OmniCube for vsphere Client

Transcription

1 OmniCube for vsphere Client Administrator Guide OmniStack Software Version 2.1.5

2 OmniCube Administrator Guide for vsphere Client SimpliVity, the SimpliVity logo, OmniCube, OmniStack, OmniCube Accelerator, CN-2000, CN-2200, CN-3000, CN-5000 and Data Virtualization Platform are trademarks or registered trademarks of SimpliVity Corporation in the United States and certain other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Information in this document is subject to change without notification. Reproduction in any manner whatsoever without the written permission of SimpliVity is strictly forbidden. SimpliVity Corporation 2014 Publication Date: 11/6/2014 Part Number: Rev G 2

3 Table of Contents Preface 9 Documentation and Customer Support 9 Technical Support Introduction to OmniCube 11 OmniCube Features 11 Converged Server and Storage Solution 12 Federation Hardware and Software 13 OmniCube System Architecture 13 Integration with vcenter Server 15 Non-SimpliVity ESXi Host Access to Datastores in a Federation 17 SimpliVity VAAI NAS Plug-in 17 OmniCube Deployment Preparation 18 OmniCube User Accounts and Single Sign-On 18 OmniCube User Accounts 18 SimpliVity User Account 20 Changing the SimpliVity User Password 22 Running Linked Mode Using vcenter V5.1 or Later 22 VMware Environment 23 Network Address and vsphere Inventory Requirements 24 Networks and Other Considerations and Requirements 25 Network Configuration Worksheet 26 Ports Required for Network Communication Deploying OmniCube 29 Tasks for OmniCube Deployment 29 Task 1 Installing the SimpliVity vsphere Extension 30 Task 2 Installing the SimpliVity Arbiter on the vcenter Server 31 Task 3 Performing the Initial ESXi Host Configuration 32 Task 4 Configuring the OmniCube Systems in vcenter Server 33 Adding the OmniCube Systems as ESXi Hosts 33 Virtual Switches for the OmniCube Systems 34 Configuring NTP on the OmniCube Systems 39 Task 5 Using the Pre-deployment Wizard 39 Pre-deployment Wizard Worksheet 40 Starting the Pre-deployment Wizard after Adding an OmniCube 41 Starting the Pre-deployment Wizard from the vsphere Home Screen 42 Creating a Pre-deployment Configuration File 42 Specifying OmniCube Systems to be Deployed 42 Specifying Management Network Information 43 Specifying Storage and Federation Network Information 43 Specifying NTP Server Information 44 Exporting and Validating the Configuration File 44 Pre-deployment Results Screen Checks 45 Validation Warnings and Errors 46 Pre-deployment XML Configuration File 46 3

4 OmniCube Administrator Guide for vsphere Client Table of Contents Using an Existing Pre-deployment Configuration File 47 Using a Pre-deployment Configuration File to Deploy an OmniCube 48 Task 6 Deploying OmniCube and Configuring a Federation 48 Selecting the Deployment Method 49 Deploying OmniCube Without Using A Pre-deployment Configuration File 50 Deployment Checking Host Screen 53 Post-Deployment Tasks for a Federation 54 Retrying a Failed OmniCube Deployment 54 Setting the Datacenter Time Zone 55 Supported Time Zones 55 Configuring the SimpliVity VAAI NAS Plug-In 65 Prerequisites for Installing the SimpliVity VAAI NAS Plug-in 66 Installing the SimpliVity VAAI NAS Plug-in 67 Installing on OmniCube 67 Installing on Non-SimpliVity ESXi Hosts 68 Sample VAAI NAS Plug-in Installation 68 Uninstalling the SimpliVity VAAI NAS Plug-in 69 Sample VAAI NAS Plug-In Removal 70 Installation Verification for the VAAI NAS Plug-in Using the vsphere GUI 70 Installation Verification for the VAAI NAS Plug-in Using esxcli 71 Sample Verification Session Starting Up and Shutting Down an OmniCube 73 Setting the Virtual Machine Startup and Shutdown Sequence 74 Starting Up an OmniCube System 74 Performing a Planned Shutdown of an OmniCube System Adding OmniCube Systems to a Federation 77 Considerations When Adding OmniCube Systems to an Existing Federation 77 Pre-Deployment State and Software Compatibility Levels 77 Adding OmniCube Systems 79 Removing OmniCube Systems from a Federation 80 Replacing an OmniCube in a Federation Federation Management 83 Displaying Information About a Federation OmniCube 83 Federation Security 86 Ensuring Consistent Time in a Federation 87 Restarting the SimpliVity Arbiter 87 Federations in Linked Mode vcenter Servers 88 Configuring and Testing Phone Home 88 Prerequisites for Configuring Phone Home 89 Procedure for Configuring Phone Home 89 Testing the Phone Home Configuration 90 Removing a Datacenter 91 Procedure for Removing a Datacenter from a Federation 91 Federation Management User Interfaces 91 Displaying an Overview of the Federation 92 Datacenters Panel 92 4

5 OmniCube Administrator Guide for vsphere Client Table of Contents Policies Panel 94 Throughput Panel 94 Managing a Federation with vsphere Client 94 Requirements for Using vsphere Client to Manage a Federation 97 Managing Data in the SimpliVity Graphical User Interface 98 Selecting, Sorting, and Filtering SimpliVity GUI Data 98 Organizing SimpliVity GUI Data in Tables 99 Filtering SimpliVity GUI Data by Columns 100 Using the OmniCube Command Line Interface 100 Displaying Information About a Federation Datacenter 100 Virtual Machines Panel 102 Performance Panel 103 Datastores Panel 103 OmniCube Systems Panel 104 Storage Space Consumption and Reporting 105 Storage Space Reporting 105 Displaying Storage Space Use for a Federation Datacenter 105 Graphical Representation of Logical Space Consumption 107 Physical Space in a Federation Datacenter 108 Active Data Usage in a Federation 108 Storage Space Used for Data Security 109 Effective Logical Usage 109 Storage Efficiency and Space Savings 110 Storage Capacity Input Values and Reporting 111 Calculating Unique Data in Backups to Reclaim Physical Storage Space 111 Alternate Methods of Reclaiming Physical Storage Space 112 Calculating the Unique Data in Backups 112 Changing the Network Configuration for a Federation 114 Overview of OmniCube IP Address Changes 114 Changing the IP Address on a Non-SimpliVity ESXi Host 114 Prerequisites 115 Procedure 115 Identifying and Solving Problems in a Federation 115 Federation Troubleshooting - Using Support Capture Archives 116 Preparing Support Capture Resources 116 Monitoring Federation Events and Alarms 117 Monitoring Federation Tasks 117 Determine Whether VMs are in Storage HA Compliance 117 OmniCube and Federation Heartbeats 118 Troubleshooting Datastores 119 Incomplete Datastore Creation 119 Identifying Software Revisions 120 Support Capture 120 Considerations when using Support Capture 121 Content of a Support Capture 122 vcenter Server System Log Bundles 123 5

6 OmniCube Administrator Guide for vsphere Client Table of Contents Manually Downloading a Support Capture 123 Obtaining Support Capture Archives for Troubleshooting 123 Prerequisites for Gathering Logs and Diagnostic Files 124 Procedure for Creating a vcenter Server Log Bundle 125 Procedure for Creating Support Captures OmniCube Cloud Datacenter 129 OmniCube Cloud Datacenter Features 129 Cloud Terminology 130 Amazon Web Services Requirements 131 OmniCube Cloud Datacenter Configuration Overview 132 Configure Amazon Web Services Users 132 Create OmniCube Cloud Datacenter Groups, Users and Credentials 133 Create the OmniCube Admin Group and OmniCube Admin 134 Create the OmniCube User Group and OmniCube User 134 Configuring Your Cloud Network 136 Virtual Private Network and Virtual Private Cloud Concepts 136 Prerequisite Tasks for VPN/VPC 137 Configuring Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) and Virtual Private Network (VPN) 137 Configure a VPC with Public and Private Subnets 138 Add Subnets to your VPC 138 Create Security Groups for the VPC 138 Enable Inbound Traffic 139 Configuring the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) 139 Obtain the Elastic Network Interface (ENI) from the EC2 Instance 139 Configure or Change EC2 Security Groups 140 Deploying an OmniCube Cloud Datacenter 140 Prerequisites for Deploying an OmniCube Cloud Datacenter 141 Procedure for Deploying an OmniCube Cloud Datacenter 142 Preserving Your Private Key File (PEM) 143 Using OmniCube Cloud Datacenter Features 143 Datacenters Panel 144 Throughput Panel 145 Space Reporting for an OmniCube Cloud Datacenter 146 Backups in an OmniCube Cloud Datacenter 147 OmniCube Cloud Datacenter Summary Panel 148 Remove OmniCube Cloud Datacenters 148 Before You Begin 149 Removing an OmniCube Cloud Datacenter 149 Removing the S3 Bucket 149 Generating Replacement AWS Access Keys 150 Using the OmniCube Cloud Datacenter VPC Template 150 Prerequisites for Using the VPC Template 150 Procedure for Using the VPC Template 151 Modifying your VPN to use a Static IP 152 Adding a Static Route on a Switch Provisioning Federation Resources 155 6

7 OmniCube Administrator Guide for vsphere Client Table of Contents Federation Datastores 155 Creating a Datastore in a Federation 156 Displaying Information About a Federation Datastore 157 Summary Panel 158 Logical Capacity Panel 158 Virtual Machines Panel 158 Changing the Backup Policy for a Federation Datastore 159 Resizing a Federation Datastore 160 Deleting a Federation Datastore 160 Allowing Datastore Access to Non-Federation ESXi Hosts 161 Federation Virtual Machines 164 Creating a Virtual Machine in a Federation Datastore 164 Prerequisites for Federation VMs 165 Creating Federation VMs 165 Displaying Information About a Federation Virtual Machine 165 Cloning a Federation Virtual Machine 169 Moving a Federation Virtual Machine 169 Deleting a Federation Virtual Machine Data Protection and Recovery 173 How to Protect Data in a Federation 173 Federation Virtual Object Names 174 Backup and Restore Options for Federation Virtual Machines 174 Limits on VM Backups 175 Application Consistent Backups 176 Disaster Protected Backups 176 Manual Backups of Federation Virtual Machines 177 Creating a Manual Backup of a VM 177 Policies for Scheduled Backup Operations 178 Creating a Backup Policy 179 About Backup Policy Rules 181 Prerequisites for Backup Policy Rules 181 Adding or Deleting Backup Policy Rules 182 Automatic Adjustment of Policy Rules 183 Displaying Backup Policies and Rules 184 Deleting a Backup Policy 184 Renaming a Backup Policy 185 Changing the Backup Policy for a Federation Virtual Machine 185 About Backup Filtering 186 Maximum Number of Matching Backups 187 Sorting the Outcome of a Filter or Query 187 Specifying Filters and Queries 188 Character Matching in Filters 189 Running a Filter Query 190 Using the Filter Panel 190 Adding a New Filter or Query 191 Removing a Filter 191 7

8 OmniCube Administrator Guide for vsphere Client Table of Contents Editing a Filter or Query 192 Exporting Lists of Backups 192 Troubleshooting Filters and Queries 192 Incorrect Filter Values 192 Duplicate Filters 193 Filtering In Virtual Machine View 193 Backup Filtering Search and Refresh Options 193 Displaying Backups for a Federation Virtual Machine 194 Display All Backups in a Federation vcenter 194 Display all Backups in a Datacenter 197 Backup Tasks 198 Canceling a Backup of a Federation Virtual Machine 198 Copying a Backup of a Federation Virtual Machine 200 Copying a Backup from the VM View 200 Deleting Backups of a Federation Virtual Machine 201 Deleting a Backup from the VM View 201 Deleting a Backup from the Datacenters Panel 201 Deleting a Backup from the Datacenter 202 Locking a Backup of a Federation Virtual Machine 202 Renaming a Backup of a Federation Virtual Machine 203 Recovering Federation Virtual Machine Data Upgrading Software and Hardware 207 OmniStack Software Upgrade 207 Overview of the OmniStack Software Upgrade Process 209 Preparing for Software Upgrades 209 Before Upgrading the Software 211 Using the Upgrade Procedures 211 Obtaining the Software Upgrade Package 211 Uploading an OmniStack Software Upgrade Package to a Federation 212 Upgrading the OmniStack Software in Datacenter 213 Post Upgrade Tasks 215 Upgrading an Individual OmniCube 216 Rolling Back an OmniStack Software Upgrade 217 Committing an OmniStack Software Upgrade 218 Upgrade Commit by Datacenter 218 Upgrade Commit by OmniCube 219 Upgrade a Federation that Includes OmniCube Cloud Datacenter 219 Before You Begin 219 Upgrading an OmniCube Cloud Datacenter 220 Upgrading the SimpliVity vsphere Extension 220 Upgrading the SimpliVity Arbiter 221 Upgrading or Replacing OmniCube Hardware 221 Index 223 8

9 Preface This manual introduces OmniCube and its functions and describes how to configure and manage a Federation by using the SimpliVity vsphere Extension (plug-in). Documentation and Customer Support Documentation in PDF format is located on the distribution USB flash drive. OmniCube documentation includes the following: OmniCube Release Notes Provides the latest information about OmniCube. SimpliVity QuickStart - Hardware Installation Provides condensed instructions for installing the hardware. You should also read the instructions in the Rail Kit when installing and cabling the system in a rack. SimpliVity QuickStart - Software Configuration Provides condensed instructions for setting up the system and creating a Federation. Hardware Installation and Maintenance Guide Provides detailed information about installing and maintaining the hardware for your platform. OmniCube for vsphere Client Help Describes how to deploy OmniCube and create and manage a Federation. OmniCube CLI Reference Describes how to use the OmniCube command line interface (CLI) to manage a Federation. In addition, you should read the VMware documentation, including the VMware Release Notes. See: vcenter Best Practices. Technical Support To contact SimpliVity support, visit the SimpliVity Web site at In addition, SimpliVity recommends that you configure Phone Home to automatically notify SimpliVity Support about significant OmniCube system events. 9

10 10

11 1 - Introduction to OmniCube This section introduces OmniCube and describes its features and architecture. OmniCube Features OmniCube includes the following features: Pre-deployment wizard for efficient installation and configuration. Efficient data storage through automatic, granular deduplication and compression throughout the data life-cycle, with no impact on performance. Globally-unified, VM-centric management: Seamless integration with vsphere Client for a single point of management of all OmniCube systems throughout a Federation. Integration with VMware vcenter access control system. Intelligent, automated operations for easy management. Fast VM provisioning and rapid clone functionality with VAAI support. Detailed VM performance statistics and analysis. Simplified scale-out capabilities. Add more OmniCube systems to expand capacity and performance with no disruption to users and service levels. Native data protection and disaster recovery: VM backups to the local data center, remote data centers and OmniCube Cloud Datacenter for disaster protection. Enhanced backup management through filtering, sorting, and queries. Customized policies for automated VM backups with local timezone support. Support for application consistent backups. Fast VM recovery from backups. VM clones that support VAAI. Fault tolerance: Highly-available hardware with no single points of failure and hot-swappable components. 11

12 1 - Introduction to OmniCube Highly-available shared storage. Because data in a Federation datastore is accessible by more than one OmniCube in a Federation, if an OmniCube hosting a VM fails, you can start the VM on a different OmniCube in the datacenter. Dynamic resource sharing across the Federation. Command line interface (CLI) for scripting operations. Non-SimpliVity ESXi hosts can access SimpliVity datastores. Serviceability features: Automatic support notification for fast service response (Phone Home). Software upgrades with no disruption to users and service levels. Converged Server and Storage Solution SimpliVity OmniCube is a converged server and storage solution that is optimized for the VMware environment and provides: High availability Scalability Efficient disaster protection Global unified management An OmniCube system consists of the OmniStack software running on the SimpliVity OmniCube hardware platform. To enable key functionality such as high availability, dynamic resource sharing, and efficient data movement, OmniCube systems are deployed in sets of two units (Figure-1) within vcenter Server. The network of OmniCube systems is called an OmniCube Global Federation. As capacity and performance needs increase, you can add more OmniCube systems to the Federation for on-demand scalability, with no disruption to users. Figure-1: OmniCube Systems 12

13 1 - Introduction to OmniCube Federation Hardware and Software Each OmniCube system consists of the OmniStack software running on a SimpliVity OmniCube system. See the Hardware Installation and Maintenance Guide for specific model details and information about hardware installation and configuration. The OmniCube system contains the following pre-installed software: OmniStack Software VMware ESXi In addition, the following software is used in a Federation: SimpliVity vsphere Extension (plug-in) customer-installed on each computer running vcenter Client. SimpliVity Arbiter customer-installed on the computer running vcenter Server. The SimpliVity Arbiter agent: Facilitates communication between the OmniCube systems in the Federation. Enables failover and recovery operations. For details on installing SimpliVity software, see the OmniCube Deployment Guide. OmniCube System Architecture You create a Federation by adding two OmniCube systems to a vcenter Server datacenter as ESXi hosts and then deploying them as a Federation. Each OmniCube system provides computing, storage, and other resources to the Federation. A Federation uses these networks: Storage network For data storage traffic. Federation network For Virtual Controller communication within a Federation datacenter. Management network For management access to the Federation. Other networks might also be available based on VMware best practices. After configuring the Federation, you create datastores in the Federation. These datastores are shared by and accessible to all OmniCube systems in the datacenter. You then create VMs in a Federation datastore. The VM data is deduplicated and compressed throughout its life-cycle. For an example of a two-omnicube Federation, see Figure-2. 13

14 1 - Introduction to OmniCube Figure-2: Two-OmniCube Federation To achieve high availability for the VMs in a Federation, all data for a VM is simultaneously written to its local OmniCube system in addition to another OmniCube system within the datacenter. If an OmniCube hosting a VM fails, you can restart the VM on a functioning OmniCube in the Federation or use VMware HA to automate the VM failover. If you need more capacity or performance, you can add more OmniCube systems, with no disruption to users. You can add the OmniCube systems to the same datacenter to increase the capacity of the datacenter, or you can add the OmniCube systems to a different datacenter. Using two datacenters in a Federation enables you to back up VMs to a remote datacenter location for disaster tolerance. For an example of a four-omnicube, single-datacenter configuration, see Figure-3. For an example of a four-omnicube, two-datacenter configuration, see Figure-4. Note: Access to the Federation datastores you create in a datacenter is limited to the Federation OmniCube systems in the datacenter. 14

15 1 - Introduction to OmniCube Figure-3: Four-OmniCube, One-Datacenter Federation Figure-4: Four-OmniCube, Two-Datacenter Federation Integration with vcenter Server OmniCube is integrated with vcenter Server through the SimpliVity vsphere Extension (plug-in). You deploy OmniCube and manage the Federation through vsphere Client. Federation security is based on the access control system for the vcenter Server. Each Federation OmniCube appears as an ESXi host, and SimpliVity tabs, menus, and other information specific to the Federation appear in vsphere Client. Federation status and troubleshooting information appear in the vsphere Client Tasks & Events tab and in the Alarms tab. Note: You can use the SimpliVity command line interface (CLI) to manage a Federation, instead of vsphere Client. Any changes you make in the CLI appear in vsphere Client. 15

16 1 - Introduction to OmniCube In most cases, you manage the objects associated with a Federation, including datacenters, OmniCube systems (ESXi hosts), datastores, and VMs in the same way that you manage similar objects in vcenter Server. For example, to create a Federation VM, right-click an OmniCube and select New Virtual Machine. To back up a Federation VM, right-click a Federation VM, select Backup Virtual Machine, and choose a datastore you created in the Federation. In other cases, you manage objects by clicking the SimpliVity tab in vsphere Client. The following objects in the vsphere Client inventory panel have a SimpliVity tab: vcenter Server (top-level entry). Datacenters that contain OmniCube systems. OmniCube systems (appearing as ESXi hosts). Datastore created in a Federation. VM created in a Federation datastore and hosted by and OmniCube system. You perform the following general management tasks within the SimpliVity tabs: Deploy OmniCube. Create a Federation datastore. Display the capacity of the Federation datacenters and datastores. Display VM performance information. Create a clone of a VM. Manage the automatic support notification (Phone Home) configuration. You perform the following tasks related to VM backups within the SimpliVity tabs: Create a backup of a VM at the current time. Create and edit backup policies that enable you to schedule VM backup operations. Assign a default backup policy for VMs created in a datastore. Assign a backup policy to a VM for scheduled backup operations. Rename and copy backups. Restore a VM from a backup. See Federation Management User Interfaces on page 91 for more information about managing a Federation. 16

17 1 - Introduction to OmniCube Non-SimpliVity ESXi Host Access to Datastores in a Federation A Non-SimpliVity ESXi host can exist in your vcenter Server environment in addition to OmniCube systems that are part of a Federation. If your vcenter contains such ESXi hosts, you can enable them to access the Federation datastores. This allows you to use vmotion and Storage vmotion to migrate VMs running on a Non-SimpliVity ESXi host to a Federation, with no disruption to users, if the VM guest operating system is supported on SimpliVity. See Allowing Datastore Access to Non-Federation ESXi Hosts on page 161 for more information. SimpliVity VAAI NAS Plug-in SimpliVity provides a VAAI (vstorage APIs for Array Integration) NAS plug-in, which improves the performance of cloning operations. The SimpliVity VAAI NAS plug-in handles these operations more efficiently and more quickly by offloading storage operations from VMware to the OmniCube Virtual Controller. You can also clone VMs between datastores. The plug-in supports only SimpliVity datastores accessed by both OmniCube ESXi Hosts and supported non-simplivity ESXi hosts. The source and destination of the clone operation must be SimpliVity datastores. Non-SimpliVity ESXi hosts might contain plug-ins from vendors other than SimpliVity. In such cases, the execution priority of plug-ins is indeterminate and there is no guarantee that the SimpliVity plug-in will execute first, causing the operation to revert to a native clone. To make sure that the SimpliVity VAAI NAS plug-in always operates on SimpliVity datastores, you must uninstall competing VAAI NAS plug-ins from any non-simplivity ESXi hosts that share SimpliVity datastores. (SimpliVity ESXi Hosts will not contain competing plug-ins, and you should never install a third-party plug-in on an OmniCube unless SimpliVity advises you to do so. The following SimpliVity OmniCube constraints apply in this release: SimpliVity Federations support only thin provisioned storage. If you select thick allocation when cloning a VM it results in a thin clone in a SimpliVity datastore. The SimpliVity VAAI NAS plug-in supports only SimpliVity datastores. Clone operations involving a non-simplivity datastore always default to VMware cloning. If the target VM contains disks located in two different SimpliVity datastores, the VAAI NAS plug-in defaults to VMware cloning. SimpliVity Cloud datacenters are not supported in this release. The following are VMware known constraints: The VAAI NAS Plug-in is used only when: The source VM is powered off, such as powered-off VM templates. 17

18 1 - Introduction to OmniCube The source VM has no snapshots. Linked clones from VDI/VMware View are not supported. OmniCube Deployment Preparation The network of OmniCube systems that you deploy in a datacenter is called an OmniCube Federation. As capacity and performance needs increase, you can add more OmniCube systems to the Federation for on-demand scalability. Each OmniCube system hosts a Virtual Controller, which is a dedicated virtual machine running the OmniStack software. OmniCube systems appear as ESXi hosts in vsphere Client and may be identified as nodes in dialogs and command output. To deploy an OmniCube, you install the following SimpliVity software which is located on the USB flash drive shipped with the OmniCube: SimpliVity vsphere Extension Runs on the vsphere Client computer that you use to deploy OmniCube and manage an OmniCube Federation. SimpliVity Arbiter Runs on the vcenter Server computer where the OmniCube Federation resides. Table-1 OmniStack Software Components Component SimpliVity vsphere Extension SimpliVity Arbiter OmniStack Software SimpliVity VAAI NAS Plug-in Description Runs on the vsphere Client computer that you use to deploy OmniCube and manage a Federation OmniCube. Runs on the vcenter Server computer where the Federation resides. Runs on a dedicated virtual machine called the OmniCube Virtual Controller. This software is preinstalled. SimpliVity provides a VAAI (vstorage APIs for Array Integration) NAS plug-in, which improves the performance of cloning operations. The plug-in is installed on the OmniCube ESXi host image. OmniCube User Accounts and Single Sign-On This section describes the various user accounts that you might use when deploying and managing a Federation, including using single sign-on with VMware VCenter Server accounts. OmniCube User Accounts There are a number of user accounts that you use when creating and managing a Federation: 18

19 1 - Introduction to OmniCube SimpliVity user (svtuser) This is a non-login, privileged, vcenter Server (Active Directory supported) Windows account that you specify during deployment. OmniCube uses this account to execute privileged tasks in the background. You must create this account before you deploy OmniCube. See SimpliVity User Account on page 20. Warning: Never change the required permissions used by the svtuser account or your Federation might stop operating correctly. Contact SimpliVity Technical support or your designated support provider if you inadvertently change svtuser permissions. svtcli user The svtcli user account is intended as an emergency access account, and you set its password when you deploy OmniCube to create a Federation. This is a limited log in shell, enabling you to run OmniCube CLI commands if your VMware accounts (single sign-on) become unavailable. When the OmniCube is deployed, you must set a password for this account. Features of the svtcli account are: The account is limited to running the svt-* CLI commands, including a support capture. For authorization to run certain svt-* commands, you must also specify an appropriate vcenter Server account using svt-session-start or set an environment variable. Using svtcli, you can SSH to other Federation OmniCube systems. Supports operations on the OmniCube console, where you cannot use single sign-on accounts. (Some operations require a console log-in.) Does not automatically log in to vcenter Server and might not have the necessary permissions for all operations that require vcenter access. Use an appropriate single sign-on account. Single Sign-On (SSO) (Using VMware vcenter Server accounts) These accounts are controlled-privilege, vcenter Server (Active Directory is supported), pre-existing or created specifically by you for Federation management. Features of single sign-on accounts are: These accounts might be a vcenter Server administrator account or one or more dedicated vcenter Server accounts of equal or lesser privilege that you intend to use for SimpliVity management. The account should have the appropriate vcenter level role permissions to function in linked mode vcenter Servers, if your Federation is in a linked mode environment. No sudo privilege. Automatically starts a user session, no need to specify svt-session-start or set an environment variable. The account is limited to running only the svt-* CLI commands. Can SSH to other Federation OmniCube systems. Cannot be used for a console log in. Some operations require access through the OmniCube console and you must use the svtcli account. Automatically logs in to vcenter Server. ESXi root user ESXi host account, used mostly during configuration. This account ships with default password set to simplicity which you should change for security. 19

20 1 - Introduction to OmniCube OmniCube root user (Virtual Controller log in) You log in as root only under the direction of SimpliVity Technical Support and use this account with caution. The procedure might require a remote log in by SimpliVity Technical Support personnel. The root account: Might not be able to see all SimpliVity virtual objects (such as VM backups). Must not run a support capture. This can change the account permissions in linked mode vcenter Server Does not provide vcenter Server access. Warning: Changing the configuration of the Virtual Controller can cause your OmniCube system to stop working properly, might make VM data unavailable, and can cause data loss. SimpliVity User Account You must create this vcenter Server Windows account before you deploy the first OmniCube when creating a Federation. SimpliVity recommends that you create a strong password, and then disable password expiration so that the password is permanent. If you are using vcenter Server in linked mode, you require a windows domain user account that has appropriate user rights and privileges to function for all linked mode vcenter Servers containing Federation OmniCube systems. See Federations in Linked Mode vcenter Servers on page 88. The SimpliVity User account is a non-login, privileged, vcenter Server account that you specify during deployment. OmniCube uses this account to execute privileged tasks. This account requires the following VMware vsphere defined privileges, which are listed by their name and VMware identifier: Create Alarm (Alarm.Create). Disable alarm action (Alarm.DisableActions). Modify Alarm (Alarm.Edit). Set alarm Status (Alarm.SetStatus). Remove alarm (Alarm.Delete). Register Extension (Extension.Register). Update Extension (Extension.Update). Unregister Extension (Extension.Unregister). Global - health (Global.Health). Global - log event (Global.LogEvent). Global - manage custom attributes (Global.ManageCustomFields). Global - set custom attribute (Global.SetCustomAttribute). Global - diagnostics (Global.Diagnostics). Host CIM - CIM- interaction (Host.Cim.CimInteraction). 20

21 1 - Introduction to OmniCube Create task (Task.Create). Update task (Task.Update). vapp - Assign a Vapp (VApp.Assign VApp). vapp - Unregister (VApp.Unregister). vapp - Application configuration (vapp.vapp application configuration). Virtual machine - Configuration - Change resource (VirtualMachine.Config.Resource). Virtual machine - Configuration - Configure ManagedBy (Virtual machine.config.managedby). Virtual machine Configuration Settings (Virtual machine.config.settings). Virtual machine - State - Remove Snapshot (Virtual machine.state.removesnapshot). Virtual machine - State - Create Snapshot (Virtual machine.state.createsnapshot). In vcenter V5.1, the name of the Virtual machine - State permission group has changed to Snapshot management. When you create the SimpliVity User account, enable both Create snapshot and Remove Snapshot under Snapshot management. Creating the SimpliVity User Role 1. Create or use an existing non-administrative account in your vcenter Server domain. An Active Directory account is supported. Warning: Make sure the account password never expires. 2. Use vsphere Client to Log in to the vcenter Server, using the Administrator account. 3. Click the View menu, then Home. 4. Click Roles. 5. Click the account that you want be SimpliVity User, then in the toolbar click Add Role to open the add New Role dialog. 6. Enter the account user name in the Name field. 7. Assign the privileges specified in the preceding section, such as Create Alarm (Alarm.Create). 8. Click OK. The new role now appears under the list of Roles. Next, add the role. See Adding the User Role Permission. Adding the User Role Permission 1. Use vsphere Client to log in to the vcenter Server that will contain a Federation, using the admin account. 2. Click the vcenter in the inventory. 3. Right-click the vcenter and then click Add Permission to open the Assign Permissions dialog. 21

22 1 - Introduction to OmniCube 4. Click Add to open the Select Users and Groups dialog and select a user group. 5. Select the user role that you created to be the SimpliVity user. 6. Click Add, then OK to return to the Assign Permissions dialog. 7. Check the box labeled Propagate to Child Objects. 8. Click OK to exit. Note: If using linked mode vcenter Server, repeat this procedure this on every top level vcenter Server folder. Changing the SimpliVity User Password If you change the password, use the following procedure to update the credential store: 1. Log in to the OmniCube Virtual Controller using the svtcli account and start a session using the vcenter Server administrator credentials. 2. Run the following command: $ svt-credstore-update Enter current administrator password: xxxxxxxxxxxxx Enter new administrator password: xxxxxxxxxxxxx Confirm new administrator password: xxxxxxxxxxxxx Running Linked Mode Using vcenter V5.1 or Later To support a Federation in Linked Mode using vcenter 5.1 or later, install single sign-on (SSO) using Multi-site mode. Multi-site mode requires an Active Directory (AD) server for authentication. In such environments, you must include the AD domain in the log in credentials. Consider an environment where the AD server name is MyLab51 and the administrative account is Fedadmin: When logging into the vcenter using vsphere, must specify the AD domain as part of the user name: MyLab51\Fedadmin password Fedadmin@MyLab51 password Using OVF Tool, specify credentials using the format: vi://mylab51%5cfedadmin:password 22

23 1 - Introduction to OmniCube Deploying OmniCube using the vsphere Extension specify the vcenter credentials as: MyLab51\Fedadmin password When logging into the OmniCube Virtual Controller using SSH to access the svtcli account, specify the domain: MyLab51\Fedadmin password Fedadmin@MyLab51 password When using the svt-session-start CLI command, use only: Fedadmin@MyLab51 password VMware Environment Before you begin the OmniCube deployment, make sure you satisfy the VMware and network environment requirements and gather the resources specified in the following sections. VMware Software Requirements Table-2 describes the VMware Software Requirements. See the OmniCube Release Notes for information about software versions. Requirement Description Reference or Data VMware vcenter Server Table-2 VMware Software Requirements Install or upgrade the vcenter Server environment where you will deploy OmniCube. vimsh -n -e 'hostsvc/hostsummary' grep fullname VMware vsphere Client VMware customer account credentials VMware OVF Tool Make sure that your vcenter Server has the recommended amount of memory (8GB), particularly if it is running in a VM. Install or upgrade VMware vsphere Client on all clients that you use to deploy OmniCube and manage the Federation. Credentials for your VMware user account. (Potentially required to download VMware software tools and updates). See also OmniCube User Accounts and Single Sign-On on page 18. Install OVF Tool in its default location on the vsphere Client computer that you will use for the OmniCube deployment. Help > About VMware vsphere. Account: 23

24 1 - Introduction to OmniCube Requirement Description Reference or Data SimpliVity User account Create a SimpliVity user account in your vcenter Server domain as described in: OmniCube User Accounts and Single Sign-On on page 18. Account: vcenter Server credentials Obtain the vcenter Server administrator credentials (user name and password). Note: You can use these account credentials instead of the SimpliVity User account, although this is not recommended by SimpliVity. Account: Network Address and vsphere Inventory Requirements Table-3 describes the network address requirements and the objects required in the vsphere inventory to contain the Federation OmniCube systems. Table-3 Network Address and vsphere Inventory Requirements Requirement Description Data NTP NTP is pre-configured in an OmniCube using US internet time servers. Record the names or IP addresses of your preferred internal or external NTP servers DNS IPs Note: If you do not have an NTP server or relay, use *.*.pool.ntp.org. In addition, you might need to modify your corporate firewall to allow NTP to work. During ESXi configuration, you must supply the IP address of your primary and secondary DNS server. Example: 1.us.pool.ntp.org DNS IPs:... DNS Name vcenter Server IP address Datacenter Cluster ESXi Console Connection During ESXi configuration, you will assign DNS names to each OmniCube and enter a DNS suffix. Obtain the vcenter Server IP address for the vcenter that will contain the Federation. Obtain the name of the datacenter (or create a datacenter) to contain the Federation OmniCube Systems. Obtain the name of the vcenter Server cluster (or create a cluster) to contain the Federation OmniCube systems. Set up a console connection to ESXi from a local KVM or a remote client using the IPMI port. You require this only for initial ESXi host configuration.... DNS names: DNS suffix:... Name: Name: Name: 24

25 1 - Introduction to OmniCube Networks and Other Considerations and Requirements The minimum networking requirement for an OmniCube in a Federation is three separate networks and five static IP addresses (See ). SimpliVity recommends that you maintain a separate network for 10GbE storage data traffic between OmniCube systems in a Federation. You can use existing networks (such as a dedicated virtualization management network) if you have appropriate networks in your VMware environment. To deploy an OmniCube you specify IP addresses on different subnets. Optionally, you can also specify VLANs if you use VLANs in your network. However, it is a deployment requirement that the ESXi Host and OmniCube Management Network must be on the same network and, if used, share a common VLAN ID. This subnet and optional VLAN must be different from the subnets and VLAN IDs used for the OmniCube Storage and OmniCube Federation Networks. A sixth address is optional, and you use it only to configure and access the IPMI port remotely using a Web browser. Alternatively, you can use a local KVM console, connected directly to the OmniCube system s console port. This network is used for ESXi host configuration, which is explained in the Hardware Installation and Maintenance Guide for your platform. Table-4 shows the assignment of the IP addresses in order of use during the installation. Where Used Network IP Example IP Configuring the Static IPMI (optional remote console access). Alternatively, 1 Any accessible IP ESXi Host use DHCP. Setting up the Virtual Switches Table-4 OmniCube Network Address Assignments IP for the ESXi Host running on the OmniCube Management Network 1GbE vswitch0 VMKernel Port. Storage Network 10GbE vswitch1 VMKernel Port Deploying OmniCube Management Network (OmniCube Virtual Controller). VM Port Group Storage Network. VM Port Group Federation Network. VM Port Group

26 1 - Introduction to OmniCube Network Configuration Worksheet Before you begin OmniCube configuration, satisfy the requirements and gather the resources specified in Table-5 and Table-6. Table-5 lists the IP address information that you specify during deployment. Some of this information is automatically populated into the deployment configuration screens. Requirement Description Reference ESXi host IP Obtain a static IP address for each OmniCube system ESXi host. (This address is also used for the... Management Network vswitch VMKernel). If using VLANs, the Management Network IP and the ESXi VLAN ID: must share a common VLAN. Storage Network IP VMkernel Table-5 Deployment IP Addresses For each OmniCube system, obtain a static IP address for the Storage network vswitch. Management Network IP For each OmniCube system, obtain an IP address for the management network. (Used by the OmniCube Virtual Controller.) Storage Network IP Federation Network IP IPMI Network [optional] Gateway and Netmask This network address must be on a different subnet than the Storage and Federation networks but on the same subnet (and VLAN, if used) as the OmniCube ESXi Host. For each OmniCube system, obtain an address on the 10GbE storage network. This network address must be on a different subnet than the Management and Federation networks. For each OmniCube system, obtain a network address for the Federation network. This network address must be on a different subnet than the Management and Storage networks. IP Address used as the URL of the IPMI remote access (configured during hardware installation). You specify this information when you configure vswitches for the system during OmniCube deployment. You must specify only one gateway on at least one of the Management, Storage, or Federation networks. VLAN ID:... VLAN ID:... VLAN ID:

27 1 - Introduction to OmniCube Table-6 lists the object names and account information that you specify during deployment. Some of this information is automatically populated into the deployment configuration screens. Requirement Description Reference Storage Network Name Assign a name for the storage network vswitch. Use the same name across all OmniCube systems in a Federation. Name: Storage Network Port Group Name Federation Network Port Group Name ESXi user name ESXi password Emergency Access password Company Name Table-6 Deployment Data Names and Accounts Assign a name for the Storage network Port Group. Use the same name across all OmniCube systems in a Federation. Assign a name for the Federation network port group. Use the same name across all OmniCube systems in a Federation. Pre-configured account used to log in to the OmniCube system's ESXi host. Default password used to log in to the OmniCube system. During deployment, you will change the password for the svtcli (emergency access) account. The name of your company or entity, included in support . SimpliVity User Account User name and password for the restricted-privileges account used for background operations. Name: Name: root simplicity Name: Name: Ports Required for Network Communication Table-7 describes the required bi-directional ports. These ports might need to be opened to enable network communication. Port Network Interface Description 22 TCP All * SSH - For remote access. Management interface. 25, 443 Phone Home SMTP - Phone Home. Management interface. 80 TCP Management eth0 HTTP used for monitoring OmniCube deployment and for Support Capture downloads. 443 TCP IPMI idrac 623 UDP IPMI CIMC 5900, 5901 TCP IPMI IDRAC 9090 TCP Management eth0 CLI/GUI access Management eth0 Control API, over SSL/TLS UDP & TCP 111, with Port Mapper enabled Storage pref & non-pref Table-7 SimpliVity Required Ports eth0, eth1 Intra-Federation traffic. SimpliVity Arbiter. Backup to remote datacenter. Storage eth2 Storage traffic between OmniCube systems and when existing ESX hosts are configured to use SimpliVity datastores. 27

28 28

29 2 - Deploying OmniCube This section provides detailed, step-by-step information about deploying OmniCube and configuring two OmniCube systems in a Federation in a vcenter Server environment. The OmniCube QuickStart Poster provides basic instructions as a checklist for experienced installers. Tasks for OmniCube Deployment Before beginning the OmniCube deployment, make sure you meet these prerequisites: You have at least two OmniCube systems installed in a rack, connected to power and the required networks, and powered on. See the Hardware Installation and Maintenance Guide for your platform for more information. Your VMware environment meets the Federation configuration requirements. See VMware Environment on page 23. You have the required data and resources for the Federation. See Networks and Other Considerations and Requirements on page 25. To deploy OmniCube, you must log in to the vsphere Client using a vcenter Server account with administrative privileges. Avoid running a deployment across a wide-area network (WAN) from a remote vsphere Client. Instead, use remote desktop to run the deployment from the vcenter Server or a local client. Network disruptions that cause the remote vsphere Client to close or hang might cause the deployment to fail. Perform these tasks to deploy OmniCube and configure a Federation: Note: For software version information, see the OmniCube Release Notes. 1. Install the SimpliVity vsphere Extension (plug-in) Install the plug-in on the vsphere Client computer from which you deploy OmniCube and manage the Federation. See Task 1 Installing the SimpliVity vsphere Extension on page 30. Note: You must install the supported version of VMware OVF Tool in its default location on the vsphere Client computer from which you deploy OmniCube (if not already installed). See 2. Install the SimpliVity Arbiter Install the SimpliVity Arbiter on the computer hosting the vcenter Server where the Federation resides. See Task 2 Installing the SimpliVity Arbiter on the vcenter Server on page

30 2 - Deploying OmniCube 3. Perform the initial ESXi host configuration for each OmniCube system This task includes using the console to set the ESXi host management IP address, change the default password, and perform other tasks. See Task 3 Performing the Initial ESXi Host Configuration on page Configure the OmniCube systems in vcenter Server Add both systems as ESXi hosts to the same datacenter, configure virtual switches (vswitches) for each host, and configure NTP for each host. Configure the appropriate physical and virtual infrastructure based on VMware best practices. See Task 4 Configuring the OmniCube Systems in vcenter Server on page [Optional] Use the Pre-deployment Wizard to create a configuration file that you can then use to more efficiently deploy multiple OmniCube systems. See Task 5 Using the Pre-deployment Wizard on page Deploy OmniCube and configure a Federation Deploy OmniCube on the ESXi hosts you added in Task 3. The deployment procedure prompts you for network information for each OmniCube. See Task 6 Deploying OmniCube and Configuring a Federation on page 48. After deploying OmniCube and configuring a Federation, see Post-Deployment Tasks for a Federation on page 54. Task 1 Installing the SimpliVity vsphere Extension You must install the SimpliVity vsphere Extension (plug-in) on every vsphere Client computer that you use to deploy OmniCube or manage the Federation. Note: For first-time OmniCube deployment, the plug-in is located on the USB flash drive shipped with the OmniCube system. Under certain circumstances, you might receive notification to download (or receive via distribution media) an upgrade version from SimpliVity or your technical support representative. If you install a new version of the plug-in over a recent version, such as over , the installation might fail with the following message: Unable to install because a newer version of this product is already installed. In this case, you must uninstall the older version before you can install the newer version. To install the plug-in on a vsphere Client computer, follow these steps: 1. Close vsphere Client if it is open. 2. Copy the executable named simplivity-vsphere-plugin-n.n.n.nnn.msi from the distribution media to the client computer and double-click its icon to open the setup wizard. The installer checks for a valid VMware OVF Tool installation. If OVF Tool is missing, click Yes and follow these steps. Otherwise, go to Step 4: i. A VMware download page opens in your default browser. In the VMware Web page, select the link for the OVF Tool. You might be prompted to enter your VMware user account credentials. Verify that you have the correct 32-bit or 64-bit variant. 30

31 2 - Deploying OmniCube ii. Download and install OVF Tool on your vsphere Client. Make sure you install it in its default location. iii. Restart the plug-in installer. 3. Click Next in the Welcome dialog. 4. Check I agree to accept the license and click Next. 5. In the Installation Location dialog, select the default installation folder. Note: Do not choose an alternate installation folder. Use only the default folder. 6. Click Next to open the Confirm Installation dialog. 7. Click Next to begin the installation. The Installing Plug-In dialog displays the progress of the task, which should take no more than a few minutes to complete. 8. Click Close in the Installation Complete dialog to complete the installation. Verify the installation by opening vsphere Client and clicking the Plug-ins menu. Click About SimpliVity to confirm that the plug-in installed correctly. You can access the Online Help from this menu. If this is a first-time OmniCube deployment, the next step after you install the plug-in is to install the SimpliVity Arbiter on the computer running vcenter Server. See Task 2 Installing the SimpliVity Arbiter on the vcenter Server on page 31. Task 2 Installing the SimpliVity Arbiter on the vcenter Server You install the SimpliVity Arbiter on the computer hosting the vcenter Server that manages the Federation OmniCube systems. For first-time OmniCube deployments, the SimpliVity Arbiter is located on the USB flash drive shipped with the OmniCube system. Under certain circumstances, you might receive notification to download (or receive in the distribution media) an upgrade version from SimpliVity or your technical support representative. Before installing a new version of the SimpliVity Arbiter, uninstall previous versions. See Upgrading the SimpliVity Arbiter on page 221. You might require domain administrator rights to install software on the vcenter Server. Full details of your software license are included with the purchase agreement for your OmniCube system. On the computer running vcenter Server: 31

32 2 - Deploying OmniCube 1. Copy the executable named simplivity-arbiter-n.n.n.n.msi (where n.n.n.n is the release version) from the distribution media to the vcenter Server computer. 2. Double-click the installer icon to open the installer and click Next to begin. 3. Check the license acceptance box and click Next to open the Setup Type dialog. 4. Click Complete, then Install. For this release, none of the installation options are valid. 5. Click Finish when the Completed screen opens. After you deploy OmniCube, the Federation detects the Arbiter service on the vcenter Server. If the Arbiter service fails, an alarm is generated in vcenter Server, and you must restart the Arbiter. See also OmniCube and Federation Heartbeats on page 118. See Task 3 Performing the Initial ESXi Host Configuration on page 32. Task 3 Performing the Initial ESXi Host Configuration Boot each OmniCube system and perform the initial ESXi host configuration. The following procedures are described in detail in the Hardware Installation and Maintenance Guide for your platform. 1. Connect to the Console, which displays the VMware ESXi 5.0 home screen. You can do this through a KVM connection at the system s console port. Alternatively, use the integrated IPMI to access the ESXi console. For instructions, see the Hardware Installation and Maintenance Guide for your platform. 2. Press F2 to open the ESXi Customize System screen. 3. Modify the default password. Each OmniCube system ships with the default ESXi password set to simplicity. 4. Select Configure Management Network. 5. Assign the static ESXi Host Management IP address, subnet mask, and default gateway from Network Configuration Worksheet on page Do the following, depending on your OmniCube platform: For a CN-Series system, select Network Adapters and enable only vmnic2 and vmnic3. These are the 1GbE networking ports numbered 3 and 4. Ensure that vmnic0 and vmnic1 are not selected for the host s default management network. For a UCS C240 system, select Network Adapters and enable only vmnic0 and vmnic1. These are the 1GbE networking ports numbered 0 and [Optional] If you use VLANs in your local network, select the appropriate VLAN configuration. 8. Configure primary and alternate DNS servers and assign: 32

33 2 - Deploying OmniCube DNS name for the OmniCube DNS suffix 9. Under Troubleshooting Options in the ESXi Customize System screen verify that both ESXi Shell and SSH are enabled. After you perform the initial ESXi host configuration for both OmniCube systems, configure the OmniCube systems in vcenter Server. See Task 4 Configuring the OmniCube Systems in vcenter Server on page 33. Task 4 Configuring the OmniCube Systems in vcenter Server Before you can deploy OmniCube and configure a Federation, you must configure both OmniCube systems in vcenter Server by doing the tasks described in this section: Adding the OmniCube Systems as ESXi Hosts on page 33 Virtual Switches for the OmniCube Systems on page 34 Configuring NTP on the OmniCube Systems on page 39 Adding the OmniCube Systems as ESXi Hosts You must have a newly-created datacenter and a cluster in your vcenter Server to contain the Federation. From the vsphere Client where you will deploy OmniCube, connect to the vcenter Server that you identified in VMware Environment on page 23, and follow these steps for both OmniCube systems: 1. Right-click the cluster that will contain the OmniCube systems and select Add Host. Note: To create a Federation, you must add a minimum of two OmniCube systems to the same datacenter and cluster. 2. Enter the required information, specifying the host management IP address or DNS name described in Table-5. Note: If prompted for a license, enter an existing VMware license or use a trial license. After you add an OmniCube system as an ESXi host, it appears in the vsphere Client inventory panel under the datacenter. You can identify it by the IP address (or DNS name) you specified when adding the ESXi host. The next task is to configure two VMware virtual switches (vswitches). 33

34 2 - Deploying OmniCube Virtual Switches for the OmniCube Systems The OmniCube systems use virtual switches (vswitches) to connect the physical network interfaces (vmnics) to the ESXi port groups. The following considerations apply: There are many network configuration options in virtual environments, and this document describes only one basic configuration that results in a functional Federation OmniCube that you can reconfigure at a later time for optimum performance, data traffic management, and network availability in your compute environment. SimpliVity recommends that you assign the management network its own VLAN to separate the management network from the VM network, as well as other networks, such as vmotion and datastore heartbeat. For each OmniCube system that you added as an ESXi host, you must do the following: Have at least two vswitches: A 1GbE vswitch (vswitch0) was created automatically using vmnic2 and vmnic3 during ESXi host setup, including a port group for the VM network and the Management network. See Configuring the 1GbE VM Network and Management Network Virtual Switch on page 35. One 10GbE vswitch (you create this switch) and port group for the OmniCube storage network. You must add the 10GbE adapters and configure this vswitch and a storage port group. You also create a Federation network port group. See Configuring the 10GbE Storage Network Virtual Switch on page 36. Configure vmnics in active-active mode, using specific NIC Teaming policy exceptions, as described in Configuring MTU and NIC Teaming on Both vswitches on page 37. Figure-5 shows an example of how the virtual switch configuration should appear before you have completed configuration, showing the pre-configured 1GbE vswitch0. If this vswitch is missing or wrongly configured, you must manually configure it as described in Configuring the 1GbE VM Network and Management Network Virtual Switch on page 35. Figure-5: Virtual Switches Before Configuration 34

35 2 - Deploying OmniCube Configuring the 1GbE VM Network and Management Network Virtual Switch Note: Follow these instructions only if you did not see the properly-configured 1GbE VM Network and Management Network Virtual Switch described in Virtual Switches for the OmniCube Systems on page 34. Otherwise, go straight to Configuring the 10GbE Storage Network Virtual Switch on page 36. If you correctly selected the 1GbE VMnics as described in Task 3 Performing the Initial ESXi Host Configuration on page 32, the Management Network is already configured as shown in Figure-5. If not, configure the vswitch as described here. From the vsphere Client where you will deploy OmniCube, connect to the vcenter Server that you identified in Table-5 and follow these procedures for both OmniCube systems (only if required): 1. Select an OmniCube system (ESXi host) in the vsphere Client inventory panel and click the Configuration tab. 2. Select Networking in the left panel to display the vswitch configuration information. If no management vswitch0 exists, create a new standard vswitch. Otherwise, go to the next step. 3. Click the Properties link above the default standard 1GbE vswitch, vswitch0, to open the vswitch0 Properties dialog. 4. Click the Network Adapters tab and then click Add. 5. In the Add Adapter wizard, check any unclaimed 1GbE adapters and click Next to open the vmkernel - Connection Settings window. Do not select the 10GbE adapters. 6. Click Next and Click Finish to save your changes and return to the Properties dialog. 7. Click the Ports tab and then click Add. 8. Check the Virtual Machine radio button and click Next. 9. Type a name VM Network in the Network Label field. 10. If you are using VLANs in your local network environment, select the VLAN identifier. 11. Click Next to open the Ready to Complete window. You will see the virtual machine port group with the name and number that you entered. 12. Click Finish to return to the Properties dialog. 13. Click Close and verify that the vswitch looks like the switch shown in Figure-5. 35

36 2 - Deploying OmniCube Configuring the 10GbE Storage Network Virtual Switch You must create and configure a vswitch for the 10GbE Storage network. In this procedure, you will: Step 1: Add both 10GbE VMnics to create a vswitch. Step 2: Create a Storage Network port group. Step 3: Create a Federation Network port group. From the vsphere Client where you will deploy OmniCube, connect to the vcenter Server that you identified in Table-5 and follow these steps for both OmniCube systems. Use the information that you gathered in Network Configuration Worksheet on page 26. Step 1: Creating the VMKernel vswitch 1. Select an OmniCube system (ESXi host) in the vsphere Client inventory panel and click the Configuration tab. 2. Click Networking in the left panel and then click the Add Networking link at the top right corner of the window. 3. Check VMkernel in the Connection Types box and click Next. 4. Check Create vsphere Standard Switch. 5. Select both instances of BroadCom Corporation NetXtreme II 10 Gigabit Ethernet (vmnic0, vmnic1) and click Next. 6. In Port Group properties, enter Storage as the Network Label name. 7. Check the box labeled Use this port group for vmotion and click Next. 8. Enter or edit the following IP information from Table-5 and click Next: Storage network IP Address. Storage network subnet mask. Gateway. Enter a gateway here only if your local network configuration uses a gateway on the private storage network. If you configure a gateway here, do not configure a gateway on either the Management or the Federation network. 9. Click Finish to create the 10GbE vswitch and return to the Networking Configuration view, where you now see the new Standard Switch (vswitch1), 10GbE VMkernel Port. Step 2: Create a Storage Port Group 1. Click Properties to open the vswitch1 Properties dialog. 2. Click the Ports tab and then click Add. 3. In the Add Network wizard, check Virtual Machine and then click Next. 36

37 2 - Deploying OmniCube 4. In the Connection Settings screen, enter a name such as StoragePortGrp, click Next, and then click Finish to return to the Properties dialog. Important: Use the same storage port group name for all OmniCube systems in a Federation. 5. Click Close to exit from the Properties dialog. Step 3: Create a Federation Port Group 1. Click Properties to open the vswitch1 Properties dialog. 2. Click the Ports tab and then click Add. 3. In the Add Network wizard, check Virtual Machine and then click Next. 4. In the Connection Settings screen, enter a name such as FedPortGrp, click Next, and then click Finish to return to the Properties dialog. 5. Click Close to exit from the Properties dialog. Figure-6 shows a typical virtual switch configuration. Figure-6: Completed vswitch Configuration Configuring MTU and NIC Teaming on Both vswitches For both the 1GbE and 10GbE vswitches, you must: Configure your network MTU value. 37

38 2 - Deploying OmniCube Configure NIC teaming, verifying that both vmnics are set to active-active mode. The exception is 2-OmniCube, direct-connect Federations, for which you configure NIC teaming as active-standby. For an explanation of direct-connect, see the Hardware Installation and Maintenance Guide for your platform. Set the Value of MTU to Comply with Your Network Settings Repeat the following procedure for both vswitch0 and vswitch1: 1. Click the Ports tab, select Storage (vmotion and IP Storage Port), and then click Edit. 2. Click the General tab, change the value of MTU under NIC Settings so that it complies with the values used in your network. 3. Click OK to return to the Properties dialog. 4. Repeat Step 1 through Step 3 for each remaining port group. 5. Click Close. Configure NIC Failover For both vswitch0 and vswitch1: 1. Select the vswitch and click the Properties link to open the vswitchn Properties dialog. 2. Click the Ports tab, if not already displayed. 3. Click the VMKernel configuration. 4. Click Edit to open the VM Network Properties dialog, and select the NIC Teaming tab. 5. Verify that both vmnics are listed as Active Adapters (active-active mode). Note: For direct-connect 10GbE configurations only, one 10GbE vmnic must be an Active Adapter, while the other 10GbE vmnic is a Standby Adapter (active-standby mode). 6. Configure the following Policy Exceptions: Load Balancing: Enable and select "Route based on the originating virtual port ID" Network Failover Detection: Enable and select "Link status only". Notify Switches: Enable and select "Yes". Failback: Enable and select "Yes". 7. Repeat Step 2 through Step 6 for the Port Groups, making sure that the policy exceptions propagate to all port groups in the vswitch. 8. Click OK to close the VM Network Properties dialog. 9. Click Close to Close the vswitchn Properties dialog. 38

39 2 - Deploying OmniCube 10. Repeat Step 1 through Step 9 for the second vswitch. Configuring NTP on the OmniCube Systems You must configure NTP on each OmniCube system that you added as an ESXi host. The NTP configuration must match the NTP configuration that vcenter Server uses. By default, your ESXi host is NTP-enabled and configured with 0.us.pool.ntp.org through 4.us.pool.ntp.org. If you do not have an internal NTP server or relay, use the appropriate *.*.pool.ntp.org server, such as 1.us.pool.ntp.org. In addition, you might need to modify your firewall to allow NTP to work. See From the vsphere Client where you will deploy OmniCube, connect to the vcenter Server that you identified in Table-5 and follow these steps for both OmniCube systems: 1. Select an OmniCube system (ESXi host) in the vsphere Client inventory panel (hierarchy of virtual objects on the left) and click the Configuration tab. 2. Click Security Profile under Software to open the Services panel. 3. Click Properties for Services and select NTP Daemon in the Service Properties dialog. 4. Click Options to open the NTP Daemon (ntpd) dialog. 5. Check Start and Stop with Host. 6. Click NTP Settings to open the NTP Servers dialog. 7. Add one or more NTP servers (depending on your local requirements for accuracy) or use regional ntp.org servers such as 0.us.pool.ntp.org. (See 8. Check Restart NTP service to apply changes and then click OK to close the NTP Daemon (ntpd) dialog. 9. Click OK to close the NTP Daemon in the Service Properties dialog. Task 5 Using the Pre-deployment Wizard The OmniCube pre-deployment wizard gives you the option of gathering configuration information in advance of deployment to more efficiently deploy a number of OmniCube systems into a Federation datacenter. The wizard can examine existing deployments and extract configuration information from the environment. The deployment information is stored in an XML file See the sample Pre-deployment XML Configuration File on page 46. The wizard also attempts to validate the information in the configuration file before use, to make sure that the information is valid and has remained current should you defer deployment to a later time. 39

40 2 - Deploying OmniCube You might choose not to use the pre-deployment wizard, in which case you must still complete the Predeployment Wizard Worksheet on page 40 and then proceed to deploying OmniCube as described in Task 6 Deploying OmniCube and Configuring a Federation on page 48. You must use vcenter Server administrator credentials to run the Pre-Deployment wizard. Pre-deployment Wizard Worksheet Use the following worksheet to gather information for the pre-deployment wizard. For detailed information on gathering or assigning values, see: Networks and Other Considerations and Requirements on page 25 and Network Configuration Worksheet on page 26. Data Item Description and Source Your Data Network type Switched 1GbE and 10GbE. Yes / No Datacenter name Number of OmniCube systems ESXi host IP or host name ESXi host netmask Management network IP Gateway IP Management network netmask Storage network IP Storage network Netmask Federation network IP Federation network netmask Storage network VLAN ID Federation network VLAN ID vswitch VMkernel IP Address vswitch VMkernel Netmask 10GbE switched for all networks. 10GbE direct connect. Name of the datacenter that you created in vcenter Server to contain the Federation OmniCube systems. Number of OmniCube Systems that you intend to deploy. IP address or host name of the OmniCube ESXi host. Network netmask for the subnet containing the ESXi host. IP address assigned to the Management Network (OmniCube Virtual Controller). IP address of the network gateway. Network netmask for the subnet containing the Virtual Controller. IP address assigned to the Storage Network. Network netmask for the subnet containing the Storage Network. IP address assigned to the Federation Network. Network netmask for the subnet containing the Federation Network. [Optional] VLAN ID for the Storage Network. [Optional] VLAN ID for the Federation Network. IP address assigned to the Storage Network VMkernel (vswitch). Network netmask for the subnet containing the Storage Network VMkernel IP. MTU Value The Storage Network MTU value. (Usually 9000.) NTP servers IP Addresses (or host names) of NTP servers. You can select the default *.us.pool.ntp.org IP addresses. Yes / No Yes / No

41 2 - Deploying OmniCube Starting the Pre-deployment Wizard after Adding an OmniCube You can start the pre-deployment wizard after you have added one or more OmniCube Systems to the vcenter Server, (where they appear as ESXi hosts in vsphere client): 1. Click an undeployed OmniCube in the vsphere Inventory to select it for deployment. 2. Click the SimpliVity tab to open the OmniCube Virtual Controller Deployment screen. 3. Click Next to open the Select Deployment Method screen, shown in Figure-7. Figure-7: Select Deployment Method Screen Use the Select Deployment Method screen to: Deploy OmniCube without a pre-deployment configuration file. Task 6 Deploying OmniCube and Configuring a Federation on page 48. Create a new pre-deployment configuration file. Creating a Pre-deployment Configuration File on page 42. Use an existing pre-deployment configuration file (a file that you created in a previous session). You can also use this option to load an existing file and optionally modify the data that it loads into dialog fields. (The file remains unchanged, you modify only the run time data instance.) Using an Existing Pre-deployment Configuration File on page

42 2 - Deploying OmniCube Starting the Pre-deployment Wizard from the vsphere Home Screen You can also start the pre-deployment wizard at any time from the vsphere Home screen and create or modify a deployment configuration file: 1. Click Home in the vsphere Navigation bar. 2. Click SimpliVity Pre-deployment Wizard in the Solutions and Applications panel. 3. Click Next in the Welcome screen to open the Import pre-deployment configuration screen, then select one of the following options: Create a new pre-deployment configuration file. See Creating a Pre-deployment Configuration File on page 42. Use or modify an existing pre-deployment configuration file that you created during a previous session. See Using an Existing Pre-deployment Configuration File on page 47. Note: These options differ slightly from the options presented when you start the wizard during a deployment. See Figure-7. Creating a Pre-deployment Configuration File This procedure assumes that you have started the pre-deployment wizard as described in: Starting the Pre-deployment Wizard from the vsphere Home Screen on page 42 Starting the Pre-deployment Wizard after Adding an OmniCube on page 41. To create a new pre-deployment configuration file: 1. Click Create a configuration to open the SimpliVity pre-deployment wizard. 2. Click Next in the welcome screen to open the Import pre-deployment configuration screen. 3. Check the option labeled Create a new pre-deployment configuration file. 4. Click Next to open the OmniCube Systems to be deployed screen. Specifying OmniCube Systems to be Deployed Complete this screen as follows: 1. Select the appropriate network topology for your environment: 1GbE switched Management network and 10GbE switched Storage and Federation networks. 10GbE switched for all OmniCube networks. 42

43 2 - Deploying OmniCube 10GbE direct connect Storage and Federation networks, and a 1GbE switched Management network (supports 2-OmniCube Federations only). 2. Select a VMware vsphere datacenter to contain the OmniCube systems. 3. Enter the number of OmniCube systems that you intend to deploy. 4. Click Next to open the Management Network Information screen. Notes: You repeat the following steps for each additional OmniCube that you intend to deploy: Specifying Management Network Information Specifying Storage and Federation Network Information If you use the Back button to return to the OmniCube Systems to be deployed screen, the procedure removes all data that you entered into the Management Network information page. Specifying Management Network Information For each OmniCube that you intend to deploy, enter the following Management network information from your worksheet (see Pre-deployment Wizard Worksheet on page 40). 1. OmniCube ESXi Host Address. 2. OmniCube ESXi Host Netmask. 3. Virtual Controller Management Network Address. 4. Gateway IP Address. 5. Virtual Controller Management Network Netmask. 6. Click Next to open the Storage and Federation Network Information screen. Specifying Storage and Federation Network Information For each OmniCube that you intend to deploy, enter the following Storage and Federation network information: 1. Storage Network IP Address. 2. Storage Network Netmask. 3. Federation Network IP Address. 4. Federation Network Netmask. 5. Storage Network VLAN ID [Optional]. 6. Federation network VLAN ID [Optional]. 43

44 2 - Deploying OmniCube 7. vswitch VMkernel IP Address. 8. MTU Value. 9. vswitch VMkernel Netmask. 10. Click Next to open the NTP Server Information screen. Specifying NTP Server Information You should specify at least three NTP servers. If you specify an NTP server that is within your environment, make sure that it meets the minimum requirements for VMware vsphere. Your Federation might not operate correctly if VMware environment time synchronization is not accurate. 1. Do either of the following to configure NTP: Click one of the discovered NTP servers and press the + button. Repeat this until you have selected at least three NTP servers. Enter an alternate NTP server IP address (or DNS name) and press the + button. Repeat this until you have entered at least three NTP servers. 2. Click Next to open the Location to Export the Configuration File screen. Exporting and Validating the Configuration File Export the completed configuration file to a folder on your local system, and validate it for deployment use: 1. Click Browse to open the Browse For Folder dialog. 2. Browse to and select a folder, then click OK. (Alternatively, click Make New Folder and select the newly-created folder). The file has the name format: ip_address_timestamp.xml or hostname_ timestamp.xml. 3. Verify the Export Folder name and click Next to open the Summary screen. 4. Verify the summary information. You can use the back button (top left of the screen) to return to a previous screen and correct errors. Otherwise, click Next to open the Results screen. 5. Wait for the validation checks to complete in the Results screen and do one of the following: If a validation check fails, verify the data that you entered and use the back button to correct the problem. See Validation Warnings and Errors on page 46. When all items are validated, click Next to open the Success screen. 6. Click Finish to exit and close the pre-deployment wizard. (You return to the Select Deployment Method screen if you started the procedure from the Deployment Wizard.) 44

45 2 - Deploying OmniCube If necessary, review any warnings occurred during the pre-deployment process. These warnings should not prevent the OmniCube from deploying, but may affect performance or functionality after deployment. Typcal warnings are: An IP that pings itself might show the IP as already assigned. If the OmniCube is already in the vcenter, a warning might occur. See Pre-deployment Results Screen Checks on page 45. You can modify an existing configuration file at any time by opening it for use. See Using an Existing Pre-deployment Configuration File on page 47. If you choose to proceed with the deployment, go to Task 6 Deploying OmniCube and Configuring a Federation on page 48. When you do this, most of the deployment data fields are populated with data from the configuration file. Pre-deployment Results Screen Checks The installation Pre-deployment results screen shows the configuration file verification checks described in Table-8. Table-8 Pre-deployment Results Screen Checks Check Checking vcenter address Checking vcenter address translation Checking NTP servers Validating Storage address for IP address Validating Federation address for IP address Checking addresses for duplicates for OmniCube IP address Checking Storage Network MTU value Checking the network VLAN IDs for IP address Checking Storage Network VLAN settings for IP address Checking Federation Network VLAN settings for IP address Description Verifies that the vcenter address is valid and reachable. Verifies the vcenter DNS name. Verifies that NTP servers are specified. Verifies the IP address for the Storage Network. Verifies the IP address for the Federation Network. Verifies that there are no duplicate addresses specified. Verifies that the MTU value for the Storage Network is correctly specified. Verifies that the OmniCube ESX host is in the correct VLAN. Verifies that the Storage Network is in the correct VLAN. Verifies that the Federation Network is in the correct VLAN. 45

46 2 - Deploying OmniCube Check Checking ESXi host address availability Checking Virtual Controller IP address availability Exporting filename Description Verifies that the IP address for the ESXi host is available not used by any other device on the network. Verifies that the IP address for the Virtual Controller is available not used by any other device on the network. Exports the configuration file information to an xml file. The file has the name format: ip_address_timestamp.xml or hostname_timestamp.xml. Validation Warnings and Errors When you use the Pre-deployment Wizard to create a configuration file, the wizard attempts to validate the data that you entered. You might see the warning and error states described in Table-9. Table-9 Pre-Deployment Configuration File Validation Icon description Warning The validation procedure found data that might cause a problem when you attempt to deploy this OmniCube, but does not mean that the data is invalid or the deployment will fail. Use the back button to return to the relevant screen and verify the data. Error The validation procedure found data that is invalid and will cause a problem when you attempt to deploy an OmniCube using this configuration file. Use the back button to return to the relevant screen and correct the invalid data. Examples of validation reports are: For a complete list of checks and their descriptions, see Pre-deployment Results Screen Checks on page 45. Pre-deployment XML Configuration File The following is a sample configuration file:?xml version="1.0"?> <PredeploymentConfiguration xmlns:xsi=" xmlns:xsd=" <SchemaVersion>4</SchemaVersion> <ConnectionType>0</ConnectionType> <DataCenterID>datacenter-530</DataCenterID> 46

47 2 - Deploying OmniCube <VCenterID>0BD7263E-A D33-12B3BEB58E19</VCenterID> <ManagementNetworkInformation> <OmniCubeInformation> <HostIPAddress> </HostIPAddress> <HostNetmask> </HostNetmask> </OmniCubeInformation> <VirtualControllerManagementInformation> <ManagementNetworkIPAddress> </ManagementNetworkIPAddress> <ManagementNetworkNetmask> </ManagementNetworkNetmask> <GatewayIPAddress> </GatewayIPAddress> </VirtualControllerManagementInformation> </ManagementNetworkInformation> <StorageNetworkInformation> <NetworkIPAddress> </NetworkIPAddress> <NetworkNetmask> </NetworkNetmask> <NetworkvLANIdentifier>0</NetworkvLANIdentifier> </StorageNetworkInformation> <FederationNetworkInformation> <NetworkIPAddress> </NetworkIPAddress> <NetworkNetmask> </NetworkNetmask> <NetworkvLANIdentifier>0</NetworkvLANIdentifier> </FederationNetworkInformation> <StorageNetworkVMKernel> <IPAddress> </IPAddress> <MTUValue>9000</MTUValue> <Netmask> </Netmask> </StorageNetworkVMKernel> <NTPServers> <NTPServer>0.us.pool.ntp.org</NTPServer> <NTPServer>1.us.pool.ntp.org</NTPServer> <NTPServer>2.us.pool.ntp.org</NTPServer> <NTPServer>3.us.pool.ntp.org</NTPServer> </NTPServers> </PredeploymentConfiguration> Using an Existing Pre-deployment Configuration File When using the pre-deployment wizard, you can specify an existing configuration file and either edit it, or use it as a model for a new file. The file has the name format: ip_address_timestamp.xml or hostname_timestamp.xml. This procedure assumes that you started the pre-deployment wizard as follows: Begin the procedure at Step 2 if you launched the wizard from the vsphere Home screen (see Starting the Pre-deployment Wizard from the vsphere Home Screen on page 42). Begin the procedure at Step 1 if you launched the wizard during an OmniCube deployment (see Starting the Pre-deployment Wizard after Adding an OmniCube on page 41). Note: If you use the Back button to return to the OmniCube Systems to be deployed screen, the procedure removes all data that you entered into the Management Network information page. 47

48 2 - Deploying OmniCube 1. Select Import a pre-deployment configuration file to assist with this deployment in the Select Deployment Method screen. 2. Click Next in the SimpliVity Pre-Deployment Wizard Welcome screen. 3. Select Use an existing pre-deployment configuration file in the Import Pre-deployment Configuration screen. 4. Click Browse to open the Select a Pre-Deployment Configuration File dialog. 5. Navigate to, and click to select an existing XML configuration file then click Open. The file path is added to the Import Pre-deployment Configuration screen. 6. Click Next to open the OmniCube Systems to be Deployed screen. You can now reuse or modify the configuration file content, as described in the following sections: Specifying OmniCube Systems to be Deployed on page 42 Specifying Management Network Information on page 43 Specifying Storage and Federation Network Information on page 43 Specifying NTP Server Information on page 44 Exporting and Validating the Configuration File on page 44 Using a Pre-deployment Configuration File to Deploy an OmniCube When you have created and validated one or more configuration files, you can use them to deploy an OmniCube systems rapidly, and create a Federation. To deploy using a configuration file, you must complete Step 1 through Step 4 in Tasks for OmniCube Deployment on page 29. When you have added the OmniCube systems to a vcenter server as ESXi hosts, they are ready for deployment as described in Task 6 Deploying OmniCube and Configuring a Federation on page 48. Task 6 Deploying OmniCube and Configuring a Federation Before you begin the OmniCube deployment: 48

49 2 - Deploying OmniCube Make sure you install the SimpliVity vsphere Extension (plug-in) and supported version of VMware OVF Tool (see the OmniCube Release Notes) on the vsphere Client computer from which you will deploy OmniCube. Task 1 Installing the SimpliVity vsphere Extension on page 30. Make sure you install the SimpliVity Arbiter on the computer hosting vcenter Server. See Task 2 Installing the SimpliVity Arbiter on the vcenter Server on page 31. Be aware of the following: Some data fields in the deployment graphical interface might be pre-populated based on ESXi host settings All data fields are automatically populated if you use a configuration file that you created by using the pre-deployment wizard described Task 5 Using the Pre-deployment Wizard on page 39. The deployment involves automated operations such as configuring and starting the OmniCube Virtual Controller. It might take several minutes for an operation to respond or for the GUI to refresh during deployment. You can perform other VMware tasks (or set up ESXi on another OmniCube) while a deployment is running in the background. However, you must wait for the first OmniCube to fully deploy before staging subsequent deployments. Warning: Do not close vsphere Client while a deployment is in progress. Doing so can cause the deployment to fail. If this happens, see Retrying a Failed OmniCube Deployment on page 54. Each OmniCube in the Federation takes 15 to 20 minutes to deploy. If the deployment fails, contact your technical support representative. When an OmniCube is deployed, its associated Virtual Controller has a SimpliVity icon: From the vsphere Client where you will deploy OmniCube, connect to vcenter Server and use the following procedures. Selecting the Deployment Method You can deploy with or without a pre-deployment configuration file. If you have not previously created a configuration file, you have the option to create one at this time: 1. In the vsphere Client inventory panel, expand the datacenter where you added the OmniCube systems as ESXi hosts, and select an undeployed OmniCube system. 2. Click the SimpliVity tab, and then click Next to open the OmniCube Virtual Controller Deployment window. 3. Click Next to open the Select Deployment Method window. In this window you can: a. Deploy OmniCube without using a pre-deployment configuration file (see Deploying OmniCube Without Using A Pre-deployment Configuration File on page 50). 49

50 2 - Deploying OmniCube b. Import and use an existing pre-deployment configuration file that you created previously (see Using an Existing Pre-deployment Configuration File on page 47). c. Create and use a new pre-deployment configuration file (Creating a Pre-deployment Configuration File on page 42). Deploying OmniCube Without Using A Pre-deployment Configuration File If you are not using a Pre-deployment configuration file, deploy as follows: 1. In the Checking Host IP window, wait for all checks to complete and click Next to open the Credentials window. (Figure-8). Note: If verification fails, correct any problems identified by error messages and restart the deployment. See Appendix 2, Deployment Checking Host Screen for a list of checks performed. Figure-8: Credentials Window In the Credentials window, enter the following information from your Table-2 worksheet: ESXi host root user name and password. The emergency access password. This changes the password for the svtcli user. See OmniCube User Accounts and Single Sign-On on page 18. Your company name. 2. Click Next to open the SimpliVity User window (Figure-9). 50

51 2 - Deploying OmniCube Figure-9: SimpliVity User Window Enter the Username and Password of the user account that you created as the SimpliVity User. (See OmniCube User Accounts and Single Sign-On on page 18). 3. Click Next to open the Management Network window (Figure-10). Figure-10: Management Network Window Enter (or change as required, if auto-populated) the following information from your Table-5 worksheet: Make sure you select the correct vswitch and Port Group for the Connection: The 1GbE vswitch connected to the Management Network. Management network port group. Enter the following: IP address for the Management Network. Netmask for the Management Network. 51

52 2 - Deploying OmniCube Gateway for the Management Network, if you use a gateway (recommended). Verify the DNS information, including the Domain and the Primary and Secondary DNS server. 4. Click Next to open the Storage Network window (Figure-11). Figure-11: Storage Network Window Enter (or change as required, if auto-populated) the following information from your Table-5 worksheet: Make sure that the following vswitch and Port Group are selected as the Connection: 10GbE vswitch connected to the Storage Network. The Storage network port group. Enter the following: IP address for the Storage Network. (Not on the same subnet as the Management Network and Federation Network). Netmask. 5. Click Next to open the Federation Network window (Figure-12). Figure-12: Federation Network Window 52

