Introduction
Deployment workflow
-
Deployment of this Ready Stack solution consists of three phases:
- Phase I: Hardware stack setup and configuration—This phase involves setting up solution hardware components, including PowerEdge servers; Ethernet network switches and cable connections; and the XtremIO X2 storage array, FC network switches, and cable connections. It also includes integrating the Data Domain hardware with the Ready Stack hardware infrastructure.
The following table outlines the tasks for deployment phase I:
Table 1. Phase I: Hardware stack setup and configuration
Task #
Task
Task description
Reference
1
Server setup
Configure compute server local disks, BIOS, and network adapters.
2
Network setup
Set up top-of-rack (ToR) network switches, management switch, and network cable connections.
3
XtremIO X2 setup
Configure XtremIO X2 connectivity.
4
Data Domain setup
Set up physical connectivity and perform initial appliance setup.
5
FC network setup
Set up FC switches, HBAs, cable connections, and zoning.
- Phase II: Physical and virtual infrastructure installation and configuration—This phase establishes the physical and virtual environments for running databases on top of the hardware stack that was established in phase I. For physical environments, the tasks include creating and setting up XtremIO X2 storage volumes, installing the Red Hat Enterprise Linux operating system, and configuring the network and storage volumes within the operating system. For the virtual environment, the tasks include setting up VMware ESXi on management and database servers, installing VMware vCenter Server Appliance, creating and setting up XtremIO X2 storage volumes, creating virtual machines (VMs), and setting up the storage and network for the VMs. It also provides steps for setting up the Data Domain backup appliance.
The following two tables outline the tasks for deployment phase II:
Table 2. Phase II: Physical infrastructure installation and configuration
Task #
Task
Task description
Reference
1
XtremIO X2 configuration
Create Initiator Groups. Create and map storage volumes on XtremIO X2 storage.
2
Operating system installation and configuration, including prerequisites for database
Install Red Hat Enterprise Linux on the physical database servers. Configure the operating system, network, and storage volumes. Perform additional configuration based on best practices for XtremIO environments.
- Production database environment setup:
- Configuring operating system, network, and storage
- Additional best practices in an XtremIO environment (applies to both production and XVC database environments)
- Dell EMC XtremIO Storage Array Host Configuration Guide
- XVC database environment setup: Configuring operating system, network, and storage
Table 3. Phase II: Virtual infrastructure installation and configuration
Task #
Task
Task description
Reference
1
ESXi and vCenter Server Appliance installation
Install ESXi and vCenter Server Appliance on the management server. Install ESXi on the virtual database server. Perform additional configuration based on best practices for XtremIO environments.
2
vSphere data center and host configuration
Configure the vSphere data center and add the ESXi database host.
3
XtremIO X2 configuration
Create Initiator Groups. Create and map storage volumes on XtremIO X2 storage.
4
ESXi host virtual switch configuration
Configure virtual distributed switches for database public traffic.
5
ESXi host storage configuration
Configure datastores.
6
VM creation
Create VMs for virtual databases.
7
Virtual network configuration on VM operating system
Configure the public network on the vSphere Distributed Switch (VDS) and VM operating system.
8
Storage configuration on VM operating system
Configure storage disks on database VMs for database installation.
9
Guest operating system installation and configuration, including prerequisites for database
Install and configure prerequisites for virtual databases in Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7 VMs.
- Phase III: Database configuration—This phase establishes the production databases on top of the physical infrastructure that was established in phase II. It also establishes the virtual databases on top of the virtual infrastructure that was established in phase II. Tasks in this phase include:
- Preparing to install the database software
- Installing the database software in each environment
- Creating and configuring the databases in each environment
- For XVC databases, taking XtremIO X2 level snapshots (XVC) of the production database volumes, and integrating and reconfiguring the existing database configuration in the XVC database server to bring up the snapshot database
- Configuring the databases to integrate and work with the Data Domain backup appliance
The following table outlines the specific tasks for deployment phase III:
Table 4. Phase III: Databases, XVC snapshots, and Data Domain client software installation and configuration
Task #
Task
Task description
Reference
1
Database installation
Install database software. Create a seed database.
2
Snapshot creation on the XtremIO array for XVC databases
Create snapshots of the production database for the XVC databases.
Snapshot database creation
Mount snapshot volumes to create snapshot databases on the XVC database server.
3
Data Domain client and database setup
Install and configure the Data Domain agent.