Nutanix Bare-metal nodes Foundation

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Nutanix Bare-metal nodes Foundation

Nutanix Foundation is the process to install Hypervisor & CVM on the Nodes.

Bare Metal Imaging can be performed from workstation with the access to Shared port or IPMI and Network ports on the node. Imaging a cluster required Nutanix Foundation & AOS Binaries.

AOS Binary
Foundation Software (anyone of below can be used to do the foundation)
- Foundation VM
- Foundation for Windows
- Foundation for MAC

You can download the foundation & AOS Binaries from Nutanix Support Portal à Download à Foundation / AOS

Prepare Workstation for Foundation.

Multiple option is available for Foundation, Foundation for Windows can be installed directly on Windows Laptop connected with Nutanix Nodes or Foundation VM can be imported in VMware Workstation / Oracle Virtual Box.

In this article I will proceeding with the imaging with Nutanix Foundation VMs.

Installing the Foundation VM

Start Oracle Virtual Box / VMWare Workstation / Foundation
Click the File menu and select Import Appliance… from the pull-down list.
In the Import Virtual Appliance dialog box, browse to the location of the Foundation .ovf file, and select the Foundation_VM-version#.ovf file.
Click Next.
Click Import.
In the left pane, select Foundation_VM-version#, and click Start.
If the login screen ask for password, Foundation VM password is Nutanix/4u
On the desktop you can find the set_foundation_ip address script to set the foundation VM IPs
Once IP set, we are ready to do next stop

Copy Installation files to Foundation VM

Copy the Nutanix AOS Binaries (nutanix_installer_package-release-euphrates-X.XX.X.tar.gz) to /home/Nutanix/Foundation/NOS directory. Copy the hypervisor ISO to as below

ESXi ISO image: /home/nutanix/foundation/isos/hypervisor/esx
Hyper-V ISO image: /home/nutanix/foundation/isos/hypervisor/hyperv
AHV: AHV is bundled with the Nutanix AOS package

Launch Foundation Applet

Double click Foundation Applet, to start the foundation

Select the Block hardware, CVM, IPMI Netmask and Gateway and click next to proceed.

Click retry to discover the Nutanix node, currently new Nutanix Block comes with the discoveryOS so nodes are discoverable from Nutanix Foundation.
As my LAB nodes are old one so I am proceeding with the manual add

Specify the Number of Node per Block, Select how these nodes will be reached
- I have configured the IPMI as my desired IP Address
  - This option is good if IPMI IP Address are already set
- I will provide the IPMI MAC Address
  - This option is used to avoid setting up the IPMI Address manually, NODE IPMI MAC Addresses are mention on the backside on each node.
Click Next to proceed.

Specify the required IP Address (IPMI, CVM, HOST) , Hostname and click Next

Specify the desired Cluster Name, Time Zone , Cluster Redundancy Factor, memory for CVM and click Next.

Provide the AOS installer and click Next.

Select the Desire Hypervisor and provide the Hypervisor ISO for installation. AHV is already bundled with AOS package. For Hyper-V & VMWare ESXi, whitelisted ISO need to provide before proceeding.

Specify the IPMI username/password and click Start

Foundation will validate the IP Addresses and proceed with the installation.

Tips:

IP ver6 need to enable on the Laptop for the discovery
Incase Symantec Endpoint protection is installed on the Laptop, disabled it even if you using the foundation VM as I saw Symantec Network Threat Protection is even blocking the Foundation VM Traffic
Always use latest version of Foundation Software
Use Flat Switch during the foundation

Happy Foundation 😊

Nutanix University – Summer School Savings :)

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Brush up on your Nutanix skills this summer, and get certified too! For the next two months, anyone who completes one of the following FREE online courses will also receive a FREE certification exam voucher.

Eligible courses:

Enterprise Cloud Administration
Nutanix Data Services Administration
Nutanix End User Computing Administration
Nutanix Database Administration

This is a great opportunity to build out your Nutanix skill set at no cost.

What are you waiting for? Get started today!

Terms and conditions

Exam voucher will be assigned to student via their learning plan within 24-hours after the completion of the course
Course must be completed and exam voucher redeemed by July 31, 2021
Exam voucher code can only be used once
Student will receive one (1) exam voucher for each completed online course from the list above

Enjoy 😊 Happy Learning

75% OFF Nutanix Certification Exams

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Nutanix offering 75% off ALL of our Nutanix Certification exams! That includes:

NCA
NCP-MCI
NCP-DS
NCM-MCI
NCSX
NCSE: Core
NCSE: EDU
NCSCore
NCSCoreM
NCSR

Once you’re ready to take the exam, just use the discount code P75NTXQ321 when you register.
Don’t wait too long! This offer is only available until April 30, 2021.

