DELL Technologies VxRail Hyperconverged Infrastructure User Guide

DELL Technologies VxRail Hyperconverged

Specifications:

• Product: Dell VxRail 7.0.x
• Model: VxRail
• Version: 7.0.x
• Release Date: June 2024

Product Information:

The Dell VxRail 7.0.x is a hyper-converged infrastructure appliance that provides a seamless integration of compute, storage,and networking resources. It is designed to simplify IT operations and accelerate time to value for organizations looking to deploy virtualized environments.

Product Usage Instructions

Dell Technologies Support:
Create a Support account to access resources for your VxRail. Link your Support account with VxRail Manager to access resources without a separate login.

Register for a Dell Technologies Support account:
Create a Dell Technologies Support account to obtain VxRail
documentation, license files, and software updates. Link your Online Support account with VxRail Manager for seamless access to support resources.

Accessing Support Resources:
After registering, you can access or download the SolVe Desktop application for customized procedures to replace hardware components and upgrade software components. Link your Support account with VxRail Manager to access resources.

FAQ:

Q: How do I register for a Dell Technologies Support account?
A: To register for a Dell Technologies Support account, visit the official Dell website and follow the instructions provided for creating an account. Once registered, link your Support account with VxRail Manager for easy access to resources.

Q: What is the purpose of the SolVe Desktop application?
A: The SolVe Desktop application provides customized procedures for replacing hardware components and upgrading software components in your VxRail system. It helps streamline maintenance and troubleshooting processes.

NOTE:   NOTE indicates important information that helps you make better use of your product.

CAUTION:   CAUTION indicates either potential damage to hardware or loss of data and tells you how to avoid the problem.

WARNING:   WARNING indicates a potential for property damage, personal injury, or death.

Revision history

subscription licensing.
July 2023| 16| Removed support for Secure Remote Services.
May 2023| 15| Updated for VxRail 7.0.450.
March 2023| 14| Updated for VxRail 7.0.420.
September 2022| 13| Updated dynamic node cluster support in Chapter 8.
May 2022| 12| Updated for branding and links.
February 2022| 11| Updated for VxRail 7.0.350. Added guidelines to deploy a mixed cluster.
December 2021| 10| Editorial updates.
November 2021| 09| Updated for VxRail 7.0.300.
September 2021| 08| Updated for VxRail 7.0.240 with VMware vLCM.
September 2021| 07| Updated for VxRail self-deployment support.
September 2021| 06| Updated for VxRail 7.0.240.
July 2021| 05| Updated for VxRail 7.0.210.
May 2021| 04| Updated for VxRail 7.0.200.
October 2020| 03| Updated for VxRail 7.0.100.
July 2020| 02| Updated for VxRail 7.0.010.
April 2020| 01| Initial release to support VxRail 7.0.000.

Introduction

This document describes some of the administrative tasks that you can perform for VxRail. This document is also designed for people familiar with:

• Dell Technologies systems and software
• VMware virtualization products
• Data center appliances and infrastructure
• SolVe Online for VxRail

This document is intended for customers, field personnel, and partners who want to manage and operate VxRail clusters.
See the VxRail Documentation Quick Reference List for a complete list of VxRail documentation.

Dell Technologies Support
Create a Support account to access support resources for your VxRail. Link your Support account with VxRail Manager to access resources without a separate login.
If you already have an account, register your VxRail to access the available resources. You can link your Online Support account with VxRail Manager and access support resources without having to log in separately.

Register for a Dell Technologies Support account
Create a Dell Technologies Support account to obtain VxRail documentation, license files, and software updates.

About this task
If you already have an account, link your Support account with VxRail Manager and access support resources without having to log in separately.

After you register, you can:

• Access or download the SolVe Desktop application for customized procedures to replace hardware components and upgrade software components.
• Link your Support account with VxRail Manager to access resources.

For information about how to access a Dell Technologies Online Support account or to upgrade an existing account, see KB 21768.

Steps

1. Go to Dell Technologies Support.
2. Click Create an Account and follow the steps to create an account.
   It may take approximately 48 hours to receive a confirmation of account creation.

Support resources
Support resources are available for your VxRail.
Use the following resources to obtain support for your VxRail:

• In the VMware vSphere Web Client, select VxRail. Use the Support functions on the VxRail Dashboard.
• Go to Dell Technologies Support.

Use SolVe Online for VxRail procedures
To avoid potential data loss, always use SolVe Online for VxRail to generate procedures before you replace any hardware components or upgrade software.

CAUTION: If you do not use SolVe Online for VxRail to generate procedures to replace hardware components or perform software upgrades, data loss may occur for VxRail.

You must have a Dell Technologies Support account to use SolVe Online for VxRail.

Locate your VxRail serial number

If you contact Dell Technologies Support for your VxRail, provide the VxRail serial number, also known as the Product Serial Number Tag (PSNT).