53 2 - Deploying OmniCube Enter (or change as required, if auto-populated) the following information from your Table-5 worksheet: Make sure that the following vswitch and Port Group are selected as the Connection: 10GbE vswitch connected to the Storage Network. The Federation Network port group. Enter the following: IP address for the Federation Network. (Not on the same subnet as the Management Network and Storage Network). Netmask. 6. Click Next to open the Summary window and verify the configuration data. Click the back button to go back and correct errors. ( ). 7. Click Deploy. In the Deploying to Host window, wait for the verification checks to complete and click Next to open the Deployment Successful window. 8. Click Finish to complete the deployment. This can take from 15 to 20 minutes. Click Next when all steps are complete and a Deployment Successful confirmation window opens. 9. Repeat Step 1 through Step 8 on the second and subsequent OmniCube systems. After you successfully deploy a second OmniCube system, you have created a Federation. Next, consider the typical environment configuration tasks described in Post-Deployment Tasks for a Federation on page 54. Deployment Checking Host Screen Table-10 describes the checks listed in the Checking Host screen. Table-10 Checking Host Screen Data Description Check Checking if a proxy server is configured. Checking for existing SimpliVity deployment. Scanning for supported storage adapters. Scanning for SimpliVity Accelerator. Description Verifies that your vsphere Client does not access the LAN through an Internet Explorer HTTP proxy server. Set your Web browser options to bypass the proxy server for local addresses, or connect directly to the LAN at a point that avoids the proxy server. Verifies that the OmniCube contains an undeployed Virtual Controller. Verifies that the OmniCube contains a properly configured storage adapter. Verifies that the OmniCube contains a supported OmniCube Accelerator. 53

54 2 - Deploying OmniCube Check Checking host memory requirements. Checking NTP settings. Checking for a running SimpliVity arbiter on the vcenter (IP address). Checking SSH settings. Checking DNS settings. Description Make sure that the OmniCube contains adequate memory. Verifies that the OmniCube is configured for NTP and lists the configured NTP servers. Verifies that the SimpliVity arbiter is installed and operating on the vcenter server that will contain the Federation. Verifies that secure shell is configured on the ESXi host. Verifies that DNS is properly configured on the ESXi host. Post-Deployment Tasks for a Federation After you deploy a Federation, complete the following post-deployment tasks: Set the time zone locale for all Federation datacenters. See Setting the Datacenter Time Zone on page 55. Install the VAAI NAS plug-in to support hardware acceleration (off-loading clone operations to the storage to improve efficiency). See Installing the SimpliVity VAAI NAS Plug-in on page 67. Set up automatic support notification. See Configuring and Testing Phone Home on page 88. Create datastores. See Federation Datastores on page 155. Create backup polices. See Policies for Scheduled Backup Operations on page 178. Create or migrate VMs into your Federation. See Federation Virtual Machines on page 164. Apply backup policies to VMs and datastores. See: Changing the Backup Policy for a Federation Datastore on page 159. Changing the Backup Policy for a Federation Virtual Machine on page 185. Retrying a Failed OmniCube Deployment A deployment might fail if it is interrupted, for example: A temporary network failure occurred. You accidentally closed vsphere while a deployment was in progress. If this happens, you can retry the OmniCube deployment as follows: 1. Make sure you are logged in to a vsphere Client that is in the same local area network as the OmniCube, or connect to a local vsphere Client through remote desktop. You must log in to the vcenter with administrative role permissions. 54

55 2 - Deploying OmniCube Note: Do not do this procedure using a remote vsphere Client. The OVF copy task is routed through the client, and if the client is remote it will take a long time (an hour or more) to complete. 2. In vsphere, right-click the undeployed Virtual Controller in the inventory panel and select Delete from Disk. This removes all the files associated with the Virtual Controller. 3. Close and reopen vsphere and click the OmniCube. 4. Click the SimpliVity tab and click Next in the deployment window. 5. In the Checking Host IP window, a message indicates that the procedure will deploy a new Virtual Controller. Wait for all checks to complete and click Next. 6. Repeat the deployment procedure described in: Task 6 Deploying OmniCube and Configuring a Federation on page 48. See Deployment Checking Host Screen on page 53 for information about host checks. If the deployment fails a second time, contact SimpliVity Technical Support, or your support provider. Setting the Datacenter Time Zone You can modify the time zone for individual Federation datacenters. 1. Right click a datacenter in the vsphere Client inventory, then click SimpliVity - Set Time Zone to open the Datacenter Time Zone dialog. 2. Click the pull-down menu and scroll down to the required time zone, such as Europe/Berlin. 3. Click Set Time Zone. The dialog closes automatically. Supported Time Zones This chart lists the supported time zones that you can specify for a datacenter. Country Identifier Code Offset Africa/Abidjan GMT 0:00:00 Africa/Accra GMT 0:00:00 Africa/Addis_Ababa EAT 3:00:00 Africa/Algiers CET 1:00:00 Africa/Asmera EAT 3:00:00 Africa/Bamako GMT 0:00:00 55

56 2 - Deploying OmniCube Country Identifier Code Offset Africa/Bangui WAT 1:00:00 Africa/Banjul GMT 0:00:00 Africa/Bissau GMT 0:00:00 Africa/Blantyre CAT 2:00:00 Africa/Brazzaville WAT 1:00:00 Africa/Bujumbura CAT 2:00:00 Africa/Cairo EET 2:00:00 Africa/Casablanca WET 0:00:00 Africa/Ceuta CET 1:00:00 Africa/Conakry GMT 0:00:00 Africa/Dakar GMT 0:00:00 Africa/Dar_es_Salaam EAT 3:00:00 Africa/Djibouti EAT 3:00:00 Africa/Douala WAT 1:00:00 Africa/El_Aaiun WET 0:00:00 Africa/Freetown GMT 0:00:00 Africa/Gaborone CAT 2:00:00 Africa/Harare CAT 2:00:00 Africa/Johannesburg SAST 2:00:00 Africa/Kampala EAT 3:00:00 Africa/Khartoum EAT 3:00:00 Africa/Kigali CAT 2:00:00 Africa/Kinshasa WAT 1:00:00 Africa/Lagos WAT 1:00:00 Africa/Libreville WAT 1:00:00 Africa/Lome GMT 0:00:00 Africa/Luanda WAT 1:00:00 Africa/Lubumbashi CAT 2:00:00 Africa/Lusaka CAT 2:00:00 Africa/Malabo WAT 1:00:00 Africa/Maputo CAT 2:00:00 Africa/Maseru SAST 2:00:00 Africa/Mbabane SAST 2:00:00 Africa/Mogadishu EAT 3:00:00 Africa/Monrovia GMT 0:00:00 Africa/Nairobi EAT 3:00:00 Africa/Ndjamena WAT 1:00:00 Africa/Niamey WAT 1:00:00 Africa/Nouakchott GMT 0:00:00 56

57 2 - Deploying OmniCube Country Identifier Code Offset Africa/Ouagadougou GMT 0:00:00 Africa/Porto-Novo WAT 1:00:00 Africa/Sao_Tome GMT 0:00:00 Africa/Timbuktu GMT 0:00:00 Africa/Tripoli EET 2:00:00 Africa/Tunis CET 1:00:00 Africa/Windhoek WAT 1:00:00 America/Adak HAST 14:00:00 America/Anchorage AKST 15:00:00 America/Anguilla AST 20:00:00 America/Antigua AST 20:00:00 America/Araguaina BRT 21:00:00 America/Aruba AST 20:00:00 America/Asuncion PYT 20:00:00 America/Barbados AST 20:00:00 America/Belem BRT 21:00:00 America/Belize CST 18:00:00 America/Boa_Vista AMT 20:00:00 America/Bogota COT 19:00:00 America/Boise MST 17:00:00 America/Buenos_Aires ART 21:00:00 America/Cambridge_Bay MST 17:00:00 America/Cancun CST 18:00:00 America/Caracas VET 20:00:00 America/Catamarca ART 21:00:00 America/Cayenne GFT 21:00:00 America/Cayman EST 19:00:00 America/Chicago CST 18:00:00 America/Chihuahua MST 17:00:00 America/Cordoba ART 21:00:00 America/Costa_Rica CST 18:00:00 America/Cuiaba AMT 20:00:00 America/Curacao AST 20:00:00 America/Danmarkshavn GMT 0:00:00 America/Dawson PST 16:00:00 America/Dawson_Creek MST 17:00:00 America/Denver MST 17:00:00 America/Detroit EST 19:00:00 America/Dominica AST 20:00:00 57

58 2 - Deploying OmniCube Country Identifier Code Offset America/Edmonton MST 17:00:00 America/Eirunepe ACT 19:00:00 America/El_Salvador CST 18:00:00 America/Fortaleza BRT 21:00:00 America/Glace_Bay AST 20:00:00 America/Godthab WGT 21:00:00 America/Goose_Bay AST 20:00:00 America/Grand_Turk EST 19:00:00 America/Grenada AST 20:00:00 America/Guadeloupe AST 20:00:00 America/Guatemala CST 18:00:00 America/Guayaquil ECT 19:00:00 America/Guyana GYT 20:00:00 America/Halifax AST 20:00:00 America/Havana CST 19:00:00 America/Hermosillo MST 17:00:00 America/Indiana/Indianapolis EST 19:00:00 America/Indiana/Knox EST 19:00:00 America/Indiana/Marengo EST 19:00:00 America/Indiana/Vevay EST 19:00:00 America/Indianapolis EST 19:00:00 America/Inuvik MST 17:00:00 America/Iqaluit EST 19:00:00 America/Jamaica EST 19:00:00 America/Jujuy ART 21:00:00 America/Juneau AKST 15:00:00 America/Kentucky/Louisville EST 19:00:00 America/Kentucky/Monticello EST 19:00:00 America/La_Paz BOT 20:00:00 America/Lima PET 19:00:00 America/Los_Angeles PST 16:00:00 America/Louisville EST 19:00:00 America/Maceio BRT 21:00:00 America/Managua CST 18:00:00 America/Manaus AMT 20:00:00 America/Martinique AST 20:00:00 America/Mazatlan MST 17:00:00 America/Mendoza ART 21:00:00 America/Menominee CST 18:00:00 58

59 2 - Deploying OmniCube Country Identifier Code Offset America/Merida CST 18:00:00 America/Mexico_City CST 18:00:00 America/Miquelon PMST 21:00:00 America/Monterrey CST 18:00:00 America/Montevideo UYT 21:00:00 America/Montreal EST 19:00:00 America/Montserrat AST 20:00:00 America/Nassau EST 19:00:00 America/New_York EST 19:00:00 America/Nipigon EST 19:00:00 America/Nome AKST 15:00:00 America/Noronha FNT 22:00:00 America/North_Dakota/Center CST 18:00:00 America/Panama EST 19:00:00 America/Pangnirtung EST 19:00:00 America/Paramaribo SRT 21:00:00 America/Phoenix MST 17:00:00 America/Port-au-Prince EST 19:00:00 America/Port_of_Spain AST 20:00:00 America/Porto_Velho AMT 20:00:00 America/Puerto_Rico AST 20:00:00 America/Rainy_River CST 18:00:00 America/Rankin_Inlet CST 18:00:00 America/Recife BRT 21:00:00 America/Regina CST 18:00:00 America/Rio_Branco ACT 19:00:00 America/Rosario ART 21:00:00 America/Santiago CLT 20:00:00 America/Santo_Domingo AST 20:00:00 America/Sao_Paulo BRT 21:00:00 America/Scoresbysund EGT 23:00:00 America/Shiprock MST 17:00:00 America/St_Johns NST 20:30:00 America/St_Kitts AST 20:00:00 America/St_Lucia AST 20:00:00 America/St_Thomas AST 20:00:00 America/St_Vincent AST 20:00:00 America/Swift_Current CST 18:00:00 America/Tegucigalpa CST 18:00:00 59

60 2 - Deploying OmniCube Country Identifier Code Offset America/Thule AST 20:00:00 America/Thunder_Bay EST 19:00:00 America/Tijuana PST 16:00:00 America/Tortola AST 20:00:00 America/Vancouver PST 16:00:00 America/Whitehorse PST 16:00:00 America/Winnipeg CST 18:00:00 America/Yakutat AKST 15:00:00 America/Yellowknife MST 17:00:00 Antarctica/Casey WST 8:00:00 Antarctica/Davis DAVT 7:00:00 Antarctica/DumontDUrville DDUT 10:00:00 Antarctica/Mawson MAWT 6:00:00 Antarctica/McMurdo NZST 12:00:00 Antarctica/Palmer CLT 20:00:00 Antarctica/South_Pole NZST 12:00:00 Antarctica/Syowa SYOT 3:00:00 Antarctica/Vostok VOST 6:00:00 Arctic/Longyearbyen CET 1:00:00 Asia/Aden AST 3:00:00 Asia/Almaty ALMT 6:00:00 Asia/Amman EET 2:00:00 Asia/Anadyr ANAT 12:00:00 Asia/Aqtau AQTT 4:00:00 Asia/Aqtobe AQTT 5:00:00 Asia/Ashgabat TMT 5:00:00 Asia/Baghdad AST 3:00:00 Asia/Bahrain AST 3:00:00 Asia/Baku AZT 4:00:00 Asia/Bangkok ICT 7:00:00 Asia/Beirut EET 2:00:00 Asia/Bishkek KGT 5:00:00 Asia/Brunei BNT 8:00:00 Asia/Calcutta IST 5:30:00 Asia/Choibalsan CHOT 9:00:00 Asia/Chongqing CST 8:00:00 Asia/Colombo LKT 6:00:00 Asia/Damascus EET 2:00:00 Asia/Dhaka BDT 6:00:00 60

61 2 - Deploying OmniCube Country Identifier Code Offset Asia/Dili TPT 9:00:00 Asia/Dubai GST 4:00:00 Asia/Dushanbe TJT 5:00:00 Asia/Gaza EET 2:00:00 Asia/Harbin CST 8:00:00 Asia/Hong_Kong HKT 8:00:00 Asia/Hovd HOVT 7:00:00 Asia/Irkutsk IRKT 8:00:00 Asia/Istanbul EET 2:00:00 Asia/Jakarta WIT 7:00:00 Asia/Jayapura EIT 9:00:00 Asia/Jerusalem IST 2:00:00 Asia/Kabul AFT 4:30:00 Asia/Kamchatka PETT 12:00:00 Asia/Karachi PKT 5:00:00 Asia/Kashgar CST 8:00:00 Asia/Katmandu NPT 5:45:00 Asia/Krasnoyarsk KRAT 7:00:00 Asia/Kuala_Lumpur MYT 8:00:00 Asia/Kuching MYT 8:00:00 Asia/Kuwait AST 3:00:00 Asia/Macao CST 8:00:00 Asia/Macau CST 8:00:00 Asia/Magadan MAGT 11:00:00 Asia/Makassar CIT 8:00:00 Asia/Manila PHT 8:00:00 Asia/Muscat GST 4:00:00 Asia/Nicosia EET 2:00:00 Asia/Novosibirsk NOVT 6:00:00 Asia/Omsk OMST 6:00:00 Asia/Oral WST 5:00:00 Asia/Phnom_Penh ICT 7:00:00 Asia/Pontianak WIT 7:00:00 Asia/Pyongyang KST 9:00:00 Asia/Qyzylorda KST 6:00:00 Asia/Qatar AST 3:00:00 Asia/Rangoon MMT 6:30:00 Asia/Riyadh AST 3:00:00 Asia/Saigon ICT 7:00:00 61

62 2 - Deploying OmniCube Country Identifier Code Offset Asia/Sakhalin SAKT 10:00:00 Asia/Samarkand UZT 5:00:00 Asia/Seoul KST 9:00:00 Asia/Shanghai CST 8:00:00 Asia/Singapore SGT 8:00:00 Asia/Taipei CST 8:00:00 Asia/Tashkent UZT 5:00:00 Asia/Tbilisi GET 4:00:00 Asia/Tehran IRT 3:30:00 Asia/Thimphu BTT 6:00:00 Asia/Tokyo JST 9:00:00 Asia/Ujung_Pandang CIT 8:00:00 Asia/Ulaanbaatar ULAT 8:00:00 Asia/Urumqi CST 8:00:00 Asia/Vientiane ICT 7:00:00 Asia/Vladivostok VLAT 10:00:00 Asia/Yakutsk YAKT 9:00:00 Asia/Yekaterinburg YEKT 5:00:00 Asia/Yerevan AMT 4:00:00 Atlantic/Azores AZOT 23:00:00 Atlantic/Bermuda AST 20:00:00 Atlantic/Canary WET 0:00:00 Atlantic/Cape_Verde CVT 23:00:00 Atlantic/Faeroe WET 0:00:00 Atlantic/Jan_Mayen CET 1:00:00 Atlantic/Madeira WET 0:00:00 Atlantic/Reykjavik GMT 0:00:00 Atlantic/South_Georgia GST 22:00:00 Atlantic/St_Helena GMT 0:00:00 Atlantic/Stanley FKT 20:00:00 Australia/Adelaide CST 9:30:00 Australia/Brisbane EST 10:00:00 Australia/Broken_Hill CST 9:30:00 Australia/Darwin CST 9:30:00 Australia/Eucla CWST 8:45:00 Australia/Hobart EST 10:00:00 Australia/Lindeman EST 10:00:00 Australia/Lord_Howe LHST 10:30:00 Australia/Melbourne EST 10:00:00 62

63 2 - Deploying OmniCube Country Identifier Code Offset Australia/Perth WST 8:00:00 Australia/Sydney EST 10:00:00 Europe/Amsterdam CET 1:00:00 Europe/Andorra CET 1:00:00 Europe/Athens EET 2:00:00 Europe/Belfast GMT 0:00:00 Europe/Belgrade CET 1:00:00 Europe/Berlin CET 1:00:00 Europe/Bratislava CET 1:00:00 Europe/Brussels CET 1:00:00 Europe/Bucharest EET 2:00:00 Europe/Budapest CET 1:00:00 Europe/Chisinau EET 2:00:00 Europe/Copenhagen CET 1:00:00 Europe/Dublin GMT 0:00:00 Europe/Gibraltar CET 1:00:00 Europe/Helsinki EET 2:00:00 Europe/Istanbul EET 2:00:00 Europe/Kaliningrad EET 2:00:00 Europe/Kiev EET 2:00:00 Europe/Lisbon WET 0:00:00 Europe/Ljubljana CET 1:00:00 Europe/London GMT 0:00:00 Europe/Luxembourg CET 1:00:00 Europe/Madrid CET 1:00:00 Europe/Malta CET 1:00:00 Europe/Minsk EET 2:00:00 Europe/Monaco CET 1:00:00 Europe/Moscow MSK 3:00:00 Europe/Nicosia EET 2:00:00 Europe/Oslo CET 1:00:00 Europe/Paris CET 1:00:00 Europe/Prague CET 1:00:00 Europe/Riga EET 2:00:00 Europe/Rome CET 1:00:00 Europe/Samara SAMT 4:00:00 Europe/San_Marino CET 1:00:00 Europe/Sarajevo CET 1:00:00 Europe/Simferopol EET 2:00:00 63

64 2 - Deploying OmniCube Country Identifier Code Offset Europe/Skopje CET 1:00:00 Europe/Sofia EET 2:00:00 Europe/Stockholm CET 1:00:00 Europe/Tallinn EET 2:00:00 Europe/Tirane CET 1:00:00 Europe/Uzhgorod EET 2:00:00 Europe/Vaduz CET 1:00:00 Europe/Vatican CET 1:00:00 Europe/Vienna CET 1:00:00 Europe/Vilnius EET 2:00:00 Europe/Warsaw CET 1:00:00 Europe/Zagreb CET 1:00:00 Europe/Zaporozhye EET 2:00:00 Europe/Zurich CET 1:00:00 Indian/Antananarivo EAT 3:00:00 Indian/Chagos IOT 6:00:00 Indian/Christmas CXT 7:00:00 Indian/Cocos CCT 6:30:00 Indian/Comoro EAT 3:00:00 Indian/Kerguelen TFT 5:00:00 Indian/Mahe SCT 4:00:00 Indian/Maldives MVT 5:00:00 Indian/Mauritius MUT 4:00:00 Indian/Mayotte EAT 3:00:00 Indian/Reunion RET 4:00:00 Pacific/Apia WST 13:00:00 Pacific/Auckland NZST 12:00:00 Pacific/Chatham CHAST 12:45:00 Pacific/Easter EAST 18:00:00 Pacific/Efate VUT 11:00:00 Pacific/Enderbury PHOT 13:00:00 Pacific/Fakaofo TKT 14:00:00 Pacific/Fiji FJT 12:00:00 Pacific/Funafuti TVT 12:00:00 Pacific/Galapagos GALT 18:00:00 Pacific/Gambier GAMT 15:00:00 Pacific/Guadalcanal SBT 11:00:00 Pacific/Guam ChST 10:00:00 Pacific/Honolulu HST 14:00:00 64

65 2 - Deploying OmniCube Country Identifier Code Offset Pacific/Johnston HST 14:00:00 Pacific/Kiritimati LINT 14:00:00 Pacific/Kosrae KOST 11:00:00 Pacific/Kwajalein MHT 12:00:00 Pacific/Majuro MHT 12:00:00 Pacific/Marquesas MART 14:30:00 Pacific/Midway SST 13:00:00 Pacific/Nauru NRT 12:00:00 Pacific/Niue NUT 13:00:00 Pacific/Norfolk NFT 11:30:00 Pacific/Noumea NCT 11:00:00 Pacific/Pago_Pago SST 13:00:00 Pacific/Palau PWT 9:00:00 Pacific/Pitcairn PST 16:00:00 Pacific/Ponape PONT 11:00:00 Pacific/Port_Moresby PGT 10:00:00 Pacific/Rarotonga CKT 14:00:00 Pacific/Saipan ChST 10:00:00 Pacific/Tahiti TAHT 14:00:00 Pacific/Tarawa GILT 12:00:00 Pacific/Tongatapu TOT 13:00:00 Pacific/Truk TRUT 10:00:00 Pacific/Wake WAKT 12:00:00 Pacific/Wallis WFT 12:00:00 Pacific/Yap YAPT 10:00:00 Configuring the SimpliVity VAAI NAS Plug-In Install the vsphere Installation Bundle (VIB) on Federation OmniCube systems and on non-simplivity ESXi hosts that share Federation SimpliVity datastores. During the installation of an OmniStack Software Upgrade package, updated VIBs are copied to the OmniCube Virtual Controller s Web server in the vaai folder: ( making the packages accessible for installation. You must manually install the VIBs on all non-simplivity ESXi hosts that share SimpliVity datastores. Note: If the VAAI NAS VIB is delivered as a separate upgrade, you might need to install it manually on your OmniCube systems. Typically, the VIB is preinstalled on factory-shipped OmniCube systems, and you do not need to install it. See Installation Verification for the VAAI NAS Plugin Using the vsphere GUI on page 70 to find out whether the VIB is already installed. 65

66 2 - Deploying OmniCube The SimpliVity VAAI NAS plug-in distribution might include one or perhaps two ESXi-specific packages, where n.n.n.nnn is replaced by a version string, such as See the OmniCube Release Notes for the current version string. svt-nas-plugin-n.n.n.nnn.vib for ESXi V5.0 Update 2, 32/64-bit svt-nas-plugin-n.n.n.nnn.vib for ESXi V5.1 Update 1, 32/64-bit When installed, the files are located in the following ESXi system folders: /usr/lib/vmware/nas_plugins/lib32/libsvt-nas-vaai-plugin.so /usr/lib/vmware/nas_plugins/lib64/libsvt-nas-vaai-plugin.so /etc/vmware/firewall/svt-vaai-plugin-firewall.xml Prerequisites for Installing the SimpliVity VAAI NAS Plug-in The following installation prerequisites and considerations apply for the SimpliVity VAAI NAS plug-in: You do not need to uninstall existing versions of the SimpliVity VAAI NAS plug-in before installing an updated version. Enable SSH on OmniCube Systems and on Non-SimpliVity ESXi hosts that access SimpliVity datastores. If not already installed, install the SimpliVity VAAI NAS plug-in on all OmniCube ESXi Hosts in your Federation. If Non-SimpliVity ESXi hosts share the Federation datastores: Uninstall any VAAI NAS plug-ins from other vendors that might compete with the SimpliVity plug-in. Install the VAAI NAS plug-in on all Non-SimpliVity ESXi hosts, using the appropriate VIB version for the ESXi release installed on the Non-SimpliVity ESXi host. A post-installation reboot is required for every OmniCube ESXi host on which you install the SimpliVity VAAI NAS plug-in. This reboot requires that you shut down or migrate any VMs running on the OmniCube ESXi host. Consider shutting down VMs before you start the installation procedure. You can migrate VMs using vmotion before starting the installation on each ESXi Host. If an OmniCube is a standalone configuration (no Storage HA), migration is not an option - you must shut down VMs. See: Installing the SimpliVity VAAI NAS Plug-in on page

67 2 - Deploying OmniCube Installing the SimpliVity VAAI NAS Plug-in During the installation, the installation package moves from the Virtual Controller to its OmniCube ESXi Host, so at least one Virtual Controller must remain available at all times. This procedure assumes that you have shut down, or you will migrate, VMs. Note: If you attempt to install the SimpliVity VAAI NAS plug-in and you see the following error: [NoMatchError] No VIB matching VIB search specification 'simplivity-nas-plugin', it means that a reboot is pending. The plug-in was previously uninstalled, but the OmniCube ESXi Host has not rebooted since the uninstallation. Reboot to correct the problem. Install the SimpliVity VAAI NAS plug-in VMware Installation Bundle(VIB) as described in this section. Installing on OmniCube 1. In vsphere Client, verify that the Federation is in a healthy state and that all VMs are in Storage HA Compliance. 2. Using the terminal emulator, log on to the first OmniCube ESXi Host as root. 3. Enter the following esxcli command: # esxcli software vib install --viburl= Where: ip-address is the IP address of the Virtual Controller that is running on this ESXi Host. n.n.n.nnn is the version string for the VAAI NAS plug-in. Use the correct revision for the version of ESXi installed on the host. 4. In vsphere Client Right-Click and Power off/shut down the Virtual Controller. 5. Right-Click and put the OmniCube ESXi Host into Maintenance Mode. 6. Reboot the OmniCube ESXi Host. 7. Right-Click and take the OmniCube ESXi Host out of Maintenance Mode. 8. Restart the OmniCube Virtual Controller. 9. Power up VMs or migrate VMs back from their temporary location. 10. Wait for VMs to return to Storage HA compliance (synchronize). 11. Repeat Step 2 through Step 9 for the next OmniCube ESXi Host, until you have installed the VIB on all OmniCube ESXi Hosts. 67

68 2 - Deploying OmniCube Installing on Non-SimpliVity ESXi Hosts 1. Using vsphere Client, verify that the Federation is in a healthy state and that all VMs are in Storage HA Compliance (synchronized). 2. Using a terminal emulator, log on to the first Non-SimpliVity ESXi host as root. 3. Enter the following esxcli command: # esxcli software acceptance set --level=communitysupported 4. Enter the following esxcli command: # esxcli software vib install --viburl= Where: ip-address is the IP address of the OmniCube Virtual Controller where the VIB is located. x-x-x-x is the version string for the VAAI NAS plug-in. Use the correct plug-in revision for the version of ESXi installed on the host. 5. Using vsphere Client, right-click and put the Non-SimpliVity ESXi host into Maintenance Mode. 6. Reboot the Non-SimpliVity ESXi host. 7. Right-click and take the host out of Maintenance Mode. 8. Repeat Step 2 through Step 7 for all non-simplivity ESXi Hosts that are sharing SimpliVity datastores on the Federation. Make sure you use the appropriate VIB version, depending on the ESXi version installed on the non-simplivity ESXi Host. Follow any host-specific procedures for restarting VMs. Sample VAAI NAS Plug-in Installation The following is a sample of an installation. ~ # esxcli software vib install --viburl= Installation Result Message: The update completed successfully, but the system needs to be rebooted for the changes to be effective. Reboot Required: true VIBs Installed: SimpliVity_bootbank_simplivity-nas-plugin_ VIBs Removed: VIBs Skipped: To verify the installation, see: Installation Verification for the VAAI NAS Plug-in Using the vsphere GUI on page 70, and Installation Verification for the VAAI NAS Plug-in Using esxcli on page

69 2 - Deploying OmniCube Uninstalling the SimpliVity VAAI NAS Plug-in Normally, you will not uninstall the SimpliVity VAAI NAS plug-in VIB unless instructed to do so by SimpliVity Technical support. Upgrades do not require uninstallation. As for VIB installation, a complete uninstallation requires that you reboot every OmniCube ESXi Host and everynon-simplivity ESXi host. This might take some time because you must migrate or shut down active VMs. Notes: If you attempt to uninstall the SimpliVity VAAI NAS plug-in and you see the following error: [NoMatchError] No VIB matching VIB search specification 'simplivity-nas-plugin', it means that a reboot is pending. The plug-in was previously uninstalled, but the OmniCube ESXi Host has not rebooted since the uninstallation. Reboot to correct the problem. You must remove the plug-in from all systems that access SimpliVity Federation datastores to prevent errors and behavior inconsistencies when cloning VMs. Uninstall the VIB as follows: 1. Using a terminal emulator, log on to the first OmniCube ESXi Host as root. 2. Determine the installed VIB version: ~ # esxcli software vib list grep SimpliVity omnicube OEM SimpliVity CommunitySupported simplivity-nas-plugin SimpliVity CommunitySupported Enter the following esxcli command: # esxcli software vib remove --vibname=simplivity-nas-plugin 4. In vsphere Client Right-Click and Power off/shut down the Virtual Controller. 5. Right-Click and put the OmniCube ESXi Host into Maintenance Mode. 6. Reboot the OmniCube ESXi Host. 7. Right-Click and take the OmniCube ESXi Host out of Maintenance Mode. 8. Restart the OmniCube Virtual Controller. 9. Power up VMs or migrate VMs back from their temporary location. 10. Repeat Step 2 through Step 9 for the next OmniCube ESXi host, until you have uninstalled the VIB from all OmniCube ESXi Hosts. 11. Repeat Step 2 through Step 6 for all non-simplivity ESXi hosts, until you have uninstalled the VIB from all non-simplivity ESXi Hosts. Follow any host-specific procedures for restarting VMs. 69

70 2 - Deploying OmniCube To verify the software removal: See Installation Verification for the VAAI NAS Plug-in Using the vsphere GUI on page 70. Verify that the Hardware Acceleration column contains Not supported. See Installation Verification for the VAAI NAS Plug-in Using esxcli on page 71. In this case, Hardware Acceleration is listed as "Not Supported". Sample VAAI NAS Plug-In Removal The following is a sample uninstallation: ~ # esxcli software vib remove --vibname=simplivity-nas-plugin Removal Result Message: The update completed successfully, but the system needs to be rebooted for the changes to be effective. Reboot Required: true VIBs Installed: VIBs Removed: SimpliVity_bootbank_simplivity-nas-plugin_ VIBs Skipped: Installation Verification for the VAAI NAS Plug-in Using the vsphere GUI To verify that the SimpliVity VAAI NAS plug-in is installed and functioning for a SimpliVity datastore, use the vsphere GUI as follows: 1. Use vsphere Client to connect to your Federation. 2. Select an OmniCube ESXi Host in the inventory. 3. Click the Configuration tab in the main window. 4. Click Storage, under Hardware. 5. Click the Datastores button in the View toolbar, above the list. The Datastores list is shown in Figure-13. Figure-13: Datastores List 6. Look for active datastores where the root of the Device name is omni.cube.io. 7. Verify that the Hardware Acceleration column contains Supported.. 70

71 2 - Deploying OmniCube If the column contains Unknown or Not Supported, see Installing the SimpliVity VAAI NAS Plug-in on page 67. Installation Verification for the VAAI NAS Plug-in Using esxcli To verify that the SimpliVity VAAI NAS plug-in is installed and functioning for a SimpliVity datastore, use esxcli as described in this procedure. The procedure assumes that SSH is enabled. 1. In vsphere Client, confirm that a mounted and shared SimpliVity datastore exists. 2. Using a terminal emulator, log in to an OmniCube ESXi host as root. 3. Enter the following esxcli command: # esxcli storage nfs list 4. Look for active datastores where the root of the Device name is omni.cube.io. 5. Verify in the output that the value of Hardware Acceleration is Supported. If the value is Not Supported, then the SimpliVity VAAI NAS plug-in is not installed or not functioning correctly. See Installing the SimpliVity VAAI NAS Plug-in on page 67. Sample Verification Session The following is a sample VAAI verification: ~ # esxcli storage nfs list Volume Name Host Share Accessible Mounted Hardware Acceleration sml omni.cube.io /mnt/svtfs/0/100sml true true Supported 110-sml-hr omni.cube.io /mnt/svtfs/0/110-sml-hr true true Supported englab2 omni.cube.io /mnt/svtfs/0/wnglab2 true true Supported ~ # 71

72 72

73 3 - Starting Up and Shutting Down an OmniCube 3 - Starting Up and Shutting Down an OmniCube Before you power off an OmniCube (ESXi host), review these considerations: The OmniCube Virtual Controller must start up first and shut down last. (The Virtual Controller is a dedicated virtual machine that runs the OmniStack software.) You can configure this sequence through the Configuration tab options for an OmniCube system. For example, you can set the start up and shut down order for the virtual machines on the host (including the OmniCube Virtual Controller) and set delay times to ensure the proper sequence. For more information, see Setting the Virtual Machine Startup and Shutdown Sequence on page 74. If an auto-start virtual machine migrates into your Federation from another source (for example, from using vsphere vmotion), make sure that its start up order does not supersede the order set for the Virtual Controller. For more information, see Setting the Virtual Machine Startup and Shutdown Sequence on page 74. Unplanned shut down events such as power outages might cause site-wide system restarts to take longer than normal. If this occurs, make sure the start up availability sequence is: 1. vcenter Server, running the SimpliVity Arbiter 2. OmniCube systems (ESXi hosts) 3. Virtual Controller on the ESXi hosts 4. Federation and datastores 5. Virtual machines If this sequence takes longer than 120 seconds, extend the start up delay accordingly. If you need to move a virtual machine from an OmniCube in a datacenter to another OmniCube in the datacenter (or another datacenter) before shutting down the OmniCube system, use the SimpliVity - Move Virtual Machine option. If you need to move a virtual machine in cluster to another OmniCube in a cluster, you can use the automatic or manual vsphere Client options. But, the OmniCube you move the virtual machine to must share at least one datastore with the original OmniCube. For more information on using the vsphere options to move or migrate virtual machines, see the vsphere Client Help. If you want to manually shut down a virtual machine or the OmniCube Virtual Controller, you can use the Shut Down Guest option. You can also cancel or force the shut down of an OmniCube Virtual Controller through the SimpliVity - Manage Shut Down Guest option. 73

74 3 - Starting Up and Shutting Down an OmniCube Setting the Virtual Machine Startup and Shutdown Sequence The Virtual Controller is a virtual machine dedicated to the OmniCube (ESXi host). It runs the OmniStack software that optimizes data. It should always start up before the guest virtual machines and shut down last. To ensure that the Virtual Controller automatically starts up first when you power on an OmniCube and shuts down last when you shut it down, set (or check) the virtual machine startup and shutdown delay times and define the order. To set the virtual machines start up and shut down sequence: 1. In vsphere Client, display the host objects in the inventory. 2. Select the OmniCube (ESXi host) you want to set the virtual machine sequence for. 3. Click the Configuration tab. Then click Virtual Machine Startup/Shutdown from the Software list. The Virtual Machine Startup and Shutdown window opens. 4. Click Properties from the upper-right corner of the tab. 5. Select Allow virtual machines to start and stop automatically with the system. 6. In the Default Startup Delay and the Default Shutdown Delay sections, set the delay startup for 120 seconds (two minutes) and the delay shutdown for 120 seconds, if not set already. 7. In the Shutdown Action field, leave Power Off selected. 8. In the Startup Order section, check that the OmniCube VC (Virtual Controller) is set at 1 to start up first. If not, select the OmniCube Virtual Controller row, click Move Up or Move Down to move it to the first order (Order 1). All other virtual machines can start up after it. (The shutdown reverses the order.) 9. Select the OmniCube Virtual Controller row and click Edit to open the Virtual Machine Autostart Settings dialog box. In the Startup Settings section, select Use specified settings. In the Startup Delay field, enter 720 seconds (for 12 minutes). In the Shutdown Settings section, leave the Shutdown Delay field set to 120 and the Perform shutdown action field set to Guest Shutdown. Click OK. 10. Click OK to return to the Configuration tab and see your latest startup and shutdown settings. 11. Repeat this procedure for any other OmniCube systems that need the delay times and order defined. Starting Up an OmniCube System If you previously shut down a Federation OmniCube system, make sure that the OmniCube is in the same physical state and that no cables were disconnected or devices removed. 1. Make sure your vcenter Server and Datacenter are fully available. 74

75 3 - Starting Up and Shutting Down an OmniCube 2. Connect to vcenter using a vsphere client that includes the SimpliVity vsphere Extension Plug-in. 3. If you previously shut down the ESXi host containing the vcenter Server, verify that the SimpliVity Arbiter service is started. See Restarting the SimpliVity Arbiter on page Power on the OmniCube systems. 5. Boot the ESXi host. 6. Wait for the Virtual Controller to power on. You must configure the Virtual Controller to power on automatically before any VM and to shut down after all other VMs. See Starting Up and Shutting Down an OmniCube on page Wait for VMs to power on and boot if set to auto-boot. Otherwise, power on and boot the VMs manually. 8. Verify the Federation status. Do not proceed until all OmniCube Systems are responding and there are no unacknowledged alarms or errors. See Displaying Information About a Federation Datacenter on page 100. Note: If you temporarily changed any tasks to facilitate the shutdown, reconfigure these tasks for normal operation. Performing a Planned Shutdown of an OmniCube System You must configure the Virtual Controller to power on automatically before any VM and to shut down after all other VMs. To perform a planned shutdown of a Federation OmniCube system: 1. Examine the task status of VMs to make sure that there are no unfinished tasks. You might also want to defer any pending operations to ensure that tasks do not start up as you are preparing to shut down. 2. Optionally, migrate required VMs to other OmniCube systems that you intend to keep running. 3. Shutdown the ESXi host, which initiates an automated shutdown of the VMs and the Virtual Controller. 4. When ESXi shutdown is complete, power off the OmniCube as described in the Hardware Installation and Maintenance Guide for your platform. 75

76 3 - Starting Up and Shutting Down an OmniCube 5. Repeat Step 1 through Step 4 for all OmniCube Systems that you intend to shut down and power off. (Only necessary for a complete Federation shutdown during operations such as data center relocation.) 6. Verify that the remaining (powered-up) OmniCube systems are operating correctly. 76

