To configure active-active teaming and set the failover order for the vSAN and vMotion port groups on a distributed switch using the vSphere Client, follow these steps:

Log in to vSphere Client:

Open the vSphere Client.

Enter the username: administrator@vsphere.local.

Enter the password: VMw@r3!123.

Click Login.

Navigate to Networking:

From the home screen, click on Networking in the left-hand navigation pane.

Select the Distributed Switch:

Locate and select the distributed switch that the vSAN and vMotion port groups are using.

Edit vSAN Port Group Settings:

Right-click on the vSAN port group and select Edit Settings.

In the Edit Settings window, click on Teaming and Failover.

Configure Active-Active Teaming for vSAN:

In the Teaming and Failover section, you will see the list of uplinks.

Ensure that both uplinks are set as Active Uplinks.

To do this, drag the uplinks from the Unused Uplinks or Standby Uplinks section to the Active Uplinks section if necessary.

Ensure that no uplinks are in the Standby Uplinks section (all should be in Active Uplinks).

Set Failover Order for vSAN:

Ensure the failover order is correctly set to use both uplinks for active-active teaming.

Click OK to save the changes.

Edit vMotion Port Group Settings:

Right-click on the vMotion port group and select Edit Settings.

In the Edit Settings window, click on Teaming and Failover.

Configure Active-Active Teaming for vMotion:

In the Teaming and Failover section, ensure that both uplinks are set as Active Uplinks.

Drag the uplinks from the Unused Uplinks or Standby Uplinks section to the Active Uplinks section if necessary.

Ensure that no uplinks are in the Standby Uplinks section (all should be in Active Uplinks).

Set Failover Order for vMotion:

Ensure the failover order is correctly set to use both uplinks for active-active teaming.

Click OK to save the changes.

Verify Configuration:

Check the Networking section to verify that the changes have been applied correctly and that both port groups are using active-active teaming with the appropriate failover order.

To temporarily remove a node with a specific serial number from the VxRail cluster, follow these steps:

Log in to vSphere Client:

Open the vSphere Client.

Enter the username: administrator@vsphere.local.

Enter the password: VMw@r3!123.

Click Login.

Identify the Node with Serial Number "V0730040000000":

In the vSphere Client interface, navigate to the Hosts and Clusters view.

Expand the VxRail-DC and then the VxRail-Cluster.

Locate the Node:

Click on each host (e.g., vcluster730-esx01, vcluster730-esx02, vcluster730-esx03, vcluster730-esx04) and check the Summary tab to identify the node with the serial number V0730040000000.

The Summary tab provides details about the hardware, including the serial number.

Put the Node in Maintenance Mode:

Right-click on the identified node.

Select Maintenance Mode > Enter Maintenance Mode.

Select Ensure Accessibility and click OK.

Remove the Node from the Cluster:

Once the node is in maintenance mode, right-click the node again.

Select Remove from Inventory.

Confirm the action by clicking Yes or OK when prompted.

Verify the Node Removal:

Ensure that the node is no longer listed under the VxRail-Cluster.

Check the overall health and status of the cluster to confirm that it is functioning properly without the removed node.

To create the required vSAN storage policy in the vSphere Client for a VxRail stretched cluster, follow these steps:

Log in to vSphere Client:

Open the vSphere Client.

Enter the username: administrator@vsphere.local.

Enter the password: VMw@r3!123.

Click Login.

Navigate to Storage Policies:

From the home screen, go to Policies and Profiles in the left-hand navigation pane.

Click on VM Storage Policies.

Create a New Storage Policy:

Click Create VM Storage Policy.

Enter the name as vSAN Stretched Cluster.

Click Next.

Configure Policy Rules:

In the Policy Structure section, choose Enable tag-based placement rules if needed.

Click Next.

Add vSAN Rules:

In the Storage Compatibility section, click Add rule and select vSAN.

Configure the following:

Primary level of failures to tolerate (PFTT): 1 failure - RAID 1 (Mirroring)

Secondary level of failures to tolerate (SFTT): 1 failure - RAID 1 (Mirroring)

Failures to Tolerate: 1

Provisioning type: Thick Provisioning

Ensure "Force Provisioning" is enabled. This allows the VM to be provisioned even if the current resources do not satisfy the policy.

