Dell 6420 User Manual
Dell EMC XC6420 XC Series Appliance and XC
Core System
Solutions Guide
Regulatory Model: E43S Series
Regulatory Type: E43S001
Notes, cautions, and warnings
NOTE: A NOTE indicates important information that helps you make better use of your product.
CAUTION: A CAUTION indicates either potential damage to hardware or loss of data and tells you how to avoid the problem. 
WARNING: A WARNING indicates a potential for property damage, personal injury, or death.
© 2018 Dell Inc. or its subsidiaries. All rights reserved. Dell, EMC, and other trademarks are trademarks of Dell Inc. or its subsidiaries. Other trademarks may be trademarks of their respective owners.
2018 - 10
Rev. A02
Contents
1 About Dell EMC XC6420 XC Series Appliance and XC Core System solution................................................. |
4 |
2 Documentation references............................................................................................................................. |
5 |
3 License management..................................................................................................................................... |
6 |
Setting up Nutanix Customer Portal................................................................................................................................ |
6 |
Managing the license................................................................................................................................................... |
7 |
4 Deploying an appliance.................................................................................................................................. |
8 |
Before you begin................................................................................................................................................................ |
8 |
Setting up your appliance for €rst use............................................................................................................................ |
9 |
Deploying XC Series Appliance and XC Core System............................................................................................. |
9 |
Default cluster credentials................................................................................................................................................ |
11 |
5 Downloading and installing software applications......................................................................................... |
13 |
Downloading OpenManage Essentials........................................................................................................................... |
13 |
Installing Dell OpenManage Essentials on a separate management server............................................................... |
13 |
Dell Nautilus....................................................................................................................................................................... |
14 |
6 Monitoring XC Series Appliances and XC Core Systems............................................................................... |
15 |
Monitoring the appliance by using iDRAC..................................................................................................................... |
15 |
Monitoring the appliance by using Dell OpenManage Essentials................................................................................ |
15 |
Monitoring an appliance by using Nutanix Web Console............................................................................................. |
16 |
Monitoring an appliance by using Nutanix Prism.......................................................................................................... |
16 |
7 Updating firmware........................................................................................................................................ |
17 |
Updating drive €rmware with Dell Nautilus................................................................................................................... |
17 |
8 Replacing hardware...................................................................................................................................... |
19 |
Replacing components with no cluster data................................................................................................................. |
19 |
Replacing failed front hard drive and SSD components that contain cluster data.................................................. |
20 |
9 Recovering an appliance............................................................................................................................... |
21 |
10 Getting help............................................................................................................................................... |
22 |
Contacting Dell EMC....................................................................................................................................................... |
22 |
Dell EMC SupportAssist.................................................................................................................................................. |
22 |
Locating Service Tag....................................................................................................................................................... |
22 |
Quick Resource Locator for XC6420 systems............................................................................................................. |
23 |
A Bare metal recovery..................................................................................................................................... |
24 |
Creating a RASR USB disk for Hyper-V........................................................................................................................ |
24 |
Creating a RASR USB disk for ESXi and AHV.............................................................................................................. |
24 |
Contents 3
1
About Dell EMC XC6420 XC Series Appliance and XC Core System solution
NOTE: The information in this document applies to both Dell EMC XC6420 Series Appliances, and Dell EMC XC Core System offering. Sections or information that apply to only one of the offerings (XC Series or XC Core) will be called out explicitly.
The Dell EMC XC6420 XC Series Appliance and XC Core System solution includes the Dell EMC appliance and software from Nutanix (used as a virtual appliance), which simpli€es virtualization by converging computer, storage, and network into a single appliance that is deployed in a clustered environment. The following illustration shows the Dell EMC XC6420 XC Series Appliance and XC Core System:
NOTE: For more information about deploying the Dell EMC XC6420 XC Series Appliance and XC Core System, see the manuals available at Dell.com/XCSeriesmanuals.
Figure 1. Back view of XC6420 Series sled
4 About Dell EMC XC6420 XC Series Appliance and XC Core System solution
2
Documentation references
Table 1 provides the reference document link on the Dell support site for Nutanix solution software documentation, Dell EMC documentation, and supported hardware, €rmware, and software.
Table 1. Documentation references |
|
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Information |
Link |
|
|
|
|
Nutanix solution software documentation |
|
|
Dell EMC documentation |
See the Dell EMC XC6420 Series Hyper-Converged Appliances |
|
Support Matrix available at Dell.com/XCSeriesmanuals |
||
|
||
Supported hardware, €rmware, and software |
|
Documentation references |
5 |
3
License management
NOTE: This chapter does not apply to XC Core appliances.
