Dell Emc Vxrail 3.5 A Fully Loaded Hyper-Converged Experience

DELL EMC VXRAIL 3.
5 A
FULLY LOADED HYPER-
CONVERGED EXPERIENCE
DELL EMC VXRAIL 3.5 A FULLY LOADED HYPER-CONVERGED EXPERIENCE

Table of Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................. 4
About this lab ..................................................................................................................................................5
Lab Overview ................................................................................................................................................ 6

Lab Environment .............................................................................................................................................7
Lab Credentials ................................................................................................................................................8
Lab Scenario ....................................................................................................................................................9
Labs...............................................................................................................................................................10
Lab 1 - First Build ....................................................................................................................................... 11

Configuring the first Appliance of a new VxRail Cluster ...................................................................................12
Lab 2 - Logical and Physical Health ............................................................................................................. 34

Monitoring the logical and physical health of the VxRail cluster......................................................................35
Lab 3 - Cluster Expansion - Scaling Out ....................................................................................................... 48

Adding a node to an existing VxRail Cluster ....................................................................................................49
Lab 4 - QoS IOPS limit................................................................................................................................. 57

Limiting VM IOPS through policies..................................................................................................................58
Lab 5 - Fault Domains ................................................................................................................................. 73

Defining fault domains in the cluster configuration.........................................................................................74
Lab 6 - Erasure Coding ................................................................................................................................ 79

Create and Apply and Erasure Coding Storage Policy ......................................................................................80
Lab 7 - Snapshot Creation and Management............................................................................................... 92

Creating and Managing Snapshots.................................................................................................................93
Lab 8 - Deduplication and Compression.................................................................................................... 106

Enabling Deduplication and Compression in the VxRail Cluster ....................................................................107
Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................... 117

Conclusion...................................................................................................................................................118
Additional Solution Information................................................................................................................ 119

Business Challenge......................................................................................................................................120
Solution .......................................................................................................................................................121
Solution Components...................................................................................................................................122
Introduction
DELL EMC VXRAIL 3.5 A FULLY LOADED HYPER-CONVERGED EXPERIENCE Page 4

About this lab
VxRail is a Hyper-Converged Infrastructure created with the collaboration of EMC and VMware. It contains a fully
integrated software in a pre-configured and tested Hyper Converged appliance, managed through VMware vCenter
Server. VxRail delivers a turnkey, ease to use, and functionally rich solution to all applications that benefit from server
virtualization. VxRail and VSAN are a distributed system architecture that can start small with a single 4-node
appliance and scale linearly, in single node increments, up to 64 nodes per cluster. A single vCenter Server can
manage several clusters, up to 1000 hosts, further extending the scalability. VxRail provides a very rich set of data
services for data protection, data replication, data integrity, non-disruptive data mobility and automated load
balancing, and a large number of space efficiency options. VxRail also provides a differentiated ability to service the
cluster by leveraging EMC's remote service support, ESRS, from VxRail Manager services.
This lab introduces VxRail 3.5 and VMware Virtual SAN 6.2.
In this lab, you will:
Learn how easy and fast it is to deploy a VxRail Appliance and VSAN Cluster
Learn how to upgrade or add a node to an existing cluster
Explore VxRail Manager services to monitor the health of the appliance and learn how to execute corrective
procedures
Learn and explore the new features introduced with VxRail 3.5 and VSAN such as the enhanced Snapshot
function, QoS IOPS limit, Fault Domains, Erasure Coding, and Deduplication & Compression

Lab Overview

Lab Environment
The Environment
The environment for this lab includes the following:
1 x Domain Controller
1 x Windows Launchpad
2 x VxRail appliances. The first has 4 x x86 nodes, and the second appliance has a single node.
1 x 10GbE Switch
1 x Windows VM preloaded with software needed for a QoS IOPS limit test
All software necessary to create the software defined data center experience, including vCenter Server, ESXi,
VSAN, VxRail Manager.
Restrictions
There are some restrictions to the operations that can be executed in the vLab environment, due to hardware/
network/user control limitation.
The following are the activities that cannot be undertaken in the environment:
Physical Disk/Node replacement

Access to support account
Access to support content
Submission of service request
Access to knowledge base
Access to the market
Access to ESRS (EMC Secure Remote Services)
Access to LogInsight
Updates in VME

Lab Credentials
Credentials
The following credentials are used in this lab:

Lab Scenario
Refer to the Additional Solution Information chapter at the end of this guide for more context on the scenario.
Stephan is the IT Administrator for RainPole. His goal is to become familiar with the VxRail appliance and the value
added software. To accelerate his learning curve Stephan will execute a series of exercises and experiments in the
VxRail virtual lab.
The new VxRail 3.5 lab is more comprehensive than the previous labs, and should provide a good hands on
experience by covering topics from installation/configuration of the new VxRail Cluster to new VSAN 6.2 features
provided with VxRail 3.5, including QoS limits, Erasure Coding, Deduplication.

