Preinstallation Checklist for

Cisco HX Data Platform

First Published: 03/10/2016

Last Modified: 08/07/2017

Copyright 2017 Cisco Systems, Inc.

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 Contents

Contents

Preinstallation Checklist for Cisco HX Data Platform ...................................................... 5

Cisco HyperFlex Systems Documentation Roadmap ........................................ 5
Checklist Instructions ........................................................................................ 5
Contact Information .......................................................................................... 6
Software Requirements ..................................................................................... 7
Physical Requirements ...................................................................................... 9
Network Requirements ...................................................................................... 9
Port Requirements ........................................................................................... 10
Deployment Information ................................................................................. 11
Contacting Cisco TAC..................................................................................... 14

Preinstallation Checklist for Cisco HX Data Platform iii

Preinstallation Checklist for Cisco HX Data Platform
For HyperFlex Edge deployments, please see the preinstallation information in Chapter 2 of the Cisco HyperFlex Edge Deployment
Guide.

Cisco HyperFlex Systems Documentation Roadmap on page 5

Checklist Instructions on page 5
Contact Information on page 6
Software Requirements on page 7
Physical Requirements on page 9
Network Requirements on page 9
Port Requirements on page 10
Deployment Information on page 11
Contacting Cisco TAC on page 14

Cisco HyperFlex Systems Documentation Roadmap

For a complete list of all Cisco HyperFlex Systems documentation, see Cisco HyperFlex Systems Documentation Roadmap
(http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/hyperconverged_systems/HX_series/doc-roadmap/HX_Series_Doc_Roadmap.html).

Checklist Instructions
This is a preengagement checklist for Cisco HyperFlex Systems sales, services, and partners to send to customers. Cisco uses this
form to create a configuration file for the initial setup of your system enabling a timely and accurate installation.

Important: You CANNOT fill in the checklist using the HTML page.

Checklist Download Location

Download the editable checklist PDF from the following location:
Cisco_HX_Data_Platform_Preinstallation_Checklist_form.pdf
After you completely fill in the form, return it to your Cisco account team.

Preinstallation Checklist for Cisco HX Data Platform 5

 Preinstallation Checklist for Cisco HX Data Platform / Contact Information

Contact Information
Customer Account Team and Contact Information
Name Title E-mail Phone

Equipment Shipping Address

Company Name

Attention Name/Dept

Street Address #1

Street Address #2

City, State, and Zip

Data Center Floor and Room #

Office Address (if different than shipping address)

Company Name

Attention Name/Dept

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Street Address #1

Street Address #2

City, State, and Zip

Software Requirements
The software requirements include verification that you are using compatible versions of Cisco HyperFlex Systems (HX) components
and VMware vSphere components.

HyperFlex Software Versions

The HX componentsCisco HX Data Platform Installer, Cisco HX Data Platform, and Cisco UCS firmwareare installed on
different servers. Verify that each component on each server used with and within an HX Storage Cluster are compatible.

Verify that the preconfigured HX servers have the same version of Cisco UCS server firmware installed. If the Cisco UCS Fabric
Interconnects (FI) firmware versions are different, see the Cisco HyperFlex Systems Upgrade Guide for steps to align the
firmware versions.
For new hybrid or All Flash (Cisco HyperFlexHX240c M4 or HX220c M4) deployments, verify that Cisco UCS Manager 3.1(2g)
or later is installed. Contact Cisco TAC for guidance.
For SED based HyperFlex systems, ensure that the A (Infrastructure) and C (Rack server) bundles are at Cisco UCS Manager
version 3.1(3c).
To reinstall an HX server, download supported and compatible versions of the software. See the Cisco HyperFlex Systems Getting
Started Guide for the requirements and steps.

HyperFlex Release HX Data Platform Installer HX Data Platform Recommended UCS FI Firmware
2.5(1b) 2.5(1b) 2.5(1b) 3.1(3c) required for SED systems and
recommended for non-SED systems.

2.5(1a) 2.5(1a) 2.5(1a) 3.1(3c) required for SED systems and

recommended for non-SED systems.

2.1(1b) 2.1(1b) 2.1(1b) 3.1(2g)

2.0(1a) 2.0(1a) 2.0(1a) 3.1(2f)

1.8(1f) 1.8(1f) 1.8(1f) 3.1(2b)

1.8(1e) 1.8(1e) 1.8(1e) 3.1(2b)

1.8(1c) 1.8(1c) 1.8(1c) 3.1(2b)

1.8(1b) 1.8(1b) 1.8(1b) 3.1(2b)

1.8(1a) 1.8(1a) 1.8(1a) 3.1(2b)

HyperFlex Licensing
As of version 2.5(1a), HyperFlex uses a smart licensing mechanism to apply your licenses. See the Cisco HyperFlex Systems Getting
Started Guide for details and steps.

