Dell XC730xd Hyper-Converged Appliance Solutions Guide
Notes, cautions, and warnings NOTE: A NOTE indicates important information that helps you make better use of your computer. 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. Copyright © 2017 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 Hyper-Converged Appliance solution.............................................................. 4 2 Supported hardware, firmware, and software..................................................................5 3 Documentation references.............................................................................................. 6 4 Licensing overview.......................................................................................................... 7 Starter license............
1 About Dell Hyper-Converged Appliance solution Dell provides a hyper-converged appliance solution that includes the Dell XC730xd server and software from Nutanix (used as a virtual appliance), which simplifies virtualization by converging computer, storage, and network into a single appliance that is deployed in a clustered environment. The following figures show the Dell XC730xd. For more information about the Dell XC730xd appliance, see the Dell XC730xd Owner’s Manual available at Dell.
2 Supported hardware, firmware, and software For a list of the most up-to-date supported hardware, firmware, and software, see the Dell XC730xd Hyper-Converged Appliance Support Matrix available at Dell.com/xcseriesmanuals.
3 Documentation references For information about the Dell documents, see the Support Matrix specific for your product. For information about the Nutanix documents that applies to a specific release of Nutanix solution software, see the Support Matrix specific for your product.
4 Licensing overview The Nutanix virtual computing platform includes various features that allow you to administer your environment according to your current and future requirements. You can use the default feature set of the Nutanix solution software, upgrade to an enhanced feature set, update your license for a longer term, or reassign existing licenses to nodes or clusters as required. Starter license Each Nutanix node and block is delivered with a default Starter license.
License management For more information about license management, complete the following tasks: 1. On the Nutanix Documentation portal, see the Web Console Guide (for access details, see the Documentation matrix section in the Support Matrix). 2. In the Nutanix Web Console Guide, see the License Management section. 3. Perform the relevant licensing tasks for your system.
5 Deploying your appliance Before you deploy your appliance, ensure that you read through this document and have yourself familiarized with the process and required materials. WARNING: Before you set up and operate your Dell appliance, review the safety instructions that shipped with your storage enclosure. WARNING: The weight of your appliance without the physical disk drives installed (empty weight) is 36.5 kg (80.5 lb). WARNING: Your appliance must be installed by Dell certified service technicians.
Before you begin CAUTION: It is important that you perform all the steps in this guide prior to doing other configuration steps. Make sure that the following items are available: • Power cables • Network cables — optical and/or copper (Intel SFP+ or Category 6 Ethernet) • Rail kit • Nutanix documentation NOTE: For more information about the names of the guides for your version of the Nutanix solution software, see the Documentation matrix section in the Support Matrix.
Boot error message for missing SD card The XC730xd system has only one SD card. When you start the system, the following error message is displayed: The secondary SD card is missing, not responding, or in write-protected mode. Do one of the following: 1. Install an SD card media in the secondary SD card slot. 2. Reseat or replace the SD card media. 3. If the secondary SD card is intentionally not installed or write-protected mode is expected, then no response is required.
Configure Nutanix storage cluster using hypervisor management GUI NOTE: For information about document name, see the Nutanix documentation section in the Support Matrix. The document name varies depending on the solution software version you are running. Acropolis Hypervisor (AHV): • Create storage pool and containers through the Nutanix web console. • Create, deploy, and manage virtual machines through the Nutanix web console.
6 Downloading and installing Software applications OpenManage Essentials is a hardware management application on a separate server that provides a comprehensive view of the Dell XC730xd and its components.
To download the Dell Nautilus Firmware Update Utility for SAS and SATA disk Solid State Drives (SSDs): 1. Go to Dell.com/support/drivers. 2. Under the Customized support section, in the Enter your Service Tag or Express Service Code box, type the Service Tag of your Dell XC730xd, and then click Submit.
7 Monitoring Table 2.
• 16 Alert and Event Monitoring
8 Updating firmware Table 3.
6. From the list, select EFI Boot Manager. 7. From the EFI boot list, select Virtual CD or the USB drive. 8. To update drive firmware, click Update Firmware. NOTE: Dell Nautilus updates all HDD and SSD firmware for all HDDs and SSDs connected to the system.
9 Replacing hardware This section describes high-level tasks to replace components correctly within the Dell appliance solution. Before you begin, for information about downloading the following required documents for the three hardware replacement tasks, see the Documentation matrix section in the Support Matrix. The documents are: • Hardware Replacement Documentation • Dell XC730xd Hyper-Converged Appliance Owner’s Manual After you review these documents, proceed to hardware replacement tasks.
10 Recovering system For information about recovering your system, contact Dell Support.
11 Getting help Contacting Dell Dell provides several online and telephone-based support and service options. If you do not have an active internet connection, you can find contact information on your purchase invoice, packing slip, bill, or Dell product catalog. Availability varies by country and product, and some services may not be available in your area. To contact Dell for sales, technical assistance, or customer-service issues: 1. Go to Dell.com/support. 2.
Figure 6. Locating service tag Quick Resource Locator Use the Quick Resource Locator (QRL) to get immediate access to system information and how-to videos. This can be done by visiting Dell.com/QRL or by using your smartphone or tablet and a model specific Quick Resource (QR) code located on your Dell system. To try out the QR code, scan the following image. Figure 7.
