Dell VxRail Network Planning Guide

You must complete certain prerequisites before VxRail initial implementation if you use a customer-managed VMware vCenter Server as the VxRail cluster management platform. During the VxRail initialization process, it connects to your customer-managed VMware vCenter Server to perform necessary validation steps, and perform configuration steps, to deploy the VxRail cluster on your VMware vCenter Server instance.

• Determine if your customer-managed VMware vCenter Server is compatible with your VxRail version. See the Knowledge Base article VxRail: VxRail and External VMware vCenter Server Interoperability Matrix on the Dell VxRail Support site for the latest support matrix.
• Enter the FQDN of your selected, compatible customer-managed VMware vCenter Server in the Appendix A: VxRail Network Configuration Table.

  Table 1. Enter the FQDN for the customer-managed VMware vCenter ServerEnter the FQDN for the customer-managed VMware vCenter Server

  Network configuration table	Action
  Row 49	Enter the FQDN of the customer-managed VMware vCenter Server.

• Decide on the single sign-on (SSO) domain that is configured on the customer-managed VMware vCenter Server you want to use to enable connectivity for VxRail, and enter the domain in the Appendix A: VxRail Network Configuration Table.

  Table 2. Enter the SSO domainEnter the SSO domain.

  Network configuration table	Action
  Row 50	Enter the single sign-on(SSO) domain for the customer-managed VMware vCenter Server (for example, vsphere.local).

• The VxRail initialization process requires login credentials to your customer-managed VMware vCenter Server. The credentials must have the privileges to perform the necessary configuration work for VxRail. You have two choices:
  • Provide vCenter login credentials with administrator privileges.
  • Create a set of credentials in your VMware vCenter Server for this purpose. Two new roles are created and assigned to this user by your Dell delivery services.

    Table 3. Enter the administrative username and passwordEnter the administrative username and password.

    Network configuration table	Action
    Row 51	Enter the administrative username/password for the customer-managed VMware vCenter Server, or the VxRail non-admin username/password you create on the customer-managed VMware vCenter Server.

• You must create a set of credentials in the customer-supplied vCenter for VxRail management with no permissions and no assigned roles. These credentials are assigned to a role with limited privileges during the VxRail initialization process, and then assigned to VxRail to enable connectivity to the customer-managed VMware vCenter Server after initialization completes.
  • If this is the first VxRail cluster on the customer-managed VMware vCenter Server, enter the credentials for the customer-managed VMware vCenter Server.
  • If you already have an account for a previous VxRail cluster in the customer-managed VMware vCenter Server, enter those credentials.

    Table 4. Enter the VxRail management username and passwordEnter the VxRail management username and password.

    Network configuration table	Action
    Row 52	Enter the full VxRail management username/password. For example, vxradmin@vsphere.local.

• The VxRail initialization process deploys the VxRail cluster under an existing data center in the customer-supplied vCenter. Create a data center, or select an existing Data center on the customer-managed VMware vCenter Server.

  Table 5. Enter the name of a data centerEnter the name of a data center.

  Network configuration table	Action
  Row 53	Enter the name of a data center on the customer-managed VMware vCenter Server.

• Specify the name of the cluster to be created by the VxRail initialization process in the selected data center. This name must be unique, and not used anywhere in the data center on the customer-managed VMware vCenter Server.

  Table 6. Enter the name of the clusterEnter the name of a data center.

  Network configuration table	Action
  Row 54	Enter the name of the cluster that you are going to use for VxRail.