Dell PowerEdge R630 Configuration for Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4

Transcription

1 Dell PowerEdge R630 Configuration for Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Deploying a scalable Microsoft Private Cloud on Dell PowerEdge servers Dell ESG Cloud Solutions Marketing Dell Enterprise Solutions Group June 2015

2 THIS WHITE PAPER IS FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY, AND MAY CONTAIN TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS AND TECHNICAL INACCURACIES. THE CONTENT IS PROVIDED AS IS, WITHOUT EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND. Copyright 2015 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Dell and the Dell logo are trademarks of Dell Inc. in the United States and/or other jurisdictions. All other marks and names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective companies. June 2015 Rev 1.0 ii Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

3 Contents Solution overview... 5 Private Cloud Fast Track... 5 Target audience... 6 Tenant VM capacity... 6 Special considerations... 6 Reference architecture components... 7 Components overview... 7 Dell hardware components... 7 Software components... 9 Deployment Deployment overview Preparing rack, power, and cooling Configuring networking Configuring storage Configuring the server hardware Configuring the server software Microsoft System Center Creating the management VMs Private cloud validation Conclusion Appendix A References Appendix B Bill of Materials Appendix C Configuring the Dell PERC Appendix D Installing Windows Server 2012 R Appendix E - Configuring switch stacking on the Dell Networking N4032F Appendix F Installing the Failover Clustering Feature in MS WS 2012 R Appendix G - Creating a Failover Cluster in Windows Server 2012 R Appendix H NIC teaming Appendix I Alternative configurations available using Dell Storage with Microsoft Storage Spaces 137 iii Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

4 Tables Table 1. How System Center 2012 Components Support Cloud Functionality Table 2. Switch and port assignments for the Dell Networking N4032F switches and servers Table 3. Sample hostname and IP addressing Table 4. VM configurations Table 5. VM Distribution Table 6. Bill of materials as configured Table 7. Dell Storage with Microsoft Storage Spaces Configurations Figures Figure 1. Dell PowerEdge solution for Microsoft Private Cloud overview Figure 2. Cabling the Dell PowerEdge solution Figure 3. Storage technologies overview Figure 4. Cabling the Dell PowerEdge R730 SOFS nodes and Dell Storage MD1400 enclosures iv Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

5 Solution overview As the trajectory of today s complex computing and application environments accelerates into the cloud, it is critical for customers to have a defined and validated path for deploying cloud-based architectures as part of their IT strategies. Enterprises and businesses have needs that include high availability, flexibility, efficient use of available resources, and reduction of capital and maintenance expenditures. Private cloud benefits are well documented. Virtualization and high availability using failover clustering maximizes uptime, workload placement, and optimizes disaster recovery. By running mission-critical workloads in a validated Microsoft Private Cloud environment, organizations ensure reliability and maximum utilization of their physical and virtual infrastructure, while also assuring application service levels, and reduced expenditures. This document provides customers with a flexible, scalable Dell-powered Microsoft Private Cloud reference architecture. This reference architecture, validated by Microsoft and tested by Dell, combines Dell PowerEdge rack servers, Dell MD-series storage, and Dell N-Series networking components as well as management technologies to simplify the setup process for customers as they push into private and hybrid cloud technologies. Private Cloud Fast Track The Dell configuration for Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 combines Dell hardware and Microsoft Hyper-V virtualization technologies to provide management, provision storage, supply failover clustering of both hosts and guests, and enable multi-tenant operations. Benefits of this Dell configuration include easy scalability, the added performance of solid-state drives plus high capacity hard drives, and integration of Dell management tools by leveraging the Dell OpenManage Integration Suite for Microsoft System Center. Dell OpenManage integration packages are available as plugins for the various components of Microsoft System Center such as hardware instrumentation in Configuration Manager using Dell Lifecycle Controller, or PowerEdge Server and storage management via MS Virtual Machine Manager. Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 requirements include the following: Fast Track infrastructures must provide a minimum of two hosts configured as a failover cluster, with the Hyper-V role enabled to support fabric management operations. The rack or blade-chassis design must provide redundant power connectivity. The infrastructure must support virtual machine mobility. The infrastructure must support Hyper-V live migration. The infrastructure must support storage migration. All features must work with live migration. 5 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

6 Target audience This reference architecture is a guide for customers and partners who want to deploy a proven solution for MS private or hybrid cloud. This approach provides a blueprint for a highly automated, highly available and cost-effective private or hybrid cloud solution with built-in Azure integration via Windows Azure Pack. The capability for multi-tenancy also makes this configuration ideal as a scalable building block for large enterprises or cloud-based businesses that sell cloud services. Tenant VM capacity In this reference architecture, all components of System Center 2012 R2 are virtualized and use the same hosts as the tenant virtual machines. Each Dell PowerEdge R630 Hyper-V host used in the reference architecture supplies the private cloud solution with 384 GB of memory, 24 cores (48 logical CPU cores with hyperthreading enabled). Three Dell Storage MD1400 storage enclosures supply over 50 TB of mirrored, highly available storage, which includes 3.6 TB of fast SSD storage. At 60 GB per virtual machine, the storage can contain over 900 virtual hard drives. The active/active Microsoft Scale-Out File Server (SOFS) provides fast, reliable SMB3 access to the Dell Storage MD1400 enclosures, using 12Gbps SAS connections. We estimate the three Dell PowerEdge R630 servers in the compute cluster should be able to support anywhere from 57 to tenant VMs, depending on the virtual machine workload. System Center 2012 R2 is highly scalable and supports many hypervisors and operating systems at the host level. More hosts can be added in only a few operations. The addition of more hosts under the management of System Center 2012 R2 will allow virtual machine capacity to be scaled up. Special considerations For validation purposes, we tested a fully self-contained rack to ensure end-to-end interoperability. However, the following considerations may apply and could change the design in individual customer environments based on common or individual best practices: Active Directory Most customers have an existing domain forest built using Microsoft Active Directory Domain Services, but during validation, an AD was deployed within this stack for validation purposes. Some components of System Center have minimum requirements for the level of the Domain Controller. The Domain Controller must be at Windows Server 2003 SP1 or higher. Systems Management A common practice most customers follow is separating management servers from their active compute clusters. For validation purposes, the management servers were deployed in the active compute cluster on this stack. All Microsoft System Center Components we used in the configuration appear in the later section titled Software components, and make use of the most recent Update Rollup packages. 1 For more information on this estimate, see Tenant VM Capacity Estimation in Appendix A. 6 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

7 Storage spaces Dell follows Microsoft s published best practices, using an isolated HA pair of Scale-Out File Servers, and for a true on-premises HA storage environment, this system was deployed in a 2:3 storage node to enclosure configuration. Customers may opt to use Azure cloud for HA instead; however, the first recommendation should always be for no SPOF, and high availability on site. Reference architecture components Components overview This reference architecture is built on a foundation of Dell servers, storage, and networking. Together, the Dell platform for Microsoft Private Cloud provides an integrated architecture that can be quickly and easily deployed using the steps defined in this guide. In this section, we discuss the hardware and software components in detail. Dell hardware components Dell PowerEdge R630-Compute Nodes The Dell PowerEdge R630, one of the Dell 13th generation of servers, was released in September 2014 and features the new Intel Xeon E v3 family of processors. Intel designed these processors to increase energy efficiency, and to have a greater number of cores per socket and larger caches than the previous generation of Intel Xeon processors. The Dell PowerEdge R630 is a 1U, two-socket server with support for up to 768 GB of memory. Twentyfour DIMM slots provide flexibility and support 4/8/16/32 GB DDR4 memory modules. The Dell PowerEdge R630 also can house up to three half-height PCIe cards for additional IO options. Redundant power supplies are available in several different wattages and efficiency standards. Integrated NICs offer multiple port, speed, and interface options, eliminating the need for many PCIe NICs. For internal storage, the Dell PowerEdge R630 can be configured with twenty-four 1.8-inch SATA SSDs, ten 2.5-inch HDD/SSDs (with a PCIe SSD option), or eight 2.5-inch HDD/SSDs. Dell offers four integrated RAID solutions for the PowerEdge R630, including the PERC S130 (Software RAID), PERC H330, PERC H730, and the PERC 730P. In addition, there are internal storage on SD cards for embedded hypervisors. For more information about the PowerEdge R630, refer to the PowerEdge R630 manuals page: Dell PowerEdge R730-Scale-Out File Server Nodes The Dell PowerEdge R730 was released in September 2014 and features the new Intel Xeon E v3 family of processors. Intel designed these processors to increase energy efficiency, and to have a greater number of cores per socket and larger caches than the previous generation of Intel Xeon processors. The Dell PowerEdge R730 is a 2U, two-socket server with support for up to 768 GB of memory. Twentyfour DIMM slots provide flexibility and support 4/8/16/32 GB DDR4 memory modules. The Dell PowerEdge R730 also can be configured with up to three half-height and four full-height PCIe cards for additional IO options. Redundant power supplies are available in several different wattages and 7 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

