IBM Spectrum Accelerate: Installation guide for SDS in Softlayer

Answer

1. If you don’t have a Site-to-Site VPN you will have to use the Client VPN (Admin rights are recommended because in many cases we will need to ask SL support team to change configuration after purchasing the server and for that you will need the admin rights) You Can download the Linux client VPN from this link:

http://thoughtsoncloud.com/2014/08/ibm-softlayer-vpn-solution-linux-command-line-interface-clients/

The windows client doesn’t need any prior download you just head to the vpn link where your servers are located, for example if your servers are in LON head to:

https://vpn.lon02.softlayer.com/prx/000/http/localhost/login

2. Order 2 privet vlan’s(one vlan for management and one vlan for Interconnect/ISCSI) each with 64 address pool or if you have a bigger environment than 20 servers you can even order 128 address pool for each vlan or more. For ordering the 2 vlan’s do the following:

Go to https://control.softlayer.com and login with your user

From there go to “Place an order” in the main menu

Next a window will pop where you need to click on “Network”

Then click on “Vlans” select “Order by Datacenter”, select the location for example “LON”, select the vlan type as “Privet vlan”, select the subnet size if you need about 64 address then choose “64 Static privet IP Addresses (61 Usable)”, give the vlan a name and press “Continue”

3. Before ordering the bare-metal server call SL support or open a ticket to tell them the type of disk controller you want so they will install it on the servers before the provisioning phase.

It’s recommended to use an “adaptec 71605 controller” but the new LSI controllers are also good just verify that the controller supports esxi 5.5

4. Configure all the disks on all the ESXi’s as JBOD disks

Minimal sds module

Dual Processor Hex Core Xeon 2620 - 2.00GHz (Sandy Bridge)

6 X 2.00 TB SATA II

1 X 800 GB SSD

10 Gbps Dual Private Uplinks (Unbonded)

Recommended sds module

11 X 2.00 TB SATA II

1 X 800 GB SSD

10 Gbps Dual Private Uplinks (Unbonded)

Building the SDS environment

1. First step is to purchase the modules (x86 servers)

Go to https://control.softlayer.com and login with your user

From there go to “Place an order” in the main menu

Next a window will pop where you need to click on “devices”

Then under bare metal servers click on “Monthly” which will open a window were you choose the server type and amount you like, for example let’s choose the recommended sds module:

Ram: 48 GB Registered DDR3 1333

11 X 2.00 TB SATA II

1 X 800 GB SSD

10 Gbps Dual Private Uplinks (Unbonded)

And finalize the order

*The Servers should be ready to use in about 2-3 days from the order

The deployment phase

Now when the servers are up and running with the vsphere ESXi installed on them you can create the deployment XML were you will write the setup details (vswitch names, vm storage name, vm ip’s and more)

In order to choose the ip’s for the vm’s you can see what ip’s are free in Network->ip management->vlans

Example XML:

###Global SDS machine settings (Machine name – any name is good & S/N – , XIV Modules memory capacity – just notice that it’s very important to leave at least for VMware, SSD Disks number, Will we use virtual disks in the machine or not, SDS machine MGMT Gateway & netmask, interconnect_a/b_network_prefix(Internal interconnect networks prefix), SATA Disks number(specify number between 3 to 12) and is the machine is a ISCSI 10G machine or a ISCSI 1G machine).

<sds_machine name="p_test_1" machine_serial_number="AA11111" memory_gb="44" ssd_disks="1" use_virtual_disks="False" vm_gateway="9.9.9.9" vm_netmask="255.255.255.128" vm_interconnect_a_network_prefix="14.117.0.0" vm_interconnect_b_network_prefix="14.118.0.0" data_disks="12" vm_is_10ge="yes">

###vCenter Details (Datacenter where the esxi’s will be added, vCenter dns name, user & password )

<vcenter_host datacenter="TEST-POC" name="vc1.test.com" password="****" username="administrator"/>

###ESXi’s Details ( Each esxi’s dns name, ESXi user & password, VM Datastore name on the ESXi, MGMT vSwitch name, Interconnect vSwitch name, ISCSI vSwitch name(It can be the same as the Interconnect vSwitch name or as the MGMT vSwitch name)and Module MGMT ip address

<esx_servers>

<server hostname="esxi1.test.com" username="root" password="****" datastore="DS_1" mgmt_network="VM Network" interconnect_network="ISCSI10G" iscsi_network="ISCSI10G" vm_mgmt_ip_address="9.9.9.1"></server>

<server hostname="esxi2.test.com" username="root" password="***" datastore=" DS_2" mgmt_network="VM Network" interconnect_network="ISCSI10G" iscsi_network="ISCSI10G" vm_mgmt_ip_address="9.9.9.2"></server>

<server hostname="esxi3.test.com" username="root" password="password" datastore=" DS_3" mgmt_network="VM Network" interconnect_network="ISCSI10G" iscsi_network="ISCSI10G" vm_mgmt_ip_address="9.9.9.3"></server>

<!-- you can add additional "server" entries here. Make sure the vm_ip_address and datacenter names are unique -->

</esx_servers>

</sds_machine>

Next there are some configurations and verifications that need to be meet before running the deployment script:

1. Verify that you see all the 10 remaining SATA & 1 SSD disks as JBOD in the esxi and you can see the disks type in the esxi storage devices for example “Seagate” “WD”.

2. configure the vSwitch names (Management & ISCSI/Interconnect) to be the same as they are in the XML deployment file

3. (Relevant only for vSwitch with 10G Ethernet ports) configure the MTU of the ISCSI vSwitch to 9000MTU

4. configure the VMFS local esxi os storage disk is the same as they are in the XML deployment file

5. Verify that the deployment server where you are executing the deployment process, hosts file is updated with the esxi names

Running the deployment script using the deployment server

The deployment server can be any server which can reach the management vlan of all the ESXi’s and can reach the build binaries and deployment XML, The deployment can be done through a site-to-site VPN connection or Client VPN connection

From this point you can run the deployment using the deployment script

The Deployment script “xiv_sds_deployment_kit” is using the build binaries and the deployment XML you created to deploy VM’s on the ESXi’s which creates the XIV modules

When the deployment finishes you should be able to connect to the SDS Machine using its management ip’s that you specified in the deployment XML