Deploying a new vCenter or a vSAN management cluster

Perform the following steps if you want to deploy a new vCenter management cluster on your CI system or a vSAN cluster on your HC system.

Important: Do not refresh the Service Console browser window while configuring the vCenter or the vSAN management cluster.

Deploy the Service Console VM.
Reset the default Service Console password.
Verify that the SOL settings on the compute nodes are enabled. See "Enabling SOL settings on ESXi server" in the Hitachi Unified Compute Platform (UCP) Advisor Administration Guide.
Verify that the virtual serial port on the HA800 G2/G3 servers is set to COM2. See Setting virtual port on HA800 G2/G3 servers to COM2.

Basic Information

In a web browser, log on to the Service Console.
Read and accept the end-user license agreements, and then click Save.
Enter your company name.
For Solution type, select UCP CI VMware virtualization or UCP HC VMware virtualization.
For the Search By option:
- Select the IPv4 Address option if your laptop and the management rack are in different subnets, and then enter the management rack IPv4 address.
  Note: Ensure that your laptop has access to the management rack subnet.
- Select the IPv6 Address option if your laptop and the management rack are in the same subnet.
The vCenter VCSA image that you mounted by running the vcsa-script.sh during Configuring a new management cluster is selected by default.
Click Auto-discover nodes to begin autodiscovery of the available and supported nodes in the management rack. This will take several minutes to complete according to the number of nodes.

Node Autodiscovery

Select one or more nodes that you want to include in the management cluster where you will deploy UCP Advisor.

Select a node that is in the Normal state, and then from the Actions menu, click View Details to verify the available disk space.
Note: A minimum of three nodes are required for vSAN cluster configuration.

Tip: You can toggle the view using the Tile/List icons. You can also filter the list, as well as sort it by column.
Click Configure Devices.

BMC Address Configuration

You can skip this step if the BMC is already configured for all of the selected nodes, and all of the nodes are reachable.

Click Configure BMC.
Enter the following network settings:
IPv4 Address Range

The IPv4 address range for the BMC.

Default Gateway

The default gateway address for the BMC.

Subnet Mask

The subnet mask IP address for the BMC.

VLAN ID

(Optional) The VLAN ID for the BMC.

NTP

(Optional) The NTP server IP address for the BMC.
Note: To configure NTP on HA800 series servers, see Enabling NTP settings on HA800 G2/G3 series servers.

BMC Admin User New Password

Enter a unique BMC admin user password.

BMC Admin User Confirm Password

Confirm the BMC admin user password.
When done, click Next, review the summary, and then click Configure.

Note: If BMC configuration fails, restart the configuration from the beginning. Click Restart Workflow.
After the BMC is configured, click Next to configure ESXi.

ESXi Address Configuration

You can skip this step if:

ESXi is already configured for all of the selected nodes, and all of the nodes are reachable.
The DNS for the host that is selected for vCenter installation is the same DNS that was specified when deploying the Service Console VM.

Click Configure ESXi.
Enter the following ESXi settings:

IPv4 Address Range

The IPv4 address range for the ESXi server.

Default Gateway

The default gateway address for the ESXi server.

Subnet Mask

The subnet mask IP address for the ESXi server.

NTP

(Optional) The NTP server IP address for the ESXi server.

DNS

The DNS IP address.

VLAN ID

The VLAN ID for the ESXi server.

ESXi New Password

Enter a new ESXi password for the root user.

ESXi Confirm Password

Confirm the ESXi root user password.
When done, click Next, review the summary, and then click Configure.

Note: If ESXi configuration fails, restart the configuration from the beginning. Click Restart Workflow.
After ESXi is configured, click Next.

VCSA Installation

Install vCenter on the selected nodes.

Click Set up New vCenter.
Enter the following vCenter settings. When done, click Next, review the settings, and then click Submit.

ESXi for vCenter Installation

Select the ESXi address where you want to deploy vCenter.

Deployment Type Options

Select a deployment type.

Enable SSH

Enable or disable SSH.

VCSA VM Name

Enter a name for the VCSA VM.

VCSA VM Password

Enter a password for the VCSA VM.

Confirm VCSA VM Password

Confirm the VCSA VM password.

IPv4 Address

Enter the IP address for the VCSA VM.

Subnet Mask

Enter the subnet mask IP address for the VCSA VM.

Default Gateway

Enter the default gateway IP address for the VCSA VM.

New Portgroup Name

Enter a new port group name for the VCSA VM.

DNS

Enter the DNS IP address for the VCSA VM.

NTP

Enter the NTP server IP address for the VCSA VM.

VLAN ID

Enter the VLAN ID for the VCSA VM.

SSO Domain Name

Enter an SSO domain username to log on to the VCSA VM.

SSO Domain Password

Enter the SSO domain password to log on to the VCSA VM.

SSO Domain Confirm Password

Confirm the SSO domain password.

vCenter License Key

Enter the vCenter license key.

Note: If vCenter installation fails, restart the configuration from the beginning. Click Restart Workflow.
After vCenter is installed, click Next.

vCenter Cluster Configuration

Configure the vCenter cluster for UCP Advisor deployment.

Click Configure vCenter Cluster.
Enter the following vCenter cluster settings. When done, click Next, review the settings, and then click Submit.
- Datacenter Details
  
  Datacenter Name
  
  Enter a name for the datacenter.
  
  Cluster Name
  
  Enter a name for the cluster.
- Distributed Switch Configuration
  
  VDS Name
  
  Enter a name for the dvSwitch.
  
  Max MTU
  
  Enter the maximum MTU value for the dvSwitch.
- Management Portgroup Configuration
  
  Portgroup Name
  
  Enter the management port group name.
  
  VLAN ID
  
  Enter the VLAN ID for the management port group.
- vMotion Portgroup Configuration
  
  Portgroup Name
  
  Enter a name for vMotion port group.
  
  IPv4 Address Range
  
  Enter the IP address for the management nodes.
  
  Default Gateway
  
  Enter the default gateway IP address for the vMotion port group.
  
  Subnet Mask
  
  Enter the subnet mask IP address for the vMotion port group.
  
  VLAN ID
  
  Enter the VLAN ID for the vMotion port group.
  
  Max MTU
  
  Enter the maximum MTU value for the vMotion port group.
- (For HC systems) vSAN Portgroup Configuration
  
  Portgroup Name
  
  Enter a name for vSAN port group.
  
  IPv4 Address Range
  
  Enter the IP address for the management nodes.
  
  Default Gateway
  
  Enter the default gateway IP address for vSAN port group.
  
  Subnet Mask
  
  Enter the subnet mask IP address for vSAN port group.
  
  VLAN ID
  
  Enter the VLAN ID for vSAN port group.
  
  Max MTU
  
  Enter the maximum MTU value for vSAN port group.
- License Key
  
  (Optional) ESXi License Key
  
  Enter the ESXi license key.
Note: If vCenter cluster configuration fails, restart cluster configuration from the beginning. Click Restart Workflow.
After the vCenter cluster configuration is deployed, click Next.

When the configuration is complete, you can:

Download the vCenter cluster configuration log report to troubleshoot any issues: Click Logs.
Download the vCenter cluster configuration report: Click Configuration Report.
Download the onboarding sheet for onboarding devices to the UCP Advisor inventory: Click UCP Advisor Onboarding Sheet.
Download the UCP Advisor documentation from https://knowledge.hitachivantara.com/. Click Installation Guide.

Install UCP Advisor software. See Installing the UCP Advisor software on a virtual machine.