

h.     Create a VM datastore volume in the tenant SVM.

i.       Create a once-a-day deduplication schedule on the VM datastore volume.

j.       If fibre channel is being deployed in this tenant, configure four FCP LIFs in the tenant SVM on the same fibre channel ports as in the Infrastructure SVM.

k.     Create an NFS LIF in the tenant SVM on each storage node.

l.       Create a boot LUN in the esxi_boot volume in the Infra-SVM for each tenant VMware ESXi host.

m.    Add the tenant SVM Administrator, SVM management LIF on the SVM management VLAN port, and default route for the SVM.

4.     In Cisco UCS, one method of tenant setup is to dedicate a VMware ESXi cluster and set of UCS servers to each tenant.  Service profiles will be generated for at least two tenant ESXi hosts.  These hosts can boot from LUNs from the esxi_boot volume in the Infra-SVM but will also have access to FC storage in the tenant SVM.

a.     Create a Server Pool for the tenant ESXi host servers.

b.     Create all tenant VLANs in the LAN Cloud.

c.     Add the tenant VLANs to the vDS vNIC templates. 

d.     Generate service profiles from the service profile template with the vMedia policy for the tenant ESXi hosts.  Remember to bind these service profiles to the service profile template without the vMedia policy after VMware ESXi installation.

5.     In the Cisco MDS 9132T switches:

a.     Create device aliases for the tenant ESXi host vHBAs and the FC LIFs in the tenant storage SVM.

b.     Create zones for the tenant ESXi hosts with fibre channel targets from both the storage Infra-SVM and the tenant SVM. 

c.     Add these zones to the Fabric zoneset and activate the zoneset.

6.     In the storage cluster:

a.     Create igroups for the tenant ESXi hosts in both the Infra-SVM and tenant SVM.  Also, create an igroup in the tenant SVM that includes the WWPNs for all tenant ESXi hosts to support shared storage from the tenant SVM.

b.     In Infra-SVM, map the boot LUNs created earlier to the tenant ESXi hosts.  Tenant FC storage can be created later using NetApp VSC.

7.     Install and configure VMware ESXi on all tenant host servers. It is not necessary to map infra_datastore_1 or infra_datastore_2 unless you want the tenant ESXi hosts to have access to VMs or VM templates in these datastores.

8.     In VMware vCenter, create a cluster for the tenant ESXi hosts.  Add the hosts to the cluster.

9.     Using the vCenter Web Client, add the tenant hosts to the infrastructure vDS or create a tenant vDS and add the hosts to it. In the VMware vDS, add port-profiles for the tenant VLANs. When migrating the hosts to the vDS, leave only the ESXi management interfaces on vSwitch0.

10.  Back in vCenter, add in any necessary VMkernel ports for storage interfaces remembering to set the MTU correctly on these interfaces.  Mount the tenant NFS datastore on the tenant cluster if one was created. Tenant iSCSI VMkernel ports can be created on the vDS  with the port groups pinned to the appropriate fabric.

11.  Using the NetApp VSC plugin to the vCenter Web Client, set recommended values for all tenant ESXi hosts.  Install the NetApp NFS Plug-in for VMware VAAI for all tenant hosts and reboot each host.

12.  You can now begin provisioning virtual machines on the tenant cluster.  The NetApp VSC plugin can be used to provision fibre channel, iSCSI, and NFS datastores.

13.  Optionally, use NetApp SnapCenter to provision backups of tenant virtual machines.

FlexPod iSCSI Addition

Cisco Nexus Switch Configuration

This section is a delta section for adding infrastructure iSCSI to the Nexus switches.  This section should be executed after the Cisco Nexus Switch Configuration section in the main document is completed.

Create Infrastructure iSCSI VLANs on Cisco Nexus A and Cisco Nexus B

To create the necessary virtual local area networks (VLANs), follow this step on both switches:

1.     From the global configuration mode, run the following commands:

Add Infrastructure iSCSI VLANs to Port-Channels on Cisco Nexus A and Cisco Nexus B

To create the necessary virtual local area networks (VLANs), follow this step on both switches:

2.     From the global configuration mode, run the following commands:

NetApp Storage Configuration

When using the iSCSI protocol for SAN boot connectivity, use the Storage Configuration steps outlined in the body of this document.  Where appropriate, replace the Fibre Channel configuration steps with the steps listed here.

