Hyper Converged System: EVO RAIL

EVO:RAIL combines VMware compute, networking, and storage resources into a hyper-converged infrastructure appliance to create an all-in-one solution .

Deployment:

Configure your top-of-rack switch.

Rack, cable, and power-on EVO:RAIL.

Connect a client workstation/laptop to the top-of-rack switch and point your browser to EVO:RAIL for configuration and management.

 

ACCESSING EVO:RAIL

EVO:RAIL is normally accessed from a browser (Firefox/Chrome/IE) on a management workstation/laptop connected to the EVO:RAIL network. Open the Google Chrome browser on your desktop.

EVO:RAIL CONFIGURATION

EVO:RAIL Configuration is the first thing you see after physical EVO:RAIL deployment.

1.                  Click to 192.168.110.22 (unsafe)You will now see the EVO:RAIL configuration splash page.

CUSTOMIZE ME!

Click the Customize Me! button to configure hostnames, networking, passwords, and global settings. All the fields have predefined values to make configuration quick and easy.

Configuration changes are automatically validated and saved when changing between fields or sections.

HOSTNAMES

To customize EVO:RAIL, use the Hostnamestab to define a naming scheme for your ESXi hosts. The hostname consists of an ESXi hostname prefix, a Separator, an Iterator, and a Top-level domain. The Preview field shows an example of the result of the first ESXi host.  

•          Enter an ESXi hostname prefix.

•          Select a Separator (“None” or a dash ”-“) and the Iterator (Alpha, Num X, or Num 0X).

•          Enter a Top-level domain name.

•          Enter a vCenter Server hostname. The top-level domain is automatically applied to the vCenter Server hostname.

NETWORKING

Click Networking to view IP and/or VLAN details for each network type: ESXi Hosts, vSphere vMotion, Virtual SAN, vCenter Server, and VM Networks.

•          in esxi hosts, view the starting and ending address for ip pool, netmask, and default gateway.

•          click vmotion and view the starting andending address for ip pool, the vsphere vmotion vlan id, and the netmask.

•          click virtual san and view the starting andending address for ip pool, the virtual san vlan id, and the netmask.

•          click vcenter server to see the ip address for evo:rail management and vcenter server. the netmask and default gateway are automatically copied from esxi hosts.

•          click vm networks to view the pre-configured virtual machine networks.

 

PASSWORDS

Click Passwords to see the predefined passwords for the ESXi hosts and vCenter Server. 

To optionally use Active Directory for authentication, you would enter the AD domain, AD username, and AD password

GLOBALS

Click Globals to set the time zone, logging, and any existing NTP, DNS, or Proxy servers on your network. Logging can be set to Log Insight or to an existing syslog server on your network.

VALIDATE

Click the Validate button. EVO:RAIL quickly verifies the configuration data and checks for conflicts.

After validation is successful, click the Build Appliance button.

NEW IP ADDRESS

Click the Take me to it! button.

You will see a browser message that the site's security certificate is not trusted:

1.         Click Advanced

2.         Then click Proceed to 10.10.10.200 (unsafe)You will now see the EVO:RAIL build appliance page.

BUILD APPLIANCE

EVO:RAIL implements data services, creates the new ESXi hosts and a Virtual SAN datastore, and deploys the vCenter Server.

Simplicity Transformed: EVO:RAIL enables power-on to VM creation in minutes, radically easy VM deployment, one-click non-disruptive patch and upgrades, simplified management…you get the idea.

Software-Defined Building Block: EVO:RAIL is a scalable Software-Defined Data Center (SDDC) building block that delivers compute, networking, storage, and management to empower private and hybrid cloud, end-user computing, test/dev, and branch office environments.

HOORAY!

When you see Hooray!, click the IP address to continue to EVO:RAIL Management.

EVO:RAIL MANAGEMENT

In EVO:RAIL you will create virtual machines with only a few clicks to select the guest operating system, VM size, network segment, and security option.

After creating some VMs, here are some of the things you can explore in EVO:RAIL Management:

•          View VMs and manage lifecycle operations such as Clone or Rename.

•          Optionally access vSphere Web Client

•          Monitor EVO:RAIL cluster, appliance, and node health

•          Explore features such as logs, licenses, localization, updates, and tasks

After clicking away from the Hooray! page, you will see the login page for EVO:RAIL Management.

Login and Click the Authenticate button.

CREATE VM: CREATING VIRTUAL MACHINES

1.         Click the Create VM icon in the left sidebar to begin the virtual machine creation process.

UPLOAD GUEST OPERATING SYSTEM

1.         in the create vm called field, enter a name for your virtual machine such as "vmworld vm 1".

2.         then click the upload image button.

3.         in upload iso, click the choose file button.

SELECT TINYCORE-CURRENT.ISO

UPLOAD IMAGE

Click the Upload Image button.

