We were presented with a summary of our configuration parameters, and then the dHCI cluster was created. We were then offered the option to add a datastore, which we did. We specified the IP information for iSCSI and the password for the ESXi servers and iLO. We were presented with and selected the two ESXi servers that the wizard automatically discovered. We were then prompted for the name of the new data center and cluster. We were asked if we wanted to use an existing cluster or create a new one we selected to create a new one. The wizard also has an option to create a new vCenter Server. We clicked the checkbox to Use an existing vCenter Server, and then specified the information for the vCenter Server. After clicking Finish, we were notified that the array setup was complete, and the services had started.Īfter selecting Connect, we were connected to the storage server’s web page and logged in as admin. The top of the wizard had a progression chart to indicate our progress in the installation process.įrom the stack configurator, we were asked for network management information. It took a few minutes for the array to initialize, after which it brought up the stack configurator. From the wizard, we gave the array name, specified networking parameters, and created a password for the array. We selected the Set up this array (but do not join a group) option and clicked Next. This brought up the web-based Nimble configuration wizard. Then, we brought up a browser and entered the serial number of the array postfixed with local. We connected our laptop to the same network as the Nimble Storage Array. In the sections below, we will provide a walkthrough of our experience with this process. This switch has 32 10Gb Base-T, eight 10Gb SFP+, and two 40 Gb QSFP+ ports.īelow is a diagram showing how we connected the compute to the storage.įollowing the HPE Nimble Storage dHCI and VMware vSphere Deployment Guide, we first installed and configured the Nimble Storage, then created and added the compute nodes, and finally created the cluster. To connect all the systems, we used an HPE FF570 32XGT. For connectivity, the AF20Q has four 10Gb ports, two of which we used as iSCSI targets, while the other two we used for management. VMware ESXi 6.7u1 and the Nimble toolkit come pre-installed on these systems.įor storage, we used an HPE Nimble from their AF line specifically, an AF20Q array with 12 960GB SSD drives, providing us with 5.8 TiB of usable storage. These servers have dual Intel Xeon 6130 procs, 128GB of RAM, and redundant drives for the OS. Our initial dHCI cluster will be comprised of two compute nodes connected to an HPE Nimble Storage array and managed using vSphere with the HPE dHCI plugin.įor the compute nodes, we used HPE D元60 Gen10 servers. We felt that this would replicate the experiences users would have when doing an initial dHCI deployment. To get a better understanding of storage in a dHCI environment and how HPE’s dHCI solution has automated and simplified the process of setting up and managing dHCI, we deployed it in an environment that had existing vCenter Servers. Setting up the HPE Nimble dHCI Environment In this article, we will dive deeper into the storage aspect of dHCI and see if it can be managed efficiently from the same pane as compute. This imbalance with HCI deployments is due to very few applications growing compute needs at the same velocity as storage. dHCI vendors have consciously uncoupled the storage from the compute to provide datacenters the freedom to grow their deployments holistically, thereby preventing the stranded resource problem that is prevalent with HCI deployments. As a recap, dHCI is similar to hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) in the sense that it allows storage, compute, and networking to all be managed from a single management plane (in HPE’s case, from vCenter Server) however, unlike HCI, dHCI does not need to deploy storage in lockstep with compute. In particular, we looked at HPE’s implementation of dHCI as they are a leader in this technology. In a recent article, we looked at one of the more interesting technologies currently being deployed in the datacenter: disaggregated hyperconverged infrastructure (dHCI).
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