77 4 - Adding OmniCube Systems to a Federation 4 - Adding OmniCube Systems to a Federation You can add OmniCube systems to a Federation to increase the Federation resources available to virtual machines (VMs), without disrupting VM availability or service levels. If you join an OmniCube into a Federation that currently has unavailable OmniCube systems, and there are VMs running on SimpliVity datastores, data might be unavailable for a short time. This is because new OmniCube systems in a Federation require the creation of new mount points and NFS exports for all existing SimpliVity datastores. If any of the Federation OmniCube systems are unavailable at the time of joining (perhaps because of a temporary network outage), the creation of mount points and NFS exports is delayed until the resources hosted by the unavailable OmniCube have failed over. In a Federation with many SimpliVity datastores, this delay could last for many seconds or even minutes. Considerations When Adding OmniCube Systems to an Existing Federation Consider the following when adding OmniCube systems to a Federation: Read the OmniCube Release Notes for information about supported configurations. Do not exceed the stated limits for numbers of OmniCube systems in a Federation. To avoid resource conflicts, choose the least busy work time to add an OmniCube. Make sure that the Federation is healthy, and the network is functioning correctly. See Displaying Information About a Federation Datacenter on page 100. Know the vcenter Server account credentials to log in to the Virtual Controller. See OmniCube User Accounts and Single Sign-On on page 18. Know how to restart the OmniCube. You might need to do a manual power-on of the OmniCube. Setting the Virtual Machine Startup and Shutdown Sequence on page 74. The SimpliVity vsphere Extension and SimpliVity Arbiter should be at the latest appropriate revision. While you are adding an OmniCube, the SimpliVity vsphere Extension might display a message indicating that it is incompatible with the newly-added OmniCube. See Upgrading the SimpliVity vsphere Extension on page 220 and Upgrading the SimpliVity Arbiter on page 221. If you are redeploying an OmniCube that you used previously in the same or a different Federation: Determine the OmniStack software revisions before you redeploy. Make sure that the vcenter Server is running a compatible revision of the SimpliVity Arbiter Pre-Deployment State and Software Compatibility Levels You can add OmniCube systems that are in the following state: 77

78 4 - Adding OmniCube Systems to a Federation New State Newly-received from SimpliVity or its partners. You might need to upgrade the software on the existing Federation OmniCube systems after you add the additional OmniCube. See Upgrading Software and Hardware on page 207. Redeployed State Removed from a previous Federation, and you can redeploy if the software is at an appropriate compatibility level. You must: Delete all backup policies (datastores can exist). See Deleting a Backup Policy on page 184. Unconfigure Phone Home. See Configuring and Testing Phone Home on page 88. Delete the previously-used Virtual Controller from disk and then reconfigure networking and redeploy the OmniCube. Restored State Restored to factory default settings. To check for software compatibility: 1. Log in to the Virtual Controller using an account with appropriate credentials. 2. Run the svt-version-show command as follows: $ svt-version-show --long svtfs Version : develop (release) feature.version : 1 build.timestamp : T23:01: git.branch : develop git.commit : 0b12db32c5e4afc86508ed32fe c0cb platform : "SimpliVity SVA 0.147" hardware: PCB rev = C tiadriver = FW rev = FPGA rev = CPLD rev = Record the svtfs Version. This must be compatible in a Federation and any mismatched versions will require a software upgrade. Use the following command to check compatibility: $ svt-federation-show --output xml Look for the currentfeaturelevel. It must match the feature.version from the output in Step 2 for the new OmniCube to be compatible with the Federation. 78

79 4 - Adding OmniCube Systems to a Federation 4. Record the FW rev of the OmniCube Accelerator. This can be incompatible pending an update. The procedure detects incompatibilities and informs you if you must upgrade. Operations might be blocked until the firmware upgrade is complete. Adding OmniCube Systems Follow these steps to add an OmniCube to an existing Federation. Step 1 Gather the Network Information and IP Addresses. Use the following network information and checklists to gather the information you need: VMware Environment on page 23 Networks and Other Considerations and Requirements on page 25 Network Configuration Worksheet on page 26 Step 2 Configure the ESXi Host Depending on the previous state of the OmniCube, you might need to configure the ESXi Host: New State Configure ESXi. Redeployed State ESXi should be properly configured but you might need to change certain network settings if you are relocating the OmniCube into a new network. Restored State Contact SimpliVity Technical Support. For instructions on configuring ESXi, see the Hardware Installation and Maintenance Guide for your platform. Step 3 Add The OmniCube to the vcenter From the vsphere Client where you will deploy OmniCube, connect to the vcenter Server and add the OmniCube as follows: 1. Right-click the cluster containing the Federation and select Add Host. 2. Enter the required information, specifying the host management IP address. Note: If prompted for a license, enter an existing VMware license or use a trial license. 3. Configure NTP as described in Configuring NTP on the OmniCube Systems on page 39. After you add an OmniCube system as an ESXi host, it appears in the vsphere Client inventory panel under the datacenter. You can identify it by the IP address you specified when adding the ESXi host. 79

80 4 - Adding OmniCube Systems to a Federation Step 4 Configure vswitches See Virtual Switches for the OmniCube Systems on page 34. Step 5 [Redeployed State Only] Remove the Existing Virtual Controller If the OmniCube is in a Redeployed State, you must delete the previously-used Virtual Controller from disk: 1. Identify the Virtual Controller listed in the vsphere Inventory under the newly-added OmniCube. It has a name in the format: OmniCube VC xx.xx. 2. Right-click the virtual controller and click Delete from Disk. 3. Confirm the deletion. Step 6 Deploy the OmniCube into the Federation Deploy the OmniCube as described in Task 6 Deploying OmniCube and Configuring a Federation on page 48. Removing OmniCube Systems from a Federation You can remove an OmniCube from a Federation. This decreases the Federation resources available to virtual machines (VMs). In a Two-OmniCube Federation, removing one OmniCube also reduces data protection and resource redundancy, particularly if you are not able to create remote backups. This option permanently removes an OmniCube from the Federation. If you remove an OmniCube from a Federation, you cannot join it back into the Federation unless: The OmniCube is at an appropriate compatibility level. In this case, you can delete the Virtual Controller from disk, reconfigure virtual switches, and redeploy the OmniCube. (Before you remove the OmniCube, determine its current software revision. See Displaying Information About a Federation Datacenter on page 100.) The OmniCube has been restored to factory defaults and re-deploy as a new Federation OmniCube. You can also use the svt-federation-remove CLI command to remove OmniCube systems from a Federation. However, you must run this command from an OmniCube other than the one that you intend to delete. You can also remove all OmniCube systems from a datacenter. This option might be useful if none of the OmniCube systems is in a healthy state. See Removing a Datacenter on page 91. Before you remove an OmniCube from a Federation: 80

81 4 - Adding OmniCube Systems to a Federation Make sure that no Non-SimpliVity ESXi hosts are sharing its datastores. If you want to keep sharing the datastore, you must change the/etc/hosts file for every Non-SimpliVity ESXi host host so that it references an alternate OmniCube in the same Federation datacenter. See Allowing Datastore Access to Non-Federation ESXi Hosts on page 161. Make sure that all OmniCube systems in the Federation are in a healthy state, and all VMs are Storage HA compliant (synchronized), if applicable. Warning: The procedure described here ignores active VMs when you specify the Force Removal option. Any data associated with active VMs might be permanently lost when the OmniCube is removed from the Federation. To remove an OmniCube from a Federation: 1. Connect to vsphere Client and identify the ESXi host that is the OmniCube that you intend to remove. 2. Right-click the ESXi host to open the context menu. 3. Click SimpliVity - Remove from Federation. 4. [Optional] Check the box labeled Force removal if you want to discard active VMs. (This might cause data loss.) 5. Click Remove. You are prompted to confirm the removal: Are you sure you want to remove this OmniCube from the Federation? 6. Click: Yes. 7. Click the datacenter that contains the removed OmniCube and scroll down to the OmniCube Systems panel, if it is not already visible. The removed OmniCube is no longer listed as a Federation member. Replacing an OmniCube in a Federation You can replace an OmniCube in a Federation with a second OmniCube system (for example, if the original failed or is temporarily swapped out for hardware upgrades). You can perform this task without disrupting VM availability or service levels. To replace an OmniCube in a Federation: 1. Remove the OmniCube as described in Removing OmniCube Systems from a Federation on page Add a replacement OmniCube as described in Adding OmniCube Systems to a Federation on page

82 82

83 5 - Federation Management This section describes how to manage a Federation. Displaying Information About a Federation OmniCube Federation OmniCube systems appear in vsphere Client as ESXi hosts. When you deploy an OmniCube, an associated Virtual Controller VM appears under the OmniCube in the vsphere Client inventory panel, identified by the SimpliVity icon:. The Virtual Controller has a name in the format OmniCube VC NN.NN, where the numbers NN.NN are extracted from the Virtual Controller's IP address. Important: Do not perform any VMware operations on the Virtual Controller unless instructed to do so in this guide or by your support provider. To display the hardware components and component status information for an OmniCube in a Federation: 1. In the vsphere Client inventory panel, expand the datacenter containing the OmniCube. 2. Select the OmniCube ESXi host and click the SimpliVity tab to open the Federation Host window (Figure-14). 83

84 5 - Federation Management Figure-14: Model CN-5000 Host Information Panel The Federation Host window shows you images of the front and back panels of the OmniCube and provides information about the hardware configuration and hardware status of the OmniCube. This information is useful when troubleshooting hardware problems and might be requested by your support provider. The displayed information is different depending on your OmniCube platform. The Host Information panel provides the following details, where appropriate for a specific component: Component name and slot ID number, or device attribute such as cache: Storage adapter. Storage adapter battery backup unit (BBU). Logical drive, SSD array. Physical drives in the SSD array. Logical drive in the rotational HDD array. Physical drives in the rotational HDD array. Drive Set The related group of SSD or HDD physical drives included in a specific logical drive. Vendor Component manufacturer name or other data such as device protocol. 84

85 5 - Federation Management Model Name of the component. Serial Number Identification number for the component. Version OmniStack Software version Status The operational status of a component, which might be: Degraded (Yellow) The component is functioning, but at reduced capability. For example, a recently-replaced drive might be rebuilding. Enabled Component attribute status, such as enabled or disabled. Error (Red) The component is absent or in a critical error state. Operations might have failed over to a redundant device. FPGA Temp (Yellow/Red) The temperature of the OmniCube Accelerator card. Healthy (Green) The component is present and functioning correctly. Missing (Red) The component is absent from the system. For example, a disk was removed. Offline (Red) The Component is present, but unavailable for use, although not necessarily in a degraded or error state. Rebuilding N% Completed (Yellow) A storage component is undergoing rebuild after you replace an SSD or HDD. Includes the progress of the rebuild. Warning (Yellow) The component is present, but generating alarms or errors. Operations might have failed over to a redundant device. Figure-15 shows the Host Information panel for a CN-5000, which provides three Drive Sets, one for the SSDs and two for the HDDs. The panel also shows status warning (yellow) information because of a recent disk failure that was corrected. Physical HDD drive 18 in Drive Set 1 is rebuilding after replacement. The displayed information is different depending on your OmniCube platform. 85

86 5 - Federation Management Figure-15: Model CN-5000 Host Information Panel Federation Security Federation security is based on the access control system for the vcenter Server in which the Federation resides. See the vsphere Datacenter Administration Guide for detailed information about vcenter Server security. For example, you set up users, groups, and roles (sets of privileges) to control access to resources in vcenter Server. These access controls apply to the Federation objects, in addition to all other objects in vcenter Server. A user is an individual authorized to log in to a host or vcenter Server. The combination of user name and password authenticates a user for access and the assigned privileges authorize the user to perform specific tasks. 86

87 5 - Federation Management Note: The privileges and roles assigned on an ESXi host are separate from the privileges and roles assigned in vcenter Server. You cannot use the SimpliVity vsphere Extension to manage the Federation if you are connected to an ESXi host. Authorized users for vcenter Server can be users included in the Windows domain list referenced by vcenter Server or local Windows users on vcenter Server. The permissions defined for these users apply whenever a user connects to vcenter Server. To manually create, remove, or modify vcenter Server users, use the tools that manage your Windows domain or Active Directory environment. Changes that you make to the Windows domain or Active Directory are reflected in vcenter Server. See the vcenter Server and Host Management document for more information. The Federation requires specific VMware accounts with specific privileges, as described in OmniCube User Accounts and Single Sign-On on page 18. Ensuring Consistent Time in a Federation To ensure consistent time in a Federation, you must configure NTP on each OmniCube system and make sure it matches the NTP configuration that vcenter Server uses. If the NTP configuration used by vcenter Server changes, you must update the NTP configuration for each OmniCube system. Note: It is important to maintain consistent time in a Federation so that intra-omnicube communication is properly synchronized. If NTP time drifts by several seconds, you might see OmniCube storage capacity misreported. If you decide use an internal NTP server, see: Synchronizing ESXi/ESX time with a Microsoft Domain Controller ( ). In particular, you must set the following: In /etc/ntp.conf, set maxdist 30 In /etc/likewise/lsassd.conf make sure that sync-system-time = no See Configuring NTP on the OmniCube Systems on page 39. Restarting the SimpliVity Arbiter The SimpliVity Arbiter must be installed and running on the computer running vcenter Server to ensure proper Federation operation. The Arbiter runs as a Windows service. If the Arbiter stops running, an alarm appears in the Federation. If the Arbiter stops running, you must restart it in Windows services. Note: Never restart the Arbiter for any reason other than resolving problems. Your Federation cannot communicate properly when the Arbiter is not running. 87

88 5 - Federation Management To restart the Arbiter: 1. Click the Windows start button and run services.msc. 2. Select the Extended tab in the Services window and look for the SimpliVity Arbiter. 3. Double-click the SimpliVity Arbiter entry to open its properties dialog. 4. Click Start and then OK to close the properties dialog. 5. Close the Services window. Federations in Linked Mode vcenter Servers SimpliVity Federations support VMware Linked Mode vcenter Servers and enables access to SimpliVity and VMware virtual objects across all OmniCube systems in linked mode vcenter Servers. A linked mode environment can contain only a single federation. This feature enables you to: Create remote a VM backup in a different vcenter Server. Restore a VM from a backup stored on an OmniCube in a different vcenter Server rather than the VM s host vcenter Server. Move VMs between datastores contained by an OmniCube in a different vcenter Server,but in the same Federation. To manage your Federation in Linked Mode, you need appropriate single sign-on accounts with appropriate credentials for all vcenter Servers in linked mode. See OmniCube User Accounts and Single Sign-On on page 18. In linked-mode vcenter Server, VMware allows you to assign identical names to datacenters that are contained by different vcenters. Because SimpliVity operations often require that you specify a datacenter as a destination, there is a risk that you might specify the wrong datacenter when performing operations such as creating manual backups, creating backup policy rules, or moving VMs. Avoid using identical names for linked-mode datacenters, or if you must, be careful that you specify the correct destination for operations that allow the specification of a destination datacenter. Configuring and Testing Phone Home SimpliVity recommends that you configure automatic support notification (Phone Home) to ensure proactive technical support and timely response to events and issues. Phone Home provides the following customer benefits: 88

89 5 - Federation Management If a significant event occurs in the Federation, an encrypted is sent automatically to SimpliVity support. The is secured by 128-bit RSA encryption and contains details of the event and other status information that might help in diagnosis and correction. You can configure multiple addresses to receive an unencrypted copy of event messages. Because this version of the event message is unsecured, you should make sure that it stays within your secure enterprise intranet. The messages never contain any user data from your Federation. After deploying your Federation, configure Phone Home for each datacenter in your Federation. You can also do this by using the command line svt-support-configure command and administer Phone Home using the svt-support* CLI command set. Use the CLI commands to temporarily suspend Phone Home when needed. You can suspend phone home if you need to make changes to your enterprise mail environment, take a Federation offline, or at the request of a technical support representative. See the OmniCube CLI Reference for more information. Important: Phone Home does not support OmniCube Cloud Datacenters. Prerequisites for Configuring Phone Home You need the following information and resources: Sender address. Sender account credentials (user name and password). You can enter nothing, null (""), or noauth depending on your server requirements. [Optional] CC recipient addresses. Make sure that your account is configured to receive phone home messages and that they are not filtered, or redirected to spam or junk mail folders. Mail Server name. You should also determine whether your mail server's protocol required SSL/TLS. Note: The Customer Name banner on the Configure Phone Home dialog is set when you deploy the first OmniCube in a Federation. Procedure for Configuring Phone Home To configure Phone Home using the GUI: 1. Right-click a Datacenter and select SimpliVity - Configure Phone Home to open the Configure Phone Home dialog. (A message at the bottom of the dialog indicates whether Phone Home was previously configured.) 2. Enter the sender's address in the From: field. 89

90 5 - Federation Management 3. [Optional] Enter one or more recipients who will receive an unencrypted copy of any event s. 4. [Optional] If required, check the box labeled: Use SSL/TLS (if required for your mail server protocol). 5. Enter the IP address or DNS name of your mail server. 6. Enter the user name for the sender's account. 7. Enter the password for the sender's account. 8. Click Apply to start configuration. After the configuration procedure completes successfully, the following message appears: Configuration saved 9. Either test the configuration as described in Testing the Phone Home Configuration on page 90 or click Close to exit. You can use this procedure to reconfigure the settings for Phone Home, however you cannot use the GUI to disable Phone Home. Use the CLI svt-support* commands to suspend Phone Home when required. SimpliVity recommends that you keep Phone Home enabled because it can greatly reduce the time required to correct unexpected system outages. Testing the Phone Home Configuration After you have configured Phone Home as described in Procedure for Configuring Phone Home on page 89 you can test the configuration at any time as follows: 1. Right-click a Datacenter and select SimpliVity - Configure Phone Home to open the Configure Phone Home dialog. 2. Make sure the following message appears at the bottom of the dialog: Phone Home is configured 3. Click the Test button. A test message is sent to SimpliVity technical support and is copied to CC recipients. Verify the test as follows: If the test message is unsuccessful, an error message indicates whether Phone Home was unable to process the message because of a configuration error. Correct the configuration as described in Procedure for Configuring Phone Home on page 89. If the test message is not received by CC recipients: Verify the Phone Home configuration as described in Procedure for Configuring Phone Home on page

91 5 - Federation Management Make sure the message was not filtered out of your inbox. Removing a Datacenter If there are no healthy OmniCube systems in a datacenter, you can remove all unhealthy OmniCube systems from that datacenter in a single operation by removing the datacenter. Otherwise, you can remove individual OmniCube systems from a Federation as described in Removing OmniCube Systems from a Federation on page 80. The svt-federation-remove CLI command also removes individual OmniCube systems from a Federation, if there is at least one other healthy OmniCube in the Federation. The process of removing a datacenter does not check for active VMs and datastores because it is assumed that you have decided to do a tear down of the datacenter. Any data associated with active VMs is permanently deleted. When you remove an OmniCube from a Federation, you cannot join it back into the same Federation unless: The OmniCube is in a healthy state and at an appropriate compatibility level to rejoin the Federation. In this case, you can delete the Virtual Controller from disk, make sure that the network settings are appropriate, and deploy the OmniCube. See Task 6 Deploying OmniCube and Configuring a Federation on page 48. The OmniCube was restored to factory defaults and re-deployed as a new Federation OmniCube. Procedure for Removing a Datacenter from a Federation To remove all OmniCube systems in a datacenter: 1. Open vsphere Client and right-click the datacenter. 2. Click SimpliVity - Remove from Federation. The Remove Datacenter name dialog opens. 3. Click Remove. You are prompted to confirm the removal. Federation Management User Interfaces To manage a Federation, you can use: vsphere Client. The OmniCube graphical user interface (GUI) is integrated into vsphere Client. 91

92 5 - Federation Management Multiple users can access vcenter Server from different vsphere Client sessions at the same time. vsphere does not explicitly restrict users with the same authentication credentials from accessing and taking action within the vsphere environment simultaneously. OmniCube command line interface (CLI), which can be run interactively or in scripts to automate frequent or recurring tasks. CLI commands appear as Federation tasks in vsphere Client. See Managing a Federation with vsphere Client on page 94 and Using the OmniCube Command Line Interface on page 100 for more information. Displaying an Overview of the Federation To display a Federation overview, select the top-level vcenter Server entry in the vsphere Client inventory panel and then click the SimpliVity tab. The Federation Overview window opens (Figure-16). Figure-16: Federation Overview In the Federation Overview window, you can view the following panels. Datacenters Panel You can view the following information for each datacenter in the Federation: 92

93 5 - Federation Management Datacenter Name The identifier for a datacenter. If prefixed by a cloud icon, the datacenter is a SimpliVity cloud datacenter. See OmniCube Cloud Datacenter on page 129. The Datacenters panel displays the following data for each datacenter: Free The amount of free (unused) storage space for a datacenter. Used The amount of used storage space for a datacenter. Capacity The total storage capacity of a datacenter. Time zone The time zone configured for this datacenter. See Setting the Datacenter Time Zone on page 55. Version The version of OmniStack software installed on the datacenter. Upgrade Status The status of a software upgrade. See OmniStack Software Upgrade on page 207. Click the datacenter name to open the Datacenter view and click the task icon ( panel to select the following: ) in the Datastore Create Datastore Creates a datastore in the Federation. See Creating a Datastore in a Federation on page 156. View Backups Displays all the VM backups in the selected datacenter, including backups for VMs that no longer exist, in the Backups dialog (Figure-57). You can click the task icon ( ) in the Backups dialog and select the following: Delete Backup Deletes a backup. See Deleting Backups of a Federation Virtual Machine on page 201. Restore Virtual Machine Restores a VM from a backups. See Recovering Federation Virtual Machine Data on page 204. Rename Backup Prevents the automatic deletion of the backup by renaming the backup. See Renaming a Backup of a Federation Virtual Machine on page 203. Copy Backup Create a copy of a backup. See Copying a Backup of a Federation Virtual Machine on page 200. Cancel Backup Cancel a backup that is in progress. See Canceling a Backup of a Federation Virtual Machine on page 198. Calculate Unique Backup Size See Calculating Unique Data in Backups to Reclaim Physical Storage Space on page 111. Export Export the data in the Backups table to Microsoft Excel (if available). Refresh Refreshes the display. Upload Upgrade Package Upload an OmniStack software upgrade package to perform a datacenter upgrade. See Uploading an OmniStack Software Upgrade Package to a Federation on page 212. New Cloud Datacenter Add a new OmniCube Cloud Datacenter. See Deploying an OmniCube Cloud Datacenter on page 140. Set the Time Zone Configure the time zone value used for backups taken in this datacenter. See Setting the Datacenter Time Zone on page

94 5 - Federation Management Configure Phone Home Set up heartbeat and remote error reporting. See Configuring and Testing Phone Home on page 88. Create a Support Capture Collect datacenter logs for troubleshooting. See Obtaining Support Capture Archives for Troubleshooting on page 123. Policies Panel You can view backup policies for the Federation. Expand a policy to display the rules for the policy. See Policies for Scheduled Backup Operations on page 178. Click the task icon ( ) and select the following: Create Backup Policy Creates a backup policy. See Creating a Backup Policy on page 179. Edit Backup Policies Modifies a backup policy. See About Backup Policy Rules on page 181. Delete a Backup Policy Removes existing backup policies. See Deleting a Backup Policy on page 184. Rename Policy Renames existing backup policies. See Renaming a Backup Policy on page 185. Throughput Panel You can view datacenter throughput to monitor the links between, and the rate at which, data is transferred between datacenters in this Federation. To display more detailed information about a Federation, see: Displaying Information About a Federation Datacenter on page 100 Displaying Information About a Federation OmniCube on page 83 Displaying Information About a Federation Datastore on page 157 Displaying Information About a Federation Virtual Machine on page 165 Managing a Federation with vsphere Client The OmniCube graphical user interface (GUI) is integrated into vsphere Client. To use vsphere Client to manage a Federation: 1. Start vsphere Client. 2. Enter the IP address of the vcenter Server that contains the Federation. 3. Enter the vcenter Server user name and password. This might be the administrator account for the vcenter Server, or it could be an account that you create specifically for SimpliVity tasks. 94

95 5 - Federation Management Using the SimpliVity vsphere Extension (Plug-in) The SimpliVity vsphere Extension (Plug-in) provides several ways to access tasks and display information about the Federation. These features are useful if you have a large number of backups to manage. To display information about the SimpliVity vsphere Extension, click the Plug-ins menu at the top of the vsphere Client screen and select About SimpliVity to open the information screen shown in Figure-17. Figure-17: About SimpliVity vsphere Extension Accessing Tasks and Data Views There are several ways to access a task or display information about a virtual object such as a backup. Inventory Panel In the vsphere inventory panel (virtual object hierarchy), right-click any object that is manageable by SimpliVity. SimpliVity task and view options are appended to the context menu. For example, right click a Federation datacenter to create a datastore, view backups, configure Phone Home or remove an OmniCube from the Federation. 95

96 5 - Federation Management SimpliVity Tabs In the vsphere Client main window, SimpliVity tabs appear when you click on any inventory panel object that is manageable by SimpliVity. These tabs contain panels that provide information about Federation resources and Federation virtual objects such as VMs and backups. To obtain information related to the Federation, click the SimpliVity tab that appears when you select the following in the vsphere Client inventory panel: Top-level vcenter Server. Datacenters containing OmniCube systems. OmniCube systems (appear as ESXi hosts in the inventory). Datastores that you create in the Federation. VMs that you create in the Federation datastores and are hosted by OmniCube systems. SimpliVity Panels In the SimpliVity panels within tabs, a task icon ( options. ) on the title bar indicates that there are task or view 96

97 5 - Federation Management Virtual Object Line items in Panels and Dialogs When you display lists of virtual objects such as backups and VMs, you can select a line item, rightclick it and display task options in the context menu. See Displaying an Overview of the Federation on page 92. Requirements for Using vsphere Client to Manage a Federation You must have the following: Client computer installed with VMware vsphere Client Version 5. Client computer installed with the SimpliVity vsphere Extension (plug-in). See Task 1 Installing the SimpliVity vsphere Extension on page

98 5 - Federation Management Network access to vcenter Server. Network access to the Federation management network. vcenter Server credentials. The privileges assigned to the user control which objects the user can access and the tasks the user can perform. See Federation Security on page 86. Managing Data in the SimpliVity Graphical User Interface The SimpliVity GUI has several integrated features that help you to manage the display of large volumes of data, such as lists that include thousands of VMs. These features enable you to select interesting data and create custom data views. To manage backups, use the integrated filtering feature. See About Backup Filtering on page 186. Note: Some custom view settings can cause information to be temporarily hidden. To reset to the default view, restart the vsphere client. All custom views are preserved in a session, but when you restart vsphere the data views are reset to the SimpliVity default. Panels that contain data in rows and columns provide the Export and Refresh options as shown in Figure- 18. Figure-18: Panel Refresh and Data Export Option These options enable you to: Export the content of the panel to Excel or as a.csv file. You can do this after you sort and filter the information to preserve a specific data set across vsphere sessions. See Selecting, Sorting, and Filtering SimpliVity GUI Data on page 98. Refresh the current panel view to include any recent changes. You can use the exported data with the SimpliVity CLI to create scripts for operation on large numbers of data items. Selecting, Sorting, and Filtering SimpliVity GUI Data Use sorting and filtering options integrated into the GUI to customize your selection and view of virtual objects such as clones, and VMs. Right-click any data column to display the selection, filtering, and sorting options. Note: Data management preferences are not preserved across log in sessions. These options are shown in Figure

99 5 - Federation Management Figure-19: SimpliVity GUI Data Management Options The options shown in Figure-19 enable you to: Sort table data by size or alphabetically according to the data values in the selected column. Group data by columns. See Organizing SimpliVity GUI Data in Tables. Display additional columns that are hidden by default or by customization. You can also hide columns to customize your current view. Fit data in columns. Filter data by specific values. See Filtering SimpliVity GUI Data by Columns on page 100. Search for specific data using the Find Panel. The context menu options will change or invert depending on the current state of selected data. Organizing SimpliVity GUI Data in Tables You can organize and display data that is displayed in tables as columns and rows as follows: Ordering and Sizing columns Drag-and-drop columns to change their display order, column boundaries to change the column display width. Deleting columns Drag-and-drop column headers to the panel header to hide columns from the view. To reinstate the columns, select them from the Column Chooser in the column's context menu. (When you remove a column from a group panel, its sort settings are cleared.) Note: Do not delete the final remaining column. This prevents you from displaying the Column Chooser. To correct this problem, restart vsphere Client. Grouping data rows by data values Arrange the data into corresponding data groups, identified by a group row. Expand the group row to show the data rows. You can sub-group the same data by additional columns, combining the rows into additional related groups that are organized according to the data values in the columns. 99

100 5 - Federation Management Group by... Group data rows by displaying the "Group By Box" from the context menu and dragging column headers to the "Group By Box". To ungroup data, drag the column header from the group panel. Filtering SimpliVity GUI Data by Columns Because you might have many VMs and policies to manage, data filtering will help you to find and display specific data sets and eliminate noise in table views. To manage backups, use backup filtering. See About Backup Filtering on page 186. You can filter quickly on column content by clicking the filter icon shown in certain data columns. This enables you to select a custom filter, all data, blank data, or non-blank data. Using the OmniCube Command Line Interface You can run the OmniCube command line interface (CLI) interactively or in scripts to automate frequent or recurring tasks. The CLI provides similar Federation management functionality as the SimpliVity GUI options in the vsphere Client. Any changes you make with the CLI are reflected in vsphere Client. For more information about using the CLI, see the OmniCube CLI Reference. Displaying Information About a Federation Datacenter To display information about a datacenter in a Federation: 1. In the vsphere Client inventory panel, select the datacenter. 2. Click the SimpliVity tab. The Federation Datacenter window opens (Figure-20 and Figure-21). You can customize the information displayed in the panels on this screen. See Managing Data in the SimpliVity Graphical User Interface on page

101 5 - Federation Management Figure-20: Federation Datacenter (Upper Panel) In the Federation Datacenter window, you can view the following space reporting information: View the logical capacity of the datacenter, including, data stored, deduplication, compression, and efficiency ratios. View the physical capacity of the datacenter, including storage space savings and available capacity. View information about each VM in the datacenter. Detailed information about the space reporting panels is provided in: Storage Space Consumption and Reporting on page 105. Note: When you delete large amounts of data from Virtual Machines, it might take a significant amount of time before the reclaimed space is visible in the Logical and Physical capacity charts. This includes operations such as deleting virtual disks from VMs. This might also happen when you use CLI commands that return the amount of available space. See also Deleting a Federation Virtual Machine on page 171 and Deleting Backups of a Federation Virtual Machine on page

102 5 - Federation Management Figure-21: Federation Datacenter (Lower Panels) Virtual Machines Panel This panel provides information about the VMs in this datacenter, including: Name The virtual machine (VM) name. Storage HA Whether or not the VM is Storage HA compliant. Provisioned How much storage space is allocated to this VM. Used Space How much storage space is used by this VM. Backup Policy The current backup policy assigned to this VM. Datastore The datastore containing this VM In the Virtual Machines panel, click the task icon ( ) and choose from the following tasks: Backup Virtual Machine Create a point-in-time copy of a VM. See Manual Backups of Federation Virtual Machines on page 177. View Backups See Displaying Backups for a Federation Virtual Machine on page 194. Set Backup Policy Assign a backup policy to a VM. See Changing the Backup Policy for a Federation Virtual Machine on page 185. Edit Backup Policies Enables you to edit a backup policy. See About Backup Policy Rules on page

103 5 - Federation Management Clone Virtual Machine Create a copy of as VM. See Cloning a Federation Virtual Machine on page 169. Move Virtual Machine Relocate a Federation VM to another datacenter and/or datastore. See Moving a Federation Virtual Machine on page 169. Find Enables you to search the list of Federation VMs. Refresh Updates the display. Performance Panel This panel provides the following performance graphs: Throughput is the total amount of I/O, measured in MB/s. IOPS is the number of I/O requests per second. Latency is the average time to reply to a storage request, measured in milliseconds. You can: Adjust the timescale of the graphs, by using the time slider at the top of the panel. Click on any place within a graph to display point-in-time values. Datastores Panel This panel provides information about the datastores in this datacenter, including: Datastore name Date of creation Default backup policy Datastore size 103

104 5 - Federation Management In the Datastores panel, select and expand a datastore to display Non-SimpliVity ESXi host access settings for the datastore. See Allowing Datastore Access to Non-Federation ESXi Hosts on page 161. In the Datastores panel, you can click the task icon ( ) and choose from the following tasks: Create Datastore Creates a datastore in the Federation. See Creating a Datastore in a Federation on page 156. Delete Datastore Deletes a datastore from a Federation. See Deleting a Federation Datastore on page 160. Online Resize Re-sizes a Federation datastore. See Resizing a Federation Datastore on page 160. Set Backup Policy Sets the backup policy for a Federation datastore. See Changing the Backup Policy for a Federation Datastore on page 159. Create Backup Policy Creates a new backup policy for the datastore. See Creating a Backup Policy on page 179. Edit Backup Policy Modify a policy and the backup rules that it contains. See About Backup Policy Rules on page 181 Manage Hosts Enables Non-SimpliVity ESXi hosts to access a Federation datastore. See Allowing Datastore Access to Non-Federation ESXi Hosts on page 161. Refresh Updates the display. OmniCube Systems Panel The OmniCube Systems panel provides the following information: The ESXi host IP address for the OmniCube. Virtual Controller name. State (OmniCube status): Alive (Green) - The OmniCube is healthy. Faulty (Red) - The OmniCube is in a critical error state and operations have failed over. Suspected (Yellow) - The OmniCube has one or more components that show degraded performance. Use the CLI svt-hardware-show command to display component details. Unknown (Red) - The OmniCube status is indeterminate. Version - Software release number. Storage network IP address. Right-Click any column header to open the column chooser to display the following: Datacenter containing this OmniCube. Federation network IP address. ID (GUID) of the OmniCube. 104

105 5 - Federation Management Upgrade status for an individual OmniCube. From the OmniCube Systems panel, you can click the task icon ( display or Export to export the table data to excel. ) and select Refresh to refresh the At the bottom of the vsphere Client, you can view the active tasks in the Federation in the Recent Tasks panel. Storage Space Consumption and Reporting A SimpliVity Federation stores data that is logically thin-provisioned, deduplicated, and compressed. A large amount of logical data might be stored in a smaller amount of physical disk space. Consequently, it is important to know the real-time physical storage space consumption, and to understand any trends in storage space consumption so you can manage storage space consumption and plan for storage expansion. Storage Space Reporting In an environment where data is both compressed and deduplicated, determining the actual amount of storage space used by a VM is often an important requirement for managing storage. For example, you might want to know for accounting purposes exactly how much storage space or other system resources are consumed by VMs in a datacenter. You might also want to know which backups to delete (based on actual backup size) so that you can use storage more efficiently or reclaim storage space when capacity is low. OmniCube provides the following space reporting features: Logical space reporting. Physical space reporting. Unique data consumed by VM backups. See Calculating Unique Data in Backups to Reclaim Physical Storage Space on page 111. Displaying Storage Space Use for a Federation Datacenter To determine storage space use, capacity, and storage efficiency: To display information about a datacenter in a Federation: 1. In the vsphere Client inventory panel, select a datacenter. 2. Click the SimpliVity tab. The Federation Datacenter window opens as shown in Figure-22 and described in Table

106 5 - Federation Management Figure-22: Federation Datacenter Window - Space Reporting Panels Table-11 Description of Space Reporting Panels Callout Description Reference 1 Logical capacity panel for this datacenter. Graphical Representation of Logical Space Consumption on page Physical capacity panel for this datacenter. Physical Space in a Federation Datacenter on page Chart legend for the logical space consumption chart. Graphical Representation of Logical Space Consumption on page Logical space consumption chart. Graphical Representation of Logical Space Consumption on page Logical data stored - the total value of logical space consumed by VMs, VM clones and by both local and remote backups. Active Data Usage in a Federation on page Data deduplication and compression ratios. Effective Logical Usage on page Storage efficiency ratio, calculated from the deduplication and compression ratios. Storage Efficiency and Space Savings on page Physical space consumption chart. Physical Space in a Federation 106

107 5 - Federation Management Callout Description Reference Datacenter on page Physical space saved as a result of storage efficiency. Storage Efficiency and Space Savings on page Available physical capacity pie chart, showing free (available) and used storage space. 11 Graphical representation of available (free) physical storage capacity. Physical Space in a Federation Datacenter on page 108 Physical Space in a Federation Datacenter on page Graphical representation of used physical storage capacity. Physical Space in a Federation Datacenter on page Total available physical space in GB or TB. Physical Space in a Federation Datacenter on page Chart legend for physical space consumption. Physical Space in a Federation Datacenter on page 108 Graphical Representation of Logical Space Consumption The graphical representation of logical space consumption is shown in Federation Datacenter Window - Space Reporting Panels on page 106 (Callouts 3 and 4). The following information is provided in the chart's legend : VM Data The amount of logical space consumed by VMs. Local Backups The amount of logical space consumed by VM backup hosted on datastores in this datacenter. Remote Backups The amount of logical space consumed by VM backups hosted for other, possibly geographically remote, datacenters. The legend provides both the size (GB or TB) and the size expressed as a percentage of the total amount of logical data stored (Callout 5 in Figure-22). If one of the logical space consumption values is too small to show in the graph, a pop-up balloon (on mouse-over) indicates the value. Graphical Representation of Logical Space Consumption for Cloud Datacenters Cloud datacenters contain only VM backups. When you select a cloud datacenter, the graphical representation of logical space consumption shown in Federation Datacenter Window - Space Reporting Panels on page 106 (Callouts 3 and 4) provides the information described in Space Reporting for an OmniCube Cloud Datacenter on page