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Supported VMware vSphere Versions and Editions

Each HyperFlex release is compatible with specific versions of vSphere, VMware vCenter, and VMware ESXi.

Verify that all HX servers have a compatible version of vSphere preinstalled.

Verify that the vCenter version is the same or later than the ESXi version.
Verify that you have a vCenter administrator account with root-level privileges and the associated password.

HyperFlex Version vSphere Versions vSphere Editions

2.5(1b) 6.0 U1b, 6.0 U2, 6.0 U2 Patch 3, 6.0 U2 Patch 4, Enterprise, Enterprise Plus, Standard, Essentials Plus,
6.0 U3, 6.5 Patch 1a ROBO

2.5(1a) 6.0 U1b, 6.0 U2, 6.0 U2 Patch 3, 6.0 U2 Patch 4, Enterprise, Enterprise Plus, Standard, Essentials Plus,
6.0 U3, 6.5 Patch 1a ROBO

2.1(1b) 6.0 U1b, 6.0 U2, 6.0 U2 Patch 3, 6.0 U2 Patch 4, Enterprise, Enterprise Plus, Standard, Essentials Plus,
6.0 U3 ROBO

2.0(1a) 6.0 U1b, 6.0 U2, 6.0 U2 Patch 3, 6.0 U2 Patch 4 Enterprise, Enterprise Plus, Standard, Essentials Plus,
ROBO

1.8(1f) 6.0 U1b, 6.0 U2, 6.0 U2 Patch 3 Enterprise, Enterprise Plus, Standard, Essentials Plus,
ROBO

1.8(1e) 6.0 U1b, 6.0 U2, 6.0 U2 Patch 3 Enterprise, Enterprise Plus, Standard, Essentials Plus,
ROBO

1.8(1c) 6.0 U1b, 6.0 U2, 6.0 U2 Patch 3 Enterprise, Enterprise Plus, Standard, Essentials Plus,
ROBO

1.8(1c) 5.5 U3 Enterprise, Enterprise Plus

1.8(1b) 6.0 U1b, 6.0 U2, 6.0 U2 Patch 3 Enterprise, Enterprise Plus, Standard, Essentials Plus,
ROBO

1.8(1a) 6.0 U1b, 6.0 U2, 6.0 U2 Patch 3 Enterprise, Enterprise Plus, Standard, Essentials Plus,
ROBO

VMware vSphere Licensing Requirements

How you purchase your vSphere license determines how your license applies to your HyperFlex system.

If you purchased your vSphere license with HyperFlex

Each HyperFlex server either has the Enterprise or Enterprise Plus edition preinstalled at the factory.

Note:

The SD cards have the OEM licenses preinstalled. If you delete or overwrite the content of the SD cards after receiving
the HX servers, you also delete the factory-installed licenses from the SD cards.
OEM license keys is a new VMware vCenter 6.0 U1b feature. Earlier versions do not support OEM licenses.
All factory-installed HX nodes share the same OEM license key. With vSphere OEM keys, the " Usage count can exceed
the Capacity value.
When you add an HX host to vCenter through the Add Host wizard, in the Assign license section, select the OEM
license.

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We obfuscate the actual vSphere OEM license key; for example, 0N085-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-10LHH
Standard, Essentials Plus, and ROBO editions are not available preinstalled on HX servers.

If you did NOT purchase your vSphere license with HyperFlex

The HX nodes have a vSphere Foundation license preinstalled. After initial setup, the license can be applied to a supported
version of vSphere.
If you purchased your vSphere license from Cisco without a HyperFlex system

Contact Cisco TAC to obtain a spare vSphere license at no additional cost.

Physical Requirements
Physical Server Requirements
For a HX220c Cluster:

Two rack units (RU) for the UCS 6248UP Fabric Interconnects (FI) or four RU for the UCS 6296UP FI
HX220c Nodes are one RU each; for example, for a three-node cluster, three RU are required; for a four-node cluster, 4 RU
are required
If a Top-of-Rack switch is included in the install, add at least two additional RU of space for the switch.

For a HX240c Cluster:

Two RU for the UCS 6248UP FI or four RU for the UCS 6296UP FI
HX240c Nodes are two RU each; for example, for a three-node cluster, six RU are required; for a four-node cluster, eight RU
are required
If a Top-of-Rack switch is included in the install, add at least two additional RU of space for the switch.

