Dell EMC VxRail Appliance User manual

Dell EMC VxRail Appliance Operations Guide
© 2017 Dell Inc. or its subsidiaries.
DELL EMC VXRAILTM APPLIANCE
OPERATIONS GUIDE
A Hyper-Converged Infrastructure Appliance from Dell
EMC®and VMware®
ABSTRACT
This document describes how to perform day-to-day operations on a
VxRail Appliance environment after the system has been installed and
configured. The target audience for this document includes customers,
field personnel, and partners who manage and operate a VxRail
Appliance.
November 2017
PART NUMBER: H16788

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© 2017 Dell Inc. or its subsidiaries.
Contents
VxRail overview ............................................................................................................. 6
Hardware ............................................................................................................................................ 7
vSphere .............................................................................................................................................. 7
VMware vCenter Server .................................................................................................................. 7
VMware ESXI hypervisor................................................................................................................. 8
VMware virtual networking............................................................................................................... 8
vSAN .................................................................................................................................................. 8
Storage policy based management (SPBM)..................................................................................... 9
VxRail Manager................................................................................................................................... 9
vRealize Log Insight ............................................................................................................................ 9
VxRail support............................................................................................................. 10
Dell EMC support account ................................................................................................................. 10
Registering for online support ........................................................................................................ 10
Accessing Dell EMC Support from VxRail Manager ....................................................................... 10
Dell EMC Secure Remote Services (ESRS)....................................................................................... 11
Confirming ESRS connection ........................................................................................................ 11
Accessing Support eServices ............................................................................................................ 11
Opening a live chat session with support personnel ....................................................................... 11
Contacting Customer Service to request service............................................................................ 12
VxRail community forums.............................................................................................................. 12
Support knowledge base ............................................................................................................... 12
SolVe Desktop application for VxRail series....................................................................................... 12
Monitoring a VxRail Appliance using VxRail Manager............................................. 13
Monitoring logical system health........................................................................................................ 14
Procedure ..................................................................................................................................... 14
Viewing physical system health ......................................................................................................... 15
Procedure ..................................................................................................................................... 15
Powering down and powering up a VxRail Appliance ............................................. 17
Shutting down a VxRail cluster .......................................................................................................... 17
Starting up VxRail.............................................................................................................................. 18
Viewing system events using VxRail Manager......................................................... 19
Procedure ......................................................................................................................................... 20
VxRail Market............................................................................................................... 21
Procedure ......................................................................................................................................... 21
Managing a VxRail cluster using vCenter ................................................................. 23
VxRail vCenter options...................................................................................................................... 23
VxRail Manager deployed vCenter ................................................................................................ 23
Customer deployed vCenter .......................................................................................................... 23

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vSAN monitoring and management........................................................................... 25
Running vSAN health checks ............................................................................................................ 25
Procedure ..................................................................................................................................... 26
vSAN Storage Policy Based Management ................................................................ 27
Default storage policy........................................................................................................................ 29
Defining a new VM storage policy.................................................................................................. 30
Assigning a storage policy to a VM ................................................................................................ 31
Changing a storage policy for a VM............................................................................................... 31
Renaming VxRail objects within vCenter .................................................................. 33
Renaming a VxRail datacenter .......................................................................................................... 33
Renaming a VM folder....................................................................................................................... 33
Renaming vSAN datastore ................................................................................................................ 33
Renaming a VxRail vSphere Distributed Switch................................................................................. 34
Renaming VxRail dvPortGroup.......................................................................................................... 34
Choosing a failure tolerance method (FTM) ............................................................. 35
Mirroring............................................................................................................................................ 35
Erasure coding .................................................................................................................................. 36
FTM considerations........................................................................................................................... 38
Configuring IOPS limit for objects (QoS) .................................................................. 39
Configuring IOPS limit for a VM ..................................................................................................... 39
vSAN fault domains .................................................................................................... 41
Configuring fault domains.................................................................................................................. 42
VxRail deduplication and compression .................................................................... 43
Considerations .............................................................................................................................. 44
Enabling deduplication and compression........................................................................................... 44
Procedure ..................................................................................................................................... 45
Disabling deduplication and compression .......................................................................................... 46
Procedure ..................................................................................................................................... 46
Monitoring deduplication and compression ........................................................................................ 46
vSAN encryption services .......................................................................................... 48
Setting up vSAN encryption on a VxRail cluster................................................................................. 48
Setting up a domain of trust........................................................................................................... 49
Enabling encryption for the VxRail cluster...................................................................................... 51
Connectivity to key management server ............................................................................................ 53
VxRail networking ....................................................................................................... 54
Physical network ............................................................................................................................... 54
VxRail VLANs ................................................................................................................................... 55
Enabling multicast ......................................................................................................................... 56

