Cosonok's IT Blog

Thursday, 13 December 2018

NetApp HCI Network Essentials

In order to successfully deploy NetApp HCI, it is essential that the network piece is correctly setup beforehand. The below links and diagrams are ones I’ve found helpful.

Switch Requirements for Deployment to be Successful:

(1.4) NetApp HCI Documentation Center

> Setting up and using NetApp HCI 1.4

>> Deploying NetApp HCI

>>> Requirements for NetApp HCI deployment

>>>> Network and switch requirements

http://docs.netapp.com/hci/index.jsp?topic=%2Fcom.netapp.doc.hci-ude-140%2FGUID-87D7F06F-8757-452B-9781-C973F63CD5C0.html&cp=3_0_1_0

(1.3.1) NetApp HCI Documentation Center

> Setting up and using NetApp HCI 1.3.1

>> Deploying NetApp HCI

>>> Requirements for NetApp HCI deployment

>>>> Network and switch requirements

http://docs.netapp.com/hci/index.jsp?topic=%2Fcom.netapp.doc.hci-ude-131%2FGUID-87D7F06F-8757-452B-9781-C973F63CD5C0.html&resultof=%22port%22%20%22fast%22%20

Cisco document on how to set up the VPC:

Products & Services / Switches / Data Center Switches / Cisco Nexus 5000 Series Switches / White Papers

https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collateral/switches/nexus-5000-series-switches/configuration_guide_c07-543563.html

Some examples of an existing configuration:

NetApp HCI Documentation Center

> Setting up and using NetApp HCI 1.3.1

>> Deploying NetApp HCI

>>> Requirements for NetApp HCI deployment

>>>> Network and switch requirements

>>>>> Switch port configuration examples

http://docs.netapp.com/hci/index.jsp?topic=%2Fcom.netapp.doc.hci-ude-131%2FGUID-3368F285-849D-4DEB-BA90-183FE722A4BF.html

NetApp HCI Network Setup Guide

https://www.netapp.com/us/media/tr-4679.pdf

The below diagrams come for the HCI Network Setup Guide - the important thing to note is that it is a requirement to have LACP (vPC) for the Storage Node Bond10G (technically, LACP is not a requirement, but it is highly recommended, and without it, performance will be poor - so don’t even consider it for HCI test/demo configurations.)

Note: The below might be slightly out of date for NDE 1.4.

Image 1/4: Storage Node Network Connections (Configure LACP for Bond10G)

Image 2/4: Storage Node VLAN Map

Image 3/4: Compute Node Network Connections (Do not configure LACP)

Image 4/4: Compute Node VLAN Map - Dedicated vMotion Network*

*vMotion can share the same network as management. vMotion cannot share the iSCSI subnet/VLAN.

Additional Links

NetApp HCI Documentation Resources

https://www.netapp.com/us/documentation/hci.aspx

NetApp HCI Theory of Operations

https://www.netapp.com/us/media/wp-7261.pdf

Sunday, 25 November 2018

Creating Bootable USB Sticks to RTFI* NetApp HCI Nodes

*RTFI = Return to Factory Image

I needed to prep some USB sticks ready for an upcoming NetApp HCI install. There are various reasons why you might want to RFTI: reset a test/demo/lab environment, apply the latest versions, someone’s muddled the disks up...

Firstly, you will need a bootable USB drive maker. Go to:

https://rufus.ie/downloads/

And download rufus-2.6p.exe. I know 2.6 works for this purpose (I had issues with 3.3). The ‘p’ is for ‘portable’/don’t-need-to-install which I prefer, but you don’t have to go for the ‘p’ version.

Secondly, you will need to get the NetApp HCI compute and storage node images from (Product = ‘NetApp HCI’):

https://mysupport.netapp.com/NOW/cgi-bin/software

The ISOs are quite big. Storage node ISOs are ~4GB and Computes node ISOs ~ 15GB (mainly because it contains a few different versions of VMware vSphere).

Here I’m using NetApp HCI 1.3.1 ISOs:

- solidfire-rtfi-neon-patch3-10.3.0.157.iso (Storage Node)

- solidfire-NetApp-HCI-Bootstrap-OS-1.3.1.0.iso (Compute Node)

Image: NetApp HCI Storage and Compute Node ISOs

Step 1) Double-Click rufus-2.6p.exe to run

Image: rufus-2.6p.exe

Step 2) Storage Node

Step 2.1) Enter settings into Rufus as thus:

First check ‘Create a bootable disk using...’ and click the CD icon to the right, and point to the solidfire-rtfi-neon-patch3-10.3.0.157.iso (or whatever version you’re using).

