Installing a StorageGRID Webscale system in a VMware deployment includes three primary steps.
- Preparation: You must make sure you have all of the required materials, installation files, hardware, and networks.
- Deployment: When you deploy grid nodes, the individual grid nodes are created and connected to one or more networks. When deploying grid nodes:
- You deploy the virtual nodes as virtual machines (VMs) in VMware vSphere Web Client using a .vmdk file and a set of .ovf file templates.
- You deploy any StorageGRID Webscale appliance Storage Nodes, using the StorageGRID Appliance Installer.
- Configuration: When all nodes have been deployed, you use the StorageGRID Webscale Grid Manager to configure the grid and complete the installation.
This document recommends a standard approach for deploying and configuring a StorageGRID Webscale system in a VMware environment, but it also provides information about these alternative approaches:
- Using the deploy-vsphere-ovftool.sh Bash script (available from the installation archive) to deploy grid nodes in VMware vSphere.
- Configuring the StorageGRID Webscale system with a Python configuration script (available from the installation archive).
- Deploying and configuring appliance Storage Nodes with a second Python configuration script (available from the installation archive or from the StorageGRID Appliance Installer).
- Using the installation REST APIs to automate the installation of StorageGRID Webscale grid nodes and appliance Storage Nodes.