Labs
This lab includes the following exercises:
Lab 1: 1st Build
Execution of the configuration procedures for the first appliance of a new VxRail Cluster
Place the new cluster under the management of an existing vCenter Server
Lab 2: Logical and Physical Health
Use of the VxRail Manager services to monitor the health of the appliance and execute correction procedures
Monitoring the workload activity and utilization of the appliances' resources
Expediting the diagnosis and repair of software and hardware problems
Lab 3: Scaling-out
Execution of the procedures to add a node to the existing VxRail Cluster
Lab 4: Storage Policy Based Management and the QoS IO Limit function
Create and apply an IO limit policy
Lab 5: Fault Domains
Define Fault Domains in the cluster configuration
Lab 6: Erasure Coding
Create and Apply an Erasure Coding Policy
Lab 7: Snapshot Creation and Management
Lab 8: Enabling Deduplication and Compression in the VxRail Cluster

Lab 1 - First Build

Configuring the first Appliance of a new VxRail Cluster
This lab begins with the new VxRail Appliance powered on and connected to an Ethernet switch.
Your initial goal is to configure the new appliance and place it under the management of a pre-existing VMware
vCenter Server which will be used to manage several VxRail clusters.
During the configuration you will provide VxRail Manager with the information needed to configure each of the vSphere
hosts, vCenter, and VSAN.
At the end of this configuration, all software used by VxRail and the network will be configured. The system will then
be available for consumption.
Launch vSphere Web Client
On the desktop, double-click vSphere Web Client

Client.

Sign On to the VMware vCenter Server Appliance
Use the following credentials
User name: administrator@vsphere.local

Password: Password123!
Click Login
Login.
Verify the Current Configuration under vCenter Server Management
Before initiating the configuration of the new VxRail Appliance you will verify the resources that are currently under the
management of the vCenter Server that you will be using.
Hosts and Clusters
Click Hosts and Clusters.

Verify the current configuration in the EMCVLAB datacenter
Review the Summary. Currently there are no hosts in your EMCVLAB datacenter.
Connect to the VxRail Manager service
Click + to open a new browser tab.
Click VxRail Configuration

Configuration.
Configure your Software Defined Data Center
You will now execute the configuration of your Software Defined Datacenter.

Start the VxRail 1st Appliance Configuration procedure
Click Get Started
Accept the End-User License agreement - EULA
Click Accept
Accept.
Select the configuration option
Click Configuration file

file.

The JSON configuration file contains all the IP addresses, host names and other information that will be required in the
next configuration steps. By uploading the JSON file you are simply eliminating the need to type all the information,
but you will be able to review all the configuration data before initiating the install.
Note
Note: Do not modify the configuration information provided with the JSON file otherwise your configuration will fail.

Open the VxRail Configuration JSON file
Select VxRail Configuration JSON.json

JSON.json, and click Open
Open.

Verify Global System settings
Verify the following Global System settings:
Time Zone: UTC

NTP Server: 192.168.10.10
DNS Server: 192.168.10.10
Click Next
Next.
Verify ESXi Hostname settings
Verify the ESXI settings:
ESXi hostname prefix: node

Separator: -
Iterator: Num 0X
Domain: vlab.local
ESXi starting address for IP pool:: 192.168.10.140

ESXi ending address for IP pool: 192.168.10.143
Note
Note: When creating your new cluster, it is a good practice to create an IP pool that is large enough to accommodate
future expansions. When there are IP addresses available in the pool, the scaling out procedures are further
automated and simplified. You will observe the procedures to add nodes to the cluster in the next Lab.
Verify vCenter Server and VxRail Manager settings
Scroll down to the vCenter Server area.
Verify vCenter Center settings:
vCenter Server hostname: vc.vlab.local

vCenter Server username: administrator@vsphere.local
vCenter Server Password: Password123!
Datacenter Name: EMCVLAB
Cluster Name: VxRail-Vlab-Cluster
In this initial section of the install you are making a decision to join an existing vCenter Server. This is an irreversible
decision, after the deployment is done, the only way to change the management structure is through a system reset.

You are adding your hosts to the EMCVLAB datacenter.
Verify VxRail Manager settings:
VxRail Manager Hostname: vxrail

VxRail Manager IP address: 192.168.10.160
Verify Networking settings
Scroll down to the Networking area.
Verify Networking settings:
Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0

Gateway: 192.168.10.1
Do not modify the pre-defined Passwords.

Click Next
Next.

Verify vSphere vMotion settings
Verify vSphere vMotion settings:
Starting address for IP pool: 192.168.2.140

Ending address for IP pool: 192.168.2.143
Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0
VLAN ID: 0
Click Next
Next.
Note
Note: In this environment, the switches have a flat configuration, but in a real world implementation it is
recommended to configure VLANs to isolate the traffic of the different networks.
Verify VMware Virtual SAN settings
Verify VSAN settings
Starting address for IP pool: 192.168.3.140

Ending address for IP pool: 192.168.3.143
Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0
VLAN ID: 0

Click Next
Next.

Verify the VM Network settings
Verify VSAN settings
VM Network name: vm network 1

VLAN ID: 0
Click Next
Next.

Verify the embedded Solutions settings
Currently VxRail allows the logging service in the Solutions Settings. The options are vRealize Log Insight and Syslog
Server.
Accept the default None

None, and click Next
Next.

Validate the selections
In this step VxRail Manager performs a basic network validation.
Note
Note: In this lab, you will not be performing the same level of validation as in a real environment.
Click Validate
Validate.

Conclude the review of required configuration information
Click Build VxRail

VxRail.

Start configuration process
At the end of validation we are redirected to the IP address 192.168.10.160 which initiates the configuration process
Click START CONFIGURATION

CONFIGURATION.
Confirm that connection is secure
Click I Understand the Risks

Risks, and then click Add Exception...

Confirm Exception
Click Confirm Security Exception

Exception.
Monitor the configuration process
The installation process takes approximately 7 minutes to complete.
200 plus tasks are being executed by this automated process which saves time and reduces the chances of errors.