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Virtual machine and optional data services networks ..................................................................... 56
Optional NIC configurations............................................................................................................... 56
Changing network configuration ........................................................................................................ 56
Migrating workloads onto VxRail............................................................................... 57
Considerations .................................................................................................................................. 57
Using vSphere vMotion ..................................................................................................................... 57
VMware vSphere Replicator .............................................................................................................. 58
Dell EMC RecoverPoint for VM.......................................................................................................... 59
Connecting iSCSI storage to VxRail .................................................................................................. 59
Procedure ..................................................................................................................................... 60
Connecting NFS storage to VxRail .................................................................................................... 60
Procedure ..................................................................................................................................... 61
Using Dell EMC CloudArray .............................................................................................................. 61
Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................ 61
Resource utilization and performance monitoring................................................... 62
Monitoring system capacity, workload activity, and performance........................................................ 62
VxRail Manager Logical Health view.................................................................................................. 63
Monitoring storage capacity using vCenter web client ........................................................................ 64
Using native vSphere performance monitoring................................................................................... 65
Viewing CPU and memory performance metrics............................................................................ 65
Enabling vSAN performance data collection .................................................................................. 67
Viewing vSAN performance metrics............................................................................................... 68
Understanding vSAN performance metrics .................................................................................... 69
Advanced workload and performance analysis .............................................................................. 72
Creating a vSAN Observer Performance Statistics bundle ............................................................. 72
VxRail software upgrades .......................................................................................... 74
System scale-out upgrades........................................................................................ 76
Adding a node to an existing cluster .............................................................................................. 76
Drive expansion procedure............................................................................................................ 79
Procedure ..................................................................................................................................... 79
Replacing failed components..................................................................................... 82
Identifying failed components ............................................................................................................ 82
Replacing a capacity drive................................................................................................................. 83
Procedure ..................................................................................................................................... 83
Replacing a cache drive .................................................................................................................... 84
Procedure ..................................................................................................................................... 84
Replacing a power supply.................................................................................................................. 85
Procedure ..................................................................................................................................... 85

5 | Dell EMC VxRail Appliance Operations Guide
© 2017 Dell Inc. or its subsidiaries.
Preface
This document describes how to perform day-to-day operations on a VxRail environment after
the system has been installed and configured.
Audience
The target audience for this document includes customers, field personnel, and partners who
manage and operate a VxRail Appliance.
Related resources and documentation
This document references other documentation resources available on
https://support.emc.com/, vmware.com, and the Solve Desktop application.

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VxRail overview
Jointly developed by Dell EMC and VMware, the VxRail Appliance is the only fully integrated,
preconfigured, and tested hyper-converged infrastructure (HCI) appliance powered by VMware
vSAN technology for software-defined storage. Managed through the well-known VMware
vCenter Server interface, VxRail provides a familiar vSphere experience that enables
streamlined deployment and extends the use of existing IT tools and processes.
VxRail Appliances are fully loaded with integrated, mission-critical data services from Dell EMC
and VMware. Services includes compression, deduplication, replication, backup and many
more. VxRail delivers resiliency and centralized-management functionality that enables simpler
management of consolidated workloads, virtual desktops, business-critical applications, and
remote-office infrastructure. As the only HCI appliance from Dell EMC and VMware, VxRail is
the easiest way to stand up a fully virtualized VMware environment.
VxRail is the only HCI appliance on the market that fully integrates Intel-based Dell EMC
PowerEdge Servers with VMware vSphere and vSAN. VxRail is jointly engineered with VMware
and is supported as a single product delivered by Dell EMC. VxRail seamlessly integrates with
existing VMware eco-system and cloud management solutions including vRealize, NSX, and
Horizon.
The VxRail Manager provides lifecycle management for the VxRail software bundle that
includes:
VxRail Manager user interface for configuration and deployment, software and hardware
updates, system monitoring and alerting
VMware vSphere®, including ESXi
VMware vCenter Server™
VMware vSAN™
VMware vRealize Log Insight™
The VxRail Appliance also includes complementary advanced capabilities, including Dell EMC
CloudArray and Dell EMC RecoverPoint for Virtual Machines.
VxRail provides an entry point to the software-defined data center (SDDC) for most workloads.
Customers of all sizes and types can benefit from VxRail, including small- and medium-sized
environments, remote and branch offices (ROBO), and edge departments. VxRail also provides
a solid infrastructure foundation for larger data centers.
For more detailed information on VxRail, go to https://www.emc.com/en-us/converged-
infrastructure/vrail.