Enjoy 😊

Nutanix LCM Error: Foundation Service Running on one of the Node, Test failed

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LCM Inventory is getting failed with the error “ Foundation Service running on one of the nodes, test failed”

SSH to one of the CVM, and run below command to get the foundation service status

allssh ‘genesis status | grep foundation’

nutanix@NTNX-15SXXXXXXAAAA-A-CVM:192.168.1.10:~$ allssh ‘genesis status | grep foundation’

================== 192.168.1.10 =================

foundation: []

================== 192.168.1.11 =================

================== 192.168.1.12 =================

foundation: [14525, 14556, 14557]

================== 192.168.1.13 =================

================== 192.168.1.14 =================

As per the output, foundation service is running on one of the node( 192.168.1.12), ssh to the node where foundation service is running. And run the below command.

genesis stop foundation

nutanix@NTNX-15SXXXXXXAAAA-C-CVM:192.168.1.12:~$ genesis stop foundation

2021-02-17 13:15:16.382143: Stopping foundation (pids [14525, 14556, 14557])

Once genesis stop you can confirm it while running the command again.

nutanix@NTNX-15SXXXXXXAAAA-A-CVM:192.168.1.12:~$ allssh ‘genesis status | grep foundation’

================== 192.168.1.10 =================

foundation: []

================== 192.168.1.11 =================

================== 192.168.1.12 =================

foundation: []

================== 192.168.1.13 =================

================== 192.168.1.14 =================

Rerun LCM inventory, its running fine now

Enjoy 😊

Rubrik : How to Add Nutanix AHV Cluster

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Rubrik Supports Nutanix AHV Backups. In the current Rubrik release configuring Rubrik AHV backup are like 5min job or piece of cake.

In today article I will show how to add Nutanix AHV Cluster in Rubrik as Backup Source.

Click on the gear icon à on the menu select Nutanix Cluster

On Right of Page click + icon to add the Nutanix Cluster

You have to provide the below information

Nutanix AHV Cluster IP
Cluster UUID
Cluster SSL Certificate
Prism Username / Password

To get the Nutanix Cluster UUID & Certificate , SSH to Nutanix CVM

Run Below Command to get the Cluster UUID

NCLI Cluster info

info

To get the Nutanix Certificate:

print ssl.get_server_certificate ((‘Prism Element IP’, 9440),ssl_version=ssl.PROTOCOL_TLSv1_2)

Click Ok to add the Nutanix Cluster. Once Nutanix Cluster is added you can proceed with VM selection and assign desire SLA.

Best Regards,
Qamar Abbas

Nutanix – Turn-off IPMI VLAN Tagging using IPMITool

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Yesterday I faced an issue which took more 2-3 hour to get sorted. I had old Nutanix Block on which I need to do the foundation when I started the foundation using Nutanix Foundation VM and got error foundation process failed with error “ Unable to set IPMI IPs)

I tried to set IPMI IP on the Nutanix Nodes manually, but strange thing even after setting up IPMI IPs I was unable to ping the IPMI interface. I tried on Shared/ dedicated IPMI Port but failed.
The hardware I was using was old Nutanix Block from G4 Generation, and there was no other options in IPMI Menu in System Setup to modify except IP Address
I tried to login Hypervisor , but failed as I don’t have IP root password.

Moving forward, I got an idea make one bootable using download IPMItool from SuperMicro Website, boot the nodes from USB Drive.

When I run the IPMICFG tool and get the current VLAN Status, VLAN ID was ON on the IPMI interface. I turned off the VLAN ID.

IPMICFG -vlan off

Incase if you have access on the hypervisor IPMItool can be used to trun-off the VLAN ID, using below command to turn off VLAN Id from ESXi Host.

/ipmitool lan set 1 vlan ID off

Once the VLAN off, I am able to access IPMI ports and proceed with foundation.

IPMICFG Can be download from below link

https://www.supermicro.com/SwDownload/SwSelect_Free.aspx?cat=IPMI

AHV Networking Basics

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AHV use Open VSwitch(OVS) to connect the CVM, Hypervisor and gest Virtual machines to each other and to physical network.