Conclude the configuration
When complete, click Manage VxRail

VxRail.
Verify the new configuration under the vCenter Server Management
Now that you have completed the configuration of the VxRail Cluster, you will return to the vSphere Web Client session
and verify that the new resources are under the management of the vCenter Server.
Return to the vSphere Web Client Session
Click vSphere Web Client

Client.

Home
Click Home
Home.
Hosts and Clusters
Click Hosts and Clusters

Clusters.

Verify the new configuration under the EMCVLAB datacenter
In the left navigation pane, expand EMCVLAB > VxRail-Vlab-Cluster to see the new hosts.
The vm, VLAB-VM-01 is available for additional exercises.
Power On VLAB-VM-01
You will now power on VLAB-VM-01

Power On instructions
Right-click VLAB-VM-01
VLAB-VM-01, then select Power > Power On

Lab 2 - Logical and Physical Health

Monitoring the logical and physical health of the VxRail cluster
In this Lab you will navigate through VxRail Manager screens to become more familiar with the options available to
monitor the health indicators of the VxRail Cluster. You you also have the opportunity to execute a few hardware
maintenance simulations.
Return to the VxRail Manager session in your web browser
Click VxRail Manager

Manager.
Log on to VxRail Manager
Use the following credentials:
Username: Administrator@vsphere.local
password: Password123!
Click Authenticate
Authenticate.

Dismiss dialog
Close the remember password dialog.
Navigate through the VxRail Manager dashboard
Click Dashboard
Dashboard.
The VxRail Manager Dashboard
The VxRail Manager dashboard shows system health and support resources at a glance, including expansion status,
overall system health, support, community activity, and event history.
An explanation of the dashboard:
Expansion
When a new node is detected, the expansion status will be displayed in the upper left portion of the screen. The lab
simulation adds a new node after the initial build and as soon as VxRail Manager detects this node you will should see
the expansion status.
Do not initiate the Add Node script. You will first learn more about VxRail Manager and then you will return to this
screen to follow the instructions to add this new node.
Overall System Health

The Overall System Health area shows the high-level system status of your VxRail Appliance. Status is shown as one of
the following:
Healthy: System normal. There are no major problems to address

Error: An error has occurred. There is an issue that should be addressed when possible.
Warning: System needs attention. There are some issues that require attention such as a disk space limit
has been reached or an online support heartbeat cannot be sent.
Critical: Immediate action required. There are events that must be addressed immediately to prevent
downtime or data loss.
Note
Note: A Critical status message may be displayed during the execution of the labs. This can be ignored.
VxRail Community
VxRail community shows the most recent articles and other content from the online VxRail community.
Support
Support displays status and links to support resources, including:
Last Heartbeat: The last time an EMC Secure Remote Services (ESRS) heartbeat was sent (only shown if ESRS
is enabled).
Chat with Support: Link to start a chat session with a support representative.
Open a Service Request: Link to open a new service request ticket for support.
As outlined previous in the Lab Environment restrictions, the access to ESRS (EMC Secure Remote Services) is not
allowed in the this environment which explains the heartbeat message in the support area.
Event History
Event history displays the most recent system events.

VxRail Manager Logical System Health
Click HEALTH
HEALTH.
This screen displays CPU, memory, and storage usage for your entire cluster, individual appliances, and individual
nodes. The color-coded status for storage IOPS, CPU usage, and memory usage indicates the following:
Red: Over 85% used.

Yellow: 75 to 85% used.
Green: Less than 75% used.

VxRail Manager Logical System Health - ESXi Node Components
Scroll down to the ESXi Nodes area.
Click on the components of a node to view more information about the Capacity (HDD), Cache (SSD), ESXi disk, or NIC.

VxRail Manager Physical System Health
Scroll up, and click Physical

Physical.
The Physical tab of the VxRail Manager Health window displays information about the hardware components of your
appliance. A graphical representation of the appliances in your cluster makes it easy to navigate for event and status
information.
You can view appliances' status and information such as ID, serial number, and individual appliance components. You
can drill down to see status and information for appliance components such as disks, compute nodes, and power
supplies.
You can click the various Hardware components to see more detailed information.

VxRail Manager - Disk Replacement
Click one of the disk drives in the Front View and scroll down to view detailed information
The hardware replacement link triggers the hardware replacement procedure and guide you through all the steps, in
addition to ensuring that the host is placed in maintenance mode during the drive replacement process. Failed disk
drives can be replaced by the VxRail customers and VxRail Manager automates the process and its Wizard guides you
in every step of the drive replacement. The drive replacement script is disabled in the lab environment, but detailed
information about this procedure can be found in the EMC support site https://support.emc.com at Solve.

VxRail Manager Shutdown procedure
There are situations in which the shutdown of the entire cluster is required. For example, the physical relocation of the
appliances. In these situations VxRail manager provides a Cluster Shutdown function that simplifies and automates
this entire process. The automation can be useful to ensure that the system is properly shutdown. It also saves a
significant amount of time when shutting down larger clusters, such as a 32 or 64 node cluster.
In this lab, there is a simulation of the shutdown procedure:
Click CONFIGURATION
CONFIGURATION.
Click General
General.
Scroll down and click Shut Down

Down.

Confirm shutdown request
Click Confirm
Confirm.