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Hardware
The VxRail Appliance consists of nodes in a rackmount chassis. Each node has compute and
storage resources. For a list of available VxRail Appliance models, refer to the Dell EMC VxRail
website. One or more network switches (10GbE or 1GbE depending on the model), appropriate
cables, and a workstation/laptop for the user interface are also required.
vSphere
The VMware vSphere software suite delivers virtualization in a highly available, resilient, on-
demand infrastructure —making it the ideal software foundation for the VxRail Appliance. ESXi
and vCenter Server are core components of vSphere. ESXi is a hypervisor installed on a
physical VxRail server node in the factory and enables a single physical server to host multiple
logical servers or virtual machines (VMs). VMware vCenter server is the management
application for ESXi hosts and VMs.
Customers can use existing eligible vSphere licenses with their VxRail, or the licenses can be
purchased with a VxRail Appliance. This VxRail vSphere license-independent model (also
called “bring your own” or BYO vSphere License model) allows customers to leverage a wide
variety of vSphere licenses they have already purchased.
Several vSphere license editions are supported with VxRail including Enterprise+, Standard,
and ROBO editions. (vSphere Enterprise is also supported, but is no longer available from
VMware). Also supported are vSphere licenses from Horizon bundles or add-ons when the
appliance is dedicated to VDI.
If vSphere licenses need to be purchased, they can be ordered through Dell EMC, the
customer’s preferred VMware channel partner, or from VMware directly. Licenses acquired
through VMware ELA, VMware partners, or Dell EMC receive single-call support from Dell EMC.
VMware vCenter Server
vCenter Server is the primary point of management for both server virtualization and vSAN
storage. A single vCenter instance can scale to enterprise levels, supporting hundreds of VxRail
nodes and thousands of virtual machines. See vCenter Server Maximums documentation from
VMware at https://docs.vmware.com/ for current limits.
vCenter supports a logical hierarchy of datacenters, clusters, and hosts. This hierarchy
facilitates resources being segregated by use case or lines of business, and allows resources to
move dynamically as needed. This is all done from a single intuitive interface.
vCenter Server provides VM and resource services, such as inventory service, task scheduling,
statistics logging, alarm and event management, and VM provisioning and configuration.
vCenter Server is also responsible for advanced features including:
vSphere vMotion - Enables live VM workload migration with zero downtime
vSphere Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS) - Continuously balances and optimizes VM
compute resource allocation across nodes in the cluster

