HP TA688-96138 User Manual

HP StoreVirtual Storage VSA Installation and Configuration Guide

Abstract

This guide provides information about installing and configuring the HP StoreVirtual VSA for VMware vSphere and the HP StoreVirtual VSA for Microsoft Hyper-V. Included are network configuration best practices to ensure the best performance for the SAN using the VSAs. The intended audience is system administrators responsible for managing HP StoreVirtual Storage using VSAs.

HP Part Number: TA688-96138 Published: March 2013 Edition: 6

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The information contained herein is subject to change without notice. The only warranties for HP products and services are set forth in the express warranty statements accompanying such products and services. Nothing herein should be construed as constituting an additional warranty. HP shall not be liable for technical or editorial errors or omissions contained herein.

Acknowledgements

Microsoft®, Windows®, Windows® XP, and Windows NT® are U.S. registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation.

Revision History

September 2010Revision 1

First edition

November 2010Revision 2

Updated with changes for the SAN/iQ software 9.0 release.

September 2011Revision 3

Updated with changes for the SAN/iQ software 9.5 release, including new installer for VSA for ESX Server.

December 2011Revision 4

Updated with changes for the installer for VSA to ESX Server, for the SAN/iQ software 9.5 release.

November 2012Revision 5 Updated for the SAN/iQ software 10.0 release. Updated memory requirements, removed Jumbo Frames and 10 Gb/s has being not supported with virtual NICs, increased virtual CPU prerequisite for VSA for Hyper-V installation from one to two.

March 2013Revision 6 Updated with new product branding for the LeftHand OS software 10.5 release.

1 Planning for the VSA...................................................................................5

Planning the virtual network configuration....................................................................................5

Planning the clustered storage configuration.................................................................................5

2 Installing the HP StoreVirtual VSA for VMware vSphere....................................6

Supported versions of VMware...................................................................................................6

Prerequisites.............................................................................................................................6

Installing the HP StoreVirtual VSA for VMware vSphere..................................................................6

Installing the VSA OVF version...................................................................................................8

Configuring a data disk.............................................................................................................8

Powering on the VSA for vSphere and setting IP address and hostname...........................................9

Finishing up with VI Client.........................................................................................................9

3 Installing the HP StoreVirtual VSA for Microsoft Hyper-V.................................11

Supported versions of Microsoft Windows Server........................................................................11

Prerequisites...........................................................................................................................11

Best practices.........................................................................................................................12

Unsupported configurations.....................................................................................................12

Installing the HP StoreVirtual VSA for Microsoft Hyper-V...............................................................12

Troubleshooting......................................................................................................................13

4 Getting started with HP StoreVirtual Storage.................................................14

Installing the CMC..................................................................................................................14

Prerequisite.......................................................................................................................14

Installing the CMC in Microsoft Windows.............................................................................14

Installing the CMC in Linux..................................................................................................14

Getting started with the CMC...................................................................................................14

Verify the hardware configuration........................................................................................15

Configuring RAID..........................................................................................................16

Creating the iSCSI SAN..........................................................................................................17

Best Practice Summary........................................................................................................17

Troubleshooting .....................................................................................................................18

Documentation available ........................................................................................................19

5 Designing a virtual SAN ...........................................................................20

Designing your virtual SAN......................................................................................................20

Configuration requirements.................................................................................................20

Best practices....................................................................................................................21

Unsupported configurations.................................................................................................21

Hardware design for VSA........................................................................................................22

Virtual network design.............................................................................................................23

Using VSAs with HP StoreVirtual Storage...................................................................................23

Adding storage capacity to a VSA............................................................................................23

Create additional disks.......................................................................................................24

Sample configurations.............................................................................................................25

Single system configuration.................................................................................................25

Two-system configuration.....................................................................................................25

Three-system-plus configuration............................................................................................26

6 Using the VMware VSA laptop demo..........................................................27

Requirements for the demo.......................................................................................................27

Planning the demo installation..................................................................................................27

Installing the VSA...................................................................................................................27

Configuring the VSA with VMware Player, VMware Server, or VMware Workstation...................28

Contents 3

7 Support and other resources......................................................................29

Contacting HP........................................................................................................................29

Subscription service............................................................................................................29

Rack stability..........................................................................................................................29

Customer self repair................................................................................................................29

HP Insight Remote Support Software..........................................................................................29

Related information.................................................................................................................30

HP websites......................................................................................................................30

8 Documentation feedback...........................................................................31

4 Contents

1 Planning for the VSA

Careful planning of the virtual network configuration, the VSA configuration, and the configuration of the clusters and volumes for data storage ensures that you can take full advantage of the features and benefits of the HP StoreVirtual Storage.

Planning the virtual network configuration

Before you install the VSA on the network, plan the virtual network configuration, including the following areas:

• Design and configuration of the virtual switches and network adapters.

• VSA directories, host names and IP addresses.

• Virtual network configuration, including the subnet and the virtual IP addresses for iSCSI

access.