Shutdown pre-check
The shutdown procedure ensures that the system is at a health level that allows the shutdown and that there is no
maintenance in progress
Wait for the completion of the pre-checking procedure.
Click Shut Down to continue.
Cluster Shutdown
The shutdown procedure executes all the required steps to bring the cluster down gracefully, ensuring a simple restart
after. This is just a simulation. At the end of this lab simulation your cluster will still be operational.

Close
When the task is completed, click Close.

Lab 3 - Cluster Expansion - Scaling
Out

Adding a node to an existing VxRail Cluster
In this lab you will add a node to your VxRail cluster. Adding a node is a very simple process. One of the core benefits
provided by VxRail is to allow a configuration to start small, at the right cost to satisfy the current demands, and then
grow the configuration as needed, in small increments.
Navigate to VxRail Manager dashboard
Click Dashboard
Dashboard, and then click Add Node
Node.
Execute the Add Node procedures
In this step you will allocate the IP addresses that will be used by the new node.

Update the ESXi IP Pool
Specify the following:
Start IP: 192.168.10.144

End IP: 192.168.10.144
Click Add
Add.
Note: During the initial build, you can add extra addresses to the IP Pool. When you have extra addresses in the IP pool
the Add Node procedure is further automated and simplified.

Update the VSAN IP Pool
Scroll down to the Virtual SAN IP Pools area.
Start IP: 192.168.3.144

End IP: 192.168.3.144
Click Add
Add.

Update the vMotion IP Pool
Scroll down to the vMotion IP Pools area..
Start IP: 192.168.2.144

End IP: 192.168.2.144
Click Add
Add.
Enter the Passwords
Scroll down.
ESXi Password: Password123!

vCenter Server Password: Password123!
Click Next
Next.

Review information
Scroll up and review the information.
Select I have provisioned the required IP addresses and hostnames
Click Next
Next.
Initiate build after validation
Click Build
Build.

Monitor progress
Monitor the Cluster expansion progress and wait until the procedure completes. It will take approximately three
minutes.

Check logical health of new Appliance
Click HEALTH
HEALTH.
Click EMCVLAB0604
The health status of the new appliance is displayed.
You will now verify that the new node is visible in vCenter.

Return to the vSphere Web Client Session

Client.
Click Refresh
Refresh.
node-05 has been added to the VxRail-Vlab cluster.
You can see that the CPU, MEMORY and STORAGE resources have also increased.

Lab 4 - QoS IOPS limit

Limiting VM IOPS through policies
In this lab you will learn how to set an IOPS limits to Virtual Machines. IOPS Limits is one of the various settings that
can be customized through storage based management policies (SPBM).
You will start an IO workload on VLAB-VM-01, using an IO driver, generating 250 IO's per second. While the workload
is running, you will create and apply a new Storage Policy limiting the number of IO's to 100, and later check the
impact on the LAB VM.
IOPS limits can be a useful tool to manage the noisy neighbor or to prevent that a single VM consumes too many
resources affecting the neighbor VMs.
Connecting to the VLAB-VM-01
You will now log on to the VLAB-VM-01 VM.
Initiate a remote desktop session
Minimize Firefox.
On the desktop, double-click vlab-vm-01

Enter password
The domain and username are already set to VLAB\administrator
Type Password123!
Click OK
OK.

Start IO Driver
On the taskbar, click Windows Explorer

Explorer.
Navigate to C:\vdbench > cmdfiles
Double-click app-for-qos-test

Monitor the IO activity
The command file app-for-qos-test starts an IO driver which is set to generate 250 IO's per second. These are
Sequential writes with a 32KB IO size.
You can see the IO activity in the i/o rate column.
Return to vSphere Web Client
You will now use vSphere Web Client to create a new storage policy and then return to this VM to verify the effects on
the IOPS limits on your workload.
Minimize the VLAB-VM-01 desktop session
Minimize the 192.168.10.20 RDP session.
Return to the vSphere Web Client session

Client.

Create a new Storage Policy
You will now execute the procedures to create a new storage policy, setting an IO limit.
Home
Click Home.
Policies and Profiles
Click Policies and Profiles

Profiles.
Navigate to VM Storage Policies
Click VM Storage Policies

Policies.

Clone the Virtual SAN Default policy
Click MARVIN-STORAGE PROFILE

PROFILE. This policy is the source for cloning
Click Actions
Actions, and then select Clone
Clone.
Name the new policy
In the Name field, type QOS
In the Description text box, type Limit to 100 IOPS
Next, click Rule-Set 1
Add a rule
Click <Add rule>

Select IOPS limit for object
If this specific rule is not available, proceed to the next step. Otherwise, proceed to the Set IOPS limit step.

Work around for potential issue with vSphere Web Client
This environment can sometimes present an issue with the policy rule labels.
To apply the work around, select vsan.capabilitymetadata.propertymetadata.summary.iopsLimit.label and proceed to

the next step.

Set IOPS limit - work around
In the vsan.capabilitymetadata.propertymetadata.summary.iopsLimit.label field, type 100
Click OK
OK.

Set IOPS limit
In the IOPS limit for object field, type 100
Click OK
OK.
Apply the new policy to the VLAB-VM-01
You will now apply the new policy to VLAB-VM-01. In VMware VSAN, the policies are set at the VM level.
Navigate to VMs and Templates
Click Home
Home.

VMs and Templates
Click VMs and Templates
Navigate to the VM Storage Policies page
Expand EMCVLAB > VMware HCIA Folder VxRai

VxRail > VLAB-VM-01

Edit VM Storage Policies
VLAB-VM-01, then select VM Policies > Edit VM Storage Policies.