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vSphere High Availability (HA) –Provides virtual machine (VM) failover and restart
capabilities
VMware ESXI hypervisor
In VxRail, the ESXi hypervisor deploys and services VMs on cluster nodes. VMs are secure and
portable. Each VM is a complete system with processors, memory, networking, storage and
BIOS. VMs are highly available and the underlying storage is transparent. Moving a VM’s virtual
disk from one type of storage to another has no effect on the VM’s function.
VMs are isolated from one another, so when a guest operating system running on a VM fails,
other VMs on the same physical host are not affected and continue to run. VMs share access to
CPUs, and ESXi is responsible for CPU scheduling. In addition, ESXi assigns VMs a region of
usable memory and provides shared access to the physical network cards and disk controllers
associated with the physical host. All X86-based operating systems are supported. Different
virtual machines can run different operating systems and applications on the same physical
hardware.
VMware virtual networking
vSphere’s virtual networking capabilities are part of the ESXi server and managed by vCenter.
Virtual networks can be built on a single ESXi server host or across multiple ESXi server hosts.
VxRail VMs communicate with each other using the VMware Virtual Distributed Switch (VDS),
which functions as a single logical switch that spans multiple nodes in the same cluster. VDS
uses standard network protocols and VLAN implementations, and it forwards frames at the
data-link layer.
VDS is configured in vCenter Server at the datacenter level, maintaining a consistent network
configuration as VMs migrate across multiple hosts. The VxRail Appliance relies on VDS for
appliance traffic, and vSAN relies on VDS for its storage-virtualization capabilities.
vSAN
VxRail Appliances leverage VMware’s vSAN for enterprise-class software-defined storage.
vSAN aggregates the locally attached disks of hosts in a vSphere cluster to create a pool of
distributed shared storage. Capacity is scaled up by adding additional disks to the cluster and
scaled out by adding additional VxRail nodes. vSAN is fully integrated with vSphere, and it
works seamlessly with other vSphere features.
vSAN is notable for its efficiency and performance. Built directly into the ESXi hypervisor at the
kernel layer, it has very little impact on CPU utilization (less than 10 percent). vSAN is self-
optimizing and balances allocation based on workload, utilization and resource availability.
vSAN delivers a high performance, flash-optimized, resilient hyper-converged infrastructure
suitable for a variety of workloads. Enterprise-class storage features include:
Efficient data-reduction technology, including deduplication and compression as well as
erasure coding
QoS policies to control workload consumption based on user-defined limits

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Data-integrity and data-protection technology, including software checksum and fault
domains
Enhanced security with native vSAN data-at-rest-encryption
VxRail provides two different vSAN node-storage configuration options: a hybrid configuration
that uses both flash SSDs and mechanical HDDs, and an all-flash SSD configuration. The
hybrid configuration uses flash SSDs for caching and mechanical HDDs for capacity and
persistent data storage. The all-flash configuration uses flash SSDs for both the caching and
capacity.
vSAN is configured when the VxRail system is first initialized and is managed through vCenter.
During the VxRail Appliance initialization process, vSAN creates a distributed shared datastore
from the locally attached disks on each ESXi node. The amount of storage in the datastore is an
aggregate of all the capacity drives in the cluster. The orchestrated vSAN configuration and
verification performed as part of system initialization ensures consistent and predictable
performance and a system configuration that follows best practices.
Storage policy based management (SPBM)
vSAN is policy driven and designed to simplify storage provisioning and management. vSAN
policies define VM storage requirements for performance and availability. Policy assignments
are generated based on a ruleset. Administrators can dynamically change a VM storage policy
as requirements change. Examples of SPBM rules are the number of faults to tolerate and the
data protection technique to use.
VxRail Manager
VxRail Manager provides monitoring and lifecycle management for physical infrastructure.
VxRail Manager streamlines deployment, configuration. VxRail Manager also integrates Dell
EMC services and support to help customers get the most value from the VxRail Appliance.
vRealize Log Insight
Bundled with VxRail, VMware vRealize Log Insight monitors system events and provides
ongoing holistic notifications about the state of virtual environment and appliance hardware.
vRealize Log Insight delivers real-time automated log management for the VxRail Appliance
with log monitoring, intelligent grouping, and analytics to simplify troubleshooting at scale across
VxRail physical, virtual, and cloud environments.

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VxRail support
Dell ProSupport provides single-source support for all VxRail hardware and software
components. Dell ProSupport provides priority access to highly trained VxRail engineers
available around the clock and across the globe, so that you can maintain the highest level of
productivity and minimize disruption. Available by phone, chat, or instant message, Dell
ProSupport includes access to online support tools and documentation, rapid on-site parts
delivery and replacement, access to new software versions, assistance with operating
environment updates, and remote monitoring, diagnostics and repair through Dell EMC Secure
Remote Services (ESRS).
Dell EMC support account
A Dell EMC Support account provides direct online access to the following resources:
Product license files and software updates
Product documentation
SolVe Desktop with detailed procedures component replacement and software upgrades
VxRail community
Users with a Dell EMC Support account can add support credentials to VxRail Manager and
then access support resources directly from VxRail Manager.
Registering for online support
1. Point your web browser to emc.com/vxrailsupport (or support.emc.com).
2. Click Register here.
3. Fill in the required information.
Dell EMC Support sends you a confirmation email, typically within 48 hours.
Accessing Dell EMC Support from VxRail Manager
The VxRail Manager Support tab displays support status information, as well as support
resources and links. The screenshot below shows the operations available from the Support
tab.