Set Data Services:

Skip the Data Services section if not applicable.

Click Next.

Review and Finish:

Review the policy settings.

Click Finish to create the storage policy.

Apply the Storage Policy to VMs:

Navigate to the VMs section.

Select the VMs that need the new storage policy.

Right-click and select VM Policies > Edit VM Storage Policies.

Choose the vSAN Stretched Cluster policy for the applicable disks.

To resolve the issue of health monitoring being disabled and enable the relevant service, follow these steps:

Log in to vSphere Client:

Open the vSphere Client.

Enter the username: administrator@vsphere.local.

Enter the password: VMw@r3!123.

Click Login.

Navigate to VxRail Manager:

In the vSphere Client interface, expand VxRail-DC and then VxRail-Cluster.

Select VxRail Manager.

Access VxRail Health Monitoring Settings:

Click on the Configure tab.

Under VxRail, select Health.

Enable Health Monitoring:

Find the option for Health Monitoring.

If it is disabled, click Edit or the relevant button to enable it.

Ensure that Enable Health Monitoring is checked.

Click Apply or OK to save the changes.

Verify Health Monitoring Status:

Go back to the Summary tab or the appropriate section in VxRail Manager.

Verify that the health monitoring status is now enabled and shows as healthy.

Steps using the Simulator:

Login to vSphere Client:

Open the simulator and navigate to the vSphere Client interface.

Log in using the credentials:

Username: administrator@vsphere.local.

Password: VMw@r3!123.

Navigate to VxRail Manager:

In the vSphere Client interface, expand VxRail-DC and then VxRail-Cluster.

Select VxRail Manager.

Enable Health Monitoring:

Click on the Configure tab.

Under VxRail, select Health.

Click Edit to modify the health settings.

Check the box for Enable Health Monitoring.

Click Apply or OK to save the changes.

Verify:

Go back to the Summary tab in VxRail Manager.

Ensure that the warning message about health monitoring being disabled is no longer present and that health monitoring is active.

In a VxRail deployment, the VMkernel interface used for vSAN traffic is typically vmk1. This interface is designated specifically for vSAN communication, ensuring that the storage traffic is segregated from other types of network traffic for performance and security reasons.

When the VxRail cluster is deployed, the vSAN storage policy settings applied to the VxRail Manager VM are as follows:

Failures to Tolerate: 1 failure - RAID 1 (Mirroring)

Object space reservation: Thin provisioning

These settings ensure that the VxRail Manager VM has redundancy to tolerate a single failure and uses thin provisioning to optimize storage usage.

To set up vSAN HCI Mesh, a latency of 10 milliseconds and a bandwidth of 10 Gbps are required. vSAN HCI Mesh allows vSAN clusters to share storage resources over a network. Ensuring low latency and high bandwidth is crucial for maintaining performance and reliability in a hyper-converged infrastructure (HCI) environment, which vSAN HCI Mesh facilitates.

In SolVe Online, the procedure to change the ESXi Hostname and IP address can be found in the "Install" section. This section contains various setup and configuration guides, including those related to network settings and hostname/IP configurations.

If the vCenter Server is unavailable, an administrator should use VxRail Manager for vSAN troubleshooting. VxRail Manager provides comprehensive management and monitoring capabilities for the VxRail cluster, including vSAN. It enables administrators to perform health checks, diagnostics, and maintenance tasks even when the vCenter Server is down, ensuring continuity of operations and effective troubleshooting.

When scaling a VxRail cluster, it is important to consider that mixing VxRail nodes with different base network speeds is not permitted. This restriction ensures network consistency and performance across the cluster, avoiding potential issues with data flow and latency caused by differing network speeds.

Two failure events that cause vSAN to start rebuilding components immediately on the VxRail system are:

ESXi host failure

Capacity device failure

When an ESXi host fails, vSAN detects the loss of the host and initiates the rebuilding of the affected components to maintain data availability and integrity. Similarly, when a capacity device (such as an SSD or HDD) fails, vSAN starts the rebuild process to ensure that data remains protected and accessible.