For more detailed information, see “Designing a virtual SAN ” (page 20).

Planning the clustered storage configuration

When you install the HP StoreVirtual Centralized Management Console, you should plan and configure the storage system features, such as email alert notification, before you configure the data storage.

Planning the virtual network configuration 5

2 Installing the HP StoreVirtual VSA for VMware vSphere

The VSA is pre-formatted for use with HP StoreVirtual VSA for VMware vSphere. If you are using an evaluation copy, and you want to continue using the VSA after the trial period has ended, you must purchase a license key. After you apply the license key, your configuration can be used as is in a production environment, or reconfigured if necessary.

Supported versions of VMware

VMware vSphere 5; ESXi Server version 5.x for LeftHand OS 9.0 or later

NOTE: If you are running LeftHand OS version 9.0, VMware vSphere 4 and ESX/ESXi Server

4.x are also supported.

Prerequisites

• Available drive space of up to 10 TB for ESX Server. HP recommends installing ESX Server

on top of a redundant RAID configuration. Do not use RAID 0.

• 4 GB memory available for running the HP StoreVirtual VSA for VMware vSphere installer.

• Applicable memory reserved based on total disk capacity (Table 1 (page 6)).

Table 1 Reserve physical memory for VSA for vSphere disks

Requires at least this much memoryTotal capacity of all installed disks

3 GB5 GB to 500 GB

4 GB500 GB to 5 TB

5 GB5 TB to 10 TB

• Microsoft .Net 2.0 or later on the installer client.

• vCenter and ESX servers properly licensed before connecting to them using the HP StoreVirtual

VSA for VMware vSphere installer.

• A Gigabit Ethernet or internal network environment, including the following:

A host name for the VSA for vSphere◦

◦ A network configuration plan, including reserved IP addresses, subnet mask, and gateway

for the VSA, or use DHCP (requires statically assigned IP addresses)

Installing the HP StoreVirtual VSA for VMware vSphere

Install the VSA for vSphere using any of the following methods:

• Download the VSA for vSphere from either of these HP websites:

http://www.hp.com/go/tryvsa

www.hp.com/go/StoreVirtualDownloads

• Install the VSA for vSphere from the HP StoreVirtual VSA and Failover Manager DVD.

The installer for the VSA for vSphere includes a wizard that guides you through configuring the virtual machine on the network, configuring virtual or physical hard drives, and powering on the VSA. The installer checks for the current CMC, and then installs it, if it is not on the system.

6 Installing the HP StoreVirtual VSA for VMware vSphere

NOTE: If a prior version CMC is installed on a management computer on the network, the VSA

for vSphere installer updates the CMC to the current version in the same location. The user-specified location entered in the installer wizard is ignored.

NOTE: You cannot run concurrent installations of VSA with the same VSA name on one ESX

server.

After the installation is complete, open the CMC and find the VSAs as storage systems in the CMC. You can then set up the clustered storage for the SAN, as described in “Getting started with HP

StoreVirtual Storage” (page 14).

Table 2 Configuring the VSA for vSphere using the installer wizard

DefinitionInstaller step

Host Setup

Select Host

Type

Datastore

ESX Server or vCenter Server that will host the VSA. Enter either the IP address or host name of the server.

Lists ESX hosts managed by the vCenter Server or ESX Server, and lists health status and configuration details for the host. Select the specific host on the server that was entered in the first step.

Virtual Storage Appliance (VSA) is the storage system. See the HP StoreVirtual Storage User Guide for information about installing the Failover Manager (FOM).

List of datastores available on the server. Select the desired datastore to host the virtual appliance files.

Network settings include the following information:Network

• DNS name for the VSA. Name for the VSA must be 80 characters or less. Valid characters

include a-z (case insensitive), 0–9, and –.

• NIC to configure. Available NICs are eth0 and eth1. The VSA can support up to two NICs.

◦ IP address

Reserved IP address is recommended. Enter the IP address, subnet mask, and gateway. DHCP is available (requires statically assigned IP addresses).

◦ The network interface designated for the virtual machines. Select the appropriate interface

from the list.

• The NIC designated as the preferred interface for LeftHand OS. Select eth0 or eth1.

Information for creating the virtual machine, including the following:Virtual Machine

• Name for the virtual machine in ESX Server or vCenter Server

• Type of data drives, virtual or raw

VMDK or Raw Disk

One of two windows opens, depending on which type of drives were selected in the Virtual Machine window. Virtual or raw drive requirements

• Maximum of 5 drives

• Minimum size: 5 GB

• Maximum size: 2047 GB

Virtual hard drives window Select up to 5 virtual hard drives and designate the size. Raw Disk window Select up to five raw disks that you have prepared, and which are available. These drives must

have no partitions or volumes on them, or the installer will not list them.

IMPORTANT: The raw disk can be greater than 2 TB in VMware. However, the total amount of

configured storage on the VSA cannot exceed 10 TB or virtual RAID configuration will fail.