Edit the VLAB-VM-01 storage policy
In the VM storage policy list box, select QOS

QOS.
Click Apply to All

All.
Click OK
OK.

Check VM storage policy compliance
Click VLAB-VM-01
The policy name has changed to QOS and is listed as Compliant

Compliant.
Monitor IO activity
You will now verify the effects of the new storage policy on the workload generated by the IO driver.
Switch to VLAB-VM-01
On the taskbar, click vlab-vm-01

Monitor IO activity
Confirm that the IO activity of the IO driver should be limited to 100 IOPS as set in the policy.
Next, close the command prompt.
Note: applying a storage policy could take couple of minutes.
Minimize the 192.168.10.20 session.
Summary
You have completed your Policy Based Management exercise by setting the QoS IOPS limit and verifying its effect.

Lab 5 - Fault Domains

Defining fault domains in the cluster configuration
When Fault Domains are enabled VSAN ensures that each protection component is placed in separate fault domains.
Fault domains enablement is necessary when trying to protect against rack, room, floor and local site failures. The
purpose of this lab is to increase your level of familiarity with fault domain definition.
Home
In vSphere Web Client, click Home

Home.
Navigate to Hosts and Clusters

Clusters.

Navigate to the VxRail Cluster Management view
Click VxRail-Vlab-Cluster
VxRail-Vlab-Cluster.

Add Fault Domains
Click Manage
Manage.
Click Fault Domains and Stretched Cluster

Cluster.
Click +

Add hosts to the Fault Domains
In the Name field, type FD01

FD01.
Select a host to be inserted in the Fault Domain

Domain. In this first example, select node-01.vlab.local
Click OK
Repeat the process for all hosts, creating five different fault domains (FD01-FD05)

Config at the end of the process
At the end of the configuration you will have five Fault Domains defined.
Proceed to the next Lab.

Lab 6 - Erasure Coding

Create and Apply and Erasure Coding Storage Policy
In this lab you will create and apply a storage policy that uses Erasure Coding as the Fault Tolerance Mode.
Erasure Coding enables significant space reduction. An erasure coding 3+1, also known as Network RAID5 3+1, can
give us 50% more usable capacity than a RAID-1 Mirroring policy. Erasure Coding 3+1 requires a minimum of 4 Fault
Domains/Hosts. The Fault Domain definitions done in the previous lab will allow you to better visualize the placement
of the object components in the different fault domains after the erasure coding policy is applied.
Create a new storage policy
You will now execute a set of steps to create a new storage policy.
Home
Click Home
Home.
Navigate to the Policies and Profiles view
Click Policies and Profiles

Profiles.

Navigate to VM Storage Policies
Click VM Storage Policies

Policies.
Clone the MARVIN-SYSTEM-STORAGE Policy
Select the MARVIN-SYSTEM-STORAGE Policy row.
Click Clone
Clone.

Name the new policy
In the Name field, type Erasure Coding

Coding.
In the Description text box, type Erasure Coding 3+1
Click Rule-Set 1

Add a rule
Click <Add rule>
Select Failure Tolerance method

method. If this label is not available proceed to the next step. Otherwise, proceed to the Set
Fault Tolerance Method step..

Work around for potential issue with vSphere Web Client screen
This environment can sometimes present an issue with the policy rule labels.
Select the rule label vsan.capabilitymetadata.propertymetadata.replicaPreference.label and proceed to the step, Set
Fault Tolerance Method - work around

Set Fault Tolerance Method - work around
In the number of failures to tolerate field, type 1
In the vsan.capabilitymetadata.propertymetadata.replicaPreference.label list box, select RAID-5/6 (Erasure Coding) -

Capacity
Click OK
OK.
Set Fault Tolerance Method
In the number of failures to tolerate field, type 1

In the Failure tolerance method list box, select RAID-5/6 (Erasure Coding) - Capacity
Click OK
OK.
Apply the new policy to the VLAB-VM-01
You will now execute the steps necessary to apply the new storage policy to the VLAB-VM-01,

Home
Click Home
Home.
Select VMs and Templates

Templates.

Navigate to VM Storage Policies page
VLAB-VM-01, and then select VM Policies > Edit VM Storage Policies...

Edit the VLAB-VM-01 storage policy
In the VM storage policy list box, select the policy you created, Erasure Coding
Coding.
Click Apply to all

all.
Click OK
OK.
Check VM Storage Policy Compliance
After applying a new policy to a VM, it is important to verify that the VM complies to the new rules. In certain policy
changes, such as changes in QoS limits, the VMs will become compliant almost immediately but when changing rules
like fault tolerance mode, it will take some time for the VM to become compliant because the adaptation to the new
rules require data movement. In the following steps you will check the VM compliance and monitor the component
reconfiguration process.

Check VM Storage Policy Compliance
The VM storage policy becomes noncompliant while the VM objects are being converted from the RAID1 to the RAID5
fault tolerance mode
Click Check Compliance to refresh the view.

Monitor Component Reconfiguration
Click Monitor
Monitor.
Click Policies
Policies.
Select Hard disk1
Click Physical Disk Placement.
Check the Component State column indicating that the object components are being reconfigured.
Check the Fault Domain Column. Note that each of the four new RAID 5 components are in a different Fault Domain.
Note: This reconfiguration will take a few minutes to complete. You can check the storage compliance again later. In
this lab you are seeing that changes to certain policies create extra activity in the cluster. Therefore, a best practice is
to plan ahead to ensure that your VMs are assigned the proper policies when created but you are also seeing that the
changes of policies can be done dynamically at VM level which provides a good degree of flexibility when there is a
decision to change a policy.