Create Block Protocol (iSCSI) Service

1.     Remove FCP protocol from the vserver.

2.     Create the iSCSI block service.

Create iSCSI Broadcast Domains

To create the broadcast domains for each of the iSCSI VLANs, run the following commands:

Create iSCSI VLANs

To create iSCSI VLANs, follow these steps:

1.     Modify the MTU size on the parent interface group hosting the iSCSI traffic using the following commands:

2.     Create VLAN ports for the iSCSI LIFs on each storage controller.

Add VLANs to iSCSI Broadcast Domains

To add each of the iSCSI VLAN ports to the corresponding broadcast domain, run the following commands:

Create iSCSI LIFs

To create four iSCSI LIFs, run the following commands (two on each node):

Create igroups

Table 11      iSCSI IQN for SVM

Table 12      iSCSI vNIC IQN Configuration

Create igroups by entering the following commands from the storage cluster management LIF SSH connection:

To view the two igroups just created, use the command lun igroup show.

Map Boot LUNs to igroups

From the storage cluster management LIF SSH connection, run the following commands:

Cisco UCS iSCSI Configuration

The following subsections can be completed to add infrastructure iSCSI to the Cisco UCS.  These subsections can be completed in place of the subsections in the Cisco UCS Configuration section of this document labeled (FCP), or they can be completed in addition to the FCP sections to have the option of FCP or iSCSI boot.

Create IQN Pools for iSCSI Boot

To configure the necessary IQN pools for the Cisco UCS environment, follow these steps:

1.     In Cisco UCS Manager, click SAN.

2.     Expand Pools > root.

3.     Right-click IQN Pools.

4.     Select Create IQN Suffix Pool to create the IQN pool.

5.     Enter IQN-Pool for the name of the IQN pool

6.     Optional: Enter a description for the IQN pool

7.     Enter iqn.2010-11.com.flexpod as the prefix.

8.     Select Sequential for Assignment Order

9.     Click Next.

10.  Click Add.

11.  Enter ucs-host as the suffix.

12.  Enter 1 in the From field.

13.  Specify the size of the IQN block sufficient to support the available server resources.

14.  Click OK.

15.  Click Finish and OK to complete creating the IQN pool.

Create IP Pools for iSCSI Boot

To configure the necessary IP pools iSCSI boot for the Cisco UCS environment within the FlexPod Organization, follow these steps:

1.     In Cisco UCS Manager, click LAN.

2.     Expand Pools > root > Sub-Organizations > FlexPod Organization.

3.     Right-click IP Pools under the FlexPod Organization.

4.     Select Create IP Pool.

5.     Enter iSCSI-IP-Pool-A as the name of IP pool.

6.     Optional: Enter a description for the IP pool.

7.     Select Sequential for the assignment order.

8.     Click Next.

9.     Click Add to add a block of IP addresses.

10.  In the From field, enter the beginning of the range to assign as iSCSI boot IP addresses on Fabric A.

11.  Set the size to enough addresses to accommodate the servers.

12.  Enter the appropriate Subnet Mask.

13.  Click OK.

14.  Click Next.

15.  Click Finish and OK to complete creating the Fabric A iSCSI IP Pool.

16.  Right-click IP Pools under the FlexPod Organization.

17.  Select Create IP Pool.

18.  Enter iSCSI-IP-Pool-B as the name of IP pool.

19.  Optional: Enter a description for the IP pool.

20.  Select Sequential for the assignment order.

21.  Click Next.

22.  Click Add to add a block of IP addresses.

23.  In the From field, enter the beginning of the range to assign as iSCSI IP addresses on Fabric B.

24.  Set the size to enough addresses to accommodate the servers.

25.  Enter the appropriate Subnet Mask.

26.  Click OK.

27.  Click Next.

28.  Click Finish and OK to complete creating the Fabric B iSCSI IP Pool.

Create iSCSI VLANs

To configure the necessary iSCSI virtual local area networks (VLANs) for the Cisco UCS environment, follow these steps:

1.     In Cisco UCS Manager, click LAN.         

2.     Expand LAN > LAN Cloud.        

3.     Right-click VLANs.

4.     Select Create VLANs.

5.     Enter Infra-iSCSI-A as the name of the VLAN to be used for iSCSI-A.

6.     Keep the Common/Global option selected for the scope of the VLAN.

7.     Enter the Infra-iSCSI-A VLAN ID.

8.     Keep the Sharing Type as None.

9.     Click OK and then click OK again.

10.  Right-click VLANs.

11.  Select Create VLANs.

12.  Enter Infra-iSCSI-B as the name of the VLAN to be used for iSCSI-B.

13.  Keep the Common/Global option selected for the scope of the VLAN.

14.  Enter the iSCSI-B VLAN ID.

15.  Keep the Sharing Type as None.

16.  Click OK and then click OK again.

Create iSCSI vNIC Templates

To create iSCSI virtual network interface card (vNIC) templates for the Cisco UCS environment within the FlexPod Organization, follow these steps:

1.     Select LAN.

2.     Expand Policies > root > Sub-Organizations > FlexPod Organization.

3.     Right-click vNIC Templates under the FlexPod Organization.

4.     Select Create vNIC Template.

5.     Enter iSCSI-Template-A as the vNIC template name.

6.     Select Fabric A. Do not select the Enable Failover checkbox.

7.     Leave Redundancy Type set at No Redundancy.

8.     Under Target, make sure that only the Adapter checkbox is selected.

9.     Select Updating Template for Template Type.

10.  Under VLANs, select only Infra-iSCSI-A.

11.  Select Infra-iSCSI-A as the native VLAN.

12.  Leave vNIC Name set for the CDN Source.

13.  Under MTU, enter 9000.

14.  From the MAC Pool list, select MAC-Pool-A.

15.  From the Network Control Policy list, select Enable-CDP-LLDP.

16.  Click OK to complete creating the vNIC template.

17.  Click OK.

18.  Right-click vNIC Templates.

19.  Select Create vNIC Template.

20.  Enter iSCSI-Template-B as the vNIC template name.

21.  Select Fabric B. Do not select the Enable Failover checkbox.

22.  Leave Redundancy Type set at No Redundancy.

23.  Under Target, make sure that only the Adapter checkbox is selected.

24.  Select Updating Template for Template Type.

25.  Under VLANs, select only Infra-iSCSI-B.

26.  Select Infra-iSCSI-B as the native VLAN.

27.  Leave vNIC Name set for the CDN Source.

28.  Under MTU, enter 9000.

29.  From the MAC Pool list, select MAC-Pool-B.

30.  From the Network Control Policy list, select Enable-CDP-LLDP.

31.  Click OK to complete creating the vNIC template.

32.  Click OK.

Create LAN Connectivity Policy for iSCSI Boot

To configure the necessary Infrastructure LAN Connectivity Policy within the FlexPod Organization, follow these steps:

1.     In Cisco UCS Manager, click LAN.

2.     Expand LAN > Policies > root > Sub-Organizations > FlexPod Organization.

3.     Right-click LAN Connectivity Policies under the FlexPod Organization.

4.     Select Create LAN Connectivity Policy.

5.     Enter iSCSI-Boot as the name of the policy.

6.     Click the upper Add button to add a vNIC.

7.     In the Create vNIC dialog box, enter 00-Infra-A as the name of the vNIC.

8.     Select the Use vNIC Template checkbox.

9.     In the vNIC Template list, select Infra-A.

10.  In the Adapter Policy list, select VMWare.

11.  Click OK to add this vNIC to the policy.

12.  Click the upper Add button to add another vNIC to the policy.

13.  In the Create vNIC box, enter 01-Infra-B as the name of the vNIC.

14.  Select the Use vNIC Template checkbox.

15.  In the vNIC Template list, select Infra-B.

16.  In the Adapter Policy list, select VMWare.

17.  Click OK to add the vNIC to the policy.

18.  Click the upper Add button to add a vNIC.

19.  In the Create vNIC dialog box, enter 02-Infra-vDS-A as the name of the vNIC.

20.  Select the Use vNIC Template checkbox.

21.  In the vNIC Template list, select Infra-vDS-A.

22.  In the Adapter Policy list, select VMWare.

23.  Click OK to add this vNIC to the policy.

24.  Click the upper Add button to add another vNIC to the policy.

25.  In the Create vNIC box, enter 03-Infra-vDS-B as the name of the vNIC.

26.  Select the Use vNIC Template checkbox.

27.  In the vNIC Template list, select Infra-vDS-B.

28.  In the Adapter Policy list, select VMWare.

29.  Click OK to add the vNIC to the policy.

30.  Click the upper Add button to add a vNIC.

31.  In the Create vNIC dialog box, enter 04-iSCSI-A as the name of the vNIC.

32.  Select the Use vNIC Template checkbox.

33.  In the vNIC Template list, select iSCSI-Template-A.

34.  In the Adapter Policy list, select VMWare.

35.  Click OK to add this vNIC to the policy.

36.  Click Add to add a vNIC to the policy.

37.  In the Create vNIC dialog box, enter 05-iSCSI-B as the name of the vNIC.

38.  Select the Use vNIC Template checkbox.

39.  In the vNIC Template list, select iSCSI-Template-B.

40.  In the Adapter Policy list, select VMWare.

41.  Click OK to add this vNIC to the policy.

42.  Expand Add iSCSI vNICs.

43.  Select Add in the Add iSCSI vNICs section.

44.  Set the name to iSCSI-Boot-A.

45.  Select 04-iSCSI-A as the Overlay vNIC.

46.  Set the iSCSI Adapter Policy to default.

47.  Leave the VLAN set to Infra-iSCSI-A (native).

48.  Leave the MAC Address set to None.

49.  Click OK.

50.  Select Add in the Add iSCSI vNICs section.

51.  Set the name to iSCSI-Boot-B.

52.  Select 05-iSCSI-B as the Overlay vNIC.

53.  Set the iSCSI Adapter Policy to default.

54.  Leave the VLAN set to Infra-iSCSI-B (native).

55.  Leave the MAC Address set to None.

 

56.  Click OK, then click OK again to create the LAN Connectivity Policy.

Create iSCSI Boot Policy

This procedure applies to a Cisco UCS environment in which two iSCSI logical interfaces (LIFs) are on cluster node 1 (iscsi-lif01a and iscsi-lif01b) and two iSCSI LIFs are on cluster node 2 (iscsi-lif02a and iscsi-lif02b). Also, it is assumed that the A LIFs are connected to Fabric A (Cisco UCS Fabric Interconnect A) and the B LIFs are connected to Fabric B (Cisco UCS Fabric Interconnect B).

To create a boot policy for the Cisco UCS environment within the FlexPod Organization, follow these steps:

1.     In Cisco UCS Manager, click Servers.

2.     Expand Policies > root > Sub-Organizations > FlexPod Organization.

3.     Right-click Boot Policies under the FlexPod Organization.

4.     Select Create Boot Policy.

5.     Enter Boot-iSCSI-A as the name of the boot policy.

6.     Optional: Enter a description for the boot policy.

7.     Do not select the Reboot on Boot Order Change checkbox.

8.     Leave the Legacy Boot Mode selected.

9.     Expand the Local Devices drop-down menu and select Add Remote CD/DVD.

10.  Expand the iSCSI vNICs drop-down menu and select Add iSCSI Boot.

11.  In the Add iSCSI Boot dialog box, enter iSCSI-Boot-A.

12.  Click OK.

13.  Select Add iSCSI Boot.

14.  In the Add iSCSI Boot dialog box, enter iSCSI-Boot-B.

15.  Click OK.

16.  Expand CIMC Mounted Media and select Add CIMC Mounted CD/DVD.

 

 

17.  Click OK then click OK again to create the policy.

Create iSCSI Boot Service Profile Template

In this procedure, one service profile template for Infrastructure ESXi hosts within the FlexPod Organization is created for Fabric A boot.

To create the service profile template, follow these steps:

1.     In Cisco UCS Manager, click Servers.

2.     Expand Service Profile Templates > root > Sub-Organizations > FlexPod Organization.

3.     Right-click the FlexPod Organization.

4.     Select Create Service Profile Template to open the Create Service Profile Template wizard.

5.     Enter VM-Host-Infra-iSCSI-A as the name of the service profile template. This service profile template is configured to boot from storage node 1 on fabric A.

6.     Select the “Updating Template” option.

7.     Under UUID Assignment, select UUID_Pool.

8.     Click Next.

Configure Storage Provisioning

To configure the storage provisioning, follow these steps:

1.     If you have servers with no physical disks, click on the Local Disk Configuration Policy tab and select the SAN-Boot Local Storage Policy. Otherwise, select the default Local Storage Policy.