108 5 - Federation Management Physical Space in a Federation Datacenter Physical Space is the actual bits of data stored on physical drives (HDD or SSD) in a SimpliVity datacenter. SimpliVity's storage optimization technology deduplicates and compresses Logical Data before writing it to physical drives. Depending on the attainable deduplication and compression (efficiency), the required physical space might be much smaller than the logical data. In the Federation, physical space use is identified as follows: Physical Capacity The total amount of addressable physical drive space in the Federation datacenter. (See also Storage Capacity Input Values and Reporting on page 111.) Physical Free Space The available addressable physical drive space in the Federation datacenter. Physical Used Space The total amount of used physical drive space in the Federation datacenter, calculated as: (Physical Capacity Physical Free Space) = Physical Used Space If physical free space is zero for a datacenter, write attempts fail with an out-of-space error. (However, you will receive space threshold warnings before such an event occurs). The physical capacity consumption is in shown in Federation Datacenter Window - Space Reporting Panels on page 106 (Callouts 10 through 14). Physical Space in a Cloud Datacenter If used cloud capacity exceeds certain internal limits in OmniCube, you will receive a warning and instructions to contact SimpliVity Technical support to increase the capacity limits. See Space Reporting for an OmniCube Cloud Datacenter on page 146. Active Data Usage in a Federation The total amount of application data stored by a Federation datacenter is the sum of Logical Used Space per datastore for all datastores in a Federation datacenter, representing the Active Data Usage and calculated as: [Datastore Logical Used Space + Datastore 2 Logical Used Space +...] = Active Data Usage The representation of total logical space consumption is shown in Federation Datacenter Window - Space Reporting Panels on page 106 (Callouts 4 and 5). The graphical representation is described in Graphical Representation of Logical Space Consumption on page

109 5 - Federation Management Storage Space Used for Data Security In addition to the storage space required for the primary, unique copy of application data, a SimpliVity Federation also facilitates redundant copies of the compressed and deduplicated data for high availability and Virtual Machine recovery. The amount of storage space dedicated to data security depends on the features you enable and the level of data security required (such as high backup retention and high frequency of backup events). Active Replica Usage in a Federation A SimpliVity Federation protects application data through Storage High Availability (Storage HA) by replicating the data across OmniCube systems in the Federation. Storage space allocated for Storage HA is defined as the Active Replica Usage, and is typically a value equivalent to the Active Data Usage. Local Backup Usage A SimpliVity Federation protects Virtual Machine instances through VM backups, which are recoverable copies. Local Backup Usage represents the space used for local backups.. Local Backup Replica Usage A SimpliVity Federation protects Virtual Machine backups through replication of Storage HA data in the same (local) datacenter. For example, 5 backups of a 10 GB VM will consume 50 GB of Local Backup Replica Usage if the VM is configured for Storage HA. Remote Backup Usage A SimpliVity Federation datacenter can provide remote, disaster-tolerant storage for backups of VMs and data used by applications running in other Federation datacenters. For example, if a 20 GB VM is backed up 10 times to a remote datacenter, it consumes 200 GB of logical storage space in that remote datacenter as Remote Backup Usage. Remote Backup Replica Usage A SimpliVity Federation datacenter that provides remote storage for VM backups that are configured for Storage HA protection will also consume storage space for Storage HA data copies. For example, if 10 copies of a 20 GB VM are stored in a remote datacenter, it consumes 200 GB of logical storage space in that remote datacenter as Remote Backup Replica Usage. Effective Logical Usage The total storage space used by all copies of optimized data stored in a Federation determines the deduplication ratio and the storage efficiency. This value is determined as: 109

110 5 - Federation Management Effective Logical Usage = (Active Data Usage + Active Replica Usage + Local Backup Usage + Local Backup Replica Usage + Remote Backup Usage + Remote Backup Replica Usage) The GUI representation of the overall efficiency of the Federation is determined by calculating ratios of data deduplication and data compression: The Effective Logical Usage value is used to determine the deduplication ratio for the entire Federation, using an internally-determined record of the actual, uncompressed data. The Deduplication Ratio is calculated as follows: Deduplication Ratio = Effective Logical Usage Uncompressed Data Stored The deduplicated data is then compressed before writing to physical storage. The Compression Ratio is calculated as follows: Compression Ratio = Uncompressed Data Stored Compressed Data Stored The deduplication and compression ratios are shown in Federation Datacenter Window - Space Reporting Panels on page 106 (Callout 6). Storage Efficiency and Space Savings The Deduplication Ratio and Compression Ratio enable calculation of the overall storage efficiency for the datacenter, enabling you to balance the demands of storage use and data protection. For example, assume an Effective Logical Usage of 520 GB based on a 10 GB VM and all its local and remote Storage HA-protected backups cited in the preceding Active Data Usage examples. Assuming typical commercial data, it might result in 130 GB of uncompressed data, a conservative Deduplication Ratio of 4:1 for the datacenter. The data is subsequently compressed before writing to disk, resulting in the consumption of only 65 GB of physical disk space, achieving a compression ratio of 2:1. The Storage Efficiency of the Federation is determined as follows: Storage Efficiency = Deduplication Ratio Compression Ratio For example: 4:1 2:1 = 8:1 The storage efficiency ratio is in shown in Federation Datacenter Window - Space Reporting Panels on page 106 (Callout 7). In addition to the Storage Efficiency ratio, the total storage Space Savings for the Federation are calculated as follows: Space Savings = (Effective Logical Usage - Compressed Data Stored) The storage efficiency ratio is in shown in Federation Datacenter Window - Space Reporting Panels on page 106 (Callouts 8 and 9). 110

111 5 - Federation Management Storage Capacity Input Values and Reporting All size input fields and display values are based on IEEE standards of binary multiples. To remain consistent with VMware's reported values, the SI decimal prefixes are used to represent IEC binary prefixes in all cases. For example 1,048,576 bytes is reported as 1.00 MB, not as 1.00 MiB. For more information see Calculating Unique Data in Backups to Reclaim Physical Storage Space You can obtain an estimate of the amount of unique data in a VM backup, which indicates the amount of physical space recoverable if you decide to delete or move the backup. Recent VM backups tend to contain a smaller amount of unique data compared to older backups. Deleting unique data will free up physical space. For example, if you have a 100 GB VM (the source VM), for which you take VMBackup-1, at 10:00 PM. You then run this VM and 10 GB of data is modified in the VM's data files. You then take another backup, VMBackup-2, at 12:00 PM. VMBackup-1 has a Logical Size of 100 GB, but shares 90 GB with both VMBackup-2 and the source VM. Therefore: VMBackup-1 contains 10 GB of unique data, corresponding to the 10 GB change in the source VM between 10:00 PM and 12:00 PM. VMBackup-2 has a Logical Size of 100 GB, but contains 0 (zero) Bytes of unique data at 12:00 PM, because its data content is equivalent the source VM at that point in time. The value calculated for unique data is a close estimate of the actual on-disk value and is accurate only at the point-in-time that you initiate a calculation. However, you should expect the value to be reasonably close to the amount of free physical space that you can reclaim by deleting the backup, provided you do this within minutes of initiating a calculation. The freed space might not be available immediately. On a Federation with typical or lower rates of I/O, reclaimed physical space is available within a few minutes of deleting an unwanted backup. On an active Federation, with higher rates of I/O, it might take some time for the reclaimed physical space to be represented in the Logical Capacity and Physical Capacity panels. Also, it can take some time before reclaimed space resolves any current datacenter storage capacity alarm conditions such as: SimpliVity Datacenter physical capacity is running low. Usage: {Percent Used}%. Note: In a recently-established Federation, or for VMs recently added to an established Federation, you might have a large number of VM backups that contain very little unique data. Consequently, locating backups to delete might be less effective than other methods of reclaiming storage space, such as deleting unwanted VMs from inventory. 111

112 5 - Federation Management Note: The process of calculating unique data consumes system resources and might result in a noticeable decrease in I/O performance and slower Federation response times. You can: View the most recently calculated unique size of an individual backup, which also includes a timestamp of when the size estimate was calculated. The size and timestamp will show as never and unknown if the backup size has never been calculated for a specific VM. Calculate (or recalculate) the unique data size of an individual backup. See Displaying Backups for a Federation Virtual Machine on page 194 and Displaying Information About a Federation Virtual Machine on page 165. Alternate Methods of Reclaiming Physical Storage Space Deleting backups is only one of a number of methods of freeing up physical space. You can also: 1. Delete any unwanted VMs that are already Removed from Inventory. 2. Delete any existing surplus VMs such as test VMs or clones. 3. Clean up backups that have [DELETED] status, retaining the minimum required for recovery according to your recovery point objective. Be aware that: Policy backups age out according to retention rules. Manual backups never age out, and you must delete them manually. 4. Reduce backups of current VMs to an optimum level. 5. Make sure that backup policy rules are creating an optimum number of backups. 6. Move VMs (perhaps only temporarily while cleaning up) to locations that have more available resources. Calculating the Unique Data in Backups To calculate the unique size of a backup: 1. Display the list of backups as described in Displaying Backups for a Federation Virtual Machine on page 194 and Displaying Information About a Federation Virtual Machine on page 165. You can display the Backups panel for: The entire Federation A datacenter within the Federation An individual VM 2. Right-click the column header in the Backups panel, then click Column Chooser. 112

113 5 - Federation Management 3. Drag-and-drop Unique Size Calculation Time to the header row in the Backups panel, which inserts the calculation timestamp column. Close the Column Chooser. 4. [Optional] Sort and filter VM backups using GUI features described in Managing Data in the SimpliVity Graphical User Interface on page Right-click a single VM backup row in the list of backups. 6. Click Calculate Unique Backup Size. You are prompted to confirm your request. Note: Do not start another calculation until the next steps are complete. The subsequent calculation might fail to complete. 7. Wait for the unique backup size and time of calculation appear in the backups view panel, as shown in Figure-23. When the calculation finishes, a pop-up dialog opens, showing the backup name and size of unique data. You can click the pin icon to preserve the pop-up, otherwise it automatically closes after about 7 seconds. Note: Pinning the pop-up dialogs helps you to track backups with large amounts of unique data when you are working with lists of hundreds, or possibly thousands, of backups. 8. Right-click and Delete backups to free up an amount of physical space that is equivalent to the Unique Backup Size. Figure-23: Backups panel, Calculate Unique Backup Size Note: If you select more than one backup in the list, the Calculate Unique Backup Size option is not available. This is because the process can consume considerable system resources and might affect system performance. 113

114 5 - Federation Management Changing the Network Configuration for a Federation Contact SimpliVity Technical Support or your support provider if you need to change IP addresses and subnet masks used by all OmniCube systems in a Federation, including: vcenter Server IP address and subnet netmask. OmniCube ESXi Host IP address and subnet netmask. OmniCube Federation, Storage, or Management IP addresses and subnet netmasks. You might also need to change the IP address of non-federation hosts that access your Federation. See: Changing the IP Address on a Non-SimpliVity ESXi Host on page 114. Overview of OmniCube IP Address Changes Changing IP addresses is most likely to arise during a datacenter reorganization or upgrade. This will be a carefully scheduled operation, probably involving Federation down time. Typical reasons for changing OmniCube IP addresses are: Network changes that affect the entire datacenter, including subnet netmask changes. Moving one OmniCube from a Federation to a different network. Moving the VMware datacenter to a different network. Changing the IP Address on a Non-SimpliVity ESXi Host You can share SimpliVity datastores with Non-SimpliVity ESXi host using the svt-datastore-share CLI command. Allowing Datastore Access to Non-Federation ESXi Hosts on page 161. If you change the IP address on a Non-SimpliVity ESXi host, you must update your Federation to recognize the new IP address. This operation causes shared data to be unavailable for a short time. Method A: Add a new VMkernel NIC An existing shared-datastore Non-SimpliVity ESXi host has NFS exports for each interface of the Non- SimpliVity ESXi host on each OmniCube in the datacenter containing the datastore. 1. Add another VMKernel NIC configured with the new IP address for the Non-SimpliVity ESXi host. 2. Use the svt-datastore-share CLI command to create NFS exports for the new VMKernel NIC. 3. Delete the original VMKernel NIC, which used the old IP address. 114

115 5 - Federation Management 4. Run svt-datastore-share a second time, which detects that the old IP address is no longer valid and removes stale NFS exports for that NIC. Method B: Do not Add a new VMKernel NIC. An existing shared-datastore Non-SimpliVity ESXi host has NFS exports for each interface of the Non- SimpliVity ESXi hoston each OmniCube in the datacenter containing the datastore. 1. Change the IP address for the NIC, making the datastores inaccessible if the /etc/hosts file is configured to read with the modified (old) IP address. 2. Run svt-datastore-share after changing the IP address recognizes the new IP address and simultaneously removes the old IP. This causes the removal of stale NFS exports, and the creation of new NFS exports that use the new IP. At this point, the datastores become accessible. Prerequisites You need the following: Datastore name. See Displaying Information About a Federation Datastore on page 157. The Non-SimpliVity ESXi host name. Procedure 1. Change the IP address of the Non-SimpliVity ESXi host host. The datastore is temporarily unavailable to non-federation hosts until the next step is complete. 2. Use the svt-datastore-share command to update the NFS exports on every datastore that is shared with Non-SimpliVity ESXi host that have a new IP address: svt-datastore-share --datastore datastore_name --host non-simplivity_name Note: You also need to run this command if you are changing the IP address on the 10GbE Storage network. 3. Verify that the Non-SimpliVity ESXi host can access the share. Identifying and Solving Problems in a Federation It is important to identify and correct problems before they affect Federation operations and service levels. You can monitor Federation events, alarms, and tasks from the vsphere Client. See the following: Configuring and Testing Phone Home on page 88 Monitoring Federation Events and Alarms on page

116 5 - Federation Management Monitoring Federation Tasks on page 117 Determine Whether VMs are in Storage HA Compliance on page 117 OmniCube and Federation Heartbeats on page 118 Troubleshooting Datastores on page 119 Identifying Software Revisions on page 120 Federation Troubleshooting - Using Support Capture Archives If an OmniCube crashes and creates a core file (crash dump), the core file and associated logs and diagnostic files are gathered automatically and stored in an automatic (AT) support capture with a name similar to the following: CaptureOutput _ AT.tgz During troubleshooting procedures assisted by your technical support provider, you might be asked to manually create a support capture. This procedure captures diagnostic data from your OmniCube systems and stores it in a compressed file that contains log files, core files, and system status information. No user data or account information is included in the support capture files. You might also be requested to provide a VMware vcenter Server log bundle, which you create using the same process as a support capture. There are two ways to create a support capture: GUI - Support Capture on page 120. CLI - Use the svt-support-capture command to create a support capture. See the OmniCube Command Line Interface Reference. Preparing Support Capture Resources Depending on the size of a Federation, each support capture bundle might require up to 10GB of temporary storage space. This space is required to download the support capture bundle from a temporary location on the OmniCube to storage that is accessible to the vsphere client. A diagnostic procedure might require several captures, each of which you download from the OmniCube to your local system and then upload to the SimpliVity Support Web site (or to a location hosted by your designated support provider.) Typically, the process is: 1. Generate a manual support capture from a vsphere Client or retrieve an automatic support capture. 2. Download the support capture bundle to storage that is local to the vsphere Client. 116

117 5 - Federation Management 3. Upload the vsphere Bundle to SimpliVity when instructed by technical support. Monitoring Federation Events and Alarms Events and alarms help you monitor normal operations and also identify problems before they disrupt service. Federation events and alarms are logged in vcenter Server and appear in vsphere Client in the same locations as VMware events and alarms, but identified as SimpliVity events and alarms. Alarms and warnings that are specific to Federation VMs will cause an icon to overlay the VM icon, as shown in Figure-24. Figure-24: Alarms Relating to Specific VMs See also Configuring and Testing Phone Home on page 88 which describes how to configure automatic support notification (Phone Home) of events and alarms. Phone Home does not support OmniCube Cloud Datacenters. Monitoring Federation Tasks You can monitor and manage in-progress tasks in a Federation. vcenter Server logs Federation tasks, displaying them in vsphere Client. Tasks appear in the Tasks and Events tab when you click Tasks in the bar at the bottom of each vsphere Client window. To cancel backup tasks. See Canceling a Backup of a Federation Virtual Machine on page 198. See also the svt-task-* commands in the OmniCube CLI Reference. Determine Whether VMs are in Storage HA Compliance Storage HA Compliance (or Storage HA Synchronization) means that all VMs in a datacenter have full data storage redundancy. In the event of a component failure, all VM data within a Federation is recoverable. 117

118 5 - Federation Management During certain operations, VMs might temporarily go out of synchronization or out of Storage HA compliance. When the operation completes, VMs are synchronized and return to Storage HA Compliance. Some operations require that you make sure that VMs are in Storage HA Compliance before you proceed. If VMs remain out of Storage HA Compliance for an extended period of time, it is likely that the Federation is experiencing problems and you should contact your support provider. Data is secure through multiple levels of protection Storage HA Compliance is only one level of data security provided by a SimpliVity Federation. Note: Storage HA Compliance does not apply to standalone OmniCube systems, only to OmniCube systems that are joined into a multi-omnicube Federation. To confirm Storage HA Compliance for VMs before you begin a task: 1. In the vsphere Client inventory panel, select the datacenter containing the OmniCube Systems (ESXi hosts). 2. Click the SimpliVity tab. The Federation Datacenter window opens, showing the Virtual Machines panel. 3. Group the VM list by the Storage HA column. (See Selecting, Sorting, and Filtering SimpliVity GUI Data on page 98.) 4. Verify that no VMs have a Storage HA Compliance value of No (Synchronizing). 5. Examine the individual VMs to determine why they are out of compliance, and correct the problem. OmniCube and Federation Heartbeats OmniCube systems in a Federation provide two heartbeat functions to help you monitor and maintain system connections. The SimpliVity Arbiter provides a connection heartbeat between OmniCube systems within a Federation. See Task 2 Installing the SimpliVity Arbiter on the vcenter Server on page 31. If the SimpliVity Arbiter heartbeat ceases, the following error message appears in vcenter Server: Lost contact with the SimpliVity Arbiter at ip-address. See Monitoring Federation Events and Alarms on page 117. See also Restarting the SimpliVity Arbiter on page 87 for information about correcting Arbiter problems. The OmniCube Accelerator Firmware provides a heartbeat. If this heartbeat stops, the following error message appears in vcenter Server: SimpliVity OmniCube Accelerator Firmware Unresponsive. 118

119 5 - Federation Management See Monitoring Federation Events and Alarms on page 117. In addition, SimpliVity supports the VMware vsphere HA datastore heartbeat, if configured in your environment. Troubleshooting Datastores This section provides information about troubleshooting datastore problems. Incomplete Datastore Creation Problems might occur if you attempt to create a datastore while a Federation OmniCube is unavailable for any reason (such as a network outage or hardware fault.) If any Federation OmniCube is unavailable during a create datastore task, the task freezes with the progress output indicating 66% completion. Although the task appears to be frozen, a new SimpliVity datastore is created in the background. NFS exports and (if required) mount points are successfully configured for all the available Federation OmniCube systems, but not for the unavailable OmniCube. When you restore the unavailable OmniCube, the create datastore task completes (progress shows 100%). Note: The datastore creation operation succeeds if the OmniCube that is unavailable is later removed from the Federation. However, if a datacenter contains both the unavailable OmniCube, and the OmniCube that you intended to contain the recently-created datastore, problems might occur. The datastore might exist, but is incomplete within the Federation because it is not known to all OmniCube systems. The are two possible recovery scenarios: 1. You restore the unavailable OmniCube, but the user session has expired. The create datastore task attempts to run on the restored OmniCube. This create datastore attempt fails, triggering a "roll back" operation. A roll back operation is designed to clean up the incomplete datastore, reverting the Federation to its original state. However, the roll back attempt is also unsuccessful because the user session has expired and the credentials are no longer valid. To resolve this problem, delete the incomplete datastore and create a new datastore. 2. VMs are deployed before the incomplete datastore is rolled back, or before the user session has expired. Before you can restore the unavailable OmniCube, normal Federation operations (or other users) might cause the deployment of VMs on the incomplete datastore. To resolve this problem: a. Restore the unavailable OmniCube. 119

120 5 - Federation Management b. Use vmotion to migrate the VMs from the incomplete datastore to any functional datastore. c. Delete the incomplete datastore and create a new datastore. Identifying Software Revisions You can identify software revisions as follows: On the vcenter Server, use the Control Panel - Programs to view the SimpliVity Arbiter program information. (View details and enable the version column.) In the SimpliVity vsphere Extension, click Plug-ins, then click About SimpliVity. In vsphere Client, look at the Federation View. See OmniCube Systems Panel on page 104. Use the CLI commands: svt-version-show --long to display the current revisions of the OmniStack software. svt-federation-show --output xml to display information for all OmniCube systems. Support Capture During troubleshooting procedures, your technical support provider might ask you to create a support capture. This procedure captures diagnostic data from your Federation and stores it in a compressed file. A support capture is a collection of log files, OmniCube status reports, and Federation configuration settings. A support capture might be created automatically in response to a Federation event, or you can create one manually at any time. Support captures are secure no identifiable user data or account information is included. Although the support capture procedure is efficient, it consumes some Federation resources and requires many megabytes (or gigabytes) of storage space. It might take considerable time to complete the support capture task. Therefore, avoid creating support captures unless necessary for troubleshooting. You do not need to clean up old support captures. The procedure automatically deletes stale support captures from the OmniCube, retaining only the last four instances. You can download these stored support captures at any time. See: Manually Downloading a Support Capture on page 123. For information about using support captures as part of a technical support troubleshooting session, see Federation Troubleshooting - Using Support Capture Archives on page 116. You can create support captures for: A vcenter Only vcenter log bundles are included in the support capture. For linked-mode vcenters, repeat the operation for each linked vcenter in turn. See vcenter Server System Log Bundles on page

121 5 - Federation Management A datacenter Support captures are created for all OmniCube systems contained in the datacenter. To obtain support captures for an entire Federation, repeat the operation for each Datacenter in turn. The procedure creates a datacenter support capture even if the datacenter contains no active OmniCube systems. An individual OmniCube, by selecting its Virtual Controller. Datacenter and OmniCube support captures do not include vcenter log bundles. Considerations when using Support Capture The following considerations might apply: Automatic Captures A system event might cause the generation of an automated support capture that you might want to preserve. Up to four automatic support captures are retained in the Virtual Controller Web server. If there are four existing automatic support captures, and you create a new manual support capture, the oldest automatic support capture is deleted. Before creating a manual support capture, consider whether you want to preserve existing automatic support captures by manually downloading them. See Manually Downloading a Support Capture on page 123. vsphere Client and Account For log consistency: Run the support capture procedure from the same vsphere client instance where you encountered the original problem that you are trying to diagnose. Use a consistent log-in. You need an account with vsphere global.diagnostic permissions. Federation Size and Activity For large Federations with many VMs and high levels of I/O it might take some considerable time to complete a support capture. Consider quiescing Federation activity or powering-off VMs. Similarly, if the vcenter server is under heavy load, it might take some considerable time to generate the vcenter log bundle. Offline OmniCube Systems If one or more OmniCube systems are offline or otherwise inaccessible, support capture is designed to proceed and ignore the offline systems. Network (WAN) Avoid creating support captures remotely, over a wide-area network connection. Use a local host and remote desktop. Otherwise, it might take a long time to create and copy support captures to your local system AntiVirus Software AntiVirus software installed on the local Windows client can cause the download to stall or timeout at 99% of completion. To prevent this: Use an alternate browser. The support capture procedure invokes the client computer's default browser to download the support capture. Interaction between the browser and the client computer's realtime antivirus scan can cause this stalling problem. Some browsers are more prone to the issue, Temporarily disable antivirus protection on the Windows client when creating and downloading the support capture. (The support capture was securely created by you on your Federation and is free of viruses.) Add an antivirus ignore or exclusion rule for the vsphere client executable (VpxClient.exe). This procedure depends on the brand of antivirus software that you have installed on the client computer. 121

122 5 - Federation Management Content of a Support Capture When you create a support capture, it is downloaded automatically to the destination folder and stored in a sub-folder. Each sub-folder is named for the date and time of the capture, using the format: YYYY-MM- DD HH-MM-SS, using a 24-hour clock. For example: Note: Logs included in a support capture specify UTC time. The folder contains the following files: One or more compressed (.tgz) capture bundles for each OmniCube, depending on the type of support capture. These files have names similar to the following: Capture _ MN.tgz - MN indicates Manual. CaptureOutput _ AT.tgz - AT indicates Automatic. A Windows zip file named ClientLogs.zip that contains the SimpliVity logs and Federation configuration information. (vsphere Client and SimpliVity vsphere Extension (plug-in) logs). A text file identifying the IP address of the OmniCube Virtual Controllers that were included in the support capture. If an OmniCube is offline or otherwise unavailable at the time that you create a support capture, its diagnostic information is excluded. A support capture includes the following information: OmniCube platform configuration information and a core file. OmniCube-specific runtime and boot logs. OmniCube storage information and logs. OmniCube Accelerator logs and status information. Output from the svt-federation-show command. File system logs and status information. Network status. ESXi logs and status information. vsphere Client and SimpliVity vsphere Extension (plug-in) logs. A vcenter support capture includes a VMware vcenter Server log bundles that contain: A Windows zip file named vmw_support.zip that contains VMware logs and configuration information. A Windows zip file named ClientLogs.zip that contains the SimpliVity logs and Federation configuration information. 122

123 5 - Federation Management vcenter Server System Log Bundles The vcenter support capture process includes avcenter Server log bundle in addition to OmniCube diagnostic data. (See Procedure for Creating a vcenter Server Log Bundle on page 125.) When you start a vcenter support capture, you will see the following message in the vsphere Client's Recent Tasks panel: Generating system log bundles It might take longer to create a vcenter Server log bundle than it does to create a support capture for each OmniCube in a Federation. Therefore, you might see the task process appear to slow down when it is approximately 70% complete. If you cancel a support capture that is in progress, only the SimpliVity capture process is canceled. The vcenter Server bundle task completes, but the resulting support capture is not downloaded to your client computer. Manually Downloading a Support Capture Up to four recent support captures (automatic or manual) are retained in the OmniCube Virtual Controller's Web server. You can manually download these support captures as follows: 1. Browse to the URL for the Virtual Controller's IP address, such as: 2. Look for the support capture file by the timestamp that forms part of its name. For example: CaptureOutput _ MN.tgz - Manual (MN) support capture. CaptureOutput _ AT.tgz - Automatic (AT), system-generated support capture. 3. Use the browser's file download function to copy the support capture to your Windows client. See Federation Troubleshooting - Using Support Capture Archives on page 116. Obtaining Support Capture Archives for Troubleshooting A support capture can consist of a vcenter Server Log Bundle or a SimpliVity Support Capture for one or more OmniCube systems in a Federation: vcenter Server Log Bundle Collects only the VMware vcenter Log Bundle, does not include any SimpliVity logs and diagnostic files. See Procedure for Creating a vcenter Server Log Bundle on page 125. SimpliVity Support Capture Collects SimpliVity logs and diagnostic only: 123

124 5 - Federation Management For an entire datacenter, and all OmniCube systems contained in that datacenter (if it currently contains OmniCube systems). For an individual OmniCube system. Note: When you take a support capture for an OmniCube Cloud Datacenter, the support capture bundle does not include: VMware bundles vcenter Logs Physical storage information (there is no hardware) See Procedure for Creating Support Captures on page 126. Prerequisites for Gathering Logs and Diagnostic Files The following considerations and constraints apply: Storage Space You should set up a folder on the vsphere Client to store and process support captures, as described in: Federation Troubleshooting - Using Support Capture Archives on page 116. However, if you run out of storage space the procedure does not abort. You can designate a folder on a different device and continue the procedure as shown in Figure-25. Figure-25: Alternate Location for the Files User Credentials To create a support capture: You need appropriate credentials to log in to the vcenter Server and to create log files via the VMware Diagnostic permission. (Typical of the vcenter Administrator account.) Single sign-on (SSO) must be enabled for all OmniCube Virtual Controllers. If not enabled, you will see the error shown in Figure

125 5 - Federation Management Figure-26: Single Sign-on Not Enabled Linked Mode vcenter Servers If you use linked mode vcenters, be aware that the account credentials must be valid for all vcenter Servers Keep vsphere Client Open You cannot close vsphere Client while you are creating a support capture bundle. The operation will abort. One Support Capture at a Time You cannot start a SimpliVity support capture if another support capture is in progress. You must wait until the current support capture is complete, and you have closed the dialog. If you see the following message: A support capture is currently in progress. Finish or cancel the current support capture before starting a new one. (Check for an unacknowledged dialog that might be hidden behind other desktop windows.) Procedure for Creating a vcenter Server Log Bundle Use this procedure to create a support capture containing the vcenter Server Log Bundle. 1. Use vsphere Client to connect to the Federation vcenter Server. 2. Right-Click the vcenter Server, then click SimpliVity - Create Support Capture to open the Support Capture dialog shown in Figure-27. Figure-27: Support Capture Dialog (vcenter Server Log Bundle) 3. Click Browse to open the Windows folder browser. Select an existing folder or create a new folder. Note: The support capture procedure automatically creates a time-stamped sub-folder within the folder that you select or create. 125

126 5 - Federation Management 4. Click Capture. The capture operation begins and a progress bar is added to the Support Capture dialog as shown in Figure-28. Do not close vsphere Client until the procedure completes. Figure-28: Support Capture Progress 5. Wait for the operation to complete, or click Cancel to abort the operation. When the operation is complete, a link to the support capture appears on the dialog as shown in Figure-29. Figure-29: Link to the Support Capture Bundle 6. Click the link to open the folder containing the support capture. 7. Click Close to exit. You must close the dialog before you can begin another support capture. You can now upload the support capture to SimpliVity (or your designated support provider) as described in: Federation Troubleshooting - Using Support Capture Archives on page 116. Procedure for Creating Support Captures Use this procedure to create a support capture for a datacenter (all OmniCube systems in the datacenter) or for an individual OmniCube. 1. Use vsphere Client to connect to the Federation vcenter Server. 2. Right-Click one of the following objects in the vsphere inventory: A datacenter (even if it contains no OmniCube systems. 126

127 5 - Federation Management An individual OmniCube Virtual Controller. 3. Click SimpliVity - Create Support Capture to open the Support Capture dialog shown in Figure-30 (for a datacenter support capture). Figure-30: Support Capture Dialog 4. Click Browse to open the Windows folder browser. Select an existing folder or create a new folder. Note: The support capture procedure automatically creates a time-stamped sub-folder within the folder that you select or create. 5. Click Capture to open the Credentials dialog shown in Figure-31. Figure-31: Support Capture Credentials Dialog 6. Enter the user name and password of a vcenter Server account with suitable credentials and click OK. The progress bar appears on the Support Capture dialog (Figure-32). Figure-32: Datacenter Support Capture Progress 127

128 5 - Federation Management 7. Wait for the operation to complete, or click Cancel to abort the operation. When the operation is complete, a link to the support capture bundle appears on the dialog as shown in Link to the Support Capture Bundle on page 128. Figure-33: Link to the Support Capture Bundle 8. Click the link to open the folder containing the support capture bundle. 9. Click Close to exit. You must close the dialog before you can begin another support capture. You can now upload the support capture to SimpliVity (or your designated support provider) as described in: Federation Troubleshooting - Using Support Capture Archives on page

129 6 - OmniCube Cloud Datacenter OmniCube provides cloud integration that enables you to store VM backups off site, using compute and storage resources leased from a cloud services provider. You can back up VMs directly to the cloud and restore VMs and data from cloud backups to enhance the disaster tolerance capabilities of the OmniCube Global Federation. An OmniCube persists in the cloud as an Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) instance, connected to an Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3) bucket that stores SimpliVity VM backups. The instance type is Standard Large (m1.large). OmniCube Cloud Datacenter Features Features of this release are: This release supports only Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a cloud services provider. VM data is encrypted in the cloud, and during transport to the cloud. You can use backup policies and monitor the use of cloud storage space to manage storage space consumption and control the associated cost. Up to two OmniCube Cloud Datacenters can exist in your Federation as virtual cloud entities. If an OmniCube Cloud Datacenter is offline, policy backup operations are automatically deferred until the OmniCube Cloud Datacenter comes back online. You can upgrade OmniCube Cloud Datacenter using the OmniStack Software upgrade procedure. However, you must follow a specific process. OmniCube Cloud Datacenter does not support Phone Home and Heartbeat. You must start and stop the OmniCube Cloud Datacenter using AWS commands to control AWS resource consumption and manage the associated costs. 129

130 6 - OmniCube Cloud Datacenter Cloud Terminology Term Domain Definition Access Key ID Amazon See: OmniCube Access Key and Admin Access Key. Admin Access Key Amazon Amazon account credentials for an IAM user with administrative privileges. These credentials are used for deployment or removal of an OmniCube Cloud Datacenterand are not stored. Admin Secret Amazon Amazon VPC Amazon Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (Amazon VPC) enables you to set up a protected region of the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Cloud, defining a virtualized network. You can specify an IP address range within the VPC. You can also configure subnets, route tables, and gateways. Amazon Web Services (AWS) Cloud Amazon A set of internet-accessible virtualized computing resources offered by Amazon.com that provide a cloud computing platform to corporations and individuals. AMI Amazon The Amazon Machine Image (AMI) is a pre-configured operating system and virtual application software used to create a virtual machine within the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2). This virtual machine provides the EC2 cloud services. CIDR Std. See: Subnet masks. cloud datacenter SimpliVity See: OmniCube Cloud Datacenter. cloud encryption SimpliVity Data in the OmniCube Cloud Datacenter is always encrypted. cloud IP Address SimpliVity The IP address assigned to the OmniCube Cloud Datacenter. EC2 Amazon Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) provides computing resources in the Amazon Web Services (AWS) cloud. OmniCube Cloud Datacenter requires AWS Standard Large (m1.large). EC2 Instance IP Amazon Identifies the AWS instance that will host the OmniCube Cloud Datacenter. Elastic IP Amazon Static IP addresses used for dynamic cloud computing. An Elastic IP address is associated with your AWS account, not a particular instance, Elastic Network Interface Amazon ENI Amazon See: Elastic Network Interface. ENI An elastic network interface (ENI) is a virtual network interface that you can attach to an OmniCube Cloud Datacenter instance in a VPC. IAM Amazon AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) enables you to control access to AWS services and resources. Instance IP Amazon See: EC2 Instance IP. key Amazon See: Access Key. Mask Std. See: Subnet masks. Network Interface Amazon See: Elastic Network Interface. OmniCube Access Key SimpliVity The access key ID of an IAM user with limited privileges to start, stop, and read/write data to and from the OmniCube Cloud Datacenter hosted in the AWS instance. This credential is stored on the Federation under secure encryption. OmniCube Cloud Datacenter SimpliVity A Federation datacenter that persists in a virtualized cloud service, providing a location to store backups of Federation VMs and from 130

131 6 - OmniCube Cloud Datacenter Term Domain Definition which you can restore VMs. This entity is packaged as an AMI that is deployed in the customer's VPC. OmniCube Secret SimpliVity The access key ID and secret access key for a IAM user with limited privileges to start, stop, and read/write data to and from the OmniCube Cloud Datacenter hosted in the AWS instance. These credentials are stored on the Federation under secure encryption. Power state SimpliVity Describes whether the OmniCube Cloud Datacenter is powered on or powered off. You must use the AWS console to do this. Power(ed) off SimpliVity Non-operational state of an OmniCube Cloud Datacenter, preventing the Federation from sending backups to the cloud. Enables you to control the cost of cloud CPU resources. Policy backups are deferred while the cloud is powered off, and VM restores are not possible. Power(ed) on SimpliVity Operational state of an OmniCube Cloud Datacenter, enabling the Federation to sending backups to the cloud. Enables you to control the cost of cloud CPU resources. You can control the cost of cloud storage space by careful use of backup policies. Region Amazon A separate AWS geographical region containing availability zones. S3 Amazon Amazon Simple Storage Service that provides an S3 bucket for storing digital objects such as files. S3 Bucket Amazon A container in the Amazon Cloud that holds objects such as files. An S3 bucket has a unique identifier (name). SimpliVity uses one bucket per Federation datacenter to store VM backup files. Secret access key Amazon See: OmniCube Secret and Admin Secret. Subnet masks Std. CIDR subnet masks that will enable all OmniCube systems in the Federation to communicate with the AWS instance. Use the format: <netmask>/y where "Y" is any valid CIDR value such as 0,8,16, or 32. For example, /16. VPC ID Amazon Amazon Virtual Private Cloud Identifier. VPN Std. Virtual Private Network. Amazon Web Services Requirements The following requirements apply: You must have an Amazon Web Services (AWS) Account. Go to Your AWS account includes the following services that you will use to configure an OmniCube Cloud Datacenter: Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2). See " What is Amazon EC2?" Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3). See VPC/VPN Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (Amazon VPC). See You will require the assistance of your network administrator to: Provide IP addresses in your intranet. Configure VPN. 131

132 6 - OmniCube Cloud Datacenter Configure a gateway. Set up your internal network so that your Federation can communicate with your cloud services and maintain appropriate network security. See: (A New Approach to Amazon EC2 Networking.) OmniCube Cloud Datacenter Configuration Overview The sequence of tasks is: Configure the cloud services that you need. Create an Amazon Web Services Account, or use an existing account. Create OmniCube Cloud Datacenter users and generate credentials. Configure a Virtual Private Cloud (VPC). Configure Subnets. Configure Security Groups. Configure the Elastic Compute Cloud Instance (EC2). Deploy OmniCube Cloud Datacenter. Perform some test use of the cloud: Create a backup policy to back up VMs to the cloud and assign it to some VMs. Do a manual backup to the cloud. Review backups in the cloud using the sorting and filtering feature. Restore one or more VM from the cloud to a physical datacenter. Review your cloud data storage space use. Configure Amazon Web Services Users You must have an Amazon Web Services (AWS) account with two account users that are dedicated to OmniCube Cloud Datacenter. For more information, see (Overview at: Do not use your primary Amazon account (your log-in) to deploy and administer OmniCube Cloud Datacenter. If you are an experienced AWS user, use this overview to configure your existing account. Otherwise, follow the step-by-step procedure in Create OmniCube Cloud Datacenter Groups, Users and Credentials on page

