Build VxRail 4.7

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Home > VMWare platform > VxRail > Build VxRail 4.7

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:



Enabling IPv6 and IGMP snooping

VxRail requires VLAN 3939 for nodes to discover each other. Ideally on this VLAN we should enable igmp snooping and IPv6. The same can be done for a few switch makes as follows:

Dell switch

config t
    ip igmp snooping enable
    ipv6 mld snooping enable
    exit
show ipv6 mld snooping interface vlan 3939


Aruba or HP switch

config t
   vlan 3939
     ip igmp
     ipv6 enable
     ipv6 mld enable
     ip igmp snooping enable
     exit
show ip igmp snooping vlan 3939

Refer:


Cisco switch

Below steps not tested on any Cisco switch so far 

config t
   ip igmp snooping
   vlan 3939
       ip igmp snooping

On old Cisco switch VLANs might be restricted to 1024 only. If it is acceptable to environment shift to VTP version 3 and try. If it still does not works change vtp mode to transparent. In transparent mode the switch wont participate in VTP, neither as client and nor as server. 

config t
   vtp version 3
   vlan 3939
      name vxrail
      no shut 
      exit

   #if above gives error then 
   vtp mode transparent
   vlan 3939
      name vxrail
      no shut
      end
show vlan brief

Refer:


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