StarWind Virtual SAN Hyperconverged 2-Node Scenario with Hyper-V Server 2016

Transcription

1 One Stop Virtualization Shop StarWind Virtual SAN Hyperconverged 2-Node Scenario with Hyper-V Server 2016 FEBRUARY 2018 TECHNICAL PAPER

2 Trademarks StarWind, StarWind Software and the StarWind and the StarWind Software logos are registered trademarks of StarWind Software. StarWind LSFS is a trademark of StarWind Software which may be registered in some jurisdictions. All other trademarks are owned by their respective owners. Changes The material in this document is for information only and is subject to change without notice. While reasonable efforts have been made in the preparation of this document to assure its accuracy, StarWind Software assumes no liability resulting from errors or omissions in this document, or from the use of the information contained herein. StarWind Software reserves the right to make changes in the product design without reservation and without notification to its users. Technical Support and Services If you have questions about installing or using this software, check this and other documents first - you will find answers to most of your questions on the Technical Papers webpage or in StarWind Forum. If you need further assistance, please contact us. About StarWind StarWind is a pioneer in virtualization and a company that participated in the development of this technology from its earliest days. Now the company is among the leading vendors of software and hardware hyper-converged solutions. The company s core product is the years-proven StarWind Virtual SAN, which allows SMB and ROBO to benefit from cost-efficient hyperconverged IT infrastructure. Having earned a reputation of reliability, StarWind created a hardware product line and is actively tapping into hyperconverged and storage appliances market. In 2016, Gartner named StarWind Cool Vendor for Compute Platforms following the success and popularity of StarWind HyperConverged Appliance. StarWind partners with world-known companies: Microsoft, VMware, Veeam, Intel, Dell, Mellanox, Citrix, Western Digital, etc. Copyright StarWind Software Inc. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written consent of StarWind Software. TECHNICAL PAPER 2

3 Contents Introduction... 4 Solution Diagram... 5 Pre-Configuring the Servers... 6 Downloading, Installing, and Registering the Software... 9 Configuring Shared Storage Extending StarWind Device Discovering Target Portals Connecting Targets Multipath Configuration Creating a Cluster Conclusion TECHNICAL PAPER 3

4 Introduction StarWind Virtual SAN is a native Windows hypervisor-centric hardware-less VM storage solution. It creates a fully fault-tolerant and high performing storage pool built for the virtualization workloads by mirroring existing server s storage and RAM between the participating storage cluster nodes. The mirrored storage resource is then connected to all the cluster nodes and treated just as local storage by all hypervisors and clustered applications. High Availability is achieved by providing the multipath access to all storage nodes. StarWind Virtual SAN delivers supreme performance compared to any dedicated SAN solution since it runs locally on the hypervisor and all I/O is processed by local RAM, SSD cache, and disks. This way it never gets bottlenecked by storage fabric. This guide is intended for experienced Windows Server users or system administrators. It provides the detailed instructions on how to setup a 2-node Hyperconverged Hyper-V 2016 Cluster with StarWind Virtual SAN as a storage provider. A full set of up-to-date technical documentation can always be found here, or by pressing the Help button in the StarWind Management Console. For any technical inquiries please visit our online community, Frequently Asked Questions page, or use the support form to contact our technical support department. TECHNICAL PAPER 4

5 Solution Diagram The diagram bellow illustrates the network and storage configuration of the resulting solution described in this guide. TECHNICAL PAPER 5

6 Pre-Configuring the Servers 1. Enable Remote Desktop to the servers. 2. Join the servers to the domain. Rename and adjust static IPs for all NICs. To do so, perform the steps 3-6 below: 3. Run powershell.exe in the Command Prompt to check the network adapters availability in the system: Get-NetAdapter TECHNICAL PAPER 6

7 4. To change the name and set the static IP for Heartbeat/Sync channel, type the next command in the PowerShell console: Get-NetAdapter Ethernet2 Rename-NetAdapter NewName Sync Get-NetAdapter Sync New-NetIPAddress IPAddress PrefixLength Alternatively, the network settings can be changed through the sconfig.cmd window. In Network Settings (option 8), select the Index of the NIC, which should serve as a synchronization link: The following actions are possible: Set Network Adapter Address selection between DHCP or Static IP Set DNS Servers providing DNS settings Clear DNS Server Settings Return to Main Menu 6. Disable Firewall on each server via PowerShell: Get-NetFirewallProfile Set-NetFirewallProfile Enabled False TECHNICAL PAPER 7