Identify the VxRail serial number in VMware vSphere Web Client or locate the serial number that is printed on the physical VxRail.

Locate your VxRail serial number in VxRail Manager
The PSNT is the VxRail serial number in VxRail Manager.

Steps

1. On the VMware vSphere Web Client, select the Inventory icon.
2. Select the VxRail cluster and click the Monitor tab.
3. Expand VxRail, and click Physical View to view the serial number.

Locate your physical VxRail serial number
Locate your VxRail serial number for models based on PowerEdge servers.

Steps

1. On the upper right corner of the VxRail chassis, locate the luggage tag.
2. Pull out the blue-tabbed luggage tag.
3. Locate the serial number label on the pull-out tag.

Figure 1. VxRail serial number

The Product Serial Number Tag (PSNT) is the 14-digit number that is on the front edge of the luggage tag.

Access VxRail content using the QRL

Use the Service Tag or QRL code on the Dell QRL site to access VxRail information for VxRail 15G, and later models.

About this task
If your VxRail has a QRL that is added to the luggage tag, you can use this tag to obtain factory configuration and warranty information. You can also enter the Service Tag to access information.

Steps

1. On the VxRail luggage tag, locate the QRL or Service Tag.
   Figure 2. QRL code

2. Using the camera on your phone or laptop, use the QRL code on the Service Tag to access information specific to your VxRail. You can also go to qrl.dell.com to enter the Service Tag information.

VxRail components and features

PowerEdge servers provide power to VxRail which then uses HCI system software to provide virtualization, compute, and storage in a scalable system. VxRail provides centralized management, orchestration, and life cycle management. VxRail can be rapidly deployed into an existing data center environment that can deploy applications and services.

The following table provides an overview of VxRail components and features:

Table 1. VxRail components and features

administer VxRail clusters from the VMware vSphere Web Client. The following functions are run by VxRail Manager:

●    Performs diagnostics by automating physical views of each node, down to the component level.

●    Automatically detects new nodes and adds the nodes to a cluster.

●    Automates Day 0, Day 1, and Day 2 operations.

●    Provides a single point of support, KB articles, user forums, and best practices.

●    Provides a software stack for SDDC building blocks that include compute, network, storage, and management.

●    Monitors system health with deep hardware intelligence and a UI.

●    Views software versions and updates and upgrade system software.

●    Accesses qualified software products with VxRail Market.

●    Replaces hardware, add drives, and cycle power to the cluster or nodes.

●    Continuously Validated State (CVS) monitors the VxRail compliance state and reports detected drifts.

VxRail SaaS multicluster management provides centralized data collection and analytics to streamline monitoring of VxRail clusters, improve serviceability, and upgrade clusters. Use this information to manage the performance and capacity of your engineered HCI.
Storage| ●    VMware vSAN represents VMware vSAN Original Storage Architecture (OSA).

●    VxRail dynamic nodes

○    PowerStore, PowerMax, and Dell Unity

○    PowerFlex

○    Another VMware vSAN cluster through vSAN HCI Mesh

●    Virtualization infrastructure administrators manage storage on a per-VM basis. Storage policies are defined at the VM level for provisioning and load balancing.

Virtualization| ●    VMware vSphere, including VMware ESXi

●    VMware vCenter Server

VMs| RecoverPoint for VMs among other applications.

VxRail leverages VMware vSphere and VMware vSAN to provide server virtualization and software-defined storage. Through the logical and physical networks, individual nodes act as a single system providing scalability, resiliency, and workload balance.

The VxRail software bundle in the compute nodes contains VxRail Manager, VMware vCenter Server, VMware vSAN, and VMware vSphere. VMware vSAN and VMware vSphere are installed with temporary licenses. You must upgrade your license after the evaluation period has expired.

VxRail cluster overview
VxRail consists of server nodes that are designed and engineered for VxRail. A VxRail cluster depends on adjacent ToR Ethernet switches to support cluster operations. You can customize and allocate the nodes to applications and services that are based on defined business and operational requirements. All physical compute, network, and storage resources in VxRail are managed as a single shared pool.

Local disk drives on each node are used to form a VMware vSAN data store as the primary storage resource for application workloads. You can also customize the nodes without local disk drives to use external data center resources for primary storage.

VxRail supports the following types of clusters and satellite nodes:

Table 2. Clusters and satellite nodes

the standard cluster with a minimum of three nodes and can scale to 64 nodes. All the nodes provide the physical compute and storage resources to support the application workload. Every slot in the node contains disk drives that meet performance and capacity requirements for the application workload. When the cluster is initialized, the nodes are formed into

a local VMware vSAN data store. You can expand the cluster with additional compute and storage resources.

VMware vSAN supports VMware vSAN Original Storage Architecture (OSA).

VMware vSAN Express Storage Architecture (ESA) is supported for VxRail 8.0.x. VxRail 8.0.010 does not support VMware vSAN ESA.

