#1 HyperConverged Appliance for SMB and ROBO. StarWind Virtual SAN. Hyper-Converged 2 Nodes Scenario with VMware vsphere NOVEMBER 2016 TECHNICAL PAPER

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1 #1 HyperConverged Appliance for SMB and ROBO StarWind Virtual SAN Hyper-Converged 2 Nodes Scenario with VMware vsphere NOVEMBER 2016 TECHNICAL PAPER

2 Trademarks StarWind, StarWind Software and the StarWind and the StarWind Software logos are registered trademarks of StarWind Software. StarWind LSFS is a trademark of StarWind Software which may be registered in some jurisdictions. All other trademarks are owned by their respective owners. Changes The material in this document is for information only and is subject to change without notice. While reasonable efforts have been made in the preparation of this document to assure its accuracy, StarWind Software assumes no liability resulting from errors or omissions in this document, or from the use of the information contained herein. StarWind Software reserves the right to make changes in the product design without reservation and without notification to its users. Technical Support and Services If you have questions about installing or using this software, check this and other documents first - you will find answers to most of your questions on the Technical Papers webpage or in StarWind Forum. If you need further assistance, please contact us. Copyright StarWind Software Inc. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written consent of StarWind Software. In 2016, Gartner named StarWind Cool Vendor for Compute Platforms. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner's research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. About StarWind StarWind is a pioneer in virtualization and a company that participated in the development of this technology from its earliest days. Now the company is among the leading vendors of software and hardware hyper-converged solutions. The company s core product is the years-proven StarWind Virtual SAN, which allows SMB and ROBO to benefit from cost-efficient hyperconverged IT infrastructure. Having earned a reputation of reliability, StarWind created a hardware product line and is actively tapping into hyperconverged and storage appliances market. In 2016, Gartner named StarWind Cool Vendor for Compute Platforms following the success and popularity of StarWind HyperConverged Appliance. StarWind partners with world-known companies: Microsoft, VMware, Veeam, Intel, Dell, Mellanox, Citrix, Western Digital, etc. TECHNICAL PAPER 2

3 Contents Introduction... 4 Solution Diagram... 5 Preparing Hypervisor for StarWind Deployment... 6 Creating Datacenter... 6 Creating a Cluster... 7 Add Hosts to Cluster... 8 Configuring Networks Preparing StarWind VMs Configuring StarWind VMs startup/shutdown Configuring Automatic storage rescan Provisioning Storage With StarWind Creating devices (DS1, DS2) Preparing Datastores Adding Discover portals Creating Datastores Additional tweaks Turn on vsphere HA Feature Conclusion Contacts TECHNICAL PAPER 3

4 Introduction This document provides detailed instructions on how to create a minimal 2-node highly available shared storage configuration with StarWind Virtual SAN. This document will guide you through creating the Storage Controller Virtual Machine and StarWind Virtual SAN installation. StarWind Virtual SAN is a native Windows hypervisor-centric hardware-less VM storage solution. It creates a fully fault tolerant and high performing storage pool built for the virtualization workloads by mirroring existing server s storage and RAM between the participating storage cluster nodes. The mirrored storage resource is then connected to all cluster nodes and treated just as local storage by both hypervisors and clustered applications. This guide is intended for experienced VMware and Windows system administrators and IT professionals who would like to configure StarWind Virtual SAN Hyper-Converged solution for vsphere deployments. It provides a step-bystep configuration guidance for a 2-node vsphere cluster using StarWind Virtual SAN to convert local storage of the ESXi hosts into a fault tolerant shared storage resource for ESXi. A full set of up-to-date technical documentation can always be found here, or by pressing the Help button in the StarWind Management Console. For any technical inquiries please visit our online community, Frequently Asked Questions page, or use the support form to contact our technical support department. TECHNICAL PAPER 4

5 Setup Diagram The diagram bellow illustrates the network and storage setup schematically. TECHNICAL PAPER 5

6 Preparing Hypervisor for StarWind Deployment Creating Datacenter 1. Connect to vcenter, click Getting Started tab, click Create Datacenter and enter Datacenter name TECHNICAL PAPER 6

7 Creating a Cluster 1. Click the Datacenter s Getting Started tab and click Create a cluster. 2. Enter the cluster name and click next. TECHNICAL PAPER 7

8 Add Hosts to Cluster 1. Open your cluster in a tree view and click Add a host. 2. Enter name or IP address of the ESXi host and enter administrative account. Click Next. TECHNICAL PAPER 8

9 3. Verify settings. Click Next. 4. Assign the License. Click Next. TECHNICAL PAPER 9

10 Lockdown mode is not enabled by-default. Click Next. 5. Verify the settings. Click Finish. TECHNICAL PAPER 10

11 6. Add 2 nd host to the cluster. The result should be as on the screen below. TECHNICAL PAPER 11

12 Configuring Networks 1. Create vswitch to use as Management traffic. 2. Create vswitch to use as iscsi and Heartbeat channel. Please note that you should create Virtual Machine Port Group and VMKernel for this vswitch. Jumbo Frames should be enabled on vswitch and VMKernel. TECHNICAL PAPER 12