133 6 - OmniCube Cloud Datacenter 1. AWS ARN For enhanced security, you might want to create an Amazon Resource Name (ARNs) for the OmniCube Cloud Datacenter service. See 2. Groups Create two Amazon Web Services Identity and Access Management (IAM) groups for OmniCube Cloud Datacenter. See CreatingAndListingGroups.html. a. OmniCube-Admin-Group. b. OmniCube-User-Group. When you create the Admin User and OmniCube in a later step, make sure that you add these user accounts to their respective lists. 3. Permissions Set the group permissions as follows: a. OmniCube-Admin-Group - Power user permissions, with full EC2 access and full S3 access. b. OmniCube-User-Group - Restricted to the following permissions only: ec2:rebootinstances ec2:runinstances ec2:startinstances ec2:stopinstances ec2:describeinstances ec2:describevolume 4. Admin User Create a OmniCube Cloud DatacenterAdministrator user in the OmniCube-Admin- Group. See 5. Admin User Credentials Generate and download the OmniCube Cloud Datacenter Administrator user access credentials. See: 6. OmniCube User Create an OmniCube Cloud Datacenter user in the OmniCube-User-Group. 7. OmniCube User Credentials Generate and download the OmniCube Cloud Datacenter Administrator user access credentials. Important: Store the access key ID and secret key for both users in a secure location. Create OmniCube Cloud Datacenter Groups, Users and Credentials Follow these steps to create the AWS groups, initial users, and user credentials. Be aware that: You should prepare a secure location to store the access keys and secrets. 133

134 6 - OmniCube Cloud Datacenter These OmniCube users do not require passwords because they do not access the AWS console. Although you initially have only one user per group, configuring groups at this time will make it easier to add more users in future, when you need to manage multiple instances of OmniCube Cloud Datacenters. For a step-by-step example, see: CreatingAndListingGroups.html (Creating IAM Groups). Create the OmniCube Admin Group and OmniCube Admin 1. Sign in to the AWS Management Console and select IAM ( 2. Click Create a New Group of Users in the Console dashboard. 3. Enter OmniCube-Admin-Group as the Group Name and click Continue. 4. Click Select Policy Template in Manage Group Permissions. 5. Click Select next to Power User Access and select then click Continue in the Set Permissions Screen. 6. Select the Create New Users tab and enter OmniCube-Admin as the user. 7. Make sure you check the box labeled: Generate an access key for each user and click Continue. 8. Review the confirmation screen, and click Continue. 9. Click Download Credentials and specify a secure location for the.csv file. 10. Click Close Window to return to the AWS Management Console. Next, create the OmniCube User group and OmniCube User. Create the OmniCube User Group and OmniCube User This procedure uses the AWS Policy Generator to create the Group Permissions policy for the OmniCube User. See: Important: SimpliVity uses an Amazon Resource Name (ARN) of: arn:aws:ec2:::simplivity.drcn.*. If you want to create alternate ARNs, See 1. Click Create a New Group of Users in the Console dashboard. 2. Enter OmniCube-User-Group as the Group Name and click Continue. 3. Click Policy Generator in Manage Group Permissions and enter the following: a. Click Allow in Statements, Effect. 134

135 6 - OmniCube Cloud Datacenter b. Select Amazon EC2 as the AWS Service. c. Check the boxes next to the following Actions: RebootInstances RunInstances StartInstances StopInstances DescribeInstances DescribeVolume d. Enter the ARN: arn:aws:ec2:::simplivity.drcn.* e. Click Add Statement, and verify the statements added to the policy. See the sample JSON document in Figure-34 below. f. Click Continue, review the policy then Click Continue. 4. Select the Create New Users tab and enter OmniCube-User. 5. Make sure you check the box labeled: Generate an access key for each user and click Continue. 6. Review the confirmation screen, and click Continue. 7. Click Download Credentials and specify the same secure location for the.csv file that you previously used for the OmniCube Admin user. 8. Click Close Window. Figure-34: Sample Policy JSON Document { "Version": " ", "Statement": [ { "Action": [ "ec2:rebootinstances", "ec2:runinstances", "ec2:startinstances", "ec2:stopinstances", "ec2:describeinstances", "ec2:describevolumes" ], "Sid": "Stmt ", "Resource": [ "*" ], "Effect": "Allow" } ] } 135

136 6 - OmniCube Cloud Datacenter After you have deployed the OmniCube Cloud Datacenter, you can update the account policies with the ARN shown in the Datacenter summary. See OmniCube Cloud Datacenter Summary Panel on page 148. Configuring Your Cloud Network This section describes how to understand and configure your Cloud network: Virtual Private Network and Virtual Private Cloud Concepts on page 136 Configuring Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) and Virtual Private Network (VPN) on page 137 Configuring the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) on page 139 Virtual Private Network and Virtual Private Cloud Concepts To host your OmniCube Cloud Datacenter, SimpliVity recommends that you secure data traffic by configuring a Virtual Private Network (VPN) connected to a Virtual Private Cloud (VPC). Amazon offers a number of VPC scenarios. Depending on your local network and security requirements, you might need a different configuration. For OmniCube Cloud Datacenter, a typical configuration might be a Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) with both public and private subnets, which has the resources and characteristics described in Table-12. VPC Public subnet Private subnet AWS Resource Specification Notes size /16 (example 65,536 private IP addresses. CIDR: /16) size /24 (example CIDR: /24) /24 (example CIDR: /24) 256 private IP addresses. 256 private IP addresses. Internet gateway N/A Connects the VPC to Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3). private IP addresses in the subnet range Elastic IP addresses Network address translation (NAT) instance Custom route table entry for VPC Table-12 VPC with Public and Private Subnets (examples: , ) (example: ) Has Elastic IP address /16 local /0 igw- Communicate with each other and other instances in the VPC. Can be reached from the Internet. Enables instances in the private subnet to send requests to the Internet. Enables instances in the subnet to communicate with other instances in the VPC. 136

137 6 - OmniCube Cloud Datacenter AWS Resource Specification Notes xxxxxxxx Custom route table entry for Internet N/A Enables instances in the subnet to communicate directly with the Internet. Private subnet main route table entry for VPC Private subnet main route table entry for Internet through the NAT instance /16 local /0 enixxxxxxxx / i- xxxxxxxx N/A For detailed Amazon Web Services information, see: Enables instances in the subnet to communicate with other instances in the VPC. Enables instances in the subnet to communicate with the Internet through the NAT instance. Scenarios for Using Amazon VPC at: VPC with Public and Private Subnets at: Prerequisite Tasks for VPN/VPC Create route table entries depending on your host system: Main route table Custom route table Configuring Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) and Virtual Private Network (VPN) This section describes a typical configuration, using a Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) with both public and private subnets. Depending on your local network and security requirements, you might need a different configuration. The steps in this process are: VPC Configure the VPC, which creates an Elastic Network Interface (ENI) that you will use later when you deploy the OmniCube Cloud Datacenter. You need one VPC for each Amazon region in which you deploy an OmniCube Cloud Datacenter. Subnets Configure subnets. If you intend to deploy more than one OmniCube Cloud Datacenter, consider carefully the subnet requirements. The OmniCube Cloud Datacenters must be able to communicate with each other, in addition to communicating with the Federation OmniCube Virtual Controllers. If you specify a relatively narrow CIDR value, such as /16 you might exclude an OmniCube Cloud Datacenter, or make it difficult to add additional OmniCube Cloud Datacenters. Specifying a wider CIDR range such as /8 is more inclusive, but less secure. 137

138 6 - OmniCube Cloud Datacenter Security Groups Enable both inbound and outbound traffic. Configure a VPC with Public and Private Subnets For more information, see: VPC with Public and Private Subnets at: 1. Sign in to the AWS Management Console and open the Amazon VPC console at: 2. On the VPC dashboard, click Get started creating a VPC. 3. Click Start VPC Wizard. 4. Check: VPC with Public and Private Subnets, and then click Continue. 5. Click Create VPC to create your VPC. Add Subnets to your VPC For more information, see: Your VPC and Subnets at: 1. Sign in to the AWS Management Console and open the Amazon VPC console at: 2. In the navigation pane, click Subnets. 3. Click Create Subnet to open the Create Subnet dialog. 4. Do the following: a. Select the VPC. b. Select the Region. c. Specify the CIDR range for the subnet. Then, click Yes, and Create 5. [Optional] Set up routing for the subnet. For example, you can add a route to an Internet gateway or a NAT instance. Create Security Groups for the VPC For more information see: Security Groups for Your VPC at: 138

139 6 - OmniCube Cloud Datacenter 1. Sign in to the AWS Management Console and open the Amazon VPC console at: 2. Click Security Groups in the navigation pane. 3. Click the Create Security Group button. 4. Enter a name of the security group (for example, OC-security-group) and provide a description. 5. Click the ID of your VPC from the VPC menu, and then click Yes, Create. Enable Inbound Traffic 1. Sign in to the AWS Management Console and open the Amazon VPC console at: 2. Click Security Groups in the navigation pane. 3. Click the security group that you want to update. 4. Click the Inbound tab, then click Create a new rule. 5. Click a rule for inbound traffic and provide the following information: 6. Click Add Rule, which enables the Apply Rule Changes button (your changes are not applied yet). 7. Repeat Step 4 through Step 6, until you have specified all rules for inbound traffic. 8. Click Apply Rule Changes to add the rules. Next: Configuring the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) on page 139. Configuring the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) The steps in this process are: Identify and obtain the ENI which was created when you configured the Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) as described in Configuring Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) and Virtual Private Network (VPN) on page 137. Configure or modify Security groups. Obtain the Elastic Network Interface (ENI) from the EC2 Instance 1. Open the Amazon EC2 console at 139

140 6 - OmniCube Cloud Datacenter 2. Click Network Interfaces in the navigation pane. 3. Select the appropriate network interface. 4. View the details on the Details tab. Figure-35: EC2 Network Interface Details Configure or Change EC2 Security Groups 1. Open the Amazon EC2 console at 2. Click Network Interfaces in the navigation pane. 3. Click the appropriate network interface. 4. Right-click the network interface, and then click Change Security Groups. 5. In the Change Security Groups dialog, select the security groups to use, and then click Save. Deploying an OmniCube Cloud Datacenter Before deploying an OmniCube Cloud Datacenter, you must do the following: Deploy OmniCube and create an OmniCube Global Federation. Set up Amazon Web Services. See: Configure Amazon Web Services Users on page 132. Configure your Cloud network. Configuring Your Cloud Network on page

141 6 - OmniCube Cloud Datacenter Prerequisites for Deploying an OmniCube Cloud Datacenter Table-13 describes the information and resources required to deploy an OmniCube Cloud Datacenter. Table-13 OmniCube Cloud Datacenter Deployment Worksheet Data Item Description Your Data Admin Credentials Limited User Credentials Region Instance IP Elastic Network Interface Datacenter Name Subnet Masks The access key ID for an IAM user with administrative privileges. These credentials are used only for OmniCube Cloud Datacenter deployment (or removal) and are not stored. The secret access key for an IAM user with administrative privileges. These credentials are used only for OmniCube Cloud Datacenter deployment (or removal) and are not stored. The access key ID for a IAM user with limited privileges to start, stop, and read/write data to the instance containing the new OmniCube Cloud Datacenter. This credential is stored securely on the Federation. The secret access key for a IAM user with limited privileges to start and stop the instance containing the new OmniCube Cloud Datacenter. This credential is stored securely on the Federation. An Amazon AWS region that is the location for the new OmniCube Cloud Datacenter, such as US West. An IP in your VPN private subnet through which all cloud traffic will pass. A virtual Elastic Network Interface (ENI) to which you will attach the AWS instance. The ENI has the format: eni-xxxxxxx. An appropriate datacenter name for the OmniCube Cloud Datacenter. Determine the CIDR (Classless InterDomain Routing) subnet masks that will enable all OmniCube Virtual Controllers in the Federation to communicate with each other, and with the AWS instance. You can specify a mask bit value of any valid CIDR value, such as 0,8,16, or 32, and specify as many subnets as you need to ensure access from all Virtual Controllers. For example if the Federation Management IP addresses of all virtual controllers in the Federation begins with *.* then a single subnet of /16 will provide a CIDR address range of to However, if some Virtual Controllers are on a network that begins with *.*, then you need to specify an additional subnet of /8 provide a CIDR address range of to

142 6 - OmniCube Cloud Datacenter Procedure for Deploying an OmniCube Cloud Datacenter Figure-36 shows the New Cloud Datacenter dialog that you use to create and deploy an OmniCube Cloud Datacenter. Figure-36: New Cloud Datacenter Dialog Using your data from the worksheet in Table-13, follow this procedure to configure an OmniCube Cloud Datacenter: 1. Specify the user-friendly name for the new OmniCube Cloud Datacenter created during this deployment. 2. Cut and paste the access key ID and secret access key for an IAM user with administrative (Admin) privileges. 3. Specify the Amazon EC2 Region. The Retrieve Zones button enables you to find regions accessible from your location. 4. Specify the Amazon EC2 Instance IP address. 5. Specify the virtual Elastic Network Interface (ENI). 6. Specify one or more CIDR masks as Subnets. Use the format: <netmask>/y where "Y" is and integer such as 0,8,10,16,24, or 32. For example, /16. Important: You must specify every subnet required, particularly when deploying more 142

143 6 - OmniCube Cloud Datacenter than one OmniCube Cloud Datacenter. 7. Cut and paste the access key ID and secret access key for a IAM user with limited privileges as the OmniCube Credentials. 8. Wait for the OmniCube Cloud Datacenter to deploy, this might take several minutes. An In Progress message appears in the vsphere Recent Tasks menu. The task is complete when: The OmniCube Cloud Datacenter icon appears in the Throughput panel. The OmniCube Cloud Datacenter is listed in the Datacenters panel. You can now start using the OmniCube Cloud Datacenter. Your first task should be to download and secure the PEM file. Preserving Your Private Key File (PEM) Copy and preserve your private key (PEM). While you do not need this key for normal operation, SimpliVity Technical support will require the key for troubleshooting, maintenance, and disaster recovery support on your OmniCube Cloud Datacenter. 1. Navigate to your S3 Bucket using the AWS Console (The S3 bucket is named simplivity.drcn* for your OmniCube Cloud Datacenter). 2. Click your S3 Bucket to browse it. 3. Find the private key (PEM key) file, which has the format: cloudname.pem. (There should be little other content in the bucket at this time.) For example: simplivity.drcn.78d1e d48-9a21288abb84.pem 4. Right-click the PEM file and click Download then Save Link As. 5. Navigate to a secure, backed-up location for the PEM file and click Save. 6. Click OK to return to the AWS console, and exit from the console. Important: While you can choose to retain a copy of the PEM file in your S3 bucket, be aware that the cloud copy might become inaccessible if a disaster destroys the physical Federation data center. For this reason, SimpliVity recommends that you do not store the PEM key on your physical Federation OmniCube systems. Copy the PEM file to stable media and store it in a highly secure location, preferably remote from the physical data center. For example, copy the file to a USB memory stick and store it in a data media safe. Using OmniCube Cloud Datacenter Features The following features and tasks are enabled when you configure OmniCube Cloud Datacenter: 143

144 6 - OmniCube Cloud Datacenter Space Reporting for an OmniCube Cloud Datacenter on page 146 OmniCube Cloud Datacenter Summary Panel on page 148 Backups in an OmniCube Cloud Datacenter on page 147 Remove OmniCube Cloud Datacenters on page 148 Figure-37 shows a Federation containing a single OmniCube Cloud Datacenter. Figure-37: Federation View with Single OmniCube Cloud Datacenter Datacenters Panel Right-click an OmniCube Cloud Datacenter to display the following task options: View Backups Display backups in the OmniCube Cloud Datacenter. See Displaying Backups for a Federation Virtual Machine on page 194. Upgrade Datacenter Upgrade a Datacenter, including OmniCube Cloud Datacenter. See Upgrade a Federation that Includes OmniCube Cloud Datacenter on page 219. Remove Cloud Datacenter Permanently remove an OmniCube Cloud Datacenter and destroy all the data it contains. See Remove OmniCube Cloud Datacenters on page 148. Configure Cloud Datacenter Enables you to change the OmniCube Cloud Datacenter name and provide new OmniCube Cloud Datacenter access credentials. See Configure OmniCube Cloud Datacenter on page

145 6 - OmniCube Cloud Datacenter Create Support Capture See Obtaining Support Capture Archives for Troubleshooting on page 123. Link to the Federation, Cloud Datacenter View Click the hyperlinked OmniCube Cloud Datacenter name in the Datacenter Name column to open the OmniCube Cloud Datacenter View. See Space Reporting for an OmniCube Cloud Datacenter on page 146. Refresh Update the list of datacenters. Configure OmniCube Cloud Datacenter You can modify the OmniCube Cloud Datacenter name, or update its OmniCube access credentials (key and secret). This does not update the Admin credentials. To change the configuration of an existing OmniCube Cloud Datacenter: 1. Click the vcenter (Federation View) In vsphere Client then click the SimpliVity tab. 2. Right-Click the OmniCube Cloud Datacenter in the Datacenters panel. 3. Click Configure Cloud Datacenter to open the Configure Cloud Datacenter dialog. 4. Modify the Datacenter name as needed. 5. Enter a new OmniCube Access Key 6. Enter a new OmniCube secret and click Apply. Display the OmniCube Cloud Datacenter View To display the Federation, Cloud Datacenter View: 1. Click the vcenter (Federation View) In vsphere Client then click the SimpliVity tab. 2. Click the hyperlinked OmniCube Cloud Datacenter name in the Datacenter Name column to open the Cloud Datacenter view. For information about the panels in Cloud Datacenter View, see: Space Reporting for an OmniCube Cloud Datacenter on page 146 Backups in an OmniCube Cloud Datacenter on page 147 OmniCube Cloud Datacenter Summary Panel on page 148 Throughput Panel The throughput panel distinguishes OmniCube Cloud Datacenters with a cloud icon and, during backup or restore operations, shows the average data transfer rate between the physical Federation and the cloud. 145

146 6 - OmniCube Cloud Datacenter Space Reporting for an OmniCube Cloud Datacenter Figure-38 shows the Space reporting for an OmniCube Cloud Datacenter. Figure-38: Space Reporting for an OmniCube Cloud Datacenter OmniCube Cloud Datacenters contain only VM backups. The size of AWS S3 storage is theoretically unlimited. However, the Federation's ability to account for all VM backup data is limited to a number of gigabytes instead of the terabytes stored by a Federation of physical OmniCube systems. Cloud OmniCube Datacenters are constrained by the amount of metadata the Federation can store and account for. However, as for a physical OmniCube, the data is compressed and deduplicated for efficient storage. When you select a cloud datacenter, the graphical representation of logical space consumption differs from physical Datacenter space consumption as follows: Data Stored Remote Backups Shows only the amount of index space consumed by VM backups that are stored in the cloud. Cloud Usage Provides an approximate representation of available remaining space. See Backups in an OmniCube Cloud Datacenter on page 147 for information about finding backups to delete so you can free up space. Warning: Contact SimpliVity technical support or your authorized support provider if you run out of Cloud Usage capacity and you need to increase the storage capacity. 146

147 6 - OmniCube Cloud Datacenter Backups in an OmniCube Cloud Datacenter Figure-39 shows the backups in an OmniCube Cloud Datacenter. For information about the data, see Displaying Backups for a Federation Virtual Machine on page 194. Figure-39: Backups in an OmniCube Cloud Datacenter You can use backup filtering to select and sort backups. See About Backup Filtering on page 186. Right-click a single backup to enable the task options shown in Table-14. Table-14 Backup Task Options Delete Backup(s) You can select one or more backups to delete: Click a row to select one backup. Use Ctrl-click to select non-contiguous rows containing backups. Restore Virtual Machine Rename Backup Copy Backup Lock Backup Cancel Backup(s) Calculate Unique Backup Size Export Refresh Use Shift-click to select contiguous rows containing backups. Restore a VM from a cloud backup. Change the default name assigned to a backup. Copy a backup to another Datacenter, including another OmniCube Cloud Datacenter. Exclude a policy backup from automated deletion under the rules of the backup policy. You can select one or more backups to cancel, providing the backup is not in a protected state, but is queued or in progress (% complete). Find larger backups (backups that contain data that is unique) to delete, so that you can free up space in the OmniCube Cloud Datacenter. This column is not shown by default. Right-click any table column header to open the Column Chooser and display this column. Export the list of backups to an Excel spreadsheet (if available) Update the list of backups. 147

148 6 - OmniCube Cloud Datacenter OmniCube Cloud Datacenter Summary Panel Figure-40 shows the OmniCube Cloud Datacenter Summary panel, which provides information about the current Cloud Datacenter configuration. Figure-40: Cloud Datacenter Summary Panel Table-15 describes the data fields in this panel. Table-15 Cloud Datacenter Summary Panel Data Fields Data Field Status Availability Zone Version S3 Bucket Description Status of the cloud datacenter, which can be: ( green) Powered On. The cloud datacenter is functioning and is available to store or recover VMs. ( red) Powered Off. The cloud datacenter is shut down. Scheduled backups are deferred. The AWS region in which this OmniCube Cloud Datacenter is located, such as US Standard. The software revision installed on the OmniCube Cloud Datacenter. This should be the same software revision as that installed on the physical OmniCube systems in the Federation. The unique name of the Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3) bucket that is the container for this OmniCube Cloud Datacenter's VM files. This name has the format: simplivity.drcn.guid. Click the task icon ( options: ) in the OmniCube Cloud Datacenter Summary panel to display the following Configure Cloud - Modify the name or OmniCube Credentials. See Configure OmniCube Cloud Datacenter on page 145. Refresh - Update the panel with recent changes. Remove OmniCube Cloud Datacenters You can permanently remove an OmniCube Cloud Datacenter from a Federation. If you remove an OmniCube Cloud Datacenter it is permanently destroyed, along with all data stored in the cloud. You cannot move an OmniCube Cloud Datacenter between Federations. Removing an OmniCube Cloud Datacenter also removes Amazon Web Services (AWS) collateral, marking all data for removal, but you must manually remove the S3 bucket. 148

149 6 - OmniCube Cloud Datacenter Note: Because AWS uses a lazy delete method, it might take some time before the S3 bucket is empty and you can delete it. You accrue no AWS data storage charges after you remove the OmniCube Cloud Datacenter. Before You Begin Before you remove a OmniCube Cloud Datacenter from a Federation: Move backups that you want to preserve from the OmniCube Cloud Datacenter to a Federation datastore or to another OmniCube Cloud Datacenter. To preserve the relationship between a backup and the original VM from which the backup was taken, make sure that you move a backup to the datacenter where the original VM resides. Make sure your current VM backups are redirected to a physical datastore or to another OmniCube Cloud Datacenter by adding new policies or new rules to existing policies. Delete any obsolete policy rules that direct backups to the OmniCube Cloud Datacenter that you intend to remove. Determine and record the OmniCube VC Name of the OmniCube Cloud Datacenter, such as simplivity.drcn.376ab8db c fe6d. You can use the svt-federation-show command. Removing an OmniCube Cloud Datacenter 1. In vsphere Client, Click the vcenter and then click the SimpliVity tab. 2. Right click the OmniCube Cloud Datacenter in the table and click Remove Cloud Datacenter. 3. Check the box confirming you understand that this action results in the permanent deletion of all backup data in the OmniCube Cloud Datacenter. 4. Click Remove and when prompted, click Yes, confirming you want to remove the OmniCube Cloud Datacenter. 5. Enter your OmniCube-Admin user access key ID and secret key, then click OK. 6. Monitor the task in the vsphere Client Recent Tasks panel to confirm success. Removing the S3 Bucket 1. Open the Amazon S3 console at and go to the Buckets panel. 2. Right-click the obsolete bucket, then click Properties to open the Properties pane. (This bucket is associated with the OmniCube VC Name of the removed OmniCube Cloud Datacenter). 3. Click Logging and uncheck the Enabled option. 4. Right-click the obsolete bucket, then click Delete. A confirmation dialog opens. 149

150 6 - OmniCube Cloud Datacenter 5. Click Yes, then Delete. You can now close the AWS console. Generating Replacement AWS Access Keys You need the following access keys and secrets for each AWS account, generated at the time that you created the account: OmniCube-Admin (power user) access key and secret OmniCube-User (restricted) key and secret If you lose these keys, you must generate new keys and then update the OmniCube Cloud Datacenter's configuration. To generate the access key and secret for each account: 1. Sign in to your Amazon Web Services, using your administrative account: 2. Click IAM to access the Identity & Access Management console. 3. Click Users, scroll down to the account name and click the name to select it. 4. Click the Security Credentials tab. 5. Click Manage Access Keys then Create Access Key. 6. Download and store your access credentials in a secure location. 7. Repeat Step 1 through Step 6 for the second account. Using the OmniCube Cloud Datacenter VPC Template SimpliVity provides the CloudFormation AWS template to help you create a virtual private cloud (VPC). Prerequisites for Using the VPC Template You need the information and resources described in Table

151 6 - OmniCube Cloud Datacenter Region KeyName Table-16 OmniCube Cloud Datacenter VPC Template - Worksheet Description Description Your Data NATInstanceType SSHLocation VPCCidrBlock VPCPrivateCidrBlock VPCPublicCidrBlock vpc-0.5.template (or similar name) An AWS region appropriate for your locale, such as us-east-1 or eu-west-1. Your AWS account access keys. See Create OmniCube Cloud Datacenter Groups, Users and Credentials on page 133. NAT node instance type. The default is m1.small. The IP address (or range of addresses) from which you will SSH log in to Amazon. Virtual private cloud instance subnet mask in CIDR format. Virtual private cloud private subnet masks in CIDR format. Virtual private cloud public subnet masks in CIDR format. VPC Template - download from SimpliVity's support Website as described in the OmniCube Release Notes. Procedure for Using the VPC Template 1. Use a Web browser to navigate to and sign in with your AWS account. 2. Click the AWS CloudFormation tab, if not already displayed. 3. Click: Create Stack. 4. Provide a name for your stack. For example: OCD-vpc Click Upload template file, then click Choose File and browse to the download location file named: vpc-0.5.template (or similar name see the OmniCube Release Notes). 6. Click Next Step and follow the instructions on the screen, making sure you fill out the following fields from your worksheet. a. AvailabilityZone b. KeyName c. NATInstanceType d. SSHLocation e. VPCCidrBlock f. VPCPrivateCidrBlock 151

152 6 - OmniCube Cloud Datacenter g. VPCPublicCidrBlock 7. Complete the Options screen only if you are sure that you need a particular option. 8. Click Confirm to confirm the CloudFormation configuration. Next, monitor the CloudFormation deployment status to make sure that it completes correctly as follows: 1. Browse to 2. Browse to the Resources and Events tab and wait for the CloudFormation operation to complete. This might take from 10 to 30 minutes. Modifying your VPN to use a Static IP Modify your VPN to use the IP address in the Outputs tab of the Cloud Datacenter Deploy screen. SAMPLE /etc/network/interfaces file for DHCP (default): # This file describes the network interfaces available on your system # and how to activate them. For more information, see interfaces(5). # The loopback network interface auto lo iface lo inet loopback # The primary network interface auto eth0 iface eth0 inet dhcp SAMPLE /etc/network/interfaces file for static IP: # This file describes the network interfaces available on your system # and how to activate them. For more information, see interfaces(5). # The loopback network interface auto lo iface lo inet loopback # The primary network interface auto eth0 iface eth0 inet static address netmask network broadcast gateway dns-nameservers dns-search mycompany.tld Adding a Static Route on a Switch Add a static route to your network switch. The method depends on the interface software for your model of network switch. This section provides an example of adding a static route to a Cisco L3 network switch using the following sample VPC data: The openvpn-client IP is (sample) The VPC private CIDR block is /24 (sample) 152

153 6 - OmniCube Cloud Datacenter 1. Connect to Cisco L3 switch through its console connection or remote SSH using a terminal emulator. 2. Enter switch configuration mode: Switch#configure terminal 3. Configure the static route: Switch(config)#ip route Exit from switch configuration mode: Switch(config)#exit 153

154 154

155 7 - Provisioning Federation Resources This section describes how to provision resources by creating datastores and virtual machines (VMs) in a Federation. Federation Datastores Federation datastores provide resources to virtual machines (VMs). You create VMs in a Federation datastore to benefit from the features provided by OmniCube. You create a Federation datastore in a datacenter. OmniCube systems and Non-SimpliVity ESXi hosts can access the datastore. See Allowing Datastore Access to Non-Federation ESXi Hosts on page 161. A Federation datastore has the following attributes: Name. Default backup policy for new VMs created in the datastore. See Policies for Scheduled Backup Operations on page 178. Size. You specify an initial size for a datastore. See Creating a Datastore in a Federation on page 156. At any time, you can modify the size of a datastore without affecting its availability. You cannot reduce the size of a datastore below the amount of space needed to store existing VM data. See Resizing a Federation Datastore on page 160. The following information is provided: Creating a Datastore in a Federation on page 156 Displaying Information About a Federation Datastore on page 157 Changing the Backup Policy for a Federation Datastore on page 159 Resizing a Federation Datastore on page 160 Deleting a Federation Datastore on page 160 Allowing Datastore Access to Non-Federation ESXi Hosts on page

156 7 - Provisioning Federation Resources Creating a Datastore in a Federation There are three ways to create a Federation datastore. In the vsphere Client inventory panel, do one of the following: Select vcenter Server, click the SimpliVity tab, click the task icon ( ) in the Datacenters panel in the Federation Overview window (Figure-16), and select Create Datastore. Right-click the datacenter containing the OmniCube systems and select SimpliVity - Create Datastore. Select the datacenter containing the OmniCube systems, click the SimpliVity tab, click the task icon ( ) in the Datastores panel in the Federation Datacenter window (Figure-20), and select Create Datastore. 1. When the Create Datastore dialog opens, (Figure-41), specify the datastore values. 2. Select the datacenter to contain the new datastore. 3. Specify a datastore name that is unique in vcenter Server and complies with VMware naming constraints (SimpliVity recommends that you use only alphanumeric names). 4. Select the backup policy to assign to new Federation VMs created in the datastore. See Policies for Scheduled Backup Operations on page 178. Backup policies enable you to schedule VM backup operations. After you create a VM, you can assign a different backup policy to the VM. 5. [Optional] Click the Create... link (next to the Backup Policy field) to create a new backup policy and add one or more rules to the policy. A backup policy must have at least one rule to schedule VM backup operations. See About Backup Policy Rules on page Specify the datastore size and select the unit of measurement (GB or TB) and click Create. Figure-41: Create Datastore 7. Monitor the progress of the datastore creation task in the vsphere Recent Tasks panel. To display a Federation datastore, see Displaying Information About a Federation Datastore on page

157 7 - Provisioning Federation Resources To create Federation virtual machines (VMs) in the datastore, see Creating a Virtual Machine in a Federation Datastore on page 164. Displaying Information About a Federation Datastore To display information about a Federation datastore: 1. In vsphere Client, browse to Inventory and then Datastores and Datastore Clusters. 2. In the vsphere Client inventory panel, select the Federation datastore and click the SimpliVity tab. The Federation Datastore window (Figure-42) opens. Figure-42: Federation Datastore Right-click the datastore in the vsphere Client inventory panel to display the following SimpliVity task options: Set backup policy. See Changing the Backup Policy for a Federation Datastore on page 159. View backups. See Displaying Backups for a Federation Virtual Machine on page 194. Online Resize. See Resizing a Federation Datastore on page 160. Delete datastore. See Deleting a Federation Datastore on page

158 7 - Provisioning Federation Resources Manage Hosts. See Allowing Datastore Access to Non-Federation ESXi Hosts on page 161. The Federation Datastore window also contains the following information panels that also provide task options. Summary Panel The Summary panel shows the default backup policy for new VMs created in the datastore. From the Summary panel, you can click the task icon ( ) and select the following: Set Backup Policy. Sets the backup policy for the datastore. See Changing the Backup Policy for a Federation Datastore on page 159. Online Resize. Changes the size of the datastore. See Resizing a Federation Datastore on page 160. Logical Capacity Panel The logical capacity panel shows the used (stored) and the free capacity of the datastore. Logical capacity specifies the space consumed by VMs. If you deploy a VM and allocate 40GB for its virtual disk, that allocation accounts for 40GB of logical capacity in the datastore. Virtual Machines Panel The Virtual Machines panel shows all guest VMs in the datastore, including the following information: VM Name Storage HA Describes the status of Storage HA protection for the VM, which might be synchronized or synchronizing. Provisioned The amount of storage space allocated to a VM. Used Space The amount of storage space used by a VM. Backup policy The backup policy assigned to a VM. See Changing the Backup Policy for a Federation Virtual Machine on page 185. In the Virtual Machines panel you can click the task icon ( ) and choose from the following tasks: Find Enables you to search the list of Federation VMs. Refresh Refreshes the display. To display the VM view, click a VM name.displaying Information About a Federation Virtual Machine on page 165. To create a VM in a datastore, see Creating a Virtual Machine in a Federation Datastore on page

159 7 - Provisioning Federation Resources Changing the Backup Policy for a Federation Datastore Backup policies enable you to schedule VM backup operations. When you create a datastore, you must specify the default backup policy for the datastore. Each VM created in the datastore is assigned this default backup policy. After you create a VM, you can change its backup policy. If you change the backup policy for a datastore, the change affects only new VMs created in the datastore. To display the existing backup policies in a Federation, see Displaying Backup Policies and Rules on page 184. For information about creating a backup policy, see Creating a Backup Policy on page 179. To change the backup policy for a Federation datastore: 1. In vsphere Client, browse to Inventory and then Datastores. 2. In the vsphere Client inventory panel, either: Right-click the Federation datastore and select Set Backup Policy. Select the datacenter, select the datastore in the Datastore panel in the Federation Datacenter window (Figure-20), click the task icon ( ) and select Set Backup Policy. Select the datastore, click the SimpliVity tab, click the task icon ( ) in the Summary panel in the Federation Datastore window (Figure-42), and select Set Default Backup Policy. 3. In the Set Backup Policy dialog (Figure-43), either: Select the policy from the pull-down menu. Click Create... to create a new backup policy. See Creating a Backup Policy on page Click Set Backup Policy. Figure-43: Datastore Set Backup Policy 159

160 7 - Provisioning Federation Resources Resizing a Federation Datastore To re-size a Federation datastore: 1. In vsphere Client, browse to Inventory and then Datastores. 2. In the vsphere Client inventory panel, do any of the following: Right-click the Federation datastore and select SimpliVity - Online Resize. Select the datacenter, select the datastore in the Datastore panel, click the task icon ( ) and select Online Resize. Select the datastore, click the SimpliVity tab, click the task icon ( ) in the Summary panel in the Federation Datastore window (Figure-42), and select Online Resize. 3. In the Online Resize dialog (Figure-44), specify the new datastore size and click Resize. Note: You cannot specify a datastore size that is less than the amount of logical space required for existing VMs. Figure-44: Online Resize Deleting a Federation Datastore You can delete a Federation datastore if it contains no VMs or VM backups. 1. In vsphere Client, either: Browse to Inventory and then Datastores and Datastore Clusters, right-click the Federation datastore in the vsphere Client inventory panel, and select Delete Datastore. Select the datacenter in the vsphere Client inventory panel, click the SimpliVity tab, select the datastore in the Datastores panel in the Federation Datacenter window (Figure-20), click the task icon ( ), and select Delete Datastore. 2. Click OK to confirm that you want to delete the datastore. It might take several seconds to update the datastore and storage space information in the GUI after you delete a datastore, but the storage space is available immediately. 160

161 7 - Provisioning Federation Resources Allowing Datastore Access to Non-Federation ESXi Hosts If you have Non-SimpliVity ESXi host in your vcenter Server environment (in addition to federated OmniCube systems), you can enable the Non-SimpliVity ESXi hosts to access Federation datastores. At any time, you can unshare datastores or restrict access by a specific Non-SimpliVity ESXi host. In addition to the benefits of SimpliVity storage, you can also: Use vmotion to migrate VMs running on a Non-SimpliVity ESXi host to a Federation, with no disruption to users. Use Storage vmotion to migrate VMs to a Federation datastore, with no disruption to users. There are four steps in this process: Determine the IP address for the storage traffic. Configure NET and NFS on the Non-SimpliVity ESXi host. The procedure differs for ESX 5.1 compared to ESX 5.0. Modify the /etc/hosts file on the Non-SimpliVity ESXi host. Share (or unshare) the datastore. Determine the IP Address to Use for Non-SimpliVity ESXi host Storage Traffic The Virtual Controller provides three potential paths for storage traffic. You should specify the IP address depending on the Federation networking. For more information, see Step 4 Connect the Network Cables in your hardware documentation. Depending on the network, determine the Non- SimpliVity ESXi host data transfer IP address as follows: If you are using the direct-connect method for the 10GbE storage network, specify the Virtual Controller s Management Network IP address. However, be aware that there is no failover capability on this network. If you are using the switched method for the 10GbE storage network, you should use the Virtual Controller s Storage Network IP address. This network provides higher bandwidth and provides failover capability. To find these addresses, see Displaying Information About a Federation Datacenter on page 100. Configure Advanced NET and NFS Settings on the Non-SimpliVity ESXi host To enable a Non-SimpliVity ESXi host access to a Federation datastore, configure advanced NFS settings using vsphere Client as follows: 161

162 7 - Provisioning Federation Resources 1. Select the Non-SimpliVity ESXi host in the vsphere Client Inventory Panel. 2. Open the Configuration tab and click Advanced Settings under the Software panel to open the Settings dialog. 3. Select Net and make the following changes: Net - TcpipHeapMax=128 (default 120). This is required to support NFS MaxVolumes=256. Net - TcpipHeapSize=32 (default is 30). This is required to support NFS MaxVolumes= Make either of the following changes for maximum connections and maximum volumes, depending on the installed version of ESX: For ESX V5.0, under NFS: NFS - MaxConnPerIP=128 (default is 4) NFS - MaxVolumes=256 (default is 8) For ESX V5.1 and V5.5, under SunRPC: NFS - MaxVolumes=256 (default is 8) SunRPC - SunRPC.MaxConnPerIP=128 (default is 4) 5. Reboot the Non-SimpliVity ESXi host to implement the changes. Edit the hosts file on the Non-SimpliVity ESXi host Be careful when you edit the /etc/hosts file. A misconfigured /etc/hosts file can cause the following error when you attempt to enable access to the datastore:...error [26]: Platform integration exception. 1. Log in to the Non-SimpliVity ESXi host. 2. Edit the /etc/hosts file to include a line similar to the following: nnn.nnn.nnn.nnn omni.cube.io Where nnn.nnn.nnn.nnn is the Management or Storage IP address that you determined previously. (See: Determine the IP Address to Use for Non-SimpliVity ESXi host Storage Traffic.) 3. Do not restart the Non-SimpliVity ESXi host. Enable or Disable Federation Datastore Sharing by Datastore Use vsphere client to enable Federation datastore sharing as follows: 1. Right-click a Non-SimpliVity ESXi host in the vsphere Client Inventory Panel. 162

