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E2E Deployment and Operations Guide with Scalable Networking (Windows)
About using this guide Deployment Introduction Solution Overview Solution Deployment Network integration overview Scalable Architecture Additional guidance for all configurations Deploying and Configuring a Host Cluster Persistent Memory for Windows Server HCI Day 1 operations Managing and monitoring clusters with Windows Admin Center Dell OpenManage Integration with Windows Admin Center
Dell OpenManage Integration with Windows Admin Center
Overview
Prerequisites for managing AX nodes
Installing the OMIMSWAC license
Managing Microsoft HCI-based clusters
Overview Prerequisite checks Health status Inventory Locating physical disks and viewing their status Viewing update compliance and updating the cluster
Full Stack Cluster-Aware Offline Updating
Full Stack Cluster-Aware Updating for Azure Stack HCI clusters
Updating a standalone node before adding it to the cluster
Enabling hardware alerts for HCI cluster
Secure cluster with Secured-core
Enabling operating system features
Protect your infrastructure with infrastructure lock
Enable or disable infrastructure lock
Manage CPU cores in Azure Stack HCI clusters
Validate and remediate Azure Stack HCI clusters
View HCP compliance summary
View recommendations for storage expansion
View node level storage configuration details
Known issues
Updates and maintenance Secure connect gateway

View recommendations for storage expansion

Home > Integrated Products > Microsoft HCI Solutions from Dell Technologies > Guides 22H2 and earlier > E2E Deployment and Operations Guide with Scalable Networking (Windows) > View recommendations for storage expansion

View recommendations for storage expansion

  • This topic explains how to view recommendations, using OpenManage Integration extension, that enable you to prepare nodes for expanding Azure Stack HCI cluster storage.

    • Cluster must be Dell Integrated System for Windows Server 2022.
    • Cluster nodes must have valid OMIWAC premium license installed.
    • Cluster node models are supported in the support matrix.
    In an HCI cluster, expanding storage by adding drives on the available slots on the cluster nodes adds storage capacity to the cluster and improves storage performance. By using the Expand Storage feature, you can view recommendations based on HCI Configuration Profile (HCP) policies that enable you to prepare nodes for expanding HCI clusters storage.
    Note: This feature is not supported for the AX-4510c and AX-4520c servers.

    1. In Windows Admin Center, under Extensions, click Dell OpenManage Integration > Select View > Expand Cluster. From the drop-down menu, select ADD Storage.
      1. If the cluster meets the Prerequisites , OpenManage Integration extension validates the storage configuration of cluster nodes against HCP policies (Dell Hardware Symmetry Policy rules) and displays the cluster level status and drives details for each cluster node. See View node level storage configuration details.
        The Expand Storage button is enabled. Click Refresh Storage Inventory to see the latest storage configuration details of cluster nodes.
      2. If the Expand Storage button is disabled:
        • The cluster may not fulfill all the prerequisites. See the banner message and ensure that all the prerequisites mentioned are met and then refresh the cluster inventory and start fromstep 1.
        • The cluster may be non-compliant if its storage configuration does not comply with all the critical Dell Hardware Symmetry Policy rules. Make the cluster compliant first by going to the HCP Compliance tab and following the recommendations and then try again. To learn more about storage and disks specific rules, see OpenManage Integration with Microsoft Windows Admin Center.
    2. Click the Expand Storage if enabled. Storage Expansion Summary appears on the right.
    3. In the Storage Expansion Summary wizard, view the summary about the cluster storage configuration:
      • Cluster name
      • Node counts
      • Available slot count where storage expansion is possible in that cluster. The available slots shows a warning if any of the cluster node has SAS/SATA drives. This is because the exact number of empty slots for drives with media types such as HDD, SDD may not be derived.
        Note: Available empty slots are calculated using the total available slots and total connected drives, and may not match the number of empty slots for the HDD SSD. Because these drives are embedded in the server chassis.

      • Used storage
      • Available storage
    4. If the cluster is non-compliant with a warning, follow the recommendations to make the cluster storage symmetric. The Recommendation section includes the following details:
      • The Dell HCP policy rule that does not comply with your cluster.
      • The drive details that need to be added or replaced to make your cluster compliant.
      After the cluster is compliant (cluster storage is symmetric), go to step 1 and follow the instructions to see storage expansion recommendations.
    5. If the cluster is compliant, choose one of the storage expansion options, specify the storage size, and then click Refresh Recommendation to see the storage expanding recommendations.
      • Increase overall capacity: Overall capacity indicates the sum of all the disk storage capacity in a cluster. Specify the storage size as available to increase the overall capacity of the cluster.
      • Increase usable capacity: Usable capacity indicates the actual storage size that is used by the cluster after reserving some storage for fault tolerance (resiliency). Specify the overall usable capacity as available for the entire cluster.
      OpenManage Integration displays overall capacity based on resiliency type. See the Microsoft document for more information about fault tolerance and storage efficiency on HCI clusters.

      The Recommendation section includes the below details:

      • STORAGE: Displays node name. Also, displays number of drives that are required with recommended media type, and recommended storage capacity of each drive.
      • Supported models
        Note: AGN MU in the model description indicates that the model is vendor agnostic and mixed use.

      • Manufacturer
      • Endurance
      • Actual capacity
      • Bus protocol
      • Cache to capacity ratio (only available for hybrid nodes)
      Note:
      • Recommendations are derived based on possible empty slots present in the nodes. For non-uniform media types across the cluster, even after following the recommendation you may see some warnings.
      • To order drives, Dell Technologies recommends to use the bus protocol, model, size mentioned in the storage column, and endurance information to identify compatible drives for storage expansion.


    Insert the recommended drives and then check the updated storage configuration by running HCP compliance. Contact the Dell support for any issues.