StarWind Virtual SAN^® for vSphere 2-Node Hyperconverged Scenario – deduplication and compression configuration

Configuring Networks

Configure network interfaces on each node to make sure that Synchronization and iSCSI/StarWind heartbeat interfaces are in different subnets and connected physically according to the network diagram above. All actions below should be applied to each ESXi server.

NOTE: Virtual Machine Port Group should be created for both iSCSI/ StarWind Heartbeat and the Synchronization vSwitches. VMKernel port should be created only for iSCSI traffic. Static IP addresses should be assigned to VMKernel ports.

NOTE: It is recommended to set jumbo frames to 9000 on vSwitches and VMKernel ports for iSCSI and Synchronization traffic. Additionally, vMotion can be enabled on VMKernel ports.

1. Using VMware ESXi web console, create two vSwitches: one for the iSCSI/ StarWind Heartbeat channel and the other one for the Synchronization channel.

2. Create a VMKernel port for the iSCSI/ StarWind Heartbeat channel.

3. Add a Virtual Machine Port Group on the vSwitch for iSCSI traffic and on the vSwitch for Synchronization traffic.

4. Repeat steps 1-3 for any other links intended for Synchronization and iSCSI/Heartbeat traffic on ESXi hosts.

Configuring StarWind Virtual SAN VM networks

By default, the StarWind Virtual SAN virtual machine receives an IP address automatically via DHCP. It is recommended to create a DHCP reservation and set a static IP address for this VM. In order to access StarWind Virtual SAN VM from the local network, the virtual machine must have access to the network. In case there is no DHCP server, the connection to the VM can be established using the VMware console and static IP address can be configured manually.

1. Open a web browser and enter the IP address of the VM, which it had received via DHCP (or had it assigned manually), and log in to StarWind Virtual SAN for vSphere using the following default credentials:

Username: root
Password: root

2. After the successful login, on the left sidebar, click Accounts.
3. Select a user and click Set Password.
4. On the left sidebar, click Networking.

Here, Management IP address of the StarWind Virtual SAN Virtual Machine, as well as IP addresses for iSCSI and Synchronization networks can be configured.
In case the Network interface is inactive, click on the interface and turn it on.

5. Alternatively, log in to the VM via the VMware console and assign a static IP address by editing the configuration file of the interface located by the following path:
/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts.

Open that file and change:
BOOTPROTO=dhcp To: BOOTPROTO=static

Add the IP settings needed to the file:
IPADDR=192.168.13.103
NETMASK=255.255.254.0
GATEWAY=192.168.12.1
DNS1=192.168.1.17
By default, the Management link should have ens192 interface name. The configuration file should look as following:
Restart interface using following cmdlet: ifdown ens192 && ifup ens192

Configuring StarWind Management Console

1. Install StarWind Management Console on a workstation with Windows OS (Windows 7 or higher, Windows Server 2008 R2 and higher) using the installator available here.
NOTE: StarWind Management Console and PowerShell Management Library components are required.
2. Select the appropriate option to apply the StarWind License key.
Once the appropriate license key has been received, it should be applied to StarWind Virtual SAN service via Management Console or PowerShell.
3. Open StarWind Management Console and click Add Server.
4. Type the IP address of the StarWind Virtual SAN in the pop-up window and click OK.
5. Select the server and click Connect.
6. Click Apply Key… on the pop-up window.

7. Select Load license from file and click the Load button.
8. Select the appropriate license key.
As an alternative, PowerShell can be used. Open StarWind InstallLicense.ps1 script with PowerShell ISE as administrator. It can be found here:
C:\Program Files\StarWind Software\StarWind\StarWindX\Samples\powershell\InstallLicense.ps1
Type the IP address of StarWind Virtual SAN VM and credentials of StarWind Virtual SAN service (defaults login: root, password: starwind).
Add the path to the license key.
9. After the license key is applied, StarWind devices can be created.
NOTE: In order to manage StarWind Virtual SAN service (e.g. create ImageFile devices, VTL devices, etc.), StarWind Management Console can be used.

Configuring StarWind VMs Startup/Shutdown

1. Setup the VMs startup policy on both ESXi hosts from Manage -> System tab in the ESXi web console. In the appeared window, check Yes to enable the option and choose the stop action as Shut down. Click Save to proceed.
2. To configure a VM autostart, right-click on the VM, navigate to Autostart and click Enable.
3. Complete the actions above on StarWind VM located on another host.
4. Start the both virtual machines, install OS and StarWind Virtual SAN.

Configuring StarWind Storage on Top of Hardware RAID

1. Add a new virtual disk to the StarWind Virtual SAN VM. (Make sure it is Thick Provisioned Eager Zeroed). Virtual Disk should be located on the datastore provided by hardware RAID.
2. Find the Virtual Disk which was added.
NOTE: The added disk does not have any partitions and filesystem.Click Format.
3. Create the XFS partition. The mount point should be as following: /mnt/%yourdiskname% .Click Format.
4. On the storage page of the disk, navigate to the Filesystem tab. Click Mount.
5. Connect to StarWind Virtual SAN from the StarWind Management Console or from Web Console. Click Yes.
6. Select the disk which was recently mounted.

