Add components to an existing system, using the CSV file and the
PowerFlex Gateway.
Prerequisites
Ensure that you have the URL and the login credentials for the
PowerFlex Installer
Ensure that you have the IP address or host name of the primary MDM and password
For native LIA authentication, ensure that you have the LIA password
For LDAP LIA authentication, ensure that you have the LDAP Server URI, LDAP Group, LDAP BaseDN, LDAP UserName and LDAP password
If you are adding component types that were not installed previously, ensure that you have the installation packages for those components
Ensure that you have the CSV file containing the details of the components that you want to add to the system
Steps
Point your browser to the URL of the
PowerFlex Installer, and log in using your credentials.
For components that were not installed previously, upload installation packages:
At the top of the
Welcome window, click
Packages.
You may need to re-authenticate.
From the
Manage Installation Packages page, click
Browse, and browse to the extracted
PowerFlex component packages. Select all the required files, and then click
Open.
Select these packages for each operating system type that will be used in your
PowerFlex system:
MDM
SDS
SDC
LIA
RFcache XCACHE package (optional; required for Medium Granularity Storage Pool acceleration)
VASAPROVIDER package (optional; required for VMware vVols)
SDR (optional; required for the replication feature)
Click
Upload.
The uploaded installation packages appear in the packages table.
Click
Proceed to Install.
The
PowerFlex software packages have been uploaded to the
PowerFlex Installer, in preparation for deployment
On the
Provide Installation Topology page, click
Browse, browse to the location of the installation CSV file, select the file, and click
Open.
Next to
New installation, click the down-arrow and select
Add to existing sys.
Click
Upload Installation CSV.
After successful upload of the CSV file, the
Installation Configuration tab appears.
Enter the following:
For
MDM Credentials, enter the IP address or host name of the system's primary MDM, and its password.
For
LIA Authentication, select the LIA authentication mode used in your system (Native or LDAP).
If native authentication is used for LIA, enter the password in the
password and
confirm password boxes.
If LDAP authentication is used for LIA, for
LDAP Authentication, enter values in the
LDAP Server URI,
LDAP Group,
LDAP BaseDN,
LDAP UserName and
LDAP password boxes.
Review the displayed information, by scrolling through the tables, and by hovering over the blue hyperlinks. To view the password that will be configured for a specific component, click
show.
If you have not done so yet, keep a record of all the passwords that you have assigned to the system components.
If new Storage Pools were added to the CSV file, configure them as described in the following step. Do not change any configurations of existing Storage Pools. If no Storage Pools were added, skip the next step.
Scroll down to the
Storage Pool Configuration section of the table, select values for the following items. If the CSV file contained values in the
Storage Pool Configuration section, the values will already appear here. These values are mandatory.
The expected
Device Media Type
The
External Acceleration type (if used):
none—No devices are accelerated by a non-PowerFlex read or write cache
read—All devices are accelerated by a non-PowerFlex read cache
write—All devices are accelerated by a non-PowerFlex write cache
read_and_write—All devices are accelerated by both non-PowerFlex read and write cache
This input is required in order to prevent the generation of false alerts for media type mismatches. For example, if an HDD device is added which the SDS perceives as being too fast to fit the HDD criteria, alerts might be generated. External acceleration/caching is explained in the
Getting to Know Dell PowerFlex Guide.
Data Layout type (use with caution; data layout type cannot be changed after Storage Pool creation)
If Fine Granularity data layout is selected, select a
Fine Granularity ACCP (Acceleration Pool), and a
Compression Method
If Medium Granularity data layout is selected, the
Zero Padding option is available for selection. Use with caution, because the zero padding setting can only be changed in Storage Pools without any storage devices.
Replication Journal Capacity Percentage must be defined if SDRs are deployed in the system. For more information about calculating the appropriate value for your system, refer to the
Getting to Know Dell PowerFlex Guide.
NOTE: Fine Granularity can only be selected if the Storage Pool contains NVDIMMs and SSDs.
Click
Start Installation.
At the top of the screen, click the
Monitor tab.
The
Install - query screen appears.
In the query stage, the
PowerFlex Installer validates that there are no previously installed
PowerFlex components on any of the requested nodes.
When extending an existing system, the query phase does expect to find currently-installed nodes.
You can change the display by selecting the following:
Auto Refresh (default)
Hide Completed Successfully
Show All Phases
At the end of each phase, a status message is displayed.
If an error message is displayed during the process, you can try to resolve the problem and then retry the failed operations (with the
Retry failed button), continue to the next phase, or abort the installation.
NOTE: Once you proceed to the next stage, you will not be able to use the
PowerFlex Installer to retry failed tasks.
When the query phase is complete, close the status message, and at the top right side of the screen, click
Start upload phase.
The
Install - upload screen appears, displaying which
PowerFlex packages are being uploaded to each server, and the status of each command.
When the upload phase is complete, close the status message, and at the top right side of the screen, click
Start install phase.
The
Install - install screen appears, displaying the status of the installation commands.
When the install phase is complete, close the status message, and at the top right side of the screen, click
Start configure phase.
The
Install - configure screen appears, displaying the status of the configuration commands.
When all processes are finished, close the status message, and click
Mark operation completed.
The
PowerFlex system installation is complete!
NOTE: Marking the operation completed signals to the
PowerFlex Installer that it can now be used for other installations, upgrades, and so on.
The post-installation notes appear, directing you to the steps necessary to start using your storage.
For two-layer systems, if SDCs were not deployed in the previous steps, install them now. For more information, see "Install SDC on frontend servers."
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