Dell EMC XC6420 XC Series Appliance and XC Core System Solutions Guide Regulatory Model: E43S Series Regulatory Type: E43S001
Notes, cautions, and warnings NOTE: A NOTE indicates important information that helps you make better use of your product. CAUTION: A CAUTION indicates either potential damage to hardware or loss of data and tells you how to avoid the problem. WARNING: A WARNING indicates a potential for property damage, personal injury, or death. © 2018 Dell Inc. or its subsidiaries. All rights reserved. Dell, EMC, and other trademarks are trademarks of Dell Inc. or its subsidiaries.
Contents 1 About Dell EMC XC6420 XC Series Appliance and XC Core System solution................................................. 4 2 Documentation references.............................................................................................................................5 3 License management..................................................................................................................................... 6 Setting up Nutanix Customer Portal.....................................
1 About Dell EMC XC6420 XC Series Appliance and XC Core System solution NOTE: The information in this document applies to both Dell EMC XC6420 Series Appliances, and Dell EMC XC Core System offering. Sections or information that apply to only one of the offerings (XC Series or XC Core) will be called out explicitly.
2 Documentation references Table 1 provides the reference document link on the Dell support site for Nutanix solution software documentation, Dell EMC documentation, and supported hardware, firmware, and software. Table 1. Documentation references Information Link Nutanix solution software documentation Dell EMC documentation See the Dell EMC XC6420 Series Hyper-Converged Appliances Support Matrix available at Dell.
3 License management NOTE: This chapter does not apply to XC Core appliances. The Nutanix virtual computing platform consists of various features that enable you to administer your environment according to your current and future requirements. Licensed features on the XC Series appliances can be upgraded to an enhanced feature set, which is updated for a longer term, or reassigned to nodes or clusters as permitted by the licensing terms provided in the Dell EMC Nutanix EULA. There are two types of licenses.
Managing the license About this task Perform the following steps to manage your licenses: Steps 1 In Nutanix Documentation portal, open the Web Console Guide, and then see the License Management section. For more information about accessing Web Console Guide, see the Documentation Matrix section in the Dell EMC XC6420 Series Hyper-Converged Appliances Support Matrix available at Dell.com/XCSeriesmanuals. 2 Perform the relevant licensing tasks for your appliance.
4 Deploying an appliance Before you begin Before you deploy XC Series Appliance and XC Core System, ensure that you read through this document and familiarize yourself with the process and required materials. WARNING: Before you set up and operate your appliance, review the safety instructions that shipped with your storage enclosure. WARNING: The weight of your appliance with all the physical disk drives installed (full weight) is 41.46 Kg (91.40 lb).
Setting up your appliance for first use Prerequisite Make sure that your appliance components are properly installed. Your appliance is shipped with physical disk drives, power supply units (PSUs), and fan components. Ensure that all components are properly seated and are not dislodged or damaged during shipping. Steps 1 Install the appliance in a rail. The appliance requires a compatible rack and a rack installation kit.
First time boot scripts Use the first time boot script information that applies to your appliance and associated hypervisor. First time boot scripts for Nutanix AOS Nutanix AOS is installed on each appliance. As Nutanix AOS is preconfigured, it does not require more first time configuration. The XC Series Appliance and XC Core System boot to the hypervisor and are ready to be clustered after the CVM has all the services up and running.
• Creating a cluster manually by using command line interface During this process, you can set the following parameters: • Cluster maximum Redundancy Factory (RF) • Cluster name • Cluster virtual IP (optional for AHV and vSphere) • Subnet mask and default gateway (iDRAC, hypervisor, and CVM) • Domain Name Servers (DNS) • Network Time Protocol (NTP) servers (hypervisor NTP N/A for Hyper-V) • Hypervisor hostnames • Appliance IPs (iDRAC, hypervisor, and CVM) • Reinstallation of new hyperviso
Table 2.
5 Downloading and installing software applications OpenManage Essentials is a hardware management application that provides a comprehensive view of the appliance and its components.