Lab 7 - Snapshot Creation and
Management

Creating and Managing Snapshots
In this lab you will execute a few exercises with the purpose of becoming more familiar with the Snapshot functionality
available with vSphere.
Return to the VLAB-VM-01

Check the content of the parmfiles directory
Navigate to C:\vdbench > parmfiles
Verify that in this folder you have a single text file, app-for-qos-test
Take a Snapshot of the VM-VLAB-01
You will now return to the vSphere Web Client and take a snapshot of VLAB-VM-01. In VSAN 6.2 you have the ability to
take 32 snapshots of a single VM.

Minimize the 192.168.10.20 session.
Home
Click Home
Home.
Click VMs and Templates

Templates.

Navigate to the Take a Snapshot page
VLAB-VM-01, and then select Snapshots > Take Snapshot...

Name your Snapshot
In the Name field, type SNAP-01
In the Description text box, type The Original state

state.
Clear Snapshot the virtual machine's memory

memory.
You are not preserving the virtual machine memory due to the limitations in the simulated environment. In a real world
environment, it is recommended to select Snapshot the virtual machine's memory.
Click OK
OK.

Monitor the snapshot creation task
In Recent Tasks
Tasks, wait for the task to complete before advancing to the next step.
Return to the VLAB-VM-01
Delete content in the parmfiles directory
You will now delete the file in parmfiles directory and later you will revert to the state that the VM was in when the
snapshot was taken.

Delete a file
Right-click app-for-qos-test, and then select Delete

Delete.
Click Yes
Yes.
Log-Off from VM-VLAB-01
Double-click LOGOFF VM

Revert VM to Snapshot image
You will now revert the VM image to the state that is was when we took the snapshot session. The revert image
process will suspend the VM. You will power on and reconnect later.
Navigate to the Manage Snapshots page
Right-click VLAB-VM-01, and then select Snapshots > Manage Snapshots
Revert the VM to a previous point in time image
Select the Snapshot session to revert to, SNAP-01
Click Revert To
To.
In the Confirm Revert to Snapshot dialog box, click Yes

Yes.
Click Close
Close.
Monitor the snapshot reversion task
In Recent Tasks
Tasks, wait for the task to complete before advancing to the next step.
Power On the VLAB-VM-01
You will now power on the VM and verify that the VM image is back at its original state.
Power On VM
Right-click VLAB-VM-01, and then select Power > Power On
Wait for Power On to Complete
In Recent Tasks
Tasks, wait for the task to complete before advancing to the next step. This will take approximately 2
minutes.
Initiate a Remote Desktop
Minimize vSphere Web Client

Client.
On the desktop, double-click vlab-vm-01
Enter password
The domain and username are already set to VLAB\administrator
Type Password123!
Click OK
OK.
Check content of parmfiles directory
On the taskbar, click Windows Explorer

Explorer.
Navigate to C:\vdbench > parmfiles
Verify that the app-for-qos-test file you previously had deleted is now in the directory.
Log-Off from VM-VLAB-01
On the desktop, double-click LOGOFF VM
Lab 8 - Deduplication and
Compression
Enabling Deduplication and Compression in the VxRail Cluster
Checking Deduplication and Compression state
You will begin this lab by checking the state of Deduplication and Compression in VSAN Storage Page
Home
Click Home
Home.
Navigate to the Storage Page
Click Storage
Storage.
Expand EMCVLAB
Expand EMCVLAB
EMCVLAB.
Check the Deduplication and Compression state
Click MARVIN-Virtual-SAN-Datastore
Click Monitor
Monitor.
Click Virtual SAN

SAN.
Confirm that deduplication and compression data are disabled
Enabling Deduplication and Compression
You will now execute the steps to enable Deduplication and Compression in your VxRail Cluster.
Home
Click Home
Home.
Navigate to the Hosts and Clusters page

Clusters.
Navigate to the Edit Virtual SAN settings page
Ensure VxRail-Vlab-Cluster is selected.
Click General
General.
In the Virtual SAN is Turned ON area, click Edit
Edit.
Enable Deduplication and Compression
In the Add disks to storage list box, select Manual

Manual.
In the Deduplication and compression list box, select Enabled

Enabled.
Select Allow Reduced Redundancy

Redundancy.
Click OK
Note
Note: Deduplication and Compression features are enabled at Cluster level. When you click OK you are initiating a
rolling reformat of all disks that are part of the VSAN Datastore.
Monitor the reconfiguration of the Virtual SAN Cluster
In Recent Tasks
Tasks, the Reconfigure Virtual SAN cluster task has now started.
You do not need to wait for the completion of these reconfiguration tasks to proceed to the next step, but it is
recommended you wait a few minutes until vSphere provides specific information about deduplication, such as the
metadata space used for deduplication.
Checking Deduplication and Compression state - 2nd time
You will now verify that the deduplication and compression features were enabled in the cluster.
Home
Click Home
Home.
Navigate to the Storage Page
Click Storage
Storage.
Check the Deduplication and Compression state
Ensure MARVIN-Virtual-SAN-Datastore is selected.
Confirm that deduplication and compression data are now enabled
Note
Note: You will not see any savings currently but you will see data reduction as the rolling reformat progresses.
Check the used capacity breakdown after dedup enablement
Scroll down to see a breakdown of the capacity being consumed. The capacity consumed by the virtual disks was
reduced as a result of allowing redundancy during the rolling reformat.
Hover over the different object types to obtain a description.
When Deduplication and Compression is enabled, VSAN allocates about 5% of the raw capacity to store the metadata
related to deduplication. Deduplication algorithms compute hash keys for the data blocks / segments being written
and store these hash keys in an index table. This index table is allocated on the disk capacity.
Monitor the reformatting progress
Now you will check the reformatting progress.
Home
Click Home
Home.
Navigate to the Hosts and Clusters page