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Figure 1. VxRail Manager Support tab
Dell EMC Secure Remote Services (ESRS)
Dell EMC Secure Remote Services (ESRS) are configured when the VxRail Appliance is set up.
ESRS provides remote monitoring, diagnostics and repair by the Dell EMC Support team. A Dell
EMC support account is required before ESRS can be configured.
Confirming ESRS connection
VxRail Manager uses a heartbeat to track the last time the system communicated with the
remote support service. The date and time of the last ESRS communication is displayed in the
Last Heartbeat section on the Support view of VxRail Manager.
Accessing Support eServices
You can access Support eServices directly from VxRail Manager. Services include:
Chat with Support: Opens a chat session with a Dell EMC support representative.
Open a Service Request: Opens a web form where you can open a service request.
VxRail Community: Displays the most recent activity from the VxRail Series community
forums.
Opening a live chat session with support personnel
Initiate a chat session directly from VxRail Manager by clicking the Chat with Support button
on the VxRail Manager Support tab. A live chat session opens with a Dell EMC support
representative who knows both the VxRail hardware and the full VMware software stack.

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Contacting Customer Service to request service
As an alternative to a live chat session, you can submit a service request directly from the
VxRail Manager Service view. The Service Request dialog asks you to select the appliance for
which you want to submit a request and pre-populates the form with information about that
appliance. Enter the service request information and click Submit.
VxRail community forums
The VxRail community of users provides valuable insight on how other users are obtaining the
most value from the VxRail Appliance. The community includes other VxRail users and provides
a forum to post questions and share experiences. This community is open and, while not
moderated by Dell EMC, subject matter experts in different organizations within the company
offer their perspectives.
To access the community, browse to https://community.emc.com/community/products/vxrail.
Alternatively, the most recent activity from the VxRail community is shown in the VxRail
Community list on the VxRail Manager Support view. To join the conversation, click the title of
a message or article and view the topic in a new browser tab.
Support knowledge base
The support knowledge base is often the fastest way to identify solutions to problems or get
answers to questions. Access the support knowledge base from support.emc.com or from the
Support view in VxRail Manager. Type the search terms in the Knowledge Base search field
and press Enter.
SolVe Desktop application for VxRail series
The SolVe Desktop application provides step-by-step procedures for component replacement,
software upgrades, and other system support tasks performed by the customer. Download the
application from https://support.emc.com. When the application is accessed, it verifies that it
includes the most current procedures and automatically updates the content if needed. Dell
EMC encourages you to use the detailed procedures in the Solve Desktop to reduce risk when
performing changes to a VxRail environment.
To download the SolVe Desktop application, go to https://support.emc.com. Click SolVe on the
main page. Download and install the SolVe Desktop application on your computer.
You must have an online support account to use the SolVe Desktop application.

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Monitoring a VxRail Appliance using VxRail
Manager
VxRail Manager implements a top-down approach to monitoring. The main dashboard (shown
below) displays the current overall system health at a glance.
Figure 2. VxRail Manager main dashboard
From the main dashboard, you can:
Access real-time system health details for both logical and physical resources. Use VxRail
Manager dashboards to view resource operability, performance, and utilization data as well
as information about cluster- and node-level storage, memory capacity and consumption.
Locate and identify critical events, errors, and warnings on any appliance in the cluster.
VxRail leverages VMware vRealize Log Insight to monitor system events and provide
ongoing notifications about the state of virtual environment and appliance hardware.
Access Support eServices directly from VxRail Manager. Services include chatting with
Support, opening a service request, and connecting with the VxRail community.

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Monitoring logical system health
The Logical tab of the VxRail Manager Health window displays CPU, memory, and storage
usage for the entire cluster and individual nodes. An example is shown below.
Figure 3. VxRail Manager Health > Logical screen
Procedure
1. Click HEALTH > Logical.
The default view shows cluster-level utilization levels for storage IOPS, CPU usage, and
memory. The view is color-coded to enable you to identify resource utilization:
Red: More than 85% used
Yellow: 75 to 85% used
Green: Less than 75% used
2. Click on a node name to view information about that node.
3. Click the components of a node to view more information about the capacity disk (HDD,
SSD), cache disk (SSD), ESXi disk or NIC.

