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E2E Deployment and Operations Guide with Stretched Cluster: Integrated System for Microsoft Azure Stack HCI
About using this guide Introduction Solution overview Solution deployment Creating a stretched cluster Virtual Machines Failure/Recovery from failure of Site/Node Appendices
Appendices
Appendix A: Sample PowerShell cmdlets for end-to-end deployment
Appendix B: Supported hardware
Day 1 operations Managing and monitoring clusters with Windows Admin Center Dell OpenManage Integration with Windows Admin Center Updates and maintenance References

Appendix A: Sample PowerShell cmdlets for end-to-end deployment

Home > Integrated Products > Microsoft HCI Solutions from Dell Technologies > Guides 22H2 and earlier > E2E Deployment and Operations Guide with Stretched Cluster: Integrated System for Microsoft Azure Stack HCI > Appendix A: Sample PowerShell cmdlets for end-to-end deployment

Appendix A: Sample PowerShell cmdlets for end-to-end deployment

  • Install required Windows features

    Install-WindowsFeature -Name "BitLocker", "Data-Center-Bridging", "Failover-Clustering", "FS-FileServer", "FS-SMBBW", "Hyper-V", "Hyper-V-PowerShell", "RSAT-AD-Powershell", "RSAT-Clustering-PowerShell", "NetworkATC", "Storage-Replica" -IncludeAllSubFeature -IncludeManagementTools -Verbose

    Create VM switches and configure host networking

    For detailed QoS configuration for SMB traffic (Mellanox RDMA adapters only), see QoS policy configuration.

    Test-Cluster

    Test-Cluster -Node SiteANode1,SiteANode2,SiteBNode1,SiteBNode2 -Include 'Storage
    Spaces Direct', Inventory', 'Network', 'System Configuration'

    New-Cluster

    New-Cluster -Name R740StretchCluster -Node
    SiteANode1,SiteANode2,SiteBNode1,SiteBNode2 -NoStorage -StaticAddress
    192.168.100.100,192.168.200.100 -IgnoreNetwork
    192.168.101.0/24,192.168.201.0/24, 192.168.102.0/24,192.168.202.0/24

    Witness

    Configure a highly available file share witness at a tertiary site or on Azure cloud. 

    Set-ClusterQuorum -FileShareWitness \\tertiaryShare\witness

    Active Directory sites

    Ensure that you have created two sites on your Active Directory based on IP's subnets. This helps with assigning the correct names of sites on the cluster.

    If you do not have sites that are configured on Active Directory, create cluster fault domains as required. The following cmdlet overrides the site names that are specified on the Active Directory: 

    #This is needed if you do not have sites configured on AD
    #Create Sites
    New-ClusterFaultDomain -Name 'Bangalore' -Type Site
    New-ClusterFaultDomain -Name 'Chennai' -Type Site

    #Site membership for nodes
    Set-ClusterFaultDomain -Name SiteANode1 -Parent 'Bangalore'
    Set-ClusterFaultDomain -Name SiteANode2 -Parent 'Bangalore'
    Set-ClusterFaultDomain -Name SiteBNode1 -Parent 'Chennai'
    Set-ClusterFaultDomain -Name SiteBNode2 -Parent 'Chennai'

    Preferred Sites

    The Preferred Site is your primary data center site.

    Note: Do not configure a Cluster fault domain as a Preferred Site if you plan to run active VMs on both sites, otherwise choosing to Live Migrate VMs using the "Best Possible Node" option results in all VMs moving to the Preferred Site. 

    #Preferred Site
    (get-cluster).PreferredSite = 'Bangalore'

    Preferred Sites can also be configured at cluster role and group level. 

    (Get-ClusterGroup -Name SQLServer1).PreferredSite = 'Bangalore'

    If there is an Active-Active stretched cluster where Preferred Sites are not configured, it is highly recommended that you configure Preferred Sites for each volume. This ensures that the volumes stay at the same site if there is a single node failure on either site. 

    (Get-ClusterSharedVolume "Cluster Virtual Disk (ax740xds2N2)"  | Get-ClusterGroup).PreferredSite = "Chennai"

    Get-ClusterSharedVolume "*ax740xds2N2)"  | Get-ClusterGroup |fl *

    Enable Storage Spaces

    Enable-ClusterS2D -confirm:$false

    This step ensures that Storage Spaces Direct is enabled on the stretched cluster. Two storage pools are created, one for each site. 

    PS C:\Users\Administrator.TEST> Get-StoragePool
    FriendlyName   Operational  HealthStatus IsPrimordial IsReadOnly  Size      AllocatedSize
                   Status
    ------------ -------------- ------------ ------------ ---------- ---------  -------------
    Primordial     OK           Healthy      True         False      15.94 TB   15.71 TB
    Primordial     OK           Healthy      True         False      15.94 TB   15.71 TB
    Pool for Site  OK           Healthy      False        False      15.7 TB    4.28 TB
    Chennai
    Pool for Site  OK           Healthy      False        False      15.7 TB    4.28 TB
    Bangalore

    New Volume

    You can create a new-replicated volume by using Windows Admin Center or a mixture of PowerShell and Failover Cluster Manager.

    Using PowerShell and Failover Cluster Manager

    For each volume that you want to replicate across two sites, you have to create its associated Replica volume and Log volume on both sites.

    Note: Customers can choose to enable replication on the volumes based on their business needs. 