8 7. It is highly recommended to enable Jumbo packets (9014) on the Sync and iscsi networks. This can be done via PowerShell in two ways. Directly on the Sync/iSCSI NIC: Set-NetAdapterAdvancedProperty Name Sync RegistryKeyword *JumboPacket Registryvalue 9014 Set-NetAdapterAdvancedProperty Name iscsi RegistryKeyword *JumboPacket Registryvalue 9014 For all NICs available in the system: Set-NetAdapterAdvancedProperty Name * RegistryKeyword *JumboPacket Registryvalue Ping each node with Jumbo packets (change the asterisk to the partner node s IP address): ping * -f l 8900 for Sync ping * -f l 8900 for iscsi 9. Install Failover Clustering and Multipath I/O features on both servers using PowerShell: Install-WindowsFeature Failover-Clustering IncludeAllSubFeature Restart Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature Online FeatureName MultiPathIO Enable-MSDSMAutomaticClaim BusType iscsi 10. Create a Virtual Switch via PowerShell: New-VMSwitch Name vswitch NetAdapterName management NOTE: The Virtual Switch name must be the same on both nodes. TECHNICAL PAPER 8

9 11. Create Local Partition for the Storage drive. In the CMD window, run the following: Diskpart list disk select disk X where X is the number of the disk to be processed online disk attributes disk clear readonly convert GPT create partition Primary format fs=ntfs label=x quick where X is the name for the Volume list volume select volume X assign letter X where X is the letter for the Volume list Volume Any of the arrays to be used by StarWind Virtual SAN for storing virtual disk images should meet the following requirements: Initialized as GPT Have a single NTFS-formatted partition Have a drive letter assigned Downloading, Installing, and Registering the Software 12. Download the StarWind VSAN software by following the link: Copy the StarWind VSAN installer to both Hyper-V Server instances. Launch the downloaded installer on the server where StarWind Virtual SAN or one of its components needs to be installed. The Setup Wizard will appear. Click Next to continue. TECHNICAL PAPER 9

10 14. Read and accept the License Agreement. Click Next to continue. 15. Carefully read the information about new features and improvements. Red text indicates warnings for users who are updating existing software installations. Click Next to continue. TECHNICAL PAPER 10

11 16. Click Browse to modify the installation path if necessary. Click Next to continue. 17. Select the required deployment scenario for StarWind VSAN. This installation type is designed for GUI-less OS editions. The StarWind service is the core of the software. It can create iscsi targets as well as share virtual and physical devices. The service can be managed by StarWind Management Console from any Windows computer on the network that has StarWind Management Console installed (GUI required). Click Next to continue. TECHNICAL PAPER 11

12 18. Specify the Start Menu Folder. Click Next to continue. 19. When the license prompt appears, request a time-limited fully functional evaluation key, or a FREE version key, or use the commercial license key obtained with the purchase of StarWind Virtual SAN by selecting the corresponding option. Click Next to continue. TECHNICAL PAPER 12

13 20. Click on the Browse button to locate the license file. Clink Next to continue. 21. Review the licensing information. Click Next to continue. TECHNICAL PAPER 13

14 22. Verify the installation settings. Click Back to make any changes. Click Install to continue. 23. Click Finish to close the wizard. Repeat the steps on the partner node. To manage StarWind Virtual SAN deployed on the OS edition with no GUI enabled, StarWind Management Console should be installed on a computer that runs the GUI-enabled Windows edition. TECHNICAL PAPER 14

15 Configuring Shared Storage 24. Run StarWind Management Console from the GUI-enabled Windows OS. Press Add Server. 25. Type the management IP for your Hyper-V Server Add both StarWind servers. Otherwise, type in the StarWind servers domain names. Click OK to continue. TECHNICAL PAPER 15