Open VSwitch:

Open VSwitch is an opensource software switch implementation in the Linux Kernel. OVS acts like a Layer-2 switch which means its maintain the MAC Address table. Host, VMs connect to Virtual Ports on the switch.OVS support common switch features like VLAN Tagging, Load Balancing and link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP). Each AHV Host server maintain and OVS instance and all OVS instance combine to form a single logical switch.

Bridges:

Bridges act as virtual switch to manage traffic between physical and virtual network interfaces. By default AHV configuration includes an OVS called Br0 / Br0-up and a native Linux Bridge call Virbr0. The virbr0 Linux bridge is responsible for management and storage communication between CVM and AHV host. All the other traffic (storage, host, VM) flows through br0 OVS bridge.

Ports:

Ports are logical entity created in bridge that represent connectivity to virtual switch.

Bonds:

Bonded ports aggregate the physical interfaces on the AHV host. By default, the system creates a bond named br0-up /Br0 having all physical interfaces.

OVS bonds supports multiple load-balancing modes, including active-backup, balance-slb, and balance-tcp.

Unable to login to VSphere 6.7 Appliance Management UI

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Today I have faced the strange issue, I tried to add new host to vcenter but unable to add to check the VCenter services I tried to login to Vcenter appliance Management UI but unable to login.

I tried to reset the Vcenter Appliance root passowrd but didn’t work. After troubleshoting I found the solution. Applmgmt Services was not running which was not allowing me login to management Console.

So Check the services status from Shell , open VCenter Appliance Console / SSH.

Access à Shell

#service-control –status

#service-control –start applmgmt

Once Services started , I am able to login to console & able to add ESXi host to VCenter.

How to Deploy VMWare VCenter Appliance in VMware WorkStation

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As we all know VMware WorkStation is a great solution for testing /home lab activities. Lots of guys ask me how to deploy VMware VCenter Appliance deploy in VMware Workstation as using VCenter Installer it looks for ESXi host to deploy the VCenter Appliance. So below is the procedure you can follow to deploy VCenter Server on VMware Workstation.

Download the VCenter Appliance ISO
Extract / Mount ISO
Browse to folder VSA and double click on OVA file, wizard will be started to import the OVA to VMware Workstation.

Accept the License Agreement and click Next

Specify the Virtual Machine name & location and click Next

Specify the Deployment Type and click Next

Specify the Network Configuration
Host network Family: IPV4 or IPV6
Host Network mode : Static / Dynamic
Host IP Address:
Host network Profex / Subnet
Default gateway
DNS Server IP
Virtual machine DNS Name

Once provide the information Click next.

Once VCenter Appliance will be deployed. Logged into Virtual machines

Set the VCenter Appliance IP and access the Virtual Machines Management using any explorer

https:// Virtual Appliance IP:5480

Now the Stage 2, will be started. Click Setup to proceed.

Click Next start the Stage 2

Provide the NTP information, Enable SSH Access incase if you want to configure VCenter Sever HA.

As I am planning to configure VCenter HA, hence enabling SSH Access. Click Next to continue.

Select the desire SSO Configuration, as I am going to setup the new SSO Domain. So I am providing the SSO domain name & Password for the Administrator. Click Next to continue.

Select the CEP option you desire and click next.

Confirm the Summary information and click finish to start the STAGE 2 Configuration. Please note that once you click Next you can’t stop the process.

Process will take upto 10-15 mins to finish the deployment.

Below will the URLs to access the appliance.

Appliance Management:

https://appliance_ip/hostname:5480

VCenter

https://appliance_ip/hostname:443

How to Configure VCenter Server Appliance HA

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VCenter HA is active – Passive solution, A VCenter Appliance HA Cluster consists of three VCenter Instances, 1st instance used as active and cloned 2 times as Passive & witness nodes.

VCenter HA Requirements:

Minimum of three ESXi 6.0 or Higher Hosts

Each VCenter will run on different hosts

VCenter Server 6.5 and higher

Deploy Small Size (4VCP & 16GB RAM) or higher is required. Not recommend to use tiny in production Environments

Network Connectivity

Less than 10ms. Latency between Active, Passive and witness nodes
VCenter HA network must be on different SUBNET than the management network. L2 network is recommended.

Setting up VCenter Appliance HA:

Select VCenter à Configuration à VCenter HA