163 7 - Provisioning Federation Resources 2. Click SimpliVity - Manage Datastores to open the Manage Datastores dialog. See Figure Do either of the following: a. Check the Shared box for datastores to share and click OK. b. Uncheck a datastore to prevent data sharing to the Non-SimpliVity ESXi host. Figure-45: Share or Unshare Datastores Manage Datastores Enable or Disable Federation Datastore Sharing by Host Use vsphere client to specify which Non-SimpliVity ESXi hosts can access Federation datastores as follows: 1. Click the Inventory menu and change the inventory view to Datastores and Datastore Clusters. 2. Right-click the datastore that you want to share to open the Manage Hosts Dialog. See Figure Do either of the following: a. Check the Shared box for the Non-SimpliVity ESXi hosts that are allowed to share this datastore and click OK. b. Uncheck the Shared box to prevent a specific Non-SimpliVity ESXi hosts from sharing his datastore and click OK. 163

164 7 - Provisioning Federation Resources Figure-46: Share or Unshare Datastores Manage Hosts Federation Virtual Machines Federation virtual machines (VMs) are created using VMware and managed like any other VM. Because a Federation datastore contains the VMs, they benefit from features provided by the OmniStack software and hardware. The following topics are included: Creating a Virtual Machine in a Federation Datastore on page 164 Displaying Information About a Federation Virtual Machine on page 165 Cloning a Federation Virtual Machine on page 169 Moving a Federation Virtual Machine on page 169 Deleting a Federation Virtual Machine on page 171 See also Recovering Federation Virtual Machine Data on page 204, which provides information about VM backups and automated backup policies and explains how to recover VMs. Creating a Virtual Machine in a Federation Datastore Use VMware to create a virtual machine (VM) in a Federation datastore in vsphere Client. In the vsphere Client inventory, the new VM appears under the OmniCube (ESXi host). See Displaying Information About a Federation Virtual Machine on page

165 7 - Provisioning Federation Resources If an OmniCube hosting a VM fails, you can restart the VM on a functioning OmniCube. For automatic VM failover across the Federation, use VMware HA. See the VMware documentation for details. Note: You can also import a virtual machine into a Federation datastore. Prerequisites for Federation VMs You must specify a Federation datastore to contain the VM. Avoid placing VMs in the datastore that contains the Virtual Controller. While this is not prevented, it can cause the datastore to run out of available space, which can affect the availability of all SimpliVity datastores in the Federation. By default, the new VM uses the default backup policy assigned to the datastore in which you created it. You can change the backup policy for the VM. See Changing the Backup Policy for a Federation Virtual Machine on page 185. Creating Federation VMs To create VMs in a SimpliVity datastore: 1. Right-click an OmniCube in the vsphere Client inventory and select New Virtual Machine. 2. Specify the VM information, selecting a SimpliVity datastore to contain the VM. 3. Watch for VM creation messages in the vsphere Client's Recent Tasks panel. 4. Verify that the datastore default backup policy is adequate for this VM, and if not: a. Right-click the new VM and click SimpliVity - Set Backup Policy. See Changing the Backup Policy for a Federation Virtual Machine on page 185. b. Create a new backup policy for this VM. See Creating a Backup Policy on page 179. To use backups to protect VM data, see Data Protection and Recovery on page 173. Displaying Information About a Federation Virtual Machine To display information about a virtual machine (VM) in a Federation: 1. In the vsphere Client inventory panel, expand the datacenter that contains the VM. 2. Expand the OmniCube (ESXi host) hosting the VM, select the VM, and click the SimpliVity tab. The Federation Virtual Machine window opens (Figure-47). 165

166 7 - Provisioning Federation Resources Figure-47: Federation Virtual Machine The Federation Virtual Machine window provides the information described in the following sections VM Summary Panel The VM Summary Panel provides the following information: Backup policy Name. You can also click the Set Backup policy button to change the policy. See Changing the Backup Policy for a Federation Virtual Machine on page 185. CPU The number of CPUs assigned to this VM. Memory The amount of physical memory assigned to this VM. Storage HA Whether or not the VM is in Storage HA compliance. Determine Whether VMs are in Storage HA Compliance on page 117. Used Capacity The in-use storage for this VM. Total Capacity The available storage for this VM. Number of Virtual Hard Disks The number of virtual hard disks in use by this VM. 166

167 7 - Provisioning Federation Resources VM Backups Panel The VM Summary Panel provides the following information, depending on the columns that you select to view. For information about organizing, sorting, and displaying backup information, see: Managing Data in the SimpliVity Graphical User Interface on page 98: Name - The backup name, either a timestamp when a policy creates the backup or a name assigned by the user that created a manual backup. The timestamp reflects the time zone setting. See Setting the Datacenter Time Zone on page 55. A plus symbol (+) appended to a backup indicates that one or more policy backups was unable to complete on schedule. This might be due to system unavailability, scheduling conflicts, or any other system issue that prevents the backup from occurring on schedule. Timestamp - The date and time of the backup. Application Consistent - Whether applications running on the VM were included in the backup. Status - The status of the backup: New The VM copy for a remote backup is complete, but the replication to the remote site has not yet begun. The state will change to saving or failed. Saving The backup replication is in progress. The state will change to protected or failed. Failed The backup was unsuccessful. Delete such backups and if the outcome of backup operations fails consistently, contact your support provider. Protected The backup is successful and the data protected. If the backup was a remote backup, successful replication to the remote site has also completed. Unknown The backup is in an indeterminate state. Delete such backups and if the outcome of backup operations persist as Unknown, contact your support provider. Canceling The backup operation is responding to a manual cancellation of a backup in progress. Canceled The backup operation was successfully canceled. Datacenter The datacenter containing the backup. Sent - In cases where the backup is sent to a remote location, the volume of data in transfer or transferred. Size The logical size of the backup. Source The operation that created the backup: Policy An automatic policy created the backup. The backup is subject to automatic deletion when its retention period expires or when the maximum number of backups is exceeded. In the latter case, the oldest backups are deleted first. (You can lock a policy backup to prevent its automatic deletion.) Manual A user manually created a backup. Manual backups are not deleted automatically. 167

168 7 - Provisioning Federation Resources Locked A user has locked a policy backup to prevent its automatic deletion. The backup is preserved until you delete it manually. Sent If a transfer to a remote location is in progress, the amount of data sent at this point in time. Right-click on any column heading to display the column chooser and display the following additional information: Datastore The datastore containing this backup. ID The GUID identifying the backup Source Whether the backup was manual, or automatic (policy backup). Unique Backup Size The amount of unique data in this backup. Unique Size Calculation Time The last calculation time of the unique data value. Click the task icon ( ) to choose from the following VM backup tasks: Backup Virtual Machine. Creates a backup of a VM. See Manual Backups of Federation Virtual Machines on page 177. Restore Virtual Machine. Restores a VM from a backup. See Recovering Federation Virtual Machine Data on page 204. Rename Backup. Prevents the automatic deletion of the backup by renaming the backup. See Renaming a Backup of a Federation Virtual Machine on page 203. Lock Backup. Preserves automatic (policy) VM backups, preventing them from deletion according to the policy's backup retention rule. See Locking a Backup of a Federation Virtual Machine on page 202. Copy Backup. Copies VM backups to remote datacenters. See Copying a Backup of a Federation Virtual Machine on page 200. Delete Backup. Deletes a VM backup. See Deleting Backups of a Federation Virtual Machine on page 201. Cancel Backup. cancel an in-progress backup. Canceling a Backup of a Federation Virtual Machine on page 198. Set Backup Policy. Sets the backup policy for a VM. See Changing the Backup Policy for a Federation Virtual Machine on page 185. Edit Policy. Edits a backup policy. See About Backup Policy Rules on page 181. Refresh. Refreshes the display. VM Throughput, IOPs, and Latency Panel You can view real time performance information for the VM. See Performance Panel on page

169 7 - Provisioning Federation Resources Cloning a Federation Virtual Machine You can create a new virtual machine (VM) in a Federation by cloning an existing VM or VM template in the Federation. The cloned VM contains the same data as the original VM. You can also create an application consistent VM clone, which takes longer to complete and requires application-specific support. Refer to the VMware documentation to find out if your applications are supported. You can improve cloning efficiency by installing the VAAI NAS plug-in, which takes advantage of storage hardware acceleration to offload cloning tasks from VMware to SimpliVity storage, This can greatly improve performance if you are cloning many VMs from templates. VAAI does not apply to application consistent clones, which include a VMware snapshot. A clone inherits the following characteristics from the source VM: Clone name By default, the command appends the string -clone-<timestamp> to the original VM name. You can specify an alternate name. Power status The clone is powered off by default. Make sure you have sufficient CPU and memory resources before powering on the cloned VM. Backup As for any VM, you can back up a cloned VM using a policy. See Changing the Backup Policy for a Federation Virtual Machine on page 185. Note: Serial clone and backup operations using the default names can cause long object names. Use the appropriate renaming option to shorten the name. To clone a Federation VM: 1. In the vsphere Client inventory panel, expand the Federation OmniCube (ESXi host) that contains the VM. 2. Right click the VM in the inventory panel and select Clone Virtual Machine to open the Clone Virtual Machine dialog. 3. Specify the name of new VM or accept the default. The name must be unique and if you enter a duplicate name you are prompted to correct it. 4. [Optional] Check the Application Consistent box if you want to preserve the state of applications running on the original VM. Application consistent clones take longer to complete. 5. Click Clone. Moving a Federation Virtual Machine You can move a Federation VM to a different datacenter and datastore by using these three methods: VMware vmotion To move a VM between OmniCube systems in the same datacenter, drag the VM to the intended destination, which causes VMware vmotion to relocate the VM. 169

170 7 - Provisioning Federation Resources Storage vmotion To change the datastore for the VM while the VM is running, use the VMware Migrate option from the VM context menu and change the datastore to invoke Storage vmotion. SimpliVity - Move Virtual Machine To move the VM to another datacenter, use the SimpliVity task described in this section. By default, the SimpliVity - Move Virtual Machine procedure uses the original VM name as the name for the moved VM. You can override the default name by specifying a unique name for the moved VM. Note: If you move a VM any associated backups will show the source VM as [DELETED] in the backups display. However, you can still recover the VM from its backups. See Recovering Federation Virtual Machine Data on page 204. Requirements for moving a VM are: Power Off You must shut down the guest OS and power off a VM before you attempt to move it. Otherwise the task fails. New VM name By default, the command uses the original VM name. You can edit the original, or specify an alternate name. Destination datacenter The datacenter to contain the moved VM. Make sure you have sufficient CPU and memory resources before powering on the moved VM. Destination datastore The name of the datastore to contain the moved VM. Manage Policy backups If the VM is subject to policy backups, you cannot move a VM while a policy backup is in progress: You can cancel the backup, if it is in an appropriate backup state. See Canceling a Backup of a Federation Virtual Machine on page 198. You can wait for a backup to complete. See Displaying Backups for a Federation Virtual Machine on page 194. To move a Federation VM: 1. In the vsphere Client inventory panel, expand the Federation OmniCube (ESXi host) that contains the VM. 2. Right click the VM in the inventory panel and select Move Virtual Machine to open the Move Virtual Machine dialog (Figure-48). 3. Specify the name of new VM or accept the default. The VM name must be unique. If you enter a duplicate name you are prompted to correct it. 4. Select a Destination Datacenter. 5. Select a Destination Datastore. 6. Click Move. 170

171 7 - Provisioning Federation Resources Figure-48: Move Virtual Machine After moving a VM, set its boot sequence so that it powers on after the Virtual Controller during start up and shuts down before the Virtual Controller during shutdown. See Starting Up and Shutting Down an OmniCube on page 73. Deleting a Federation Virtual Machine To delete a Federation VM, follow these steps: 1. In the vsphere Client inventory panel, expand the OmniCube (ESXi host) that contains the VM. 2. Right click the VM in the inventory panel and select one of the following options: Remove from Inventory. This option removes the VM from the vsphere inventory, but retains its files. You can restore the VM to the inventory. Delete from Disk. This removes all the files associated with the VM, increasing storage space in the datastore. However, if you have backups of the VM you can restore the VM. Note: The amount of storage space reclaimed by the deletion might take some time to appear in the storage capacity displays. See Displaying Information About a Federation Datacenter on page 100. If you delete a Federation VM, the Federation keeps the VM backups, and you can view them by launching the Backups dialog (Figure-57) from the Federation Overview window (Figure-16) or the Federation Datacenter window (Figure-20). See Figure-57. To delete a backup of a Federation VM, see Deleting Backups of a Federation Virtual Machine on page

172 172

173 8 - Data Protection and Recovery This section describes how to protect and recover virtual machines (VMs) in a Federation. How to Protect Data in a Federation Federation virtual machines (VMs) benefit from OmniCube features that ensure high availability through data redundancy, failure detection, and automatic failover. If the OmniCube hosting a VM fails, you can manually restart the VM on a functioning OmniCube. VMware HA supplements Federation data security by providing automatic VM failover, without the need for any manual restarts. See the OmniCube Release Notes for any current restrictions on using VMware HA. See the VMware documentation for implementation details. Additionally, you use both policy (automatic) and manual VM backups to protect Federation VM data. A SimpliVity VM backup represents the contents of a VM at the point in time that a backup is created. You can restore the VM from a backup, either by replacing the existing VM or by creating a new VM. When designing a backup strategy for a Federation VM, keep in mind: The recovery point objective (RPO) The maximum acceptable amount of VM data loss after an unplanned data loss incident, expressed as a length of time. The more frequent a VM backup operation, the smaller the RPO. However, with higher backup frequencies, more Federation resources are consumed in storing and transferring backups. Note: If the backup frequency interval has a short duration (such as a few minutes) and data volumes are large, it is possible to exhaust Federation resources within a short time. The recovery time objective (RTO) The length of time needed to restore VM availability if a failure occurs, including the time required to get key applications back running and full communications restarted. Disaster recovery Protecting VM data against a complete disaster. For example, a local backup is stored in the same datacenter as the VM. You can backup to a different datacenter (for example, one with hardware in a remote physical location) to protect against events such as natural disasters that shut down a Data Center for an extended period of time. See Disaster Protected Backups on page 176. Data retention time The length of time that you want to preserve backups. Use backup policies to specify the number of backups to keep before the oldest backup is deleted. Application Consistency Whether you want to use VMware Tools to include application data in a VM backup. See Application Consistent Backups on page

174 8 - Data Protection and Recovery For a comprehensive backup strategy for a VM, you might create a combination of application-consistent and non-application consistent backups to both local and remote datacenters. Federation Virtual Object Names When you create a manual backup or clone of a Federation virtual machine, the operation appends a operation-timestamp string to the original virtual object name. This ensures that the resulting object has a unique name and is easily identifiable. You can: Specify alternate, custom names when you create a backup or a clone. Edit or override the appended timestamp string, providing that the resulting edited or user-supplied object name is unique. The format of the operation-timestamp string is: -operation_name-yyyy-mm-dd-hh:mm:ss Examples of names are: Ubntu124Eng Ubntu124Eng-clone :57:35 Ubntu124Eng-clone :57:35-backup :12:04 Warning: Serial operations (such as backup-recover-clone-backup) concatenate the systemsupplied name strings, causing the virtual object name to lengthen. A long name might exceed the system limit for virtual object names. Backup and Restore Options for Federation Virtual Machines You can create a backup of a Federation VM in two ways: Manually create a backup at the current point in time. You must manually delete any backups that you create manually; they are not deleted automatically. See Manual Backups of Federation Virtual Machines on page 177. Automatically create backups on a regular basis by using a backup policy containing one or more backup policy rules. Policies will automatically delete aging backups, according to expiry rules that you specify. See Policies for Scheduled Backup Operations on page 178. A Federation might contain thousands of VM backups. However you can easily search, filter, and sort backups for selection. See About Backup Filtering on page

175 8 - Data Protection and Recovery To access the data in a backup, you can restore a VM from a backup. See Recovering Federation Virtual Machine Data on page 204. You can also use a manual method to recover individual objects such as files and folders from VM backups. See the SimpliVity best practice Restoring Individual Objects from SimpliVity Backups (for OmniStack Software version or later release). Limits on VM Backups Table-17 describes the backup limits that apply for each Federation OmniCube for this release: Table-17 Federation OmniCube Backup Limits Maximum Limit Per Federation OmniCube Simultaneous local backups. 100 Simultaneous backups transmitted to another datacenter. 50 Simultaneous backups received from another datacenter. 100 VM backups in a Federation Quantity When you create a backup policy, you might see error messages indicating that the maximum number of backups is as follows: Graphical user interface Command Line interface (svt-policy-rule-create command) These messages are incorrect and will be removed in a future release. When a VM backup event exceeds the limits, you can expect the following behavior: Backups on the local OmniCube The backup event does not synchronize with the exact minute of execution. You might notice: A delay in the execution timestamp, which also affects the timestamp appended to the name of an automatic backup. A delay in the execution of a manual backup. Backups transmitted to or received from another datacenter An increasing number of backups remain in the Queued state. For example, when the Federation is not exceeding the maximum backup limit, a VM that has several backups in transmission might have one backup that is Saving (in transmission) while other backups are Queued. When a backup event exceeds the limit (all the available backup slots are occupied) the task is delayed, waiting for its opportunity to transmit or receive data. 175

176 8 - Data Protection and Recovery Application Consistent Backups When backing up a Federation VM, you can choose whether or not to use VMware Tools to make the backup application consistent. SimpliVity application consistent backups use VMware features to maintain consistency. To quiesce application I/O, VMware uses both VMware tools and the VSS providers on the guest VM operating system. If an application is not VSS-compliant, application consistent backups might take many hours to complete when the application is experiencing moderate to high rates of I/O. Note: You must install VMware Tools on a VM to create application consistent backups of that VM. Not all applications and platforms support application consistent backups. When you create an application consistent backup: VMware Tools will quiesce the VM (that is, pauses the processes running on the guest operating system so that the VM is in a known state). VMware creates a VMware snapshot before the SimpliVity backup process backs up the VM. The SimpliVity backup process deletes the VMware snapshot when the backup completes. The process of creating an application consistent backup can take a long time to complete. When planning your VM backup strategy: Consider creating application consistent backups only during times of low system activity. Supplement your application consistent backups by creating more frequent (and faster) policy backups that are not application consistent. Disaster Protected Backups When planning a backup strategy, consider not only the frequency of backup operations, but also the amount of data protection that a backup provides. The level of data protection depends on the specified destination datacenter for the backup: Local datacenter backup. The backup is stored in the same datacenter in which the VM resides. A local backup does not protect against a disaster that involves a catastrophic loss of datacenter hardware. Remote datacenter backup. The backup is stored in a datacenter that is different from the one in which the VM resides. Remote backups protect against a disaster that involves a complete loss of datacenter hardware. For disaster protection, the backup datacenter must use hardware that is in a different physical location from the VM datacenter. Remote datacenter backup requires OmniCube systems in multiple datacenters. See also Federations in Linked Mode vcenter Servers on page

177 8 - Data Protection and Recovery Manual Backups of Federation Virtual Machines You can create a manual backup of a VM at any point in time, although you will probably also want to regularly schedule backups by using a backup policy. See Creating a Backup Policy on page 179. Table-18shows the information that you need for a manual backup: Data Table-18 Information Required for a Manual VM Backup Description Backup name By default, the backup name consists of the original VM name with the suffix - backup-yyyy-mm-dd-hh:mm:ss. Backup destination You can amend the proposed name, providing the custom name that you specify is unique. A destination datacenter to contain the backup. Remote datacenters provide greater disaster protection. Application consistent Specify if you want to include a VMware application consistent snapshot. It takes longer to complete such backups. See Application Consistent Backups on page 176. Creating a Manual Backup of a VM To create a manual backup of a Federation virtual machine (VM) at the current point in time: 1. Do either of the following to open the Backup Virtual Machine dialog (Figure-49). Right-click the VM in the vsphere Client inventory panel and select SimpliVity - Backup Virtual Machine. Select the VM in the vsphere Client inventory panel, click the SimpliVity tab, click the task icon ( ) in the Backups panel in the Federation Virtual Machines window (Figure- 47), then click Backup Virtual Machine. 2. Edit or accept the Backup Name. 3. Select a Datacenter to contain the backup. 4. [Optional] Click Advanced if you want an application consistent backup, then check Application Consistent. 5. Click Backup and monitor the task in the vsphere Recent Tasks panel. 177

178 8 - Data Protection and Recovery Figure-49: Backup Virtual Machine To display the backups for a VM, see Displaying Backups for a Federation Virtual Machine on page 194. To restore a VM from a backup, see Recovering Federation Virtual Machine Data on page 204. Policies for Scheduled Backup Operations It is important to regularly backup your data. Backup policies enable you to schedule backup operations for Federation virtual machines (VMs). Backup policies also enable you to create a mix of both application-consistent and non-application consistent backups. You can transmit backups to both local and remote datacenters for enhanced virtual machine data security. Important: See the time zone information in Setting the Datacenter Time Zone on page 55 to make sure that policy rules create backups at the correct local time. Note: Scheduled backups are assigned a name based on the timestamp indicating when the backup started. To schedule backup operations, you create a backup policy and then add one or more rules to the policy. A policy must have at least one rule to create backups. A backup policy rule includes: Backup schedule. Destination datacenter for the backups. Whether the backup is application consistent. Maximum number of backups to retain. Note: If you delete or change a backup policy rule, the policy preserves all backups previously created under that rule and they continue to consume storage space. You must manually delete the preserved backups. See About Backup Filtering on page 186 for information about finding backups of a specific type. 178

179 8 - Data Protection and Recovery When you create a datastore, you must specify the default backup policy for new virtual machines created in the datastore. After you create a virtual machine, you can specify a different backup policy for the virtual machine. If you change the default backup policy for a datastore, the change applies only to new virtual machines created in the datastore. You can also specify backup policies for individual virtual machines. At any time, you can also create a manual backup of a virtual machine. Related Topics Changing the Backup Policy for a Federation Virtual Machine on page 185 Manual Backups of Federation Virtual Machines on page 177 Creating a Backup Policy on page 179 About Backup Policy Rules on page 181 Displaying Backup Policies and Rules on page 184 Deleting a Backup Policy on page 184 Renaming a Backup Policy on page 185 About Backup Filtering on page 186 Creating a Backup Policy You can create a backup policy at any time. See Policies for Scheduled Backup Operations on page 178 for information about backup policies and backup policy rules. To create a backup policy: 1. If you are creating a backup policy as a standalone task, do the following. Otherwise, go to Step 2. (Alternatively, you can right-click the Federation vcenter and click SimpliVity - Create Backup Policy.) a. Click the Federation Datacenter. b. Click the SimpliVity tab and scroll down to the Datastores panel. c. Click the task icon ( ) in the Datastores panel in the Federation Datacenter window (Figure- 20). d. Click Create Backup Policy. 2. If you are creating a backup policy as part of creating a datastore or assigning a backup policy to a datastore or VM, do either of the following: Click Create next to the Backup Policy field in the Create Datastore dialog (Figure-41) Click Create in the Set Backup Policy dialog (Figure-43 and Figure-55). 179

180 8 - Data Protection and Recovery 3. Specify the backup policy name in the Create Policy dialog (Figure-50). 4. Click Create Policy. 5. Either: Click Close to create the policy without a rule. A backup policy must contain at least one rule in order to create backups. Click New to add a rule or rules to the policy. At a minimum, specify the frequency of backups and the retention time. See About Backup Policy Rules on page 181. After you create the rule, the Create Backup Policy dialog lists the new rule or rules (Figure-51). 6. Click Close to create the policy. Figure-50: Create Policy No Rule Figure-51: Create Policy Two Rules You can also create a backup policy when assigning a backup policy to a datastore or a VM. See: 180

181 8 - Data Protection and Recovery Creating a Datastore in a Federation on page 156 Changing the Backup Policy for a Federation Datastore on page 159 Changing the Backup Policy for a Federation Virtual Machine on page 185 About Backup Policy Rules You can modify a backup policy and add and delete rules at any time. A backup policy must contain at least one rule to create backups. See Creating a Backup Policy on page 179. A backup policy can contain a large number of rules. For a comprehensive VM backup strategy, add rules to create a mix of local and remote backups. In addition, create a mix of backups that are, and are not, application consistent. You can also assign policies to individual VMs and tailor the policy rules to best protect the VM. Prerequisites for Backup Policy Rules Table-19 and Table-20 describe the basic and advanced options available when creating a backup policy. Table-19 Backup Policy Rules Basic Options Frequency The number of times to create a backup in a specified period, such as 1 per hour or 1 per 10 minutes. The minimum frequency interval is 10 minutes. Retention Destination Length of time to retain the backups before the policy deletes it automatically to create room for new backups. The datacenter to contain the backups. Specify a remote datacenter for disaster tolerance. Table-20 Backup Policy Rules Advanced Options Server Local Time Start Server Local Time End Days of the Week Days of the Month Specify a start time in 24-hour clock format based on the server clock. For example, if the start time is 11:00 and the frequency is set to 10 minutes, backups occur at 11:10, 11:20, and so on. The default is no start time. The policy creates backups all day at the specified frequency. Specify an end time in 24-hour clock format based on the server clock. After the end time, the policy creates no backups until the next daily start time. The default is no end time. The policy creates backups all day at the specified frequency. You can specify all days of the week, or one or more individual days, such as Monday, Friday, and Sunday. You can specify: The first and last day of the month by the strings first and last. Numbered day of the month such as 1, 12, 23 in the range 1 28 days. 181

182 8 - Data Protection and Recovery Days of the week, such a Monday, Wednesday, Friday. You can use a comma or dash to separate items. For example, if you want backups to run only on the first and third weeks of the month, you can specify, "1-7,15-21". If you want backups on the 15th and last days of the month, and on every Tuesday, you could specify "15, last, Tuesday." Application Consistent Note: Do not use days 29, 30, and 31 in monthly schedules. For example, to take backups on every calendar day of the month (for every month of the year) do not specify days in the schedule. Include a VMware application consistent snapshot. This might take longer to complete, and you should consider increasing the time between backups and scheduling them for periods when I/O is at a minimum. See Application Consistent Backups on page 176. Adding or Deleting Backup Policy Rules To add or delete a backup policy rule: 1. Do one of the following Select the VM in the vsphere Client inventory panel, click the SimpliVity tab, click the task icon ( ) in the Backups panel in the Federation Virtual Machine window (Figure-47), and click Edit Policy. Select the datacenter where the Federation resides in the vsphere Client inventory panel, click the SimpliVity tab, click the task icon ( ) in the Datastores panel in the Federation Datacenter window (Figure-20), and click Edit Backup Policy. Right click the vcenter (root of the vsphere inventory) and click Edit Backup Policies. 2. Select the policy name from the pull-down menu in the Edit Backup Policy dialog (Figure-52). You can then: Select an existing rule and click Delete to remove it. Click Add to create a new rule: a. In the Create Policy Rule dialog (Figure-53), specify: Frequency The time interval at which backups are taken. Retain backups for The length of time to retain backups. Destination datacenter The location to contain backups. b. To create the new policy rule with basic settings only, go to Step Click Advanced to specify more control over the schedule for backups. Specify the following: Server Local Time Start A start time in 24-hour clock format. Server Local Time End An end time in 24-hour clock format. Day of the week Days on which to create backups. Days of the month Calendar days, days of the week, and dates to create backups. 182

183 8 - Data Protection and Recovery Application Consistent Preserve application data and state in the backup. 4. Click Create Rule. The Edit Backup Policy dialog displays the new rule. 5. Click New to add another rule and repeat Step 2 through Step 4 as necessary. 6. Click OK when you have finished adding or deleting rules. Figure-52: Edit Backup Policies Figure-53: Create Policy Rule Automatic Adjustment of Policy Rules If the frequency and retention data that you specify does not result in an optimum number of backups, the retention time might be adjusted as shown in Figure-54. Figure-54: Policy Rule Adjustment 183

184 8 - Data Protection and Recovery 1. Click No to reject the adjusted retention time, and to specify an alternate frequency and retention time. 2. Click Yes to use the adjusted time. This automatically updates the settings shown in the Create Policy Rule dialog (Figure Click Create Rule in the Create Policy Rule. See also: Changing the Backup Policy for a Federation Virtual Machine on page 185 Changing the Backup Policy for a Federation Datastore on page 159. Displaying Backup Policies and Rules To display backup policies, do either of the following: Click the vcenter in the vsphere Client inventory panel and click the SimpliVity tab to display the Policies panel. Select the VM in the vsphere Client inventory panel, click the SimpliVity tab, click the task icon ( ) in the Backups panel in the Federation Virtual Machines window (Figure-47), and click Edit Policy. 1. Click the plus (+) icon next to a policy in the Policies panel to display: Rules The current rules created for this policy. See About Backup Policy Rules on page 181. Datastores The datastores and datacenters to which this policy is applied. Virtual Machines The individual Virtual Machines which this policy is applied. 2. Click on column headers to sort and filter the data. See Managing Data in the SimpliVity Graphical User Interface on page Click the task icon ( ) to display the following Policy task options: Create Backup Policy Creates a new backup policy. See Creating a Backup Policy on page 179. Edit Backup Policies Enables you to edit a backup policy. See About Backup Policy Rules on page 181. Delete a Backup Policy See Deleting a Backup Policy on page 184. Rename Policy See Renaming a Backup Policy on page 185. Deleting a Backup Policy You can delete a backup policy from a Federation if it is no longer in use by a datastore or a VM. 184

185 8 - Data Protection and Recovery Note: If you delete a backup policy, all VM backups previously created under that rule are preserved and continue to consume storage space. You must manually delete the backups. See Deleting Backups of a Federation Virtual Machine on page 201. To display policies and rules, see Policies Panel on page 94 and Displaying Backup Policies and Rules on page 184. To delete a backup policy: 1. Click the Federation vcenter and click the SimpliVity tab. 2. Click the task menu, or right-click a policy in the Policies panel. 3. Click Delete Backup Policy. You are prompted to confirm the deletion. 4. Click Yes to delete the selected policy. Note: You cannot delete the last remaining policy for a datastore. However, you can delete all the rules from the last remaining policy if you do not want to create backups in that datastore. See About Backup Policy Rules on page 181. Renaming a Backup Policy You can rename any backup policy that you created. This does not affect any policy assignments, but the policy name changes in any displays that indicate which policy created a VM backup. To rename a backup policy: 1. In vsphere Client inventory click the vcenter containing the Federation. 2. Click the SimpliVity tab to access the Policies panel and select a policy by clicking it. 3. Click the task icon ( ) to open the tasks menu. 4. Click Rename Policy... to open the Rename Policy screen. 5. Enter a new name for the policy and click the Rename button. Changing the Backup Policy for a Federation Virtual Machine Backup policies allow you to schedule VM backup operations. For more information, see Policies for Scheduled Backup Operations on page

186 8 - Data Protection and Recovery All Federation datastore have a default backup policy that applies to all newly-created VMs in that datastore. You can specify a different backup policy for any individual VM to customize its backup schedule. If you modify backup policy rules, all VM backups created under the previous policy rule continue to exist and consume storage space. These backups are automatically deleted according to the retention rules of the previous policy. If you want to remove them sooner, you must manually delete the backups at an appropriate time. See Deleting Backups of a Federation Virtual Machine on page 201. If you want to keep these backups, you can also lock backups to prevent their automatic deletion. See Locking a Backup of a Federation Virtual Machine on page 202. To change the backup policy for a VM: 1. Do one of the following: In the vsphere Client inventory panel, Click a datacenter,then the SimpliVity tab. In the Virtual Machines panel, click the task icon ( ) and select Set Backup Policy. In the vsphere Client inventory panel, right-click the VM, and select Set Backup Policy. In the vsphere Client inventory panel, select the VM, click the SimpliVity tab, click the task icon ( ) in the Backups panel in the Federation Virtual Machine window (Figure-47), and select Set Backup Policy. Select a VM, click the SimpliVity tab, and in the Summary section, click the Set Backup Policy button. 2. In the Set Backup Policy dialog (Figure-55), select the policy from the pull-down menu or click Create to create a new backup policy. See Creating a Backup Policy on page Click Set Backup Policy. Figure-55: VM Set Backup Policy About Backup Filtering A Federation containing many guest virtual machines (VMs) might contain thousands of manual and policy VM backups. SimpliVity s backup filtering feature enables you to manage such large volumes of backups. You can apply custom filters to select relevant backups and then sort the returned list of matching backups. To find and select backups, you can specify: 186

187 8 - Data Protection and Recovery Filters Specify sets of search criteria for specific backup properties such as backup size and date of creation. Queries Specify combinations of several filters that enable you to retrieve a set of backups that have common properties. For example, backups not exceeding a certain size created on a specific date for a VM in a specific location. A Boolean AND operation applies to all filters in a query. Sort Sequence Display retrieved backups in a specified sequence (such as alphanumerically) by the name of the datastore containing the source VM. A filter operation does not refresh automatically. You must use the search button, or the refresh link to force a repeat of the filter operation and to include new data. Your custom filters persist depending on the current backup view In the View All Backups dialog (right-click the vcenter than click SimpliVity - View All Backups) custom filters persist across local vsphere sessions. In the View All Backups option in a Datacenter view, or in the Virtual Machine view custom filters do not persist across local vsphere sessions. For all backup views, a default filter operation persists when there are no custom filters applied. This default filter lists all the backups (manual and policy) created in the preceding two weeks. Maximum Number of Matching Backups Filtering operations limit the maximum number of backups to a matching list length of 500. Even the default option displays only a maximum 500 backups, regardless of the total number of matching backups. This limit ensures that the resulting list loads quickly and efficiently into the vsphere client. If you specify a filter operation and the resulting list exceeds the limit of 500, only the maximum number of 500 matching backups appears in the output data table. You are warned that additional backups match the filter, but are not displayed. You can then refine your filter to reduce the number of matching backups, or specify one or more additional filters to create a compound query. Sorting the Outcome of a Filter or Query You can sort the results of a filtering operation by clicking on column headers, specifying only a single column for an operation at any one time. Sorting occurs on the OmniCube Virtual Controller (not the vsphere Client computer) and the sorting operation applies to all backups that match the filter, even though the filter might match more than the limit of 500 backups. If the sort sequence takes a long time to complete, cancel the operation and refine your filter to reduce the number of matching backups. You can sort in ascending or descending order on the following columns: 187

188 8 - Data Protection and Recovery Column Title Sort Sequence Value or attribute Column Title Sort Sequence Value or attribute Datastore alphabetically String Virtual Machine (name) alphabetically String Name (of backup) alphabetically String Application Consistent Default ascending string No, Yes Source Default ascending string Manual, Policy Status Default ascending string New, Saving, Protected, Failed, Canceled, Canceling, Queued Datacenter alphabetically String Timestamp chronologically Timestamp Size Sent Unique Backup Size Unique Size Calculation Time Default ascending, and then value Default ascending, and then value Default ascending, and then value chronologically nbytes, nkb, nmb, ngb, ntb nbytes, nkb, nmb, ngb, ntb nbytes, nkb, nmb, ngb, ntb Timestamp VM State Default ascending string Active, Removed, Deleted Specifying Filters and Queries You can specify unlimited filters to refine and reduce the type and number of backups returned by a filter operation. You can filter on the following backup properties: Backup Property Description Filter Operator (Condition) Datastore The name of a datastore Equals in the Federation that contains the source VM. Starts With Expires Virtual machine (not shown in VM view) For Policy backups, the date and time at which the backup is automatically deleted. The name of a virtual machine. Ends With Contains Before After On Equals Starts With Filter Values Alphanumeric string and asterisk wildcard. Calendar date (MM/DD/YYYY ) and Time (HH:MM) Alphanumeric string and asterisk wildcard. 188

189 8 - Data Protection and Recovery Backup Property Description Filter Operator (Condition) Ends With Contains Name The name of a backup. Equals Starts With Filter Values Alphanumeric string and asterisk wildcard. Application Consistent Source Status Datacenter (Not shown in Datacenter backup view) Timestamp Size Whether the backup was designated as Application Consistent at the time of creation. The operation that created or controls the backup. The current state of the backup operation. The name of a datacenter that contains the backup. The time that a backup was created. Ends With Contains Match value Match value Match value Equals Starts With Ends With Contains Before After On Logical size of a backup. Equals Greater Than All, Application Consistent, Normal All, Locked, Policy, Manual. All, New, Saving, Protected, Failed, Canceled, Canceling, Queued Alphanumeric string and asterisk wildcard. Calendar date (MM/DD/YYYY ) and Time (HH:MM) nbytes, nkb, nmb, ngb, ntb Less Than Sent Amount of backup data replicated to a datacenter. Equals Greater Than nbytes, nkb, nmb, ngb, ntb Less Than Unique backup size VM state (not shown in VM view) The amount of unique (non-deduplicated) data in a backup. The list must contain backups showing a unique backup size calculation. The current condition of the source VM, including VMs removed from the vsphere inventory, and VMs deleted from storage. Equals Greater Than Less Than Match value nbytes, nkb, nmb, ngb, ntb All, Active, Removed From Inventory, Deleted from Disk Character Matching in Filters String matches are case-insensitive. A datastore that is named ZK01 matches Zk01, zk01, and zk

