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Deployment Guide—VMware Cloud Foundation on PowerEdge Servers and Unity Storage

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Compute Cluster Deployment
Prerequisites Installing ESXi on the compute hosts Configuring the ESXi management network on the compute cluster Configuring NFS resources in SDDC Manager Configuring NFS on Unity XT x80 Deploying the VI workload domain Creating VI workload domain datastores

Installing ESXi on the compute hosts

Installing ESXi on the compute hosts

  • Follow the procedures in this section to install VMware ESXi on each of the servers that will be part of the compute cluster. You can install ESXi remotely through the iDRAC web interface or locally. These procedures provide the steps for remote installation.

    Caution: When you upgrade VMware ESXi hosts within the VMware Cloud Foundation VI workload domain, hosts requiring custom FC vSphere Installation Bundles (VIBs) might be overwritten, potentially causing an outage. For more information, see the VMware KB article How to upgrade ESXi hosts in VMware Cloud Foundation 3.5 with a vendor-specific ISO image (65047). 

    Configure the BIOS settings and connect to the iDRAC

    Configure the BIOS settings and connect to the iDRAC:

    1. Apply the BIOS settings profile that is optimized for maximum virtualization performance:
      1. Connect to the iDRAC IP address of one of the compute hosts by using an SSH client such as PuTTY, and then log in.

    The default credentials are:

    • User—root
    • Password—calvin
      1. At the /admin1-> prompt, run the following command:

    racadm set bios.sysprofilesettings.WorkloadProfile VtOptimizedProfile

    1. Create a job for processing the change by running the following command:

    racadm jobqueue create BIOS.Setup.1-1

    1. Reboot the compute host.
    2. Repeat the preceding steps for all remaining compute hosts.
    1. Using a web browser, go to the iDRAC web interface at https://<iDRAC Address>.
    2. Log in with the appropriate credentials. 

    The default credentials are:

    • User—root
    • Password—calvin
    1. Click the Virtual Console preview to open the Virtual Console.

    For each iDRAC, ensure that pop-up support is enabled in your browser.

    1. From the Virtual Media menu, select Connect Virtual Media to attach the virtual media.
    2. From the Virtual Media menu, select Map CD/DVD to mount the Dell EMC ISO image for VMware ESXi 6.7.
    3. Click Browse to go to the location of the Dell EMC ISO file for VMware ESXi 6.7, select the file, and then click Open.

    This location must be available throughout the installation of ESXi on all servers.

    1. On the Virtual Media – Map CD/DVD page, click Map Device.
    2. From the Virtual Console menu bar, select Next Boot > Virtual CD/DVD/ISO.
    3. Click OK to continue and to ensure that the location of the ISO file that you have mapped will be available throughout the full installation process.

    Boot to the installation media

    To boot to the installation media, from the Virtual Console menu bar, select Power > Power on System; alternatively, if the power is already on, select Power > Power Cycle System (cold boot). After the server reboots, the ESXi installer begins to load.

    Install ESXi on the compute cluster

    To install ESXi on the compute cluster, follow the steps in Install VMware ESXi on the management cluster.