UCS Technology Labs VM-FEX on UCS

VM-FEX Preparation
Last updated: April 12, 2013

Task
Associate the ESXi-VMFEX-iSCSI service profile to a blade and install VMware ESXi using bootfrom-iSCSI.
Give VM-FEX ESXi Kernel the IP address 10.0.115.21/24 with a default gateway of
10.0.115.254.
Root Username should have the password cciedc01.
Use a separate vCenter instance that is running at IP address 10.0.1.100/24 with default gateway
10.0.1.254.
Make sure that you power off the other vCenter instance running at the same IP address
first!
Assign it to a datacenter named VMFEX-DC1, and add the 10.0.115.21 host to the
cluster.
Add to the vCenter inventory, from the datastore, one instance for each guest of Win2k8-www-1
and Win2k8-www-2, and assign them the IP addresses 10.0.110.211 and 10.0.110.212,
respectively, via their consoles.

Note:
This task has already been performed for you, but installation and setup are
included here as a guide for those who have have never performed this task and for
anyone who happens to be setting up his own lab. Note that we do not cover the
entire installation here, because we have covered this in previous labs.

Configuration
Be sure to properly shut down (if previously active) VM guests and ESXi hosts running on both
CUST1 service profiles, freeing up a blade with a Palo card for use with VM-FEX. Boot the server
and launch the KVM.

Note:
A blade with a Palo card (M81KR, VIC1240, VIC1280) must be used for VM-FEX.

FEEDBACK

Note that this is booting from an iSCSI disk that was set up via a gateway to an FC target on
MDS1 in a previous lab.

Choose the proper ESXi-VMFEX-Boot LUN.

Enter the VLAN ID 115, because we did not choose this as a native VLAN earlier in UCSM.

Enter the IP address, subnet mask, and default gateway as shown. Click OK.

On Server1, load VMware vSphere Client and enter the proper IP address, user name, and
password, and click Login.

Click the Configuration tab, click Network Adapters, and note that vmnic5 is allocated to the
iSCSIBootSwitch.

Click the Configuration tab, click Networking, select vDphere Standard Switch, and note
the same. Click Add Networking.

Go through all the necessary steps (covered in previous labs) to add physical adapters and
standard vSwitches to allow networking to appear as shown here.

Click the Configuration tab, click Storage Adapters, note the vmhba33 allocated to iSCSI,
and note the devices seen.

Also note the paths. Click Properties.

The iSCSI Initiator Properties dialog box appears.

Click the Network Configuration tab, and then click Add.

Choose iSsciBootPG on vmk1/vmnic5 and click OK.

Click Close.

Click Yes to rescan the bus.

Click the Configuration tab, click Storage, and click to create a datastore.

Select Disk/LUN. Click Next.

Choose the larger 48GB LUN and click Next.

Select VMFS-5 and click Next.

Note the iSCSI disk. Click Next.

Assign the datastore a name that is different from previous datastore names. Here we have
chosen vmfex-datastore. Click Next.

Select max space. Click Next.

Click Finish.

Notice the datastore come online.

On the File menu, click Deploy OVF Template.

Find the source for your vCenter template.

Note:
Notice that we are choosing to use a separate vCenter instance for VM-FEX so
that we do not cause any confusion in the learning process with multiple DVSs
running on the same cluster. Of course, vCenter does support multiple DVSs
running on the same cluster.

We'll name it differently to prevent any confusion with previous labs.

Selecting Thin Provisioned is a good way to save space in a lab (not supported in production
for vCenter, of course).

Edit the settings of the vCenter guest.

Change the network adapter to the vCenter vSwitch.

Assign it the IP address, subnet mask, and default gateway as shown.

Log in to vCenter.

Create a new datacenter named VMFEX-DC1.

Add the ESXi host at 10.0.115.21.

Enter the IP address, the root user, and the password cciedc01.

Note that everything is running properly in vCenter.

Click the Configuration tab, click Storage, right-click vmfex-datastore, and browse it.

In the left pane, click Win2k8-www-1. In the right pane, right-click the .vmx file and click Add
to Inventory. Click through the next few screens to finish adding it to the inventory.

Note that it was added properly.

Do the same, this time for Win2k8-www-2.

Note that it was added properly.

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