Clusters.
Monitor object resynchronization
Click Monitor
Monitor.
Click Virtual SAN

SAN.
Click Resyncing Components

Components. Observe the object resynchronization progress
This view displays the status of virtual machine objects that are being synchronized and estimates the ETA to
compliance on a per VM basis.
As seen in this lab, dedup and compression will reformat all disks in the VSAN cluster. A best practice is to enable
deduplication and compression immediately after the installation of the new cluster.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Congratulations!
Bart, Stephan's manager has received fantastic feedback from the internal teams on how fast they are now able to
deploy a new infrastructure, on how simple and fast is to scale a system, on the enhanced ability to service their
systems whenever there is a need, and also feedback on how functionally complete is the infrastructure.
By leveraging VxRail appliances in their remote locations, they are now able to deploy a new compute, network and
storage infrastructure in a very short period of time (fifteen minutes to configure) without the need of a PhD degree in
each of the components being installed.
Because it is so simple and fast to scale, they can start operating with small and less expensive systems, and add
more appliances as the needs of the remote offices change.
The system provides a series of features that can increase data integrity, enhance data protection and increase
efficiency of resource utilization.
Bart and Stephan feel comfortable that whenever there is a problem they will have the necessary resources for
diagnosis and correction, and they can also count on emc to service their systems through the remote services
support.
They also enjoyed the new Markets service which enables them to install /update applications on any of the VMs that
are running in their remote offices.
Additional Solution Information
Business Challenge
RainPole
RainPole is uniquely positioned in the Public Cloud hosting arena as one of the first companies offering cloud services
as their core business model. RainPole is preparing to position itself as the logical option to the largest players by
offering customers more control over their cloud environment. Rainpoles entire virtualization platform is based on
VMware technologies.
Unfortunately, limited resources and ever-tighter budget constraints make it necessary for them to do more with less
to get the most out of their technology investment while maximizing flexibility. They see virtualized environments as
an opportunity for them to achieve the agility and flexibility needed to respond quickly to market opportunities and
generate new revenues or meet the most demanding service level agreements (SLAs)while streamlining operations
and controlling costs.
RainPoles IT department is providing ITaaS to the various departments within the organization. You are a General IT
Administrator and know a variety of operations such as storage, networking and compute. Your responsibility is to
configure, deploy and manage a VxRail Hyper-converged infrastructure appliance.
Solution
RainPole has determined that a VxRail from EMC is the appropriate solution for the VMware infrastructure. It allows
them to deploy an appliance in multiple international locations with all of the required data services
Business Value
Business applications are moving into consolidated compute, network, and storage environments. EMC VxRail
delivers an agile, scalable and trusted hyper-converged infrastructure for virtualized environments.
Agile
Respond quickly to changing business demands

Speed time to deployment with single, elastic pool of resources
Streamline operations with intuitive-driven deployment, upgrades and patches
Scalable
Linear scale-out with small increment, cost-effective building block approach

Eliminates need for pre-planned infrastructure purchases
Leverages CloudArray as a vehicle to scale and take advantage of the economical benefits of cloud storage
Trusted
One call global support with single point for accountability for hardware and software
EMC Secure Remote Services enables remote monitoring diagnostics and repair
Industry leading Data Protection safeguards the entire system
Functional Complete
Advanced features and functions, such as, Checksum for data integrity, Erasure Coding and Deduplication for
Space Efficiency, Fault Domains and Stretched Clusters for data protection, Non-disruptive data mobility,
among other functions that significantly increase the value provided by the platform
Solution Components
The VxRail Appliance family brings together the best of EMC and VMware including EMC rich data services and leading
systems management capabilities with VMware's leading hyper-converged software that includes VMware vSphere,
vCenter Server and VMware Virtual SAN the simple, powerful, efficient software defined storage natively integrated
with vSphere - all in a single product family with one point of support. Hybrid storage or all-flash VxRail Appliances
extend and simplify VMware customer environments and deliver key performance and capacity advantages in a
simple, turnkey and easily scalable HCIA.
VxRail Appliances are fully loaded with integrated EMC mission-critical data services including replication, backup and
cloud tiering at no additional charge. EMC RecoverPoint for Virtual Machines provides per-VM replication and
automated disaster recovery for critical workloads. Virtual SAN active-active stretch clusters provide site level, zero
data loss protection. Integrated vSphere Data Protection provides backup and recovery using existing tools and can
optionally backup to EMC Data Domain for centralized storage and management.
VCE VxRail Manager provides deep hardware awareness with up-to-the-minute holistic notifications about the state of
the appliance and leverages VMware Log Insight to capture events. VxRail Appliances leverage EMC cloud tiering to
seamlessly extend to more than 20 public clouds such as VMware vCloud Air, Amazon Web Services, Microsoft
Azure and very shortly Virtustream, to more securely expand storage capacity without limits, providing an additional
10TB of on-demand cloud storage per appliance. The below list provides the specific software versions included with
every VxRail 3.5 appliance.
Included VxRail Licenses & Versions
VMware Virtual SAN Enterprise 6.2