Installing the HP StoreVirtual VSA for VMware vSphere 7

1. Begin the installer one of the following ways:

• Insert the HP StoreVirtual Management Software DVD in the DVD drive.

• Double-click the executable that you downloaded to start the installation.

2. Click Install VSA for VMware vSphere to begin the wizard.

3. In the Meta Launcher command line window that opens, enter 1 to run the installer CLI, or

enter 2 to run the installer GUI. Both versions require the same information and perform the same installation.

• If you selected the GUI installation in the Meta Launcher CLI window, the GUI installer

window opens again and you click Install VSA for VMware for vSphere again to begin the wizard.

4. If necessary, enter the login credentials to allow the installer to configure the VSA for vSphere

on the vSphere server, and click Yes.

5. Accept the terms of the License Agreement again.

6. Work through the wizard to configure the parameters of the virtual machine on the network,

including the hard drives. See Table 2 (page 7).

NOTE: Run the wizard again to configure another VSA for vSphere using the same parameters

as appropriate.

7. Finish the installation, reviewing the configuration summary, and click Deploy.

When the installer is finished, the VSA for vSphere is ready to be used in the HP StoreVirtual Storage.

8. Next, use the Find function in the CMC to discover the VSA for vSphere, and then add it to

a management group.

Installing the VSA OVF version

Import the VSA for vSphere OVF version as a virtual appliance through the Virtual Infrastructure Client. Download the .ovf files from the website:

http://www.hp.com/go/StoreVirtualDownloads

When you import the VSA for vSphere you must perform the following tasks:

• Configure the data disk(s).

• Power on the VSA for vSphere and set the IP address and host name of the VSA for vSphere.

Configuring a data disk

When you configure the data disk, use Table 3 (page 8) to determine the proper size for the disk. The maximum disk size on the ESX Server is limited by the block size used to format the datastore.

Table 3 Relationship of disk size to datastore block size

VMFS5 only

Max VMDKBlock Size

VMFS3 only

8 Installing the HP StoreVirtual VSA for VMware vSphere

up to 2 TB1 MB (default)

256 GB1 MB

512 GB2 MB

Table 3 Relationship of disk size to datastore block size (continued)

Max VMDKBlock Size

1024 GB4 MB

2048 GB8 MB

To configure the data disk:

1. In the VI Client, navigate to the Inventory Panel.

2. Click Add at the bottom of the Hardware tab.

3. Select Hard Disk as the type of device to add and click Next.

4. Select Create a new virtual disk and click Next.

5. In the Disk Capacity section, designate a capacity that is suitable for the amount of storage available on your ESX Server.

6. In the Location section, select Store with Virtual Machine, and click Next.

7. For the first disk, select the Virtual Device Node to be SCSI1:0 from the list. For additional disks, assign SCSI 1:1 through 1:4, in sequential order.

CAUTION: Selecting anything other than SCSI 1:0 for the first disk causes RAID to be

unconfigurable later.

8. Select Mode→Independent→Persistent and click Next.

9. Review the device configuration and click Finish.

Powering on the VSA for vSphere and setting IP address and hostname

1. In the inventory panel, select the new VSA for vSphere and power it on.

2. Select the Console tab and wait for the VSA for vSphere to boot.

3. When the VSA for vSphere finishes booting, enter Start and press Enter to log in to the Configuration Interface.

4. On the Configuration Interface main menu, press Tab to select Network TCP/IP Settings and press Enter.

5. On the Available Network Devices window, press Tab to select the applicable network interface and press Enter.

6. On the Network Settings window, press Tab to select the Hostname box and enter a host name for the VSA. Use backspace to erase an entry if necessary.

This host name displays in the CMC only. It does not change the name of the original .vmx file or the name of the virtual machine in the VMware interface.

7. Press Tab to select the method for setting the IP address. If you are entering a static IP address, note that Gateway is a required field. If you do not

have a gateway, enter 0.0.0.0.

8. Press Tab to select OK and press Enter.

9. Press Enter again to confirm the action.

10. After the settings are configured, press Enter to confirm the IP address change.

11. On the Available Network Devices window, press Tab to select Back and press Enter.

12. On the Configuration Interface, press Tab to select Log Out and press Enter.

Finishing up with VI Client

1. In the VI Client Information Panel, select the Summary tab.

2. In the General section on the Summary tab, verify that the IP address and host name are correct, and that VMware Tools are running.

Powering on the VSA for vSphere and setting IP address and hostname 9

NOTE: If VMware Tools show out of date or Unmanaged, then they are running correctly.

These statuses are not a problem, because the tools are available and running. VMware tools are updated with each LeftHand OS software upgrade.

3. Optional: If you want the name of the VSA for vSphere to match the host name in the CMC,

in the inventory panel, right-click the VSA for vSphere and select Rename and enter the host name.

10 Installing the HP StoreVirtual VSA for VMware vSphere

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