Configuring StarWind Storage on top of Software RAID

Make sure that the prerequisites for deploying Software RAID with StarWind Virtual SAN are met:

• The ESXi hosts have all the drives connected through HBA or RAID controller in HBA mode.
• StarWind Virtual SAN for vSphere is installed on the ESXi server.
• StarWind Virtual SAN must be installed on a separate storage device available to the ESXi host (e.g. SSD, HDD etc.).
• HBA or RAID controller will be added via a DirectPath I/O passthrough device to a StarWind VM.
• vCenter is installed in the environment to manage ESXi hosts.

PCI Device Configuration
1. Login to the vCenter via vSphere Client. Select the host where StarWind Virtual SAN VM is installed.

2. Go to the Configure tab. In the Hardware section, select PCI Devices. Click Edit.
3. Locate the HBA/RAID Controller of the ESXi host. Check the box on the appropriate PCI device. Click OK.
4. The device will appear in the Direct I/O PCI Devices Available to VMs table in the Available (pending) status.
5. Reboot ESXi host. After the reboot, the status changes to Available.
6. Right-click on the StarWind Virtual SAN VM. Select Edit Settings.
7. Click ADD NEW DEVICE. Select PCI Device.
8. Add HBA/RAID Controller to the VM. Reserve memory for the StarWind Virtual Machine. Click OK.
9. Boot StarWind Virtual SAN VM.
10. Repeat steps 1-8 for all hosts where StarWind Virtual SAN for vSphere is deployed.
11. Login to StarWind Virtual SAN VM via IP. The default credentials:
Login: root
Password: root
12. Go to the Storage page. The Drives section shows the drives connected to HBA/RAID Controller (if available).
13. Click “+” in the RAID Devices section to create Software RAID. (In the current example, RAID 10 will be created with 4 HDD drives). StarWind recommendations of RAID configurations depending on the number of disks, chunk size, and array level are shown in the table below:

RAID Level	Chunk size for HDD Arrays	Chunk size for SSD Arrays
0	Disk quantity * 4Kb	Disk quantity * 8Kb
5	(Disk quantity – 1) * 4Kb	(Disk quantity – 1) * 8Kb
6	(Disk quantity – 2) * 4Kb	(Disk quantity – 2) * 8Kb
10	(Disk quantity * 4Kb)/2	(Disk quantity * 8Kb)/2

StarWind Software RAID recommended settings can be found here:
https://knowledgebase.starwindsoftware.com/guidance/recommended-raid-settings-for-hdd-and-ssd-disks/

14. Select the drives to add to the array.
15. After the synchronization is finished, find the RAID array created.
NOTE: The disk created will not have any partitions and file system.  Click Format.
16. Create the XFS partition. Mount point should be as follows: /mnt/%yourdiskname% . Select the Custom mounting option and type noatime. Click Format.
17. On the storage page of the disk, navigate to the Filesystem tab. Click Mount.
18. Connect to StarWind Virtual SAN from StarWind Management Console or from Web Console. Click Yes.
 19. Select the disk recently mounted.

Adding Discover Portals

1. To connect the previously created devices to the ESXi host, click on the Storage -> Adapters -> Configure iSCSI and choose the Enabled option to enable Software iSCSI storage adapter.

2. In the Configure iSCSI window, under Dynamic Targets, click on the Add dynamic target button to specify iSCSI interfaces.

3. Enter the iSCSI IP addresses of all StarWind nodes for the iSCSI traffic.

Confirm the actions by pressing Save configuration.

4. The result should look like in the image below.

5. Click on the Rescan button to rescan storage.

6. Now, the previously created StarWind devices are visible to the system.

7. Repeat all the steps from this section on the other ESXi host, specifying corresponding IP addresses for the iSCSI subnet.

Creating Datastores

1. Open the Storage tab on one of your hosts and click on New Datastore.

2. Specify the Datastore name, select the previously discovered StarWind device, and click Next.

3. Enter datastore size and click Next.

4. Verify the settings and click Finish.
5. Add another Datastore (DS2) in the same way but select the second device for the second datastore.
6. Verify that your storages (DS1, DS2) are connected to both hosts. Otherwise, rescan the storage adapter.

7. Path Selection Policy changing for Datastores from Most Recently Used (VMware) to Round Robin (VMware) has been already added into the Rescan Script, and this action is performed automatically. For checking and changing this parameter manually, the hosts should be connected to vCenter.
8. Multipathing configuration can be checked only from vCenter. To check it, click the Configure button, choose the Storage Devices tab, select the device, and click the Edit Multipathing button.

9. From the ESXi host, click on the Manage tab on one of the hosts and proceed to Services. Choose SSH and right-click on Start, then select Start and Stop with host.

10. Connect to the host using the SSH client (e.g. Putty).

 

11. Check the device list using the following command:

12. For devices, adjust Round Robin size from 1000 to 1 using the following command:

NOTE: Paste UID of the StarWind device at the end of the command. Also, this parameter has been already added into the Rescan Script and this action is performed automatically.

13. Repeat the steps above on each host for each datastore.

14. Сhoose Advanced Settings.

15. Select Disk and change the Disk.DiskMaxIOSize parameter to 512.