8 efficiency standards. Integrated NICs offer multiple port, speed, and interface options, eliminating the need for many PCIe NICs. For internal storage, the Dell PowerEdge R730 can be configured with sixteen 2.5-inch drives, or eight 2.5-inch or 3.5-inch HDD/SSDs. Dell offers four integrated RAID solutions for the PowerEdge R730, including the PERC S130 (Software RAID), PERC H330, PERC H730, and the PERC 730P. There is also internal storage on SD cards for embedded hypervisors. For external storage, such as the Dell Storage MD1400 that we use in this reference architecture, Dell offers the 12Gbps SAS HBA for connectivity. For more information about the PowerEdge R730, refer to the PowerEdge R730 manuals page: Dell Storage MD1400 The Dell Storage MD1400 direct-attached storage is an external storage enclosure that can support up to 12 hot-pluggable 3.5-inch Near-Line SAS hard drives, or 2.5-inch SSDs, for up to 72 TB of raw storage in just a 2U enclosure. The MD1400 enclosure offers redundant power supplies, dual enclosure management modules (EMMs), and supports redundant path cabling. MD1400 direct-attached storage enclosures are connected to servers with mini-sas HD cables. Servers that utilize the MD1400 storage using Microsoft Storage Spaces can use the Dell 12Gbps SAS HBA. These Dell SAS HBA cards present the enclosure to Microsoft Storage Spaces, which supports direct control over the drives and manages data redundancy, scalability, provisioning, and administration. For more information on the PowerVault MD1400 storage enclosure, please refer to spec sheet and other online documentation: Dell Networking N4032F The Dell Networking N4000 series switches provide cost-effective and energy-efficient networking that enables users to modernize their datacenters. Using only 1U of rack space, Dell Networking N4000 series switches can have up to 64 10GbE ports using breakout cables. The Dell Networking N4032F switch used in this reference architecture has twenty-four 10GbE SFP+ auto-sensing ports, one hot-swap expansion module bay, and dual 460W hot-swappable power supplies for redundant power. When used in a stacked configuration for redundancy, the Dell Networking N4032F can support up to 160Gbps stacking speed. The Dell Networking N4032F with 40GbE uplinks (via the 40GbE QSFP+ module) is used in this setup. Switch options & details can be found online Management of the Dell Networking N4000 series switches can be performed through either a CLI, or the Dell OpenManage GUI, served from a small Web server that runs on the switch. The Dell Networking N4000 series switches can receive an IP address from a DHCP server, or can be configured through the console to have a static IP address for management. You can download the user s manual for the switch from 8 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

9 Software components The software components used in this reference architecture each play an important role in the high availability, management, virtualization, ease of use, and automation of the Microsoft Private Cloud solution. Microsoft Storage Spaces As software-defined storage increases in popularity, it becomes a large consideration for many organizations. Microsoft offers built-in storage virtualization in Windows Server 2012 R2. Called Storage Spaces, the technology allows JBOD enclosures to be used to create highly available storage for virtualized or physical infrastructures. Dell was an early supporter of Microsoft Storage Spaces, and we leverage the software defined storage model in this configuration. Customers using Microsoft Storage Spaces can lower costs and create storage pools using less-expensive direct-attached SAS JBOD storage enclosures to build their storage environment. Software capabilities and features of Storage Spaces (i.e., Mirror Spaces, Parity Spaces, tiering and thin provisioning) provide redundancy and flexible provisioning. Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 Microsoft released Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter, their flagship server operating system, in October Included with the Datacenter version of Windows Server 2012 R2 is unlimited virtualization rights, essential to an enterprise-class private cloud solution. Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter is deployed on the compute nodes of this solution to support workload VMs. The Standard version of Windows Server 2012 R2 can be deployed on the Scale-Out File Server nodes since they do not require Hyper-V and the same virtualization licensing as the compute nodes. Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 includes many features that we use in this reference architecture. These features include Automated Tiering in Storage Spaces, which stores frequently accessed files on the fastest media, SMB 3.0 improvements that allow Hyper-V to perform live migrations over SMB, and other frequently used technologies such as Windows PowerShell. Included with Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 is Microsoft Hyper-V, a native hypervisor. Hyper-V requires x86-64-based hardware to create and run virtual machines. Supported virtual machine operating systems include Windows Server (2000 and newer), Windows client operating systems (XP and newer), and common Linux distributions such as Ubuntu, Debian, RHEL and CentOS. Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 with Hyper-V includes many enterprise-ready features such as Live Migration, Virtual SANs, Virtual Switches, and the ability to store virtual machines on shared storage via failover clustering. Live migration allows the failover of a virtual machine to another physical host while remaining online. This can be used to redistribute hardware resources among VMs, or enable a physical host to be maintained. Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 with Hyper-V in a failover cluster, allows virtual machines to minimize unexpected downtime that can occur if a host crashes or loses power. Additionally, this feature allows host server maintenance and upgrades without loss of service. It also enables hardware load balancing by migrating virtual machines to other nodes. A correctly configured Hyper-V failover cluster provides high availability with no single point of failure. 9 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

10 Microsoft System Center 2012 R2 Microsoft System Center 2012 R2 is a suite of software solutions that offer a full cloud capability in a unified management scheme that can reduce IT administration costs while increasing flexibility and agility. Because System Center 2012 R2 automates many standard and repeatable tasks that an IT administrator must perform, System Center 2012 R2 can save time and streamline efficiency. In-depth diagnostics, data integrity, and backups are achieved through the use of the integrated components of Microsoft System Center 2012 R2. System Center 2012 R2 is composed of the following core applications: App Controller - App Controller contains an interface for deploying and configuring virtual machines across hybrid cloud scenarios. Orchestrator - Orchestrator automates the creation, deployment, and monitoring of various resources in your private / hybrid cloud. Operations Manager - Operations Manager automates health and performance monitoring of bare-metal servers and virtual machines. Service Manager - Service Manager automates IT best practices and includes processes for disaster recovery. Virtual Machine Manager - Virtual Machine Manager manages hosts, networking, storage, and other cloud resources. Virtual Machine Manager supports hypervisors from multiple vendors. Table 1 presents a matrix of typical cloud functionality mapped to the module(s) of System Center providing that function: Table 1. Customer Scenario Application Management Service Delivery & Automation Infrastructure Management How System Center 2012 Components Support Cloud Functionality Industry Capability System Center 2012 Component Application Self-Service App Controller, Service Manager Application Performance Management Operations Manager Application Management Across Clouds Virtual Machine Manager IT Service Management & Reporting Service Manager Process Automation & Orchestration Orchestrator Cloud Creation & Delegation Virtual Machine Manager Data Protection & Disaster Recovery Data Protection Manager Monitoring Operations Manager Configuration & Compliance Configuration Manager More information on Microsoft System Center 2012 R2 is available at technet.microsoft.com/enus/library/hh aspx. Dell management tools and other software Microsoft System Center 2012 R2 must be deployed on a highly available Microsoft SQL Server instance. In this reference architecture, the SQL Server instance is built as a high-availability cluster on the same management host cluster as the other components of System Center 2012 R2. 10 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

11 Dell also provides the Dell OpenManage Integration Suite for Microsoft System Center. These extensions and plugins allow components of System Center 2012 R2 to integrate with Dell management tools like Dell Lifecycle Controller, Dell idrac, storage management interfaces and other tools. The Microsoft Windows Azure Pack (WAP) is available as a free collection of technologies for existing Microsoft customers. The Windows Azure Pack allows IT staff to simplify management of a System Center 2012 R2 cloud solution with an easy-to-use Web portal. From the Web portal, users can create private and hybrid clouds, administer and create virtual machines, and much more. For more information on the Windows Azure Pack, see Deployment Deployment overview The hardware used in this reference architecture includes the following: Three Dell PowerEdge R630 1U rack servers in a Hyper-V cluster which will contain the management VMs and tenant VMs Two Dell PowerEdge R730 2U rack servers as Scale-Out File Server nodes Three Dell Storage MD1400 direct-attached storage enclosures Two Dell Networking N4032F switches Microsoft System Center will be installed on various virtual machines, which will be virtualized using Microsoft Hyper-V included with Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2. In Figure 1, we show the high-level topology of this Dell reference architecture. In subsequent sections, we show more details on both cabling and logical layout. 11 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

12 Figure 1. Dell PowerEdge solution for Microsoft Private Cloud overview. Preparing rack, power, and cooling Best practices guides for racking, power and cabling are available in PDF from These guides describe and walk through the cooling, power, and cabling best practices for the modern datacenter. Guides for all Dell-branded rack enclosures are available. This configuration achieved full power redundancy through redundant power supplies per hardware component, with each of the two power supplies going to a separate PDU and circuit. Power distribution units, or certain servers in the cluster can be connected to UPS battery backup power or generator power in case of the loss of commercial power. Cooling is provided by moving air in logical patterns that follow principles of convection and air conditioning units keep datacenter temperatures at proper operational levels for performance and energy efficiency. The guides at describe optimum cooling scenarios. Dell servers are energy smart and provide capability for fresh-air cooling within a wide range of operating parameters. Be sure to consult with your datacenter facilities team as well as your Dell 12 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

13 representatives to ensure you are making the most of Dell PowerEdge energy efficiency features and available OpenManage tools. For more info visit Configuring networking A combination of switch stacking and NIC teaming creates redundancy for the network in this reference architecture. This guide makes use of previously published Dell documentation written for the Dell Networking N4000 series switches. The User s Configuration Guide, CLI Reference Guide, and Stacking Guide for Dell Networking N4000 switches are available at About switch stacking Dell Networking N4032F switches are stackable, meaning they can be configured to operate as a group of switches that emulates many functions of a single, larger Layer 3 switch. In stacking the Dell Networking N4032F switches, you can achieve failover capability and redundancy for the networking layer of the Microsoft Private Cloud Hyper-V cluster. When the switches are in a stack, there is a single interface or IP address for the administration of the entire stack. This is managed by the master switch. All switches in the stack must have the same Dell firmware revision, and switches joining the stack can automatically update their firmware to that of the master switch. The switches can be stacked using the permanent ports, or ports provided by an expandable module. The switch ports used for stacking must be configured to stack mode using either the GUI or the CLI. The CLI method is described in Appendix E; the GUI method is outlined in the guide Stacking Dell Networking Switches: N4032, N4032F, N4064, N4064F available at In this walkthrough, we will outline how to configure two stacked and identical Dell Networking N4032F 10GbE switches. Networking configuration steps In this section, we review specific steps on configuring and cabling your Dell Networking N4032F switches in a stack and preparing them for use in the Microsoft Private Cloud Hyper-V cluster. The walkthrough in this section assumes the switches have been stacked in the manner described in Appendix E. It also assumes access to both the CLI (through console/telnet/ssh) and the Web-based GUI. For specific details on switch stacking and initial switch setup, see Appendix E. 13 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

