In the scenario of an ordinary cluster, the nodes in the HCI cluster can either have 2 nodes or more than 2 nodes. For a 2-node cluster, an additional witness node needs to be deployed during the initialization of virtual storage. The presence of the witness node is to improve the overall stability of the storage.

HCI Cluster more than 2 Nodes

Step 1: Select datastore type

Navigate to Storage > Virtual Storage, click New, and select the volume type as Ordinary datastore. Fill in the new virtual datastore name.

Step 2: Select nodes

Select the corresponding nodes to create a virtual datastore. Since we are creating the first virtual datastore, choose the Use disks on new hosts.

Step 3: Select disks

Select the hard disk to be added to the virtual datastor.

Step 4: Verify disks usage

According to the disks selected in step 3 HCI will display a disk group configured based on best practices. If the disk group is not match the planning, you can adjust the disk groups configure by clicking Edit Disk Group. Configure hard disks and hard disk groups and then make a detailed usage plan for each node's disk.

For a hybrid datastor, at least one SSD is required as a cache disk.

Step 5: Confirm the configuration

The page displays virtual storage configurations, including nodes number, available raw capacity, 2-replica storage capacity, 2-replica storage capacity, and the total number of disks and disk groups. After confirming configurations, click OK. Then, input the administrator account password click OK. Then, waiting for the vs imitation process complete.

HCI Cluster with 2 Nodes

The witness node can be installed on a physical server or a VM deployed in VMware, or if you purchase the witness node provide by sangfor (aServer-J-100Z).

Below are the required configurations installed on a physical server or a VM deployed in VMware:

• CPU cores, 16 GB memory

• Installation on HCI or VMware clusters

• 64 GB disk x 1

• Network interface x 1

• IOPS should be no less than 1000

• VMware vCenter must be on 5.5 or later versions

2.4.2.1.2.1Deploy Witness node by iso file

To install the witness on a physical server you need to download the iso package first. The download link package is named HCI6.11.1 Witness Node Installation ISO (For both Stretched cluster and 2+1 environment) (Choose the appropriate installation package based on the different HCI versions).

Before you deploy it on physical server, you need to use a tool (such as UltraISO) to burn the ISO file onto a USB drive to create a bootable drive.

Below are the detailed installation steps.

Step 1: Adjust the boot method of the physical server. Modify the BIOS settings to set the server to boot from the USB drive, then insert the USB drive and restart the server.

Step 2: Select the language. The following installation steps will be displayed based on the language selected in this step.

Step 3: Select install version. Since the Chinese and English versions share the same installation package, you need to choose the install version at the start of the installation. If the HCI install the internation version, select the internation version here; if the HCI install the Chinese version, select the Chinese version here.

Step 4: Select Install Sangfor HCI on this machine and press Enter.

Step 5: Select Sangfor HCI Installer and press Enter.

Step 6: Waiting for a while, a window will pop up to show the terms of use, carefully read the terms and, if you have no objections, select Agree to proceed with the next steps.

Step 7: Select the installation mode. Here, we choose Two Host Volume Arbiter Node. The other option, Stretch Volume Arbiter Node, will be used in a stretch cluster.

Step 8: A window will pop up to show an alert message for witness node you just need to click Yes button to ignore it.

Step 9: Select a disk where you want to install Sangfor HCI software and select OK.

Step 10: Enter "format" in the input box and select OK.

Step 11: Disk speed testing. If you don't need the disk speed test, select No in the pop-up dialog box. We recommend that you select "Yes" to perform a disk read/write speed test, in order to better understand whether the disk meets the requirements. Later it will pop up a window to show the result, if the result shows the disk has a good read/write performance click Yes to continue.

Step 12: Confirm the disk boot order. Ensure that the currently selected disk is set as the first boot device in the server's BIOS settings, then click OK to continue.

Step 13: Configure aggregate interface. If you do not need the aggregate interface, click Yes to continue or you can select No to configure aggregate interface first (the below step is not select aggregate interface).

Step 14: Select the NIC as prompted and select OK. Then, press Enter to go to the settings page.

Step 15: Configure the IP address, subnet mask, and gateway, and then click OK. Make sure that the address can communicate properly with the target HCI cluster

Step 16: Select Yes to go back to the NIC selection page and set other NICs or select No to complete the installation.

Step 17: Remove the USB flash drive or ISO image file and select Reboot to complete installation.

Step 18: After a restart, you can log in to the witness node console through https://configured IP address in your browser.

2.4.2.1.2.2Deploy Witness node by OVF file

To deploy the witness node on VMware you need to download the OVF package the download link package named HCI6.11.1 2 Nodes VS Witness Node OVF Deployment Package(2+1) (Choose the appropriate installation package based on the different HCI versions).

The following steps are based on vCenter 7.0.3 as an example.

Steps:

Step 1: Select a cluster Go to Actions > Deploy OVF Template.

Step 2: Select Local File and click Browse to select the OVF and vmdk file of the witness node.

Step 3: Choose the appropriate location and virtual machine name.

Step 4: Select the appropriate compute resource.

Step 5: Select Tiny Witness Node.

Step 6: Select storage.

Step 7: Select network.

Step 8: Confirm your option and click FINISH.

Step 9: Select management interface. After the witness VM created successfully, open the VM console Fill in the default password admin click OK. Select Network Settings press enter. Select set as management interface press enter, then select the interface you want to use as management interface.

Step 10: Configurate IP address. Select the option configure interface press enter, then fill in the IP address, netmask, gateway, MTU and VLAN ID. At the last step click OK to complete the process.

Step 11: After all the above steps have been done, you can use https://IP to access the witness node.

2.4.2.1.2.3Virtual storage pool creation

Step 1: Select datastore type

Navigate to Storage > Virtual Storage, click New, and select the volume type as Ordinary datastore. Fill in the new virtual datastore name.

Step 2: Select nodes

Select the corresponding nodes to create a virtual datastore. Since we are creating the first virtual datastore, choose the Use disks on new hosts. Then click Next.

If there is already existing a virtual storage, you can select Use unused disks added to existing datastores.

Step 3: Add witness node. In the pop-up window click Add now go to the witness node addition process. Fill in the witness node IP and super administrator’s password. After a while in the new window check the witness node, Click Next.

Step 4: Select disks.

Select the hard disk to be added to the virtual data store.

The witness node’s disk must be selected.

Step 5: Select use of disks.

According to the disks selected in step 4 HCI will display a disk group configured based on best practices. If the disk group does not match the planning, you can adjust the disk groups configure by clicking Edit Disk Group. Configure hard disks and hard disk groups and then make a detailed usage plan for each node's disk. The system will automatically detect the disks of all nodes in the cluster. For a hybrid datastore, at least one SSD is required as a cache disk.

Step 6: Confirm the configuration

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Sangfor Cloud Platform (SCP)

Ordinary Clusters

HCI Cluster more than 2 Nodes

HCI Cluster with 2 Nodes