VxRail dynamic node cluster| A dynamic node VxRail cluster starts with a minimum of two nodes and can scale to a maximum of 64 nodes. Dynamic clusters do not have local drives and instead use the following external storage resources to support workload and applications:

●    PowerStore, PowerMax, and Dell Unity

●    PowerFlex

●    Another VMware vSAN cluster through VMware vSAN HCI Mesh

●    FC

VxRail stretched cluster with VMware vSAN| Supports synchronous I/O on a local VMware vSAN data store on two sites that are separated geographically. The VMware vSAN stretched cluster enables site-level failure protection with no loss

of service or loss of data. The VMware vSAN stretched cluster requires a witness for monitoring and the strict network guidelines. See the VxRail Architecture Overview for more information.

VxRail 2-node cluster with VMware vSAN| Supports small-scale deployments with reduced workload and availability requirements with two nodes. The two-node cluster also requires a witness and strict network guidelines. You can convert a two-node ROBO cluster to a standard VxRail three-node cluster and then expand to 64 nodes.
Satellite node| A centrally located VxRail cluster monitors and manages satellite nodes that are deployed locally and remotely. Satellite nodes use the same PowerEdge servers as the other VxRail cluster types and the same engineering, qualification, and manufacturing processes. VxRail Manager supports the software LCM of satellite nodes. Satellite nodes require a single IP address to enable connectivity to a central cluster.

See the Dell VxRail Network Planning Guide for more information about VxRail clusters.

VxRail advanced features

VxRail provides advanced features such as automatic deployment, automatic scale-out, fault tolerance, and diagnostic logging.

Automatic deployment
After you set up your system and configure network settings, VxRail Manager automates the installation and configuration of all nodes into a cluster.

Automatic scale-out
VxRail provides automated scale-out by detecting an unconfigured node when powered on and adding a node to the cluster. The following scale-out options are available:

• With multinode expansion, you reduce the time required to expand your cluster by adding up to six VxRail nodes into a cluster in parallel.
• If you are using VMware Loudmouth, VxRail Manager uses autodiscovery capabilities that are based on the RFC-recognized ZNC protocol. Loudmouth requires IPv6 multicast which is limited to the management VLAN that the nodes use for communication. VMware Loudmouth:
  • Runs on each VMware ESXi host device and on the VxRail Manager VM.
  • Enables you to automatically discover and configure VxRail on your network.
  • Enables VxRail Manager to discover all nodes and automate the configuration process.

Node failure tolerance
VxRail tolerates node failures when using VMware vSAN, as defined by the VMware vSAN policy. VxRail implements the following standard VMware vSAN policy of one failure by default:

• An entire node can fail, and the system continues to function.
• A drive failure cannot affect more than one node.
• One cache drive can affect as many as six capacity drives (HDDs or SSDs).
• One network port on any node can fail without affecting the node.

VxRail Manager configures network failover through the virtual switch configuration in VMware ESXi during the initial setup.

Logging and log bundles
VxRail Manager provides logging and log bundles that provide operation and event information about your VxRail cluster.

VxRail deployment options for VMware vCenter Server
A VxRail cluster can join an existing customer-managed VMware vCenter Server during the initial configuration. With a customer-managed VMware vCenter Server, you can manage multiple VxRail clusters from a single interface. A customer-managed VMware vCenter Server can be hosted on the VxRail cluster it is managing or outside of that cluster within the customer environment.

Depending on the VMware vCenter Server location and source, the scope of VxRail management may differ. The following table describes the types of management:

Table 3. Management types

VMware vCenter Server| Cluster type| Internal to VxRail cluster| External to VxRail cluster| VxRail scope of management
---|---|---|---|---
VxRail-managed| Regular| Default and preferred| Not supported| Multiple clusters
Stretched| Supported| Not supported| Multiple clusters
vSAN 2-node| Supported VxRail 7.0.410 and later| Not supported| Multiple clusters
Customer- managed| Regular| Supported| Supported| Multiple clusters
Stretched| Supported| Supported and preferred| Multiple clusters
vSAN 2-node| Supported VxRail 7.0.410 and later| Supported VxRail 7.0.410 and later| Multiple clusters

To join an existing customer-managed VMware vCenter Server, enter an existing data center and a nonconflicting cluster name during the initial configuration. VxRail joins the data center as a VMware vSAN cluster with the specified cluster name.

When using your VxRail with a customer-managed VMware vCenter Server, verify that:

• The customer-managed VMware vCenter Server version is listed in the KB 000520355.
• A customer-supplied license is installed.

VxRail Manager overview

VxRail Manager is registered with the VMware vCenter Server when you install or upgrade the VxRail version.

Use VxRail Manager and SolVe Online for VxRail to perform the following tasks:

• Configure, add or remove hosts
• Shut down VxRail clusters
• Configure satellite nodes
• Configure iDRAC
• View service connectivity and system health information

Configure VxRail clusters

You can view and configure VxRail cluster parameters in the VMware vSphere Web Client. You can use the VMware vSphere Web Client in VxRail Manager to configure your clusters.
For more information about the VMware vSphere Web Client, see VMware Docs.

