HP CloudSystem Matrix How-To Guide: ESXi Cluster Provisioning

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Technical white paper

HP CloudSystem Matrix

How-To Guide:

ESXi Cluster Provisioning

Contents

Introduction ..................................................................................................................................................... 2

Prerequisites .................................................................................................................................................... 3

Suggested configuration .................................................................................................................................... 3

Virtual Connect configurations ...................................................................................................................... 3

Matrix OE infrastructure operation network configuration ................................................................................. 4

Setting up the environment................................................................................................................................. 6

Step 1: Install vSphere PowerCLI on the CMS ................................................................................................. 6

Step 2: Configure Auto Deploy ..................................................................................................................... 6

Step 3: Configure Operations Orchestration properties .................................................................................... 7

Step 4: Register vCenter with Matrix ............................................................................................................ 10

Step 5: Register Auto Deploy as a provisioning source for the CMS ................................................................. 10

Step 6: Configure the Auto Deploy deployment network in IO ......................................................................... 11

Step 7: Enter CMS Administrator credentials in Windows service RSJRAS ......................................................... 12

Creating the ESXi cluster provisioning template ................................................................................................... 13

Step 1: In template designer, move components to the working area ............................................................... 13

Step 2: Edit the server configuration ............................................................................................................ 14

Step 3: Attach OO workflows ..................................................................................................................... 14

Step 4: Configure the networks ................................................................................................................... 17

Step 5: Select the ESXi software .................................................................................................................. 18

Step 6: Configure the physical storage ........................................................................................................ 19

Provisioning the cluster .................................................................................................................................... 20

Step 1: Make sure that the necessary server and storage resources are

available .............................................. 20

Step 2: Create an IO service based on the template ...................................................................................... 21

Step 3: Verify the configuration of the provisioned cluster ............................................................................... 22

Step 4: Provision a virtual service on the cluster............................................................................................. 26

Step 5: Perform IO life-cycle operations on a cluster ...................................................................................... 26

Troubleshooting ............................................................................................................................................. 28

Appendix 1: Obtaining a depot for Auto Deploy ................................................................................................ 32

Appendix 2: OO system properties, system accounts, and

flows ........................................................................... 33

System property descriptions ...................................................................................................................... 33

System accounts ....................................................................................................................................... 33

OO flow descriptions ................................................................................................................................ 33

Customizing the OO flows ......................................................................................................................... 34

Customizing the VMware host profile........................................................................................................... 34

Appendix 3: Validating the Auto Deploy installation ........................................................................................... 35

Appendix 4: Configuring storage in Matrix ........................................................................................................ 36

Predefined single-volume storage pool entries ............................................................................................... 36

Predefined multivolume storage pool entries .................................................................................................. 36

Predefined SPM-managed static storage pool entries ...................................................................................... 37

SPM-managed autocarved storage pool entries (HP Matrix Operating

Environment 7.1 and later) ....................... 37

For more information ...................................................................................................................................... 38

Summary of content (38 pages)

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Technical white paper HP CloudSystem Matrix How-To Guide: ESXi Cluster Provisioning Contents Introduction ..................................................................................................................................................... 2 Prerequisites .................................................................................................................................................... 3 Suggested configuration ................................................................
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Introduction This document describes how to provision a VMware 5.0 ESXi cluster using the infrastructure orchestration (IO) capabilities of the HP Matrix Operating Environment 7.0. By using an infrastructure orchestration template, you can quickly and easily deploy ESXi hosts. This new feature provides the following: The ability to define an ESXi cluster configuration solution in terms of networking, servers, and storage in the form of a Matrix OE template.
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Auto Deploy/VMware console network  An Auto Deploy provisioning and vSphere management network that connects vSphere, Auto Deploy, and target blade servers The Matrix OE infrastructure orchestration software communicates with the vSphere server to define the cluster, add the ESXi hosts to the vSphere configuration and new cluster, and set the properties of the servers in VMware to match those specified in its template.
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The Virtual Connect Flex-10 Ethernet modules are configured as in the Virtual Connect FlexFabric Cookbook (http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c02616817/c02616817.pdf) but without the second interconnect for an active-active configuration. A shared uplink set, which is presented to the server as separate networks, is defined to carry deployment/management (ESX console) and ESX vMotion traffic.
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b. Click Save. Select the IO network and click Edit Network. a. Specify the network address/netmask, usable IP address space, DNS, and any other optional values. b. Enter the VLAN ID (2000, 2042, 2309, 2740, or 2936). c. Click the Trunk tab. d. Select the Trunk network (indicating that the Trunk network carries this network). e. Click Save.
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aggregate those networks onto a multinetwork port in favor of using any VLAN tunnel trunk that carries the same networks. NOTE: Creating both a Virtual Connect network and a Virtual Connect VLAN trunk that carries the same network will result in network connectivity issues unless the configuration is manually, and carefully, configured as a failover configuration. Setting up the environment This section describes the necessary environment for provisioning a cluster.
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 After the Auto Deploy server has been installed, confirm that it can be connected from the CMS. a. Launch the PowerCLI interface by clicking Start -> All Programs -> VMware -> VMware vSphere PowerCLI. b. Connect to the vCenter server by using the following command: Connect-VIServer -Server -User -Password You can ignore the following certificate warnings.
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2. Set the following values: a. Open Configuration -> System Accounts: o o vCenterCredentials: The credentials to access the vCenter being used with Auto Deploy  User name:  Password: VMhostCredentials: System accounts; credentials to be set by IO for the ESX hosts.  User name: root  Password: Note that VMware passwords must conform to a certain level of complexity. The rules are documented at: http://pubs.vmware.com/vsp40/wwhelp/wwhimpl/js/html/wwhelp.
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b. Open Configuration -> System Properties: o DepotURL: This is the pathname of the location where the depot is stored on the CMS. For more information, see Appendix 1 (Obtaining a depot for Auto Deploy).
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Step 4: Register vCenter with Matrix As with previous Matrix OE releases, the vCenter server that manages the environment must be registered with the Matrix OE software. For instructions, see the HP Matrix Operating Environment 7.0 Infrastructure Orchestration User Guide at http://www.hp.com/go/matrixoe/docs. To determine whether the vCenter 5.0 server is already registered in SIM:  Open the SIM hypervisor registration page.  Click Options -> View VME Settings.
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Step 6: Configure the Auto Deploy deployment network in IO Auto Deploy and the vCenter software reside on the same server, so the same network is used for deployment and cluster management. In IO, a network must be configured with vCenter as a deployment server. To do this:  Launch SIM in a browser window.  Open the Matrix OE IO console by clicking Tools -> Infrastructure Orchestration.  Open the Networks tab. a.
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Step 7: Enter CMS Administrator credentials in Windows service RSJRAS Edit the CMS Windows service RSJRAS (HP Operations Orchestration Remote Action Service) and change the credentials to those of the CMS Administrator:   12 Run services.msc, locate the service named RSJRAS, and double-click to open the properties. Click the Log On tab and select This account.  Provide the account name and password used by the CMS Administrator user.
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Creating the ESXi cluster provisioning template Create a service template for deploying a physical VM Host or ESX cluster. The following diagram shows the key features of a cluster provisioning template.
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Step 2: Edit the server configuration Right-click the physical server group and select Edit Server Group Configuration. Note that the server type is Physical.  a. Give the server group a name that will be used as the name of the provisioned cluster. b. For Cluster Type, select VM Host. VMware ESX is automatically selected as the subtype. c. Make sure that Processor Architecture is set to x86 64-bit. Set the number of servers in the cluster, and fill in other optional information.
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c. Select 00_ConfigureVMADBootProfile_server_begin, select the Configure Server Beginning check box, and click Add. d. Click Add and expand the tree by clicking ++. e. Select 05_CheckServerHasBooted_server_end, select the Configure Server End check box, and click Add. f. Click Add and expand the tree by clicking ++. g. Select 10_ConfigureVMhostDataStore_group_end, select the Configure Server Group End check box, and click Add. h. Click Add and expand the tree by clicking ++. i.
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Workflows for life-cycle operations It is necessary to add Operations Orchestration workflows to the template to support the following life-cycle operations: add a server, add disks to a service, and delete a service. Without these workflows, the life-cycle operations will not work. They are added to the service-level workflows, which are accessed from the Workflows button in the title bar. The following figure lists these workflows.
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Step 4: Configure the networks The first network must be a deployment network connected to the Auto Deploy server. It must be specified by name rather than by desired attributes. The Networks tab in the IO console shows the following: VMware_Management is the deployment network selected in the network configuration.
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The vMotion network can be specified by name or desired attributes. The Trunk network carries VLANs for the guest VMs. These are selected as follows:  Right-click Trunk and select Configure Trunk.  Click the Config tab.  Select one or more networks from All Available Networks and drag the networks or click >> to move the networks to the Selected Networks list. This selection defines a trunk network on a single NIC port that carries the selected networks.
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Step 6: Configure the physical storage   Right-click the physical storage component and select Edit Server Group Configuration. Click the Config tab. The storage type is FC-SAN. Note that SCSI over IP (iSCSI) attached storage is not supported.  Select Specify desired attributes.  Leave the RAID level set to Any.  Leave Disk is bootable unselected.  The setting for Redundant SAN paths to disk depends on how you configured your logical server storage pool entries.
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Optionally, you can create additional shared data storage as follows:  a. Drag another physical storage component and connect it to the ESX cluster component. b. Select the Disk is shared across servers check box. (Do not select the Disk is bootable check box.) After you have completed these steps, note that the validation status is green. If it is not green, click Show Issues and resolve those items.
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 Open the Servers tab and create a server pool to hold the blades to be used for cluster nodes (IntelClusterPool in the following figure). Note that the hosts should all be either Intel or AMD G7 blades. If the blades in the pool are heterogeneous, the 80_CreateHostProfile_group_end workflow will not be able to create a host profile for the cluster.  Make sure that there are sufficient storage volumes. o Open the Storage tab.
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Step 3: Verify the configuration of the provisioned cluster  Confirm that the service is up in IO. o From the Services tab, make sure that the service has been created and that the logical servers are up. The Resource Details tab in this view shows which blades are being used for the ESXi hosts.
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 Confirm that the ESXi hosts are available as servers. For each cluster that is provisioned, the Servers tab shows two IO pools: o The original pool used in the creation request that contains the serial numbers of the blades used for the provisioned hosts o A new pool with the name of the server group that contains the IP addresses of the VM hosts The provisioned ESXi hosts on these blades appear in a new pool which has the name of the server group in the template.
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The details for each VM host in the new pool show the blade serial number, its usage, and any (virtual) services that it hosts.  Verify the logical server configuration. a. 24 From within HP SIM, switch to Matrix OE visualization: Open Tools -> HP Matrix OE visualization.
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 b. For Perspective, select Logical Server. c. Find the logical servers, select one, and click the View movable logical server details icon. d. Verify that the logical server has the expected network and storage connections. Confirm that the ESXi servers are booted and have been added into the vCenter data center. a. Launch VMware vSphere Client and connect to vCenter Server. b. Navigate to Home -> Inventory -> Hosts and Clusters. c. Select each ESX server and open the Summary tab. d.
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Check that all hosts are connected to the datastore and have the correct network connections. The datacenter is named after the service and the cluster is named after the server group in the template Step 4: Provision a virtual service on the cluster Create a virtual IO template and use it to provision a virtual service on the cluster. This should work as for any other ESXi cluster.
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b. Adding a disk that contains an additional volume in SPE that reuses an existing, predefined multivolume SPE. Precondition: An unused volume is defined in the SPE. SAN storage is properly configured (disk carved, presented, and SAN zoned). Result: The VM hosts are not rebooted. The pre-presented volume is added to the IO service and configured as a data store. c. Adding a disk in a predefined static SPE managed in HP Storage Provisioning Manager (SPM).
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Troubleshooting This section lists some of the issues that can arise when you are provisioning clusters. Note that changes to configuration files will require the affected services to be restarted or rebooted. Issue If the provisioning fails, "clean-me" logical servers can be created. Action Because the ESXi hosts do not have boot disks, it is only necessary to delete the logical servers. It is not necessary to follow the full manual clean-up process.
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Action Use the administrator credentials for the RSJRAS Windows service. For more information, see "Step 7: Enter CMS Administrator credentials in Windows service RSJRAS." Make sure that the ESXi host password set in the step of configuring OO properties is sufficiently complex. For more information, see "Password Complexity" at http://pubs.vmware.com/vsp40/wwhelp/wwhimpl/js/html/wwhelp.htm#href=server_config/c_p assword_complexity.html#1_14_9_9_8_1.
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Issue While OO workflow 50_HostRegisterOnVMM_group_end is running, the following message appears: Could not register the VM host in ICvirt. … Possible cause The OO workflow times out. Action 1. Set the following timeout values as shown:  In hpio.properties: timeout.oo.workflow.max.run = 90  In OO system properties: hpscriptdeadline = 50 2. Change the timeout setting for a remote RAS installation. Make the following change to the wrapper.conf file in TWO locations, as follows. a.
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Issue Suspected incorrect behavior by OO flows. Action View the logs that the Windows PowerShell code produces. The logs are recorded for each execution of each workflow, and can be viewed in OO Central reports. 1. Log in to your fully installed CMS. 2. Open Internet Explorer. (Firefox and Chrome do not work with the widgets from OO Central.) 3. In Internet Explorer, open the site https://localhost:16443/PAS. 4. Enter the credentials.
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Appendix 1: Obtaining a depot for Auto Deploy The software depot used to provision clusters is a combination of VMware executables and HP value-added management code. Using the HP code enables the ESXi server to operate correctly and be managed on HP devices. An Auto Deploy Depot is a zip file that is used to provision an Auto Deploy ESXi 5.x server onto the desired hardware. As of 2012, the most recent release and all future releases of the HP Custom ISOs and their corresponding depot.
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Appendix 2: OO system properties, system accounts, and flows System property descriptions DepotUrl The full path of the software depot being provisioned hpsciptbase1 Common support code for all flows (beginning segment) hpioscriptbase2 Common support code for all flows (ending segment) hpscriptdeadline The timeout, in minutes, that each flow must end by hpscriptdelayminutes The time that the Util_Delay flow will delay vCenterIP The IP address of vCenter System accounts vCenterCredentials The vC
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50_HostRegisterOnVMM_group_end Registers each VM host in the cluster with Matrix Operating Environment, and in case of error, attempts to discover the server again. 60_MoveHostToCluster_group_end Connects to the vCenter/Auto Deploy server and moves each VM host into the vCenter cluster. 70_ConfigureVSwitchesAndPortGroups_gr oup_end Connects to the vCenter/Auto Deploy server and configures the first host with the defined networks.
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Appendix 3: Validating the Auto Deploy installation To validate that Auto Deploy is installed, open the Auto Deploy administrative interface by clicking the icon in the vSphere client. To do this, you must be logged in to a host with direct connectivity to vCenter. In private networks, this can be the CMS (because it must have accessibility to vCenter). The Auto Deploy page is very limited and is not the real administrative interface.
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Appendix 4: Configuring storage in Matrix Before Matrix Operating Environment infrastructure orchestration can allocate storage, it must be configured in logical server storage pools in Matrix OE visualization. A logical server storage pool entry (SPE) represents storage that has been carved from a storage array (for example, HP Enterprise Virtual Array or HP 3PAR), presented to a host-initiator port, and zoned in a SAN fabric on the SAN switches for connectivity with the blade.
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Adding storage to an IO VM Cluster service by adding a volume to a pre-existing SPE requires taking the following steps: 1. Carve the storage on the SAN storage array. 2. Present the storage on the SAN storage array. 3. Add the volume to the SPE if it is not already defined in the SPE. 4. Mark the volume as "Ready" in the SPE. 5. Perform the IO disk add. NOTE: Zoning is the same as all other volumes in the SPE, so it does not need to be modified.
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For more information To read more about the information in this paper, see the following resources: HP Matrix Operating Environment Infrastructure Orchestration User Guide http://www.hp.com/go/matrixoe/docs Installing vCenter Server http://pubs.vmware.com/vsphere-50/index.jsp?topic=/com.vmware.vsphere.install.doc_50/GUID-7C9A1E237FCD-4295-9CB1-C932F2423C63.html Configuring Virtual Connect Flex-10 Ethernet modules http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bc/docs/support/SupportManual/c02616817/c02616817.