Although there is no requirement for contiguous rack space, it makes installation easier.
The system requires two C13/C14 power cords connected to a 15-amp circuit per device in the cluster. At a minimum, there are
three HX nodes and two FI, and it can scale to eight HX nodes, two FI, and blade chassis.
Up to 2 - 4x uplink connections for UCS Fabric Interconnects.
Each FI requires either 2x10 Gb optical connections in an existing network, or 2x10 Gb Twinax cables. Each HX node requires
two Twinax cables for connectivity (10 Gb optics can be used).

Network Requirements
Verify your environment adheres to the following best practices:

Use a separate subnet and VLANs for each of the networks.

Verify each host directly attaches to a UCS Fabric Interconnect using a 10 Gbps cable.
Do not use VLAN 1, the default VLAN, because it can cause networking issues, especially if Disjoint Layer 2 configuration is
used. Use a different VLAN.
Configure the upstream switches to accommodate non-native VLANs. Cisco HX Data Platform Installer sets the VLANs as non-
native by default.

Each VMware ESXi host needs the following separate networks:

Management traffic networkFrom the VMware vCenter, handles hypervisor (ESXi server) management and storage cluster
management.
Data traffic networkHandles the hypervisor and storage data traffic.
vMotion network

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VM network

There are four vSwitches, each one carrying a different network:

vswitch-hx-inband-mgmtUsed for ESXi management and storage controller management.

vswitch-hx-storage-dataUsed for ESXi storage data and HX Data Platform replication.
The vswitch-hx-inband-mgmt and vswitch-hx-storage-data vSwitches further divide into two port groups with assigned static IP
addresses to handle traffic between the storage cluster and ESXi host.
vswitch-hx-vmotionUsed for VM and storage VMware vMotion.
This vSwitch has one port group for management, defined through VMware vSphere, which connects to all of the hosts in the
vCenter cluster.
vswitch-hx-vm-networkUsed for VM data traffic.

You can add/remove VLANs on the corresponding vNIC templates in Cisco UCS Manager, and create port groups on the
vSwitch.

Note:

HX Data Platform Installer creates the vSwitches automatically.

The following services in vSphere should be enabled after you create the HX Storage Cluster:

DRS (vSphere Enterprise Plus only)

vMotion
High Availability

Port Requirements
A minimum of two ports is requiredone for the Storage management network and one for the Storage data network. For redundancy
and failover, we highly recommend that you have four portstwo each for the Storage management network and the Storage data
network.
If your network is behind a firewall, in addition to the standard port requirements, VMware recommends ports for VMware ESXi and
VMware vCenter. Verify that the following firewall ports are open:

Port Number Protocol Direction Port Destinations

80 HTTP/TCP Inbound Cisco HX Data Platform Installer

443 HTTPS /TCP Inbound HX Data Platform Installer

2068 KVM/TCP Inbound Perf Viewer

22 SSH/TCP Inbound/Outbound HX Data Platform Installer

110 (secure POP port is TCP; 995) POP3/TCP Inbound/Outbound

143 (secure IMAP port is TCP; 993) IMAP4/TCP Inbound/Outbound

25 SMTP/TCP Outbound Mail Server

53 (external lookups) DNS/TCP/UDP Outbound DNS

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Port Number Protocol Direction Port Destinations

123 NTP/UDP Outbound NTP

161 SNMP Poll Inbound SNMP

162 SNMP Trap Outbound SNMP

902 UDP/TCP Inbound/Outbound vCenter

9443 HTTPS/TCP Inbound/Outbound vCenter

8089 TCP Inbound HX Data Platform Installer

Tip: If you do not have standard configurations and need different port settings, refer to Table C-5 Port Literal Values for customizing
your environment.

Deployment Information
Before deploying Cisco HX Data Platform and creating a cluster, collect the following information about your system.

Cisco UCS Fabric Interconnects (FI) Information

UCS cluster name

FI cluster IP address

UCS FI-A IP address

UCS FI-B IP address

Pool for KVM IP addresses

(one per HX node is required)

Subnet mask IP address

Default gateway IP address

MAC pool prefix 00:25:B5:

(provide two hex characters)

UCS Manager username admin

Password

VLAN Information
Tag the VLAN IDs to the Fabric Interconnects.

Note: HX Data Platform, release 1.7Document and configure all customer VLANs as native on the FI prior to installation.

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HX Data Platform, release 1.8 and laterDefault configuration of all customer VLANs is non-native.