The following parameters are in the cluster:

• System: Displays the version of VxRail Manager software.
• Updates: Perform cluster-level VxRail upgrades, system updates, view or export update advisor reports, and edit cluster update rules.
• Certificate: Update VxRail Manager TLS certificate.
• Market: Access qualified applications to install and run on your VxRail cluster.
• Hosts: Add, view, modify, remove, and reboot the hosts within the VxRail cluster. You can also add, modify, and remove network segments.
• Support: Displays the linked Dell Technologies Support account. You can also:
  • Edit the Dell Technologies Support account credentials.
  • Create a service ticket.
  • Edit connectivity configuration
  • View the last several collected logs, create, and download a customized log bundle using types and nodes using the Troubleshooting tab.
• Settings: The Networking tab displays the Internet connection and proxy status. Configure proxy settings for Internet connections and configure traffic throttling. Enable or disable VxRail cluster health monitoring for maintenance purposes in the Health Monitoring tab.

Service connectivity
VxRail uses the secure connect gateway or direct connect for service connectivity. For more information, see KB 196945 and the Secure Remote Services 3.52 Upgrade to Secure Connect Gateway Supplement Documentation . Verify that the minimum secure connect gateway version is 5.00.07.10.

The secure connect gateway monitors devices and proactively detects hardware issues that may occur. Depending on your service contract, the secure connect gateway automates support request creation for issues that are detected on the monitored devices.

Use the VMware vSphere Web Client to enable service connectivity to provide secure, automated access between Dell Technologies Support and VxRail. Enable the service connectivity in direct connection mode or through an external secure connection gateway to enable some features in VxRail Manager. Service connectivity is required for use with APEX AIOps Infrastructure Observability.

Using service connectivity, you can provide usage data to the Dell Technologies customer experience improvement program. You determine the level of data about your VxRail environment that is collected. The types of data that are collected include environmental usage, performance, capacity, and configuration information. Dell Technologies uses this information to improve your experience with VxRail.

See Secure Connect Gateway 5.x Virtual Edition User’s Guide.

SaaS multicluster management features

Log in to APEX AIOps Infrastructure Observability to access to SaaS multicluster management and analytics for VxRail.

For each cluster, perform the following:

• Enable service connectivity.
• Opt into the Customer Improvement Program.

Convert a VxRail-managed VMware vCenter Server to a customer-managed VMware vCenter Server
Conversion to a customer-managed VMware vCenter Server is: a one-way conversion from VxRail-managed VMware vCenter Server to a customer-managed VMware vCenter. You cannot convert a customer-managed VMware vCenter Server to a VxRail-managed VMware vCenter Server. After converting to a customer-managed VMware vCenter Server, VxRail Manager does not manage the server and VMware PSC life cycle. You must obtain a license to perform the conversion.

Enable VMware vLCM (optional)
Use the VMware vSphere Web Client to enable VMware vSphere Lifecycle manager (vLCM). You cannot reverse VMware vLCM once enabled. With VMware vLCM, the VxRail native LCM backend is not used for host upgrades in that cluster. If VMware vLCM is enabled on VxRail clusters, you must manually upgrade the VMware vSAN disk format after the hosts are upgraded.

Update system software
Use SolVe Online for VxRail to generate the specific procedure when updating your VxRail software. You can also install and use the SolVe Desktop application on your Windows system. Dell Technologies continually updates the information in SolVe to ensure that the latest versions, procedures, and notes are available. Whenever you plan to perform service of any kind on your VxRail environment, generate the SolVe procedure first to ensure that you have the latest content. To upgrade from a release earlier than 7.0.240, do not use VMware vLCM, or VMware VUM to update components managed by VxRail Manager. If your cluster is in an unhealthy state or has critical health alarms, you may not be able to update your system software.
Open a service request, or contact your sales representative or reseller to arrange help in updating your system.

Expand a cluster
With VxRail automated installation and scale-out features, you can expand your cluster from three nodes.
You can use automated installation and scale-out features or multinode expansion to expand your clusters. VxRail automated installation and scale-out features to expand your clusters from three nodes. VxRail multinode expansion for a higher compute and storage capacity, and to simultaneously add up to six nodes.

VxRail supports expansion of the following clusters:

• The VxRail VMware vSAN cluster configuration is three to 64 nodes. Expansion of a cluster through node addition may lead to stranded assets where excess compute and storage resources cannot be shared outside of the cluster. If your workloads require a precise balance of compute and storage resources, use a dynamic cluster.
• The dynamic node cluster configuration is two to 64 nodes.
• The VxRail 2-node ROBO cluster configuration consists of two nodes. You can convert a two-node ROBO cluster into a standard VxRail 3-node cluster and expand to 64 nodes.

