Deploy Dell PowerFlex v3.6.x

PDF

Deployment checklist—Linux

Checklist for deployment requirements in Linux-based environments.

The following table provides a checklist of items required for PowerFlex deployment.

Table 1. Pre-deployment checklist
Item	Checked
General
All servers intended for hosting PowerFlex components and the PowerFlex Gateway meet the system requirements described in the Getting to Know Dell PowerFlex Guide. NOTE: The Dell-supplied hardware configurations satisfy all of the hardware requirements.
Secure Boot on servers is not supported. Ensure that Secure Boot is disabled in each server's BIOS.
All nodes must have unique hostnames.
Servers that contained PowerFlex components from other systems must be completely cleaned before deployment of a new system. Use operating system tools to remove all of those PowerFlex components.
Configure disks so they are visible to the operating system according to operating system and vendor hardware guidelines.
To use secure authentication mode, ensure that OpenSSL 64-bit v1.1 is installed on all servers in the system.
Prepare passwords for the PowerFlex Gateway, MDM and LIA. These passwords will be required for future access to system components for upgrade and certain configuration procedures. Store them in a secure location.
On nodes configured with NVDIMMs, running on RHEL 7.6, ensure that the following package is installed: kmod-redhat-nfit-3.10.0_957-1.el7_6.x86_64.rpm For more information, see Dell EMC NVDIMM-N Persistent Memory User Guide.
On nodes configured with NVDIMMs, ensure that the ndctl and daxio packages are installed: ndctl package—for example: ndctl-64.1-2.el7.x86_64.rpm daxio package—for example: daxio-1.5.1-2.1.el7.x86_64.rpm Verify that there are no bad blocks on the NVDIMMs. If there are bad blocks, replace the corresponding NVDIMMs before deploying the PowerFlex system. Perform this check on every SDS that uses NVDIMMs: Using shell, run the following command on each Linux-based node that uses NVDIMMs: ndctl list --media-errors If the output for any of the hosts displays a result for `"badblock_count":`, the NVDIMM (devdax device) has bad blocks. For example: { "dev":"namespace1.0", "mode":"devdax", "map":"dev", "size":62914560, "uuid":"47072fee-1447-4e04-b4ca-f28e2c03af80", "chardev":"dax1.0", "align":4096, "badblock_count":13, "badblocks": } Refer to the Linux NVDIMM replacement procedure for the specific server model.
For SELinux, follow the guidelines included in "Preparation for Deployment" before deploying the system.
For SELinux activation and SDC deployment, ensure that the relevant packages are installed. For more information, refer to the operating system requirements described in the Getting to Know Dell PowerFlex Guide.
Gateway
The server that will host the PowerFlex Gateway must have adequate memory to run the PowerFlex Installer and any other applications. Ensure that this server meets all the requirements listed in the Getting to Know Dell PowerFlex Guide.
The PowerFlex Gateway must not be installed on a server that will host either the SDC component, or on an SDS component that will use RFcache acceleration feature.
The PowerFlex Gateway cannot be installed on a Fedora\RH CoreOS-based server. For a Fedora\RH CoreOS environment, prepare a supported Linux or Windows-based server on which the PowerFlex Gateway can be installed.
Oracle JRE 1.8 build 301 or OpenJDK JDK 8 build 302.b08 is installed. On Linux-based servers, OpenJDK 11.0.12.0.7 is also supported.
If LDAP authentication will be used for LIA authentication, before deploying the PowerFlex Gateway, perform configurations on the server that will host the PowerFlex Gateway, as described in Dell PowerFlex User Roles and LDAP Usage Technical Notes.
PowerFlex presentation server
Oracle JRE 1.8 build 301, OpenJDK JDK 8 build 302.b08, or OpenJDK 11.0.12.0.7 is installed.
ESXi
For two-layer system SDCs running on VMware, the host from which you run the PowerShell (.ps1) script meets the following prerequisites: Runs on supported Windows operating systems. For more information, refer to the VMware compatiblity matrix: https://www.vmware.com/support/developer/PowerCLI/doc/powercli65r1-compat-matrix.html PowerCLI is installed. For vCenter v6.7, PowerCLI v6.5 must be used. Oracle JRE 1.8 build 301 or OpenJDK JDK 8 build 302.b08 is installed. Has incoming and outgoing communication access to the vCenter.
The required network interfaces and IP addresses are configured.
Networking
For a fully converged Linux-based system, follow the networking recommendations in the Getting to Know Dell PowerFlex Guide.
For two-layer system SDCs running on VMware, the vSphere web client (Virgo) server has network connectivity to the host on which the PowerShell script will be used.
The server which will host the PowerFlex Gateway has connectivity to both data and management PowerFlex networks.
For data networks using IPv6, if you plan to implement a floating virtual IP address for the MDM, disable the IPv6 DAD setting on the server's relevant interfaces, using the command: sysctl net.ipv6.conf.<interface_name>.dad_transmits=0
Replication
Use the information provided in the Getting to Know Dell PowerFlex Guide to calculate the percentage of replication journal capacity that is required for each Storage Pool.