SmartWorkspaces appliance Deployment for DELL PowerEdge C6420 (VMware)

Flexxible|Appliance Deployment for Dell

Physical Components

Connectivity

The document assumes that three nodes of the chassis Dell Poweredge C6420 are connected to an independent switch without external connectivity.

Requirements:

  • It is necessary to connect four NICs to each node (SFP+)
  • One Gigabit Ethernet NIC for out-of-band connection (iDrac), for each node. 
  • Each node must have a microSD Card for the operating system, some SSD and NVMe disks for the virtual machines.


Network

For the network SFP+ and iDrac configuration, please follow this graph:

ATTENTION! You will need to connect four NICs to each node (SFP+) with interfaces UP before start the VMware vSAN Cluster Configuration and SWS deployment.

Users

Users to access to iDrac:

  • Create a customer profile user with administrator rights.
  • Customer profile password: last eight server’s serial number digits.
  • Create a partner profile user with administrator rights.
  • Partner profile password: last eight server’s serial number digits.
  • User: root, password: FlexxConsole25!


Disk Provisioning

This appliance counts with four (4) SSD and one (1) SD Card for each node with: 

  • 1 NVMe SSD for vSan cache.
  • 3 SSD for vSan capacity.
  • 1 SD Card for OS system.

Firmware Version

  • BIOS Version 2.1.6.
  • iDrac: iDrac 9 Firmware Version 3.32.32.32
  • Dell HBA330 Mini Firmware Version 16.17.00.03
  • Ethernet Converged Network Adapter X710 Firmware 18.8.9
  • Lifecycle Controller Firmware Version 3.32.32.32

BIOS Configuration

The BIOS must have these settings configured:

  • Set correct date & time
  • SATA controller mode: EFI.
  • Configure UEFI boot mode.
  • Hyperthreading enabled.
  • Set Fan to full speed.
  • LOM NIC Disable for OS
  • iDrac IP addresses:
    • Node A: 192.168.50.54 / mask: 255.255.255.0 / Gateway: 192.168.50.1
    • Node B: 192.168.50.55 / mask: 255.255.255.0 / Gateway: 192.168.50.1
    • Node B: 192.168.50.56 / mask: 255.255.255.0 / Gateway: 192.168.50.1


Follow the next steps for the configuration:

  • Press F2.


  • Click on System Setup\Advanced Hardware Configuration\System BIOS

  • Access to Boot Settings and confirm that UEFI is the Boot Mode.

  • In Boot Settings, click to UEFI Boot Settings and make sure that Internal SD is enabled and at the first place.

  • Access to Integrated Devices and set Embedded NIC1 as Disabled (OS).

  • Access to System Profile Settings and set System Profile as Performance.

  • Disable Secure Boot in System BIOS Settings\System Security

  • System BIOS Settings\Sata Settings