16 26. Connect to your servers and specify the path for the storage pool. Press Yes to configure the storage pool. If the storage pool destination needs to be changed, press Choose path and point the file browser to the necessary disk. NOTE: StarWind Management Console will request the default storage pool location on the server that is connected for the first time. Configure the default storage pool to use one of the volumes prepared earlier. All the devices created through the Add Device wizard will be stored there. If an alternative storage path for StarWind virtual disks is needed, the Add Device (advanced) menu item can be used. 27. Select the StarWind server where the device should be created. Press the Add Device (advanced) button on the toolbar or right-click on the StarWind server. TECHNICAL PAPER 16

17 28. In Add Device Wizard, select Hard Disk Device and click Next to continue. 29. Select Virtual Disk and click Next. TECHNICAL PAPER 17

18 30. Specify the name for the StarWind device, its location and size. Click Next. NOTE: It is recommended to create a 1 GB device to avoid long synchronization process. This device can be extended after the creation. 31. Specify the vitual disk options. Choose 4096 bytes sector size for Microsoft Windows. TECHNICAL PAPER 18

19 32. Define the caching policy and specify the RAM cache size (in MB). Click Next to continue. 33. Define the Flash (L2, SSD) cache parameters and size if necessary. Choose the SSD drive path using the wizard. NOTE: It is recommended to put the 1 GB of L1 cache in write-back mode per 1 TB storage capacity. The recommended size of L2 cache is 10% of the initial StarWind device size. TECHNICAL PAPER 19

20 34. Specify the target parameters. Enable the Target Name checkbox to customize the target name. Otherwise, the name will be generated automatically based on the target alias. Click Next to continue. 35. Click Create to add a new device and attach it to the target. Then click Close to finish working with the wizard. TECHNICAL PAPER 20

21 36. Right-click on the device that has just been created and select Replication Manager. 37. The Replication Manager window will appear. Press the Add Replica button. TECHNICAL PAPER 21

22 38. Select Synchronous two-way replication. Click Next to proceed. 39. The default StarWind management port is If a different port needs to be configured, please type it in the Port number field. TECHNICAL PAPER 22

23 40. Choose Heartbeat Failover Strategy. 41. Choose Create new Partner Device and click Next. TECHNICAL PAPER 23

24 42. Specify the partner device location if necessary. Modify the target name of the device if required. 43. Select the Synchronization and Heartbeat networks for the HA device. Modify the ALUA settings if required. TECHNICAL PAPER 24

25 44. Click Change network settings and specify the interfaces for Synchronization and Heartbeat. Click OK and Next. 45. Select Synchronize from existing Device for the partner device initialization mode. Click Next. TECHNICAL PAPER 25

26 46. Press the Create Replica button. Then click Close to exit the wizard. 47. The added devices will appear in the StarWind Management Console. TECHNICAL PAPER 26

27 48. Repeat steps for the remaining virtual disks that will be used as Cluster Shared Volumes. Once all devices are created, the Management console should look as demonstrated in the screenshot below: TECHNICAL PAPER 27

28 Extending StarWind Device 49. Right-click the StarWind device and choose Extend Size of HA. 50. Specify the Amount of Space to Extend for this device and press Extend to continue. TECHNICAL PAPER 28

29 After extension is over, the new size of the StarWind HA device will appear in StarWind Management Console. TECHNICAL PAPER 29

30 Discovering Target Portals This part describes how to connect the previously created disks, which need to be further added to the cluster servers. 51. In the CMD window, run the following command to start configuring the Microsoft iscsi initiator: iscsicpl If the dialog below appears, press Yes. TECHNICAL PAPER 30

31 52. In the iscsi Initiator Properties window, click the Discovery tab: 53. Click on the Discover Portal button. In the Discover Target Portal dialog, type in for the portal IP address: TECHNICAL PAPER 31

32 54. Click on the Advanced button. Select Microsoft iscsi Initiator as the Local Adapter and select the Initiator IP (keep it default for ). Confirm your actions to complete the Target Portal discovery. 55. Click on the Discovery Portal button once again and specify the IP address of the partner s iscsi link. 56. In Advanced settings, select Microsoft iscsi Initiator as the Local Adapter. Select the Initiator IP in the same subnet as the IP address of the partner server from the step 55. Confirm your actions to complete the Target Portal discovery. TECHNICAL PAPER 32

