Deployment Guide
Table Of Contents
- Microsoft HCI Solutions from Dell Technologies Deployment Guide
- Contents
- 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 Windows Server HCI
Table 2. Management services
Management service Purpose Required/optional
Active Directory User authentication Required
Domain Name System Name resolution Required
Windows Software Update Service
(WSUS)
Local source for Windows updates Optional
SQL Server Database back-end for System Center
VMM and System Center Operations
Manager (SCOM)
Optional
Predeployment configuration
Before deploying AX nodes, complete the required predeployment configuration tasks.
Complete the following predeployment configuration before deploying the Azure Stack HCI solution.
NOTE: If the cluster has persistent memory devices, preoperating-system deployment configuration as well as
postoperating-system deployment configuration is required. For more information, see Appendix: Persistent Memory for
Azure Stack HCI.
Configuring network switches
Based on the selected network topology, configure the ToR network switches to enable storage and VM/management traffic.
NOTE:
The switchless storage networking deployment model requires configuration of switches that are deployed for host
management and OOB traffic only. Storage traffic uses full-mesh connectivity between the nodes.
NOTE: Management network redundancy is a combination of either iDRAC or operating system DNS/IP resolution. Dell
Technologies recommends that you deploy a network topology that supports a dual control plane while sharing a single data
plane. Virtual Link Trunking (VLT) is Dell Technologies proprietary technology that provides network resiliency for data I/O.
Configuring switch VLT redundancy with Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol (VRRP) provides a virtual floating IP address
that any node can reference as a gateway. If a switch fails, the virtual IP address is transferred to a peer switch. VRRP is an
active/standby first-hop redundancy protocol (FHRP). When used with VLT peers, VRRP becomes an active/active protocol.
The VRRP virtual MAC address is the local destination address in the forwarding information base (FIB) table of both the VLT
peers. Using this method, the backup VRRP router forwards intercepted frames whose destination MAC address matches the
VRRP virtual MAC address.
A standard Storage Spaces Direct deployment requires three basic types of networks—OOB management, host management,
and storage. The number of network ports (two or four) that are used within the storage configuration determines whether you
have two or four fault domains.
For sample switch configurations, see Sample Network Switch Configuration Files.
For configuration choices and instructions about different network topologies and host network configuration, see Network
Integration and Host Network Configuration Options.
Configuring iDRAC and BIOS
The AX nodes are factory-configured with optimized system BIOS and iDRAC settings. This preconfiguration eliminates the need
for you to manually configure the settings to a recommended baseline.
The iDRAC in AX nodes can be configured to obtain an IP address from DHCP or can be assigned a static IP address. When the
OOB network in the environment does not provide DHCP IP addresses, you must manually set a static IPv4 address on each
iDRAC network interface. You can access the physical server console to set the addresses by using KVM or other means.
Solution Deployment
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