14 Below, we outline the GUI approach to configuring the ports correctly for LACP and LAG. 1. Log onto the Dell OpenManage Switch Administrator from a Web browser. 2. Expand the Switching category. 3. Expand the Link Aggregation category. 4. Select LAG Membership. 14 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

15 5. Configure the switch as shown. Ensure that both physical switches are configured identically, and apply the changes. The Unit field is the identifier for each physical switch in the stack. 6. Once LACP is enabled and the LAGs are configured, the LAGs must be placed into trunk mode, so all VLAN traffic is passed-both tagged and untagged. This traffic will be filtered by the host machines. 7. Navigate to Switching > VLAN > LAG Settings. 15 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

16 8. For Po1 Po5, put the LAG into Trunk mode. 9. Cable the Dell Networking N4032F as outlined in Table 2 and Figure 2. Table 2. Switch and port assignments for the Dell Networking N4032F switches and servers Switch Port Server 1 1 FILESERV FILESERV HYPERV HYPERV HYPERV FILESERV FILESERV HYPERV HYPERV HYPERV03 16 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

17 Figure 2. Cabling the Dell PowerEdge solution System Center 2012 R2 Virtual Machine Manager Networking Virtual Machine Manager extends the capabilities of the traditional Microsoft Hyper-V virtual switch by introducing a feature called a Logical Switch. With this, users can leverage NIC teaming, QoS, bandwidth control, SR-IOV, and create multiple virtual network adapters that all use a single NIC team or physical NIC in the host. This enables the use of separate networks these can either be separated by VLAN tagging and setting the switch for VLAN trunking on all used ports, as we do in this configuration, or by using different subnets. Logical networks can be isolated or can also allow traffic from the hosts. To allow virtual machines to use networking capabilities, Virtual Machine Manager allows the creation of a VM Network which can use network virtualization to connect more than one VM Network to each Logical Network, or simply pass traffic directly through to the Logical Network. While these settings will not be available until Virtual Machine Manager is installed later in the guide, below is a short description of the network settings used in this reference architecture through Virtual Machine Manager. The VMM Networking setup techniques used in this reference architecture include the following: A Management network that uses DHCP for IP addressing. This has a pass-through VM Network that is associated with it for use by all management virtual machines, the System Center VMs. DHCP is provided by an AD/DNS/DHCP server. A Live Migration Logical Network that uses Static IPs assigned by Virtual Machine Manager. This is where all live migration traffic will pass through. 17 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

18 A Logical network providing access to the outside world, the Internet. A VM network created on top of this for use by Gateways or other VMs. QoS / Bandwidth settings. The Live Migration network is limited to 90 percent of the teamed 10GbE SFP+ NICs. The Management Network is limited to using up to 10 percent of the teamed 10GbE SFP+ NICs. For more information on Virtual Machine Manager Networking, see technet.microsoft.com/enus/library/gg aspx. Configuring storage Storage overview This guide makes use of the Dell Storage with Microsoft Storage Spaces Deployment Guide, available at The aforementioned Dell guide is a complete hardware deployment of the storage solution. We used three Dell Storage MD1400 enclosures, direct-attached to each server. This method makes use of the two EMMs in the MD1400 storage enclosures to ensure two physical paths to every storage enclosure. Each mini-sas HD cable coming from each storage enclosure is connected to separate HBAs in each of the two separate Dell PowerEdge R730 servers used as Scale-Out File Server nodes. For additional supported Dell Storage with Microsoft Storage Spaces configurations, see Appendix I. Additionally, Storage Spaces offers a technology called Tiering. When using this technology, data that is used most often is stored on the high-performance SSDs, while remaining data is stored on the highcapacity HDD-based storage. In Figure 3, a high-level diagram of the storage hardware and software used provides a conceptual view of the storage technologies used. 18 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

19 Figure 3. Storage technologies overview 19 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

20 Figure 4. Cabling the Dell PowerEdge R730 SOFS nodes and Dell Storage MD1400 enclosures Dell Storage MD1400 configuration steps The Dell Storage MD1400 storage enclosures require none of the configuration procedures that a SAN requires. Instead, all management of virtual disks and sharing is done by Microsoft Storage Spaces, which we will configure later in this reference architecture. In this configuration, a combination of SSDs and HDDs are used to provide both high performance and high capacity. Each Dell Storage MD1400 has 12 drive bays the first three are filled with 800GB SAS SSDs, and the remaining nine with 4TB 7200RPM NL-SAS HDDs. With 38.4 TB of raw storage per enclosure, and 57.6 TB for the three-enclosure setup with two-way mirroring, there is sufficient capacity for over 900 virtual hard drives assuming each is approximately 60 GB. 1. Place the drives into their drive carriers. Instructions for this are available at 2. Place the drives into the enclosures. To make organization easier, place SSDs in the first drive slots. 3. Connect the enclosures to the HBAs in the Scale-Out File Servers nodes as shown in Figure Connect both of each enclosure s power supplies to power, and ensure the switches on each of the power supplies are turned on. The firmware version of the Dell Storage MD1400 enclosures should be checked using Windows Server 2012 R2 Device Manager before any configuration using Microsoft Storage Spaces. 20 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

21 1. Open Device Manager. 2. Expand System devices. 3. Find Generic SCSI Enclosure Device, select it, and open the Properties dialog. 4. Navigate to the Details tab, and select Hardware Ids from the Property drop-down menu. 5. The end of the first entry will contain the firmware version. This can be checked against the versions available on to ensure the firmware is up to date. Update the firmware if necessary. 21 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

22 Configuring the server hardware Hardware update steps To prepare the Dell PowerEdge servers for deployment, Microsoft and Dell recommend ensuring all firmware and BIOS versions are up to date with the latest versions available from Dell 13G PowerEdge servers can use a built-in utility to update all firmware and BIOS versions. Called Dell Lifecycle Controller, the firmware can be automatically updated as long as the server has an Internet connection. To use Dell Lifecycle Controller: 1. Reboot the server and press F10 to enter Dell Lifecycle controller when prompted in the upper left portion of the screen. Wait for Dell Lifecycle Controller to finish loading. 22 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

23 2. Enter the Firmware update area, select Launch Firmware Update, choose FTP Server for the repository, select your updates, and then begin the update. Configuring the server software Prerequisites To set up Microsoft Private Cloud, an Active Directory Domain Controller server must be active on the network. In addition, DHCP and DNS must be available. These features may already be part of the enterprise datacenter, and their setup is beyond the scope of this guide. Information on using the builtin Windows Server 2012 R2 features like ADDC, DNS, and DHCP is available at technet.microsoft.com/en-us/. Hostname and IP addressing example IP addresses are provided by a DHCP server. Hostnames are registered to an available DNS server. Static IP addresses may be used instead of DHCP, or in conjunction with DHCP. Windows Failover Clustering supports either DHCP or static IPs. However, a DHCP server can provide an address for the cluster without input from the user. It is recommended to use a static IP reservation for the compute and SOFS nodes within the DHCP server. Table 3. Sample hostname and IP addressing Hostname Role IP Address FILESERV01 Node 1 in SOFS cluster Static FILESERV02 Node 2 in SOFS cluster Static HYPERV01 Node 1 in Hyper-V cluster Static HYPERV02 Node 2 in Hyper-V cluster Static HYPERV03 Node 3 in Hyper-V cluster Static 23 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

24 Storage spaces configuration The two Dell PowerEdge R730 SOFS nodes need two 10GbE SFP+ NICs and three Dell 12Gbps SAS HBAs each. Windows Server 2012 R2 contains drivers for the SAS HBA out of the box. Once the HBAs are installed in each of the SOFS nodes, Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard Edition needs be installed on each Dell PowerEdge R730. To configure BIOS and RAID settings, see Appendix C. To install Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2, see Appendix D. After Windows is installed on both Dell PowerEdge R730 SOFS nodes, name each node using a unique host name. In this reference architecture, we use FILESERV01 and FILESERV02. To name a machine running Windows Server 2012 R2, navigate to Local Server in the Server Manager. Select the current computer name. A System Properties dialog should appear. Click Change, and enter a new computer name. Click OK and restart the computer when prompted. Next, join the two SOFS nodes to the domain. Credentials for this domain can be set using the Active Directory Domain Controller server. Configuring those settings are beyond the scope of this paper. To join a domain, the same dialog can be used as before. Click the radio button for Domain after clicking Change on the dialog shown above. NIC teaming, or LBFO (Load Balancing/Failover) is normally used for two purposes: bandwidth aggregation and failover capability. Extensive use of Microsoft guides for NIC teaming were used to create this guide. The User Guide for NIC Teaming (LBFO) produced by Microsoft is available at This aforementioned guide breaks down the different settings used for NIC teaming, and provided recommended settings for sharing to Hyper-V hosts and allowing the capability for virtual machine traffic. 24 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

25 To set up NIC teaming, use the guide in Appendix H. To create a continuously available file share, Windows Server 2012 R2 must have the proper roles and features installed. Both the Failover Clustering Feature and File Server Roles must be installed on each node. We provide instructions for installing the Failover Clustering feature in Appendix F. To install the File Server Role, perform the following steps: 1. Launch the Add Roles and Features Wizard. This can be done from the dashboard in Windows Server 2012 R2 Server Manager. At the first screen, click Next. 25 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

