Enterprise Cloud
Administration (ECA)
Lab Guide
Copyright
COPYRIGHT
Copyright 2021 Nutanix, Inc.
Nutanix, Inc.
1740 Technology Drive, Suite 150
San Jose, CA 95110
All rights reserved. This product is protected by U.S. and international copyright and intellectual
property laws. Nutanix and the Nutanix logo are registered trademarks of Nutanix, Inc. in the
United States and/or other jurisdictions. All other brand and product names mentioned herein
are for identification purposes only and may be trademarks of their respective holders.
License
The provision of this software to you does not grant any licenses or other rights under any
Microsoft patents with respect to anything other than the file server implementation portion of
the binaries for this software, including no licenses or any other rights in any hardware or any
devices or software that are used to communicate with or in connection with this software.
Conventions
Convention
Description
variable_value
The action depends on a value that is unique to your
environment.
ncli> command
The commands are executed in the Nutanix nCLI.
user@host$ command
The commands are executed as a non-privileged user (such
as nutanix) in the system shell.
root@host# command
The commands are executed as the root user in the vSphere
or Acropolis host shell.
> command
The commands are executed in the Hyper-V host shell.
output
The information is displayed as output from a command or
in a log file.
Version A
Last modified: October 18, 2021
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Contents
Copyright...................................................................................................................2
License.................................................................................................................................................................. 2
Conventions........................................................................................................................................................ 2
Version.................................................................................................................................................................. 2
Module 1: Introduction......................................................................................... 6
Exercise 1: TCO/ROI Modelling video..................................................................................................... 6
Module 2: Managing the Nutanix Cluster.....................................................8
Exercise
Exercise
Exercise
Exercise
1: Connecting to Prism Web Console....................................................................................8
2: Configuring an NTP Server.................................................................................................. 8
3: Using Nutanix Interface......................................................................................................... 9
4: Exploring Prism Views...........................................................................................................11
Module 3: Securing the Nutanix Cluster..................................................... 12
Exercise 1: Adding a User........................................................................................................................... 12
Exercise 2: Verifying the New User Account......................................................................................13
Module 4: Acropolis Networking................................................................... 14
Exercise
Exercise
Exercise
Exercise
1: Creating an Unmanaged Network.................................................................................... 14
2: Creating a Managed Network............................................................................................14
3: Managing Open vSwitch (OVS)........................................................................................ 15
4: Creating a New OVS.............................................................................................................16
Module 5: Virtual Machine Management.....................................................18
Exercise 1: Uploading an Image............................................................................................................... 18
Exercise 2: Creating a Windows Virtual Machine............................................................................ 20
Task 1: Building a Windows Virtual Machine with Secure Boot..................................... 20
Task 2: Installing the Windows Operating System..............................................................22
Task 3: Enabling Nutanix Guest Tools on Windows........................................................... 24
Exercise 3: Creating a Linux Virtual Machine.................................................................................... 26
Task 1: Enabling Nutanix Guest Tools on Linux.................................................................... 32
Exercise 4: Using Dynamic VM Resource Management................................................................ 32
Task 1: Reviewing Your Windows VM on the Unmanaged Network.............................33
Task 2: Moving your Windows VM to a Managed Network.............................................34
Task 3: Updating CPU and Memory.......................................................................................... 35
Module 6: Health Monitoring and Alerts....................................................36
Exercise
Exercise
Exercise
Exercise
Exercise
1: Creating a Performance Chart.......................................................................................... 36
2: Generating Write I/O........................................................................................................... 37
3: Managing Alerts..................................................................................................................... 38
4: Using Nutanix Cluster Check (NCC) Health Checks................................................40
5: Collecting Logs from the Web Console........................................................................ 41
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Module 7: Distributed Storage Fabric.........................................................42
Exercise 1: Creating a Container with Compression Enabled......................................................42
Exercise 2: Creating a Container without Compression................................................................43
Exercise 3: Comparing Data in a Compressed vs Uncompressed Container........................ 43
Task 1: Adding Two Virtual Disks to a Virtual Machine.....................................................44
Task 2: Formatting the New Virtual Disks..............................................................................45
Task 3: Writing a Large File to Each New Virtual Disk..................................................... 46
Task 4: Observing the Result of Compression Savings.................................................... 49
Exercise 4: Migrating vDisks between Storage Containers........................................................... 51
Module 8: Migrating Workloads with Nutanix Move............................. 53
Exercise
Exercise
Exercise
Exercise
1: Prepare a VM for Migration................................................................................................ 53
2: Deploying a Move VM..........................................................................................................53
3: Configuring Move.................................................................................................................. 55
4: Configuring a Migration Plan............................................................................................56
Module 9: Files and Volumes.......................................................................... 61
Exercise 1: Deploying Windows or Linux VMs................................................................................... 61
Deploying a Windows VM..............................................................................................................61
Deploying a Linux VM.....................................................................................................................62
Exercise 2: Configuring the Data Services IP.................................................................................... 63
Exercise 3: Creating a Volume Group for Windows....................................................................... 63
Exercise 4: Configuring the Windows VM as an iSCSI Initiator..................................................65
Exercise 5: Configuring a Windows VM for Access to a Volume Group.................................67
Exercise 6: Creating a Volume Group for Linux................................................................................71
Exercise 7: Configuring the Linux VM as an iSCSI Initiator..........................................................73
Exercise 8: Preparing New Disks for Linux........................................................................................ 74
Module 10: Understanding Infrastructure Resiliency............................. 77
Exercise 1: Failing a Node VM High Availability................................................................................77
Exercise 2: Configuring High Availability............................................................................................80
Exercise 3: Configuring Virtual Machine Affinity...............................................................................81
Task 1: Cloning and Editing VM Settings.................................................................................82
Task 2: Creating a Host Affinity VM-to-Host Rule...............................................................82
Exercise 4: Configuring Virtual Machine Anti-Affinity................................................................... 84
Task 1: Cloning VMs......................................................................................................................... 84
Task 2: Creating a VM-to-VM Anti-Affinity Rule.................................................................. 85
Task 3: Removing an Anti-Affinity Group...............................................................................86
Module 11: Data Protection.............................................................................. 87
Exercise
Exercise
Exercise
Exercise
Exercise
Exercise
1: Creating Protection Domains and Local VM Restore............................................... 87
2: Creating Containers for Replication................................................................................91
3: Configuring Remote Sites.................................................................................................. 92
4: Creating Protection Domains........................................................................................... 95
5: Performing VM Migration................................................................................................... 98
6: Migrating Back to Primary.................................................................................................99
Module 12: Prism Central................................................................................100
Exercise 1: Deploying Prism Central....................................................................................................100
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Exercise
Exercise
Exercise
Exercise
Exercise
Exercise
2: Registering a Cluster with Prism Central................................................................... 102
3: Using Prism Central's Basic Features.......................................................................... 103
4: Creating a Custom Dashboard.......................................................................................103
5: Creating a Custom Report............................................................................................... 105
6: Creating a "What-If" Scenario........................................................................................ 108
7: Unregistering a Cluster from Prism Central.............................................................. 109
Module 13: Cluster Management and Expansion..................................... 111
Exercise 1: Performing a One-Click NCC Upgrade........................................................................... 111
Exercise 2: Adding Nodes to a Cluster............................................................................................... 113
Exercise 3: Removing Nodes from a Cluster.................................................................................... 114
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Introduction
Module
1
INTRODUCTION
Exercise 1: TCO/ROI Modelling video
Watch a short video on properly modelling ROI/TCO
1. Paste the following URL to your Internet browser: https://
www.nutanixuniversity.com/lms/index.php?r=course/
deeplink&course_id=237&generated_by=13030&hash=e82c50240022ed6c18eecd0746b2578d57f22be7.
2. If you already have a My Nutanix account, enter your email and password. If not, click the
"Sign up now" link and create an account, then log in.
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Introduction
3. On the next page, expand the TCO/ROI folder, and select the "Successful ROI/TCO
Modelling Video," then select "START LEARNING NOW."
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Managing the Nutanix Cluster
Module
2
MANAGING THE NUTANIX CLUSTER
Exercise 1: Connecting to Prism Web Console
Group Exercise
In this exercise, you will work as a group with your lab partner to log on to Prism Web Console
and explore Prism Web Console and Nutanix Cluster Features.
1. Open a browser from your lab desktop, enter the IP for your Cluster External IP Address
shown in your lab handout. This is a floating IP that will run on one of your cluster CVMs. A
Security page will be displayed, click Advanced, then click Proceed to <IP> (unsafe)
2. Log on to the Prism Web Console using the username and password found in the lab
handout. You should now see the Prism Home page.
Exercise 2: Configuring an NTP Server
Group Exercise
In this exercise you will work with your lab partner to configure an NTP time server for your
Nutanix cluster.
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Managing the Nutanix Cluster
1. Click the Settings (gear icon) in the upper right corner of the browser window, scroll down
the Settings list displayed on the left side and under Network category select NTP Servers.
2. In the NTP Servers dialog box, add the NTP Server IP address located in the lab handout.
Click + Add. If the NTP server IP is already present, verify it matches the specified IP.
Note: The IP address should appear in the HOSTNAME OR IP ADDRESS portion
of the NTP Servers dialog box.
Exercise 3: Using Nutanix Interface
Group Exercise
In this exercise you will use the primary Nutanix interface: Prism Web Console
1.
From the Prism Web Console, in the upper right corner, click the User drop down menu (it
will be labeled with the currently logged-in user “admin”) and select About Nutanix and
answer the following questions:
Which version of Acropolis (AOS) are you running?
What is the license type on your cluster?
2.
Click Close to close the dialog box.
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Managing the Nutanix Cluster
3.
Click the dashboard drop down menu. This drop down menu will show of all the
dashboards. Select the VM dashboard.
4.
From the Overview page, locate the VM Summary at the middle left. How many virtual
machines are shown?
5.
In the upper-left corner of the browser window, click Table.
Are any VMs listed? If so, what VMs are they? If not, why not?
6.
Click to select Include Controller VMs checkbox (above the VM Table) and answer the
following questions:
How many cores are allocated to each CVM?
How much memory is allocated to each CVM?
7.
After answering the questions, uncheck the Include Controller VMs check box.
8.
Click the Settings (gear icon, top right corner), scroll through the settings on the left, under
Security category, select SSL Certificate, and answer the following questions:
What is the Key Type is being used?
Which Signing Algorithm is being used?
9.
Click the magnifying glass found at the top right of the Prism window.
10. Type the letter a in the search bar and click acknowledge alerts. You are automatically
redirected to the Alerts dashboard.
11.
Moving the mouse cursor to any alert listed under the Title column reveals a hyperlink.
Select any alert hyperlink. This switches you to the page dedicated to that alert. Click
Acknowledge at the upper-right of the page. Read the alert summary and possible cause,
then click on the Acknowledge button at the upper right side of the page This logs that the
alert has been seen. In the left column, the Status should show Acknowledged. Select the X
at the upper-right to close the page.
12. Select the same alert you selected in the previous step and click Resolve. The Status
changes to Resolved. Alerts which have been resolved do not display by default on the
Alerts dashboard. Click the X once again to exit the page. The alert should no longer be
displayed in the list of Alerts.
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Managing the Nutanix Cluster
Exercise 4: Exploring Prism Views
Group Exercise
In this exercise you will explore various views in Prism Web Console.
1. Click the dashboard drop down menu and select each of the dashboards in turn. Note which
dashboards have a Table view, an Overview view, and/or a Diagram view.
Note: The last dashboard selected will be represented on the top bar of the UI.
2. Explore the features available within the Settings icon and answer the following questions:
What is current and maximum setting for Session Timeout for Current User (UI Settings)?
What is the IP of the current name server (Name Servers)?
3. Click the cluster name at the top-left corner(or Settings -> General -> Cluster Details) of the
UI and review the Cluster Details window:
What is the Virtual IP assigned to the cluster?
What other configurable options are available in this dialog box?
4. Explore the functions available under the User menu (it will be labeled with the currently
logged-in user, admin). The Download selections open new tabs in your browser and some
of them require internet access.
5. Now that you are familiar with the Prism management interface, return to the Home
dashboard by clicking on the Nutanix logo (“X”) or by selecting Home from the dashboard
menu.
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Securing the Nutanix Cluster
Module
3
SECURING THE NUTANIX CLUSTER
Exercise 1: Adding a User
Individual Exercise
In this exercise you will work individually to add a local (i.e. non-domain) user account to your
Nutanix cluster. This user will have permission to log on and perform cluster tasks based on the
level of access granted to them.
1. Log on to your cluster’s Prism Web Console as admin if needed.
2. Click the Settings icon, scroll down the left hand column and select Local User Management
under User and Roles category.
3. In the Local User Management window, click + New User.
4. Use the table below to complete the fields in the Create User window:
USERNAME
Your first name
FIRST NAME
Your first name
LAST NAME
Your last name
EMAIL
abc@xyz.net
PASSWORD
Use your full name with first letter capitalized and
add /4u,eg: Johnsmith/4u. Password should be at least
8 characters long.