2.     Click Next.

Configure Networking Options

To configure the network options, follow these steps:

1.     Keep the default setting for Dynamic vNIC Connection Policy.

2.     Select the “Use Connectivity Policy” option to configure the LAN connectivity.

3.     Select iSCSI-Boot from the LAN Connectivity Policy drop-down list.

4.     Select IQN_Pool in Initiator Name Assignment.

 

5.     Click Next.

Configure Storage Options

To configure the storage options, follow these steps:

1.     Select No vHBAs for the “How would you like to configure SAN connectivity?” field.

2.     Click Next.

Configure Zoning Options

To configure the zoning options, follow this step:

1.     Make no changes and click Next.

Configure vNIC/HBA Placement

To configure the vNIC/HBA placement, follow these steps:

1.     In the “Select Placement” list, leave the placement policy as “Let System Perform Placement”.

2.     Click Next.

Configure vMedia Policy

To configure the vMedia policy, follow these steps:

3.     Do not select a vMedia Policy.

4.     Click Next.

Configure Server Boot Order

To configure the server boot orders, follow these steps:

1.     Select Boot-iSCSI-A for Boot Policy.

2.     In the Boor order, select iSCSI-Boot-A.

3.     Click Set iSCSI Boot Parameters.

4.     In the Set iSCSI Boot Parameters pop-up, leave Authentication Profile to <not set> unless you have in-dependently created one appropriate to your environment.

5.     Leave the “Initiator Name Assignment” dialog box <not set> to use the single Service Profile Initiator Name defined in the previous steps.

6.     Set iSCSI-IP-Pool-A as the “Initiator IP address Policy.”

7.     Select iSCSI Static Target Interface option.

8.     Click Add.

9.     Enter the iSCSI Target Name. To get the iSCSI target name of Infra-SVM, log into the storage cluster management interface and run the “iscsi show” command”.

10.   Enter the IP address of iscsi-lif01a for the IPv4 Address field.

 

11. Click OK to add the iSCSI static target.

12. Click Add.

13. Enter the iSCSI Target Name.

14. Enter the IP address of iscsi-lif02a for the IPv4 Address field.

 15.            Click OK to add the iSCSI static target.

 

11.  Click OK to complete setting the iSCSI Boot Parameters.

12.  In the Boot order, select iSCSI-Boot-B.

13.  Click Set iSCSI Boot Parameters.

14.  In the Set iSCSI Boot Parameters pop-up, leave Authentication Profile to <not set> unless you have in-dependently created one appropriate to your environment.

15.  Leave the “Initiator Name Assignment” dialog box <not set> to use the single Service Profile Initiator Name defined in the previous steps.

16.  Set iSCSI-IP-Pool-B as the “Initiator IP address Policy”.

17.  Select the iSCSI Static Target Interface option.

18.  Click Add.

19.  Enter the iSCSI Target Name. To get the iSCSI target name of Infra-SVM, login into storage cluster management interface and run “iscsi show” command”.

20.   Enter the IP address of iscsi-lif01b for the IPv4 Address field.

21.   Click OK to add the iSCSI static target.

22.  Click Add.

23.  Enter the iSCSI Target Name.

24.  Enter the IP address of iscsi-lif02b for the IPv4 Address field.

25.   Click OK to add the iSCSI static target.

 

26.  Click OK to complete setting the iSCSI Boot Parameters.

27.  Click Next.

Configure Maintenance Policy

To configure the maintenance policy, follow these steps:

1.     Change the Maintenance Policy to default.

2.     Click Next.

Configure Server Assignment

To configure server assignment, follow these steps:

1.     In the Pool Assignment list, select Infra-Pool.

2.     Select Down as the power state to be applied when the profile is associated with the server.

3.     Optional: select “UCS-B200-M5” for the Server Pool Qualification to select only B200 M5 servers in the pool.

4.     Expand Firmware Management at the bottom of the page and select the default policy.

 

5.     Click Next.

Configure Operational Policies

To configure the operational policies, follow these steps:

1.     In the BIOS Policy list, select VM-Host.

2.     Expand Power Control Policy Configuration and select No-Power-Cap in the Power Control Policy list.

  

3.     Click Finish to create the service profile template.

4.     Click OK in the confirmation message.

Create vMedia-Enabled Service Profile Template

To create a service profile template with vMedia enabled, follow these steps:

1.     Connect to Cisco UCS Manager and click Servers.

2.     Select Service Profile Templates > root > Sub-Organizations > FlexPod Organization > Service Template VM-Host-Infra-iSCSI-A.