26 2. Select Role-based or feature-based installation, and click Next. 3. Select File Server, which appears after expanding both File and Storage Services and File and iscsi Services. 26 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

27 4. Click Next for the Features selection, and on the next dialog, click Install. The File Server Role should take a few moments to install. The Microsoft MPIO feature must be installed to enable load balancing and path failover, as well as ensure the disks are recognized by Windows Server 2012 R2 properly. To enable Microsoft Multipath I/O add the Windows Server 2012 R2 feature as shown below. 1. Use the Add Windows Roles and Feature dialog to select Multipath I/O. 2. Install the feature. 27 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

28 3. Launch the MPIO control panel, navigate to the Discover Multi-Paths tab, and ensure that Add support for SAS device is selected. 4. A reboot may be necessary. Ensure MPIO is working by running the cluster validation report tool again. The disks in the Dell Storage MD1400 enclosure must be brought online and initialized. You can do this through the Disk Management utility in Windows Server 2012 R2, or you can use PowerShell to automate the process. With a large number of disks, this can speed the process considerably. The PowerShell guide and commands below perform the process necessary for new disks. This guide assumes new disks that have never been formatted. Get-PhysicalDisk This displays a list of all the physical disks connected to the system. Both system disks and the disks in the storage enclosures will be displayed. Verify that all attached disks to be used appear in this list. To view only the disks that are new and unformatted, use the command: Get-Disk Where PartitionStyle -eq 'raw' This should display a list of all disks that are unformatted and unpartitioned. To online all the new disks, use the command: Get-Disk Where PartitionStyle -eq 'raw' Set-Disk -IsOffline $false To initialize the disks, use the command: Get-Disk Where PartitionStyle -eq 'raw' Initialize-Disk -PartitionStyle GPT The new disks should now be ready for clustering, and later, the creation of storage spaces. 28 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

29 To create the Scale-Out File Server cluster, refer to Appendix G. The Failover Cluster Manager allows for verification and creation of a cluster using a simple wizard-based setup. Eligible machines can be verified and clustered in only a few moments. During verification, ensure all disk checks complete without any errors or warnings. Create a storage pool in Failover Cluster Manager 1. Launch FCM when logged into a domain account with the correct permissions. Launch the New Storage Pool utility. 29 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

30 2. On the first screen, click Next to proceed. 3. Give the storage pool a useful name and description. 30 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

31 4. Select all the disks in the Dell Storage MD1400 storage enclosures, and add them to the storage pool. 5. Ensure all settings and selections are correct. 31 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

32 6. Click Create to form the storage pool. Ensure the checkbox Create a virtual disk is NOT checked. 7. The storage pool should now show as a clustered storage pool in Failover Cluster Manager. 32 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

33 8. Run the following commands to create storage tiers in the newly created pool New-StorageTier FriendlyName *SSD* -MediaType SSD StoragePoolFriendlyName <Storage Pool Name> New-StorageTier FriendlyName *HDD* -MediaType HDD StoragePoolFriendlyName <Storage Pool Name> Once the storage pool is created, virtual disks can be created using the available storage in the storage pool. Windows Server 2012 R2 can create virtual disks using an available GUI, or through the use of Windows PowerShell. To create a virtual disk that associates different copies of data on different storage enclosures requires a specific Windows PowerShell command. This protects the data in the case of the failure of an entire storage enclosure. Launch an elevated Windows PowerShell console from either FILESERV01 or FILESERV02. Run the commands below. These variables will help shorten the next command to reduce typing. $SSD = Get-StorageTier -FriendlyName *SSD* $HDD = Get-StorageTier -FriendlyName *HDD* Then, to create the virtual disk, use the command: Get-StoragePool <Storage Pool Name> New-VirtualDisk -FriendlyName <Virtual Disk Name> -ResiliencySettingName Mirror AutoNumberOfColumns - AutoWriteCacheSize -StorageTiers $SSD,$HDD StorageTierSizes <Tier Size in GB>GB,<Tier Size in GB>GB -IsEnclosureAware $true This creates a Storage Spaces virtual disk that has two-way mirroring, storage tiers, a default writeback cache of 1GB; that automatically selects the number of columns (the number of disks each stripe of data is written to); and spreads the data across multiple storage enclosures in the case of the loss of an entire enclosure. For more information on creating virtual disks using PowerShell, see technet.microsoft.com/enus/library/hh aspx. To create a volume on the virtual disk that is formatted and available for data storage, follow the steps below. 33 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

34 1. Navigate to File and Storage Services in Windows Server Manager. 2. Click Next to continue. 34 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

35 3. Ensure the cluster account is selected, and the correct disk is selected. 4. Because the virtual disk has storage tiering enabled, the volume must take up the entire disk. 35 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

36 5. Select the drive letter and other options. The drive letter is unimportant; when this volume is added as Cluster Shared Volume, the drive letter will no longer be used. 6. Format the volume as NTFS and give the volume a useful name. 36 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

37 7. Review the options and when the configuration is verified, click Create. 8. Once the volume is created, open the Failover Cluster Manager and right-click the virtual disk with the newly formatted volume. Click Add to Cluster Shared Volumes. BitLocker drive encryption increases security in the case of a physical, local attack. Because the data on the drives is encrypted, even physical access to the storage will not allow an attacker to gather 37 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

38 valuable data. To enable Microsoft BitLocker drive encryption on a Cluster Shared Volume, perform the following steps: 1. Open an administrator PowerShell console on either of the SOFS nodes. 2. Find the name of the Cluster Shared Volume by using the command Get-ClusterSharedVolume This should produce a list of all CSVs. Find the disk you wish to encrypt using BitLocker. 3. Next, place the drive into maintenance mode by using the command Get-ClusterSharedVolume <Name of Disk> Suspend-ClusterResource This should produce a confirmation dialog, as this will render all resources that depend on this disk unusable for the amount of time the disk is in maintenance mode. 4. Encrypt the drive by first creating a password, then enabling BitLocker. $pw = ConvertTo-SecureString <Password> AsPlainText -Force Enable-BitLocker <CSV file path> -PasswordProtector $pw 5. Wait for the drive to encrypt. 6. To enable proper failover and sharing of the CSV, BitLocker must be configured to use the domain for authentication. $cluster = Get-Cluster Add-BitLockerKeyProtector <CSV file path> -ADAccountOrGroupProtector ADAccountOrGroup $cluster 7. Turn off maintenance mode. Get-ClusterSharedVolume <Name of Disk> Resume-ClusterResource To create the Scale-out File Server, the File server clustered role must be added in Failover Cluster Manager. To do this from Failover Cluster Manager, perform the following steps. 38 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

39 1. After selecting the correct failover cluster previously created in previous steps, click Configure Role. 2. On the first page of the High Availability Wizard, click Next. 39 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

40 3. Select File Server as shown below, and click Next. 4. Select Scale-Out File Server for application data as the file server type and click Next. 40 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

41 5. Give the Scale-out-file-server a useful name. In this reference, we use SOFS. 6. Verify settings on the confirmation page, and click Finish to after the file server finishes creating. To create file shares for Quorum witnesses, VHDs, SQL databases, and other storage needs, the File Server clustered role can have file shares added to the clustered role. 41 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

42 1. To create a new SMB3 share in Failover Cluster Manager, select the previously added clustered role SOFS, and click Add File Share. 2. Select SMB Share Applications. 42 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

43 3. Select the CSV created previously. 4. Give the share a useful name. 43 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

44 5. Keep the default options on the share settings page. 6. Set permissions for the file share this can be changed later. Because the Hyper-V hosts haven t been added to the domain yet, leave this at default settings. 44 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

45 7. Confirm all settings, and create the highly available file share. To give a cluster a quorum witness disk or file share, 1. Right-click the failover cluster in Failover Cluster Manager and select More Actions > Configure Cluster Quorum Settings 45 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

46 2. Select Next on the first screen. 3. Select the radio button Select the quorum witness 46 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

47 4. Select the correct option for the Hyper-V cluster, a file share witness may be necessary. Cluster disk witnesses are preferred. 5. Select the correct disk or file share to be used. 47 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

48 6. Verify all settings, and select Next. 7. The cluster now has a quorum witness disk/file share. For more information on Quorum in Failover Clusters, see technet.microsoft.com/enus/library/cc aspx. 48 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

49 Creating the Hyper-V cluster Three Dell PowerEdge R630 servers are used in a Hyper-V cluster to run components of Microsoft System Center 2012 R2 and other utilities to create a Microsoft Private Cloud solution. These three Dell PowerEdge R630 servers should have two 10GbE SFP+ NICs. A minimum of two drives in each server is recommended for RAID 1. All clustered Hyper-V hosts must run Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter installed to local storage. Instructions for entering the Dell PERC H730P RAID controller are available in the Hardware Setup section, and instructions for installing Windows Server 2012 R2 are available in Appendix C and Appendix D. Similar to the previously created SOFS cluster, the two 10GbE SFP+ NICs will need to be teamed using the same method. Make sure to name the team a meaningful phrase, and name the team identically on each server. Instructions for NIC Teaming are available in Appendix H. Create unique hostnames for the three Hyper-V hosts. Instructions for changing the hostname are available in the previous section. In this guide, we will refer to the three hosts as HYPERV01, HYPERV02, and HYPERV03. Reboot the servers as necessary. Join the three Hyper-V hosts to the domain. Credentials can be customized in the Active Directory Domain Controller, but configuration of the domain controller out of the scope of this guide. Reboot the servers as necessary. To install the Hyper-V role in Windows Server 2012 R2, perform the following steps: 1. Launch the Roles and Features Wizard. This can be done from the Start Menu or the Local Server Manager. 49 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