13 3. Create vswitch to use as SYNC channel. Please note that you should create only Virtual Machine port group here. Jumbo Frames should be enabled on vswitch. 4. Perform the network configuration with same steps as described above on the second ESXi node: Create vswitch to use for Management traffic. 5. Create vswitch to use as ISCSI and Heartbeat channel. Please note that you should create Virtual Machine Port Group and VMKernel for this vswitch. Jumbo Frames should be enabled on vswitch and VMKernel. TECHNICAL PAPER 13

14 6. Create vswitch to use as SYNC channel. Please not that you should create only Virtual Machine port group here. Jumbo Frames should be enabled on vswitch. Repeat these steps in case you have more channels dedicated for Synchronization and iscsi+heartbeat traffic. TECHNICAL PAPER 14

15 Preparing StarWind VMs 1. Create VMs with Windows 2012 R2 where StarWind will be deployed. StarWind VMs on ESXi hosts should be configured with the following settings. Memory: at least 8 Gb (plus size of RAM cache, which you are planning to use) CPUs: 4 virtual sockets, 1 core per socket. Hard disk 1: 100 Gb for OS. Hard disk 2: Size you are planning to use as a shared storage. Note: Each hard disk should be Thick Provisioned Eager Zeroed. Network adapter 1: Management Network adapter 2: iscsi for VMs Network adapter 3: Sync for VMs Note: All Network Adapters should be VMXNET3. TECHNICAL PAPER 15

16 Configuring StarWind VMs startup/shutdown 1. On both ESXi hosts configure the VM startup policy. 2. Start the VMs, install OS and StarWind. TECHNICAL PAPER 16

17 Configuring Automatic storage rescan For each ESXi host configure automatic storage rescan. 1. Download vsphere PowerCLI and install it on each StarWind virtual machine: 2. In the VM running StarWind, open Powershell and change the Execution policy to Unrestricted. 3. Type in Set-ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted and press Enter. TECHNICAL PAPER 17

18 4. Create a script that will do a HBA rescan on the hypervisor host. Add-PSSnapin VMware.VimAutomation.Core Out-Null $ESXiHost1 = IP address $ESXiUser = Login $ESXiPassword = Password Connect-VIServer $ESXiHost1 User $ESXiUser Password $ESXiPassword Out-Null Get-VMHostStorage $ESXiHost1 RescanAllHba Disconnect-VIServer $ESXiHost1 Confirm:$false In the appropriate lines specify the ESXi host IP address and login credentials the StarWind VM will stay on and run. $ESXiHost1 = IP address $ESXiUser = Login $ESXiPassword = Password Save the script as rescan_script.ps1 on C:\ of the VM. NOTE: This script requires PowerCLI 6.3 that in turn requires the.net 4.5. Install the.net 4.5 feature in Server Manager -> Add features (original Media or a connection to Windows Update is required). Download PowerCLI 6.3 from vmware.com TECHNICAL PAPER 18

19 5. Go to Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Task Scheduler -> Create Basic Task, and follow the wizard steps: Click the Next button. 6. Click the Next button. TECHNICAL PAPER 19

20 7. Click the Next button. 8. Click the Next button. TECHNICAL PAPER 20

21 9. In the Add arguments field type: -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -NoLogo -NonInteractive - NoProfile -WindowStyle Hidden -File C:\rescan_script.ps1. Click the Next button. 10. Click Finish to exit the Wizard. TECHNICAL PAPER 21

22 11. Configure the task to run with highest privileges by enabling the checkbox at the bottom of the window. Also, make sure that Run whether user is logged on or not option is selected. 12. Switch to the Triggers Tab. 13. On the Triggers Tab verify that the trigger is set up correctly. TECHNICAL PAPER 22

23 14. Click New and another trigger. 15. Click New again. TECHNICAL PAPER 23

24 16. Switch to the Actions Tab. 17. On the Actions Tab verify the parameters for the task. Press OK and type in the credentials for the user whose rights will be used to execute the command. 18. Do the same steps on the second StarWind VM, specifying the corresponding settings. TECHNICAL PAPER 24

25 Provisioning Storage with StarWind Creating devices (DS1, DS2) 1. Open Add Device (advanced) Wizard. 2. Select Hard disk device as the type of device to be created. Click Next to continue. 3. Select Virtual disk. Click Next to continue. 4. Specify a virtual disk location and size. To connect previously created devices to ESX host, click over Manage tab, then click Storage and choose (or add new if it doesn t exist) the Software iscsi storage adapter. Under Adapter details section click Targets tab. Click Next. TECHNICAL PAPER 25

26 5. Specify virtual disk options. Click Next to continue. Note: Sector size should be 512 bytes in case you are using ESXi. 6. Define the RAM caching policy and specify the cache size (in MB). You can also set maximum available cache size by selecting the appropriate checkbox. Note: Recommended RAM cache size is 1 Gb per 1 Tb of storage. Click Next to continue. TECHNICAL PAPER 26