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Securing the Nutanix Cluster
LANGUAGE
Your preferred language (e.g. en-US)
ROLES
Cluster Admin (You may need to scroll down)
5. Click Save.
Exercise 2: Verifying the New User Account
1. Log out of the Prism Web Console interface by clicking the Username menu (next to
the gear icon and is currently admin) and select Sign Out.
2. Log on to the Prism Web Console interface with the user account that you created in the
previous exercise.
3. Observe your user account name (instead of admin) in the upper-right corner.
4. Click the Gear icon, scroll down the Settings page and observe whether you can see Local
User Management.
Are you able to administer new user accounts?
Note: You should not be able to perform that action because the assigned
Cluster Admin role does not have rights to administer user accounts.
5. Log out of Prism Web Console by clicking the User menu and select Sign Out.
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Acropolis Networking
Module
4
ACROPOLIS NETWORKING
Exercise 1: Creating an Unmanaged Network
Group Exercise
In this exercise you will work with your lab partner to create an unmanaged network.
1. Log on to your cluster’s Prism Web Console as the admin user.
2. Click the Settings icon, scroll down to the Network section and click Network Configuration.
3. Click Networks if not already selected.
4. Click + Create Network.
5. Fill out the Create Network dialog box as follows:
Network Name
Unmanaged Network
Virtual Switch
Leave Default
VLAN ID
Refer to your lab handout
Enable IP address
management
Leave unchecked
6. Click Save to create the network.
Exercise 2: Creating a Managed Network
Group Exercise
In this exercise you will work with your lab partner to create an IP address management (IPAM)
or managed network.
1. Click + Create Network.
2. Use the information in the table below to complete the Create Network dialog box:
Network Name
Managed Network
Virtual Switch
Leave default
VLAN ID
0 (zero)
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Acropolis Networking
Enable IP address
management
Click the check box to enable.
Network IP Address/Prefix
Length
Refer to your lab handout.
Gateway IP address
Refer to your lab handout.
Configure Domain Settings
Uncheck the box
3. Scroll down and click + Create Pool.
4. Fill out the Add IP Pool dialog box with the IP pool Start Address and End Address from
your lab handout.
5. Click Submit, then click Save.
6. Verify you now have an Unmanaged Network and a Managed Network in the Network
Configuration dialog box.
Exercise 3: Managing Open vSwitch (OVS)
Group Exercise
In this exercise you will work with your lab partner to explore the OVS configuration within
Prism Web Console.
1. Navigate to the Network dashboard.
2. Click on the hyperlink on the name of the first host. Review the network diagram. Once done,
click on X to close the diagram.
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Acropolis Networking
3. Repeat the above steps for all the hosts and answer these questions.
How many network interfaces are on each node?
How many network interfaces are 10GbE?
How many network interfaces are 1GbE
How many bridges are on each node
Which network interfaces are on bond br0-up of the first bridge (br0)?
Exercise 4: Creating a New OVS
Group Exercise
In this exercise you will work with your lab partner to remove uplinks from existing virtual
switch (vs0) and create a new virtual switch.
Note: Follow the below mentioned steps carefully. If the wrong NICs are removed,
the hosts will lose connectivity.
1.
Click the Settings (gear) icon, scroll down to the Network section and click Network
Configuration.
2.
Select the Virtual Switch tab and click on Edit (pencil icon) for the vs0 virtual switch.
3.
On the Edit Virtual Switch, under General tab, review both options and accept the default
selection (i.e., Standard) and click on Next.
4.
Under Uplink Configuration, scroll down to the Hosts section, for each host, click the turndown arrow and deselect NICs:
5.
Field
Value
NICs to be deselected
See Lab Handout
Click Save. This process can take up to 15 mins. You can monitor the status of the process
under Tasks dashboard.
Note: Wait for the task to be completed before performing the next steps.
6.
Click on + Create VS on the Network Configuration page.
7.
Create the virtual switch with the following values under the General tab:
Field
Value
Virtual Switch Name
vs1
Description
Virtual Switch 1
Physical NIC MTU (bytes)
1500
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Acropolis Networking
Field
Value
Select Configuration Method
Standard (Recommended)
8.
Click Next.
9.
At the bottom of the page, locate the table showing the individual hosts. For each host,
select the NICs shown in your lab handout.
10. Click Create. This process can take up to 15 mins. You can monitor the status of the process
under Tasks dashboard.
Note: This will initiate a rolling reboot of each hypervisor during which time the
Prism Web Console may drop as the Prism leader role is transferred to another
CVM.
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Virtual Machine Management
Module
5
VIRTUAL MACHINE MANAGEMENT
Exercise 1: Uploading an Image
Group Exercise
In this exercise you will upload ISO images for Windows Server 2019, CentOS7 and Nutanix
VirtIO.
1.
Log on to your cluster’s Prism Web Console as the admin user.
2.
Switch to the Storage dashboard.
3.
In the upper right corner of the UI, click + Storage Container.
4.
Use the following table to complete the fields in the Create Storage Container window:
Name
Images
Storage Pool
Use default storage pool
Advanced Settings
Do not configure Advanced Settings
5.
Click Save.
6.
Click the Settings icon and in the column on the left, locate and click Image Configuration.
7.
Upload the Windows Server 2019 ISO to the Image Configuration:
a. Click + Upload Image.
b. Fill in the Create Image dialog box fields as follows:
Name
Windows2019.iso
Image Type
ISO
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Virtual Machine Management
Storage Container
Images
c. In the Create Image dialog box, under Image Source, click Upload a file.
d. Click Choose File and navigate to the location of the Windows Server 2019 ISO file and
select it. The file name and location are listed in your lab handout.
e. Click Open.
f. Click Save.
8.
Upload the CentOS ISO to the Image Configuration:
a. Click + Upload Image.
b. Fill in the Create Image dialog box fields as follows:
Name
CentOS7.iso
Image Type
ISO
Storage Container
Images
c. In the Create Image dialog box, under Image Source, click Upload a file.
d. Click Choose File and navigate to the location of the CentOS ISO file and select it. The
file name and location are listed in your lab handout.
e. Click Open.
f. Click Save.
9.
Upload the Nutanix VirtIO ISO to the Image Configuration:
a. Click + Upload Image.
b. Fill in the Create Image dialog box fields as follows:
Name
Nutanix-VirtIO-1.1.6.iso
Image Type
ISO
Storage Container
Images
c. In the Create Image dialog box, under Image Source, click Upload a file.
d. Click Choose File and navigate to the location of the Nutanix VirtIO ISO file and select
it. The file name and location are listed in your lab handout.
e. Click Open.
f. Click Save.
10. When all images have been uploaded into the Image Service, the Image Configuration
window should show all three images that were uploaded above. It is important that, before
continuing, you ensure all images are shown with an Active state. If any images are shown
as Inactive, wait until they are shown as Active. Refresh your browser.
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Virtual Machine Management
Exercise 2: Creating a Windows Virtual Machine
Individual Exercise
In this exercise you will work individually to create a Windows virtual machine and connect it to
the unmanaged network. This exercise is composed of the following tasks:
• Build a Windows Virtual Machine
• Install a Windows Operating System
• Attach and install Nutanix Guest Tools
Task 1: Building a Windows Virtual Machine with Secure Boot
1.
Working individually, in the Prism Web Console, navigate to the VM dashboard.
2.
In the upper-right corner of the UI window, click + Create VM.
3.
Complete the Create VM dialog box with the information contained in the following table:
Name
Windows-<your initials> Use the initials of your full
name. For example: Windows-ABC
Description
Windows 2019 with secure boot
Use this VM as an agent VM
Do not select.
VCPU(s)
1
Number of Cores per VCPU
2
Memory
4
4.
Scroll down in the Create VM dialog box to the Disks section. Click the X (Delete) icon to
the right of CD-ROM.
5.
Click Yes when asked Are you sure you want to delete the disk?
6.
Scroll up and under Boot Configuration, select UEFI and under Change Boot
Configuration, click on OK and select Secure Boot check box.
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Virtual Machine Management
7.
Attach the Windows Server 2019 ISO from the Image Service to the VM by clicking on +
Add New Disk with the information contained in the following table:
Type
CD-ROM
Operation
Clone from Image Service
Bus Type
SATA
Image
Windows2019.iso
8.
Click Add.
9.
Next, Click + Add New Disk.
10. Attach the Nutanix VirtIO ISO from the Image Service to the VM by completing the Update
Disk dialog box with the information contained in the following table:
11.
Type
CD-ROM
Operation
Clone from Image Service
Bus Type
SATA
Image
Nutanix-VirtIO-1.1.6.iso
Click Add.
12. Next, Click + Add New Disk.
13. Add a 40GB virtual disk to the VM by completing the Update Disk dialog box with the
information contained in the following table:
Type
DISK
Operation
Allocate on Storage Container
Bus Type
Leave at default (SCSI)
Storage Container
default-container-#####
Size (GiB)
40
Index
Leave at the default value
14. Click Add.
15. Scroll down in the Create VM dialog box to the Network Adapters (NIC) section. Click +
Add New NIC.
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Virtual Machine Management
16. In the Create NIC dialog box, under Subnet Name, select the Unmanaged Network. Leave
all other fields at their default value. Click Add.
17. Click Save, to create the virtual machine.
18. In the upper-left corner of the UI, select Table to view your list of VMs.
Note: The VM just created will be in a powered off state.
Task 2: Installing the Windows Operating System
Individual Exercise
In this exercise, you will work individually to power on your new virtual machine and install
the Windows Server 2019 operating system. These steps require a console connection to the
VM. If you are using Chrome or Firefox, you will need to disable the pop-up blocker. All console
exercises can be done with any browser.
Chrome
• Click the vertical ellipsis (…) at the upper right of the Chrome browser window.
• Click Settings, and then Privacy and security on the left menu of the page.
• Under Site Settings, click Pop-ups and redirects.
• Under Default Behavior choose, Sites can send pop-ups and use redirects to allow popups.
• Close the tab.
Firefox
• Click the menu symbol (three horizontal lines) at the upper right of the browser window.
• Click Settings, then Privacy & Security.
• Scroll down to the Permissions section and de-select the Block pop-up windows.
• Close the tab.
1.
From the VM dashboard, select Table view (if not already selected).
2.
Click to select the virtual machine you created in the previous task. The options line for this
VM displays immediately below the VM table.
3.
Right click on your VM and click Power On.
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Virtual Machine Management
4.
After the machine is powered-on, the Launch Console link will become active. Right click
on your VM and click Launch Console.
Note: If the VM Console window does not appear, your browser may be
blocking popups.
5.
In the console of your Windows virtual machine press any key to Boot from CD or
DVD..., and take the defaults (language, time, keyboard) in the Windows Setup dialog box
by selecting Next.
Note: If you missed pressing a key on Boot from CD or DVD or get boot error,
reboot the VM and try again.
6.
Click I don't have a product key if asked.
7.
Click Install now.
8.
Click to select Windows Server 2019 Standard (Desktop Experience) and click Next.
9.
Accept the license terms and click Next.
10. Click Custom: Install Windows only (advanced).
11.
To display the Windows VM virtual disk, you must install the Nutanix VirtIO drivers. Click
Load driver.
12. In the Load driver dialog box, click Browse.
13. Expand the CD-ROM with the Nutanix VirtIO 1.1.6 attached and click to expand the
Windows Server 2019 folder, then click to select amd64. Click OK.
14. Select all the available drivers and click Next. The VirtIO drivers will take a minute or two to
install.
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Virtual Machine Management
15. Select the now visible 40GB Drive 0 and click Next.
16. When prompted for an Administrator password, type: (See lab handout) and click Finish.
17. To log on, click the Control-Alt-Delete icon in the upper-righthand corner of the console
window (the icon looks like a stack of three blocks). Log on as Administrator using the
password you set up in the previous step.
18. Disable the Server Manager from auto starting. In the Server Manager window, click
Manage at the upper right and select Server Manager Properties. In the new dialog box,
click the check box for Do not start Server Manager automatically at logon. Click OK and
close the Server Manager.
19. In Prism Web Console, click to select your Windows VM in the VM table and right click and
select Update.
20. Scroll down in the Update VM window and click the Eject button (immediate left of the
pencil icon) for the remaining CD-ROM with address sata.0
21. The CD-ROM with address sata.0 should now show EMPTY=true. Click Save to exit the
Update VM window.
Task 3: Enabling Nutanix Guest Tools on Windows
Individual Exercise
In this task you will install Nutanix Guest Tools (NGT) into your Windows virtual machine.
1.
Click to select your Windows-<your initials> virtual machine.
2.
Click Manage Guest Tools from the links below the table of VMs.
3.
In the Manage VM Guest Tools window, click the Enable Nutanix Guest Tools check box.
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Virtual Machine Management
4.
Click both the Mount Nutanix Guest Tools and Self Service Restore (SSR) check boxes
and click Submit.
5.
Click Launch Console.
6.
Click the Ctl-Alt-Del icon (stacked blocks) at the upper right corner of the VM Console
window.
7.
Log on to the Windows virtual machine as Administrator. See the lab handout for the
password.
8.
Open Windows File Explorer (File Manager) and select This PC on the left.
9.
Double-click the NUTANIX_TOOLS CD drive.
10. Double-click setup to begin the installation process.
11.
