Dell PowerFlex Appliance with PowerFlex 3.x Administration Guide

Adding a PowerFlex appliance node to an existing cluster

Use this procedure to add a node to an existing cluster in managed mode.

1. Connect the new PowerFlex appliance nodes network interface cards (NICs) to access switches and management switch exactly like the existing nodes.
2. Ensure that the newly connected switch ports are not shut down.
3. Set the IP address of the iDRAC management port, username, password, and SNMP settings to what is expected by PowerFlex Manager.
4. Log in to PowerFlex Manager.
5. In the Services page, click Add Resources and click Add Nodes.
6. In the Duplicate Node wizard:

   1. From the Resource to Duplicate list, select a node.

      Select a node that is of the same type as the other nodes within the service.

   2. In the Number of Instances box, enter the number of nodes instances that you want to add to the service.

      The number of instances is fixed for this action.

   3. Click Next.

   4. Under PowerFlex Settings, specify the PowerFlex Storage Pool Spare Capacity setting by choosing one of the following options:

      1. Recommended Spare Capacity <n>% sets the spare capacity to 1 divided by the current number of SDSs in the protection domain, plus the number of nodes that you want to duplicate. For example, if you have three SDSs and you want to add one more node instance, the recommended spare capacity is set to 25 percent, based on the formula 1/4.
      2. Current Spare Capacity <n>% sets the spare capacity to 1 divided by the current number of SDSs in the protection domain. For example, if you currently have three Storage Data Servers (SDSs) in the protection domain, the current spare capacity is set to 34 percent, based on the formula 1/3, rounded up.

   5. Under OS Settings, set the Host Name Selection to Auto-Generate, Specify at Deployment Time, or Reverse DNS Lookup.

   6. If you choose Specify at Deployment, provide a name for the host in the Host Name field. If you choose Auto-Generate, specify a template for the name in the Host Name Template field.

      For an existing service that was not deployed by PowerFlex Manager, the Host Name Selection option is automatically set to Specify at Deployment Time and you must type the hostname.

   7. If you are adding a node to a hyperconverged service, specify the Host Name Selection under SVM OS Settings and provide details about the hostname, as you did for the OS Settings.

   8. In the IP Source box, provide an IP address. For an existing service that was not deployed with PowerFlex Manager, the default choice is User Entered IP and the IP settings for each network default to Manual Entry. However, you can change the setting to PowerFlex Manager Selected IP.

      Under Hardware Settings, the Target Boot Device option is automatically set to Local Flash Storage for Dell PowerFlex for an existing hyperconverged or compute only service that was not deployed by PowerFlex Manager.

   9. Under Hardware Settings, in the Node Source box, select Node Pool or Manual Entry.

      For an existing service not deployed by PowerFlex Manager, the node source defaults to Manual Entry, but you can change it to Node Pool.

   10. In the Node Pool box, select the node pool. Alternatively, if you chose Manual Entry, select the specific node in the Choose Node box.

       You can view all user-defined node pools and the global pool. Standard users can see only the pools for which they have permission.

       For an existing service not deployed by PowerFlex Manager, the Node Pool defaults to Global.

   11. Click Next.

   12. Review the Summary page and click Finish.

       If the node you are adding has a different type of disk than the base deployment, PowerFlex Manager displays a banner at the top of the Summary page to inform you of the different disk types. You can still go to the node expansion. However, your service may have suboptimal performance.