190 8 - Data Protection and Recovery All string filters support the use of an asterisk (*) in a wildcard pattern, indicating one or more characters. The pattern *0*S matches ZK01-DS or LTN0-DS. The escape character is a backslash (\). To include an asterisk or a backslash in a specified filter string, prefix the asterisk or backslash with a leading backslash. If you want to search for backup names that include nb\*32, you might specify the filter string: b\\\*3. Using the escape character to prefix anything other than an asterisk or another backslash has no effect. The filter operates as if the backslash was not present. Running a Filter Query When you have created a filter or query, you click the Search button (callout 9 in Figure-56) to apply the filter operation. The sequence of operations is: Create your custom filters Click Search filters are validated and applied The backup table is populated with matching backups The filter operation reports: The number of filters applied. The number of matching backups. Whether the number of matching backups exceeded the limit of 500 items. Using the Filter Panel The filter panel is part of the Backup View dialog, available from the Federation, Datacenter, and virtual machine (VM) views. When first opened, the filter panel contains a default filter showing only backups taken in the preceding two weeks. Figure-56 shows the fields and options in the Backups filter panel. Figure-56: Filter Panel Options Filter panel fields 190

191 8 - Data Protection and Recovery Callout Description 1 Number of backups returned by the filter operation. 2 Backup property field. 3 Filter operator (condition). 4 Filter value. 5 Filter error icon. This icon appears if you specify an illegal filter value. Mouse over the error to read tooltips that describe the problem. 6 Hide option. Click to hide or reveal the filter panel. 7 Minus button. Click to delete a filter. 8 Plus button. Click to add a filter. 9 Search button. Click to start or refresh a search. 10 Filter results. This specifies: the number of filters applied, the number of matching backups, and whether the number of matching backups exceeds the limit of Column titles for the backup display table. Adding a New Filter or Query 1. Click the plus button (+) on the far right of any existing filter. The new filter insertion point is at the end of the current list of filters. 2. Select a backup property. 3. Select a filter operator. 4. Select, or specify a filter value. 5. Repeat Step 1 through Step 4 to combine a combination of filters into a query until you have finished adding filters. 6. Click Search to display the list of matching backups. 7. The list might exceed the limit of 500 backups. See Maximum Number of Matching Backups on page 187. Removing a Filter 1. Click the minus button (+) on the far right of any existing filter. 2. Click Search to refresh the display of matching backups. 191

192 8 - Data Protection and Recovery Editing a Filter or Query You can edit an existing filter or query by: Adding and Removing existing filters. See Adding a New Filter or Query on page 191 and Removing a Filter on page 191 Editing an existing filter to: Select different Backup properties. Specify or select different filter operations. Specify different filter values. Exporting Lists of Backups Use the export link to export a list of backups to MS Excel, if that program is available on your local client. The export option is not available in virtual machine view. If the filter operation matches more backups than the limit of 500, the export includes only 500 of the backups. See Maximum Number of Matching Backups on page 187. Troubleshooting Filters and Queries Incorrect Filter Values A filter cannot operate if you do not specify correct filter values or if filters are incomplete. If you specify invalid data, a warning icon appears next to the filter values field when you click Search. (See Using the Filter Panel on page 190.) The following Filtering Error message dialog opens: Place the mouse pointer over the error icon to read a tooltip describing the error. Correct the error in the filter and click Search. The following constraints apply: Free format text fields such as Name, Datacenter, Datastore, and Virtual Machine automatically check that the filtering criteria are not empty. This check occurs when you click Search. 192

193 8 - Data Protection and Recovery When creating filters based on time, for example Timestamp or Unique Size Calculation Time, filter rules allow multiple filters for the same property. However the filters cannot contradict each other. For example, you can specify a filter for After xx/xx/xxxx and a filter for Before yy/yy/yyyy but you cannot combine a filter for On zz/zz/zzzz because On is mutually exclusive (on a specific day.) When creating filters based on a size, for example Size or Sent, filter rules permit multiple instances of the same property. However, these instances cannot contradict each other. For example, you can specify a filter for Size less than and a filter for Size greater than but you cannot combine a filter for Size equals because equals is mutually exclusive. Duplicate Filters You cannot combine multiple filters for certain backup properties, such as Name and Datacenter. If you attempt to do this, the second iteration of the filter is rejected before you press Search. Filtering In Virtual Machine View The Virtual Machine view includes the filter panel in the Backups panel. However this view omits the Virtual Machine and VM State from the property drop-down. Filters that you create in the Virtual Machine view persist across all Virtual Machines during a vsphere session. For example, if the filters are modified when VM-01 is selected and then you select VM-02, the filters are preserved and applied to the newly-selected VM. The filters are not preserved if you close and reopen a vsphere session. Backup Filtering Search and Refresh Options If you click Search your filters are validated and applied immediately, generating a list of matching backups on the server. However if you select the refresh option, the filters are not validated and a list of backups is generated using the last search operation. If you added, removed, or changed any filters since the last search operation, you are prompted to apply the changes when you attempt to refresh the screen: There appear to be one or more unapplied filters. You want to apply these filters when refreshing? If you click Yes the filter operation applies the recent changes. 193

194 8 - Data Protection and Recovery Displaying Backups for a Federation Virtual Machine The amount and type of backup information differs depending on whether you view VM backups from the vcenter, Datacenter, or individual VM. To display the backups for a Federation virtual machine (VM): 1. Click the VM in the vsphere Client inventory panel. 2. Click the SimpliVity tab. Backups of the VM appear in the Backups panel (See VM Backups Panel on page 167) in the Federation Virtual Machine window (Figure-47). You can also do the following: 1. Right-click the VM in the vsphere Client inventory panel. 2. Click View Backups. Backups of the VM appear in the VM Backups (N) panel. The data is similar to that shown in Figure-57, although the default initial view shows fewer columns. Right-click a backup to display available tasks. See Backup Tasks on page 198. Display All Backups in a Federation vcenter To display backups for all VMs in a Federation vcenter: 1. Right-click the Federation vcenter Server. 2. Click SimpliVity - View All Backups. Backups for all VMs appear in the Backups dialog (Figure-57). This list might contain many backups. See About Backup Filtering on page 186. Right-click a backup to display available tasks. See Backup Tasks on page

195 8 - Data Protection and Recovery Figure-57: View All Federation vcenter Backups Table-21, Table-22, and Table-23 describe the backup descriptive data available, depending on the columns that you select to view. Table-21 Backup Identification Data Identifier Datacenter Datastore ID Name Rep task ID Timestamp Virtual Machine The datacenter containing the backup. Description The name of the datastore containing the source VM The unique identifier for this backup. The backup name, either a timestamp when a policy creates the backup or a name assigned when you create a manual backup. Be aware that: The timestamp reflects the time zone setting. See Setting the Datacenter Time Zone on page 55. A plus symbol (+) appended to a backup indicates that one or more policy backups was unable to complete on schedule. This might be due to system unavailability, scheduling conflicts, or any other system issue that prevents the backup from occurring on schedule. In cases where you send the backup to a remote location, the identifier of the transfer task. The date and time of the backup. The name of the VM that is the source of this backup. 195

196 8 - Data Protection and Recovery Table-22 Backup Attributes Data Attribute Description Value Application Consistent Whether VMware snapshot is included in the backup, enabling you to restore the VM in an application consistent state. Yes or No. Source The operation that created the backup. Policy An automatic policy created the backup. The backup is subject to automatic deletion when its retention period expires or when the maximum number of backups is exceeded. In the latter case, the oldest backups (for a particular rule) are deleted first. You can lock a policy backup to prevent its automatic deletion. Unique size calculation time The most recent date and time that you calculated the unique size of this backup. If this date is stale, you might want to recalculate the size before deleting the backup. See Calculating Unique Data in Backups to Reclaim Physical Storage Space on page 111. Manual A user manually created the backup. Manual backups are not deleted automatically, you must delete them manually or they persist indefinitely. Locked A user has locked a policy backup to prevent its automatic deletion. The backup is preserved until you delete it manually. Timestamp. Table-23 Backup Status Data Data item Expires Sent Status Description The date and time when the policy will remove this backup. In cases where you send the backup to a remote location, the volume of data in transfer or transferred The status of the backup operation Timestamp. Data volume in MB, GB or TB. Value New The VM copy for a remote backup is complete, but the replication to the remote site has not yet begun. The state will change to saving or failed. Queued The backup is waiting to be replicated to a remote datacenter. Backups that are destined for a remote datacenter will go through the following states: New, Queued, Saving, Protected. If replication to a remote datacenter is not successful, the backup may alternate between Queued and Saving. When successfully replicated, it will go to the Protected state. Saving The backup replication is in progress. The state will change to protected or failed. Failed The backup was unsuccessful. Delete such backups and if the outcome of backup operations fails consistently, contact your support provider. 196

197 8 - Data Protection and Recovery Data item VM State Size Unique Backup Size Description The condition of the source VM. In cases where the original VM does not exist (deleted from the Federation), this column identifies its persistent backups. You can use this information to recover deleted VMs or clean up unwanted backups. The logical size of the backup. The amount of unique data in this backup. This is useful for determining which backups to delete to free up storage space. Value Protected The backup is successful and the data protected. If the backup was a remote backup, successful replication to the remote site has also completed. Unknown The backup is in an indeterminate state. Delete such backups and if the outcome of backup operations persist as Unknown, contact your support provider. Canceling A transient state. The backup operation is responding to a manual cancellation of a backup in progress. Canceled The backup operation was successfully canceled. Active The VM is active in the vsphere inventory. Deleted The VM data was deleted from disk and recoverable only by restoring a persistent backup. Removed The VM was removed from the vsphere inventory, but its data persists in the datastore and you can recover the VM without recovering from backup. Data volume in MB, GB or TB. Data volume in MB, GB or TB. Display all Backups in a Datacenter To display the VM backups for all the VMs in a Federation datacenter, including backups for deleted and removed VMs: 1. Select vcenter Server in the vsphere Client inventory panel. 2. Click the SimpliVity tab to open the Federation Overview window (Figure-16). 3. Select a datacenter in the Datacenters panel. 4. Click the task icon ( ) and select View Backups. You can also do the following: 1. Right-click the datacenter in the vsphere Client inventory panel. 2. Click View Backups in Datacenter. Backups of the VM appear in the Backups in Datacenter (N) panel. The available data is the same as that shown in Figure-57. Right-click a backup to display available tasks. See Backup Tasks on page

198 8 - Data Protection and Recovery Backup Tasks Depending on how you view backups, one or more of the following tasks might be accessible. Either right-click a backup, or click the task icon ( ) in a backup view (when available) to access the tasks. Table-24 describes the tasks available. Table-24 Backup Tasks Task Description Reference Backup Virtual Machine Restore Virtual Machine Rename Backup Lock Backup Copy Backup Delete Backup Cancel Backup Set Backup Policy Creates a point-in-time backup of a VM, optionally application consistent. Restores a VM from a backup, either to replace a missing VM or to create a point-in-time copy of a VM. Change the automatic backup name to a custom name, or modify an existing custom name. Preserves automatic (policy) VM backups, preventing them from deletion according to the policy's backup retention period. Copies VM backups to remote datacenters for additional data security. Permanently removes a VM backup, The data is unrecoverable. Cancels a backup operation that is in progress. Sets the backup policy for a VM, instead of using the default policy (or a previously specified policy). Edit Policy Edits a backup policy to change its identification information or policy rules. Refresh Refreshes the list of backups displayed. N/A Manual Backups of Federation Virtual Machines on page 177 Recovering Federation Virtual Machine Data on page 204 Renaming a Backup of a Federation Virtual Machine on page 203 Locking a Backup of a Federation Virtual Machine on page 202 Copying a Backup of a Federation Virtual Machine on page 200 Deleting Backups of a Federation Virtual Machine on page 201 Canceling a Backup of a Federation Virtual Machine on page 198 Changing the Backup Policy for a Federation Virtual Machine on page 185 About Backup Policy Rules on page 181 Canceling a Backup of a Federation Virtual Machine You can cancel a backup that is in progress. If you attempt to cancel an application consistent backup (perhaps because the backup is taking a long time to complete) be aware that this does not cancel the VMware snapshot. However, it will cancel the remaining SimpliVity backup task, including copying the backup to a remote destination. The backup might still take some time to cancel. 198

199 8 - Data Protection and Recovery Note: Due to timing issues, you might attempt to cancel a backup-in-progress that is actually completed and pending a status update. In this case, an error dialog warns you that the backup is complete. You can cancel a backup only when it is in one of the following states: See: New The VM copy for a remote backup is complete, but the replication to the remote site has not yet begun. The state will change to saving or failed. This state is transient, and it is unlikely to coincide that the cancel operation. Queued The backup is waiting to be replicated to a remote datacenter. Backups that are destined for a remote datacenter will go through the following states: New, Queued, Saving, Protected. If replication to a remote datacenter is not successful, the backup may alternate between Queued and Saving. When successfully replicated, it will go to the Protected state. You might not be able to cancel backups in the queued state may, depending whether they are queued for a first replication attempt or a retry. Saving The backup replication is in progress. The state will change to protected or failed. This state can take some time to complete and is likely to coincide with the cancel operation. Displaying Backups for a Federation Virtual Machine on page 194 for information about displaying backups. About Backup Filtering on page 186 for information about sorting and filtering backups. To cancel a backup: 1. Select the VM in the vsphere Client inventory panel. 2. Click the SimpliVity tab. 3. Select the backup in the Backups panel in the Federation Virtual Machine window (Figure-47). 4. Click the task icon ( ) in the Backups panel. 5. Select Cancel Backup. You are prompted to confirm the cancellation. Alternatively: 1. Right-click the VM in the vsphere Client inventory panel. 2. Click View Backups. 3. Right-click the backup in the Backups panel in the Federation Virtual Machine window (Figure-47). 4. Select Cancel Backup. You are prompted to confirm the cancellation. 199

200 8 - Data Protection and Recovery Copying a Backup of a Federation Virtual Machine You can copy a backup to another (possibly remote) datacenter for additional protection. If you are copying the backup to preserve an additional copy, you might also want to lock the local copy to preserve it from automatic deletion under the backup policy rules. See Locking a Backup of a Federation Virtual Machine on page 202. See: Displaying Backups for a Federation Virtual Machine on page 194 for information about displaying backups. About Backup Filtering on page 186 for information about sorting and filtering backups. Copying a Backup from the VM View 1. Select the VM in the vsphere Client inventory panel. 2. Click the SimpliVity tab. 3. Select the backup in the Backups panel in the Federation Virtual Machine window (Figure-47). 4. Click the task icon ( ) in the Backups panel. 5. Select Copy Backup to open the Copy Backup Dialog. (See Figure-58). 6. Select a Destination Datacenter to contain the backup copy. Figure-58: Copy Backup Alternatively: 1. Right-click the VM in the vsphere Client inventory panel. 2. Click View Backups. 3. Right-click the backup in the Backups panel in the Federation Virtual Machine window (Figure-47). 200

201 8 - Data Protection and Recovery 4. Select Copy Backup to open the Copy Backup Dialog. (See Figure-58). 5. Select a Destination Datacenter to contain the backup copy. Deleting Backups of a Federation Virtual Machine To delete one or more backups of a Federation virtual machine (VM), in vsphere Client, use one of the following procedures. The following considerations apply: The amount of storage space reclaimed by a backup deletion might take some time to appear in the storage capacity displays. See Displaying Information About a Federation Datacenter on page 100. Deleting a large number of backups might take a long time to complete. The delete dialog stays open during the deletion task, preventing you from starting any other tasks in this session. A status message appears in the vsphere Recent Tasks panel, indicating when the task is complete. There are several ways to select backups for deletion: Click a row to select one backup Use Ctrl-Click to select non-contiguous rows containing backups Use Shift-click to select contiguous rows containing backups See About Backup Filtering on page 186for information about finding and sorting backups. Deleting a Backup from the VM View 1. Select the VM in the vsphere Client inventory panel. 2. Click the SimpliVity tab. 3. Select one or more backups in the Backups panel in the Federation Virtual Machine window (Figure- 47). 4. Click the task icon ( ) in the Backups panel or right-click on the selection to display the context menu. 5. Click Delete Backup. You are prompted to confirm the deletion. Deleting a Backup from the Datacenters Panel 1. Select vcenter Server in the vsphere Client inventory panel. 2. Click the SimpliVity tab. 3. Click the task icon ( ) in the Datacenters panel in the Federation Overview window (Figure-16). 4. Click View Backups to open the list of backups. 5. Select Backups, then one or more backups in the Backups dialog (Figure-57). 201

202 8 - Data Protection and Recovery 6. Click the task icon ( ) or right-click on the selection to display the context menu. 7. Click Delete Backup. You are prompted to confirm the deletion. Deleting a Backup from the Datacenter 1. Select the datacenter in the vsphere Client inventory panel. 2. Click the SimpliVity tab. 3. Click the task icon ( ) in the Capacity panel in the Federation Datacenter window (Figure-20). 4. Select Backups, then one or more in the Backups dialog (Figure-57) 5. Click the task icon ( ) or right-click on the selection to display the context menu. 6. Click Delete Backup. You are prompted to confirm the deletion. Locking a Backup of a Federation Virtual Machine You can lock automatic (policy) VM backups, preventing them from deletion according to the policy retention rules. You can always manually delete a locked backup. After you lock a backup, it is shown as locked in the backups display. However, you can still perform operations such as restore and rename. See: Displaying Backups for a Federation Virtual Machine on page 194 for information about displaying backups. About Backup Filtering on page 186 for information about sorting and filtering backups. To lock a VM backup: 1. Select the VM in the vsphere Client inventory panel. 2. Click the SimpliVity tab. 3. Select the backup in the Backups panel in the Federation Virtual Machine window (Figure-47). 4. Click the task icon ( ) in the Backups panel. 5. Select Lock Backup. You are prompted to confirm that you want to exclude this backup from scheduled clean-up. Alternatively: 1. Right-click the VM in the vsphere Client inventory panel. 202

203 8 - Data Protection and Recovery 2. Click View Backups. 3. Right-click the backup in the Backups panel in the Federation Virtual Machine window (Figure-47). 4. Select Lock Backup. You are prompted to confirm that you want to exclude this backup from scheduled clean-up. Renaming a Backup of a Federation Virtual Machine Renaming an automatic (policy) backup does not prevent it from automatic deletion under backup policy retention rules. To prevent a backup from automatic deletion, lock the backup. See Locking a Backup of a Federation Virtual Machine on page 202. See: Displaying Backups for a Federation Virtual Machine on page 194 for information about displaying backups. About Backup Filtering on page 186 for information about sorting and filtering backups. To rename a backup: 1. Select the VM in the vsphere Client inventory panel. 2. Click the SimpliVity tab. 3. Select the backup in the Backups panel in the Federation Virtual Machine window (Figure-47). 4. Click the task icon ( ) in the Backups panel. 5. Click Rename Backup to open the Rename Backup dialog. (Figure-59). 6. Enter the new name for the backup and click Rename. Figure-59: Rename Backup Alternatively: 1. Right-click the VM in the vsphere Client inventory panel. 2. Click View Backups. 203

204 8 - Data Protection and Recovery 3. Right-click the backup in the Backups panel in the Federation Virtual Machine window (Figure-47). 4. Click Rename Backup to open the Rename Backup dialog. (Figure-59). 5. Enter the new name for the backup and click Rename. Recovering Federation Virtual Machine Data There are two methods of restoring a VM: Replace an existing virtual machine This option destroys the existing VM and all its data, replacing it with the content of the backup at the point in time of backup creation. The replacement VM inherits the backup policy that was assigned to the original VM. Create new virtual machine This option creates a new virtual machine with the same attributes as the backup source. However, the data (and application state, if application consistent) represents the point in time of backup creation. You might use this option to create a new virtual machine for parallel testing and verification before you remove an existing VM. The new VM inherits the default backup policy of the datastore in which it resides. You must manually assign the required policy When you create a new VM: You can select a datastore to contain the restored VM. If the selected datastore is unavailable, the restore task waits until the datastore is back online. The procedure appends the suffix -restore-<timestamp> to the original VM name when it automatically creates a unique name for the restored VM. You can change this name by renaming the backup before you restore the VM (see Renaming a Backup of a Federation Virtual Machine on page 203). The backup persists after the restore operation, either indefinitely (a manual backup) or until it is automatically deleted according to the policy retention rule (automatic backup). As long as it persists, you can use the backup for subsequent restore operations. To restore a VM: 1. In the vsphere Client inventory panel, do one of the following: Select the VM, click the SimpliVity tab, select the backup in the Backups panel in the Federation Virtual Machine window (Figure-47), click the task icon ( ) in the Backups panel, and select Restore Virtual Machine. Select the vcenter Server, click the task icon ( ) in the Datacenters panel in the Federation Overview window (Figure-16), select Backups, select the backup in the Backups dialog (Displaying Backups for a Federation Virtual Machine on page 194), click the task icon, and select Restore Virtual Machine. 204

205 8 - Data Protection and Recovery Select the datacenter, click the SimpliVity tab, click the task icon ( ) in the Capacity panel in the Federation Datacenter window (Figure-20), select Backups, select the backup in the Backups dialog (Displaying Backups for a Federation Virtual Machine on page 194), click the task icon, and select Restore Virtual Machine. 2. In the Restore Virtual Machine dialog (Figure-60), check one of the following options: a. Replace existing virtual machine. This option: Powers off the VM if it is powered on. The VM remains powered off after the restore. Destroys the existing VM and all its current data. Leaves the existing VM's backups unchanged. b. Create new virtual machine, specifying: A datastore to contain the restored VM. A VM name. 3. Click Restore. If you chose to replace the existing VM, you are prompted to confirm the restore. Figure-60: Restore Virtual Machine 205

206 206

207 9 - Upgrading Software and Hardware 9 - Upgrading Software and Hardware SimpliVity regularly releases new and updated hardware and software revisions providing feature enhancements and bug fixes as documented in the OmniCube Release Notes. These enhancements and fixes may require you to upgrade the following software and hardware used in a Federation: OmniStack software, Using the GUI. See OmniStack Software Upgrade on page 207. SimpliVity vsphere Extension (plug-in) on each computer running vsphere Client. See Upgrading the SimpliVity vsphere Extension on page 220. SimpliVity Arbiter on the computer running vcenter Server. See Upgrading the SimpliVity Arbiter on page 221. Federation OmniCube hardware. See Upgrading or Replacing OmniCube Hardware on page 221. To determine current software revisions: 1. In the vsphere Client, click the Plug-ins menu. 2. Click About SimpliVity. Notification of upgrades is available from SimpliVity's customer support Web site at or from your support provider. OmniStack Software Upgrade When OmniStack Software upgrade bundles are available from SimpliVity, you can perform a rolling upgrade of all systems in a Federation. You upgrade OmniCube systems by datacenter or by individual OmniCube. You must upgrade all Federation OmniCube systems to the same revision there is no provision to run mixed-version Federations, except very briefly during the upgrade procedure. Important: Do not upgrade OmniCube Cloud Datacenters until you have upgraded (but not committed) all physical OmniCube systems. See Upgrading the OmniStack Software in Datacenter on page 213. A Federation upgrade is not made permanent (and new software features are not accessible) until you commit the upgrade. If you decide not to proceed with an upgrade for any reason, you can roll back an uncommitted upgrade to the previous software revision. When you commit an upgrade, you irreversibly upgrade all OmniCube systems in a Federation. You cannot downgrade (revert) a Federation to a previous release. However, you can remove and then redeploy individual OmniCube systems, resetting the software version to the factory default version. You cannot perform any further upgrades until you either commit the most recent upgrade, or you roll it back. A reset to factory defaults is not a customerconfigurable option. Contact SimpliVity support at: 207

208 9 - Upgrading Software and Hardware An OmniStack software upgrade revises the SimpliVity OmniStack software components on the Virtual Controller, and might include a firmware upgrade to the OmniCube Accelerator PCI card. Upgrades of the SimpliVity vsphere Extension (Plug-in) and SimpliVity Arbiter are separate, and might be required for a particular OmniStack Software upgrade. See the information provided with the OmniStack Software upgrade bundle to determine which versions of the plug-in and the Arbiter are supported for a particular release of the OmniStack software. To determine the current SimpliVity vsphere Extension (Plug-in) and SimpliVity Arbiter software versions, see the OmniCube Release Notes. The revision number of the OmniStack software has the format N.N.N, such as In some instances, an additional integer indicates a specific release, such as To determine the current software version, see Displaying Information About a Federation Datacenter on page 100. The package includes the OmniCube Release Notes to provide release-specific information, and inform you about: Constraints on upgrading from specific versions (upgrade paths) or interoperability constraints for hardware. Whether the upgrade bundle contains additional items, such as hardware platform firmware (BIOS) revisions. Release-specific upgrade procedures. Figure-61 shows the steps in the OmniStack software upgrade process. Figure-61: Overview of the Upgrade Process Callout Description 1 Download the software upgrade bundle from SimpliVity. 2 Upload the software upgrade package to the Federation from your client computer. 3 Upgrade entire datacenters. 4 Upgrade individual OmniCube systems. 5 Rollback an individual OmniCube upgrade if you decide not to proceed. 6 Commit the upgrade across the entire Federation. 208

209 9 - Upgrading Software and Hardware Overview of the OmniStack Software Upgrade Process You use the SimpliVity vsphere Extension (GUI) to upgrade the OmniStack software. The upgrade procedure does not require you to shutdown or reboot Federation OmniCube Systems if the upgrade does not include platform firmware (BIOS) revisions that require an automatic reboot. To make sure that your Federation remains in operation during an upgrade, SimpliVity recommends that you read the Preparing for Software Upgrades section. Preparing for an upgrade enables you to complete it in a much shorter time. Preparing for Software Upgrades SimpliVity recommends the following preparation: Read the Release Notes The OmniCube Release Notes contain upgrade information that is specific to the software release, such as: Whether a platform firmware revision is included in the upgrade package. Whether the upgrade requires a SimpliVity vsphere Extension or SimpliVity Arbiter upgrade. What are the supported upgrade paths (version-to-version). Whether there are any post-upgrade compatibility changes. For example, required VMware ESXi, vsphere, or vcenter Server versions. Scheduling Upgrades Most upgrades do not require shutdowns, reboots, or VM migration. However, you should schedule upgrades during a planned maintenance window or during a time when you expect minimal Federation use. The following scheduling considerations apply: Avoid upgrading when VM I/O is high. Consider quiescing VMs that typically have a high rate of I/O. Make sure that the Federation is healthy and that there are no unacknowledged alarms, events, or tasks pending. If you are sharing SimpliVity datastores with non-simplivity ESXi hosts, make sure that these hosts do not generate high I/O traffic during the upgrade. VM Operations During Upgrades Avoid the following VM operations during upgrades: Manual backups, VM clones, or application consistent backups during the upgrade. 209

210 9 - Upgrading Software and Hardware Moving VMs by using SimpliVity - Move Virtual Machine or VMware vmotion, and do not move the VMs between Datacenters that are at a different software revision. For automated (Policy) Backups, make sure that your backup schedule is current and that the upgrade does not coincide with a heavy backup workload. Note: Tasks such as policy (automated) backups might fail if a backup event occurs during a critical time in the upgrade procedure. Examine the VM alarms after an upgrade to look for automated backup failure events and create manual supplemental backups if necessary. Network Requirements for Upgrades Make sure your network is functioning correctly, and that: You do not attempt the upgrade over a WAN. The client system must be in the same local network as the Federation OmniCube systems. If you must work remotely, use Windows remote desktop to connect to a vsphere Client that is local to the Federation. Make sure you upload the upgrade package only to a Datacenter that is local to the client and OmniCube system that you intend to upgrade. Storage HA Compliance Two or more Federation OmniCube systems in a datacenter will automatically provide Storage High Availability (Storage HA), where data is synchronized between OmniCube systems for disaster tolerance. Consequently, you must avoid starting an upgrade until all guest VMs are synchronized (Storage HA Compliant). If one or more guest VMs are out of Storage HA compliance, the upgrade fails, requiring a repeat of the upgrade operation. During upgrade, guest VMs might temporarily go out of Storage HA compliance and will generate warning messages in the vsphere Client. Be aware that you can override the Storage HA compliance requirement if you know that it might take a long time for VMs to synchronize, and you do not want to wait. However, overriding Storage HA compliance might make guest VM data unavailable for some indeterminate amount of time after the upgrade completes. Important: When you upgrade a single-omnicube datacenter, VMs running on the datacenter lose access to storage during the upgrade. You must shut down and power off VMs until the upgrade is complete. OmniStack Software Downgrades Software downgrades are not supported and you cannot reverse a committed upgrade. 210

211 9 - Upgrading Software and Hardware However, the OmniCube can be removed from the Federation, reset to the factory defaults (the software version on the OmniCube when it shipped from SimpliVity), and then upgraded to the required version. A reset to factory defaults is not a customer-configurable option. Contact SimpliVity support at: Before Upgrading the Software Before you start an upgrade: vcenter Upgrade If your vcenter requires upgrading, for example if you are upgrading from ESXi 5.1 to 5.5, complete the vcenter upgrade before starting the SimpliVity software upgrade. SimpliVity vsphere Extension (Plug-in) Upgrade If an upgrade requires a revision of the SimpliVity vsphere Extension, upgrade the plug-in before you upgrade the SimpliVity Arbiter or the OmniStack software. See Upgrading the SimpliVity vsphere Extension on page 220. SimpliVity Arbiter Upgrade If an upgrade requires a revision of the SimpliVity Arbiter, upgrade it before you upgrade the OmniStack software. See Upgrading the SimpliVity Arbiter on page 221. Credentials You need: SimpliVity Web site customer account credentials, to download the software package. OmniCube ESXi host root account credentials (for the software package upload). An account with Administrative access to the vcenter server. Upgrade Task Messages Observe the task messages in the vsphere Recent Tasks panel. These messages provide important information about the status and progress of an upgrade. Using the Upgrade Procedures The following upgrade procedure topics are provided: Obtaining the Software Upgrade Package on page 211. Uploading an OmniStack Software Upgrade Package to a Federation on page 212. Upgrading the OmniStack Software in Datacenter on page 213. Upgrading an Individual OmniCube on page 216. Rolling Back an OmniStack Software Upgrade on page 217. Committing an OmniStack Software Upgrade on page 218 Obtaining the Software Upgrade Package To obtain the upgrade package: 211

212 9 - Upgrading Software and Hardware 1. Navigate to the SimpliVity Web Site: URL: 2. Log in using your SimpliVity customer account credentials. (You can create an account at this time if you do not already have one. 3. Look for the entry titled: OmniCube Vn.n.n Upgrade Bundle, where n.n.n is the software revision number. Click this link to open the SimpliVity File Exchange repository.). 4. From the Software Repository, download the software bundle, for example: OmniCube_software_V-n-n-n.zip. 5. Unzip the software bundle to a folder on a vsphere Client that has local network access to the vcenter Server and Federation. The software bundle typically contains the following components: SimpliVity vsphere Extension (plug-in) simplivity-vsphere-plugin-n.n.n.nnn.msi SimpliVity Arbiter simplivity-arbiter-n.n.n.nnn.msi SimpliVity OmniStack Software package: The software tar file SimpliVity-OmniCube-Software-n.n.n.nnn.tar The MD5 checksum file SimpliVity-OmniCube-Software-n.n.n.nnn.md5 The SHA1 package identifier SimpliVity-OmniCube-Software-n.n.n.nnn.sha1 When you have extracted the bundle components, you can do the following (depending on the items contained in the software bundle): Upgrade the SimpliVity vsphere Extension. See Upgrading the SimpliVity vsphere Extension on page 220. Upgrade the SimpliVity Arbiter on the vcenter Server. See Upgrading the SimpliVity Arbiter on page 221. Upload SimpliVity OmniStack Software package to the Federation as described in Uploading an OmniStack Software Upgrade Package to a Federation on page 212, then proceed with the software upgrade. Uploading an OmniStack Software Upgrade Package to a Federation Upload an OmniStack software upgrade package from your Windows Client to a Federation datacenter where you intend to run the upgrade. Do not run the upgrade across a slow network link. 1. Use vsphere Client to connect to the Federation vcenter Server. 2. Click the vcenter (Federation) server in the vsphere inventory and click the SimpliVity tab. 212

213 9 - Upgrading Software and Hardware 3. Click the task icon ( ) in the Datacenters panel to open the task menu. 4. Click Upload Upgrade Package to open the Upload Upgrade Package dialog. 5. Click Browse... to open the Select SimpliVity Upgrade File dialog. 6. Navigate to the folder where you stored the upgrade package download, select the upgrade package file and click Open. 7. Type the OmniCube ESXi host's root credentials and click Upload (Figure-62). An animated bar indicates the upload progress. Do not close this dialog or the upload aborts. Figure-62: Upload Upgrade Package Dialog 8. Wait for the upload to complete, then click Close to exit the Upload Upgrade Package dialog. You can now use the software package to upgrade the Federation datacenter as described in: Upgrading the OmniStack Software in Datacenter on page 213. Upgrading an Individual OmniCube on page 216. Upgrading the OmniStack Software in Datacenter You can update all OmniCube Systems in a datacenter without manual intervention. To upgrade the OmniStack software on all OmniCube systems in a datacenter: 1. Use vsphere Client to connect to the Federation vcenter Server. 2. Click the vcenter (Federation) server in the vsphere inventory and click the SimpliVity tab. 3. Click the task icon ( ) in the Datacenters panel to open the task menu. 4. Click Upgrade Datacenter to open the Upgrade dialog, shown in Figure

214 9 - Upgrading Software and Hardware Figure-63: Upgrade (OmniStack Software) Dialog 5. If required, check the option to Override the requirement that VMs are Storage HA compliant. See Overview of the OmniStack Software Upgrade Process on page 209. Note: You must specify the Override the requirement that VMs are Storage HA compliant option when upgrading a single-omnicube datacenter. 6. Click the pull-down arrow ( ) to display available upgrade packages, as shown in Figure-64. Figure-64: Select an Upgrade Package 7. Click an upgrade package to select it, and then click Upgrade. 8. Click Yes to confirm the datacenter upgrade when prompted. The upgrade procedure automatically begins on the next Federation OmniCube, until all OmniCube systems are at the same software version. An Upgrade in progress... hyperlink appears in the Datacenters panel, under the Upgrade Status column as shown in Figure-65. Figure-65: Datacenter Upgrade Status and Progress 214

215 9 - Upgrading Software and Hardware Click the Upgrade in progress... hyperlink to open the OmniCube Systems panel if you want to verify the upgrade progress on individual OmniCube systems. Post Upgrade Tasks When the upgrade is complete: 1. Wait for all OmniCube upgrades to complete, and for the Federation to return to full Storage HA Compliance. When the upgrade completes: The Upgrade Status in the Datacenters panel changes to: Ready For Commit. The following Warning appears in the vsphere Datacenter Alarms panel: SimpliVity software commit needed. See Commit the Upgrade on page Acknowledge and delete any vcenter warning alarms warning you of the temporary loss of Storage HA Compliance as shown in Figure-66. Figure-66: Upgrade: Storage HA Alarms 3. Acknowledge and delete any VM warning alarms warning you of failed policy (automated) backups, as shown in Figure-67. Figure-67: Upgrade Backup Alarms If necessary, create manual VM backups to replace backups that failed during the upgrade. Repeat the procedure for all other datacenters in a Federation. When all Federation datacenters are upgraded, you can: Commit the Upgrade Permanently apply the change, upgrading the entire Federation to the new software revision. Any new software features become available for use. See Committing an OmniStack Software Upgrade on page

216 9 - Upgrading Software and Hardware Roll Back the Upgrade Revert the datacenter OmniCube systems (or an individual OmniCube) to the previous software revision, deferring the upgrade. See Rolling Back an OmniStack Software Upgrade on page 217. Upgrading an Individual OmniCube In some situations, you may need to upgrade your OmniCube systems individually instead of upgrading all of the systems in a Datacenter at once. Use this section to upgrade individual OmniCubes. 1. Use vsphere Client to connect to the Federation vcenter Server. 2. Click a datacenter in the vsphere inventory and click the SimpliVity tab. 3. Click the task icon ( ) in the OmniCube Systems panel to open the task menu. 4. Click Upgrade OmniCube to open the Upgrade dialog to open the Upgrade dialog, shown in Figure- 68. Figure-68: Upgrade (OmniStack Software) Dialog 5. Click the pull-down arrow ( ) to display available upgrade packages, as shown in Figure-69. Figure-69: Choose an Upgrade Package 6. Click an upgrade package to select it, and then click Upgrade. 216

217 9 - Upgrading Software and Hardware 7. Click Yes to confirm the upgrade when prompted. The Upgrade Status column shows Upgrade in progress... as shown in Figure-70. Figure-70: OmniCube Upgrade In Progress 8. Wait for the upgrade to complete, and for the OmniCube to return to full Storage HA Compliance. 9. Complete the Post Upgrade steps in Upgrading the OmniStack Software in Datacenter on page 213 Important: Repeat the procedure on the next OmniCube, until you have upgraded the entire Federation Datacenter. You can then commit the upgrade. Rolling Back an OmniStack Software Upgrade An OmniStack software upgrade is not made permanent and functional until you have upgraded all OmniCube systems in all Federation datacenters. (See Upgrading the OmniStack Software in Datacenter on page 213.) After you upgrade all OmniCube systems in all datacenters, you can commit the upgrade, irreversibly changing the Federation software revision to the upgrade (new) version. (See Committing an OmniStack Software Upgrade on page 218.) You can roll back an uncommitted OmniStack software upgrade if you decide not to proceed with the upgrade. This rollback operation reverts all uncommitted OmniStack software upgrades to the previously-installed software revision. Important: If the Federation includes one or more OmniCube Cloud Datacenters, be aware that you cannot rollback an upgrade of an OmniCube Cloud Datacenter. Instead, the upgrade process preserves the pre-upgrade version of the OmniCube Cloud Datacenter. See Upgrade a Federation that Includes OmniCube Cloud Datacenter on page 219. To roll back an uncommitted OmniStack software upgrade on an individual OmniCube: 1. Use vsphere Client to connect to the Federation vcenter Server. 2. Click a datacenter in the vsphere inventory and click the SimpliVity tab. 3. Click the task icon ( ) in the OmniCube Systems panel to open the task menu. 4. Click Rollback Upgrade. 5. Click Yes when prompted to confirm the rollback (similar to the dialog shown in Figure-71). 217