50 2. At the first screen, click Next. 3. Select Role-based or feature-based installation, and click Next. 50 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

51 4. Ensure the role is being installed on the local server, and click Next. 5. Select Hyper-V. A dialog box should appear. 6. Leave the default option checked, and click Add Features. Click Next to move to the Add features screen. 51 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

52 7. Click Next on the screen to select features to install. 8. Click Install on the confirmation dialog. The Hyper-V role should install. Restart the computer as necessary. 9. Perform these steps to install Hyper-V on every physical host to be clustered. Next, all of the hosts in the Hyper-V cluster must be clustered. Instructions for installing the Failover Cluster Feature on each node are available in Appendix F. Instructions for creating a cluster using Failover Cluster Manager are available in in Appendix G. To make the creation of virtual machines easier, set the default location for VHDs to be the file share. This can be done in Hyper-V Settings for each host. To enable Hyper-V Manager s ability to manage more than one physical host, see technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc aspx for information on constrained delegation, which must be done in the Active Directory Domain Controller. 52 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

53 Microsoft System Center Creating the management VMs System Center 2012 R2 is the backbone of the Microsoft Private Cloud solution, with modules that provide different elements of cloud capability from infrastructure and virtual machine control and management, to automation and application provisioning as well as orchestration. Each component of System Center 2012 R2 is installed on a different virtual machine on the Hyper-V cluster. Six System Center applications run in this configuration. We present the VM configurations in Table 4. All System Center 2012 R2 components use the latest updates; as of March 2015, the latest update rollup was UR5, or Update Rollup 5. Update rollups for the various components of System Center 2012 R2 contain security fixes, feature enhancements and bug fixes. Microsoft strongly recommends installing the most recent update rollups for all components of System Center. In this configuration, both the System Center management virtual machines and all tenant virtual machines share the same Hyper-V hosts. However, production best practice is to place management and tenant virtual machines on a separate Hyper-V compute cluster. This is easily achieved using System Center Virtual Machine Manager. Hyper-V Name & Hostname SQL01, SQL02, SQL03 VMM01 & VMM02 OM01,OM02,OM03 SM01,SM02, SM03 ORC01,ORC02 Application Table 4. VM configurations vcpu Minimum Memory (GB) SQL Server 2012 SP1 Guest Cluster Virtual Machine Manager Guest Cluster Operations Manager Management servers and Reporting Server Service Manager, Service Manager Data Warehouse, Service Manager Reporting Server Orchestrator, Orchestrator Runbook Server AC01 App Controller AZURE01 Microsoft Azure Pack Disk Size (GB) The components of Microsoft System Center 2012 R2 depend heavily on a highly available SQL database. Microsoft SQL Server 2012 SP1 provides the best compatibility with all System Center components. A SQL server compatibility list for System Center is available at technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn aspx. In this guide, a Microsoft SQL Server 2012 SP1 Enterprise installation is used as the SQL database for all components. Some components of System Center 2012 R2 must be guest-clustered. In guest clusters, a cluster of multiple virtual machines and their cluster-aware applications run on the already clustered Hyper-V hosts. For an in depth explanation and walkthrough of the benefits of guest clustering, see technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn aspx. Both Microsoft SQL Server 2012 SP1 and Virtual Machine Manager benefit greatly from guest clustering. 53 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

54 Microsoft SQL Server 2012 SP1 will be installed as a three-node guest cluster for maximum availability. Virtual Machine Manager will be installed as a two-node guest cluster. All applications running on the Hyper-V cluster should be spread evenly amongst the three nodes in the Hyper-V cluster. In this reference architecture, the virtual machines are spread among the three nodes as shown in Table 5. Table 5. VM Distribution Node in Hyper-V Cluster HYPERV01 HYPERV02 HYPERV03 Virtual Machine/Application SQL01, VMM01, OM01, AZURE01, ORC01 SQL02, VMM02, SM01, SM02, OM02 SQL03, AC01, ORC02, OM03, SM03 To create a virtual machine in Hyper-V, the New Virtual Machine Wizard can be used. For a detailed breakdown on how to use this utility, see technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh846766#bkmk_step2. The virtual machines should be provisioned, named and given the memory, vcpus, and hard drive space as shown in the table above. This guide makes use of Hyper-V Generation 2 virtual machines. 1. Create all the virtual machines on the correct nodes and settings from the above tables by using Hyper-V Virtual Machine Wizard. A PowerShell script can speed this process if necessary. a. Install Windows Sever 2012 R2 on each VM. Sysprep, an included utility with Windows Server 2012 R2, can be used to save on deployment time. Sysprep can create Windows images to be used for deployment. For information on the Sysprep utility, see technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc b. Install all available Windows Updates and hotfixes. Information on using Windows Update can be found by launching the Windows Update utility in Windows Server 2012 R2. 2. Install the Failover Clustering Feature on SQL01, SQL02, SQL03, VMM01 and VMM02. A guide for installing the Failover Cluster feature is available in Appendix F. 3. Name each VM appropriately. This can be done through Server Manager and the System Properties dialog. Then, join each VM to the domain using a domain administrator account. 4. Microsoft SQL Server 2012 SP1 must be installed first, as the remaining components of System Center 2012 R2 depend on a database to function. To install SQL Server: a. Create a guest cluster include SQL01, SQL02, and SQL03. A guide for creating a cluster in Failover Cluster Manager is in Appendix G. b. Install any prerequisites for SQL Server 2012 SP1 on each of the VMs. A guide for SQL Server 2012 requirements is available at technet.microsoft.com/enus/library/ms143506(v=sql.110).aspx. Not included in this list is the Windows component Netfx3. Without Netfx3, SQL Server will fail to install. To install Netfx3: 54 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

55 i. Mount/insert a valid copy of the Windows Server 2012 R2 install disk to the virtual machine. ii. Launch a Windows command prompt. Type the command dism /online /enable-feature /featurename:netfx3 /all /source:d:\sources\sxs The installation drive letter should be changed to the correct letter for each system or virtual machine. c. Install SQL Server 2012 SP1 using the below guide. For more information on SQL Server 2012 SP1 installation, see msdn.microsoft.com/enus/library/cc281837(v=sql.110).aspx. i. Insert/mount the Microsoft SQL Server 2012 SP1 installation media to the appropriate virtual machine using Hyper-V. ii. Launch setup.exe located on the Microsoft SQL Server 2012 SP1 media. 55 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

56 iii. Click Installation on the left pane of the SQL Server Installation Center. iv. On SQL01, select New SQL Server failover cluster installation. On SQL02 and SQL03, select Add node to a SQL Server failover cluster. This guide will focus on adding a node to an existing SQL Server installation. 56 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

57 v. Wait for the Setup Support Rules to complete a system check. vi. Enter the product key or click evaluation version. 57 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

58 vii. Accept the license terms, and choose whether to send usage data. viii. Choose whether to install updates. 58 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

59 ix. Wait for setup files to install. x. After the setup files install, another support rules check will run. Correct any errors. xi. Ensure the SQL node is being added to the correct SQL cluster. 59 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

60 xii. Select the proper network. xiii. Enter the correct accounts in the domain for the SQL services to run under. Microsoft recommends a separate user account for each service. 60 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

61 xiv. Choose error-reporting options. xv. Wait for the add node rule check to complete. xvi. Click Install on the last screen and wait for completion. Complete these steps to add a SQL node on SQL02 and SQL Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

62 5. Next, you will install the Virtual Machine Manager. a. Create another guest cluster include VMM01 and VMM02. The guide for creating a cluster in Failover Cluster Manager is in Appendix G. b. Install the prerequisites for Virtual Machine Manager. A breakdown of system requirements and prerequisites is available at technet.microsoft.com/library/dn aspx. i. Two components from the Windows ADK are necessary for the installation of Virtual Machine Manager. Both the Deployment Tools and Windows Preinstallation Environment must be installed. In the below guide for Windows ADK, the package has been previously downloaded for an offline installation according to technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn aspx. ii. Launch the ADK installer. 62 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

63 iii. Select the default installation directory or change it. iv. Choose either option for the CEIP. 63 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

64 v. Accept the License Agreement. vi. Select the both Deployment Tools and the Windows Preinstallation Environment (Windows PE). 64 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

65 vii. Wait for the install to finish. viii. Close the installer. c. Install Virtual Machine Manager. i. Launch the installer. 65 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

66 ii. Select VMM management server. iii. Enter all correct registration information. 66 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

67 iv. At the next screen, accept the license agreement. v. Select either option for the Customer Experience Improvement Program. 67 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

68 vi. Select either option for Microsoft Update. vii. Select the installation directory. The default directory is correct. 68 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

69 viii. Enter the database information. Enter the SQL cluster name for server name, the correct SQL credentials (if using Windows authentication, do not check the box). Select New database. ix. Create a VMMUser domain account in the Active Directory server. Ensure the VMMUser account has local administrator rights on both VMM01 and VMM01, and sysadmin rights on the SQL cluster. Create a container for distributed key management in the AD DC Server. Instructions are available at technet.microsoft.com/enus/library/gg aspx. 69 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

70 x. See technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc739265(v=ws.10).aspx to ensure the user is a local administrator. xi. The default settings for port configuration are correct, proceed to the next screen. 70 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