Network VLAN ID VLAN Name Description

Use separate subnet and VLANs for each of the following networks:

VLAN for VMware ESXi and Hypervisor Management Used for management traffic among
Cisco HyperFlex (HX) management Network ESXi, HX, and VMware vCenter;
must be routable
Hypervisor Data Network

VLAN for HX storage traffic Storage controller management Used for storage traffic and requires
network L2
Storage controller data network

VLAN for VM VMware vMotion vswitch-hx-vmotion Used for vMotion VLAN, if

applicable

VLAN for VM network vswitch-hx-vm-network Used for VM/application network

Customer Deployment Information

Deploy the HX Data Platform using an OVF installer appliance. A separate ESXi server, which is not a member of the vCenter HX
Cluster, is required to host the installer appliance. The installer requires one IP address on the management network.
The installer appliance IP address must be reachable from the management subnet used by the hypervisor and the storage controller
VMs. The installer appliance must run on the ESXi host or on a VM Player/VMware workstation that is not a part of the cluster
installation. In addition, the HX Data Platform Installer VM IP address must be reachable by Cisco UCS Manager, ESXi, and vCenter
IP addresses where HyperFlex hosts are added.

Installer appliance IP address

Network IP Addresses
Management Network IP Addresses Data Network IP Addresses
(must be routable) (does not have to be routable)

Important: Data and management networks must be on different subnets or installation fails.

ESXi Hostname* Hypervisor Management Storage Controller Hypervisor Data Storage Controller
Network Management Network Network Data Network

Server 1:

Server 2:

Server 3:

Server 4:

Server 5:

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Management Network IP Addresses Data Network IP Addresses

(must be routable) (does not have to be routable)

Storage Cluster Storage Cluster Data IP

Management IP address address

Subnet mask IP address Subnet mask IP address

Default gateway IP Default gateway IP

address address

* Verify DNS forward and reverse records are created for each host. If no DNS records exist, hosts are added to vCenter by IP address
instead of FQDN.

VMware vMotion Network IP Addresses

vMotion Network IP Addresses (not configured by software)

Hypervisor Credentials
root username root

root password

VMware vCenter Configuration

Note: HyperFlex communicates with vCenter through standard ports. Port 80 is used for reverse HTTP proxy and may be changed
with TAC assistance. Port 443 is used for secure communication to the vCenter SDK and may not be changed.

vCenter FQDN or IP address

vCenter admin username

username@domain

vCenter admin password

vCenter data center name

VMware vSphere compute cluster

and storage cluster name

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Single Sign-On (SSO)

SSO Server URL*

This information is required only if the SSO URL

is not reachable.
This is automatic for ESXi version 6.0 and later.

* SSO Server URL can be found in vCenter at vCenter Server > Manage > Advanced Settings, key config.vpxd.sso.sts.uri.

Network Services

Note:

DNS and NTP servers should reside outside of the HX storage cluster.
Use an internally-hosted NTP server to provide a reliable source for the time.

DNS Servers
<Primary DNS Server IP address,
Secondary DNS Server IP address, >

NTP servers
<Primary NTP Server IP address,
Secondary NTP Server IP address, >

Time zone
Example: US/Eastern, US/Pacific

Auto Support
Enable Auto Support?
Yes or No required

Email for service request notifications

Example: name@company.com

Contacting Cisco TAC

You can open a Cisco Technical Assistance Center (TAC) support case to reduce time addressing issues, and get efficient support
directly with Cisco Prime Collaboration application.
For all customers, partners, resellers, and distributors with valid Cisco service contracts, Cisco Technical Support provides around-the-
clock, award-winning technical support services. The Cisco Technical Support website provides online documents and tools for
troubleshooting and resolving technical issues with Cisco products and technologies:
http://www.cisco.com/techsupport
Using the TAC Support Case Manager online tool is the fastest way to open S3 and S4 support cases. (S3 and S4 support cases consist
of minimal network impairment issues and product information requests.) After you describe your situation, the TAC Support Case
Manager automatically provides recommended solutions. If your issue is not resolved by using the recommended resources, TAC
Support Case Manager assigns your support case to a Cisco TAC engineer. You can access the TAC Support Case Manager from this
location:
https://mycase.cloudapps.cisco.com/case

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For S1 or S2 support cases or if you do not have Internet access, contact the Cisco TAC by telephone. (S1 or S2 support cases consist
of production network issues, such as a severe degradation or outage.) S1 and S2 support cases have Cisco TAC engineers assigned
immediately to ensure your business operations continue to run smoothly.
To open a support case by telephone, use one of the following numbers:

Asia-Pacific: +61 2 8446 7411

Australia: 1 800 805 227
EMEA: +32 2 704 5555
USA: 1 800 553 2447

For a complete list of Cisco TAC contacts for Enterprise and Service Provider products, see
http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/web/tsd-cisco-worldwide-contacts.html.
For a complete list of Cisco Small Business Support Center (SBSC) contacts, see http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/web/tsd-cisco-
small-business-support-center-contacts.html.

Preinstallation Checklist for Cisco HX Data Platform 15