27 7. Optionally, define the Flash caching policy and the cache size. Note: Recommended Flash cache size is 10% from your Device size. Click Next to continue. TECHNICAL PAPER 27

28 8. Specify target parameters. Select the Target Name checkbox to enter a custom name of a target. Otherwise, the name will be generated automatically in accordance with the specified target alias. Click Next to continue. 9. Click Create to add a new device and attach it to the target. 10. Click Finish to close the wizard. TECHNICAL PAPER 28

29 11. Right-click the recently created device and select Replication Manager from the shortcut menu. 12. Then, click Add replica. 13. Select Synchronous two-way replication as a replication mode. Click Next to proceed. TECHNICAL PAPER 29

30 14. Specify a partner hostname, IP address and port number. Click Next. 15. Choose Create new Partner Device and click Next. TECHNICAL PAPER 30

31 16. Choose device location and specify target name. Otherwise, the name is generated automatically in accordance with the specified target alias. 17. Click Change Network Settings. TECHNICAL PAPER 31

32 18. Specify interfaces for synchronization and Heartbeat channels. Click OK. Then click Next. 19. Choose Synchronize from existing Device TECHNICAL PAPER 32

33 20. Click Create Replica. Click Finish to close the wizard. 21. The successfully added devices appear in the StarWind Console. TECHNICAL PAPER 33

34 22. Follow the similar procedure to create other virtual disks that will be used as Datastores. TECHNICAL PAPER 34

35 Preparing Datastores Adding Discover portals 1. To connect previously created devices to ESX host click over Configuration tab, then click Storage Adapters and choose (or add) the ISCSI storage adapter. Under Details section click Properties tab. 2. Under Dynamic Discovery click the Add button to add iscsi servers. TECHNICAL PAPER 35

36 3. Enter the IP address of the first StarWind node (sw1) from the virtual local network * Click OK. 4. Add the IP address of the second StarWind node (sw2) * Click OK 5. The result should look like the image below. TECHNICAL PAPER 36

37 6. After that rescan storage. 7. Now you should see the previously created StarWind devices. 8. Repeat all steps from this section on the other ESXi node specifying corresponding IP addresses. TECHNICAL PAPER 37

38 Creating Datastores 1. Open one of your hosts Configuration tab and click Storage. 2. Click Add Storage. TECHNICAL PAPER 38

39 3. Select Disk/LUN. 4. Select StarWind Disk DS1. Click Next. TECHNICAL PAPER 39

40 5. Check Current Disk Layout. Click Next. 6. Enter Datastore name (DS1). Click Next. TECHNICAL PAPER 40

41 7. Enter datastore size. Click Next. 8. Verify the settings. Click Finish. TECHNICAL PAPER 41

42 9. Add another Datastore (DS2) in the same way, but select the second device for the second datastore. 10. Verify that your storages (DS1, DS2) are connected to both hosts. Otherwise rescan storage adapter. TECHNICAL PAPER 42

43 11. Right-Click on Datastore and click Properties. 12. Click Manage Paths. TECHNICAL PAPER 43

44 13. Change Path Selection Policy to Round Robin and click Change. 14. Repeat these steps for each Datastore on each host. TECHNICAL PAPER 44

45 Additional tweaks 1. Click configuration tab on one of the hosts and choose Security Profile. 2. Choose SSH and click Options. TECHNICAL PAPER 45

46 3. Start SSH service. 4. Connect to your host using SSH client (e.g. Putty). 5. Check device list using following cmdlet: esxcli storage nmp device list TECHNICAL PAPER 46

47 6. For devices adjust Round Robin size from 1000 to 1 using following cmdlet: esxcli storage nmp psp roundrobin deviceconfig set --type=iops --iops=1 --device= Note. Paste UID of StarWind device in the end of the cmdlet. 7. Repeat these steps on each host and for each Datastore. 8. Click configuration tab on one of the hosts and choose Advanced Settings. TECHNICAL PAPER 47

48 9. Click Disk and change Disk.DiskMaxIOSize option to 512. TECHNICAL PAPER 48

49 Turn on vsphere HA Feature 1. Open cluster Edit Settings and click Turn on vsphere HA. Click OK. Conclusion So far we have covered the configuration of the StarWind VSAN for minimalistic HyperConverged 2-nodes scenario with VMware. All your virtual machines are now stored on a shared storage that is provided by StarWind, VMware HA provides you VMs with redundancy while StarWind is responsible for the storage uptime. The combination of StarWind shared storage and VMware ensures high application and data availability across the entire virtualized environment. Using StarWind VSAN, we ve converted the local storage of both ESXi hosts into a fault tolerant shared storage as we synchronously ''mirror'' the storage between the nodes. The VSAN nested inside a VM and running on both ESXi hosts ensures data safety and maintains continuous application availability. TECHNICAL PAPER 49

50 Contacts US Headquarters EMEA and APAC (UK) (Germany) (France) (Russian Federation and CIS) Customer Support Portal: Support Forum: Sales: General Information: StarWind Software, Inc. 35 Village Rd., Suite 100, Middleton, MA , StarWind Software Inc. All rights reserved. TECHNICAL PAPER 50