71 xii. Wait for installation to complete. Once complete, install Virtual Machine Manager on VMM02. A notification that this installation will be added to a highly available installation Virtual Machine Manager should appear. 6. Install Operations Manager. a. On the virtual machine OM01, mount the correct installation media for System Center Operations Manager 2012 R2. b. Create the following domain users: i. OMUser ii. OMDAUser iii. OMDRUser iv. OMDWUser c. Create a new group OMAdmins and include all the previously created users, as well as all domain administrators. d. On the Virtual Machine OM01, install the following roles and features: i. Roles ii. Features 1. Web Server (IIS) 2. Application Server 1..NET Framework NET Framework 4.5 a. HTTP Activation b. Windows Process activation Service e. Launch the System Center Operations Manager 2012 R2 installer from the previously mounted media. 71 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

72 f. Click Install. 72 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

73 g. Depending on the installation, different components of Operations Manager can be installed on separate virtual machines. h. Leave the default installation directory, or change if needed. 73 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

74 i. Wait for the prerequisites check to finish. Correct any issues, if necessary. j. Select Create the first.., and give the Management group name a useful phrase. 74 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

75 k. Accept the license terms. l. Enter the SQL database information. After providing the SQL database, the rest of the information should automatically populate. 75 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

76 m. Select Mixed Authentication. n. Enter in the correct credentials created in previous steps as shown below. 76 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

77 o. Choose options for error reporting and the customer experience improvement program. p. Verify all settings, and click Install if all settings are appropriate. 77 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

78 q. Monitoring and alerts are important management tools to IT administrators for diagnosing and resolving issues quickly. System Center Operations Manager 2012 R2 allows IT to configure how performance metrics are gathered, access real time hardware monitoring, and specify when alerts should be generated. The Dell Integration Suite for System Center 2012 R2 enhances System Center Operations Manager 2012 R2 through added monitoring capabilities for Dell hardware, ported from the Dell OpenManage Administrator software. More information on use of the Dell Integration Suite for System Center can be found at Each implementation of a private cloud is unique in nature, and the tuning and configuration of alerts will largely vary depending on the requirements of your configuration. However, it is recommended to tune your alerts related to the following statistics on virtual machines deployed in the private cloud solution: Disk utilization CPU utilization Heartbeat (ICMP ping, SNMP, and so on) Network utilization Once you have begun monitoring, observe the alerts generated by these and tune allowable thresholds to prevent excessive alerts and notifications. Beyond these simple statistics, users can monitor applications using applicable Management Packs for Operations Manager. Below is a simple walkthrough of tuning an alert. For more information, see i. Launch the Operations Manager Console or Operations Manager Web Console. Navigate to the Authoring tab on the left-hand menu. 78 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

79 ii. In the Authoring workspace, select either Rules or Monitors. Both rules and monitors can generate alerts, but monitors are self-healing. iii. Select a rule or monitor to edit. Right-clicking or using the right-hand menu on the rule or monitor brings up a contextual menu. By selecting enable/disable, or creating an override, the user can easily tune alerts and other configurations monitors and rules can generate. The procedure is similar for rules. 79 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

80 r. The installation of Operations Manager is complete. 7. Install System Center Service Manager 2012 R2. Service Manager is installed on two parts on two separate virtual machines. Use virtual machines SM01 and SM02. a. Mount the correct installation media using Hyper-V on both SM01 and SM02. b. Create the following domain users: i. SMUser ii. SMWorkflowUser iii. SMReportingUser iv. SMAnalysisUser v. SMPortalUser c. Create the following domain user groups, including all the previously created users as well as all domain administrators. i. SMAdmins ii. SMDWAdmins d. Install the following prerequisites on both SM01 and SM02: i..net Framework 3.5 ii. SQL Server Analysis Management Objects Available for download at e. Start the installer for System Center Service Manager 2012 R2 on the virtual machine SM01, and click Service Manager Management server. 80 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

81 f. Enter all registration information, and click Next. g. Leave the installation directory at its default, or change if needed. 81 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

82 h. Wait for the prerequisites check to complete, and correct any issues if necessary. i. Enter the correct database information. Once the database server has been entered, all the remaining fields should auto-populate. 82 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

83 j. Provide the SMAdmins domain group for the management group administrators, and use a useful phrase for the management group name. k. For the Service Manager Services page, select domain account, and enter the credentials for the previously created SMUser. Test the credentials. 83 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

84 l. On the Service Manager Workflow account page, enter the previously created SMWorkflowUser domain account and test the credentials. m. Choose an option for the Microsoft Customer Experience Improvement program, and select next. 84 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

85 n. Verify all settings and configuration is correct and select Install. o. After the Service Manager Management server completes installation, start the installer on the virtual machine SM02, and select Service Manger data warehouse management server. 85 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

86 p. Enter all applicable registration information. q. Leave the default installation directory, or change if needed. 86 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

87 r. Wait for the prerequisite check to complete, and correct any issues if necessary. s. Enter in the SQL database information. The fields should auto-complete if the SQL server information is correct. 87 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

88 t. Provide a useful Management group name, and enter the previously created domain group SMDWAdmins for the Management group administrators. u. Enter the information for the reporting server. If the information is correct, the data fields should autocomplete, and a notification that the URL is valid will appear. 88 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

89 v. Enter the domain account SMUser for the Service Manager services, and test the credentials. w. Enter the previously created SMReportingUser domain account. 89 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

90 x. Enter the SQL server information that has Analysis Services installed. If correct, the fields should auto-complete. y. Verify all settings and configuration is correct, and select Install. 90 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

91 z. Installation of Service Manager Management server and Service Manager Data warehouse server is complete. 8. Install System Center Orchestrator 2012 R2. This will be installed on the virtual machine ORC01. a. Mount the installation media to the virtual machine using Hyper-V Manager. b. Create the domain account ORUser. c. Install the following prerequisites: i..net Framework 3.5 ii. Report Viewer 2012 Redistributable. This available at d. Start the setup for Orchestrator. 91 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

92 e. Enter all applicable registration information. f. Accept the license terms. 92 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

93 g. Ensure all checkboxes are selected to install all components of Orchestrator. h. Wait for the prerequisites check to complete. If any issues arise, fix as necessary. The Installer will automatically install the needed Windows Server roles like IIS and.net features. 93 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

94 i. Wait for all prerequisites to finish installing. Enter the previously created ORUser domain account, and test the credentials. j. Enter the SQL database information. Use Windows authentication. Test the database connection. 94 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

95 k. Choose to create a new database, and leave the default name for the database. l. Leave all default options on the next page, and select next. 95 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

96 m. Leave the default port settings intact, and click next. n. The default installation directory is acceptable, change if the needed. 96 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

97 o. Verify all settings and configuration, and click install. Orchestrator is now installed. 9. Install Microsoft System Center App Controller 2012 R2. This will be installed on the virtual machine AC01. a. Mount the correct installation media for App Controller using Hyper-V Manager. b. Mount the installation media for Virtual Machine Manager using Hyper-V Manager. c. Create the domain user ACUser. d. Install the following prerequisites: i. Virtual Machine Manager Console (from the Virtual Machine Manager installation media) 97 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

98 e. Start the installer from the App Controller media. f. Accept the license agreement. 98 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

99 g. Let the installer install any prerequisites by selecting Install. h. Leave the default installation path unless it needs to be different. 99 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

100 i. Provide the previously created domain account by selecting the Domain account radio button and entering the correct credentials. Leave the port at its default setting. j. Select the IP address of the virtual machine AC01, and leave the port at the default setting. Select the radio button to generate a self-signed certificate. 100 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

101 k. Enter the SQL database information. Once the server name is given, the instance name should autocomplete. Leave the port field blank. l. Verify all settings and configuration, and click Install. m. App Controller 2012 R2 is installed. 101 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

102 10. Azure Pack Installation a. The Windows Azure Pack is a no cost add-on that integrates with System Center components and must be installed on a separate VM. The Azure Pack allows for the use of a web-based portal for users to create and manage virtual machines on the private cloud solution. For more information on the Windows Azure Pack, see cloud/products/windows-azure-pack/. The Windows Azure Pack will be installed on the virtual machine AZURE01. b. Download the Microsoft Web Platform Installer 4.6. The installer can be downloaded from c. Install the following prerequisites. i..net Framework 3.5 ii..net 4.5 Extended iii. ASP.NET iv. Web Server (IIS) d. Launch the WPI. Select Products, and select Add for the product Windows Azure Pack: Portal and API Express 102 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

103 e. Accept to install other Azure Pack prerequisites. f. Choose an option for Microsoft Update. g. Wait for the Azure Pack to install. 103 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

104 h. Select Continue to perform Azure configuration. i. Click Finish to close the Azure installer. 104 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

105 j. The Azure Web portal should have auto-launched. Provide the correct SQL database and credentials. This reference architecture uses Windows Authentication. Provide a configuration store key. It must contain at least one non-alphanumeric character. k. Choose an option for the CEIP. 105 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

106 l. Continue and wait for the features to be configured. Select the check when complete. m. After the configuration is complete, sign out of the virtual machine AZURE01, and sign back in with the same domain credentials as before. Check if the installation was successful by navigating to The portal should start with a guided tour. For more information on the Windows Azure Pack, see technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn aspx n. To change the method the Azure Pack uses for authentication, see This guide leads the user to change both the default Windows Authentication for the admin portal and the default ASP.NET authentication for the tenant portal to a more robust method using Active Directory Federation Services. i. For Active Directory Federation Services and the Azure Pack to function correctly, PowerShell configuration scripts and cmdlets must be used on both the machine with the ADFS role installed and the machine that hosts the Azure Pack. Ensure that access to both machines is available. ii. The Azure Pack requires the ADFS role to be installed on a server that runs Windows Server 2012 R2. The Domain Controller must be at a level of Windows Server 2003 SP1, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Server 2012, or Windows Server 2012 R2. If the certificate is mapped to a user s account, the Domain Controller must be at a functional level greater or equal to Windows Server For more information on ADFS requirements, see 5. Install the Dell OpenManage Integration Suite for System Center 2012 R2. The Dell OpenManage Integration Suite helps to automate many monitoring processes to make administration easier. The 106 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