In the Nutanix Guest Tools Setup window, click the check box to agree to the license terms
and then click Install. The installation of Nutanix Guest Tools will take a minute or two to
complete.
12. When the installation has completed, click Close. Click Guest Shutdown under Power
Options on the top right corner of the VM console. Close the VM console window.
13. In Prism Web Console, right click on the Windows VM , Click on Update and under Disks,
Delete (X) on the second CD-ROM, sata.1. Click on Save.
Note: Ensure you DO NOT DELETE the first CD-ROM sata.0
14. Right click on the Windows VM , Click on Power On.
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Virtual Machine Management
Exercise 3: Creating a Linux Virtual Machine
Individual Exercise
In this exercise you will work individually to create a CentOS VM.
1.
From the VM Dashboard, click the + Create VM button.
2.
Complete the Create VM dialog box with the information contained in the following table:
Field
Value
Name
CentOS7-<your initials>,use the initials of your full name.
For example: CentOS7-ABC
Description
Leave blank.
Use this VM as an agent VM
Do not select.
VCPU(S)
2
Number of Cores Per VCPU
2
Memory
8
3.
Scroll down in the Create VM dialog box to the Disks section and click the CD-ROM’s
pencil icon.
4.
Complete the Update Disk dialog box with the information contained in the following table:
Field
Value
Type
CD-ROM (greyed out)
Operation
Clone from Image Service
Bus Type
Leave at default (IDE)
Image
CentOS7.iso
5.
Click Update.
6.
Scroll down in the Create VM dialog box to the Disks section and click + Add New Disk.
7.
Complete the Add Disk dialog box with the information contained in the following table:
Field
Value
Type
Disk
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Virtual Machine Management
Field
Value
Operation
Allocate on Storage Container
Bus Type
Leave at default (SCSI)
Storage Container
default-container-#####
Size
40
Index
Leave at default value
8.
Click Add.
9.
Scroll down in the Create VM dialog box to the Network Adapters (NIC) section and click
+ Add New NIC.
10. In the Subnet Name drop-down menu, select Managed Network and click Add.
11.
Click Save.
12. Click to select your CentOS7-<your initials> VM and click Power on.
13. Click Launch Console.
14. Select Install CentOS 7. Once the booting starts you will be able to resize the window.
Resize the window to suit your needs.
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Virtual Machine Management
15. Select your preferred language (or take the default) and click the Continue button.
16. Click INSTALLATION DESTINATION.
17. Select the NUTANIX VDISK and then click the Done button in the upper-left corner of the
window.
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Virtual Machine Management
18. Click the Begin Installation button.
19. When the User Settings window is displayed, click ROOT PASSWORD to configure the
password for the root user. The installation will still be in progress.
20. See the lab handout for the root password and click Done in the upper-left corner of the
window.
21. Click USER CREATION. Create a user named student and set the password to (See lab
handout).
22. Click the box next to Make this user administrator and click Done.
23. After the CentOS initial installation has completed, click Finish Configuration, then click
Reboot.
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Virtual Machine Management
24. After the virtual machine reboots, log on as the user root using the password you created
in the previous step.
25. Display the VM NIC IP address by entering the command:
ip addr sh
Note: The output shows that the CentOS7 virtual machine has not received an
IP address from the DHCP address pool. This is an expected outcome because
the network adapter is disabled by default with CentOS.
26. Confirm the eth0 interface is disconnected by entering the command:
nmcli d
27. Launch the NetworkManager TUI tool by entering the command:
nmtui
28. In the NetworkManager TUI window, using the up/down arrows on your keyboard, select
Edit a connection and press the Enter key.
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Virtual Machine Management
29. Use the Tab key to select <Edit…> and Press the Enter key. This will put you in the Edit
Connection view.
30. In the Edit Connection view press the Tab key to navigate to Automatically connect and
use the spacebar to then select Automatically Connect.
31. Press the Tab key to select <OK> and press the Enter key.
Note: This will take you back one view.
32. Press the Tab key to select <Back> and press the Enter key.
33. Use the up/down arrow keys to select Quit and press the Enter key. This returns you to the
command line.
34. Restart the network services by entering the command:
service network restart
35. Verify the virtual machine has been assigned an IP address by entering the command:
ip addr sh
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Virtual Machine Management
36. Verify connectivity to the default gateway by entering the following command:
ping <get the gateway IP from your lab handout>
Note: You will need to get the gateway IP address from your lab handout, do
not necessarily use the IP address shown in the screenshot below.
Note: Enter control-c to abort the ping command.
37. Shutdown CentOS by typing the following:
init 0
38. Close the VM console window.
Task 1: Enabling Nutanix Guest Tools on Linux
Individual Exercise
In this task you will install Nutanix Guest Tools (NGT) into your CentOS7 virtual machine.
1. From the VM dashboard, select your CentOS7-<initials> virtual machine and click Manage
Guest Tools.
2. In the popup dialog box, select Enable Nutanix Guest Tools. Select Mount Nutanix Guest
Tools and Self Service Restore (SSR) check boxes. VSS should already be selected.
Click Submit.
3. Click Power on for your CentOS/Linux VM and then click Launch Console.
4. Log on with the user: root and the password: (See lab handout).
5. Perform the following steps to install Nutanix Guest Tools.
df -h
(view what is currently mounted)
mount /dev/sr0 /mnt
df -h
(/dev/sr0 shows mounted to /mnt)
cd /mnt/installer/linux
./install_ngt.py
6. When the installation has completed, type exit and close the console window.
Exercise 4: Using Dynamic VM Resource Management
Individual Exercise
In this exercise you will move your Windows VM from the unmanaged network to the managed
network. You will also increase the amount of CPU and memory.
This exercise is composed of the following tasks:
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Virtual Machine Management
• Reviewing Your Windows VM on the Unmanaged Network
• Moving Your Windows VM to the Managed Network
• Increasing CPU and Memory
Task 1: Reviewing Your Windows VM on the Unmanaged Network
Individual Exercise
In this task you will observe the behavior of a virtual machine attached to an unmanaged
network.
1.
From the VM Dashboard, select your Windows-<your initials> virtual machine from the
table of virtual machines.
2.
Ensure the VM is powered on and click Launch Console.
3.
Click the Ctrl-Alt-Del icon and log on to the new Windows virtual machine if needed. Log
on as Administrator with password (See lab handout).
4.
On the task bar at the lower right, right-click the Network icon (may have a yellow caution
sign on top) in the system tray and click Network & Internet Settings.
5.
Click Ethernet and then Click Change adapter options.
6.
Right click Ethernet and click Properties.
7.
In the Ethernet Properties dialog box, click to select Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/
IPv4) and click Properties.
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Virtual Machine Management
8.
Verify that the Obtain an IP address automatically radio button is selected.
9.
Click on OK. Close all dialog boxes.
10. Click the magnifying glass at the bottom left and in the search field type:
cmd
11.
Select Command Prompt from the list presented.
12. In the command prompt window enter the command:
ipconfig
What is the IPv4 address assigned to the Ethernet adapter?
What does this tell you about the state of DHCP services available to the Windows virtual
machines?
13. Leave the VM Console window open for use in the next task.
Task 2: Moving your Windows VM to a Managed Network
Individual Exercise
In this task, you will add and remove virtual NICs attached to the managed and unmanaged
networks.
1. From the Prism VM dashboard, click to select the Windows-<your initials> VM , right click
and click Update.
2. In the Update VM dialog box, scroll down to the Network Adapters (NIC) area and click Edit
(Pencil Icon) for the Unmanaged Network.
3. In the Update NIC dialog box, select Subnet Name to Managed Network from the dropdown menu. Click Save.
4. Click Save.
5. Hover the mouse over the IP Addresses cell for the Windows-<your initials> VM.
What IP address is assigned to the virtual machine?
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Virtual Machine Management
6. In the remote console for the Windows-<your initials> VM, in the Command Prompt window
enter the command:
ipconfig
If the IP address is not assigned, then run the below mentioned commands:
ipconfig /release
ipconfig /renew
7. Close the VM Console window.
Task 3: Updating CPU and Memory
Individual Exercise
In this task, you will add a CPU and increase the amount of memory on your Windows VM.
1. From the Prism VM dashboard, click to select the Windows-<your initials> VM and in the
links below the VM table, click Update.
2. In the Update VM dialog box, under Compute Details, increase the VCPU(S) from 1 to 2 and
the Memory from 4 to 8.
3. Click Save.
4. This should result in an update error. Dynamic bulk updates to a VM are not allowed.
5. Modify one component at a time. Click Update once again for your Windows-<your
initials> VM and in the Update VM dialog box, under Computer Details, increase the
VCPU(S) from 1 to 2.
6. Click Save.
7. Observe the change in the VM Dashboard for your VM. The Core column will change
from 2 to 4 (two VCPUs with two cores each).
8. Repeat the update process and change the Memory from 4 to 8.
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Health Monitoring and Alerts
Module
6
HEALTH MONITORING AND ALERTS
Exercise 1: Creating a Performance Chart
Individual Exercise
In this exercise you will create a performance chart to monitor VM disk I/O.
1. If you are not logged into your Prism Web Console, log on now as the admin user.
2. From the dashboard drop down menu, click Analysis.
3. In the upper left of the UI, click New and then click New Entity Chart. An entity can be a
host, a VM, a container and so on.
4. Fill in the New Entity Chart fields as detailed in the following table:
Chart Title
VM Disk Write I/O-<your initials>
Entity Type
Virtual Machine
Entity
CentOS7-<your initials>
Metric
Storage Controller IOPS - Write
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Health Monitoring and Alerts
5. When you are done, the New Entity Chart should look similar to the screenshot below:
6. Click Save.
7. Near the upper-right corner in the browser window, click the Range box and select 3 Hours.
Exercise 2: Generating Write I/O
Individual Exercise
In this exercise you will configure a CentOS VM to write data to its local disk using the Linux
command dd and monitor write IOPS on the performance chart you created in the previous
exercise.
1. Go to the VM dashboard and select the Table tab.
2. Select the CentOS7-<your initials> virtual machine. Power on the VM if necessary.
3. Click Launch Console.
4. Log on as the root user using the password (See lab handout).
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Health Monitoring and Alerts
5. Generate I/O from the CentOS7-<your initals> virtual machine by entering the following
command (enter all of the following on a single line with no line breaks):
for ((i=1;i<=100;i++)); do dd if=/dev/zero of=/root/bigfile bs=64k count=500000
oflag=direct; done
Note: This command will write 500,000 64k blocks to the root directory
repeating 100 times and takes from one to 10 hours to complete depending on
the speed of the hardware you are using in the lab environment.
6. Go to the Analysis dashboard and view the VM disk write I/O graph. Refresh the URL to
see the updated chart. You should see a green line to the far right sharply rise to denote the
start of the dd operation. You can get a better view, shortening the time display, by going to
the blue box at the top of the page and dragging the left side bar to the right to shorten the
time sample.
7. After observing for several minutes, press <Ctrl-c> to stop the writes. Close the console
session.
Exercise 3: Managing Alerts
Group Exercise
In this exercise you will work with your lab partner and use the Alerts dashboard to manage
alerts. You can generate an alert by stopping the Cerebro service. Once the Cerebro service
has stopped, an alert will be created and you can create an alert filter, then acknowledge and
resolve the alert.
1.
Using SSH Client (eg PuTTY), establish an SSH session to Cluster Virtual IP. You can get the
cluster's virtual IP address from your lab handout. Log on as the nutanix user with the CVM
password from your lab handout.
2.
Stop the cerebro service by entering the following command:
genesis status
genesis stop cerebro
3.
Confirm the cerebro service has stopped by entering the following command:
genesis status
Filter through the output of the genesis status. You would find different services and
Process ID's in [ ]. Locate the cerebro service and you would find missing Process ID for it
as the service is stopped. It would look like cerebro: [ ] .
4.
In the Prism Web Console, switch to the Alerts dashboard.
5.
In the upper right corner of the UI, click Filters.
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Health Monitoring and Alerts
6.
Click to select both the Critical and Warning filter check boxes.
A Cerebro-specific alert is generated as Cluster services down on Controller VM.
Note: If you do not see an alert, refresh your browser page.
7.
From Prism Web Console, on the Alerts dashboard, hover your mouse over Cluster
services down on Controller VM to reveal a hyperlink. Click the Cluster services down on
Controller VM alert hyperlink.
8.
Acknowledge the alert by clicking Acknowledge (in the upper right corner of the browser
window). You will see a Successfully Acknowledged message briefly appear in the top
center of the browser window.
9.
Click the X in the upper-right corner of the browser window to return to the Alerts
dashboard.
10. After you have acknowledged the alert, you will see a user and timestamp have been
added to the Acknowledged column in the Alerts dashboard for the alert.
11.
Return to your secure SSH session (or reopen a session, if necessary, back to the cluster
Virtual IP in your cluster).
12. Restart cerebro by entering the following command:
cluster start
13. Confirm cerebro is running on all of your cluster’s nodes by entering the following
command:
genesis status
Filter through the output of the genesis status. It should show Process ID for the service.
E.g. cerebro: [25845, 25895, 25896, 26147]
14. From Prism Web Console on the Alerts dashboard, click the check box next to the Cluster
services down on Controller VM alert.
