Setting up the VX Deployer

Before running the VX Deployer to deploy a vSAN cluster, make sure that you have cabled the VX appliances to the network.

For information about cabling the VX appliances, see the following topic:

Cabling the network

Complete the following steps to set up the VX Deployer:

1. Configure the networking for the XClarity Controller on the host where the VX Deployer appliance will be run. All ThinkAgile VX appliances have the same image preinstalled. Therefore, you can choose any of the hosts that will be deployed in the vSAN cluster.

   1. Power on the host.

      When the host is powered on, the XClarity Controller (XCC) will attempt to obtain an IP address from DHCP if one is set up in your network. If you do not have DHCP set up in your network, you will need to set up a KVM console to connect to the XCC.

   2. Log in to the XCC.

      For more information about connecting to the XCC, see the following topic:

      Accessing the XCC web interface

   3. From the XCC, launch a remote console to the ESXi host.

      For more information about working with the remote console, see the following topic:

      Remote Console

   4. From the ESXi welcome page, log in using the default password (P@ssw0rd).

      Important

      Do not change the factory password for ESXi at this time. It must be the same password for all hosts in the vSAN cluster when you start the VX Deployer. You will change the ESXi password for the ESXi host during the deployment process.

   5. Click Configure Management Network to begin the network configuration.

   6. Click the first IPv4 interface and provide an IP address, subnet mask, and default gateway and click Enter. The best practice is to configure a static IP address for the host.

      Important

      This host will be included in the vSAN cluster. Therefore, make sure that you configure an IP address that can be used as the final IP address for this host.
      
      
      

   7. Click DNS configuration to specify the primary DNS server (and optionally, the secondary DNS server). In addition, you need to specify a fully qualified host name for the host.

      Note

      The hostname and IP address for this host must already be configured in the DNS server.
      
      
      

   8. Click Custom DNS Suffixes to specify the suffix that can be used by all nodes in the cluster.

   9. Click Test Management Network to make sure that the DNS server and default gateway are valid, and that the hostname can be reached.

2. Configure the networking for the ESXi host to set up the port groups that will be used by the VX Deployer.

   1. From a browser, log in to web interface for the ESXi host. The VX Deployer appliance is listed under Virtual Machines.

      Note

      If you do not see the VX Deployer appliance listed under Virtual Machines, contact Lenovo Support.

   2. Click Networking to set up the port groups.

   3. Create an XCC Management port group. If a VLAN is configured for the XCC Management network, make sure that you specify the VLAN ID.

      Note

      The XCC Management network is required only while using the VX Deployer for the initial deployment of the vSAN cluster. That network can be removed after the deployment is completed, if desired.
      
      
      

   4. Create the VM Network port group, which is used for ESXi access.

3. Configure the networking for the ThinkAgile VX Deployer.

   1. From the ESXi web interface, edit the settings for the ThinkAgile VX Deployer VM.

   2. Make sure that the VX Deployer is connected to the port groups:

      • The first interface (Network Adapter 1) should be connected to the VM Network port group.

      • The second interface (Network Adapter 2) should be connected to the XCC Management port group.

      
      
      

4. Power on the VX Deployer VM.

   1. During the VM boot process, you are prompted to configure the VX Deployer networking (Configure network).

      Note

      This networking configuration step is for the VX Deployer VM, which is not the same as the ESXi networking configuration.
      
      
      

      Property name	Description
      Hostname	Hostname to be configured on the VX Deployer appliance. This is just the host part of the name, without the domain name suffix. This name should be resolvable by DNS.
      DNS Domain Name	DNS domain suffix of the VX Deployer hostname.
      External IP Type	Type of the IP address assignment - static or dhcp. If dhcp is selected, the IP address will be assigned via a DHCP server.
      External Network IP	IPv4 address of the external network interface of the appliance. This is the IP address used to access the VX Deployer user interface. This is also the interface for the deployer to access vCenter and ESXi hosts that are being installed.
      External Network Netmask	Netmask for the IPv4 address of the external interface.
      External Network Gateway	Gateway IPv4 address for the external interface.
      XCC IP Type	Type of the IP address assignment - static or dhcp. If dhcp is selected, the IP address will be assigned via a DHCP server. Note Specify the XCC IP type, address, and netmask only if the XCC Management network is different from the ESXi Management network. Leave the XCC fields blank if: The XCC and ESXi management networks are on the same subnet. The XCC and ESXi management networks are on different subnets, you have configured routing between the two networks, and you do not want to use separate IP addresses for the XCC network.
      XCC Network IP	IPv4 address of the internal network interface used to access the XCC modules.
      XCC Network Netmask	Netmask for the IPv4 address of the XCC interface.
      DNS Server #1	DNS server IP address.
      DNS Server #2	DNS server IP address #2 (optional).

   2. After confirming the settings, click “y” to save them. The URL for the VX Deployer is displayed.

   3. From your browser, navigate to the URL for the VX Deployer to begin the deployment process.