VCE VxRail Manager 3.5
VMware vCenter Server 6.0 U2
VMware vRealize Log Insight 3.3.1
EMC Secure Remote Support (ESRS)/VE 3.0.8
EMC Recover Point for Virtual Machines (RP4VM) 4.3.1.1. Fifteen (15) full licenses, downloadable through
VxRail Manager
EMC CloudArray 6.0.5. One (1) TB local cache/ Ten (10) TB cloud storage license, downloadable through
VxRail Manager
Note: A supported vSphere license must be supplied by the customer or purchased with VxRail.
EMC together with VMware uniquely simplify the infrastructure lifecycle by eliminating constant evaluation cycles and
testing with continuous integration of advancements in x86 technologies and implementation of the latest
enhancements to VMware vSphere and VMware Virtual SAN delivering leading efficiency with data reduction
technologies - deduplication, compression and erasure coding. The net result: IT organizations can focus more on
innovation by creating an automated, dynamic infrastructure that adapts to their business demands.
Customers receive a familiar experience with management through VMware vCenter Server. VxRail Appliances also
seamlessly integrate with the broader VMware vSphere ecosystem, fully supporting existing management,
automation, monitoring, and availability tools from VMware to dramatically simplify IT operations, while enabling
lower costs . Additionally VxRail Appliances integrate with VMware's cloud management platform and end-user
computing solutions, including VMware vRealize Operations and VMware Horizon Air Hybrid-Mode.

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DELL EMC VXRAIL 3.

DELL EMC VXRAIL 3.5 A FULLY LOADED HYPER-CONVERGED EXPERIENCE

Lab Overview ................................................................................................................................................ 6

Lab Credentials ................................................................................................................................................8

Lab Scenario ....................................................................................................................................................9

Lab 1 - First Build ....................................................................................................................................... 11

Lab 2 - Logical and Physical Health ............................................................................................................. 34

Lab 3 - Cluster Expansion - Scaling Out ....................................................................................................... 48

Lab 4 - QoS IOPS limit................................................................................................................................. 57

Lab 5 - Fault Domains ................................................................................................................................. 73

Lab 6 - Erasure Coding ................................................................................................................................ 79

Lab 7 - Snapshot Creation and Management............................................................................................... 92

Lab 8 - Deduplication and Compression.................................................................................................... 106

Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................... 117

Additional Solution Information................................................................................................................ 119

DELL EMC VXRAIL 3.5 A FULLY LOADED HYPER-CONVERGED EXPERIENCE Page 4

In this lab, you will:

DELL EMC VXRAIL 3.5 A FULLY LOADED HYPER-CONVERGED EXPERIENCE Page 5

DELL EMC VXRAIL 3.5 A FULLY LOADED HYPER-CONVERGED EXPERIENCE Page 6

The environment for this lab includes the following:

Physical Disk/Node replacement

DELL EMC VXRAIL 3.5 A FULLY LOADED HYPER-CONVERGED EXPERIENCE Page 7

The following credentials are used in this lab:

DELL EMC VXRAIL 3.5 A FULLY LOADED HYPER-CONVERGED EXPERIENCE Page 8

DELL EMC VXRAIL 3.5 A FULLY LOADED HYPER-CONVERGED EXPERIENCE Page 9

Lab 1: 1st Build

Lab 2: Logical and Physical Health

Execution of the procedures to add a node to the existing VxRail Cluster

Create and apply an IO limit policy

Lab 5: Fault Domains

Define Fault Domains in the cluster configuration

Lab 6: Erasure Coding

Create and Apply an Erasure Coding Policy

Lab 7: Snapshot Creation and Management

Lab 8: Enabling Deduplication and Compression in the VxRail Cluster

DELL EMC VXRAIL 3.5 A FULLY LOADED HYPER-CONVERGED EXPERIENCE Page 10

DELL EMC VXRAIL 3.5 A FULLY LOADED HYPER-CONVERGED EXPERIENCE Page 11

Launch vSphere Web Client

On the desktop, double-click vSphere Web Client

DELL EMC VXRAIL 3.5 A FULLY LOADED HYPER-CONVERGED EXPERIENCE Page 12

Use the following credentials

User name: administrator@vsphere.local

Verify the Current Configuration under vCenter Server Management

Hosts and Clusters

Click Hosts and Clusters.

DELL EMC VXRAIL 3.5 A FULLY LOADED HYPER-CONVERGED EXPERIENCE Page 13

Connect to the VxRail Manager service

Click + to open a new browser tab.

Click VxRail Configuration

Configure your Software Defined Data Center

DELL EMC VXRAIL 3.5 A FULLY LOADED HYPER-CONVERGED EXPERIENCE Page 14

Click Get Started

Accept the End-User License agreement - EULA

Select the configuration option

Click Configuration file

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DELL EMC VXRAIL 3.5 A FULLY LOADED HYPER-CONVERGED EXPERIENCE Page 16

Select VxRail Configuration JSON.json

DELL EMC VXRAIL 3.5 A FULLY LOADED HYPER-CONVERGED EXPERIENCE Page 17

Verify the following Global System settings:

Time Zone: UTC

Verify ESXi Hostname settings

Verify the ESXI settings: