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Dell EMC Solutions for Microsoft Azure Stack HCI Operations Guide for Managing and Monitoring the Solution Infrastructure Life Cycle

Notes, cautions, and warnings

NOTE: A NOTE indicates important information that helps you make better use of your product.

CAUTION: A CAUTION indicates either potential damage to hardware or loss of data and tells you how to avoid the

problem.

WARNING: A WARNING indicates a potential for property damage, personal injury, or death.

© 2019 Dell Inc. or its subsidiaries. All rights reserved. Dell, EMC, and other trademarks are trademarks of Dell Inc. or its subsidiaries. Other trademarks may be trademarks of their respective owners.

December 2019

Rev. H17518.4

1 Introduction................................................................................................................................. 5Document scope....................................................................................................................................................................5Audience and assumptions................................................................................................................................................... 5Known issues..........................................................................................................................................................................5Dell EMC Solutions for Azure Stack HCI overview...........................................................................................................5Deployment guidance............................................................................................................................................................6

2 Day 0 Operations..........................................................................................................................7Introduction............................................................................................................................................................................ 7Windows activation............................................................................................................................................................... 7Storage Spaces Direct management...................................................................................................................................7

Creating virtual disks....................................................................................................................................................... 7Managing and monitoring Dell EMC Solutions for Azure Stack HCI cluster using Windows Admin Center............. 8

Installing Windows Admin Center.................................................................................................................................. 8Adding the HCI cluster connection................................................................................................................................8Accessing the HCI cluster...............................................................................................................................................9Viewing server details.................................................................................................................................................... 10Viewing drive details....................................................................................................................................................... 11Managing and monitoring volumes.............................................................................................................................. 12Enabling data deduplication on Storage Spaces Direct............................................................................................. 13Monitoring and managing virtual machines.................................................................................................................14Managing virtual switches.............................................................................................................................................15Managing Windows updates.........................................................................................................................................16

Dell EMC OpenManage Integration with Microsoft Windows Admin Center.............................................................. 16Prerequisites for managing Storage Spaces Direct Ready Nodes...........................................................................16Managing Azure Stack HCI clusters............................................................................................................................ 16Known issues..................................................................................................................................................................22

Firmware updates using Dell EMC OpenManage Integration for Microsoft System Center for System Center Virtual Machine Manager.................................................................................................................................. 23Performing compliance checks and firmware updates ............................................................................................24

3 Dell EMC Solutions for Azure Stack HCI Life Cycle Management.................................................... 27Overview...............................................................................................................................................................................27Management of Dell EMC Solutions for Azure Stack HCI............................................................................................. 27

Discovery and inventory of Storage Spaces Direct Ready Nodes in OpenManage Essentials........................... 27Accessing the OpenManage Essentials CLI............................................................................................................... 28Installing Hyper-V and failover cluster management tools.......................................................................................28Creating a discovery range group............................................................................................................................... 28Discovery profile template............................................................................................................................................28Range list template........................................................................................................................................................29Adding a discovery range group.................................................................................................................................. 30Discovery and inventory of Storage Spaces Direct Ready Node using the OpenManage Essentials CLI.........30Creating custom groups and adding discovered devices to a custom group.........................................................31Obtaining the firmware catalog for Storage Spaces Direct Ready Nodes.............................................................32

Contents

Contents 3

Locking down the system configuration.....................................................................................................................33Preparing for maintenance operations........................................................................................................................34Placing a Storage Spaces Direct Ready Node in maintenance mode.....................................................................35Updating the Storage Spaces Direct Ready Node using the OpenManage Essentials console......................... 35Updating the Storage Spaces Direct Ready Node using iDRAC out of band........................................................36Verifying compliance..................................................................................................................................................... 37Updating the out-of-box drivers..................................................................................................................................38Exiting the Storage Spaces Direct Ready Node from maintenance mode............................................................ 38

Expanding the Ready Node cluster...................................................................................................................................38Storage Spaces Direct node expansion......................................................................................................................39Storage Spaces Direct storage expansion................................................................................................................. 40

Extending volumes.............................................................................................................................................................. 40Performing Ready Node recovery......................................................................................................................................41

Configuring RAID for operating system drives........................................................................................................... 41Operating system recovery................................................................................................................................................43

Manual operating system recovery............................................................................................................................. 43Factory operating system recovery............................................................................................................................ 43

4 Contents

Introduction

Topics:

• Document scope• Audience and assumptions• Known issues• Dell EMC Solutions for Azure Stack HCI overview• Deployment guidance

Document scopeThis operations guide focuses on operational aspects of a hyperconverged infrastructure solution on Azure Stack HCI with Hyper-V and Storage Spaces Direct.

This guide includes an overview of Dell EMC Solutions for Microsoft Azure Stack HCI, guidance to monitor and manage bare metal, and instructions for performing operations on a Storage Spaces Direct cluster and updating the cluster-aware system. This guide is applicable only to infrastructure that is built by using the validated and certified Dell EMC Solutions for Windows Server 2016 and Windows Server 2019 with Hyper-V.

Instructions in this guide are applicable only to the generally available operating system build of Windows Server 2016 and Windows Server 2019 with the latest applicable updates. These instructions are not validated with Windows Server version 1709. Dell EMC Ready Solutions do not support the Windows Server Semi-Annual Channel release. Dell EMC recommends updating the host operating system with the latest cumulative updates from Microsoft before starting the cluster creation and configuration tasks.

Audience and assumptionsThe audience for this operations guide includes systems administrators, systems engineers, field consultants, partner engineering team members, and customers with a fair amount of knowledge in deploying hyperconverged infrastructures with Microsoft Windows Server 2016 and Windows Server 2019 Hyper-V and Storage Spaces Direct.

We assume that deployment personnel have prerequisite knowledge, including knowledge of:

• Dell EMC Solutions for Azure Stack HCI, and deployment and configuration of BIOS and iDRAC settings on the Ready Nodes• Deployment and configuration of Windows Server 2016 and Windows Server 2019 Hyper-V infrastructure

Known issuesBefore starting the cluster deployment, review the known issues and workarounds.

For information about known issues and workarounds, see https://www.dell.com/support/article/sln313305.

Dell EMC Solutions for Azure Stack HCI overviewDell EMC Solutions for Azure Stack HCI encompass various configurations of R740xd, R740xd2, R640, and R440 Storage Spaces Direct Ready Nodes to power the primary compute cluster that is deployed as a hyperconverged infrastructure. This hyperconverged infrastructure that is built by using these Ready Nodes uses a flexible solution architecture rather than a fixed component design. The following figure illustrates one of the flexible solution architectures. It consists of a compute cluster alongside the redundant top-of-rack (ToR) switches, a separate out-of-band network, and an existing management infrastructure in the data center.

NOTE: Dell EMC Solutions for Azure Stack HCI are available in both hybrid and all-flash configurations. For more

information about available configurations, see the Dell EMC Ready Nodes for Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct with

Hyper-V Solution Overview.

1

Introduction 5

https://www.dell.com/support/article/sln313305

https://i.dell.com/SITES/DOCCONTENT/SHARED-CONTENT/DATA-SHEETS/EN/DOCUMENTS/MICROSOFT-STORAGE-SPACES-DIRECT-READY-NODES-SOLUTION-OVERVIEW-EN.PDF

https://i.dell.com/SITES/DOCCONTENT/SHARED-CONTENT/DATA-SHEETS/EN/DOCUMENTS/MICROSOFT-STORAGE-SPACES-DIRECT-READY-NODES-SOLUTION-OVERVIEW-EN.PDF

Figure 1. Hyperconverged virtualized solution using Dell EMC Ready Nodes

Deployment guidanceFor deployment guidance and instructions for configuring a cluster using Dell EMC Solutions for Azure Stack HCI, see https://www.dell.com/azurestackhcimanuals. This operations guidance is applicable only to cluster infrastructure that is built using the instructions that are provided in the Ready Node deployment documentation.

6 Introduction

https://www.dell.com/azurestackhcimanuals


Day 0 Operations

Topics:

• Introduction• Windows activation• Storage Spaces Direct management• Managing and monitoring Dell EMC Solutions for Azure Stack HCI cluster using Windows Admin Center• Dell EMC OpenManage Integration with Microsoft Windows Admin Center• Firmware updates using Dell EMC OpenManage Integration for Microsoft System Center for System Center Virtual Machine

Manager

IntroductionAfter the Storage Spaces Direct Ready Node cluster is deployed, day 0 operations must be completed.

This chapter provides details about the day 0 operations.

Windows activationWhen the server operating system is installed using the retail or volume licensing media, the operating system license must be activated. On the Server Core operating system, activate the license by using either the sconfig tool or the slmgr command.

NOTE: Windows activation is not required if the operating system is factory installed.

To activate the operating system license by using slmgr, see https://technet.microsoft.com/library/dn502540(v=ws.11).aspx.

To activate the operating system license by using the sconfig command, see https://technet.microsoft.com/windows-server-docs/get-started/sconfig-on-ws2016.

For volume activation of the Windows operating system in the data center, see the Microsoft documentation for using KMS.

Storage Spaces Direct managementThe following sections provide instructions for day 0 Storage Spaces Direct management operations.

Creating virtual disksCluster creation and enabling Storage Spaces Direct configuration on the cluster creates only a storage pool and does not provision any virtual disks in the storage pool. The New-Volume cmdlet can be used to provision new virtual disks and in turn provision them as the cluster shared volumes for the Storage Spaces Direct HCI cluster.

When creating volumes in the Storage Spaces Direct cluster infrastructure:

• Ensure that you create multiple volumes—a multiple of the number of servers in the cluster. Limit the number of volumes in the cluster to 32 on Windows Server 2016 and 64 on Windows Server 2019.

• Ensure that the storage pool has enough reserve capacity for any in-place volume repairs arising out of failed disk replacement. The reserved capacity should be at least equivalent to the size of one capacity drive per server and up to four drives.

For general guidance on planning for volume creation in Storage Spaces Direct, see https://docs.microsoft.com/windows-server/storage/storage-spaces/plan-volumes.

NOTE: Dell EMC recommends that you use the following resiliency settings when you create virtual disks:

• On Windows Server 2016 and Windows Server 2019 clusters with three or more nodes—Three-way mirror

• On Windows Server 2019 clusters with four or more nodes—Three-way mirror or mirror-accelerated parity

2

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HTTPS://TECHNET.MICROSOFT.COM/EN-US/LIBRARY/DN502540(V=WS.11).ASPX

HTTPS://TECHNET.MICROSOFT.COM/EN-US/WINDOWS-SERVER-DOCS/GET-STARTED/SCONFIG-ON-WS2016

HTTPS://TECHNET.MICROSOFT.COM/EN-US/WINDOWS-SERVER-DOCS/GET-STARTED/SCONFIG-ON-WS2016

https://docs.microsoft.com/EN-US/windows-server/storage/storage-spaces/plan-volumes

https://docs.microsoft.com/EN-US/windows-server/storage/storage-spaces/plan-volumes

Managing and monitoring Dell EMC Solutions for Azure Stack HCI cluster using Windows Admin CenterWindows Admin Center is the new browser-based management tool developed by Microsoft to monitor and manage Windows servers, failover clusters, and hyperconverged clusters.

The Dell EMC Ready Nodes for Storage Spaces Direct offer software-defined storage building blocks to create highly available and highly scalable hyperconverged Infrastructure (HCI). These Ready Nodes are preconfigured with certified components and validated as a Storage Spaces Direct solution that includes Ready Nodes with Dell EMC networking switches as building blocks with simplified ordering and reduced deployment risks. Dell EMC offers configuration options within these building blocks to meet different capacity and performance points. The HCI clusters that are created on these building blocks can be seamlessly monitored and managed by using the Windows Admin Center.

Installing Windows Admin CenterYou can download Windows Admin Center version 1910 from Microsoft download center and install it on Windows 10, Windows Server 2016, Windows Server 2019, or Windows Server version 1709. You can install Windows Admin Center directly on a managed node to manage itself. You can also install Windows Admin Center on other nodes in the infrastructure or on a separate management station to manage the HCI nodes remotely. It is possible to implement high availability for Windows Admin Center by using failover clustering. When Windows Admin Center is deployed on nodes in a failover cluster, it acts as an active/passive cluster providing a highly available Windows Admin Center instance.

The Windows Admin Center installer wizard performs the configuration tasks that are required for Windows Admin Center functionality. These tasks include creating a self-signed certificate and configuring trusted hosts for remote node access. Optionally, you can supply the certificate thumbprint that is already present in the target node local certificate store. By default, Windows Admin Center listens on port 443; the port can be changed during the installation process.

NOTE: The automatically generated self-signed certificate expires in 60 days. Ensure that you use a certificate authority

(CA)-provided SSL certificate if you intend to use Windows Admin Center in a production environment.

For complete guidance on installing Windows Admin Center on Windows Server 2016 and Windows Server 2019 with desktop experience or Server Core, see https://docs.microsoft.com/windows-server/manage/windows-admin-center/deploy/install.

NOTE: This section assumes that you have deployed the Storage Spaces Direct Ready Node Cluster from Dell EMC by

using the deployment guidance that is available at: https://dell.com/azurestackhcimanuals.

After the installation is complete, you can access Windows Admin Center at https://managementstationname:<PortNumber> .

Figure 2. Windows Admin Center start screen

Adding the HCI cluster connection

About this task

For monitoring and management purposes, add the hyperconverged cluster that is based on Dell EMC Solutions for Azure Stack HCI as a connection in Windows Admin Center.

Steps

1. Go to Windows Admin Center > Cluster Manager, as shown in the following figure.

8 Day 0 Operations

HTTPS://AKA.MS/WACDOWNLOAD

HTTPS://DOCS.MICROSOFT.COM/WINDOWS-SERVER/MANAGE/WINDOWS-ADMIN-CENTER/DEPLOY/INSTALL

https://dell.com/azurestackhcimanuals

Figure 3. HCI cluster navigation

2. Click Add.The Add Cluster window is displayed.

3. Enter the cluster FQDN and select Also add servers in the cluster, as shown in the following figure.

Figure 4. Adding the HCI cluster

Windows Admin Center discovers the cluster and the nodes that are part of the cluster.

4. Click Add.The cluster is added to the connection list and Windows Admin Center is configured to monitor and manage the HCI cluster.

Accessing the HCI clusterTo view the dashboard for the HCI cluster that you have added to Windows Admin Center, in the Cluster Manager window, click the cluster name.

This dashboard provides the real-time performance view from the HCI cluster. This view includes total IOPS, average latency values, throughput achieved, average CPU usage, memory usage, and storage usage from all cluster nodes. It also provides a summarized view of the Ready Nodes with drives, volumes, and virtual machine health.

You can drill down into any alerts by clicking the alerts tile in the dashboard.

Day 0 Operations 9

Figure 5. HCI dashboard in Windows Admin Center

Viewing server detailsTo view the server details, click the tools pane and go to Servers > Inventory.

Figure 6. Servers: Inventory tab

NOTE: The performance numbers that are shown in the figure are for a Dell EMC three-node Storage Spaces Direct

Ready Node cluster with all-flash drive configuration.

10 Day 0 Operations

Viewing drive details

About this task

View the total number of drives in the cluster, the health status of the drives, and the used, available, and reserve storage of the cluster as follows.

Steps

1. In the left pane, select Drives.

2. Click the Summary tab, as shown in the following figure.

Figure 7. Drives: Summary tab

To view the drive inventory from the cluster nodes, from the left pane, select Drives, and then click the Inventory tab.

Figure 8. Drives: Inventory tab

Day 0 Operations 11

The HCI cluster is built on three Dell EMC Solutions, each with 2 x 1.6 TB NVMe drives and 8 x 1.92 TB SSD drives.

By clicking the serial number of the drive, you can view the drive information, which includes health status, slot location, size, type, firmware version, IOPS, used or available capacity, and storage pool of the drive.

Also, from the dashboard, you can set the drive options as Light On or Light Off, or Retire or Unretire from the storage pool.

Managing and monitoring volumesYou can manage and monitor the Storage Spaces Direct volumes using Windows Admin Center.

The following features are supported in Windows Admin Center:

• Create volume.• Browse volume.• Expand volume.• Delete volume.• Make volume offline or online.

To access the volumes on the HCI cluster, select the cluster and, in the left pane, click Volumes. In the right pane, the Summary and Inventory tabs are displayed.

The Summary tab shows the number of volumes in the cluster and the health status of the volumes, alerts, total IOPS, latency, and throughput information of the available volumes.

Figure 9. Volumes: Summary tab

The Inventory tab provides the volume inventory from the HCI cluster nodes. The volumes can be managed and monitored.

12 Day 0 Operations

Figure 10. Volumes: Inventory tab

Creating volumes in Storage Spaces Direct

About this task

Create volumes in Storage Spaces Direct in Windows Admin Center as follows.

Steps

1. Go to Volumes > Inventory.

2. Click Create.The Create volume window is displayed.

3. Enter the volume name, resiliency, and size of the volume, and then click Create.The volume is created.

Managing volumes

About this task

Open, expand, delete, or make a volume offline as follows.

Steps


2. Click the volume name.

3. Click Open to open the volume folder.

4. Click Offline or Delete to make the volume offline, or to delete the volume.

5. Click Expand to expand the volume.The Expand volume window is displayed.

6. Enter the additional size of the volume.

7. Select the volume size from the drop-down list and click Expand.

Enabling data deduplication on Storage Spaces Direct

About this task

Data deduplication helps to maximize free space on the volume by optimizing duplicated portions on the volume without compromising data fidelity or integrity.

NOTE: To enable data deduplication on an HCI cluster, ensure that the data deduplication feature is enabled on all the

cluster nodes. To enable the data deduplication feature, run the following PowerShell command: Install-WindowsFeature FS-Data-Deduplication.

Enable data deduplication and compression on a Storage Spaces Direct volume as follows.

Day 0 Operations 13

Steps


2. Click the volume on which to enable data deduplication.

3. In the optional features, switch the ON button to enable deduplication and compression on that volume.The Enable Deduplication window is displayed.

4. Click Start and select Hyper-V from the drop-down list.

5. Click Enable Deduplication.Deduplication is enabled and the Storage Spaces Direct volume is compressed.

Monitoring and managing virtual machinesYou can use Windows Admin Center to monitor and manage the virtual machines that are hosted on the HCI cluster.

To access the virtual machines that are hosted on the HCI cluster, click the cluster name and, in the left pane, select Virtual machines. In the right pane, the Summary tab and the Inventory tab are displayed.

The Summary tab provides the following information about the virtual machine environment of the HCI cluster:

• Total number of virtual machines, their state, and alerts• Host and guest CPU utilization• Host and guest memory utilization• Virtual machine total IOPS, latency, and throughput information

Figure 11. Virtual machines: Summary tab

The Inventory tab provides a list of the virtual machines that are hosted on the HCI cluster and provides access to manage the virtual machines.

14 Day 0 Operations

Figure 12. Virtual machines: Inventory tab

You can perform the following tasks from the Windows Admin Center console:

• View a list of virtual machines that are hosted on HCI cluster.• View individual virtual machine state, host server information, virtual machine uptime, CPU, memory utilization, and so on.• Create a new virtual machine.• Modify virtual machine settings.• Set up virtual machine protection.• Delete, start, turn off, shut down, save, delete saved state, pause, resume, reset, add new checkpoint, move, rename, and connect

virtual machines.

Managing virtual switchesThe virtual switches tool in Windows Admin Center enables you to manage Hyper-V virtual switches of the cluster nodes.

The virtual switches tool supports the following features:

• View existing virtual switches on the server.• Create a new virtual switch.• Modify virtual switch properties.• Delete a virtual switch.

Figure 13. Virtual switches

Day 0 Operations 15

Managing Windows updates

About this task

You can manage Windows updates on a cluster node. All the updates are performed in cluster-aware mode.

Steps

1. Click the HCI cluster and go to Updates.In the right pane, the Available Updates and Update History tabs are displayed.

The Available Updates tab provides information on the last updates and their status.

2. Click Check Available Updates to view the updates that are available for the cluster nodes.

3. Click Apply All Updates to install updates to the cluster nodes.

The Update History tab provides information about the previous updates, including cluster node name, last run time stamp, update status, update title, and update description.

Dell EMC OpenManage Integration with Microsoft Windows Admin CenterDell EMC OpenManage Integration with Microsoft Windows Admin Center enables IT administrators to manage the hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) that is created by using Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct Ready Nodes from Dell EMC. OpenManage Integration with Microsoft Windows Admin Center simplifies the tasks of IT administrators by remotely managing the Ready Nodes and clusters throughout their life cycle.

For more information about the features, benefits, and installation of OpenManage Integration with Microsoft Windows Admin Center, see the documentation at https://Dell.com/OpenManageManuals.

Prerequisites for managing Storage Spaces Direct Ready NodesPrerequisites for managing Storage Spaces Direct Ready Nodes are:

• You have installed Windows Admin Center version 1910 and are logged in as a gateway administrator.• You have installed the OpenManage Integration with Microsoft Windows Admin Center extension version 1.0.1. For more information

about the installation procedure, see the Dell EMC OpenManage Integration with Microsoft Windows Admin Center Installation Guide at https://Dell.com/OpenManageManuals.

• You have added the HCI cluster connection in Microsoft Windows Admin Center.

Managing Azure Stack HCI clusters

Steps

1. In the upper left of Windows Admin Center, select Cluster Manager from the menu.

2. In the Cluster Connections window, click the cluster name.

3. In the left pane of Windows Admin Center, under EXTENSIONS, click OpenManage Integration.

4. Review the Dell EMC Software License Agreement and Customer Notice, and select the check box to accept the terms of the license agreement.

16 Day 0 Operations

https://dell.com/openmanagemanuals

https://Dell.com/OpenManageManuals

Figure 14. Dell EMC Software License Agreement and Customer Notice

Health StatusHealth Status is the default dashboard that provides details about the Azure Stack HCI cluster nodes.

On the Cluster - Azure Stack HCI page, click the Health Status tab to view the overall health status of the HCI cluster and the health status of the following server components of the nodes in Azure Stack HCI that were created with Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct Ready Nodes:

• Memory• Power supplies• CPUs• Fans• Storage controllers• iDRAC• Storage enclosures• Physical disks• Voltages• Temperatures

Selecting the Critical or Warning section in the overall health status doughnut chart displays the nodes and components that are in the critical or warning state respectively.

Select sections in the doughnut chart to filter the health status of the components. For example, selecting the red section displays only the components with critical health status.

Selecting sections of the chart for individual components shows the respective nodes with the component health status listed, as shown in the following figure. Expand the nodes to view the components.

Day 0 Operations 17

Figure 15. Health Status dashboard

Hardware Inventory

The Hardware Inventory tab lists the servers that are part of the cluster, as shown in the following figure.

Figure 16. Hardware Inventory tab

Clicking each of the servers provides details about the following components:

• System• Firmware

18 Day 0 Operations

• CPUs• Memory• Storage controllers• Storage enclosures• Network devices• Physical disks• Power supplies• Fans

iDRAC

Clicking the iDRAC tab displays the Integrated Dell Remote Access Controller dashboard, as shown in the following figure. The dashboard lists the servers that are part of the Azure Stack HCI cluster. By selecting each iDRAC, you can view iDRAC details, such as iDRAC firmware version and iDRAC IP of the target node, and can directly launch the iDRAC console.

Figure 17. Integrated Dell Remote Access Controller dashboard

Settings

To view the latest update compliance report and details of the device components, OpenManage Integration with Windows Admin Center requires that you configure the settings for the update compliance tools. OpenManage Integration uses the Inventory Collector (IC) utility to collect the hardware inventory information from Azure Stack HCI cluster nodes. It uses the Dell EMC System Update Utility (DSU) to update cluster node firmware and drivers using Dell Update Packages (DUP).

Configuring settings

Steps

1. Download the latest DSU and IC utility to a share location.

2. On the Settings tab, as shown in the following figure, enter:

• Full path of the share location where you placed the DSU utility• Full path of the share location where you placed the IC utility• Credentials of the share location to enable file access

Day 0 Operations 19

Figure 18. Settings tab

3. Click Test Connection to ensure that OpenManage Integration can access the shared location.

4. Click Save to save the credentials.

Update compliance

By using OpenManage Integration with Windows Admin Center, you can view the update compliance details (firmware, driver, application, and BIOS) of the Azure Stack HCI cluster nodes.

Viewing Update Compliance details

Steps

1. Obtain the Azure Stack HCI catalog for Storage Spaces Direct Ready Nodes using Dell EMC Repository Manager (DRM).

2. Copy the Azure Stack HCI catalog to a share location.

3. On the Update Compliance tab, as shown in the following figure, enter the credentials of the share location to enable access to the files, and then click Next.

20 Day 0 Operations

Figure 19. Update Compliance tab

4. Select Update Compliance > Compliance Details to view the Compliance Report.

The doughnut chart, which is shown in the following figure, represents the number of components in compliant, urgent, recommended, and optional states. The Compliance Report provides a detailed view of all the components with the current and baseline versions of the update type.

Figure 20. Compliance Report

Day 0 Operations 21

For Azure Stack HCI clusters, two doughnut charts—Node Summary and Component Summary—represent the update compliance of the individual nodes and components respectively. Expand the individual nodes in the Compliance Report to get the current version and baseline versions of the components and to view all the nodes and components in noncompliant, urgent, recommended, and optional states.

Known issuesThe following table lists known issues and workarounds related to OpenManage Integration with Microsoft Windows Admin Center with Dell EMC Solutions for Microsoft Azure Stack HCI clusters.

Table 1. Known issues

Issue Resolution/workaround

You cannot obtain the health and hardware inventory from a target iDRAC.

Ensure that the following items apply to the target node:

• The Redfish service is enabled.• An iDRAC user slot is available.• SMB port 445 is open.• The iDRAC is reachable.

For management of PowerEdge servers, OpenManage Integration with Microsoft Windows Admin Center uses an internal operating-system-to-iDRAC pass-through interface. By default, iDRAC is reachable through the IP address 169.254.0.1/<Subnet> or 169.254.1.1/<Subnet>. However, if the host has another network interface in the same subnet (for example, when a tool such as VMFleet is installed), OpenManage Integration with Microsoft Windows Admin Center might not be able to communicate to the iDRAC from the host operating system. To resolve the conflict, log in to iDRAC and change the USB NIC IP address under OS to iDRAC Pass-through. For more information about assigning this IP address, see the iDRAC documentation on the Dell EMC Support site.

• The target node is not booted to Lifecycle Controller.• The target node is in the reboot state or is powered off.• The USB NIC adapter is disabled on the target node operating

system.

For Storage Spaces Direct Ready Nodes with firmware versions earlier than 3.30.30.30, information about the following components is not displayed:

• Health status: Memory, storage controllers, storage enclosures, and physical disks

• Hardware inventory: Memory, storage controllers, storage enclosures, physical disks, network devices, and firmware

Ensure that the Storage Spaces Direct Ready Nodes are updated with iDRAC 3.30.30.30 or later.

The overall health status of the Azure Stack HCI cluster is displayed as critical or warning even though the components of the nodes that are displayed on the Windows Admin Center are healthy.

For more details about the components in a critical health state, go to the respective iDRAC console.

Multiple instances of the OpenManage Integration with Microsoft Windows Admin Center extension are listed under Available and Installed Extensions.

This issue can occur when you install OpenManage Integration with Microsoft Windows Admin Center when more than one .nupkg packages are available in the specified local or network folder path, or the .nupkg packages are available in root or subfolders in addition to the folder path provided under Feeds > Add package source.

Ensure that a single .nupkg package is available in the root or subfolders under Feeds > Add package source.

22 Day 0 Operations

Issue Resolution/workaround

When you navigate out of OpenManage Integration with Microsoft Windows Admin Center to other HCI or failover solution tools and then go back to OpenManage Integration, the following error is displayed: Enabling CredSSP Delegation.

Ignore the error. The functionality of OpenManage Integration with Microsoft Windows Admin Center is not blocked.

If the lockdown mode is enabled in iDRAC on Dell EMC Storage Spaces Direct Ready Nodes, an inventory of health, hardware, and iDRAC fails with the following error: Unable to create users on target iDRAC device.

Disable the lockdown mode on the target node that is being managed by OpenManage Integration with Microsoft Windows Admin Center.

The update Compliance Report is not generated for the cluster nodes.

• Ensure that the cluster service is running on the cluster node by using the Get-ClusterService PowerShell command.

• Ensure that the cluster node is not rebooting or is not in the powered-off state.

You experience intermittent issues with the update compliance check (partial completion only),

Rerun the compliance check.

The OpenManage Integration default (Health Status) dashboard does not load.

This issue can occur when a NIC is disabled in the BIOS.

Enable all NICs in the BIOS on the target node that is being managed by OpenManage Integration with Microsoft Windows Admin Center.

The attribute values of hardware inventory information for storage enclosure components are missing.

This issue occurs when the information is not available on the target iDRAC.

None.

The health status of physical disks that are attached to an embedded SATA controller is displayed as Unknown.

This issue occurs when iDRAC is unable to get the health information for these disks.

None.

Storage Spaces Direct Ready Node branding is not correct. Branding changes will be reflected in the next release.

When the OpenManage Integration with Microsoft Windows Admin Center extension communicates with the cluster for the first time, the operating system-to-iDRAC pass-through (USB NIC) is enabled for the device management operations, and it remains enabled.

When the USB NIC is enabled in the clustered environment, cluster events are logged with an error such as Cluster network 'Cluster Network X' is partitioned. Some attached failover cluster nodes cannot communicate with each other over the network.

None.

Firmware updates using Dell EMC OpenManage Integration for Microsoft System Center for System Center Virtual Machine ManagerDell EMC OpenManage Integration for Microsoft System Center is an appliance-based integration with the System Center suite of products.

OpenManage Integration for Microsoft System Center enables full life-cycle management of Dell EMC PowerEdge servers by using integrated Dell Remote Access Controller (iDRAC) with Lifecycle Controller (LC).

OpenManage Integration for Microsoft System Center offers operating system deployment, Storage Spaces Direct cluster creation, hardware patching, firmware updating, and maintenance of servers and modular systems. Integrate OpenManage Integration for

Day 0 Operations 23

Microsoft System Center with Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM) to manage your PowerEdge servers in virtual and cloud environments.

Performing compliance checks and firmware updatesPerform compliance checks, bare-metal firmware updates, and firmware updates using the cluster-aware update feature. To perform these tasks, within SCVMM, first discover the Storage Spaces Direct Ready Nodes and create or edit an update source.

About this task

• SCVMM and the OpenManage Integration for Microsoft System Center appliance have been deployed and configured.

For more information, see the installation guide at https://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/04/product-support/product/omimssc-sccm-scvmm-v7.2/docs.

• The Azure Stack HCI cluster has been deployed by using OpenManage Integration for Microsoft System Center.

For more information about deploying an Azure Stack HCI cluster, see the user guide at https://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/04/product-support/product/omimssc-sccm-scvmm-v7.2/docs.

Discovering the Storage Spaces Direct Ready NodesTo perform compliance checks and firmware updates, first discover the Storage Spaces Direct Ready Nodes.

Steps

1. Launch SCVMM.

2. In the left pane, click Fabric, and then, under Servers, select All Hosts.

3. On the top banner, click DELL EMC OMIMSSC.

4. Expand Configuration and Deployment and select Server View.

5. On the Server View page, click Discover.

6. In the Discover window, select Discover using an IP Address or Discover using an IP Range.

7. Click Create new to create a credential profile for iDRAC.

a) On the Credential Profile page:

• At Credential Type, select Device Credential Profile.• At Profile Name, enter the profile name.• At Profile Description, enter a profile description (optional).• At User name, enter the iDRAC username.• At Password, enter the iDRAC password.• At Default Profile for, select IDRAC.

b) Click Finish.

8. For Apply this Credential Profile, select the credential profile that you just created.

9. For iDRAC IP Address, enter the IP address details of Storage Spaces Direct Ready Nodes.

10. For Job Name, enter a job name for discovery.

Creating or editing an update sourceAfter discovering the Storage Spaces Direct Ready Nodes, create or edit an update source before performing compliance checks and firmware updates within SCVMM.

Steps

1. Launch SCVMM.



4. In the left pane, select Maintenance Center , and then, at the top of the window, select Maintenance Settings.

5. Update the systems by using the online catalog or offline catalog.

Using the online catalog:

a) Select DELL ONLINE HTTPS CATALOG (default), and then click edit.

24 Day 0 Operations

https://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/04/product-support/product/omimssc-sccm-scvmm-v7.2/docs




b) On the Firmware Update Source page, keep the default values, create a proxy credentials profile, and select the proxy credentials to connect to the Internet.

c) Click Test Connection to test the Internet connection to the catalog path.d) Click Save.

Using the offline (Dell Repository Manager) catalog:

a) Click Create.b) On the Firmware Update page:

• For Firmware Update Source Name, enter a friendly source name.• For Description, enter a description (optional).• For Source Type, select Dell Repository manager sources.• For Location, enter the shared path location: \\<servername\folder\filename.xml>.• For Credentials, create a credentials profile or use an existing profile to connect to the shared path.

c) Click Test Connection to test the connection to the shared path.d) Click Save.

Updating the firmware on a bare-metal serverWith OpenManage Integration for Microsoft System Center on a bare-metal server, you can update firmware or schedule firmware updates.

Steps

1. Launch SCVMM.



4. In the left pane, select Maintenance Center.

5. In the Device Group/Servers list, select Default Unassigned Servers Update Group, which is where the discovered servers are listed.

6. Under Select Update Source, select DELL ONLINE HTTPS S2D CATALOG.Use the Filter Updates menu to filter the compliance report based on the nature of the update, component type, or server model.

The compliance report of the servers in the selected group is displayed.

7. Click Run Update.

8. In the Update Details window:

• At Firmware Update Job Name, enter the job name.• At Firmware Update Job Description, enter the job description.• If you want to downgrade the firmware to the catalog version (not recommended), select Allow Downgrade.• At Schedule Update, select Run Now or schedule an update for a later time.• At Update Method, select an update method.

• Agent Free Update—Updates are applied, and the system restarts immediately.• Agent-Free Staged Update—Updates that do not require a system restart are applied immediately. Updates that require a

restart are applied when the system restarts.

9. Click Finish.

Updating the firmware with the cluster-aware featureWith OpenManage Integration for Microsoft System Center, you can update firmware or schedule firmware updates using the cluster-aware feature.

Steps

1. Launch SCVMM.



4. In the left pane, select Maintenance Center.

5. In the Device Group/Servers list, select Cluster_<ClusterName>_Group, which is where the discovered servers are listed.

6. Under Select Update Source, select DELL ONLINE HTTPS S2D CATALOG.

Day 0 Operations 25

Use the Filter Updates menu to filter the compliance report based on the nature of the update, component type, or server model.

The compliance report of the servers in the selected group is displayed.

7. Click Run Update.

8. In the Update Details window:

• At Firmware Update Job Name, enter the job name.• At Firmware Update Job Description, enter the job description.• If you want to downgrade the firmware to the catalog version (not recommended), select Allow Downgrade.• At Schedule Update, select Run Now or schedule an update for a later time.• At Update Method, select an update method.

• Agent Free Update—Updates are applied, and the system restarts immediately.• Agent-Free Staged Update—Updates that do not require a system restart are applied immediately. Updates that require a

restart are applied when the system restarts.

9. Click Finish.

26 Day 0 Operations

Dell EMC Solutions for Azure Stack HCI Life Cycle Management

Topics:

• Overview• Management of Dell EMC Solutions for Azure Stack HCI• Expanding the Ready Node cluster• Extending volumes• Performing Ready Node recovery• Operating system recovery

OverviewDell EMC OpenManage Essentials is a web-based hardware management application that provides a comprehensive view of systems, devices, and components in an enterprise network.

About this task

With OpenManage Essentials, you can perform the following platform updates:

• Discover and inventory the system.• Monitor the health of the system.• View and manage system alerts.• Perform system updates and remote tasks.• View hardware inventory and compliance reports.• Manage the configuration baseline of a server or chassis.

Management of Dell EMC Solutions for Azure Stack HCIAdministrators can use OpenManage Essentials to perform the following operations of managing the Storage Spaces Direct Ready Nodes:

• Discovery and inventory of Storage Spaces Direct Ready Nodes—After discovery and inventory of Ready Nodes in a Storage Spaces Direct cluster, complete hardware configuration information (including disk information), BIOS, and firmware versions of all the nodes are available from within a single OpenManage Essentials console

• System lockdown—System lockdown prevents unauthorized or unintentional modification of the system configuration. Administrators can put a Storage Spaces Direct Ready Node under system lockdown to prevent fix and maintenance tasks such as power operations from running

• Firmware updates and compliance on a Storage Spaces Direct Ready Node—OpenManage Essentials can be used to simplify firmware updates of all the Ready Nodes. Through the use of a catalog, all the Ready Nodes can be updated seamlessly to a qualified set of BIOS firmware.

Discovery and inventory of Storage Spaces Direct Ready Nodes in OpenManage EssentialsOpenManage Essentials supports agentless discovery and inventory of Storage Spaces Direct Ready Nodes by communicating directly with the server's integrated Dell Remote Access Controller (iDRAC) using the WSMan protocol.

3

Dell EMC Solutions for Azure Stack HCI Life Cycle Management 27

Accessing the OpenManage Essentials CLITo access the OpenManage Essentials CLI, click Start > Dell OpenManage Applications > Essentials Command Line Interface.

Installing Hyper-V and failover cluster management toolsTo manage the Azure Stack HCI cluster/Hyper-V nodes remotely from the OpenManage Essentials server, you must install the following management tools on the OpenManage Essentials server.

Hyper-V management tools

Install-WindowsFeature -Name Hyper-V-PowerShell -Verbose

Install-WindowsFeature -Name Hyper-V-Tools -Verbose

Failover Cluster management tools

Install-WindowsFeature -Name Failover-Clustering -IncludeAllSubFeature -IncludeManagementTools -Verbose

Creating a discovery range groupDiscovery configuration range group PowerShell commands require a discovery profile template and range list template that define the various parameters and the associated protocol values and are submitted as part of the CLI argument input.

OpenManage Essentials installs the following sample discovery profile template and range list template files that are located in C:\Program Files\Dell\SysMgmt\Essentials\Tools\CLI\:

• DiscoveryProfile.xml• RangeList.csv

Discovery profile templateThe discovery profile template defines the entire variable set that can be entered by using the UI discovery configuration wizard. The template can be individually modified to turn on specific protocols.

Because Storage Spaces Direct Ready Nodes are discovered using an out-of-band network, the following sections were modified in the discovery profile template.

“Discovery Configuration “Enabled=True”

Modify subnet mask example “255.255.224.0”

WSmanconfig Enabled=True”

Modify the Idrac username “Example: root”

28 Dell EMC Solutions for Azure Stack HCI Life Cycle Management

Figure 21. Discovery profile

Range list templateThe commands that create or modify discovery configuration groups can use a file that defines the ranges as an input parameter. The list can be a comma-delimited list or ranges.

Figure 22. Range list template

In this case, the input list is a comma-delimited file that initially defines the name/IP address of the Storage Spaces Direct Ready Nodes for the discovery.


Adding a discovery range groupAfter the discovery profile template and range list template files are updated with the necessary details, run the following PowerShell commands to add a discovery group using the OpenManage Essentials CLI:

$path = "C:\Program Files\Dell\SysMgt\Essentials\Tools\CLI\Samples"

Add-DiscoveryRangeGroup -GroupName “Group Name” -Profile $path\DiscoveryProfile.xml -RangeListCSV $path\RangeList.csv

When prompted, enter the WSMan (iDRAC) credentials.

Figure 23. Add discovery range

Figure 24. Discovery and inventory portal

Discovery and inventory of Storage Spaces Direct Ready Node using the OpenManage Essentials CLIUnlike adding a range using the OpenManage Essentials console, the range added by the CLI is not automatically submitted for discovery and inventory. To submit the range for discovery and inventory, run the Set-RunDiscoveryInventory -GroupName "Group Name" command.

Figure 25. Run discovery inventory


Figure 26. Discovery status

Figure 27. OpenManage Essentials inventory status

Creating custom groups and adding discovered devices to a custom groupRun the following command to create custom groups and add the discovered devices to a custom group:

$Servers = Select-DevicesFromGroup -GroupName RAC

Add-CustomGroup -GroupName "Group Name" -Devices $Servers

Figure 28. Creating a custom group


Figure 29. Custom group created

Obtaining the firmware catalog for Storage Spaces Direct Ready NodesFor Storage Spaces Direct Ready Nodes, Dell EMC recommends that you use a Storage Spaces Direct specific catalog for a qualified set of firmware and BIOS.

Use one of the following options to get the latest catalog and copy it to a location on the OpenManage Essentials server.

NOTE: OpenManage Essentials 2.4 supports multiple catalogs. Catalogs can be applied to device groups.

Obtaining the Storage Spaces Direct Ready Node firmware catalog from FTP site

About this task

You can download and extract the Storage Spaces Direct Ready Node catalog from an FTP site, as follows.

Steps

1. Download the Azure Stack HCI catalog file from https://downloads.dell.com/catalog/ASHCI-Catalog.xml.gz.

2. Extract the ASHCI-Catalog.xml.gz file.

3. Copy the extracted ASHCI-Catalog.xml.gz file to a location on the OpenManage Essentials server and associate the custom catalog to a device group using OpenManage Essentials.

Obtaining the firmware catalog for Storage Spaces Direct Ready Nodes by using Dell EMC Repository Manager

About this task

You can generate the firmware catalog along with the firmware and drivers by using Dell EMC Repository Manager (DRM) and copy it to a location on the OpenManage Essentials server.

Steps

1. Install DRM version 3.0.1.423 or later.

2. On the DRM home page, click the Dell EMC Repository Manager drop-down list.

3. In the Manage section, click Application Preferences.The Preferences window is displayed.

4. Click Plug-ins.

5. Select all the plug-ins and click Update.A message is displayed about the successful completion of the update.


https://downloads.dell.com/catalog/ASHCI-Catalog.xml.gz

6. Click Catalogs.

7. Select all the catalogs and click Update.

8. Click Close to close the Preferences window.

9. On the home page, click Add Repository.The Add Repository window is displayed.

10. Enter the Repository name and Description.

11. Select Index Catalog-<version> from the Base Catalog drop-down menu.

12. Select Dell EMC Solutions for Microsoft Azure Stack HCI Catalog from the Catalog Group.

13. Select the latest catalog from the Catalogs section.

14. Click Save.The Dell EMC Solutions for Microsoft Azure Stack HCI Catalog is populated in the Base Catalog section.

15. In the Manual Repository Type, click All systems in base catalog and then click Add.The repository is displayed on the repository dashboard available in the home page.

16. Select the repository and click Export.The Export Deployment Tools window is displayed.

17. Select the location to export files and click Export.The files are exported to the specified location.

Next steps

Run the following PowerShell commands to copy the drivers to a different folder and install or update them from the Storage Spaces Direct Ready Node:

$Drivers=Get-ChildItem -Path C:\ExportedPath\ -Include *Driver* -File -Recurse

Copy-Item -Path $Drivers -Destination C:\Q1\Drivers\

Associating a custom catalog to a device group using OpenManage Essentials

About this task

Associate a custom catalog to a device group using OpenManage Essentials as follows.

Steps

1. From OpenManage Essentials, click Manage > Devices.

2. Select the device group for Storage Spaces Direct Ready Nodes, and right-click and select Associate Catalog Baseline.If a catalog baseline is already created, then it is displayed under List of Catalog Baselines.

3. If a catalog baseline is not listed, select the Create Catalog Baseline, and enter a name in the Baseline Name field.

4. Select Use repository manager file, browse to the location, select the Catalog.xml file, and click Import now.

5. Click Finish.

Locking down the system configuration

About this task

Dell EMC's latest Storage Spaces Direct Ready Node servers offer a capability called System Lockdown mode. After the initial deployment is complete and the Storage Spaces Direct cluster is functional, Dell EMC recommends locking down the system configuration so that any updates to the BIOS/iDRAC configuration settings and firmware are blocked. Blocking any updates ensures that the system configuration remains in compliance with a validated baseline. System configuration cannot be changed from any of the out-of-band or in-band interfaces that are supported; this does not prevent running the routine monitoring and maintenance tasks such as power operations, power budget, profiles, operations such as blinking drive LEDs, and running diagnostics.

Perform the following steps to enforce system lockdown mode by using RACADM command line task:

Steps

1. Open the OpenManage Essentials console and select Manage > Remote tasks > Create Command line task.


2. In the Command field, add set idrac.lockdown.systemlockdownmode enabled.

3. Click Next and select the servers to enable the system lockdown mode.

4. Click Next and enter the iDRAC credentials.

5. Click Finish.

Figure 30. Enabling lockdown

Preparing for maintenance operations

About this task

Use the following PowerShell commands to ensure that all the requirements are met before proceeding with the maintenance operation of a Storage Spaces Direct Ready Node in a Storage Spaces Direct cluster. These steps ensure that all the requirements are met and that no faults exist before placing a Storage Spaces Direct Ready Node into maintenance mode.

Steps

1. Verify that all the nodes in the cluster are available by running the Get-clusternode command.

2. Verify if all the cluster networks are available by running the Get-ClusterNetwork command.

3. Verify if the cluster status is healthy by running the following commands:

• Get-ClusterS2D• Get-StoragePool• Get-StorageSubSystem -FriendlyName *Cluster* | Get-StorageHealthReport

4. Verify that all the physical and virtual drives are healthy by running the following commands:

• Get-physicaldisk• Get-virtualdisks

5. Verify that no back-end repair jobs are running by running the Get-storagejob command.


Placing a Storage Spaces Direct Ready Node in maintenance mode

About this task

After ensuring that the prerequisites are met and before performing the platform updates, place the Storage Spaces Direct Ready Node in maintenance mode (pause and drain). You can move roles or virtual machines and gracefully flush and commit data in Storage Spaces Direct Ready Node.

Steps

1. Run the following command to put the node in maintenance mode (pause and drain). Verify that all the roles and virtual drives are drained properly and operational in other nodes after being moved:

Suspend-ClusterNode -name “Hostname” -Drain

2. Place the target node in maintenance mode:

Get-StorageFaultDomain -type StorageScaleUnit | Where-Object {$_.FriendlyName -eq "<Hostname>"} | Enable-StorageMaintenanceMode

3. Run the Get-Physical Disk command, and ensure that the Operational Status value is in maintenance mode for the drives that belong to that server.

This can also be done by running the following command and verifying that they drives all belong to the paused node:

Get-Storagepool -IsPrimordial 0 |Get-PhysicalDisk | ? operationalstatus -eq 'In Maintenance Mode' |Get-StorageNode -PhysicallyConnected

4. Turn off the System Lockdown mode.

Next steps

Enabling system lockdown prevents the node from making any updates to BIOS or DRAC configuration settings and firmware. For more information about system lockdown, see Storage Spaces Direct Ready Node lockdown.

Updating the Storage Spaces Direct Ready Node using the OpenManage Essentials console

About this task

Use the OpenManage Essentials console to update the Storage Spaces Direct Ready Node.

Steps

1. Go to Manage > Devices, and verify that the Ready Node is discovered and classified under the RAC device group.

The discovered iDRAC is present either under the compliant or non-compliant systems section in the compliance pie chart.

2. Click System Update > Summary Tab > Advanced Settings.

3. Set preferred update mode to Out-of-Band (iDRAC).

4. Click Ok to save the settings and close the Advanced Settings window.


Figure 31. Advanced settings

5. If the discovered iDRAC is noncompliant, it is listed under the Non-Compliant tab; select the noncompliant iDRAC and the package to be updated on the system, and click Apply Selected Updates.

6. When the User Preferred Delivery Mode is set to iDRAC, the Update Method displays Out-of-Band for all the available components.The System Update window is displayed.

7. Provide the task name.

8. Select the Run now option.

9. Enter the user name and password of the iDRAC.

10. Click Finish to create the system update task.

Next steps

The system update task is created with the specified name and appended with - iDRAC, which indicates that the preferred mode of delivery is out-of-band. After all the selected components (DUPs) are successfully applied on the selected managed system, the task status is set to Complete. Approximately 20 minutes after the task is complete, an auto-inventory task is initiated to gather the updated inventory information.

Updating the Storage Spaces Direct Ready Node using iDRAC out of band

About this task

Dell EMC Storage Spaces Direct Ready Node offers device firmware updates remotely through the integrated Dell Remote Access Controller (iDRAC). For Storage Spaces Direct, the recommended option is to use a Storage Spaces Direct specific custom catalog for a qualified set of firmware and BIOS. Generate the latest Storage Spaces Direct supported catalog file through Dell EMC Repository Manager (DRM) and copy the file to a network location before proceeding with the update process.

Steps

1. Log in to the iDRAC web interface.


2. Click Maintenance > System Update.The Firmware Update page is displayed.

3. On the Update tab, select Network Share as the file location.

4. Provide the details of the network share, as shown in the following figure:

Figure 32. Check for updates

5. Click Check for updates.A list of available updates is displayed, as shown in the following figure.

Figure 33. Select updates

6. Select the updates and click Install and Reboot to install and reboot the system.

Verifying compliance

About this task

After OpenManage Essentials reboots and re-inventories the server, ensure that the updated Storage Spaces Direct Ready Node is compliant.

Steps

1. To view the list of compliant servers:

a) Click Manage > System Update.b) On the System Update page, select the Compliant Systems tab.

2. To view the list of noncompliant servers:

a) Click Manage > System Update.b) On the System Update page, select the Non-Compliant Systems tab.

Systems with drivers and firmware versions that are different from the catalog are displayed.


Updating the out-of-box driversFor certain system components, you might need to update the drivers to the latest Dell EMC supported versions, which are listed in the Supported Firmware and Software Matrix.

Run the following PowerShell command to retrieve the list of all driver versions that are installed on the local system:

Get-PnpDevice | Select-Object Name, @{l='DriverVersion';e={(Get-PnpDeviceProperty -InstanceId $_.InstanceId -KeyName 'DEVPKEY_Device_DriverVersion').Data}} -Unique

After you identify the required driver version, download the driver installers from https://www.dell.com/support or by using the Dell EMC Repository Manager (DRM) as described in Obtaining the firmware catalog for Storage Spaces Direct Ready Nodes.

After the drivers are downloaded, copy the identified drivers to Storage Spaces Direct Ready Nodes from where you can manually run the driver DUP files to install the drivers.

Exiting the Storage Spaces Direct Ready Node from maintenance modeAfter updating the Storage Spaces Direct Ready Node, exit the storage maintenance mode and node maintenance mode by running the following commands:

Get-StorageFaultDomain -type StorageScaleUnit | Where-Object {$_.FriendlyName -eq "<Hostname>"} | Disable-StorageMaintenanceMode

Resume-ClusterNode -Name “Hostname” -Failback Immediate

These commands initiate the Storage Spaces Direct operation of rebuilding and rebalancing the data to ensure load balancing.

Expanding the Ready Node clusterExpanding cluster compute or storage capacity are tasks performed during cluster operations. This section provides instructions for performing these tasks.


https://www.dell.com/support

Figure 34. Expanding the Ready Node cluster

Storage Spaces Direct node expansionIn an HCI cluster, adding server nodes increases the storage capacity, improves the overall storage performance of the cluster, and provides more compute resources to add virtual machines. Before adding new server nodes to an HCI cluster, complete the following requirements:

• Verify that the processor model, HBA 330, and NICs are of the same configuration as the current nodes on the cluster and PCIe slots.• Ensure that all disk types and the amount in each node are the same as the node in use. Do not combine two different disk types in the

same cluster or node. For example, you cannot combine SATA and SAS HDD/SSD drives in the same node or cluster. The following table shows the supported options for expanding storage capacity of the cluster.

Table 2. Options to expand storage capacity of the cluster

Option 1 conditions Option 2 conditions

• Drive is listed in the Support Matrix• Same drive manufacturer• Same capacity and endurance• Latest model• Latest firmware

• Drive is listed in the Support Matrix• Different drive manufacturer• Same capacity and endurance• Different model• Different firmware

• Ensure that the BIOS, drivers, firmware, and chipset are as listed in the support matrix.• Apply the BIOS configuration to the node and configure iDRAC. For more information about configuring the node, see the Dell EMC

Solutions for Microsoft Azure Stack HCI Deployment Guide. Do not run the PowerShell commands in the following sections of the deployment guide again because the cluster is already created, Storage Spaces Direct is already enabled, and the management network is already excluded:

• Configuring Storage Spaces Direct• Create host cluster• Remove host management network from live migration

Ensure that the following tasks are completed:


1. Pass cluster validation and SES device compliance tests.2. Verify that the nodes are compliant with the firmware baseline.3. Update the hardware timeout configuration for the Spaces port.4. After the node configuration, update Microsoft Windows to bring the node to the same level as the cluster.

Adding server nodes manuallyNOTE: The procedure is applicable only if the cluster and Storage Spaces Direct configuration is done manually.

To manually add server nodes to the cluster, see https://technet.microsoft.com/windows-server-docs/storage/storage-spaces/add-nodes.

Storage Spaces Direct storage expansionIn an HCI cluster, expanding storage by adding drives on the available slots on the cluster nodes adds storage capacity of the cluster and improves storage performance. Before the storage expansion, ensure that all disk types and the amount in each node is same and are equal to that of the node in use. Do not combine two different disk types in the same cluster or node. For example, you cannot combine SATA and SAS HDD/SSD drives in same node or cluster.

The following options for expanding the storage capacity of the cluster are supported:

• Option 1: Expand the storage with the same drive manufacturer, capacity, endurance, latest model, latest firmware, and if it is available on the Ready Node support matrix.

• Option 2: Expand the storage with different drive manufacturer, model, firmware, same capacity, endurance, and if it is available on the Ready Node support matrix.

When new disks are added to extend the overall storage capacity per node, the Storage Spaces Direct cluster starts claiming the physical disks into an existing storage pool.

After the drives are added, they are shown as available for pooling (CanPool set to True) in the output of the Get-PhysicalDisk command.

Within a few minutes, the newly added disks are claimed in the existing pool and Storage Spaces Direct starts the rebalance job. Run the following command to verify that the new disks are a part of the existing pool:

PS C:\> Get-StorageSubSystem -FriendlyName *Cluster* | Get-StorageHealthReportCPUUsageAverage : 2.66 %CapacityPhysicalPooledAvailable : 8.01 TBCapacityPhysicalPooledTotal : 69.86 TBCapacityPhysicalTotal : 69.86 TBCapacityPhysicalUnpooled : 0 BCapacityVolumesAvailable : 15.09 TBCapacityVolumesTotal : 16.88 TBIOLatencyAverage : 908.13 usIOLatencyRead : 0 nsIOLatencyWrite : 908.13 usIOPSRead : 0 /SIOPSTotal : 1 /SIOPSWrite : 1 /SIOThroughputRead : 0 B/SIOThroughputTotal : 11.98 KB/SIOThroughputWrite : 11.98 KB/SMemoryAvailable : 472.87 GBMemoryTotal : 768 GB

After all available disks are claimed in the storage pool, the CapacityPhysicalUnpooled is 0 B.

The storage rebalance job might take a few minutes. You can monitor the process by using the Get-StorageJob cmdlet.

Extending volumesYou can resize volumes that are created in Spaces Direct storage pools by using the Resize-VirtualDisk cmdlet. For more information, see https://technet.microsoft.com/windows-server-docs/storage/storage-spaces/resize-volumes.


https://technet.microsoft.com/windows-server-docs/storage/storage-spaces/add-nodes

https://technet.microsoft.com/windows-server-docs/storage/storage-spaces/add-nodes

https://technet.microsoft.com/EN-US/windows-server-docs/storage/storage-spaces/resize-volumes

Performing Ready Node recoveryIf a cluster node fails, perform node operating system recovery in a systematic manner to ensure that the node is brought up with the configuration that is consistent with other cluster nodes.

The following sections provide details about operating system recovery and post-recovery configuration that is required to bring the node into an existing Storage Spaces Direct cluster.

NOTE: To perform node recovery, ensure that the operating system is reinstalled.

Configuring RAID for operating system drives

Prerequisites

The Dell EMC PowerEdge servers offer the Boot Optimized Storage Solution (BOSS) S-1 controller as an efficient and economical way to segregate operating system and data on the internal storage of the server. The BOSS S-1 solution in the latest generation of PowerEdge servers uses one or two BOSS M.2 SATA devices to provide RAID 1 capability for the operating system drive.

NOTE: All Dell EMC Solutions for Azure Stack HCI are configured with hardware RAID 1 for the operating system drives

on BOSS M.2 SATA SSD devices. The steps in this section are required only when recovering a failed cluster node.

Before creating a new RAID, the existing or failed RAID must be deleted.

About this task

This procedure describes the process of creating operating system volumes.

Steps

1. Log in to the iDRAC web interface.

2. Go to Storage > Controllers.

Figure 35. View controllers

3. Go to Configuration > Storage Configuration > Virtual Disk Configuration, and then click Create Virtual Disk.

Figure 36. Create a virtual disk

4. Provide a virtual disk name and select BOSS M.2 devices in the physical disks.


Figure 37. Provide virtual disk name

Figure 38. Set Physical Disks

5. Click Add Pending Operations.

6. Go to Configuration > Storage Configuration > Virtual Disk Configuration.

Figure 39. Initialize configuration

7. Select the virtual disk, and then select Initialize: Fast in Virtual Disk Actions.

8. Reboot the server.


NOTE: The virtual disk creation process might take several minutes to complete.

9. After the initialization is completed successfully, the virtual disk health status is displayed.

Figure 40. Virtual disk health status

Operating system recoveryThis section provides an overview of the steps involved in operating system recovery on Dell EMC Solutions for Azure Stack HCI.

NOTE: Ensure that the RAID 1 virtual disk created on the BOSS M.2 drives is reinitialized.

NOTE: To help reduce repair times when the node is added back to the same cluster after recovery, do not reinitialize or

clear the data on the disks that were a part of Storage Spaces Direct storage pool.

Manual operating system recoveryFor manually deployed nodes, you can recover the operating system on the node by using any of the methods that were used for operating system deployment.

Factory operating system recoveryFor the factory-installed OEM license of the operating system, Dell EMC recommends that you use the operating system recovery media that shipped with the PowerEdge server. Using this media for operating system recovery ensures that the operating system stays activated after the recovery. Using any other operating system media triggers the need for activation after operating system deployment. Operating system deployment using the recovery media is the same as either retail or other operating system media based installation.

After completing the operating system deployment using the recovery media, perform the following steps to bring the node into an existing Storage Spaces Direct cluster:

1. Update OOB drivers.2. Configure host networking.3. Change the hostname.4. Perform AD Domain Join.5. Configure the QoS policy (for RoCE for RDMA only).6. Configure RDMA.7. Configure the firewall.8. Perform Day 0 operating system updates.9. Add server nodes to the cluster.

For instructions on steps 1 through 7, see the Dell EMC Storage Spaces Direct Ready Node Deployment Guide at https://www.dell.com/azurestackhcimanuals.




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