Dell Nautilus Dell Nautilus is a general maintenance release utility for updating firmware for SAS and SATA drives (or disks). About this task NOTE: For information about the supported Dell Nautilus version number, see Dell EMC XC6420 Series Hyper-Converged Appliances Support Matrix available at Dell.com/XCSeriesmanuals. Perform the following steps to download the Dell Nautilus Firmware Update Utility for SAS and SATA disk Solid State Drives (SSDs): Steps 1 Go to Dell.com/support.
6 Monitoring XC Series Appliances and XC Core Systems You can monitor an appliance by using any of the following: • iDRAC • OpenManage Essentials • Nutanix Prism • Nutanix web console The following table lists the components and monitor utility: Table 3.
For more information, see the Discovering and inventorying devices section. 3 To use the functionality of OMSA preinstalled on each appliance, configure it by using the OpenManage Essentials User's Guide. 4 To add an appliance to the discovered list of appliances, discover the appliance by using an IP range. Monitoring an appliance by using Nutanix Web Console To monitor the health of a cluster, VMs, performance, and alerts and events, the Nutanix Web Console provides a range of status-check features.
7 Updating firmware You can update the firmware of an appliance by using any of the following: • iDRAC • Dell Update Packages (DUPs) • LCM • Nutanix web console • Dell EMC Nautilus NOTE: You can use Dell EMC Nautilus as an alternative to the Nutanix web console for updating firmware on the front hard drives and SSDs. The following table lists the components and utility: Table 4.
• 4 Connect to the iDRAC GUI. NOTE: For more information about configuring and accessing the iDRAC GUI, see the iDRAC Quick Start Guide at Dell.com/idracmanuals. Press F11 to restart the appliance and open BIOS boot manager. 5 To mount Dell Nautilus ISO or the USB key to the appliance, select EFI Boot Manager. 6 From the EFI boot list, select Virtual CD or USB drive. 7 Click Update Firmware.
8 Replacing hardware This section describes high-level tasks to replace the components within the appliance. To perform the hardware replacement tasks, you have to download the below documents from Dell.com/XCSeriesmanuals: • Nutanix Hardware Replacement Documentation NOTE: For more information about downloading the Nutanix Hardware Replacement Documentation, see the Documentation matrix section in the Dell EMC XC6420 Series Hyper-Converged Appliance Support Matrix available at Dell.com/ XCSeriesmanuals.
Replacing failed front hard drive and SSD components that contain cluster data About this task Perform the following steps to replace the failed front hard drive and SSDs that contain cluster data: Steps 1 Identify the failed hard drive or SSD. For more information, see the Data Drive Failure section in the Nutanix Hardware Replacement Guide on the Nutanix documentation portal.
9 Recovering an appliance Dell EMC provides an option to recover the appliance in the event of an appliance failure or a cluster node failure. For more information about recovering an appliance, contact Dell EMC support.
10 Getting help Topics: • Contacting Dell EMC • Dell EMC SupportAssist • Locating Service Tag • Quick Resource Locator for XC6420 systems Contacting Dell EMC Prerequisite NOTE: If you do not have an active internet connection, you can find contact information on your purchase invoice, packing slip, bill, or Dell EMC product catalog. About this task Dell EMC provides several online and telephone-based support and service options.
Figure 4. Locating Service Tag of your appliance 1 information tag (top view) 2 information tag (back view) 3 OpenManage Mobile (OMM) label 4 MAC address and secure password label 5 Service Tag label Quick Resource Locator for XC6420 systems Use the Quick Resource Locator (QRL) to get immediate access to system information and how-to videos. This can be done by visiting Dell.
A Bare metal recovery To maintain a fast and efficient bare metal recovery option, Dell EMC recommends using the Rapid Appliance Self-Recovery (RASR) tool. WARNING: When you create a RASR USB disk, all the data saved on the USB disk is deleted. WARNING: When you perform a Factory Restore on your appliance with the RASR USB backup disk, all the data saved on the appliance is deleted.