Device = {Your USB Key}

Partition scheme = MBR partition scheme for BIOS or UEFI-CSM

File system = FAT32 (Default)

Cluster size = 8192 bytes

New volume label = solidfire-rtfi

Uncheck ‘Check device for bad blocks’

Check ‘Quick format’

Already checked ‘Create a bootable disk using...’

Check ‘Create extended label and icon files’

Image: Rufus Settings for Storage Node

And click Start

Step 2.2) Select ‘Write in ISO Image mode’

Image: ISOHybrid image detected - Write in ISO Image Mode

Step 2.3) Click OK to the warning

Image: ALL DATA WILL BE DESTROYED!

Step 2.4) Wait for Rufus to finish!

Image: Rufus done!

This will probably take about 5 minutes.

Step 3) Compute Node

Setting up Rufus for the Compute Node RTFI USB drive is pretty much the same as for the Storage Node, except you must choose ‘Write in DD Image mode’ (IMPORTANT!)

You will need to point to the solidfire-NetApp-HCI-Bootstrap-OS-1.3.1.0.iso (or whatever version you’re using).

I let the ‘New volume label’ autopopulate with ember-hci...

Image: Rufus Settings for Compute Node

Image: ISOHybrid image detected - Write in DD Image Mode

It took a good 40 minutes (on my system) to create the Compute Node RTFI USB drive.

Bonus Material 1 of 2: Correct Syslinux Version

One problem you’ll have with Rufus 2.6, is that it cannot download the correct versions of Syslinux, and you’ll get “The requested item could not be located”. My trick was to use Rufus 3.3 to download the correct versions of Syslinux.

Image: Syslinux 5.10/2013-06-04 is required

Image: Rufus 2.6.818 - “The requested item could not be located.”

Bonus Material 2 of 2: Why Not Use Rufus 3.3?

Rufus 3.3 works fine for the Storage Node, but not the Compute Node. Trying to create the USB key for the Compute Node, you’ll get stuck because you can’t select anything other than NTFS for File System, and when you click START, get the error message: “Unsupported filesystem: The file system currently selected can not be used with this type of ISO. Please select a different file system or use a different ISO.”

Image: Rufus 3.3.1400 - “Unsupported Filesystem”

Tuesday, 20 November 2018

If you’re headswapping to AFF A700 / A700s you might need more disk...

Some of the original NetApp AFF (All Flash FAS) platforms are reaching the age where one might consider headswapping them. One of the first things we check before any headswap (this was the same for 7-Mode headswaps) is that the root volume is of sufficient size to support the new platform, and if the root volume is too small, we make it bigger before commencing the headswap.

The AFF8020 / AFF8040 / AFF8060 / AFF8080EX have min. root volume size of 350 GiB.

The AFF A200 / A300 have min. root volume size of 350 GiB.

The AFF A700s / A700 have min. root volume size of 934 Gib / 962 Gib.

So, if you want to headswap to an AFF A700s / A700, and you had ADP RD2 partitioned root aggregates, and the root aggregate size is less than the minimum root aggregate size - which is 1 TiB - for the AFF A700s / A700, then you might need to add more disk so can you can create a root aggregate big enough to hold the root volume.

Image: HWU for NetApp AFFs with ONTAP 9.3P7-P9

Saturday, 17 November 2018

NetApp HCI: Some Notes, References and Links

I‘ve not posted anything about NetApp HCI since July 2017 (my first and only dedicated post), so about time to update!

Note: The below is correct at time of writing (mid-November 2018)

NetApp HCI Installation Workbook

This is something a customer will be sent prior to a NetApp/Partner Professional Services installation engagement. Essentially it is to make sure the environment and required information (network switches, DNS, NTP, IP address, VLANs, etcetera...) is ready prior to the PS Engineer arriving on site.

NetApp HCI Core Software

The HCI software is pre-loaded on the nodes, but if they shipped on a previous version and you want the latest, or perhaps you’re testing and want to blat it to start anew:

NetApp HCI for 1.x

- NetApp HCI 1.3.1

From the above you can download:

Software download for NetApp HCI compute node:

solidfire-NetApp-HCI-Bootstrap-OS-1.3.1.0.iso

Software download for NetApp HCI storage nodes, Element OS:

solidfire-rtfi-neon-patch3-10.3.0.157.iso

Software download for NetApp HCI management node:

solidfire-NetApp-HCI-mNode-1.3.0.8.ova

(Other) NetApp HCI Software

NetApp HCI for HealthTools

- NetApp SolidFire HealthTools 2018.05.01.627

NetApp HCI for VCP

- NetAppSolidFire vCenter Plug-in (VCP) 4.1.0

NetApp HCI Documentation

https://mysupport.netapp.com/documentation/productlibrary/index.html?productID=62542