Deploy a mixed cluster in VxRail
Follow best practices when you deploy a mixed cluster:

• For most VxRail models, the first three nodes in a cluster must the same type and with an identical configuration. For 2-node clusters, both nodes must be the same type with an identical configuration.

• VxRail VD-4000r and VxRail VD-4000z bring up the initial cluster with a mixed 1U and 2U node. The first three nodes in
  a cluster do not need to be the same type and configuration. VxRail VD-4510c is the 1U compute node model and VxRail VD-4520c is the 2U compute node model. VxRail VD-4000w is the witness sled model.

• VxRail G560 requires three nodes.

• All nodes in the cluster must be running the same VxRail software version.

• The version must meet the minimum for the newest hardware model node that is being added.

• All nodes must match with the hardware model, configuration, memory, processor, drive size, number of drives, and type.

• The 15G PowerEdge server must be running VxRail 7.0.210 or VxRail 8.0.0 or later.

• Do not use 10 GbE bandwidth in clusters with 25 GbE bandwidth.

• Do not use hybrid nodes in clusters with all-flash or all-NVMe nodes.

• VxRail Intel-based nodes can only be added into a cluster with other Intel-based nodes.

• VxRail AMD-based nodes can only be added into a cluster with other AMD-based nodes.

Expand a cluster
The following actions are not permitted when adding a node in a VxRail cluster:

• Add a VIB to the cluster, such as RecoverPoint for VMs, VMware NSX, NVIDIA GPU, or other third-party VIBs.
• Configure jumbo frames on the cluster.
• Enable VMware vSAN encryption.
• Install external storage targets in the cluster, such as iSCSI, NFS, or FC.
• Install an additional VMware VDS.
• Configure a stretched cluster.
• Perform security hardening on the cluster.

If any change is made after the initial cluster deployment, place the new node in the maintenance mode and apply matching settings.

Configure VxRail satellite nodes
Using VxRail Manager, you can configure certain parameters that apply to the hosts in your VxRail cluster.
VxRail uses satellite nodes to provide simplicity, agility, and automation. Satellite nodes are used to address more edge use cases with single node deployments. Using satellite nodes, you can extend the VxRail operational model and efficiencies to edge sites while automating day-to-day operations, health monitoring, and life cycle management. This service is provided from a centralized location without the need for local technical or specialized resources.

A VxRail cluster with VMware vSAN running VxRail 7.0.300, or later can manage the satellite nodes. A customer-managed VMware vCenter Server is required for the VxRail cluster to manage satellite nodes. The VxRail Manager VM that is deployed can control all satellite nodes from a centralized host management location in the VMware vCenter Server. Using VxRail Manager, you can add, remove, and update satellite nodes from one access point. The host folder is used to logically group the VxRail satellite nodes together. With VxRail 7.0.450 and later, VxRail-managed VMware vCenter Servers can manage satellite nodes.

From the VMware vSphere Web Client, you can do the following:

• Configure iDRAC.
• Add, edit, or remove a host folder.
• Add a node to a folder.
• Upgrade the satellite nodes in a folder.
• Remove a host device.

Go to VxRail Manager for configuration steps that use the VMware vSphere Web Client. For more information about using the VMware vSphere Web Client, see VMware Docs.

Monitor VxRail

Monitor the health of your VxRail by viewing the health of components in the VMware vSphere Web Client.

Service connectivity
Using service connectivity, you can verify your VxRail Service connectivity heartbeat, which is the last time your system that is communicated with the remote support service. You can also review the configuration data that was sent to service connectivity. Your VxRail can use service connectivity either directly connected to back-end, or through Secure Connect gateway. Use VxRail Manager for steps enable Service connectivity on your VxRail using the VMware vSphere Web Client.

Physical system health
VxRail Manager provides steps that you can use to monitor the physical health of the VxRail. Procedures are conducted using the VMware vSphere Web Client. In VxRail Manager, procedures are provided to monitor the following VxRail components:

• Health, status, and event information
• Disk information and manage the disk locator LED.
• Nodes
• Power supply
• NIC status

For more information about using the VMware vSphere Web Client, see VMware Docs.

Shut down a VxRail cluster
Shut down your VxRail cluster from VxRail Manager.

About this task
If your customer-managed VMware vCenter Server is hosted on VxRail, you cannot use the cluster shutdown functionality. You must perform a manual shutdown and use the start-up procedure to prevent a login issue after restart. When you shut down a cluster, VxRail Manager automatically performs the following steps:

Steps

1. Shuts down related VMs and services.
2. Performs system health diagnostics and maintenance mode diagnostics.
3. Indicates any errors or conditions that prevent shutting down.

Add a VxRail node to a cluster

Add a VxRail node to a cluster.

Steps
To add a VxRail node to a cluster, generate a step-by-step procedure using SolVe Online for VxRail.