3.     Right-click VM-Host-Infra-iSCSI-A and select Create a Clone.

4.     Name the clone VM-Host-Infra-iSCSI-A-vM and click OK then click OK again to create the clone.

5.     Select the newly-created VM-Host-Infra-iSCSI-A-vM and select the vMedia Policy tab.

6.     Click Modify vMedia Policy.

7.     Select the ESXi-6.7U1-HTTP vMedia Policy and click OK.

8.     Click OK to confirm.

Create Service Profiles

To create service profiles from the service profile template, follow these steps:

1.     Connect to Cisco UCS Manager and click Servers.

2.     Select Service Profile Templates > root > Sub-Organizations > FlexPod Organization > Service Template VM-Host-Infra-iSCSI-A-vM.

3.     Right-click VM-Host-Infra-iSCSI-A-vM and select Create Service Profiles from Template.

4.     Enter VM-Host-Infra-0 as the service profile prefix.

5.     Enter 1 as “Name Suffix Starting Number.”

6.     Enter 2 as the “Number of Instances.”

7.     Click OK to create the service profiles.

8.     Click OK in the confirmation message.

Once VMware ESXi 6.7 U1 has been installed on the hosts, the host Service Profiles can be bound to the VM-Host-Infra-iSCSI-A Service Profile Template to remove the vMedia Mapping from the host.

VMware vSphere Configuration

Set Up VMkernel Ports and Virtual Switch on ESXi Host VM-Host-Infra-01 and VM-Host-Infra-02

To add the iSCSI networking configuration on the ESXi hosts, follow the steps at the end of section Set Up VMkernel Ports and Virtual Switch:

1.     From the Host Client, select Networking.

2.     In the center pane, select the Virtual switches tab.

3.     Highlight the iScsiBootvSwitch line.

4.     Select Edit settings.

5.     Change the MTU to 9000.

6.     Click Save.

7.     Select Add standard virtual switch.

8.     Name the virtual switch iScsiBootvSwitch.

9.     Change the MTU to 9000.

10.  Select vmnic5 for Uplink 1.

11.  Click Add to complete adding the virtual switch.

12.  At the top, select the VMkernel NICs tab.

13.  Select the iScsiBootPG line and select Edit Settings.

14.  Change the MTU to 9000.

15.  Expand IPv4 Settings and enter a unique IP address in the Infra-iSCSI-A subnet but outside of the Cisco UCS iSCSI-IP-Pool-A.

16.  Click Save to save the changes to the VMkernel port.

17.  Click Add VMkernel NIC.

18.  For New port group, enter iScsiBootPG-B

19.  For Virtual switch, select iScsiBootvSwitch-B.

20.  Leave the VLAN ID set at 0.

21.  Change the MTU to 9000.

22.  Select Static IPv4 settings and expand IPv4 settings.

23.  Enter a unique IP address in the Infra-iSCSI-B subnet but outside of the Cisco UCS iSCSI-IP-Pool-B.

24.  Do not select any of the Services.

25.  Click Create.

26.  On the left select Storage, then in the center pane select the Adapters tab.

27.  Click Software iSCSI to configure software iSCSI for the host.

28.  In the Configure iSCSI window, under Dynamic targets, select Add dynamic target.

29.  Select to add address and enter the IP address of iscsi-lif01a from storage SVM Infra-SVM. Click Return.

30.  Repeat this process to add the IP addresses for iscsi-lif02a, iscsi-lif01b, and iscsi-lif01b.

31.  Click Save configuration.

32.  Click Software iSCSI to configure software iSCSI for the host.

33.  Verify that four static targets and four dynamic targets are listed for the host.

34.  Click Cancel to close the window.

ESXi Dump Collector Setup for iSCSI-Booted Hosts

ESXi hosts booted with iSCSI using the VMware iSCSI software initiator need to be configured to do core dumps to the ESXi Dump Collector that is part of vCenter. The Dump Collector is not enabled by default on the vCenter Appliance. This procedure should be run at the end of the vCenter deployment section. To setup the ESXi Dump Collector, follow these steps:

1.     Log into the vSphere Web Client as administrator@vsphere.local and select Home.

2.     In the center pane, click System Configuration.

3.     In the left pane, select Services.

4.     Under services, click VMware vSphere ESXi Dump Collector.

5.     In the center pane, click the green start icon  to start the service.

6.     In the Actions menu, click Edit Startup Type.

7.     Select Automatic.

8.     Click OK.

9.     Connect to each ESXi host via ssh as root

10.  Run the following commands:

Create a FlexPod ESXi Custom ISO using VMware vCenter

In this validation document, the Cisco Custom Image for ESXi 6.7 U1 GA Install CD ISO was used to install VMware ESXi. After this installation the Cisco VIC nfnic and nenic drivers had to be updated and the NetApp NFS Plug-in for VMware VAAI had to be installed during the FlexPod deployment.  vCenter 6.7 U1 can be used to produce a FlexPod custom ISO containing the updated VIC drivers and the NetApp NFS Plug-in for VMware VAAI. This ISO can be used to install VMware ESXi 6.7 U1 without having to do any addition driver updates.  This ISO can be produced by following these steps:

1.     Download the Cisco Custom Image for ESXi 6.7 U1 Offline Bundle. This file (VMware_ESXi_6.7.0_10302608_Custom_Cisco_6.7.1.1_Bundle.zip) can be used to produce the Cisco Custom Image for ESXi 6.7 U1 GA Install CD ISO.

2.     Download the following driver images and extract the listed .zip file:

-      VMware ESXi 6.7 nfnic 4.0.0.24 FC Driver for Cisco nfnic - VMW-ESX-6.7.0-nfnic-4.0.0.24-offline_bundle-12271979

-      VMware ESXi 6.7 nenic 1.0.27.0 NIC Driver for Cisco nenic - VMW-ESX-6.7.0-nenic-1.0.27.0-offline_bundle-11271332

-      NetApp NFS Plug-in for VMware VAAI 1.1.2 – NetAppNasPlugin.v23.zip

3.     Connect to the VMware vCenter Web Client and login as an Administrator@vsphere.local.

4.     From the Home view, select System Configuration.

5.     In the Navigator pane, select Services. Under Services, select ImageBuilder Service.

6.     In the center pane, to the right of ImageBuilder Service, select Actions > Edit Startup Type.

7.     Select Automatic to start the service with vCenter starts and click OK.

8.     Select Actions > Start to start the ImageBuilder Service.

9.     Log out and log back into the VMware vCenter Web Client.

10.  From the Home view, select Auto Deploy.

11.  Select the Software Depots tab.

12.  Click the  icon to upload a software depot.

13.  Name the depot ESXi-6.7U1-Cisco-Custom. Click Browse and browse to the VMware_ESXi_6.7.0_10302608_Custom_Cisco_6.7.1.1_Bundle.zip file. Click Open.

14.  Click Upload to upload the software depot. Click Close when the upload is complete.

15.  Repeat steps 12-14 to add software depots for nfnic-4.0.0.24, nenic-1.0.27.0, and NetAppNasPlugin-v23.

16.  Click to add a custom software depot.

17.  Select Custom depot and name the custom depot FlexPod-ESXi-6.7U1.

18.  Click OK to add the custom software depot.

19.  Select the ESXi-6.7U1-Cisco-Custom software depot. To the right, select Image Profiles and then select the VMware-ESXi-6.7.0-10302608-Custom-Cisco-6.7.1.1 image profile. Click  to clone the image profile.

20.  Name the clone FlexPod-ESXi-6.7U1. For Vendor, enter Cisco-NetApp. For Description, enter “Cisco Custom ISO for ESXi 6.7U1 GA with nfnic-4.0.0.24, nenic-1.0.27.0, and NetAppNasPlugin-v23”. Select FlexPod-ESXi-6.7U1 for Software depot.

21.  Click Next.

22.  Under Available software packages, check NetAppNasPlugin 1.1.2-3, uncheck nenic 1.0.25.0, check nenic 1.0.27.0, uncheck nfnic 4.0.0.14, and check nfnic 4.0.0.24.  Leave the remaining selections unchanged.

23.  Click Next.

24.  Click Finish.

25.  Select the FlexPod-ESXi-6.7U1 custom software depot. On the right, select Image Profiles and select the FlexPod-ESXi-6.7U1 image profile. Click to export an image profile. ISO should be selected. Click Generate image to generate a bootable ESXi installable image.