15. Click the Resolve button at the top of the UI to resolve this alert.
16. Do you see the Cluster services are down alert?
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Health Monitoring and Alerts
17. Under Filters, in the RESOLVED section, check the boxes next to Yes (Manual), Yes (Auto)
and No.
18. In the Alerts table you should now see all alerts, resolved and not resolved.
Note: By default, resolved alerts are not displayed.
Exercise 4: Using Nutanix Cluster Check (NCC) Health Checks
Group Exercise
In this exercise you will run Nutanix Cluster Check (NCC). NCC enables you to perform cluster
health checks, collect cluster logs for Nutanix Support, as well as other useful functions.
1. Navigate to the Health dashboard, select Actions followed by Run NCC Checks. Select All
Checks. Click Run.
2. While the health (NCC) checks are running, open the Prism Tasks dashboard to see the
progress.
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Health Monitoring and Alerts
3. Once the task has completed, display the summary by clicking on Succeeded in the Status
column. This allows you to save the output file to your local system.
4. In the View Summary, download a detailed log by clicking Download Output.
The various entries and references to Knowledge Base (KB) articles on the Support
Portal. Filter for the KB article in the Documentation section of the Support Portal, or look
up the KB directly. For example, for KB 3005, use http://portal.nutanix.com/kb/3005. This
allows you to attempt to resolve the issue yourself without assistance from Nutanix Support.
Exercise 5: Collecting Logs from the Web Console
Group Exercise
Logbay collects the logs from Controller VMs and hosts. After the task finishes, the log bundle
is available for download from the Tasks dashboard.
1. Navigate to the Health dashboard, from the Actions drop-down menu, select Collect Logs.
2. In Node Selection, click + Select Nodes. Select the nodes for which you want to collect the
logs and click Done.
3. Click Next.
4. In Log Settings, select Specific (by Tags), and select tags for acropolis, ncc, stargate and
prism logs and click Done.
5. Click Next.
6. In Output Preferences, under Select Duration, select 1 Days and Select Destination for the
collected logs to be Download Locally.
7. Click Collect.
8. Navigate to the Tasks dashboard to check the status. Once completed, status would show as
Succeeded. Click on the hyperlink for to download the logs.
9. A local copy(zip) would be downloaded to your desktop. Go through the log files and
discuss with your Instructor about the various logs.
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Distributed Storage Fabric
Module
7
DISTRIBUTED STORAGE FABRIC
Exercise 1: Creating a Container with Compression Enabled
Group Exercise
In this exercise you will create a new storage container with compression enabled.
1. Log on to the Prism Web Console interface, if needed, and switch to the Storage dashboard.
2. On the Storage dashboard Overview page, examine the Capacity Optimization widget at
the lower left.
3. In the upper-right corner of the browser window, click + Storage Container.
4. In the Create Storage Container window, type: Compressed-Container in the Name field.
5. Click Advanced Settings.
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Distributed Storage Fabric
6. Verify that the Compression check box is selected and ensure that the DELAY (IN
MINUTES) field is set to 0.
7. Click Save.
Exercise 2: Creating a Container without Compression
Group Exercise
In this exercise you will create a new storage container without compression.
1. In the upper right corner of the browser window, click + Storage Container.
2. In the Create Storage Container window, type: NotCompressed-Container in the Name
field.
3. Click Advanced Settings.
4. Uncheck the box for Compression.
5. Click Save.
Exercise 3: Comparing Data in a Compressed vs Uncompressed
Container
Individual Exercise
In this exercise you will work individually to clone your original Windows VM and add two
virtual disks. One of these virtual disks will be placed in the compressed container and the other
into the uncompressed container you created in the previous exercises. Data will be generated
on both virtual disks to compare results.
This exercise is composed of the following tasks:
• Cloning a VM and add Two Virtual Disks
• Formatting the New Virtual Disks
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Distributed Storage Fabric
• Writing a Large File to Each New Virtual Disk
• Observing the Result of Compression Savings
Task 1: Adding Two Virtual Disks to a Virtual Machine
Individual Exercise
In this task you will clone your original Windows VM and add two virtual disks. One virtual disk
will be placed in the Compressed-Container and the other into the NotCompressed-Container.
1. From the VM dashboard, Table view, clone your Windows-<your initials> VM.
a. Select the VM and click the Clone link.
b. Change the name of the clone to DSF-<your initials> and click Save.
2. Power on the new VM.
3. Dynamically add a new disk. Select the new VM and click the Update link from the option
below the virtual machine table and scroll down to the Disks section.
4. Click + Add New Disk.
5. Use the following table to complete the Add Disk dialog box:
Type
Disk
Operation
Allocate on Storage Container
Bus Type
SCSI
Storage Container
Compressed-Container
Size (GiB)
10
Index
Next Available
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Distributed Storage Fabric
6. Click Add.
7. Repeat the previous steps to add a second disk of 11 GB virtual disk to the virtual machine
with the second virtual disk placed into the NotCompressed-Container.
8. Click Save.
9. Scroll down (if required) in the VM dashboard and at the lower left, under VM DETAILS,
verify the VM is utilizing three containers:
• Default-container-####
• Compressed-Container
• NotCompressed-Container
Task 2: Formatting the New Virtual Disks
Individual Exercise
In this task you will format the newly added virtual disks in your Windows virtual machine so
that you can write a large file to each of the new virtual disks.
1.
Select your DSF-<your initials> VM and click Launch Console.
2.
In the upper right corner of the virtual machine console window, click the Ctl-Alt-Del icon
to log on to your virtual machine as Administrator with the password (See lab handout).
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Distributed Storage Fabric
3.
Start the Windows Server Manager by clicking the Windows Start button (four pane glass)
and selecting Server Manager. Click File and Storage Services in the left panel.
4.
Click Disks.
5.
Right-click on the 10GB disk and select Bring Online.
6.
Click Yes in the Bring Disk Online warning window.
7.
Repeat the previous steps to bring the second disk of 11 GB disk online.
8.
Right-click the 10GB disk and select New Volume…
9.
Complete the New Volume wizard as follows:
a. In Before You begin, click Next.
b. In Select the server and disk, click Next.
c. In the Offline or Uninitialized Disk warning window, click OK.
d. In Specify the size of the volume, click Next.
e. In Assign to a drive letter or folder, note the assigned drive letter (you will need this
later) and click Next.
f. In Select File System Settings, type Volume Label as Compressed click Next.
g. In Confirm selections, click Create.
h. When the new volume creation has completed, click Close.
10. Repeat the above steps for the second disk of 11GB disk with Volume Label as
NotCompressed (again noting its assigned drive letter). When you are finished, both the
disks should have their status Online and have GPT partitions.
11.
Close the Server Manager window.
Task 3: Writing a Large File to Each New Virtual Disk
Individual Exercise
In this task you will upload the Cubic Design Tools ISO into the Image Service. You will then
use Cubic Design Disk Tool to write a large file to each of the new disks.
1.
In the Prism Web Console, click the Settings icon and select Image Configuration.
2.
Click + Upload Image.
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Distributed Storage Fabric
3.
Complete the Create Image window as follows:
Name
CubicDesignTools-ISO
Image Type
ISO
Storage Container
Images
4.
Click the Upload a file radio button.
5.
Click the Choose File button and select the Cubic Design Tools ISO as specified on your
lab handout. After you have selected the Cubic Design Tools file, click Open. Click Save.
Note: Wait for the CubicDesignTools to become Active before continuing with
the next step. Refresh the browser if needed.
6.
Switch to the VM dashboard and click the Table tab.
7.
Select your DSF-<your initials> VM and click the Update link below the virtual machine
table.
8.
Scroll down to the Disks section and click the Edit (pencil icon) to the right of the CD-ROM,
sata.0.
9.
Complete the Update Disk window as follows:
Operation
Clone from Image Service
Image
CubicDesignTools ISO
10. Click Update. Click Save.
11.
If the VM console window is not open from the previous lab task, click the Launch
Console link below the table of virtual machines and log on to your virtual machine as
Administrator.
12. Click the Windows Start button (four pane glass) and selecting File Explorer.
13. Open File Explorer, on the left panel click on This PC and then double-click the
CubicDesignTools CD Drive.
14. Double click the CubicDesign-tools installer file.
15. Click Extract to install Cubic Design Tools.
16. In the File Explorer window, go to This PC > Local Disk (C:) and open the System tools
package folder.
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Distributed Storage Fabric
17. Scroll down and double-click Disk Tools. The Cubic Design Disk Tool File Generator will
start.
18. In the File Generator window, make sure the File Generator tab is selected and complete
the fields as follows (leave any fields not mentioned below in their default state):
Number of Files
1 (one)
File Size
5 GB
File Name: Name
Select Random name
File Name: Output Folder
Enter the drive letter from the first disk, Compressed(10
GB) you added to the VM
File Content: radio buttons
Fill the Files with this content:
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Distributed Storage Fabric
File Content: text box
Enter any single character of your choosing
When you are done, the File Generator window should look like the following screenshot
(your specific drive letter may be different from the screenshot):
19. Click Create. This process should take less than a minute to complete. You will see a Done
notice at the bottom of the File Generator window when the file creation has completed.
20. Repeat the previous steps to create a large file on the second virtual disk drive
NotCompressed (11 GB).
21. Close the File Generator window, after the process is completed.
22. In Windows File Explorer examine the size of the two disks you added to your virtual
machine along with the amount of free space on each drive. You should notice Windows
is showing that approximately 5GB of space is used on each virtual disk indicating the
Windows virtual machine is completely unaware of any compression happening in the
Nutanix Distributed Storage Fabric on the back end.
Note: You may need to refresh the screen before the used space is displayed.
To do this, hit the refresh circle to the right of the path field near the top of the
dialog box.
23. Close the VM console window.
Task 4: Observing the Result of Compression Savings
Individual Exercise
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Distributed Storage Fabric
In this task you will observe the result of container compression.
1. Switch to the Storage dashboard and click the Overview tab.
2. Examine the Capacity Optimization widget in the lower left corner of the UI.
Do you see any immediate savings reported?
Note: The savings display can take up to a few hours to display. If you do not
see an immediate result, come back to this dashboard later to verify the savings
due to compression.
3. Click Table, then select Storage Container.
4. For the Compressed-Container and the NotCompressed-Container, look in the Used
column and compare the amount of physical space used.
Do you see a difference?
The Compressed-Container should be using significantly less space than the
NotCompressed-Container.
5. Click to select the Compressed-Container.
6. Below the table of containers, on the left of the browser window, examine the values below
the Summary > Compressed-Container box and answer the following questions:
Is compression turned on?
How much space has been saved due to compression?
Note: You may have to wait a few hours for a value to appear in this field.
What is the current Data Reduction Ratio?
What is the difference between the Compressed-Container and the NotCompressedContainer for the Data Reduction Ratio?
7. From the VM dashboard, remove the DSF-<your initials> VM by selecting the VM from the
list and clicking Delete. Check the box to delete all snapshots.
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Distributed Storage Fabric
Exercise 4: Migrating vDisks between Storage Containers
Individual Exercise
In this exercise, you will be creating a new storage container, adding vDisks to a VM and
migrating vDisks between storage containers.
1.
Log on to your cluster’s Prism Web Console as the admin user.
2.
Switch to the Storage dashboard.
3.
In the upper right corner of the UI, click + Storage Container.
4.
Use the following table to complete the fields in the Create Storage Container window:
Name
NewSC-YourInitials (e.g. NewSC-ABC)
Storage Pool
Use default storage pool
Advanced Settings
Do not configure Advanced Settings
5.
Click Save.
6.
Switch to the VM dashboard.
7.
Select the Windows-YourInitials VM and right click on it and select Update.
8.
In the Update VM window, scroll down to Disks and click on + Add New Disk
9.
Type
Disk
Operation
Allocate on Storage Container
Bus Type
SATA
Storage Container
Use default storage container
Size
2 GiB
Index
Next Available
Click Add.
10. Save the VM configuration.
11.
Switch to the Storage dashboard, Table -> Storage Container -> default storage container.
12. Scroll down to Breakdown and locate all the disks of Windows-YourInitials VM, the original
40GiB disk and the new 2GiB disk.
13. Switch to the VM dashboard, Table -> Windows-YourInitials VM. Scroll down to Virtual
Disk and locate the 2Gib disk and find out the SCSI Id. Ideally it should be sata.1
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Distributed Storage Fabric
14. Migrate the 2GiB disk to the newly created NewSC-YourInitials container. In the SSH Client,
type the Cluster Virtual IP from your lab handout. Login as the user nutanix with the
password listed in your lab handout and type the command:
acli vm.update_container Windows-YourInitials disk_addr_list=sata.1
container=NewSC-YourInitials
15. Observe the status in the Tasks dashboard.
16. Once the task completes switch to the Storage dashboard and select the
NewSC-YourInitials storage container and scroll down to the Breakdown and locate the
2GiB disk. The 2GiB disk would now be on the new container.
Note: To migrate all the disks of a VM using the following command:
acli vm.update_container <VM name> container=<Destination Storage
Container name>
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Module
8
MIGRATING WORKLOADS WITH NUTANIX
MOVE
Exercise 1: Prepare a VM for Migration
In this exercise, you will prepare a virtual machine for migration.
