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Dell VxRail Network Planning Guide
Introduction Planning Your Data Center Network for VxRail VxRail Cluster Types VxRail Feature-Driven Decision Points VxRail Hardware and Switch Selection Decision Points Prepare the Data Center for VxRail Implementation Planning the VxRail Cluster Implementation
Introduction
Decide on VxRail single point of management
Decide on VxRail network traffic segmentation
Decide on teaming and failover policies for VxRail networks
Plan the VxRail logical network
Plan network settings for VxRail management components
Plan network settings for vCenter Server management network
Identify IP addresses for VxRail management components
Select hostnames for VxRail management components
Identify external applications and settings for VxRail
Prepare the customer-supplied vCenter server
Prepare the customer-supplied virtual-distributed switch
Reserve IP addresses for VxRail vMotion network
Reserve IP addresses for VxRail vSAN network
Decide on VxRail logging solution
Assign passwords for VxRail management
Prepare for Dell SmartFabric Services enablement
Planning for VxRail Satellite Nodes Configure the Network for VxRail Configure the Network for VxRail VxRail Network Considerations After Implementation VxRail Network Configuration Table VxRail Passwords VxRail Cluster Setup Checklist VxRail Open Ports Requirements Virtual Distributed Switch Port Group Default Settings Physical Network Switch Examples

Prepare the customer-supplied vCenter server

Prepare the customer-supplied vCenter server

  • Note: If you plan to use the VxRail vCenter server, you can skip this section. These action items are only applicable if you plan to use a customer-supplied vCenter server in your data center for VxRail.

    Certain prerequisites must be completed before VxRail initial implementation if you use a customer-supplied vCenter as the VxRail cluster management platform. During the VxRail initialization process, it connects to your customer-supplied vCenter to perform necessary validation steps. Then it performs configuration steps to deploy the VxRail cluster on your vCenter instance.

    • Determine if your customer-supplied vCenter server is compatible with your VxRail version. 
    • See the Knowledge Base article, VxRail: VxRail and External vCenter Interoperability Matrix, on the Dell VxRail Support site, for the latest support matrix.

    • Determine whether your customer-supplied vCenter server has an embedded or external platform services controller. If the platform services controller is external to your customer-supplied vCenter, enter the platform services controller FQDN in Appendix A: VxRail Network Configuration Table.

      Network configuration table row 37

      Enter the FQDN of the customer-supplied platform services controller (PSC).

      Leave this row blank if the PSC is embedded in the customer-supplied vCenter server.


    • Decide on the single sign-on (SSO) domain that is configured on the customer-supplied vCenter that you want to use to enable connectivity for VxRail. Then, enter the domain in Appendix A: VxRail Network Configuration Table.

      Network configuration table row 39

      		Enter the single sign-on (SSO) domain for the customer-supplied vCenter server. An example is vsphere.local.

    • The VxRail initialization process requires login credentials to your customer-supplied vCenter. The credentials must have the privileges to perform the necessary configuration work for VxRail. You have two choices:
    • Provide vCenter login credentials with administrator privileges.
    • Create a new set of credentials in your vCenter for this purpose. Two new roles are created and assigned to this user by your Dell Technologies delivery services.

    Network configuration table row 40

    		Enter the administrative username and password for the customer-supplied vCenter server. Or enter the VxRail nonadmin username and password that you create on the customer-supplied vCenter server.
    • A set of credentials must be created in the customer-supplied vCenter for VxRail management with no permissions and no assigned roles. These credentials are assigned a role with limited privileges during the VxRail initialization process. Then they are assigned to VxRail to enable connectivity to the customer-supplied vCenter after initialization completes.
    • If this cluster is the first VxRail cluster on the customer-supplied vCenter, enter the credentials that you create in the customer-supplied vCenter.
    • If you already have an account for a previous VxRail cluster in the customer-supplied vCenter, enter those credentials.

    Network configuration table row 41

    Enter the full VxRail management username and password.

    An example is administrator@vsphere.local.

    • The VxRail initialization process deploys the VxRail cluster under an existing data center in the customer-supplied vCenter. Create a new data center or select an existing Data center on the customer-supplied vCenter.


    Network configuration table row 42

    		Enter the name of a data center on the customer-supplied vCenter server.

    • Specify the name of the cluster that the VxRail initialization process creates in the selected data center. This name must be unique, and not used anywhere in the data center on the customer-supplied vCenter
    Network configuration table row 43
    		Enter the name of the cluster that will be used for VxRail.