EVO:RAIL simplifies virtual machine sizing by offering single-click small, medium, and large configurations optimized for each Guest OS type.

Select any size and then click the Select VM Size button.

CONNECT TO NETWORK SEGMENTS

Check one or more network segments (Development, Production, and/or Staging).

Then click the Select Networks button.

SELECT VM SECURITY POLICY

Without EVO:RAIL, customers must manually go through a long list of options to secure a Virtual Machine. EVO:RAIL streamlines this process with three pre-defined Risk Profiles to choose from at the time of VM provisioning.

These profiles are a collection of Virtual Machine Advanced Settings, based on a particular Risk Profile from the vSphere 5.5 Security Hardening Guide

No Policy means that no security configuration options are applied to the VM.

•          Default Policy is Risk Profile 3, which specifies guidelines that should be implemented in all environments. These are VMware best practices for all data centers.

•          Basic Policy is Risk Profile 2, which specifies guidelines for more sensitive environments or small/medium/large enterprises that are subject to strict compliance rules.

•          Secure Policy is Risk Profile 1, which specifies guidelines for the highest security environments, such as top-secret government or military installations, or anyone with extremely sensitive data or in a highly regulated environment.

Select one of the policies and then click Create and Start a New VM.

Wait a minute while EVO:RAIL creates and powers on your VM. You will be returned automatically to the VM dashboard.

VMS: DASHBOARD FOR YOUR VIRTUAL MACHINES

Click the VMs icon in the left sidebar and you can see your new VM.

EXPLORING MANAGEMENT FEATURES

EVO:RAIL Management provides the following capabilities by clicking on the icons on the left side of the management page:

•          VMS - a dashboard to view and manage virtual machines

•          CREATE VM - starts the tool to create a VM

•          HEALTH - monitors the EVO:RAIL cluster, appliances, and nodes

•          CONFIG - accesses log collection, licensing, localization, and update features

•          TASKS - tracks system and user tasks

VMS: DASHBOARD FOR YOUR VIRTUAL MACHINES

EVO:RAIL Management displays a dashboard containing all virtual machines. From this page, you can manage the VMs or arrange them with sorting and filtering. The icons at the bottom of each VM allow you to perform operations to manage the virtual machine.  

1.         Click the VMs icon in the left sidebar.

2.         Clone an existing VM by clicking the Clonebutton.

3.         Create or clone several VMs, then view them with Filter, Sort, and/or Search.

4.         If you are familiar with vSphere Web Client and you would like to use it to explore what EVO:RAIL has created, click the vSphere Web Client icon. The username isadministrator@vsphere.local and the password is VMware1!

5.         In the Hands-On Lab, the VM cannot be properly installed and configured with an IP address, so the IP address is “IP Not Available”.

HEALTH:  SYSTEM, APPLIANCE, AND NODE MONITORING

Click the Health icon in the left sidebar.

EVO:RAIL Management simplifies live compute management with health monitors for CPU, memory, storage, and VM usage for entire EVO:RAIL clusters, individual appliances, and individual nodes.

•          Cluster information: Click on OVERALL SYSTEM.

•          Appliance information: Click on an appliance ("MAR12345604") - either in the menu bar in the top of the window or in the list ofEVO:RAIL Appliances below the Live Usage Statistics.

Node information: To view information about a specific node, click the appliance first and scroll down to see the nodes

MORE HEALTH INFORMATION

After you click on the appliance ("MAR12345604"), scroll down from "Live Usage Statistics" to see information about the four nodes in this appliance.

EVO:RAIL AUTO DISCOVERY AND SCALE OUT

EVO:RAIL revolutionizes scale-out. Increasing compute, network, and storage resources is as easy as powering up a new appliance to join an existing EVO:RAIL cluster.

EVO:RAIL provides auto-discovery capabilities that use the RFC-recognized "Zero Network Configuration" protocol. New EVO:RAIL appliances advertise themselves on a network using the VMware "Loudmouth" service.

The first EVO:RAIL appliance in a cluster creates a new instance of vCenter Server, and additional EVO:RAIL appliances join that first instance. Thus, subsequent appliances in a cluster are built in considerably less time than the first EVO:RAIL appliance. In production environments, the first EVO:RAIL appliance is built in about 15 minutes and additional appliances are built in about 6 minutes each.

ADD EVO:RAIL APPLIANCE

Click the Add EVO:RAIL Appliance button.

 END

NETWORK IP POOLS FOR THE NEW APPLIANCE

The Networking Pools section shows the IP pools that were reserved for ESXi, vMotion and Virtual SAN during the configuration of the first EVO:RAIL appliance. In general, we recommend allocating 16 IP addresses for each pool to make adding new appliances really simple. On the right side of the page, you can see that EVO:RAIL validates that you have enough IP addresses for the new appliance; otherwise, you would need to add them on this page. Also, note that the new EVO:RAIL appliance tag, "MAR45678904", is displayed in the upper right corner.