107 Dell OM Integration Suite can monitor hardware states and allow for easier deployment of baremetal hardware. a. Download all parts of the integration suite from b. Ensure System Center Virtual Machine Manager and System Center Operations Manager have been connected. The following prerequisite management packs in Operations Manager must be installed for the connection to Virtual Machine Manager to succeed. iii. Windows Server Internet Information Services 2003 iv. Windows Server 2008 Operating System (Discovery) v. Windows Server Operating System Library vi. Windows Server 2008 Internet Information Services 7 vii. Windows Server Internet Information Services Library viii. SQL Server Core Library For more information on connecting VMM and OM, see technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh aspx. c. The Dell Server PRO Management Pack Version 4.0 for VMM works with System Center Operations Manager and Virtual Machine Manager. An installation guide is available at topics-cdn.dell.com/pdf/dell-srvr-pro-mgmt-pck-4.0-for-ms-center-virt-machinemangr_setup%20guide_en-us.pdf. i. Import the Management packs into Operations Manager as described in the Dell installation guide. ii. Turn monitoring on or off for Dell-specific hardware features using System Center Operations Manager s Authoring Console. This is outlined in the above Dell installation Guide. Here, certain hardware conditions can allow smarter failover conditions for instance if fans fail on one of the Hyper-V hosts, Virtual Machine Manager can automatically begin to failover virtual machines to the remaining healthy hosts. d. The Dell Server Management Pack Suite Version 6.0 for MS SC Operations Manager can be installed via the installer downloaded previously. 107 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

108 i. Launch the installer and continue to the next page. ii. Accept the license agreement. 108 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

109 iii. Provide an installation directory. iv. Provide domain credentials, if necessary. 109 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

110 v. Select Install vi. Refresh the Operations Manager Console to ensure the Management packs are installed. 110 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

111 Private cloud validation All components of System Center 2012 R2 have been configured and integrated with one another to provide a versatile, highly automated, and highly available private cloud solution. The Microsoft Azure Pack provides multiple tenants with portals for configuring resources like SQL servers and virtual machines. System Center 2012 R2 on Dell rack servers provides users with the Microsoft Private Cloud for use within their enterprise, or as a solution provider. All requirements for Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 have been met by this reference architecture, including Live Migration capability and failover capability in the case of network, hardware, or power failures. However, customer environments are always unique, so we advise thorough testing of your private cloud infrastructure. Implementation of the private cloud infrastructure is only the beginning. To maximize the benefit of your Dell Microsoft private cloud, it is essential that you expand your architecture to include implementing automation, business workflows, self-service and IT simplification strategies. This will help you fully utilize your resources, speed your time to deploying application and provide the agility your business users and customers are expecting in today s on-demand world. In addition to helping you plan and deploy your private cloud, your Dell team can help you explore areas of simplification and automation within your organization if you are not sure where to begin. Conclusion Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 requirements ensure a cloud environment where IT admins and users have access to a standardized, reliable cloud solution using the latest Microsoft offerings. Microsoft System Center 2012 R2 provides IT professionals with tools that simplify administration and monitoring, and help ensure optimal SLA compliance.cloud management is critical, and Dell OpenManage Integration Suite for Microsoft System Center 2012 R2 integrates tightly with MS SCCM, SCOM, VMM, embeds hardware-monitoring features and performance metrics and allows administrators to manage Dell servers, storage and networking within System Center so you have a single place to manage cloud infrastructure & processes.. Built on Dell s flexible, modular portfolio of servers, storage, and networking, this solution provides enterprises with a proven platform creating the foundation for a quickly deployable, broadly scalable, and easy-to-manage private cloud solution. 111 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

112 Appendix A References Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track Fast Track Program Overview White Paper download.microsoft.com/download/8/9/d/89dad1cb-140c-4fb9-97df- E8295AFFD66E/Microsoft_Private_Cloud_Fast_Track_Reference_Architecture_Program.pdf Tenant VM Capacity Estimation Oversubscription of memory is not recommended. Each Dell PowerEdge R630 is configured with 384 GB of RAM. The System Center 2012 R2 management infrastructure deployment in this reference architecture uses 15 total virtual machines, consuming approximately 150 GB of total RAM. Assuming 16GB RAM per VM, the host cluster could also support an additional 57 16GB tenant VMs distributed across the cluster. Assuming 8 GB per VM, the host cluster could support up to 130 VMs. With 4 GB per VM, this limit further increases to approximately 250 VMs. Correct CPU subscription rates are crucial to ensuring efficient utilization of host servers to maximize performance and minimize wasted CPU capacity. For example, in VDI infrastructure, VMs are subscribed at rates up to 10 vcpus/logical core 2. For this reference architecture, oversubscription rates of five vcpus/logical core can help ensure maximal CPU resource utilization while providing good performance, with ample headroom for peaks in VM usage. Our test configuration provides 72 cores between three Dell PowerEdge R630 Hyper-V host servers with dual 12-core Intel Xeon processors E v3. Thus, VMs can potentially utilize from 720 to 1,440 vcpus. At four vcpus per tenant VM (in this reference architecture, System Center uses approximately 80 vcpus), the setup has capacity for 160 to 340 tenant VMs. Thus, estimations of VM capacity for this hardware configuration indicate supporting up to 57 memoryintensive tenant VMs, or up to 160 compute-intensive tenant VMs. The number of VMs your production environment can support might vary depending on your workload requirements. Dell Support For more information on how Dell can assist you with your private cloud computing needs, please see the links below For more information on CPU subscription rates in VDI infrastructure, see the Microsoft publication Windows Server 2012 Capacity Planning for VDI White Paper, available at download.microsoft.com/download/2/4/b/24b5ec7d-1d03-49a2-b792- C7EDF24549EE/Windows_Server_2012_Capacity_Planning_for_VDI_White_Paper.pdf. The white paper studies similar Dell servers and processor counts as used in this reference architecture. 112 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

113 Appendix B Bill of Materials Table 6. Bill of materials as configured Rack configuration Compute configuration SOFS node configuration Network configuration Storage configuration Software configuration Description Dell Rack 1 Rack-mounted PDU 2 Dell power cord 3m 20 Dell QSFP+ cable 2 Dell SFP+ cable 14 Dell mini-sas HD cable 12 Dell PowerEdge R630 3 Intel Xeon E v3 CPU 6 16GB Samsung M393A2G40DB0-CPB DDR4 RAM 72 Dell (Seagate ST1200MM0007) 1.2TB 10K SAS HDD 6 PERC H730P RAID Controller 3 Broadcom GbE & Broadcom GbE 3 NDC Dell Hot-Plug 750W PSU 6 DSMS* R730 2 Intel Xeon E v3 CPU 4 16GB Samsung M393A2G40DB0-CPB DDR4 RAM 6 Dell (ST300MM0006) 300GB SAS 10K HDD 4 PERC H330 RAID Controller 2 Dell 12Gbps SAS HBA 6 Intel X520 10GbE & I350 1GbE NDC 2 Intel X520 10GbE Dual Port NIC 2 Dell Hot-Plug 750W PSU 4 Dell Networking N4032F 2 Dell 40G QSFP+ Module 2 DSMS* MD Dell (Seagate ST4000NM0023) 4TB SAS 7.2K HDD 27 Dell (Toshiba PX03SNF080) 800GB SAS SSD 9 Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard 2 Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter 3 Microsoft System Center 2012 R2 (UR5) 1 Microsoft Azure Pack (UR5) 1 Dell OpenManage Integration Suite for System 1 Center 2012 R2 *Using Dell Storage with Microsoft Storage Spaces (DSMS) specific SKUs Quantity 113 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

114 Appendix C Configuring the Dell PERC 1. To configure the Dell PERC RAID Controller, you can use either the PowerEdge Expandable RAID Controller BIOS or the Dell System Setup. In this guide, we use the Dell System Setup. At boot, press F2 to launch into the Dell System Setup. 2. Select Device Settings at the Dell System Setup Main menu. 114 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

115 3. Select the Dell PERC Configuration Utility. 4. Select Configuration Management on the RAID Configuration Utility screen. 115 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

116 5. On the PERC Configuration Management screen, ensure all foreign configurations and other configurations are cleared from the PERC. Next, click Create Virtual Disk. 6. On the Create Virtual Disk menu, select the RAID level. For this application, a minimum of RAID 1 is required for redundancy. This applies to both the Hyper-V hosts and the File Server Hosts. Next, select the option Select Physical Disks, and choose the physical disks that should be in the RAID. a. 116 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

117 7. Leave all RAID options at their default settings, except to set the Default Initialization to Fast. 8. Once all the disks and options are correctly selected, click Create Virtual Disk to begin the process. BIOS configuration steps 1. To configure the Dell PowerEdge R630 BIOS, press F2 during boot. 117 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

118 2. After the Dell System Setup menu appears, click System BIOS. 3. Continue by selecting Processor Settings. 118 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

119 4. Under Processor Settings, ensure that Virtualization Technology is enabled. 5. Click Back, then Finish to commit the changes. 119 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

