Reference Guide
Table Of Contents
- Dell EMC HCI Solutions for Microsoft Windows Server: Managing and Monitoring the Solution Infrastructure Life Cycle Operations Guide
- Introduction
- Day 0 Operations
- Introduction
- Azure onboarding for Azure Stack HCI OS
- Licensing for Azure Stack HCI for Windows Server 2016 and 2019
- Creating virtual disks
- Managing and Monitoring Azure Stack HCI Cluster using Windows Admin Center
- Installing Windows Admin Center
- Adding the HCI cluster connection
- Accessing the HCI cluster
- Viewing server details
- Viewing drive details
- Managing and monitoring volumes
- Enabling data deduplication on Storage Spaces Direct
- Monitoring and managing VMs
- Managing virtual switches
- Dell EMC OpenManage Integration with Windows Admin Center
- Firmware updates using Dell EMC OpenManage Integration for Microsoft System Center for System Center Virtual Machine Manager
- Firmware and driver updates using the manual method
- Expanding the Azure Stack HCI cluster
- Extending volumes
- Performing AX node recovery
- Operating system recovery
Within a few minutes, the newly added disks are claimed in the existing pool and Storage Spaces Direct starts the rebalance job.
Run the following command to verify that the new disks are a part of the existing pool:
PS C:\> Get-StorageSubSystem -FriendlyName *Cluster* | Get-StorageHealthReport
CPUUsageAverage : 2.66 %
CapacityPhysicalPooledAvailable : 8.01 TB
CapacityPhysicalPooledTotal : 69.86 TB
CapacityPhysicalTotal : 69.86 TB
CapacityPhysicalUnpooled : 0 B
CapacityVolumesAvailable : 15.09 TB
CapacityVolumesTotal : 16.88 TB
IOLatencyAverage : 908.13 us
IOLatencyRead : 0 ns
IOLatencyWrite : 908.13 us
IOPSRead : 0 /S
IOPSTotal : 1 /S
IOPSWrite : 1 /S
IOThroughputRead : 0 B/S
IOThroughputTotal : 11.98 KB/S
IOThroughputWrite : 11.98 KB/S
MemoryAvailable : 472.87 GB
MemoryTotal : 768 GB
After all available disks are claimed in the storage pool, the CapacityPhysicalUnpooled is 0 B.
The storage rebalance job might take a few minutes. You can monitor the process by using the Get-StorageJob cmdlet.
Extending volumes
You can resize volumes that are created in Spaces Direct storage pools by using the Resize-VirtualDisk cmdlet. For more
information, see https://technet.microsoft.com/windows-server-docs/storage/storage-spaces/resize-volumes.
Performing AX node recovery
If a cluster node fails, perform node operating system recovery in a systematic manner to ensure that the node is brought up
with the configuration that is consistent with other cluster nodes.
The following sections provide details about operating system recovery and post-recovery configuration that is required to bring
the node into an existing Azure Stack HCI cluster.
NOTE: To perform node recovery, ensure that the operating system is reinstalled.
Configuring RAID for operating system drives
Prerequisites
The Dell EMC PowerEdge servers offer the Boot Optimized Storage Solution (BOSS) controller as an efficient and economical
way to separate the operating system and data on the internal storage of the server. The BOSS solution in the latest generation
of PowerEdge servers uses one or two BOSS M.2 SATA devices to provide RAID 1 capability for the operating system drive.
NOTE:
All Dell EMC Solutions for Azure Stack HCI are configured with hardware RAID 1 for the operating system drives
on BOSS M.2 SATA SSD devices. The steps in this section are required only when recovering a failed cluster node. Before
creating a new RAID, the existing or failed RAID must be deleted.
About this task
This procedure describes the process of creating operating system volumes.
Steps
1. Log in to the iDRAC web interface.
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Day 0 Operations