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
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
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:
|
|
|
|
|
|
Table 3. Phase II: Virtual infrastructure installation and configuration
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. |
Appendix A, XtremIO Storage Configuration |
4 |
ESXi host virtual switch configuration |
Configure virtual distributed switches for database public traffic. |
Configuring vSphere Distributed Switch |
5 |
ESXi host storage configuration |
Configure datastores. |
Configuring datastores |
6 |
VM creation |
Create VMs for virtual databases. |
Creating VMs for databases |
7 |
Virtual network configuration on VM operating system |
Configure the public network on the vSphere Distributed Switch (VDS) and VM operating system. |
Setting up networking for ESXi hosts and VMs |
8 |
Storage configuration on VM operating system |
Configure storage disks on database VMs for database installation. |
Preparing storage disks for stand-alone databases |
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