The Nutanix virtual computing platform consists of various features that enable you to administer your environment according to your current and future requirements.
Licensed features on the XC Series appliances can be upgraded to an enhanced feature set, which is updated for a longer term, or reassigned to nodes or clusters as permitted by the licensing terms provided in the Dell EMC Nutanix EULA.
There are two types of licenses. They are:
•Starter license
•Pro and Ultimate license
Starter license:
Each Nutanix node and block is delivered with a default Starter license, which is issued for a six-year term that begins on the shipping date for your appliance order. You are not required to register this license on the Nutanix Customer Portal account that was assigned to you when you purchased your nodes.
Pro and Ultimate licenses
The Pro and Ultimate license types require you to download a license €le from the Nutanix Customer Support Portal and install it on your cluster. When you upgrade to a Pro or Ultimate license, or add nodes or clusters to your environment with these licensed features, you must generate the license €le, download it, and then install it.
NOTE: The most current information about your license is available at the Nutanix Customer Support Portal. You can view information about license types, expiration dates, and any free license inventory (that is, unassigned available licenses).
Setting up Nutanix Customer Portal
If you are new to Nutanix Support, create a personal pro€le on the Nutanix Customer Portal. Creating a personal pro€le enables you to manage your licenses.
About this task
NOTE: The Nutanix Customer Portal is also required to access some of the advanced Nutanix documentation.
Perform the following steps to set up your Nutanix Customer Portal:
Steps
1Go to http://portal.nutanix.com, click +Create account, type the required information, and then click Register.
An email would be sent to your registered email address. Click the veri€cation link to activate your account. The Welcome screen is displayed.
2Select Support Portal, type the Serial Number or Service Tag of your appliance, and then click Activate.
NOTE: To find the Service Tag of your appliance, see the Locating Service Tag section in this document.
The Customer Portal account is now created and allows you to manage your licenses.
6 License management
Managing the license
About this task
Perform the following steps to manage your licenses:
Steps
1In Nutanix Documentation portal, open the Web Console Guide, and then see the License Management section.
For more information about accessing Web Console Guide, see the Documentation Matrix section in the Dell EMC XC6420 Series Hyper-Converged Appliances Support Matrix available at Dell.com/XCSeriesmanuals.
2Perform the relevant licensing tasks for your appliance.
License management |
7 |
4
Deploying an appliance
Before you begin
Before you deploy XC Series Appliance and XC Core System, ensure that you read through this document and familiarize yourself with the process and required materials.
WARNING: Before you set up and operate your appliance, review the safety instructions that shipped with your storage enclosure.
WARNING: The weight of your appliance with all the physical disk drives installed (full weight) is 41.46 Kg (91.40 lb).
WARNING: Your appliance must be installed by Dell EMC certified service technicians.
CAUTION: Before installing your appliance in the rack, ensure that the weight of the appliance does not exceed the weight limit of the rack. For more information, see the Rack Installation instructions that is shipped with your appliance.
CAUTION: It is important that you complete all the tasks in this guide before doing other configurations.
NOTE: For weight stability, always load the rack by using bottom-up approach.
NOTE: This solution is deployed by Dell EMC Services.
Ensure that the following items are available:
•Power cables
•Network cables—optical and/or copper (Intel SFP+ or Category 6 Ethernet)
•Rail kit
•Nutanix documentation
•Dell EMC Documentation
NOTE: For more information about the Dell EMC documentation and Nutanix documentation, see the Documentation matrix section in Dell EMC XC6420 Series Hyper-Converged Appliances Support Matrix available at Dell.com/XCSeriesmanuals.
NOTE: The Boot Optimized Server Storage (BOSS) card shipped with XC Series Appliance and XC Core System is the appliance boot device. This PCIe card supports up to two M.2 SATA SSDs configured in RAID1 for high availability. Write intensive activities and processes leveraged by XC Series Appliance and XC Core System, are intended to take place on the SSDs and HDDs and not the BOSS boot device. Any applications defaulting write activity to the BOSS boot drive should be redirected accordingly.
The following are some of the examples of write intensive applications not to be run on the boot device:
•Appliance Center Agents
–System Center Con€guration Manager (CCMExec.exe)
–System Center Operations Manager (MonitoringHost.exe)
•Write intensive Agents
•Databases
•Disk management utilities (third-party disk defragmentation or partitioning tools)
•More roles outside of the appliance’s intended use (web server, domain controller, RDS, and so on.).
•Client based Antivirus (Hyper-V only)
•Virtual machines: Ensure that the virtual machines run only on Solid State Drives (SSDs) and Hard Disk Drives (HDDs).
8 Deploying an appliance
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