1.         All you have to enter is the Passwords for the existing ESXi hosts and vCenter Server. Both passwords should be VMware1!

2.         Be sure to leave the password fields (tab or click out).

3.         Click the Add EVO:RAIL Appliance button.

CHECKING STATUS WITH EVO:RAIL MANAGEMENT

Click the Health icon in the left sidebar. Confirm that the Overall Health is Healthy.

2. Then click the first appliance, MAR12345604. Confirm that its status is Healthy.

3. Then click the second appliance,MAR45678904. Confirm that its status isHealthy


CHECKING STATUS WITH VSPHERE WEB CLIENT

Using the vSphere Web Client, we can more closely investigate the status and configuration of the Virtual SAN datastore:

1. Click the Home tab in the center section, then click Hosts & Clusters.

2. Expand MARVIN-Datacenter and expandMARVIN-Virtual-SAN-Cluster. This shows that you now have eight ESXi hosts.

3. With the MARVIN-Virtual-SAN-Clusterselected, click the Manage tab in the center section.

4. Under Virtual SAN, select General.

5. Under Resources, confirm that all 8 hosts, SSD and Data disks are shown and eligible, and that the network status is "Normal".

EVO:RAIL NODE REPLACEMENT

EVO:RAIL handles hardware failures easily. A single node can be replaced in the field without disruption to your work load.

In the event of node failure, your Qualified EVO:RAIL Partner (QEP) will ship a replacement node with a unique identity stamped in the BIOS that matches that of the failed node. All you need to do is remove the failed node and a replace it with the new EVO:RAIL node.

The EVO:RAIL engine detects the new node and alerts the operator to "re-add" it. EVO:RAIL cleans up the old ESXi host and configures a new ESXi host on the replacement node with all previous parameters.

REPLACING A FAILED EVO:RAIL NODE

Return to the vSphere Web Client by clicking the vSphere Web Client tab in your Chrome browser or by clicking the vSphere Web Client icon on the EVO:RAIL Management home page.

EMULATING A HARDWARE FAILURE

 To emulate the failure of an EVO:RAIL node, shut down an ESXi host in the vSphere Web Client. This triggers alerts in EVO:RAIL and the vCenter Web Client.

If you still have the vSphere Web Client tab open from previous exercises, you may be able to skip these 5 steps:

1.         From EVO:RAIL Management, click the VMsicon in the left sidebar.

2.         In the top right corner, click the vSphere Web Client icon.

3.         Login to the vSphere Web Client; username:administrator@vsphere.local password:VMware1!

4.         From vSphere Web Client, click the Hometab, then click Hosts & Clusters.

5.         Expand MARVIN-Datacenter and expandMARVIN-Virtual-SAN-Cluster.

1.         Select the eighth ESXi host.

2.         Right-click to select Shut Down.

3.         Click OK.

After waiting a minute or two the ESXi host will be powered off. You will see a red alert next to the selected ESXi host, confirming the failure in vSphere Web Client

Return to the EVO:RAIL Management tab in your browser. You may need to refresh your browser.

2.         Click the Health icon in the left sidebar. You should see that the Overall Health is "Critical".

3.         Click the second appliance, MAR45678904.

Verify that the node (in this example, esx-node08.vmworld.local) has a red X icon indicating a problem

All other nodes in the EVO:RAIL cluster will be marked with a "Warning" because EVO:RAIL fault tolerance policy is failure of one full node.

ENABLE THE REPLACEMENT NODE

Each EVO:RAIL appliance has unique ID, and each node within the appliance has a unique number. The QEP will dispatch a replacement node with the exact same identity as the failed node. The failed node is removed and replaced, and the new node is powered on. Because it has the same identity as the original node, EVO:RAIL recognizes the new node and adds it back into the appliance. EVO:RAIL reconfigures the ESXi host on the new node with the original configuration (Networking, Password, Global Settings).

1.         On the left-hand side of the HOL interface you will see shortcut area labelled "Consoles"

2.         When you click this icon, you will see an icon called "ESX-08A-REPLACEMENT". Click this icon.

3.         In the central pane, click the Power On icon to bring the replacement node online. Please wait for the ESXi host to complete the boot process.

FULLY BOOTED ESXI HOST

When ESXi finishes booting, the Direct Console UI (DCUI) display (shown in the screenshot) will display the IP address.

2.         Go back to the Control Center by clicking the CONTROLCENTER icon on the left-hand side of the HOL interface.

You can close the Consoles tab by clicking the 'X' in the top left corner

RE-ADD THE NODE

Return to EVO:RAIL Management in your Chrome browser.

2.         You will soon see that a new node was detected: look for a box in the bottom right-hand corner of the page.

3.         Click the Re-add Existing Node button.

4.         Enter your ESXi host and vCenter Server passwords (VMware1!), and then click theRe-Add Existing Node button.