Remove a VxRail node from a cluster
Remove a VxRail node from a cluster

About this task
After a node is removed from a cluster, you must image the node before you add or repurpose the node. Do not use the node until it is imaged.

Steps
To remove a VxRail node from a cluster, generate a step-by-step procedure using SolVe Online for VxRail.

Reboot the VxRail nodes
Sequentially reboot VxRail nodes to a cluster.

About this task
To reboot the hosts from a cluster, generate a step-by-step VxRail procedure using SolVe Online for VxRail.

Configure iDRAC
Configure iDRAC for a VxRail host.

Steps

1. In the VMware vSphere Web Client, select the Inventory icon.
2. Select a host and click the Configure tab.
3. Select VxRail > iDRAC Configuration.
4. Click Edit next to IPv4 Settings or IPv6 Settings.
5. Modify the settings and click Apply.
6. Click Edit next to VLAN Settings.
7. Modify the settings and click Apply.
8. To add an iDRAC user, click Add, enter user information, and click Apply.

Configure automated renewal of VxRail Manager certificate
Set up the automatic renewal of certificates and monitor activity.

About this task
You need a CA server that supports Simple Certificate Enrollment Protocol (SCEP) for the VxRail version 7.0.350 and later. For VxRail version 7.0.350 through 7.0.371, verify that the certificate that VxRail Manager uses is signed by the CA server. For VxRail version 7.0.400 and later, this is not necessary because VxRail Manager automatically enrolls the certificate.

Steps

1. From the VMware vSphere Web Client, select the Inventory icon.
2. Select a VxRail cluster and click the Configure tab.
3. Select VxRail > Certificate.
4. Select EDIT AUTOMATED RENEWAL.
5. On the Edit Automated Renewal window, select Enable or Disable.
6. Enter the Certificate Authority Server URL, Challenge Password, Certificate Validation Frequency and Renew Certificate Before Expiration and then click APPLY.

Upgrade workflow for LCM
For VxRail 7.0.450 and VxRail 8.0.110 and later updates, you can use the LCM workflow to provide planning, upgrade remediation (if needed), and execution and validation.

The LCM workflow includes a planning component and upgrade readiness indicator to improve upgrades.

Figure 3. LCM workflow

For connected clusters, VxRail Manager automatically retrieves the recommended upgrade bundle information with the latest upgrade prechecks. Upgrade prechecks run every 24 hours against the wanted state of the target bundle. An upgrade readiness indicator displays green, yellow, or red to indicate the level of remediation that is required before the upgrade is attempted. Detailed upgrade precheck results are available in the Update Advisor Report. The Update Advisor Report describes the impact of updating to the target VxRail version.

The  Update Advisor Report is comprehensive and exportable and provides the following features:

• Cluster update readiness status
• Cluster update duration estimates
• Last VxRail backup insights
• Link to release notes
• Displays upgrade precheck outputs with KB links for remediation help
• Analysis of component-level drift
• Custom component information

See Generate the Update Advisor Report and Update Advisor Report for more information.

For unconnected clusters, go to Dell Support to download two small upgrade files from instead of the full upgrade bundle. To generate the Update Advisor Report, locate and download the files for the latest upgrade prechecks and the metadata file of the target bundle and then upload using the UI workflow in local update.
When the cluster is ready for an update, you must download a full upgrade bundle.

LCM modes
VxRail has two LCM modes which are abstracted by the VxRail API. The default LCM mode is through ESXCLI. For VxRail 7.0.240 and later, there are limited cases where VMware vLCM benefits. For VxRail 8.0.210 and later, additional use cases can leverage vLCM enablement for more capabilities.

Figure 4. LCM modes

Upgrade components that are not managed by VxRail
The VxRail UI workflow allows updates to third party GPUs, FC HBAs, or VMware NSX component during a single maintenance cycle combined with VxRail LCM update.

The following table describes the release support for this feature:

Table 4. Components and VxRail releases

VIBs can be staged with the custom component UI when in default LCM mode.
VMware NSX/Tanzu VIBs (default vLCM mode)| 7.0.450 or 8.0.110| VMware NSX is already installed before you enable VMware vLCM, see KB 190928. If VMware NSX is installed after you enable VMware vLCM, no further action is required. VMware NSX Manager manages all aspects of VMware NSX lifecycle management.

Generate the Update Advisor Report

Before you perform a software update, generate an Update Advisor Report to provide valuable information that supports the update.

About this task
You can generate an Update Advisor Report from VxRail Manager as shown in this task. You can also generate an Update Advisor Report from Internet Updates where you can select the option to upgrade targets. If you select upgrade targets, an Update Advisor Report is automatically generated daily. By default, Internet updates execute the update advisor report against the recommended target state every 24 hours.