33 57. The resulting Discovery tab will look as demonstrated in the screenshot below: 58. Complete the steps for the other node. TECHNICAL PAPER 33

34 Connecting Targets 59. Select the Targets tab. Choose the target of the Cluster Shared Volume available from the local server and click Connect. 60. Enable the checkboxes as in the image below. TECHNICAL PAPER 34

35 61. Select Microsoft iscsi Initiator in the Local adapter dropdown menu. Select for the Target portal IP. Confirm your actions. 62. From the Targets tab, select the Witness target available from the local server and click Connect. Enable the checkboxes as in the image below: TECHNICAL PAPER 35

36 63. In Advanced settings, select Microsoft iscsi Initiator in the Local adapter dropdown menu. Set for the Target portal IP. Confirm your actions. NOTE: Do not connect the partner target for the Witness device available from the other StarWind node. 64. From the Targets tab, select the partner target from the other StarWind node and click Connect. Enable checkboxes as in the image below. TECHNICAL PAPER 36

37 65. In Advanced settings, select Microsoft iscsi Initiator in the Local Adapter dropdown menu. In the Initiator IP dropdown, select the IP address of the host s iscsi link. In Target portal IP, select the corresponding partner s IP address from the same subnet. Confirm your actions. 66. The resulting Targets tab will look as demonstrated on the screenshot below: TECHNICAL PAPER 37

38 67. Initialize the disks and create the partitions on them using DISKPART. To create a cluster, the disk devices are required to be visible on both nodes. Run diskpart in the CMD window: List disk Select disk X Online disk Clean Attributes disk clear readonly Convert GPT Create Partition Primary Format fs=ntfs label=x quick where X is the name of the Volume Do not assign any letter for the cluster disks. NOTE: It is recommended to initialize the disks as GPT. 68. Perform the steps for the other node. TECHNICAL PAPER 38

39 Multipath Configuration Configure the MPIO policy for each device, specifying localhost ( ) as the active path. To achieve this, perform the following steps. 69. Select a target located on the local server and click Devices. TECHNICAL PAPER 39

40 70. In the Devices dialog, press MPIO. TECHNICAL PAPER 40

41 71. Select Least Queue Depth in the Load balance policy dropdown menu. 72. Repeat the steps for each device on the current and the second node. TECHNICAL PAPER 41

42 Creating a Cluster 73. Open the Failover Cluster Manager using the desktop version of Windows or a different GUI-based Windows Server and click on the Create Cluster link in the Actions section of Failover Cluster Manger. TECHNICAL PAPER 42

43 74. Specify the servers to be added to the cluster. Click Next to continue. 75. Validate the configuration by passing the cluster validation tests: select Yes and Run all tests. Click Next to continue. TECHNICAL PAPER 43

44 76. Specify the cluster name. NOTE: If the cluster servers get IP addresses over DHCP, the cluster also gets its IP address over DHCP. If the IP addresses are set statically, you need to set the cluster IP address manually. Click Next to continue. 77. Make sure that all settings are correct. Use the Previous button to make any changes. TECHNICAL PAPER 44

45 NOTE: If the Add all eligible storage to the cluster checkbox is enabled, the wizard will try to add all disks to the cluster automatically. The smallest device will be assigned as the Witness. It is recommended to disable this option before you click Next and add Witness manually. Click Finish to close the wizard. TECHNICAL PAPER 45

46 Conclusion Windows Failover Cluster on top of Hyper-V Server 2016 is successfully created. This cluster will increase the availability of the services or applications on it, as well as exclude the downtime during the maintenance. Please note that StarWind does not recommend repeating the steps above as this process violates the Microsoft license agreement. In case you have any additional questions, visit our Support Forum. TECHNICAL PAPER 46

47 Contacts US Headquarters EMEA and APAC (UK) (Spain and Portugal) Customer Support Portal: Support Forum: Sales: General Information: StarWind Software, Inc. 35 Village Rd., Suite 100, Middleton, MA USA , StarWind Software Inc. All rights reserved. TECHNICAL PAPER 47