120 Appendix D Installing Windows Server 2012 R2 1. Insert the installation media into an available USB port, and restart the server. 2. When the option appears, press F11 to enter the Boot Manager. 3. Select BIOS Boot Menu. 4. Select USB Removable Drive, and press Enter. 5. Press any key when prompted to by the Windows Installer. 6. When the installation screen appears, click My language is English (United States). 7. Leave language, time/currency format, and input method as default, and click Next. 8. Click Install now. 9. When the installation prompts you, enter the product key. 10. Select Windows Server 2012 Datacenter (Server with a GUI), and click Next. 11. Check I accept the license terms, and click Next. 12. Click Custom: Install Windows only (advanced). 13. Select Drive 0 Unallocated Space, and click Next, at which point Windows begins automatically, and restarts automatically after completing. 14. When the Settings page appears, fill in the Password and Reenter Password fields with the same password. 15. Log in with the password you set up previously. 120 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

121 Appendix E - Configuring switch stacking on the Dell Networking N4032F To connect to the Dell Networking N4032F using the CLI, either a direct connection to the console port or a SSH/Telnet client can be used if the switch has been set up with an IP address on the OOB management port. Here, we assume all configuration has been erased from the switch. Instructions on how to clear all configuration are available in the Dell User s Configuration Guide for N4000 series switches available at First, ensure nothing is connected to the switch. No power, SFP+ cables, or RJ-45 cables should be connected. To connect to the console port, use a DB-9 to RJ-45 cable to connect to the machine you would like to manage the switch from. If the management machine lacks a DB-9 serial port, a USB to DB-9 serial cable can be utilized. The out-of-band management RJ-45 interface is located on the rear of the switch. After connecting the console cable to both the management computer and the switch you would like to be the Master Dell Networking N4032F, use a terminal emulator like Microsoft HyperTerminal, Putty, or Screen on OSX. Configure the serial port as follows: Data rate 9600 baud. Data format 8 data bits Parity None Stop bits 1 Flow control None Once the terminal emulator and serial connection have been connected and configured, connect the Dell Networking N4032F switch to power. Upon powering up, the user should see the boot up sequence, and either a console> prompt or the Dell Easy Setup Wizard if there is no configuration available. In this setup, we used the Dell Easy Setup Wizard to configure a user and the OOB management interface. The Dell Easy Setup Wizard is as follows: Welcome to Dell Easy Setup Wizard The setup wizard guides you through the initial switch configuration, and gets you up and running as quickly as possible. You can skip the setup wizard, and enter CLI mode to manually configure the switch. You must respond to the next question to run the setup wizard within 60 seconds, otherwise the system will continue with normal operation using the default system configuration. Note: You can exit the setup wizard at any point by entering [ctrl+z]. Would you like to run the setup wizard (you must answer this question within 60 seconds)? (y/n) Step 1: The system is not setup for SNMP management by default. To manage the switch using SNMP (required for Dell Network Manager) you can 121 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

122 setup the initial SNMP version 2 account now. return later and setup other SNMP accounts. (For more information on setting up an SNMP version 1 or 3 account, see the user documentation). Would you like to setup the SNMP management interface now? (y/n) Step 2: Now we need to setup your initial privilege (Level 15) user account. This account is used to login to the CLI and Web interface. You may setup other accounts and change privilege levels later. For more information on setting up user accounts and changing privilege levels, see the user documentation. To setup a user account: Please enter the user name. [admin]: Step 3: Next, IP addresses are setup on the OOB (Out-Of-Band) Interface and/or the VLAN1 routing interface. You can use these IP addresses to access the CLI, Web interface, or SNMP interface of the switch. To access the switch through any management interface you can setup the IP address for the management interface. Setup the default gateway if IP address is manually configured on both routing and OOB interface. Would you like to setup the Out-Of-Band interface now? [Y/N] Step 4: Would you like to setup the VLAN1 routing interface now? [Y/N] This is the configuration information that has been collected: User Account setup = ***** Password = ******** Out-of-band IP address = DHCP VLAN1 Router Interface IP = *********** Final Step: If the information is correct, please enter (y) to save the configuration. If the information is incorrect, enter (n) to discard the configuration and restart the wizard: (y/n) Thank you for using the Dell Easy Setup Wizard. You will now enter CLI mode. 122 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

123 Applying Interface configuration, please wait... console> Upon completion of the Dell Easy Setup Wizard on the #1 Dell Networking N4032F, the firmware version was checked and upgraded as necessary. The most recent firmware is available at Installation instructions are downloaded with the firmware revision. The firmware revision used in this guide is , released November 14th, If the user chooses to connect the OOB management Ethernet to a management network, the switch can act as a DHCP client and receive an IP address for use by Telnet, SSH, or the Web-based Dell OpenManage GUI. To configure the ports needed for stacking, the CLI commands used are as follows. In this guide, we used the ports 21, 22, 23, and 24 for stacking on each of the switches. This must be done separately on both switches before they are ever connected to one another. Any ports can be configured to be stacking ports. console> console>enable console# console#configure console(config)# console(config)#stack console(config-stack)# From here, interfaces can be switched to stack mode by using the command stack-port <interface type> <interface> stack For example, stack-port fortygigabitethernet 1/1/1 stack After all the ports to be used for stacking are set to stack mode, verification can be achieved by using the command show switch stack-ports This will display a table showing all the ports and their configuration for stacking. Next, save the running config. copy running-config startup-config Perform this procedure for all the switches in the stack (the stack in this guide only uses two N4032F switches). Once the configuration has been saved on all the switches, remove the power from all the 123 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

124 switches. Next, use the 10GbE SFP+ cables to connect the configured stack ports on both switches to each other. Next, power up the switch designated as the Master switch. Wait approximately two minutes for the switch to boot up, and verify by checking the console connection. Then power up the member(s) in the stack, waiting 30 seconds between each power up. Verify the switch stack by logging onto the master switch using the console connection or telnet and running the below command. console#show switch Management Standby Preconfig Plugged-in Switch Code SW Status Status Model ID Model ID Status Version Mgmt Sw N4032F N4032F OK Stack Mbr Oper Stby N4032F N4032F OK console# 124 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

125 Appendix F Installing the Failover Clustering Feature in MS WS 2012 R2 To create a failover cluster in Windows Server 2012 R2, the clustered machines must be joined to a domain, and logged into with domain credentials that have the correct permissions. In this appendix, the machines being clustered have already been joined to the domain, set up with NIC teaming, and named appropriately. 1. Install the Failover Feature using Server Manager on one of the machines to be clustered. Start the Add Roles and Features Wizard by selecting Manage or Add roles and features. 125 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

126 2. Select Next on the Before You Begin screen. 3. For the Installation Type, select Role-based or feature-based installation. 126 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

127 4. For the Server Selection, ensure the local server is selected. 127 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

128 5. For Server Roles, do not check any roles and select Next. 6. For Features, check the box for Failover Clustering. 128 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

129 7. When a dialog prompts to add management features, select Add Features. 8. On the following confirmation screen, select Install. A restart may be necessary. 9. Perform this action on every server that will be placed into a failover cluster. 129 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

130 Appendix G - Creating a Failover Cluster in Windows Server 2012 R2 Once the Failover Clustering feature is installed on each node in the planned cluster, the cluster can be created using the Failover Cluster Manager in Windows Server 2012 R2. Since the nodes are added to the domain, the Failover Cluster Manager can easily find other eligible nodes to add to the cluster. The GUI method is described below; the same results can be achieved using PowerShell commands. You will be creating two separate Failover Clusters one for the three R630 compute servers, and a second cluster for the two R730 SOFS nodes. 1. First, ensure that the system being used to create the cluster (usually one of the nodes to be in the cluster, or another machine in the domain) is logged in using the appropriate domain credentials. Launch the Failover Cluster Manager. 130 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

131 2. Select Create Cluster on the right side Actions menu. 3. Select Next to continue following the wizard. 131 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

132 4. Select Browse to bring up the Select Computers dialog. 5. Here, enter the names of the nodes to be added to the cluster, and select Check Names, or, select Advanced and search for the nodes to be added from any computer added to the domain. Select OK when finished. 132 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

133 6. After the Select Computers dialog closes, the Selected servers field should contain the previously chosen computers. Select Next to proceed. 7. Give the cluster a unique name to identify and manage the cluster. 8. Ensure that the check box next to Add all eligible storage to the cluster is not checked. Storage Spaces will be configured after setting up the cluster. Continue by selecting Next. 133 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

134 Appendix H NIC teaming NIC teaming, or LBFO (Load Balancing/Failover) is normally used for two purposes: bandwidth aggregation and failover capability. Extensive use of Microsoft guides for NIC teaming were used to create this guide. The User Guide for NIC Teaming (LBFO) produced by Microsoft is available at This aforementioned guide breaks down the different settings used for NIC teaming, and provided recommended settings for sharing to Hyper-V hosts and allowing the capability for virtual machine traffic. 1. To set up NIC teaming, launch Server Manager in Windows Server 2012 R2. 2. Next, select Local Server from the left-side menu. 134 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

135 3. Select NIC Teaming Disabled. 4. Select the two NICs to be teamed, right click and select Add to New Team. 5. A NIC Teaming dialog will appear, give the team an appropriate name and expand the Additional properties drop-down menu. 135 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.

136 6. In the Additional properties expanded menu, select the below options: LACP, or Link Aggregation Control Protocol, and Load balancing mode Dynamic. The Dynamic mode was introduced with Windows Server 2012 R2, and Microsoft reports better performance than the other, older options in nearly all scenarios. The Link Aggregation Control Protocol enables dynamic LAG (Link Aggregation Group) which has better handling of failed links and makes configuration of LAGs easier and less prone to error, as the group will not form if the LACP configuration fails. 136 Dell PowerEdge Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track v4 Rev 1.0.