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Getting started with VMware vSphere

Getting started with VMware vSphere

Use the following information to get started with VMware® vSphere.

Understanding the environment and configuration

To optimize your VMware solution, it is recommended that you use a private network VLAN for your VMware vSphere environment. You can use the provisioning profile for the following Layer 2 segment traffic boundaries:

Private and public VLAN examples
Example VLAN ID Description Type Extra detail
VLAN1 - 1101 Management, VxLAN Private BCR Native untagged VLAN, the original native VLAN that the VMware hosts are deployed into at the time of ordering
VLAN4 - 2200 Public internet access DMZ Public FCR Native untagged VLAN, the original native VLAN that the VMware hosts are deployed into at the time of ordering

Before you begin

Make sure that you have any necessary account permissions and device access. Only the account owner, or a user with the Manage Users classic infrastructure permission, can adjust the permissions.

Ordering vSphere servers

  1. Click Devices > Device list.
  2. Click Order devices
  3. In the Compute category, click Bare Metal Servers.
  4. In the Bare Metal Server section, click Monthly.
  5. Select the servers. See VMware Support publications for minimum requirements:
    • The following servers were selected for the example. Keep in mind that having dual unbonded public and private uplinks is a requirement for redundancy. Confirm that the data center where you created your VLANs contain unbonded uplinks.
    • Capacity Cluster (Quantity 2)
      • Server configuration - Select an Intel® Xeon v3 server from the 'Dual processor multi-core Servers' section
      • Software is OS = VMware
      • OS Storage is 2 x 1 TB SATA (configured as a RAID 1)
      • Data Storage - Recommend ordering 2 TB SATA or 1.2 TB SSD or Endurance or Performance NFS SAN Storage
        • If you are interested in other storage types, see Storage to use with VMware Systems
        • Uplink Port Speeds: 1 Gbps Dual Public and Private Networks (Unbonded)
          • 10 Gbps Uplinks are recommended for VMware vSAN solutions
  6. If you are creating a new deployment in a new IBM Cloud® data center, proceed to step 6. If this deployment is an expansion or a deployment into an existing Data Center, select the preferred back-end BCR VLAN + front-end FCR VLAN. For the example, the back-end BCR VLAN is 1101 and the front-end FCR VLAN is 2200. Note: If this deployment is new or a new deployment into a new DC the back-end BCR and front-end FCR VLANs are created when you order the server.
  7. Enter a Hostname and Domain.
  8. Review the order and click Finalize Your Order to start the provisioning process.

Ordering vCenter Server

vCenter is an add-on to a Windows Server. This configuration scales up to 20 vSphere hosts. For larger implementations, deployment of the vCenter Server Appliance (VCSA) Deploy and Configure a vCenter Server Appliance (vCSA) directly to a vSphere cluster is recommended.

Use the following steps to order a virtual server with vCenter.

  1. Click Devices > Device list.

  2. Click Order devices

  3. In the Compute category, click either Bare metal servers or Virtual Server. Select the Monthly billing option.

    1. For a virtual server instance to qualify for vCenter, you must deploy on at least 4 x 2.0 GHz Cores and 4 GB of RAM
    2. For a listing of vCenter Deployment recommendations, see the VMware vCenter Server Deployment Guide.

  4. Enter the following information:

    • Based on the Recommended Minimum Server Configuration
      • vCPU Core Configuration: 4 x 2.0 GHz Cores
      • RAM Configuration: 12 GB RAM
      • Software - OS = Windows® Server 2012 R2 Standard Edition (64 Bit)
      • OS-Specific Addon: vCenter
      • First Disk - 1 x 100 GB (SAN)
      • Second Disk - 1 x 50 GB (SAN)
      • Uplink Port Speeds: 1 Gbps Public and Private Network Uplinks

  5. If this deployment is new, proceed to step 6. If this deployment is an expansion or deployment in to an existing data center, select the preferred back-end BCR VLAN + front-end FCR VLAN. For our example, our back-end BCR VLAN is 1101 and the front-end FCR VLAN is 2200. Note: If this deployment is new or if it's a new deployment into a new DC, the back-end BCR and front-end FCR VLANs are created when you order the server)

  6. Enter a Hostname and Domain.

  7. Review the order and click Finalize your order to start the provisioning process.

Ordering portable public and private subnets and IP addresses

Note: Do not proceed if the VLANs are not provisioned.

The subnets are used for addressing VMware Guest virtual machine (VM) and VMware host kernel-based traffic.

  1. Click Network > IP Management > Subnets.
  2. Click Order IP addresses on the upper right of the screen.
  3. Select Portable Private.
  4. Select the appropriate VLAN (Example: bcr01.wdc04: 1101)
  5. Click Continue.
  6. Complete the Order IP address form.
  7. Click Order IP addresses on the upper right of the screen.
  8. Click Place order.
  9. Follow this process for each applicable VLAN (Ex. 1101, 2200)
    1. For more information about VLANs, see Getting started with VLANs.
Subnets
Subnet Type Subnet size Bound VLAN vSphere host usage
Portable - Private /27 32 Address 1101 Management VMs
Portable - Private /27 32 Address 1101 VM kernel ports for iSCSI and vMotion
Portable - Private /27 32 Address 1101 Private IPs for Guest VM
Portable - Public /27 32 Address 2200 Public IPs for Guest VMs (Optional)

Optional – Disabling the public interface on the vSphere host

You can disable the vSphere public interfaces for security purposes if you aren't using them.