Steps

1. From the VMware vSphere Web Client, under the Inventory icon, select your VxRail cluster.
2. Click the Configure tab, then under VxRail, click Updates.
3. Under Updates, click LOCAL UPDATES. Then under VxRail Upgrades, click Plan and Update (Recommended).
4. Under Installer Metadata File, select a metadata file and click UPLOAD. Click UPLOAD again on the confirmation window.
5. After the file is uploaded from the Create Update Advisor Report window, click CREATE.
6. When the report finishes generating, click NEXT, then select the LOCAL UPDATES tab and click CREATE REPORT.

Update Advisor Report
You can access the update Advisor Report from the Updates tab of VxRail Manager. There are four sections to the report that include the report summary, VxRail components, the VxRail precheck version, and VxRail custom components. This report is fully exportable in HTML format.

Report Summary
The report summary is comprehensive and contains the following:

• Cluster update readiness status
• Report timestamp
• Cluster name, current and target states
• Update Type
• Cluster update duration estimates
• Insights from the last VxRail backup
• Link to release notes

Figure 5. Report summary

VxRail Components
The following figure shows VxRail components:

Figure 6. VxRail components

The following figure shows expanded details for VxRail components:

Figure 7. VxRail components – expanded view

The following figure shows VxRail components with group by component disabled:

Figure 8. VxRail components with group by component disabled

VxRail Precheck Version
The VxRail Precheck Version section provides the upgrade precheck outputs with KB links for remediation help:

Figure 9. VxRail precheck

When you expand details, the following is displayed:

Figure 10. VxRail precheck – expanded

The following additional details are provided:

Figure 11. Additional information

When you disable Group by component, the following is displayed:

Figure 12. VxRail precheck with group by component disabled

VxRail Custom Components
The custom component information is displayed:

Figure 13. VxRail custom components

Manage VxRail entitlements

VxRail is deployed with temporary VMware vSphere and VMware vSAN evaluation licenses that expire after 60 days. Activate VMware licenses on the VxRail cluster before the 60-day grace period expires to ensure uninterrupted cluster operations.

Contact your Dell Technologies account team and/or VMware account team to determine what options are available for your organization.
See the Dell VxRail Deployment Planning Guide to apply licenses.

Manage VxRail passwords

VxRail Manager detects password changes in the VMware vCenter Server and prompts you to update the password in VxRail Manager.

Go to SolVe Online for VxRail to manage VxRail passwords.
For a summary of rules for setting up accounts and passwords that are implemented by VxRail, see KB 000158231.

CAUTION: Create a maximum of one account per cluster for the VMware vCenter Server management account. Do not use shared accounts.

When a management account changes or expires, VxRail Manager mutes health monitoring and displays alerts on the Physical View and Market pages.

Go to VxRail Manager to update the following passwords:

• VxRail-managed VMware vCenter Server
• Customer-managed VMware vCenter Server
• VMware ESXi management host

After VxRail Manager passwords are updated, the system returns to normal state and health monitoring is unmuted.

Administrative tasks

You can perform some administrative tasks outside of VxRail Manager using SolVe Online for VxRail. Not every task is supported on every version of VxRail software.

For a complete listing of How To procedures, go to SolVe Online for VxRail. The following list represents some of the procedures that you can perform using SolVe for VxRail:

• Change the VLAN IDs (links to VMware documentation)
• Change VxRail IP Addresses (procedures and links to VMware documentation)
• Change VxRail Passwords (procedures and links to VMware documentation)
• Change other VxRail Cluster settings
• Collect Log Bundle
• Configure External Storage of Dynamic Node Cluster
• Configure Witness Traffic Separation on an existing Stretched Cluster
• Deploy Log Insight
• Import ESXi Host Certificates into VxRail Manager
• Optimize VxRail Cross Site Traffic
• Perform VxRail Manager File-Based Backup
• Rename VxRail Components
• Remove a Node
• Change the witness hostname and IP address
• Change the IP address of the Witness VM
• Collect the witness configuration

Go to VMware vSphere documentation for information regarding VMware tasks.

Replace and add VxRail hardware

Qualified VxRail customers can use Solve Online for VxRail to add or replace customer-replaceable components.

See Dell Technologies Support for hardware-specific information.

Generate step-by-step hardware component procedures in SolVe Online for VxRail before performing any hardware replacement or upgrade procedures.

CAUTION: If SolVe Online for VxRail is not used to generate procedures, VxRail may experience potential data loss.

For disk replacements for VxRail release 7.0.200 and later, the following applies:

• When you replace a drive in a disk group, you can use a larger capacity drive.
• When you expand a disk group, you can use larger capacity drives than what exists in a disk group.

Replace disks in VxRail with VxRail Manager
Replace disks in VxRail using VxRail Manager.

About this task
For disk replacements, the following conditions apply:

• Do not use VMware vCenter Server or any other tool with the automated hardware replacement process.
• With the automated hard drive replacement workflow, only one hard drive can be replaced at a time, with no other devices.
• With the automated SSD replacement workflow, only one SSD can be replaced at a time, with no other devices.

Steps
Generate a step-by-step procedure using SolVe Online for VxRail.