26.  Once “Image generated successfully” appears, click Download image to download the ISO.

27.  Optionally, generate the ZIP archive to generate an offline bundle for the FlexPod image.

FlexPod Backups

Cisco UCS Backup

Automated backup of the UCS domain is important for recovery of the UCS Domain from issues ranging catastrophic failure to human error.  There is a native backup solution within Cisco UCS that allows local or remote backup using FTP/TFTP/SCP/SFTP as options.

Backups created can be a binary file containing the Full State, which can be used for a restore to the original or a replacement pair of fabric interconnects.  Alternately this XML configuration file consisting of All configurations, just System configurations, or just Logical configurations of the UCS Domain.  For scheduled backups, options will be Full State or All Configuration, backup of just the System or Logical configurations can be manually initiated.

Specification of the backup can be done by following these steps within the Cisco UCS Manager GUI:

1.     Select Admin within the Navigation pane and select All.

2.     Click the Policy Backup & Export tab within All.

3.     For a Full State Backup, All Configuration Backup, or both, specify the following:

a.     Hostname : <IP or FQDN of host that will receive the backup>

b.     Protocol: [FTP/TFTP/SCP/SFTP]

c.     User: <account on host to authenticate>

d.     Password: <password for account on host>

e.     Remote File: <full path and filename prefix for backup file>

f.      Admin State: <select Enable to activate the schedule on save, Disable to disable schedule on Save>

g.     Schedule: [Daily/Weekly/Bi Weekly]

 

4.     Click Save Changes to create the Policy.

Cisco Nexus and MDS Backups

The configuration of the Cisco Nexus 9000 and Cisco MDS 9132T switches can be backed up manually at any time with the copy command, but automated backups can be put in place with the NX-OS feature scheduler.  An example of setting up automated configuration backups of one of the FlexPod 9336C-FX2 switches is shown below:

Show the job that has been setup:

 

The documentation for the feature scheduler can be found here: http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/switches/datacenter/nexus9000/sw/7-x/system_management/configuration/guide/b_Cisco_Nexus_9000_Series_NX-OS_System_Management_Configuration_Guide_7x/b_Cisco_Nexus_9000_Series_NX-OS_System_Management_Configuration_Guide_7x_chapter_01010.html

VMware VCSA Backup

Basic backup of the vCenter Server Appliance is also available within the native capabilities of the VCSA, though within the default solution this is manually initiated provide a scheduled solution.  To create a backup, follow these steps:

1.     Connect to the VCSA Console at https://<VCSA IP>:5480.

 

2.     Click Backup in the list  to open up the Backup Appliance Dialogue.

3.     To the right of Backup Schedule, click CONFIGURE.

4.     Specify:

a.     The Backup location with the protocol to use [HTTPS/HTTP/SCP/FTPS/FTP]

b.     The User name and password.

c.     The Number of backups to retain.

 

5.     Click Create.

6.     The Backup Schedule should now show a Status of Enabled.

7.     Restoration can be initiated with the backed-up files using the Restore function of the VCSA 6.7 Installer.

John George, Technical Marketing Engineer, Data Center Solutions Engineering, Cisco Systems, Inc.

John has been involved in designing, developing, validating, and supporting the FlexPod Converged Infrastructure since it was developed over eight years ago. Before his roles with FlexPod, he supported and administered a large worldwide training network and VPN infrastructure. John holds a Master's degree in Computer Engineering from Clemson University.

Scott Kovacs, Technical Marketing Engineer, Infrastructure and Cloud Engineering, NetApp

Scott is a Technical Marketing Engineer in the Converged Infrastructure Engineering team at NetApp. He has been with NetApp since 2007, serving in a variety of Technical Support, Professional Services and engineering roles. Scott has over 20 years of experience in the IT industry specializing in data management, Fibre Channel networking, and security.

Acknowledgements

For their support and contribution to the design, validation, and creation of this Cisco Validated Design, the authors would like to thank:

·       Haseeb Niazi, Technical Marketing Engineer, Cisco Systems, Inc.

·       Ramesh Isaac, Technical Marketing Engineer, Cisco Systems, Inc.

·       Atul Bhalodia, Sr. Technical Marketing Engineer, NetApp

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