Individual Exercise
1. Open a new tab on your browser and enter the IP of the ESXi Server (from your lab
handout). Log on with the user and password from your lab handout.
2. In the middle section top, click Create/Register VM.
3. In the New virtual machine wizard, select Deploy a virtual machine from an OVF or OVA
file and click Next.
4. Enter a name for the VM: <three initials>-<your cluster name>-VM1 and click the blue box to
select the OVA file. See the lab handout for the path to the Move_template.ova file.
5. Click Next.
6. Under Select storage, select default-container-##### from the list and click Next.
7. In Deployment options, select the options in the table below and click Next.
Network Mapping
VM Network
Disk Provisioning
Thin
Power on Automatically
The checkbox should be selected
8. In the Ready to complete page, click Finish.
9. Monitor the VM deployment status in Recent tasks. Do not close the browser until the
deployment of the VM completes (about 5 minutes).
Exercise 2: Deploying a Move VM
In this exercise, you will work together as a group to deploy the Move VM on a Nutanix AHV
cluster.
Group Exercise
1.
Connect to the Prism Web Console. Click the Settings icon and select Image
Configuration.
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2.
In the Image Configuration dialog box, click on the + Upload Image button. Enter the
following values:
Name
Move-VM-qcow2
Image Type
Disk
Storage Container
default-container-#####
a. Click the Upload a file button.
b. Click the Choose File button to select the Move VM qcow2 image. See the lab handout
for the file name and location.
c. Click Open.
d. Click Save.
3.
Confirm the image is available and the value in the STATE column displays ACTIVE (about
1-2 minutes). You may need to refresh your browser.
4.
Go to the VM Dashboard and select the Table view. Click +Create VM.
5.
Fill out the required fields in the Create VM window:
6.
Name
<three_initials>-Move-VM
vCPU(S)
2
Number of cores per vCPU
2
Memory
8
Scroll down and Click +Add New Disk.
Type
Disk
Operation
Clone from Image Service
Bus Type
Leave it default
Image
Move-VM-qcow2
a. Click Add.
7.
Scroll down and Click +Add New NIC to add a network adapter to the Move VM.
a. Select Managed Network.
b. Click Add.
c. Click Save.
8.
From the VM dashboard, select <three_initials>-Move-VM in the VM table and Power on.
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Migrating Workloads with Nutanix Move
9.
From the VM dashboard, hover the mouse over the IP ADDRESS field to identify the IP
address of the Move VM.
10. Open a new tab in your browser and enter the IP of your Move VM.
11.
Select the I have read and agreed to terms and conditions check box and click Continue.
12. Click OK in the Customer Experience Program popup window.
13. Set a new password for the nutanix user. See the lab handout for the Move VM nutanix user
password.
14. Log on using the new user and password.
Exercise 3: Configuring Move
Group Exercise
1.
The Move dashboard displays Select Source and Target, Add VMs to the Plan, and Move
VMs.
2.
On the upper left side of the Move UI, click + Add Environment.
3.
In the Add Environment dialog box, under Select Environment Type, select VMware ESXi.
4.
Enter the following values into the respective fields:
Environment Name
Lab ESXi Server
vCenter Server or standalone <ESXi IP address> .See lab handout
ESXi host
User Name
See lab handout
ESXi Password
See lab handout
a. Click Add.
5.
In the new Lab ESXi Server card, click the ellipse (…) in the upper right corner and in the
presented menu, choose Refresh. This will initiate a query to update Move with the latest
changes in the ESXi Server.
6.
On the upper left side of the Move UI, click +Add Environment.
7.
In the Add Environment dialog box, under Select Environment Type, select Nutanix AOS
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Migrating Workloads with Nutanix Move
8.
9.
Enter the following values into the respective fields:
Environment Name
<three initials>-<your cluster name> See lab handout for
your cluster name
Nutanix Environment
<cluster external IP address> See lab handout
User Name
admin
Password
See lab handout
Click Add.
10. In the <three initials>-<your cluster name> card, click the ellipsis (…) in the upper right
corner and in the presented menu choose Refresh. This will initiate a query to update Move
with the latest changes in your Nutanix target cluster.
Exercise 4: Configuring a Migration Plan
In this exercise, you will work together to create a migration plan and initiate the migration.
Individual Exercise
1.
In the right (large) panel, click Create a Migration Plan.
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Migrating Workloads with Nutanix Move
2.
In the Enter Migration Plane Name dialog box:
Plan Name: <three initials> Test Plan
a. Click Proceed.
3.
On the Source & Target page, select your source (Lab ESXi Server) and target (<three
initials>-<your cluster name>). In the Target Container menu, select the default-container.
Click Next.
4.
On the Select VMs page, at the top center, locate the All VMs pulldown menu and select
Migratable VMs from the menu to filter out VMs that are non-migratable.
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Migrating Workloads with Nutanix Move
5.
Locate your VM by paging through the list using the blue arrows at the upper right. Once
located, click the blue dot with the plus inside to the left of your VM. Note the VM name will
be listed at the right under Added VMs. Click Next.
6.
On the Network configuration page, under Target Network, select Managed Network:
7.
Under Test Network (Optional), select Unmanaged Network and click Next.
8.
On the VM Preparation page, configure the following:
Preparation Mode
Automatic
Windows VMs, User Name
administrator
Password
See lab handout
a. Leave the remaining fields at their default values and click Next.
9.
Review the summary and click Save and Start. Once the migration plan has been created,
you should see Validating Plan in the Status column. This will change to In Progress once
validation is complete.
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Migrating Workloads with Nutanix Move
10. Click the In Progress hyperlink (in blue) to monitor migration progress.
11.
Monitor the progress as the Migration Status/Details columns changes status from
Prepare Source VM...
to Installing Device Drivers,
to Creating and syncing snapshots,
to Seeding Data,
to Ready to Cutover.
12. Select the check box next to your VM and click Test Actions, and select Create Test VM.
Click Continue in the Are you sure… dialog box.
13. Follow the progress in the Migration Status and Details columns to chart progress. Once
the Status shows View Test VM, the migration Test VM has been created.
14. Go to your Prism browser tab (login as the admin user if necessary).
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15. Switch to the VM dashboard and confirm the Test VM has been migrated and it is powered
on.
16. Switch back to the Move VM browser tab, select the check box next to your VM, click Test
Actions and select Remove Test VM. Click Continue in the Are you sure… dialog box.
17. Follow the progress in the Migration Status and Details columns to chart progress. Once
the status shows Ready to Cutover, the Test VM is removed.
18.
Select the check box next to your VM and click Cutover. Click Continue in the Are you
sure… dialog box.
Follow the progress in the Migration Status and Details columns to chart progress. Once
the Status shows Completed, the migration is done.
19. Switch back to the Prism browser tab and, in the VM dashboard Table view, verify your VM
has successfully migrated to your Nutanix cluster and is powered on.
20. Go to your vSphere Web Client and check the status of the migrated VM. You may need
to refresh the web client. Your VM should be in a powered off state. At this time, you may
delete the VM on the ESXi server (right-click the VM and select Delete). Typically, this
would only be done after the migration has been thoroughly tested.
21. From Prism, go to the VM dashboard and delete the Move VM and the migrated VM. Select
Delete all Snapshots of this VM?
Note: Note: The removal of the VMs used in this exercise is to recover resources for
later labs.
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Module
9
FILES AND VOLUMES
Exercise 1: Deploying Windows or Linux VMs
Note: There are exercises for both Windows and Linux. Perform only the exercises
that pertain to your environment.
Individual Exercise
In this exercise you will deploy a Windows 2019 VM and a CentOS VM and create virtual
machines for iSCSI configurations.
Upload images to the Image Service
1. Click the Settings icon and select Image Configuration.
2. Upload the Win2019.qcow2 disk to the Image Service. Browse to the location listed in the
lab handout.
Name
Win2019.qcow2
Image Type
Disk
Storage Container
Images
Image Source
Upload a File
3. Click Open and then click Save.
4. Upload the Centos7.qcow2 disk to the Image Service.
Name
CentOS7.qcow2
Image Type
Disk
Storage Container
Images
Image Source
Upload a File
5. Click Open and then click Save.
6. Once the upload tasks have completed, refresh your browser and verify the uploaded
images show as ACTIVE.
Deploying a Windows VM
1. From the Prism VM dashboard, select + Create VM. Fill out the following:
Name
<your_initials>-iscsi-Win
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Files and Volumes
VCPU(s)
1
Number Of Cores Per VCPU
2
Memory
4
2. Scroll down to the Disks section and Select + Add New Disk.
Type
Disk
Operation
Clone from Image Service
Bus Type
Leave at default
Image
Win2019.qcow2
a. Click Add.
b. Scroll down to the Network Adapters (NIC) section.
3. Select + Add New NIC.
a. Select network Managed Network.
b. Click Add.
4. Click Save in the Create VM dialogue window.
5. When the virtual machine has been created, click Power On to start the virtual machine.
Deploying a Linux VM
1. From the Prism VM dashboard, select + Create VM. Fill out the following fields:
Name
<your_initials>-iscsi-Lnx
VCPU(s)
1
Number of Cores per VCPU
2
Memory
4
2. Scroll down to the Disks section and Select + Add New Disk.
Type
Disk
Operation
Clone from Image Service
Bus Type
Leave at default
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Files and Volumes
Image
CentOS7.qcow2
a. Click Add.
b. Scroll down to the Network Adapters (NIC) section.
3. Select + Add New NIC.
a. Select network Managed Network.
b. Click Add.
4. Click Save in the Create VM dialogue window.
5. When the virtual machines have been created, click Power On for each.
Exercise 2: Configuring the Data Services IP
Group Exercise
1. If you are not logged into your Prism Web Console, log on as the admin user.
2. In the upper-left corner of the browser window, click on your cluster name.
3. In the Cluster Details window, in the iSCSI DATA SERVICES IP text box, enter the Cluster
Data Services IP from your lab handout.
4. If you see a dialog box asking "Are you sure you want to proceed with updating the cluster
and change the iSCSI Data Services IP?" click on Yes.
5. Click Save.
Exercise 3: Creating a Volume Group for Windows
Note: There are exercises for both Windows and Linux. Perform only the exercises
that pertain to your environment.
For Linux environments, skip ahead to exercise 6.
Individual Exercise
In this exercise you will create a volume group in your cluster for your Windows VM. This
volume group will contain the iSCSI targets that will be accessed by the Windows iSCSI
client (initiator). The iSCSI initiator controls all command and data traffic within an iSCSI
configuration.
1. Switch to the Storage dashboard.
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Files and Volumes
2. In the upper-right corner of the browser window, click + Volume Group.
3. In the Create Volume Group window, in the Name text box enter the name <your initials>Win-VG.
4. In the Create Volume Group window, click + Add New Disk.
5. In the Add Disk window, fill out the fields as follows:
Storage Container
default-container-#####
Size (GiB)
10
6. Click Add.
7. Repeat the previous steps one more time to have a total of two disks in the volume group.
Note: Make sure you select the default-container-##### each time you add a
disk to the Volume Group, it will not be selected by default.
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Files and Volumes
8. When you are done, the Create Volume Group window should have two 10GB disks listed
under Storage.
9. Click Save.
Exercise 4: Configuring the Windows VM as an iSCSI Initiator
Individual Exercise
In this exercise you will configure a Windows 2019 VM as an iSCSI initiator. The iSCSI
initiator, also known as the iSCSI Client, controls all command and data traffic within an iSCSI
configuration.
1.
Switch to the VM dashboard and click the Table tab.
2.
Click to select the <your initials>-iscsi-Win VM.
3.
Click Launch Console.
4.
Log on to the Windows VM as Administrator.
5.
Click the four panel Windows icon in the task bar and click the magnifying glass at the
upper right.
6.
In the search field type cmd and click Command Prompt to open a Command Prompt
window.
7.
In the Command Prompt window enter the following command:
services.msc
8.
Scroll down in the Services window, right-click Microsoft iSCSI Initiator Service, and select
Properties.
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Files and Volumes
9.
In the Properties window, click the Startup type drop down menu and select Automatic.
10. Under Service Status, click Start.
11.
Click OK and close the Services window.
12. In the Command Prompt window enter the following command:
firewall.cpl
13. In the upper-left corner of the Windows Firewall window, click Allow an app or feature
through Windows Defender Firewall.
14. In the Allowed Apps window, under Allowed apps and features, scroll down and check the
check box to the left of iSCSI Service. Check the check box under the Public and Private
column.
15. Click OK and close the Windows Defender Firewall window.
16. In the Command Prompt window enter the following command:
iscsicpl.exe
17. Click the Configuration tab at the top.
18. Click Change…
19. Enter the following into the Initiator Name text box:
iqn.1991-05.com.microsoft:win-1
Note: You should only have to backspace over the last few characters in the
existing name and replace them with the digit 1.
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Files and Volumes
20. Click OK.
21. Click OK to exit the iSCSI configuration utility.
Exercise 5: Configuring a Windows VM for Access to a Volume Group
Individual Exercise
In this exercise you will configure your Windows 2019 virtual machine to discover and access
the two virtual disks (targets) in the volume group that you created previously in this lab.