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Viewing physical system health
The Physical tab of the VxRail Manager Health window displays information about the system
hardware. A graphical representation of the nodes in your cluster makes it easy to navigate to
event and status information. An example of this view is show below.
Figure 4. VxRail Manager Health > Physical screen Cluster view
Use the Health > Physical tab to view:
Nodes in the cluster: View status of the cluster and information about each individual node
such as ID and model number.
Individual node components: Drill down to see status and information for appliance
components such as disks, compute nodes, and power supplies.
Procedure
1. In VxRail Manager, click HEALTH to view the overall health of the nodes that make up the
cluster.
2. Click a node name or the picture of node to view more information about that node.
Front and back views of the appliance are displayed. An example is shown below.

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Figure 5. VxRail Manager Health > Physical screen cluster view
3. If a status icon is displayed next to an appliance, click the appliance or the magnifying glass
icon to see more information.
4. Click any appliance component to view more details.
Click a disk in the Front View or Back View to see disk status and information.
Click a node in the Back View to see compute and network information.
Click a power supply in the Back View to see power supply status and information.
Click the Back View to see compute information.
Click a NIC in the Back View (E, S, P, and V models) to see network information.
5. If a status icon is displayed for a component, click it to view event details in the Health
window.
6. Use your browser's back button to return to the appliance view on the Health > Physical
tab.

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Powering down and powering up a VxRail
Appliance
The VxRail Manager Shut Down Cluster feature provides a simple, graceful shutdown for the
entire cluster. Detailed procedures are available in the SolVe Desktop for specific environments.
Note: Dell EMC highly recommends that you gracefully shut down all client VMs before
performing this procedure. VxRail Manager only shuts down the infrastructure VMs in the
cluster. The operator is responsible for properly shutting down all client VMs.
Shutting down a VxRail cluster
1. In VxRail Manager left panel, click CONFIG and navigate to the General view.
2. Scroll down the page until you see the Shut Down Cluster option. Click Shut Down.
Figure 6. Shut Down Cluster
3. At the confirmation prompt click Confirm.
VxRail Manager performs a pre-check procedure and displays the following results. If the
pre-checks run successfully, the Shut Down button is visible.

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Figure 7. Shut Down Cluster Pre-checks
4. Click Shut Down.
Starting up VxRail
1. Verify that the top-of-rack (TOR) switch is powered on and connected to the network.
2. Power on each node manually by pressing its power button.
Wait several minutes for all service VMs to be powered on automatically. The locator LED of
Node1 is turned off automatically when VxRail Manager starts.
3. Using VCenter, manually restart all client VMs.
Note: If vCenter and VxRail Manager VMs are not available in 10 minutes, use the vSphere
client to log into host 1 to check the status of these VMs.

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Viewing system events using VxRail
Manager
The EVENTS view of VxRail Manager allows you to locate and identify critical events, errors,
and warnings on any appliance in the cluster. The figure below is an example of the Events
view.
Figure 8. VxRail Manager Events view
The event severity levels are:
Critical: Immediate action is required. Take immediate action to prevent downtime or data
loss. If critical events are detected, the EVENTS icon displays the number of unread events
in red in the navigation bar.
Error: An error has occurred. Address the issue as soon as possible.
Warning: System needs attention. An issue such as a disk space limit being reached
requires attention.

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Procedure
1. Click EVENTS to navigate to the VxRail Manager Events tab.
Sort the events list as desired by clicking on a column heading. Sort by ID number,
Severity, or Time (including Date).
Use the arrow buttons and scroll bars to navigate through the events list.
Click a row to view more information about an event.
New critical events are shown in red. When you click an event, the red highlight is
removed.
2. To set all critical events as “read”, click Mark All as Read.
3. If a physical component is listed in the Component column, click its Component ID to
navigate to the Event Details view on the Health > Physical screen.
4. To download a list of events, click Export all events.
An events.csv file is created and downloaded by your browser.