Add disks with VxRail Manager
You add an HDD or SDD in the exact location you selected in VxRail Manager. Using the automated HDD or SSD add workflow, only one hard drive or SSD can be added at a time (with no other devices).

About this task
Add disks in VxRail using VxRail Manager.

Steps
Go to SolVe Online for VxRail to generate a step-by-step procedure.

Set up external storage for a dynamic node cluster

For a dynamic node cluster, you must use external storage along with the VxRail onboard storage resources.
See the appropriate Support Matrix on the Dell Technologies Support Site for the supported storage of dynamic clusters.

VxRail supports the following:

• NFS
• VMFS over iSCSI/FC/FC-NVMe/TCP-NVMe
• vVol over NFS/iSCSI/FC
• PowerFlex
• VMware vSAN HCI-Mesh

You can use the following external storage arrays to provide primary storage for your VxRail cluster:

• Dell Unity
• PowerStore
• PowerMax
• PowerFlex
• VMware vSAN HCI-Mesh

For more information about the configuration of the external storage, see VxRail Configure External Storage of Dynamic Node Cluster.

External storage does not impact the following VxRail features:

• Upgrades
• Reset
• Cluster shutdown

You can scale VxRail compute resources separately from storage capacity to improve overall hardware usage levels.

Reboot nodes

Reboot nodes sequentially before an upgrade, or any time a reboot is required for VxRail 7.0.480 and later. You can reboot nodes immediately or schedule a reboot.

Reboot VxRail nodes
Reboot the nodes from a cluster.

About this task
You can reboot hosts immediately or schedule a reboot.
This procedure is intended for Dell Technologies customers, employees, and partners who are authorized to work on a VxRail cluster.

Steps

1. From the VMware vSphere Web Client, select the Inventory icon.
2. Select a VxRail host and click the Configure tab.
3. Select VxRail > Hosts.
4. From the Cluster Hosts window, check the hosts that you want to reboot and click REBOOT.
5. For Reboot Hosts, select Reboot Now and click Next.
6. On the Prechecks window, view the prechecks and click NEXT.
7. On the Summary window, click REBOOT NOW.

Reboot nodes sequentially
Perform an immediate sequential reboot of the nodes or schedule a reboot of the nodes.

Prerequisites
To view when the hosts were last rebooted, perform the following:

1. Log in to the VMware vSphere Web Client.
2. From the Inventory icon, select the VxRail cluster and click the Configure tab.
3. Select Hosts and view the information in the Last Reboot column to see when the hosts were last rebooted.

You can view rebooted hosts in the Update Advisor Report. To generate the report, see KB 213039. In the report, ensure that Group by component is enabled to view Last Reboot column.

Steps

1. Select the VxRail cluster and click the Configure tab.
2. Click Hosts, select one or more nodes to restart and click REBOOT.
3. On the Reboot Hosts window, select Reboot Now or Schedule Reboot to enter a date and time for the reboot.
4. Click NEXT.
5. Verify that all checks on the Prechecks window display a Success status and click NEXT.
6. Review the details on the Summary window and click REBOOT NOW.

Monitor the host reboot

Track the status of the reboot for each host.

Steps

1. Select the VxRail cluster and click the Configure tab.

2. Click Hosts and click Show details.

3. On the Cluster Hosts window, you can verify the success of the reboots:

   • If the reboots succeed, the details frame is green. Click Dismiss to close the details window.
   • If any reboot fails, the details frame is red. Review the error in the Status column of the details window. To fix the errors, see KB 216816. Complete the required actions and either click RETRY ALL to retry the reboot for the failed nodes, or click CANCEL ALL to cancel this reboot cycle and clear the details window.
     If any hosts fail during precheck, set up sequential reboot for others and skip the failed host. The frame around the details window is yellow. Figure

4. Reboots succeed, failed host skipped

5. After all the required actions are completed, click DISMISS to close the details window.

VMware products used with VxRail

VMware products can be ordered with VxRail or purchased separately.

The following table provides links to VMware documentation:

Table 5. VMware components

/VMware-Horizon/index.html)

●    VMware Horizon Release Notes

VMware vSphere Remote Office and Back Office (ROBO)| ●    VMware Validated Design Documentation

●    SDDC Architectures

●    Overview of ROBO SDDC

VMware Cloud Foundation| ●    VMware Cloud Foundation Documentation

●    VMware Cloud Foundation Release Notes

References

• VMware Docs Home
• docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-Cloud-Foundation/4.1/rn/VMware-Cloud-Foundation-41-Release-Notes.html
• VMware Cloud Foundation Documentation
• VMware Horizon 8 2006 Release Notes
• VMware Horizon Documentation - Horizon 8, Horizon Cloud Service - next-gen, and Horizon Clients
• VMware Validated Solutions | VMware
• VMware Validated Solutions | VMware
• VMware Validated Solutions | VMware
• VMware vSphere Documentation

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