1.
From the Prism Web Console, go to the Storage dashboard -> Table -> Volume Group tab.
2.
Select the <your initials>-Win-VG volume group and click the Update link below the
Volume Group table.
3.
In the Update Volume Group dialog box, scroll down and click + Add New Client.
4.
In the Add iSCSI Client dialog box, enter the following into the Client IQN/IP Address text
box:
iqn.1991-05.com.microsoft:win-1
5.
Double check your entry for typos and click Add.
6.
Click Save.
7.
Verify the Client IQN in the VOLUME GROUP DETAILS panel at the lower left.
8.
Return to the console of your <your initials>-iscsi-Win VM.
9.
In the Command Prompt window, enter the following command:
iscsicpl.exe
10. Click the Discovery tab at the top.
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Files and Volumes
11.
Click Discover Portal…
12. In the Discover Target Portal window, enter your cluster’s iSCSI data services IP address
into the IP address or DNS name text box. Leave the Port field at its default value.
Note: Your cluster’s external data services IP address can be found on your lab
handout.
13. Click OK.
14. Click the Targets tab.
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Files and Volumes
15. If you do not see the two targets from the volume group, click Refresh.
Note: The targets will initially display as Inactive.
16. Select one of the targets and click Connect.
17. In the Connect To Target dialog box, click OK.
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Files and Volumes
18. The target you just connected should show a status change from Inactive to Connected.
19. Repeat with the second target.
20. Click OK.
21. In the Command Prompt window enter the following command:
diskmgmt.msc
22. Scroll down the Disk Management window and you should see the two disks listed.
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Files and Volumes
23. For each disk, right-click the gray box where it shows Unknown and Offline. Select Online,
right-click again and select Initialize Disk. In the initialize Disk dialog box, take the defaults
and click OK.
24. For each disk, right click the open field, marked 10.00 GB Unallocated and select New
Simple Volume. In the wizard, click Next and take the defaults to the summary page and
click Finish. You should see each disk mounted to a drive letter.
25. Close all the windows you have opened in this exercise.
Exercise 6: Creating a Volume Group for Linux
Individual Exercise
In this exercise you will create a volume group in your cluster for your Linux VM. This volume
group will contain the iSCSI targets that will be accessed by the Linux iSCSI client (initiator).
The iSCSI initiator controls all command and data traffic within an iSCSI configuration.
1.
From the VM dashboard, find the IP address of the <your initials>-iscsi-Lnx VM.
2.
Switch to the Storage dashboard and in the upper-right corner of the browser window,
click + Volume Group.
3.
In the Create Volume Group window, in the Name text box enter the name <your initials>Lnx-VG.
4.
In the Create Volume Group window, click + Add New Disk.
5.
In the Add Disk window, fill out the fields as follows:
Storage Container
default-container-#####
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Files and Volumes
Size (GiB)
10
6.
Click Add.
7.
Repeat the previous step to have a total of two disks in the volume group.
Note: Make sure you select the default-container-##### each time you add a
disk to the Volume Group as it will not be selected by default.
8.
When you are done, the Create Volume Group window should have two 10GB disks listed
under Storage.
9.
Scroll down to the Add New Client section.
10. Click + Add New Client and in the Add iSCSI Client dialog box, type the IP address of your
<your initials>-iscsi-Lnx VM.
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Files and Volumes
11.
Click Add.
12. Click Save.
Exercise 7: Configuring the Linux VM as an iSCSI Initiator
Individual Exercise
In this exercise, you will configure a Linux VM as an iSCSI initiator.
1. From the VM dashboard, select your <your initials>-iscsi-Lnx VM and open a console. Log
on as root, using the password from your lab handout.
2. Confirm all iSCSI services are enabled by typing the following command:
systemctl list-unit-files iscsi*
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Files and Volumes
3. Obtain (copy) the IQN of the iSCSI initiator (CentOS VM) by typing the following command:
cat /etc/iscsi/initiatorname.iscsi
Note: Typically, your (Windows/Linux) system is external to a Nutanix cluster.
In this situation you need to allow for external access to the volume group as
follows:
4. Update the Volume Group window. In Prism Web Console, select Volume Group from the
Storage dashboard (Table view) .
a. Select the volume group to update and click the Update link (pencil icon) .
b. Scroll down to Access Settings and check the check box Enable external client access.
c. Click Save.
5. Manually discover those iSCSI target portals using sendtargets within the iscsiadm utility with
the following command:
iscsiadm --mode discovery --type sendtargets --portal <iSCSI_Data_Services_IP>
The two 10G disks configured earlier are listed as target 0 and target 1. (tgt0 and tgt1) .
You can substitute -m for --mode, -t for --type, st for sendtargets, and -p for –portal.
Example: iscsiadm -m discovery -t st -p <iSCSI_Data_Services_IP>
6. Log on to the new target with the following command:
iscsiadm -m node –p <iSCSI_Data_Services_IP>
Note: -m = mode and -p = portal.
A list is presented starting with # BEGIN RECORD and ending with # END RECORD
7. Restart the Linux OS to verify iSCSI startup with the following command:
init 6
8. When the reboot has completed, log back in as root and check the iscsi sessions with the
following command:
iscsiadm -m session
Note: If the iSCSI Data Services IP has changed, the login will be unsuccessful and a
rediscover will be necessary (without the need for a VM restart).
Exercise 8: Preparing New Disks for Linux
Individual Exercise
In this exercise, you will configure the new disks to be used with the Linux operating system.
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Files and Volumes
1.
Prepare the new disks on the Linux VM using the following command:
fdisk -l
sda is the disk for the boot/OS drive. There should be two new (10GB) SCSI disks named
sdb and sdc visible in the output of the fdisk -l. If the SCSI disks are not displayed in the
fdisk -l, rescan the iSCSI bus for the new device (LUN) using the following command:
iscsiadm -m node -p <iSCSI_Data_Services_IP> -R x
2.
Partition the first disk using the following command:
fdisk /dev/sdb
a. The disk has not been partitioned/formatted at this point. Ignore the comment on
alignment. Press m to bring up the menu (help) .
b. Press p to print the partition table. No partition is shown.
c. Press n to create a new partition.
d. Choose Primary partition; partition number = 1; first/last sector = defaults (press Enter).
e. Press w to write the partition information to the partition table
3.
Verify the new disk has been successfully partitioned:
fdisk /dev/sdb
a. Press p to print the partition table which now shows the /dev/sdb1 partition.
b. Press q to quit.
4.
Repeat the previous step for /dev/sdc.
5.
Create file systems on the newly partitioned disks using the following command:
mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdb1
mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdc1
Note: ext4 is an extended (default) Red Hat Enterprise Linux journaling file
system.
6.
Mount the new disk to the file system and make it persistent across reboots by adding the
mount to the /etc/fstab table:
a. Create a mount point: mkdir /d1 /d2
b. Mount the first disk: mount /dev/sdb1 /d1
c. Mount the second disk: mount /dev/sdc1 /d2
7.
Your new disk is now ready for use.
a. Verify the mounted disks using the following command:
df -h
b. Create a file on the mountpoint using the following command:
touch /d1/file-<your_initials>
touch /d2/file-<your initials>
ls -R /d?
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Files and Volumes
8.
Unmount the filesystems using the following command:
umount /d1
umount /d2
df -h
9.
Make the mount persistent across reboots in the /etc/fstab table using the following
command:
nano /etc/fstab
a. To move to the next page and start writing to the file, type Ctrl+V
b. Add the following lines to the /etc/fstab file using the following command:
/dev/sdb1
/d1
ext4_netdev
0
0
/dev/sdc1
/d2
ext4_netdev
0
0
Figure 1:
10. Save the file and quit. Press the Ctrl+X key, then type to write the file and exit.
11.
Check the /etc/fstab entries using the following command:
cat /etc/fstab
mount -av
df -h
ls /d?
12. From Prism Web Console, go to the VM Dashboard and delete the <your initials>-iscsi-Lnx
and <your initials>-iscsi-Win VMs. Select Delete all Snapshots of this VM?
Note: The removal of the VMs used in this exercise, is to recover resources for later
labs.
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Module
10
UNDERSTANDING INFRASTRUCTURE
RESILIENCY
Exercise 1: Failing a Node VM High Availability
Group Exercise
In this exercise you will work with your lab partner and observe how a Nutanix cluster responds
and manages guest virtual machines when a host fails.
1.
Log on to the Prism Web Console as admin.
2.
Switch to the VM dashboard, click Table and click + Create VM.
3.
Create the VM using the parameters from the following table (leave all other fields at their
default values). If you are working with a lab partner, choose a set of initials for your VM
name:
Note: Installation of an operating system in this VM is not required.
Name
HA-Lab-<initials>
VCPU(s)
1
Number of cores per CPU
1
Memory
16
+ Add New Disk – Storage
Container
default-storage-container-#####
+ Add New Disk - Size
40
a. Click Save.
4.
Click to select the VM you have just created and click Power On in the row of links below
the table of VMs.
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Understanding Infrastructure Resiliency
5.
For your HA VM, look in the Host column in the VM table and note the host the VM is
running on.
6.
Using the lab handout, find the IPMI address corresponding to the node the VM is running
on.
7.
Open a new tab in your browser and enter the IP address of the IPMI interface for the node
the HA VM is running on. Log on to IPMI using the IPMI username and password from your
lab handout.
Note: Both the IPMI username and password are case-sensitive.
8.
Click Power Down (you may have to scroll down the page to see this button).
9.
Refresh your browser page to observe the node status has changed to Host is currently
off.
Note: If you are connected to Prism Web Console on the node that you
powered down, you must reconnect your web browser to either the cluster
virtual IP address or an-other CVM to manage the cluster.
Note: It may take several minutes for the VM to fail over to the new node.
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10. Return to the Prism Web Console browser tab and answer the following questions:
Is the HA VM powered on?
On which host is the HA VM running?
Is this host the same as the host on which it was originally running?
11.
Select the Home dashboard and note the Data Resiliency Status:
Does it say OK or Critical?
12. Switch back to the IPMI browser tab and click Power On (you may have to scroll down the
page to see this button).
13. Wait a few moments and observe the power status of the node (you may need to refresh
your browser). Once the node status is Host is currently on, continue to the next step.
14. Return to the Prism Web Console and, if necessary, switch to the VM dashboard Table
view and answer the following questions:
On which node is the HA VM running?
Is this the same node the HA VM was originally running on?
15. Wait for your cluster’s Data Resiliency Status to return to OK before continuing with the
next exercise.
Note: It may take several minutes for the status to update to OK. You can view the
cluster’s Data Resiliency Status on the Home dashboard.
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Exercise 2: Configuring High Availability
Group Exercise
In this exercise you will observe the impact and benefits of the VM high availability feature.
1.
Verify the HA-Lab-<initials> VM is powered on.
2.
Click the Settings icon. Under Data Resiliency, click Manage VM High Availability.
3.
Read the text in the Manage VM High Availability dialog box. Note that when VM high
availability is disabled, AOS will not reserve or guarantee memory to start virtual machines
in the event of a node failure.
4.
Click Enable HA Reservation.
5.
Click Save.
6.
Click OK.
Note: AOS is now reserving memory to guarantee VMs will be started in the
event of a node failure.
7.
Switch back to the VM dashboard.
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8.
Follow the steps below to create clones of the HA-Lab-<initials> virtual machine.
a. Click to select the HA-Lab-<initials> VM.
b. Click the Clone link in the links below the table of VMs.
c. Double the memory allocation from 16 to 32 and keep everything else default.
d. Click Save.
e. When the cloning process is complete and a new virtual machine appears in the VM
dashboard, select the new clone and click Power On.
f. Repeat the previous steps to create additional clones until Prism Web Console no longer
allows you to power on the new clone. For each additional clone, ensure the VM name is
unique and set the memory allocation to 32.
9.
When the Power On action fails, view the status message at the top of the browser
window.
10. Click the Settings icon. Under Data Resiliency, click Manage VM High Availability.
11.
In the Manage VM High Availability dialog box, deselect Enable HA Reservation and click
Save to disable VM high availability.
12. Switch back to the VM dashboard.
13. Click to select the last VM you cloned (the one that failed to power on) and click the Power
On link in the row of links below the table of VMs.
Were you able to power on the VM this time? Why?
What does this tell you about using the VM high availability feature?
14. Delete all the HA-Lab-<initials> VM instances created in this lab exercise.
Note: Do not delete any other VMs at this time.
15. When you are prompted, click the Delete all snapshots? check box on this VM and click
Delete.
Note: Although no VM snapshots were created for these VMs, it is typically a good
idea to delete snapshots when you delete VMs.
Exercise 3: Configuring Virtual Machine Affinity
Individual Exercise
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As an administrator, you can specify placement policies for virtual machines on an AHV cluster.
These placement policies use affinity lists to specify the hypervisor node(s) that can host an
individual VM. The placement policy and list are used when VMs are created, powered on,
migrated and after failure recovery.
If you choose to apply the VM-host affinity policy, it limits Acropolis HA and Acropolis Dynamic
Scheduling (ADS) in such a way that a virtual machine cannot be powered on or migrated to a
host that does not conform to requirements of the affinity policy.
Task 1: Cloning and Editing VM Settings
1. Working individually, clone your original Windows VM. Go to VM dashboard > Table and
select (highlight) your Windows-<your initials> VM and click Clone.
2. In the Clone VM dialog box, change the hostname to Affinity-<your_initials>.
3. Scroll down to the Network section and delete the Managed Network by clicking the trash
can sign.
Note: The virtual network is removed to save on IPs. Network access is not
required for these exercises.
Figure 2:
4. Click Save.
5. Power on the new cloned VM.
Task 2: Creating a Host Affinity VM-to-Host Rule
Individual Exercise
In this task you will choose the hosts a VM can run on. Choices are limited on a three or four
node cluster and typically, these rules are applied in larger environments and are set based on
performance needs, application requirements, location, and so on.
1.
From the VM dashboard, locate your newly created affinity VM and determine which node
is the current host.
This example shows the VM being hosted on node A.
2.
Create an affinity rule for your VM. Select your Affinity-<your_initials> VM and click
Update.
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3.
In the Update VM dialog box, scroll down to the VM Host Affinity section and click + Set
Affinity.
4.
In the Set VM Host Affinity dialog box, the current node where the VM resides is
automatically selected. If you saved this, the only node the VM will ever run on is node A
(Current Node). If you deselect the current node and select another node, when saved, the
VM will automatically migrate.
Note: A minimum of 2 hosts should be selected to allow for maintenance
mode, rolling code upgrades, and node and host failures.
5.
Deselect the current node and select your other two nodes.
Our example shows node A deselected and nodes B and C selected.
6.
Click Save twice.
7.
Watch the Host column in the VM dashboard. After a few minutes you will see the original
node for your VM change to one of the nodes selected in your affinity list. You can also
follow the process using the Tasks icon or Tasks dashboard.
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8.
With the affinity rule in place, verify you can no longer place your VM on the host it was
previously running on (not selected in your affinity list). Select your Affinity-<your_initials>
VM and select Migrate.
9.
In the Migrate VM dialog box, select the drop down menu and note the original node is not
listed.
10. Select the node the VM is not running on or allow the system to select one for you. Click
Migrate.
11.
Verify your VM migration task successfully completed.
Exercise 4: Configuring Virtual Machine Anti-Affinity
Individual Exercise
Affinity rules establish a relationship between a virtual machine and one or more hosts. Antiaffinity rules are used to prevent specific virtual machines from being placed on the same host.
This provides an administrative intervention to the Acropolis Dynamic Scheduler (ADS) and can
be used to balance workloads across available hosts to manage and/or prevent over utilization
of individual VM resources. Anti-affinity rules are configured using the command line interface
on a CVM.
Anti-affinity is a preferential (soft) policy that can be overruled by the Acropolis Dynamic
Scheduler (ADS) feature in the event of severely constrained resources. Typically, anti-affinity
rules are applied in larger environments and not usually found on three or four node clusters.
Task 1: Cloning VMs
Individual Exercise
In this task, you will clone two new VMs for the anti-affinity tasks and ensure both VMs are
running on the same node.
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1. From the VM dashboard, clone your Windows-<your initals> VM. Name the
clone Antiaffinity-WIN-<your initials> and remove the virtual network configuration.
Click Save.
2. Clone your original CentOS7-<your initials> VM. Name it Antiaffinity-LNX-<your
initials> and remove the virtual network configuration. Click Save.
3. Power on both VMs.
4. Take note of the hosts the anti-affinity VMs are currently running on by looking at
the Host column.
This example shows both VMs currently running on node A.
5. If both VMs are running on the same host, skip to Task 2, otherwise continue with the next
step.
6. Migrate your Antiaffinity-WIN-<your initials> VM to the same host where the AntiaffinityLNX-<your initials> VM is running.
7. Confirm both VMs are now running on the same host.
Task 2: Creating a VM-to-VM Anti-Affinity Rule
Individual Exercise
In this task you will create an anti-affinity group using the command line interface.
1. Using an SSH client, start an SSH session to cluster's Virtual IP using an IP from your lab
handout.
2. Log on to the CVM and enter the Acropolis Command Line Shell, type:
acli
<acropolis>
3. Create a VM Group called AA-Group-<your_initials>. This will be used to identify the VMs
for the anti-affinity rules. Type:
<acropolis> vm_group.create AA-Group-<your_initials>
4. List the newly created VM group. Type:
<acropolis> vm_group.list
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5. Display the list of VMs available to be added to the VM group. Type:
<acropolis> vm.list
6. Add both of your anti-affinity VMs to the VM group. VM names are case sensitive. The CLI
format is all on one line:
<acropolis> vm_group.add_vms
<VM Group>
vm_list=<VMs comma separated>
<acropolis> vm_group.add_vms AA-Group-<your_initials> vm_list=Antiaffinity-WIN<your_initials>,Antiaffinity-LNX-<your_initials>
7. Verify both VMs have been added to the VM group. Type:
<acropolis> vm_group.list_vms
AA-Group-<your_initials>
8. Apply the VM-to-VM anti-affinity policy to the VM group.Type:
<acropolis> vm_group.antiaffinity_set
AA-Group-<your_initials>
Applying the policy, enforces the rule that the VMs listed in the VM group are not allowed
on the same node under normal circumstances. This can be overruled by ADS in the case of
resource constraints that would prevent these VMs from starting.
9. Review the anti-affinity VMs in the VM dashboard. One of the VMs should have migrated to a
different host. If they are still on the same host, you could expedite the anti-affinity process
by power cycling one of the VMs in the group. Type:
<acropolis> vm.off Antiaffinity-WIN-<your_initials>
<acropolis> vm.on Antiaffinity-WIN-<your_initials>
Task 3: Removing an Anti-Affinity Group
1. Remove anti-affinity from the group from the CVM using the Acropolis Command Line
Interface (aCLI). Type:
<acropolis> vm_group.antiaffinity_unset AA-Group-<your_initials>
2. Remove the anti-affinity group. Type:
<acropolis> vm_group.delete AA-Group-<your_initials>
3. Check what other VM group options are available. Type:
<acropolis> help vm_group
4. Delete your affinity and anti-affinity VMs. Type:
<acropolis> vm.delete Affinity-<your_initials>
<acropolis> vm.delete Antiaffinity-WIN-<your_initials>
<acropolis> vm.delete Antiaffinity-LNX-<your_initials>
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Module
11
DATA PROTECTION
Exercise 1: Creating Protection Domains and Local VM Restore
Individual Exercise
In this exercise you will work individually to configure a protection domain to provide a backup
for your Windows virtual machine to your local cluster.
1.
Log on to Prism Web Console as the admin user.
2.
Switch to the VM dashboard and click the Table tab.
3.
Select your Windows-<your initials> virtual machine and click Clone.
4.
Name the new clone Local-Backup-VM-<your initials> and click Save.
5.
Click the Update link for the VM you just cloned.
6.
Scroll down in the Update VM window and ensure any CD-ROM devices are empty. If they
are not empty, click the eject icon to ensure they are empty.
7.
Click Save and power on the cloned VM.
8.
Switch to the Data Protection dashboard. Click OK if the Protection Domain Warning
dialog appears.
9.
Click the Table tab.
10. Click + Protection Domain and then select Async DR.
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11.
In the Protection Domain (Async DR) window, in the Name text box, enter LocalPD-<your
initials>.
12. Click Create.
13. Under Unprotected Entities, click to select the Local-Backup-VM-<your initials> VM.
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14. In the lower-left corner of the window, click Protect Selected Entities (1).
Note: You should see the protected Windows VM move to the right column
labeled Protected Entities.
15. Click Next.
16. Click New Schedule.
17. Click the radio button for Repeat every… minutes and enter 60 into the text box.
18. Leave all other fields at their default values and click Create Schedule.
19. Click Close.
20. In the Protection Domain table, click to select your protection domain.
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21. In the lower left side of the Protection dashboard, look at the PROTECT DOMAIN DETAILS
box and verify the Protection Domain mode is Active.
22. Below the Protection Domain table, click the Schedules tab and verify the Every 60
minutes schedule.
23. Select the Local Snapshots tab. A snapshot is automatically taken when the protection
domain is created. If you do not see a snapshot, wait a few minutes and check again.
24. Click the Restore link on the right side of the snapshot entry in the Local Snapshots table.
25. In the Restore Snapshot window, click the checkbox for the Local-Backup-VM-<your
initials> VM.
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26. Ensure the Create new entities radio button is selected, leave all other fields at their default
values and click OK.
27. Switch to the VM dashboard and click the Table tab.
28. Verify the restored VM named Nutanix-Clone-Local-Backup-VM-<your initials> is present.
Note: The cloned restored VM will be in a powered off state.
Note: The remaining exercises in this Lab cannot be done in the Online Learning
Program, if you are in the Online Learning Program, please skip to Lab 12.
Exercise 2: Creating Containers for Replication
Note: In the following exercises you will work with your lab partner and with
another cluster partner team to configure your clusters to replicate to each other.
Group Exercise
In this exercise you will configure a container to receive your partner cluster team’s replicated
VMs. Both teams should do this exercise in parallel before moving on to the next exercise.
1. Switch to the Storage dashboard.
2. Click + Storage Container.
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3. In the Create Storage Container window, in the Name text box, enter the name <your
partner cluster name>-DR-Container where <your partner cluster name> is the name of
your partner team’s cluster.
4. Leave all other fields at their default values and click Save.
Exercise 3: Configuring Remote Sites
Group Exercise
In this exercise you will configure the remote site settings on your local cluster for your partner
remote cluster.
Both teams should do this exercise in parallel before moving on to the next exercise.
1.
Switch to the Data Protection dashboard, click Table, and click the Remote Site tab.
2.
Click + Remote Site and then select Physical Cluster.
3.
Fill in the Remote Site window:
REMOTE SITE NAME
<your partner cluster name>-Site
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<your partner cluster external virtual IP address>
ADDRESSES
Note: You will have to obtain the information from your partner team.
4.
Click Add Site.
5.
Scroll down to Mappings.
6.
Configure Network Mapping between your cluster and your partner cluster:
7.
Source Cluster
AHV: Managed Network
Destination Cluster
AHV: Managed Network
Click the + to the right of the network mapping you just created.
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Data Protection
8.
Create a second network mapping, selecting AHV: Unmanaged Network for both
the Source Cluster and Destination Cluster then click the + to the right of the second
mapping. When completed you should have two network mappings which look like the
screenshot below:
9.
Scroll down to vStore Name Mapping and map the cluster vStore/Containers:
Source vStore
default-container-####
Destination vStore
<your cluster>-DR-Container
10. Click the + to the right of the vStore mapping you just created.
11.
Create a second vStore mapping:
Source vStore
<your partner cluster>-DR-Container
Destination vStore
default-container-####
12. Click the + to the right of the vStore mapping you just created.
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13. The resulting vStore mappings should look similar to the screenshot below:
14. Click Save.
Exercise 4: Creating Protection Domains
Group Exercise
In this exercise you will configure the protection domain settings on your local cluster for your
partner remote cluster.
Both teams should do this exercise in parallel before moving on to the next exercise.
1.
Click + Protection Domain and then select Async DR.
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2.
In the Protection Domain (Async DR) window, in the Name text box, enter <your cluster
name>-DR-Protection-Domain where <your cluster name> is the name of your cluster.
3.
Click Create.
4.
Under Unprotected Entities, select one of your cloned Windows VMs named NutanixClone-Local-Backup-<your initials>.
5.
Click Protect Selected Entities. The VM should move under Protected Entities at the right.
6.
Click Next.
7.
Click New Schedule.
8.
Click the Repeat every… minutes radio button and enter 60 into the text box.
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9.
On the right, under Remote Sites, click to select your partner team’s remote site.
10. Enter 5 into the keep the keep the last… snapshots text box. The Protection Domain
(Async DR) window should look similar to the screenshot below:
11.
Click Create Schedule.
12. Click Close.
13. Click the Async DR tab.
14. Click to select the <your cluster>-DR-Protection-Domain Protection Domain.
15. Below the table, click the Replications tab. You may have to wait a few minutes, but you
should eventually see either Total Ongoing or Last Successful replications in the table.
The following screenshot shows ongoing replications:
The following screenshot shows successful replications:
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Data Protection
Exercise 5: Performing VM Migration
Group Exercise
In this exercise you will perform a migration of your protection domain to your partner team’s
cluster.
1.
With the <your cluster>-DR-Protection-Domain selected, in the links below the Protection
Domain table, click Migrate.
Note: Ensure you have selected the protection domain for your cluster, not
your partner team’s cluster.
2.
In the Migrate Protection Domain window, click the radio button next to your partner
team’s site and type the word MIGRATE in the text box.
3.
Click Migrate.
4.
In a new browser tab, log on to your partner team’s Prism Web Console as the admin user.
You may have to ask your partner team for their cluster’s External Virtual IP address.
5.
Switch to the VM dashboard and click Table.
6.
When the migration has completed, you should see the VM in your protection domain
appear in the VM table.
7.
Click to select the migrated VM and click Power On.
8.
Click Launch Console to verify the VM powered on successfully.
9.
Still on your partner team’s Prism Web Console, switch to the Data Protection dashboard
and select your protection domain.
Note: Select your protection domain not your partner team’s protection
domain.
10. Look in the PROTECTION DOMAIN DETAILS box and verify your protection domain mode
is set to Active.
11.
Switch to the browser tab for your cluster, select your protection domain and verify the
mode is set to Inactive. You may need to refresh the browser to see the status change.
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Data Protection
Exercise 6: Migrating Back to Primary
Group Exercise
In this exercise you will migrate your protection domain back to your cluster.
1.
If you are not logged into your partner team’s Prism Web Console, open a new browser
tab and log on as admin. You may have to get the cluster’s External Virtual IP address from
your partner team.
2.
Switch to the Data Protection dashboard and click the Async DR button.
3.
Click to select your protection domain.
Note: Ensure you have selected your protection domain, not your partner
team’s protection domain.
4.
Click Migrate.
5.
In the Migrate Protection Domain window, click the radio button next to your site name
and type the word MIGRATE in the text box
6.
Click Migrate.
7.
Switch back to your cluster’s Prism Web Console tab (logging in again if necessary).
8.
Switch to the VM dashboard and click Table.
9.
Wait until you see your VM appear in the table indicating failback has occurred.
Note: The name of the VM changes during failback. You can see the new name
of the VM, by going to the Tasks dashboard
10. Click to select the VM, then click Power On.
11.
Click Launch Console to verify the VM is functional.
12. Switch to the Data Protection dashboard and verify the protection domain’s mode is set to
Active again.
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Prism Central
Module
12
PRISM CENTRAL
Exercise 1: Deploying Prism Central
Group Exercise
In this exercise, you will deploy a Prism Central virtual machine on your Nutanix cluster.
Work with your lab partner for the Prism Central exercises. Your cluster can only be registered
to one Prism Central Server at a time.
1.
On the Prism Web Console Home page, locate the Prism Central widget at the upper left
and click the Register or create new hyperlink.
2.
In the Prism Central dialog box, click Deploy.
3.
A lookup will be initiated to find if a previously downloaded version of Prism Central is
available on your cluster. Click the upload the Prism Central binary hyperlink.
4.
Click Choose File for Prism Central Metadata File (.json) and navigate to the Prism
Central lab folder, see your lab handout for the location and file name.
5.
Select the metadata.json file and click Open.
6.
Click Choose File for Prism Central Installation Binary (.tar) and select the .tar file and
click Open.
7.
Verify the files are correct and click Upload Now.
Note: The files can take up to 5 minutes to upload.
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Prism Central
8.
Once uploaded, you should see the uploaded version and the Install selection in blue. Click
Install.
9.
In the next window, click Deploy 1-vm PC to deploy only a single Prism Central virtual
machine.
10. Under General Configuration, enter the name: PrismCentral##. (## = your cluster
number).
11.
Change the container to default-container-#####if not selected by default.
12. Under Network Config, add the following:
AHV Network
Managed Network
IP Address
See the lab handout
Subnet Mask
See the lab handout
Default Gateway
See the lab handout
DNS Address
See the lab handout
13. Click Deploy.
Note: This can take up to 15 minutes. You can monitor the progress from Tasks
dashboard.
14. The Prism Central widget should now show Deploying. When the Prism Central widget
shows the Register or create new hyperlink (you may need to refresh the browser), click
Home at the upper left and select VM from the dashboard list. Click Table and you should
see your Prism Central VM.
15. Open a new tab on your browser and connect to the Prism Central IP address identified
earlier.
16. Log on with the user: admin and password: Nutanix/4u
17. Upon initial login, you will be prompted for a new password. See your lab handout for the
password. You will need to enter this password into both password fields.
18. After entering the new password into each password field and clicking Enter, you will be
presented with a new login page. Log on with the user admin and the password entered in
the previous step.
19. Fill out the EULA information, check the I have read and agree to the terms and
conditions check box and click Accept.
20. On the Pulse will be enabled page, check the Disable Pulse check box and click Continue.
You should now see the Prism Central Home page.
21. An examples pop-up will be displayed, click OK, Got it.
22. Click the user menu (labeled with the current user: admin) and select Sign Out.
23. Close the Prism Central browser tab.
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24. Return to your previous browser tab with Prism Element (local cluster Prism). Click on VM
at the upper left and select Home to get back to the Home dashboard.
Exercise 2: Registering a Cluster with Prism Central
Group Exercise
In this exercise you will register your cluster with Prism Central.
Work with your lab partner for the Prism Central exercises. Your cluster can only be registered
to one Prism Central Server at a time.
1. From your Prism Web Console, Home dashboard, locate the Prism Central widget at the
upper left and click the Register or create new hyperlink.
2. In the Prism Central dialog box, click Connect.
3. Read the disclaimer information in the new dialog box to review changes in Prism Element
when registering to Prism Central. Click Next.
4. Fill out the Connect to an existing Prism Central instance window:
Prism Central IP
See lab handout
Port
Leave blank
Username
admin
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Password
See lab handout
5. Click Connect.
6. After successful registration with Prism Central, the Prism Central widget on the Home
dashboard shows OK.
7. In the Prism Central widget, click Launch.
8. A new browser tab should open. Log on to Prism Central with the admin user. Prism Central
displays the Main dashboard.
Figure 3:
Exercise 3: Using Prism Central's Basic Features
Group Exercise
In this exercise you will explore some of basic features of Prism Central.
1. If needed, log on to Prism Central and access the Main dashboard.
How many clusters are registered with this Prism Central instance?
2. Click on your cluster name from any widget where it is listed (you may need to refresh your
browser). This will take you to the Clusters Summary page.
3. Explore the links down the left side of the browser window to see what information has been
imported to the Prism Central database. When finished, click the Prism logo in the upper
middle of the UI to return to the Main dashboard.
Exercise 4: Creating a Custom Dashboard
Group Exercise
In this exercise you will create a custom dashboard.
1. If necessary, log on to Prism Central.
2. At the upper left, click Manage Dashboards.
3. In the pop-up, click +New Dashboard.
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4. Type a name for the dashboard (i.e. ECA-<your initials>), then click Save.
5. When you click on the new dashboard name, you should see a blank page and the option to
Add Widgets.
6. Click on the Add Widgets link in the middle panel or on the add widgets icon at the upper
right.
7. In the left panel, select the Cluster Quick Access widget from the list of predefined widgets.
At the lower right, click Add to Dashboard.
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Prism Central
8. From the left panel, select the Custom Chart widget and create a custom widget. In the right
panel, experiment with the configuration options to define a widget to your needs.
Note: When you click in the Entity Search field the options available for
selection are based on the Entity Type setting.
9. When completed, click Add & Return to Dashboard at the lower right to display your
finished dashboard.
Exercise 5: Creating a Custom Report
Group Exercise
In this exercise you will create a custom report using Prism Central.
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1.
From the Main dashboard, click the Entities menu (the three-lined hamburger icon) in the
upper-left corner of the browser window. This will display dashboard options on the left
side of the browser.
2.
In the dashboard menu, hover over Operations and then click Reports.
3.
Click the Cluster Efficiency Summary check box and click the Actions menu above.
4.
Select Run from the menu to display the Run Report window. Populate the empty fields as
follows:
REPORT INSTANCE NAME
<your initials>-PC-Report
DESCRIPTION
Enter any text you would like
TIME PERIOD FOR REPORT
Last 24 Hours
Report Format
PDF
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ADDITIONAL RECIPIENTS
Leave this field blank
5.
Click Run.
6.
Click the Cluster Efficiency Summary report name (click the text on the report name not
the check box). You should see the PDF instance of the report you have just run.
7.
Click the PDF link to download the PDF report. This will be saved to the downloads folder
on your VDI desktop.
8.
Open the downloaded PDF to view the report.
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Prism Central
9.
Scroll through the report to see what information it contains.
Note: Your Prism Central instance has only been running a short time and
may not show any data in the report’s graphs and other widgets. Typically,
you would run reports after Prism Central has been running for several days or
weeks.
10. Close the Cluster Efficiency Summary page and click the X on the top bar. Return to the
Main dashboard by clicking on the Prism logo at the top center of the page.
Exercise 6: Creating a "What-If" Scenario
Group Exercise
In this exercise you will explore how to create a planning session to forecast future needs based
on current growth.
1.
From the Prism Central Main dashboard, click the Entities menu and select Operations ->
Planning.
2.
At the upper right, click New Scenario to open the Scenario Definition tab.
3.
In the left panel, select your cluster from the Cluster drop down menu.
4.
In the Target box, select 12 months.
5.
In the right panel area, under Resources, you can choose Add/Adjust to define your nodes
and node configurations. Review the options and keep the existing hardware setting.
6.
In the left panel, check the Capacity Configuration box to modify or add reservation on
cluster capacity.
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Prism Central
7.
In the left panel next to Workload, click Add/Adjust to add or adjust the workload that will
be placed on the cluster with the following values:
Scroll down and enter 500 into the Number of Users text box.
8.
Click Save. The saved VDI configuration is shown in the left panel and the check box
to display the scenario will already be selected. Click Recommend to review the
recommendations (if any).
9.
Click the Save Scenario button.
10. Enter a file name in the Name Scenario field and click the Save Scenario button.
Exercise 7: Unregistering a Cluster from Prism Central
Group Exercise
In this exercise you will unregister Prism Web Console from Prism Central. This operation is
performed from the command line on a cluster CVM.
1. Using SSH client to log on to one of the Controller VMs in your cluster.
2. To unregister your Prism Web Console from Prism Central, enter the following command:
$ ncli
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Prism Central
3. From within nCLI, enter the following command:
<ncli> multicluster remove-from-multicluster external-ip-address-or-svmips=<PCIPaddress> username=admin password=<PCPassword> force=true
Where:
- PCIPaddress = Your Prism Central IP address (from VM dashboard or your lab handout)
- PCPassword = The Prism Central password (from your lab handout)
The output shows the cluster unregistration is in progress.
4. Go back to the Prism Web Console browser tab and log on if needed. Switch to the Home
dashboard.
5. The Prism Central widget once again displays Register or create new (in place of Launch).
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Module
13
CLUSTER MANAGEMENT AND EXPANSION
Exercise 1: Performing a One-Click NCC Upgrade
Group Exercise
In this exercise you will perform a one-click upgrade of the Nutanix Cluster Check (NCC) utility
on your lab cluster.
1.
Log on to Prism Web Console if needed.
2.
Click About Nutanix from the User menu and write down the NCC version number that is
currently running in your cluster.
3.
Click the Settings icon and click Upgrade Software. This also shows the current version.
4.
In the Upgrade Software window, click NCC.
Note: Your cluster will attempt to contact the software update server at
Nutanix to check for updates. If your class lab environment is not connected
the internet, you can ignore this error.
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Cluster Management and Expansion
5.
Choosing an install method depends on your cluster’s internet connectivity.
6.
In this lab exercise you will upload the NCC binary manually. Click upload the NCC binary.
7.
Click Choose File under NCC METADATA FILE and select the NCC upgrade JSON
metadata file from the file server as specified in your lab handout.
8.
Click Choose File under NCC BINARY FILE and select the NCC update binary file from the
file server as specified on your lab handout.
9.
Click Upload Now to upload the files to your cluster.
Note: Wait for the NCC files to upload to your cluster. A progress bar appears
so you can monitor the upload.
10. Once the new version is represented under AVAILABLE COMPATIBLE VERSIONS, click
Upgrade.
11.
Click Yes to confirm. The NCC upgrade will take one to two minutes to complete.
12. SSH to one of your CVMs and log on with the credentials from your lab handout.
13. Verify the new version of NCC by issuing a command on the CVM as follows:
allssh ncc --version
Note: WARNING: The rest of this lab cannot be done in the online learning
program. If you are in the online learning program, skip the remainder of this lab.
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Cluster Management and Expansion
Exercise 2: Adding Nodes to a Cluster
Watch a short video on adding nodes to a cluster
1. Paste the following URL to your Internet browser: https://
www.nutanixuniversity.com/lms/index.php?r=course/
deeplink&course_id=237&generated_by=13030&hash=e82c50240022ed6c18eecd0746b2578d57f22be7.
2. If you already have a My Nutanix account, enter your email and password. If not, click the
"Sign up now" link and create an account, then log in.
3. On the next page, expand the Module 14 Labs: Cluster Management and Expansion folder,
and select the "M14A2 - Adding Nodes to a Cluster E-LEARNING," then select "START
LEARNING NOW."
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Cluster Management and Expansion
Exercise 3: Removing Nodes from a Cluster
Watch a short video on adding nodes to a cluster
1. Paste the following URL to your Internet browser: https://
www.nutanixuniversity.com/lms/index.php?r=course/
deeplink&course_id=237&generated_by=13030&hash=e82c50240022ed6c18eecd0746b2578d57f22be7.
2. If you already have a My Nutanix account, enter your email and password. If not, click the
"Sign up now" link and create an account, then log in.
3. On the next page, expand the Module 14 Labs: Cluster Management and Expansion folder,
and select the "M14A3 - Removing Nodes from a Cluster E-LEARNING," then select "START
LEARNING NOW."
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