VxRAIL – 4.7 Install Notes

Note: this is an example for reference only please use the VxRail installation procedures provided by Dell EMC.

Prerequisites for installation include:

• • Create all relevant ESXi, VC and VxRAIL manager DNS entries on AD/DNS server.
  • Verify the customer DNS server can resolve all VxRail ESXi hostnames prior to deployment using nslookup.
  • Verify NTP is working correctly, the following are some useful links: https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/1035833                https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/1003736
  • Ensure date is in sync:
    • ESXi set date and time:
      • esxcli system time set -d 19 -H 12 -m 30 -M 04 -y 2018
    • vCSA & PSC/VxRail Manager – view & set date and time:
      • # date
      • # date -s “19 APR 2018 12:30:00”
  • Check if VxRail Manager VM is running (needs to run on the first host in cluster):
    • esxcli vm process list
  • On the first host of the cluster set the VxRail Manager VM IP via IDRAC/DCUI (vxrail-idrac-esxi-shell-access-via-dcui):
    • • vxrail-primary --setup --vxrail-address 192.1.20.50 --vxrail-netmask 255.255.255.0 --vxrail-gateway 192.1.20.1 --no-roll-back --verbose
  • Enter the console (ALT+F1) and change the VLAN ID for the “VM Network” as per PEQ. e.g (VLAN 120):
    • esxcli network vswitch standard portgroup list
    • esxcli network vswitch standard portgroup set -p “VM Network” -v 120
  • Restart loudmouth on each ESXi host: /etc/init.d/loudmouth restart
  • Power cycle the VxRail Manager VM:

    • vim-cmd vmsvc/getallvms

    • vim-cmd vmsvc/power.shutdown vmid

    • vim-cmd vmsvc/power.getstate vmid

    • vim-cmd vmsvc/power.on vmid

    • vim-cmd vmsvc/power.getstate vmid

  • Check VxRail Manager can discover hosts, login to the VxRail Manager via SSH and run the following commands:
    • psql -U postgres marvin -c "select applianceid,primaryip from vxrailhost"
    • /usr/lib/vmware-loudmouth/bin/loudmouthc query | grep -o "applianceID=..............." | sort

• Ensure your switch ports are configured identically for all VxRail port connections.
• Ensure each port has the required VLANs configured and trunked to all ports. In this example ESXi mgmt 120, vMotion 122, vSAN 123 and default Private Mgmt Network 3939.
• In a dual switch configuration ensure that the VLANs are configured on the ISL/VPC peer link.
•  Sample DELL s4048 VLAN port config:

!
interface Vlan 120
ip address 192.1.20.1/24
tagged TenGigabitEthernet 1/1-1/32
no shutdown
!
interface Vlan 122
ip address 192.1.22.1/24
tagged TenGigabitEthernet 1/1-1/32
no shutdown
!
interface Vlan 123
ip address 192.1.23.1/24
tagged TenGigabitEthernet 1/1-1/32
no shutdown
!
interface Vlan 3939
no ip address
tagged TenGigabitEthernet 1/1-1/32
no shutdown
!

The following are the pre-validation steps that VxRail Manager performs:

• Validating the compatibility of Witness, Management, vSAN, and vSphere vMotion port groups.
• Checking host is a witness node and validating its version.
• Validating the compatibility of Management, vSAN, and vSphere vMotion port groups.
• Checking each host has minimal number of NICs.
• Checking VLAN configuration for Management, vSAN, vSphere vMotion, and VM networks.
• Checking NIC configuration and link speed.
• Verifying host network configurations.
• Checking model numbers to verify proper support.
• Verifying the discovered hosts are as expected.
• Checking NTP server availability.
• Validating time configurations of VxRail Manager, ESXi nodes, and vCenter Server.
• Validating external DNS server host name records.
• Validating DNS server configuration.
• Performing VxRail Manager service account creation dry-run.
• Performing VxRail Manager account creation dry-run.
• Performing host accounts creation dry-run.
• Checking compatibility of ESXi disk group types.
• Searching for presence of requested VMware solutions.
• Verifying disk slot configuration.
• Searching for presence of requested partner solutions.
• Validating ESXi host version compatibility.
• Scanning network for IP usage.

Configure VxRail (Step-By-Step)

Browse to the VxRail Manager IP address which in this example is https://192.1.20.50, VxRail Welcome screen is displayed, click on ‘Get Started’ and accept the EULA:

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Monitor VxRail marvin.log:

cd /var/log/vmware/marvin/tomcat/logs

# cat marvin.log

# tail -f marvin.log

# tail -f marvin.log | grep ERROR

# tail -n 100 marvin.log

# more marvin.log