Deployment Guide
Table Of Contents
- Dell EMC HCI Solutions for Microsoft Windows Server Deployment Guide
- Introduction
- Solution Overview
- Solution Deployment
- Introduction to solution deployment
- Deployment prerequisites
- Predeployment configuration
- Operating system deployment
- Installing roles and features
- Verifying firmware and software compliance with the support matrix
- Updating out-of-box drivers
- Changing the hostname
- Configuring host networking
- Joining cluster nodes to an Active Directory domain
- Deploying and configuring a host cluster
- Best practices and recommendations
- Recommended next steps
- Deployment services
- References
- Appendix A: Persistent Memory for Azure Stack HCI
NOTE: The command output that is shown in the subsequent sections might show only Mellanox ConnectX-4 LX adapters
as physical adapters. The output is shown only as an example.
NOTE: For the PowerShell commands in this section and subsequent sections that require a network adapter name, run
the Get-NetAdapter cmdlet to retrieve the correct value for the associated physical network port. The network adapter
names that are used in the commands are shown only as examples; they might not represent the correct naming convention
for the adapters in your system.
Manual operating system deployment
Dell Lifecycle Controller and iDRAC provide options for operating system deployment. Options include manual installation or
unattended installation by using virtual media and the operating system deployment feature in Lifecycle Controller for Windows
Server 2016, Windows Server 2019, and the Azure Stack HCI operating system..
The step-by-step procedure for deploying the operating system is not within the scope of this guide.
The remainder of this guide assumes that:
● Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2019, or the Azure Stack HCI operating system installation on the physical server is
complete.
● You have access to the iDRAC virtual console of the physical server.
NOTE: For information about installing the operating system using the iDRAC virtual media feature, see the "Using the
Virtual Media function on iDRAC 6, 7, 8 and 9" Knowledge Base article.
NOTE: The Azure Stack HCI operating system is based on Server Core and does not have the full user interface. For more
information about using the Server Configuration tool (Sconfig), see Deploy the Azure Stack HCI operating system.
Factory-installed operating system deployment
If the cluster nodes are shipped from Dell Technologies with a preinstalled operating system, complete the out-of-box
experience (OOBE):
● Select language and locale settings.
● Accept the Microsoft and OEM EULAs.
● Set up a password for the local administrator account.
● Update the operating system partition size, and shrink it as needed.
The OEM operating system is preactivated, and the Hyper-V role is predeployed. After completing the OOBE steps, perform the
steps in Installing roles and features to complete the cluster deployment and Storage Spaces Direct configuration.
Installing roles and features
Deployment and configuration of a Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2019, or Azure Stack HCI operating system cluster
requires enabling specific operating system roles and features.
Enable these roles and features:
● Hyper-V service (not required if the operating system is factory-installed)
● Failover clustering
● Data center bridging (DCB) (required only when implementing fully converged network topology with RoCE and when
implementing DCB for the fully converged topology with iWARP)
● BitLocker (optional)
● File Server (optional)
● FS-Data-Deduplication module (optional)
● RSAT-AD-PowerShell module (optional)
Enable these features by running the Install-WindowsFeature PowerShell cmdlet:
Install-WindowsFeature -Name Hyper-V, Failover-Clustering, Data-Center-Bridging, BitLocker,
FS-FileServer, RSAT-Clustering-PowerShell, FS-Data-Deduplication -IncludeAllSubFeature -
IncludeManagementTools -verbose
Solution Deployment
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