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Deploy an ONTAP Select cluster

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You can use the web user interface provided with the ONTAP Select Deploy administration utility to deploy a single-node or multi-node ONTAP Select cluster.

When you create an ONTAP Select cluster using the Deploy utility web interface, you are guided through a specific sequence of steps. The exact process varies depending on whether you deploy a single-node or multi-node cluster.

Tip You can also deploy ONTAP Select clusters using the Deploy utility CLI.

Before you begin

You should prepare for the deployment to make sure it's successful.

Initial planning

Review the Plan and License sections of the documentation. Based on this, you can make decisions about the cluster, including:

  • Hypervisor

  • Number of nodes

  • License type

  • Platform size (instance type)

  • ONTAP Select version

Host preparation

You must prepare the hypervisor hosts where the ONTAP Select nodes will run and have the needed storage license files based on your licensing model. To view the preparation requirements:

  1. Sign in to the Deploy web user interface.

  2. Click Question mark at the top of the page.

  3. Click Prerequisites.

  4. Scroll down to review the requirements and click OK.

License files

If you plan to deploy the cluster in a production environment, you must acquire the storage license files based on your licensing model.

Deploy installation and account credentials

You must install the Deploy administration utility and perform initial configuration. See Install ONTAP Select Deploy for more information. You need to have the password for the Deploy administrator account that was configured as part of the installation process.

Installing earlier ONTAP Select node images

By default, the Deploy administration utility contains the most current version of ONTAP Select at the time of release. If you want to deploy clusters using an earlier version of ONTAP Select, you need to add the ONTAP Select image to your Deploy instance. See Add an ONTAP Select image to Deploy for more information.

Getting started launch page

The initial page Getting Started with ONTAP Select Deploy guides you through the multi-step process of creating a cluster. There are five major steps, including:

  • Add licenses

  • Add hosts to inventory

  • Create a cluster

  • Network precheck

  • Deploy the cluster

Note You can perform the same steps independently by clicking the tabs at the top of the page (Clusters, Hypervisor Hosts, Administration).
Network checker

If you will deploy a multi-node cluster, you should be familiar with the network checker.

After deploying a cluster

You should back up the ONTAP Select Deploy configuration data.

Create a single-node or multi-node cluster

You can use the ONTAP Select Deploy web user interface to deploy a single-node or multi-node ONTAP Select cluster.

Before you begin

See Before you begin to prepare to deploy the cluster. The Deploy administration must be installed and initially configured (password, AutoSupport, and vCenter).

About this task

An ONTAP Select cluster with one or more nodes is created for a production deployment.

Steps

The steps you follow depend on whether you want to create a single-node cluster or a multi-node cluster.

Single-node cluster

  1. Sign in to the Deploy utility through the web interface using the administrator account (admin).

  2. If the Welcome to ONTAP Select popup window is displayed, confirm you have met the configuration prerequisites and click OK.

  3. If the Getting Started cluster launch page is not displayed, click Question mark at the top of the page and click Getting Started.

  4. On the Getting Started page, click Upload and select a license from your local workstation and click Open to upload the license.

  5. Click Refresh and confirm the license has been added.

  6. Click Next to add a hypervisor host and then click Add.

    You can add the hypervisor host directly or by connecting to a vCenter server. Provide the appropriate host details and credentials as needed.

  7. Click Refresh and confirm the Type value for the host is ESX.

    Any account credentials you provide are added to the Deploy credential database.

  8. Click Next to begin the cluster creation process.

  9. In the Cluster Details section, provide all the required information describing the cluster and click Done.

  10. Under Node Setup, provide the node management IP address and select the license for the node; you can upload a new license if needed. You also can change the node name if needed.

  11. Provide the Hypervisor and Network configuration.

    There are three node configurations which define the virtual machine size and available feature set. These instance types are supported by the standard, premium, and premium XL offerings of the purchased license, respectively. The license you select for the node must match or exceed the instance type.

    Select the hypervisor host as well as the management and data networks.

  12. Provide the Storage configuration and click Done.

    You can select the drives based on your platform license level and host configuration.

  13. Review and confirm the configuration of the cluster.

    You can change the configuration by clicking Edit in the applicable section.

  14. Click Next and provide the ONTAP administrator password.

  15. Click Create Cluster to begin the cluster creation process and then click OK in the popup window.

    It can take up to 30 minutes for the cluster to be created.

  16. Monitor the multi-step cluster creation process to confirm the cluster is created successfully.

    The page is automatically refreshed at regular intervals.

Multi-node cluster

  1. Sign in to the Deploy utility through the web interface using the administrator account (admin).

  2. If the Welcome to ONTAP Select popup window is displayed, confirm that you have met the configuration prerequisites and click OK.

  3. If the Getting Started cluster launch page is not displayed, click Question mark at the top of the page and click Getting Started.

  4. On the Getting Started page, click Upload and select a license from your local workstation and click Open to upload the license. Repeat to add a second license.

  5. Click Refresh and confirm the licenses have been added.

  6. Click Next to add two hypervisor hosts and then click Add.

    You can add the hypervisor hosts directly or by connecting to a vCenter server. Provide the appropriate host details and credentials as needed.

  7. Click Refresh and confirm the Type value for the host is ESX.

    Any account credentials you provide are added to the Deploy credential database.

  8. Click Next to begin the cluster creation process.

  9. In the Cluster Details section, select 2 node cluster for the Cluster Size, provide all the required information describing the clusters, and click Done.

  10. Under Node Setup, provide the node management IP addresses and select the licenses for each node; you can upload a new license if needed. You also can change the node names if needed.

  11. Provide the Hypervisor and Network configuration.

    There are three node configurations which define the virtual machine size and available feature set. These instance types are supported by the standard, premium, and premium XL offerings of the purchased license, respectively. The license you select for the nodes must match or exceed the instance type.

    Select the hypervisor hosts as well as the management, data, and internal networks.

  12. Provide the Storage configuration and click Done.

    You can select the drives based on your platform license level and host configuration.

  13. Review and confirm the configuration of the cluster.

    You can change the configuration by clicking Edit in the applicable section.

  14. Click Next and run the Network Precheck by clicking Run. This validates that the internal network selected for ONTAP cluster traffic is functioning correctly.

  15. Click Next and provide the ONTAP administrator password.

  16. Click Create Cluster to begin the cluster creation process and then click OK in the popup window.

    It can take up to 45 minutes for the cluster to be created.

  17. Monitor the multi-step cluster creation process to confirm that the cluster is created successfully.

    The page is automatically refreshed at regular intervals.

After you finish

You should confirm the ONTAP Select AutoSupport feature is configured and then back up the ONTAP Select Deploy configuration data.

Tip

If the cluster creation operation is initiated but fails to complete, the ONTAP administrative password you define might not be applied. If this occurs, you can determine the temporary administrative password for the ONTAP Select cluster by using the following CLI command:

(ONTAPdeploy) !/opt/netapp/tools/get_cluster_temp_credentials --cluster-name my_cluster