Build VxRail 4.7

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VxRail initialization steps

To initialize or build a VxRail cluster use:

1. In Linux use chrome to open wizard at https://192.168.10.200 and do the following

   192.168.10.200 is the fixed IP for web interface for building VxRail in new VxRail nodes.

2. DNS should resolve all the FQDN mentioned to the IPs mentioned.
3. The 4G interfaces of below nodes should already be in trunk with mentioned VLANs eg 0 (Untagged - Could be physical VLAN 10), 11 (vSAN), 12 (vMotion), 13 (Server VMs), etc.

   Must allow VLAN 3939 between hosts for VxRail node disovery

4. Let 4 nodes get detected and then proceed
5. Choose option for step-by-step deployment
6. Initial setup parameters are (Many values below are for example):

   • System
     • Globals

       NTP servers

       *Leave blank intentionally, even if you have one*

       NIC profile

       4x10GbE

     • Networks - Top Level Domain

       Domain

       <example.com>

   • ESXi Hosts
     • Host names

       Prefix - esxi

       Separator - None

       Iterator - 0X

       Example - esxi01.example.com

   • Host IP address

     Starting IP address

     10.100.10.21

     Ending IP address - 10.100.10.50

   • vCenter Server

     vCenter Server Hostname

     vcenter

     vCenter Server IP address

     10.100.10.10

   • Platform Services Controller

     PSC Hostname ; psc

     PSC IP address

     10.100.10.11

     PSC Site Name - EXAMPLE

   • VxRail manager

     VxRail manager hostname

     vxrail

     VxRail manager IP address

     10.100.10.12

   • Networking

     Subnet mask

     255.255.255.0

     Gateway

     10.100.10.1

     Management network VLAN ID

     0

     DNS - 10.100.1.2

   • vSphere vMotion

     Start IP address

     10.100.12.21

     End IP address

     10.100.12.50

     Netmask

     255.255.255.0

     VLAN ID - 12

   • vSAN

     Start IP address

     10.100.11.21

     End IP address

     10.100.11.50

     Netmask

     255.255.255.0

     VLAN ID

     11

   • VM Networks

     Name

     Server VMs - VLAN ID:13

   • Solutions
     • Logging

       Select logging

       vRealize log insight

       Hostname

       vrli

       IP address

       10.100.10.13

   • Virtual appliance accounts

     vCenter Server management account username

     administrator

     vCenter Server management password

     <password1>

     VxRail service account username

     mystic

     VxRail service account password

     <password2>

     ESXi root password

     <password3>

     ESXi Management username

     administrator

     ESXi Management password

     <password4>

7. Validate
8. Download JSON
9. Configure laptop with main IP such that it can reach 10.100.0.0/16 networks which are mentioned in VxRail build configuration. Add additional IP in 192.168.10.0/24 to reach 192.168.10.200
10. Ping 192.168.10.200
11. Ping vxrail.example.com (It should resolve IP and not ping)
12. Build VxRail
13. https://<vxrail-ip>/data/configuration/log will have the logs. They might have some information in case build fails.

Refer:

• Dell VxRail appliance administration guide

Troubleshooting

Password complexity

This is absolutely critical as it leads to considerable time waste in again Factory reset of all nodes and is also not obvious / easy to troubleshoot

If password complexity is not correct then VxRail accepts passwords during Wizards and then fails during build process with errors such as:

An internal error occurred.  Failed to add exception accounts for hosts

Failed to create vCenter management account vcentermgmt.  Please pick a password that is in compliance with vCenter password policy and try again.

For proper password complexity rules Refer https://www.dell.com/support/kbdoc/en-us/000158231/vxrail-account-and-password-rules-in-vxrail

NTP related build failures

First build failed at step 16/75 with error "Peforming vCenter Server first boot configuration". As per https://www.dell.com/community/VxRail/E560F-VXRAIL-Installation-Step-17-Fail/td-p/7176001 tried to rebuild without giving any ntp address

Default ESXi root credentials for new VxRail nodes

Default account for VxRail ESXi root account

Default ESXi account

root:Passw0rd!

Refer:

• https://www.dell.com/support/article/in/en/inbsd1/qna44193/dell-vsan-ready-node-what-is-the-default-vmware-esxi-root-password-for-14g-servers?lang=en

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