    #Primary Volume
    New-Volume -StoragePoolFriendlyName "Pool for Site Bangalore" -FriendlyName
    VolumeA -FileSystem CSVFS_ReFS -Size 1TB

    #Log Volume
    New-Volume -StoragePoolFriendlyName "Pool for Site Bangalore" -FriendlyName
    'VolumeA-Log' -FileSystem ReFS -Size 50GB

    #Replica Volume
    New-Volume -StoragePoolFriendlyName "Pool for Site Chennai" -FriendlyName
    'VolumeA-Replica' -FileSystem ReFS -Size 1TB

    #Replica Log Volume
    New-Volume -StoragePoolFriendlyName "Pool for Site Chennai" -FriendlyName
    'VolumeA-Replica-Log' -FileSystem ReFS -Size 50GB
    Note: Ensure that Replica volumes and all log volumes are ReFS (not CSVFS) before enabling replication using PowerShell or Failover Cluster Manager.

    Using Failover Cluster Manager to enable Volume Replica

    To enable replication on volumes, go to Storage >> Disks and right-click the primary volume on which you want to enable replication. Then follow these steps:

    • Select Replication and click Enable
    • Select the log volume for the primary site
    • Select the Replica volume and associated log volume for the secondary site
    • Overwrite the destination volume unless you have a seeded disk.
    • Select the mode of replication.
    • Complete the wizard.

    This enables replication on the volume after the initial block copy. The initial block copy process can take a few minutes to a few hours, depending on the size of the volume.

    Test-SRTopology

    This cmdlet validates a potential replication partnership between source and destination systems. Follow these steps:

    • Create a local CSVFS volume, for example 1 TB.
    • Create a local log volume (ReFS), for example 50 GB.
    • Create a Replica volume (ReFS), for example 1 TB (Ensure that the local and replica volumes are the same size).
    • Create a Replica-log volume (ReFS), for example 50 GB. 
    ###Step 1###
    New-Volume -StoragePoolFriendlyName "Pool for Site Bangalore" -FriendlyName
    'VolumeA' -FileSystem CSVFS_ReFS -Size 1TB
    #Log Volume
    New-Volume -StoragePoolFriendlyName "Pool for Site Bangalore" -FriendlyName
    'VolumeA-Log' -FileSystem ReFS -Size 50GB
    ## Move 'Available Storage to Site B' ##
    Get-ClusterGroup -Name 'Available Storage' | Get-ClusterResource | Stop-
    ClusterResource
    Move-ClusterGroup -Name 'Available Storage' -Node ax740xds2n1

    ###Step 2###
    #Replica Volume
    New-Volume -StoragePoolFriendlyName "Pool for Site Chennai" -FriendlyName
    'VolumeA-Replica' -FileSystem ReFS -Size 1TB
    #Replica Log Volume
    New-Volume -StoragePoolFriendlyName "Pool for Site Chennai" -FriendlyName
    'VolumeA-Replica-Log' -FileSystem ReFS -Size 50GB

    ###Step 3
    # Create Replication Group for secondary volumes
    $PathVolARep =Get-Volume -FriendlyName VolumeA-Replica | Select -
    ExpandProperty Path
    $PathVolARepLog=Get-Volume -FriendlyName VolumeA-Replica-Log | Select -
    ExpandProperty Path

    New-SRGroup -ComputerName ax740xds2n1 -Name Group108 -VolumeName $PathVolARep -
    LogVolumeName $PathVolARepLog -LogSizeInBytes 2GB

    Get-ClusterGroup -Name 'Available Storage' | Get-ClusterResource | Stop-
    ClusterResource
    Move-ClusterGroup -Name 'Available Storage' -Node ax740xds1n2

    # Assign drive letters
    Get-Volume -FriendlyName VolumeB-Log | Get-Partition | Set-Partition -
    NewDriveLetter H
    Get-Volume -FriendlyName VolumeB-Replica | Get-Partition | Set-Partition -
    NewDriveLetter I
    Get-Volume -FriendlyName VolumeB-Replica-Log | Get-Partition | Set-Partition -
    NewDriveLetter J

    Test-SRTopology -SourceComputerName ax740xds1n2 -SourceVolumeName
    C:\ClusterStorage\VolumeB -SourceLogVolumeName H -DestinationComputerName
    ax740xds2n1 -DestinationVolumeName I -DestinationLogVolumeName J -
    DurationInMinutes 30 -ResultPath .\TopologyResults
    New-SRPartnership -SourceComputerName "ax740xds1n2" -SourceRGName "Replication1" -SourceVolumeName "C:\Clusterstorage\VolumeB\" -SourceLogVolumeName "H" -DestinationComputerName "ax740xds2n1" -DestinationRGName "Replication2" -DestinationVolumeName "I" -DestinationLogVolumeName "J" -verbose

    The preceding cmdlet completes in 30 minutes and displays the results in HTML format.

    Note: Run Test-SRTopology only for a single volume.

    Note: If you choose asynchronous replication, ensure that you choose a log volume size of at least 30 GB.

    Note: Use either PowerShell or Windows Admin Center to create volumes, do not mix the tools. There is a minor difference in volume sizes created using PowerShell and Windows Admin Center that results in a failure if you try to enable replication.

    Note: Use the Internet Explorer browser to view the images from the HTML output file.

    Set-SRNetworkConstraint

    In a network topology which has multiple routes to the secondary site, it is imperative to provide a correct path for the Replica network. Set-SRNetworkConstraint is a cmdlet that is useful for specifying an array of network interfaces to be used for replica traffic. This cmdlet has to be run once for each volume. 

    Set-SRNetworkConstraint -SourceRGName "Replication 2" -SourceNWInterface "SR -
    Site B" -DestinationRGName "Replication 1" -DestinationNWInterface "SR - Site A"
    -SourceComputerName SiteANode1 -DestinationComputerName SiteBNode1 -Verbose

    Set-SRNetworkConstraint ensures that the Management network does not become bottlenecked because of Replica traffic.