  1. Click Devices > Device list.
  2. Click the name of your vSphere host.
  3. Click the Configuration table and scroll down to the Network section.
  4. Select Disconnect for each applicable vSphere host eth1 and eth3 pairs for all hosts.

Creating and configuring vSphere data center cluster

You can now log in to the vCenter server and configure the vSphere cluster.

  1. Click Devices > Device list
  2. Find your vCenter device and click its name.
  3. Scroll down the Device details screen to the Network section of the server and make note of the Private IP address.
  4. Scroll down the Device details screen and note the Passwords for both the Windows OS and vCenter software.
  5. Open a Microsoft® Remote Desktop (RDP) session and connect to your vCenter server through its public IP address.
  6. Log in by using the passwords that you obtained in step 4. Note: You need an active VPN connection to IBM Cloud® needs if you use a private IP address to access vCenter. For more information about VPN access, see Enabling SSL VPN access.
  7. Download and install the traditional vSphere client or use the vSphere web client by using following the link https://<vCenter-Sever-Public-IP-Address>/vsphere-client/.
  8. Log in to vCenter with the IP address and passwords that you obtained in steps 3 and 4.
  9. Right-click the vCenter server name in the left pane and select New data center.
  10. Enter an appropriate name for the data center.
  11. Right-click on the data center and select New cluster.
  12. Enter a cluster name. DO NOT turn on Cluster Features, vSphere HA or vSphere DRS.
  13. Click Next.
  14. Leave EVC disabled and click Next.
  15. Accept the default to store the swapfile in the same directory as the virtual machine and click Next.
  16. Click Finish to complete the cluster.
  17. Right-click the newly created cluster and select Add Host.
  18. Enter the IP address or hostname of one of the vSphere hosts and enter Root in the Username field and the password for the host in the Password field.
  19. Click Next through the Host Summary, Assign License, Lockdown Mode screen, and click Finish to complete adding your host to the Cluster
  20. Repeat steps 18 and 19 for each other vSphere hosts in your cluster. You can see each vSphere hosts under the new cluster after you are done.

Configuring the basic network construct for the vSphere hosts

Use the following steps to configure the basic construct for the vSphere hosts in your cluster.

  1. Select the first vSphere host and click the Configuration tab.
  2. Under the Hardware section, select Networking and click Properties next to vSwitch0.
  3. Select Network adapters on the vSwitch properties window and click Add.
  4. Select vmnic2 to add to vSwitch0 and click Next.
  5. Make sure that both vmnics are Active adapters and click Next.
  6. Click Finish.
  7. Click the Ports tab and make sure that vSwitch is highlighted and click Edit.
  8. Click the General Tab and change the MTU to 9000 (jumbo frame).
  9. Click the NIC teaming tab and change the load balancing to Route based on IP hash and click OK.
  10. Use steps 1 - 8 to configure the vmnics for the other vSphere hosts in your cluster.

Now, you need to add a port group for vMotion. You can create the group with a Virtual Standard Switch (VSS) or Virtual Distributed Switch (VDS). Use the following steps to create a VSS switch.

  1. Select the Configuration tab and select Networking.
  2. Click Properties... for vSwitch0.
  3. Click Add... to create a Port Group.
  4. Select VMkernel and click Next.
  5. Complete Port group properties with the following information:
    • Network label: An appropriate name for the port group.
    • VLAN ID (Optional): The VLAN ID for vMotion traffic (1101 for our example). The VLAN ID allows VMware to tag the traffic for the specific VLAN.
    • Select Use this port group for vMotion.
  6. Click Next.
  7. Enter a Portable IP address for the VLAN. (You can get the port IP address from the control portal, Network > IP management > VLANs. Select the correct VLAN and under Subnets that you see a portable IP address range. If you have no available portable IP address or if you exhausted your current pool, follow the steps that are in 'Order private subnets and IP addresses' to order extra portable IP addresses.
  8. Click Next and then Finish to complete.

Use the following steps to create a port group for VM data traffic.

  1. Click Properties... for vSwitch0 and select Add virtual machine.
  2. Complete the Port group properties with the following information:
    • Network label: Enter the name of the port group, such as VM Data.
    • VLAN ID (Optional): Enter a VLAN ID; 1101 was used for the example. The VLAN ID gives access to VMware to tag the traffic for the VLAN.

Optional - Installing add-on VMware licenses (NSX, vRealize, vSAN)

Now that the VMware environment is up you are ready to continue with the deployment of extra configurations, guest VMs or VMware add-ons. Licenses for VMware add-ons can also be purchased through the IBM Cloud® control portal and added through your vCenter Console.

Next steps

You now have a basic single-site VMware environment that is running in an IBM Cloud® data center. The basic configuration has only a local data store, making it a simplified configuration that does not contain features such as VMware DRS, HA, Storage DRS, and a firewall.

For more information, see the FAQs: VMware.