1.3.1 Documentation

Key documents:

- NetApp HCI Release Notes Version 1.3.1

- NetApp HCI H-Series ISI (Installation and Setup Instructions)

- NetApp HCI Deployment Guide Version 1.3.1

NetApp Interoperability Matrix Tool

https://mysupport.netapp.com/matrix

Solution Search > Converged Infrastructure > NetApp HCI

Briefly - supported includes:

- iSCSI

- VMware ESXi 6.0 U3 / 6.5 U1 / 6.5 U2 / 6.7

- Element OS 10.0 / 10.1 / 10.2 / 10.3 / 10.4

*See VMware HCL for all Guest OSes that are supported.

Blogs on NetApp HCI

NetApp HCI: It’s So Easy, It’s Almost Anti-Climactic

https://blog.netapp.com/netapp-hci-its-so-easy-its-almost-anti-climactic/

HCI - Hero from Day Zero

https://www.arrowecs.co.uk/blog/posts/2018/april/hci-hero-from-day-zero/

NetApp HCI: The first installation. The force awakens (and it glows)

https://derschmitz.com/2017/12/15/netapp-hci-the-first-installation/

NetApp HCI: Your Biggest Questions Answered

https://www.wwt.com/all-blog/netapp-hci-your-biggest-questions-answered/

NetApp HCI YouTube Videos

NetApp HCI Demo (published June 5, 2017)

NetApp HCI NetApp Deployment Engine Demo (published Oct 31, 2017)

NetApp HCI vCenter Plug In Demo (published Oct 31, 2017)

NetApp TRs and NVAs

General Technical Reports:

TR-4679: NetApp HCI Network Setup Guide: Version 1.2

TR-4641: NetApp HCI Data Protection

TR-4632: NetApp HCI QoS and Mixed Workloads

Solution Specific Technical Reports and NetApp Verified Architectures

NVA-1124: Red Hat OpenShift Container Platform with NetApp HCI: NVA Design

NVA-1122: VMware Private Cloud on NetApp HCI: NVA Design

TR-4721: Sybase ASE on NetApp HCI

TR-4694: Visualizing NetApp HCI Performance: Using Grafana, Docker, Trident, and Graphite

TR-4669: HCI File Services Powered by ONTAP Select - Quick Start Guide

TR-4638: SQL Server on NetApp HCI

TR-4633: MongoDB on NetApp HCI

TR-4630: NetApp HCI with VMware Horizon View 7

RTFI
If you have a need to RTFI the nodes (i.e. a new version of the NDE has come out and you want to use the latest), then go to https://kb.netapp.com/ and search for RTFI. To create bootable USB keys you can use the Rufus tool from https://rufus.ie/en_IE.html (can RTFI from the IPMIs also).

Note: If I get around to it I'll do a post on preparing bootable USB keys. The process is a little different for the compute and storage nodes.

Image: After racking, cabling, and powering, just this left to do (from the ISI)

Other Blogs
What is the NetApp Solidfire / HCI mNode?
NetApp SolidFire mNode and ActiveIQ Monitoring
https://ranchh.wordpress.com/2018/02/08/netapp-solidfire-mnode-and-activeiq-monitoring/

Additionally, if you’re NetApp/Partner, a few extra resources:

1) fieldportal.netapp.com check out the ‘NetApp HCI Product Page’

This includes additional brainshark videos:

- Easy Scale - NetApp HCI 1.3

- NDE simplified - NetApp HCI 1.3

Also a Technical Presentation and ‘POC/Test Plan’

2) The HCI PS Experts Team Sharepoint page: https://netapp.sharepoint.com/sites/HCIPSExpertsTeam

Here you will find the HCI_Installation_Workbook_v2.1.xlsm amongst other things.
3) I can't remember where I got this from, but someone did a nice 'HCI SETUP - DEMO.docx'
4) Another interesting document - which came from a HCI Bootcamp - 'HCI_Installation_Process_v1.0_Generic.docx'

Sunday, 11 November 2018

NetApp Storage Encryption (NSE) Researches (Specifically with Regards to Upgrading from Clustered ONTAP 8.2.1)

Some NSE (NetApp Storage Encryption) links that may be useful if you’re looking to upgrade a system with NSE disks from 8.2.1 to 9.3. A typical upgrade path would be 8.2.1 -> 8.3.2 -> 9.1 -> 9.3 (the minimum recommended P-releases at the time of writing are 8.3.2P12, 9.1P15, 9.3P8).