Dell EMC XC640 XC Series Appliance and XC Core System Solutions Guide
Notes, cautions, and warnings NOTE: A NOTE indicates important information that helps you make better use of your product. CAUTION: A CAUTION indicates either potential damage to hardware or loss of data and tells you how to avoid the problem. WARNING: A WARNING indicates a potential for property damage, personal injury, or death. © 2017 - 2019 Dell Inc. or its subsidiaries. All rights reserved. Dell, EMC, and other trademarks are trademarks of Dell Inc. or its subsidiaries.
Contents 1 About Dell EMC XC640 Series Appliances and XC Core System Solutions..................................................... 4 2 Documentation references.............................................................................................................................5 3 License management..................................................................................................................................... 6 Setting up Nutanix Customer Portal...................................
1 About Dell EMC XC640 Series Appliances and XC Core System Solutions NOTE: The information in this document applies to both Dell EMC XC640 Series Appliances, and Dell EMC XC Core System offering. Sections or information that apply to only one of the offerings (XC Series or XC Core) will be called out explicitly.
2 Documentation references Table 1 provides the reference document link on the Dell support site for Nutanix solution software documentation, Dell EMC documentation, and supported hardware, firmware, and software. Table 1. Documentation references Information Link Nutanix solution software documentation Dell EMC documentation See the Dell EMC XC640 Series Hyper-Converged Appliances Support Matrix available at Dell.
3 License management NOTE: This chapter does not apply to XC Core appliances. The Nutanix virtual computing platform consists of various features that enable you to administer your environment according to your current and future requirements. Licensed features on the XC Series appliances can be upgraded to an enhanced feature set, which is updated for a longer term, or reassigned to nodes or clusters as permitted by the licensing terms provided in the Dell EMC Nutanix EULA. There are two types of licenses.
Managing the license Perform the following steps to manage your licenses: 1 In Nutanix Documentation portal, open the Web Console Guide, and then see the License Management section. For more information about accessing Web Console Guide, see the Documentation Matrix section in the Dell EMC XC640 Series Hyper-Converged Appliances Support Matrix available at Dell.com/XCSeriesmanuals. 2 Perform the relevant licensing tasks for your appliance.
4 Deploying an appliance Before you begin Before you deploy XC Series Appliance and XC Core System, ensure that you read through this document and familiarize yourself with the process and required materials. WARNING: Before you set up and operate your appliance, review the safety instructions that shipped with your storage enclosure. WARNING: The weight of your appliance with all the physical disk drives installed (full weight) is 35-70 lbs.
Setting up your appliance for first use Make sure that your appliance components are properly installed. Your appliance is shipped with physical disk drives, power supply units (PSUs), and fan components. Ensure that all components are properly seated and are not dislodged or damaged during shipping. 1 Install the appliance in a rail. The appliance requires a compatible rack and a rack installation kit.
Nutanix first boot scripts Use the Nutanix first boot script information that applies to your appliance and associated hypervisor. First time boot scripts for Nutanix AOS Nutanix AOS is preinstalled from the Dell factory on each appliance. As Nutanix AOS is preconfigured, it does not require first time configuration. The XC Series Appliance and the XC Core System, boot to the hypervisor and are ready to be clustered after the CVM has all the services up and running.
• Using Nutanix Foundation from all locally discovered appliances that are ready to be clustered • Creating a cluster manually by using command line interface During this process, you can set the following parameters: • Cluster maximum Redundancy Factory (RF) • Cluster name • Cluster virtual IP (optional for AHV and vSphere) • Subnet mask and default gateway (iDRAC, hypervisor, and CVM) • Domain Name Servers (DNS) • Network Time Protocol (NTP) servers (hypervisor NTP N/A for Hyper-V) • Hype
Table 2.
5 Downloading and installing software applications OpenManage Essentials is a hardware management application that provides a comprehensive view of the appliance and its components.
Dell Nautilus Dell Nautilus is a general maintenance release utility for updating firmware for SAS and SATA drives (or disks). NOTE: For information about the supported Dell Nautilus version number, see Dell EMC XC640 Series Hyper-Converged Appliances Support Matrix available at Dell.com/XCSeriesmanuals. Perform the following steps to download the Dell Nautilus Firmware Update Utility for SAS and SATA disk Solid State Drives (SSDs): 1 Go to Dell.com/support.
6 Monitoring XC Series Appliances and XC Core Systems You can monitor an appliance by using any of the following: • iDRAC • OpenManage Essentials • Nutanix Prism • Nutanix web console The following table lists the components and monitor utility: Table 3.
For more information, see the Discovering and inventorying devices section. 3 To use the functionality of OMSA preinstalled on each appliance, configure it by using the OpenManage Essentials User's Guide. 4 To add an appliance to the discovered list of appliancess, discover the appliance by using an IP range. Monitoring an appliance by using Nutanix Web Console To monitor the health of a cluster, VMs, performance, and alerts and events, the Nutanix Web Console provides a range of status-check features.
7 Updating firmware You can update the firmware of an appliance by using any of the following: • Integrated Dell Remote Access Controller (iDRAC) • Dell Update Packages (DUPs) • Nutanix Life Cycle Manager (LCM) • Nutanix web console The following table lists the components and utility: Table 4.
8 Replacing hardware This section describes high-level tasks to replace the components within the appliance. To perform the hardware replacement tasks, you have to download the below documents from Dell.com/XCSeriesmanuals: • Nutanix Hardware Replacement Documentation NOTE: For more information about downloading the Nutanix Hardware Replacement Documentation, see the Documentation matrix section in the Dell EMC XC640 Series Hyper-Converged Appliance Support Matrix available at Dell.com/XCSeriesmanuals.
NOTE: For more information about accessing Nutanix Hardware Replacement Guide, see the Documentation Matrix section in the Dell EMC XC640 Series Hyper-Converged Appliances Support Matrix available at Dell.com/ XCSeriesmanuals. Replacing failed front hard drive and SSD components that contain cluster data Perform the following steps to replace the failed front hard drive and SSDs that contain cluster data: 1 Identify the failed hard drive or SSD.
9 Recovering an appliance Dell EMC provides an option to recover the appliance in the event of an appliance failure or a cluster node failure. For more information about recovering an appliance, contact Dell EMC support.
10 Getting help Topics: • Contacting Dell EMC • Dell EMC SupportAssist • Locating Service Tag • Quick Resource Locator Contacting Dell EMC NOTE: If you do not have an active internet connection, you can find contact information on your purchase invoice, packing slip, bill, or Dell EMC product catalog. Dell EMC provides several online and telephone-based support and service options. Availability varies by country and product, and some services may not be available in your area.
Figure 5. Locating Service Tag of your appliance 1 information tag (top view) 2 information tag (back view) 3 OpenManage Mobile (OMM) label 4 iDRAC MAC address and iDRAC secure password label 5 Service Tag Quick Resource Locator Use the Quick Resource Locator (QRL) to get immediate access to appliance information and how-to videos. This can be done by visiting Dell.com/QRL or by using your smartphone or tablet and a model-specific Quick Resource (QR) code located on your Dell EMC appliance.
A Bare metal recovery To maintain a fast and efficient bare metal recovery option, Dell EMC recommends using the Rapid Appliance Self-Recovery (RASR) tool. WARNING: When you create a RASR USB disk, all the data saved on the USB disk is deleted. WARNING: When you perform a Factory Restore on your appliance with the RASR USB backup disk, all the data saved on the appliance is deleted.
