Solution deployment introductionMicrosoft HCI Solutions from Dell Technologies can be deployed in the following ways: Deployment prerequisitesDell Technologies assumes that the management services that are required for the operating system deployment and cluster configuration are in the existing infrastructure where the Azure Stack HCI cluster is being deployed. Predeployment configurationBefore deploying AX nodes, complete the required predeployment configuration tasks. Operating system deploymentThese instructions are for manual deployment of the Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2019, Windows Server 2022, or Azure Stack HCI operating system version 21H2 or 22H2 on AX nodes from Dell Technologies. Unless otherwise specified, perform the steps on each physical node in the infrastructure that will be a part of Azure Stack HCI. Install roles and featuresDeployment and configuration of a Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2019, Windows Server 2022, or Azure Stack HCI operating system version 21H2 or 22H2 cluster requires enabling specific operating system roles and features. Verifying firmware and software compliance with the support matrixMicrosoft HCI Solutions from Dell Technologies are validated and certified with certain firmware versions that are related to the solution infrastructure components. Update out-of-box drivers For certain system components, you might have to update the driver to the latest Dell Technologies supported version. Change the hostnameBy default, the operating system deployment assigns a random name as the host computer name. For easier identification and uniform configuration, Dell Technologies recommends that you change the hostname to something that is relevant and easily identifiable. Registry settings PAL and DPOR registration for Azure Stack Joining cluster nodes to an Active Directory domainBefore you can create a cluster, the cluster nodes must be a part of an Active Directory domain.