Setting-up Single Node Nutanix Community Edition Cluster

Nutanix Community Edition is the Free version of Nutanix OS which can be used to test drive the main features of Nutanix, it can be deployed on existing hardware in the infrastructure or in the Virtual Machines

Nutanix CE Components:

  • AHV (Acropolis Hypervisor )
  • Nutanix Prism ( Nutanix Management Plane)
  • nCLI
  • Single or Multi-Node Cluster

Nutanix CE Limitation:

  • Internet Access on the Cluster
  • Nutanix Next Account for activation
  • Must upgrade within 30-Days or once the upgrade is available

Let’s start with the setup by step hand-on

  • Download the Nutanix CE Binaries from Nutanix Portal

Browse Nutanix Community link

Download Nutanix CE Installer ISO. Once installer downloaded we can proceed with the Virtual Machines creation.

Proceed with the Typical VM Creation and click next.

Browse the Nutanix CE Installer and Click Next

Select CentOS 64Bit as OS and click next

Specify the VM Name Click Next

Specify the disk Size and click Next

Review the VM Hardware setting & add additional 2 HDD ( 1 for Hypervisor, 2nd for CVM, 3Rd for DATA) and Virtual Machines memory should be at-least 24G.

Power -On the VM and boot VM from ISO Installer

Specify the desire Hypervisor, Select the VM disks as per the requirement and Specify the IP Address details for Hypervisor & CVM and proceed next.

Accept the license agreement (Make sure to scroll down the license till end) and start the installation.

Installation will take approx. 30-40 mins, once installation completes disconnect the installer ISO and press Y to reboot the VM.

Once the VM boots, you can see Nutanix Prism is accessible, below are the default user name & Password for Nutanix

  User Password
AHV Root nutanix/4u
CVM Nutanix nutanix.4u
Prism admin nutanix/4u

Enter the Nutanix Next account and click à , incase if you don’t have the Nutanix next account you can create one.

Cluster is register and page will be redirected to home page

Initial Cluster setup is completed, enjoy Nutanix Simplicity 😊

 

Nutanix AHV VLAN Configuration

CVM & AHV host should be on the same VLAN, by Default CVM & AHV Hosts are untagged and shown as VLAN 0 placed as native VLAN.

Assign VLAN on AHV Host:

  • Login to AHV host using root account
  • Put the host & CVM into maintenance mode
  • Assign the port br0 to VLAN

root@ahv# ovs-vsctl set port br0 tag=host_vlan_tag

Replace host_vlan_tag with the desire VLAN ID.

  • Confirm VLAN tagging on port br0.

root@ahv# ovs-vsctl list port br0

  • Confirm the tag parameter

Assign VLAN on CVM:

  • Login to AHV Host using root account
  • Login to CVM

ssh nutanix@192.168.5.254

  • Assign VLAN to public interface for CVM

change_cvm_vlan vlan_id

  • Replace vlan_id with the desire VLAN ID.
  • Restart the network service
  • sudo service network restart

Tips:

  • Nutanix Recommend to configure CVM & Host VLAN as native VLAN or untagged, as New nodes send and received untagged traffic. If tagged VLAN is used VLAN must be updated on the new Nodes before adding new nodes.

Nutanix Bare-metal nodes Foundation

Nutanix Bare-metal nodes Foundation

Nutanix Foundation is the process to install Hypervisor & CVM on the Nodes.

Bare Metal Imaging can be performed from workstation with the access to Shared port or IPMI and Network ports on the node. Imaging a cluster required Nutanix Foundation & AOS Binaries.

  • AOS Binary
  • Foundation Software (anyone of below can be used to do the foundation)
    • Foundation VM
    • Foundation for Windows
    • Foundation for MAC

You can download the foundation & AOS Binaries from Nutanix Support Portal à Download à Foundation / AOS

Prepare Workstation for Foundation.

Multiple option is available for Foundation, Foundation for Windows can be installed directly on Windows Laptop connected with Nutanix Nodes or Foundation VM can be imported in VMware Workstation / Oracle Virtual Box.

In this article I will proceeding with the imaging with Nutanix Foundation VMs.

Installing the Foundation VM

  • Start Oracle Virtual Box / VMWare Workstation / Foundation
  • Click the File menu and select Import Appliance… from the pull-down list.
  • In the Import Virtual Appliance dialog box, browse to the location of the Foundation .ovf file, and select the Foundation_VM-version#.ovf file.
  • Click Next.
  • Click Import.
  • In the left pane, select Foundation_VM-version#, and click Start.
  • If the login screen ask for password, Foundation VM password is Nutanix/4u
  • On the desktop you can find the set_foundation_ip address script to set the foundation VM IPs
  • Once IP set, we are ready to do next stop

Copy Installation files to Foundation VM

Copy the Nutanix AOS Binaries (nutanix_installer_package-release-euphrates-X.XX.X.tar.gz) to /home/Nutanix/Foundation/NOS directory. Copy the hypervisor ISO to as below

  • ESXi ISO image: /home/nutanix/foundation/isos/hypervisor/esx
  • Hyper-V ISO image: /home/nutanix/foundation/isos/hypervisor/hyperv
  • AHV: AHV is bundled with the Nutanix AOS package

Launch Foundation Applet

  • Double click Foundation Applet, to start the foundation


  • Select the Block hardware, CVM, IPMI Netmask and Gateway and click next to proceed.


  • Click retry to discover the Nutanix node, currently new Nutanix Block comes with the discoveryOS so nodes are discoverable from Nutanix Foundation.
  • As my LAB nodes are old one so I am proceeding with the manual add


  • Specify the Number of Node per Block, Select how these nodes will be reached
    • I have configured the IPMI as my desired IP Address
      • This option is good if IPMI IP Address are already set
    • I will provide the IPMI MAC Address
      • This option is used to avoid setting up the IPMI Address manually, NODE IPMI MAC Addresses are mention on the backside on each node.
  • Click Next to proceed.


  • Specify the required IP Address (IPMI, CVM, HOST) , Hostname and click Next


  • Specify the desired Cluster Name, Time Zone , Cluster Redundancy Factor, memory for CVM and click Next.


  • Provide the AOS installer and click Next.


  • Select the Desire Hypervisor and provide the Hypervisor ISO for installation. AHV is already bundled with AOS package. For Hyper-V & VMWare ESXi, whitelisted ISO need to provide before proceeding.


  • Specify the IPMI username/password and click Start


  • Foundation will validate the IP Addresses and proceed with the installation.



Tips:

  • IP ver6 need to enable on the Laptop for the discovery
  • Incase Symantec Endpoint protection is installed on the Laptop, disabled it even if you using the foundation VM as I saw Symantec Network Threat Protection is even blocking the Foundation VM Traffic
  • Always use latest version of Foundation Software
  • Use Flat Switch during the foundation

Happy Foundation 😊

Nutanix University – Summer School Savings :)

Brush up on your Nutanix skills this summer, and get certified too! For the next two months, anyone who completes one of the following FREE online courses will also receive a FREE certification exam voucher.

Eligible courses:

  • Enterprise Cloud Administration
  • Nutanix Data Services Administration
  • Nutanix End User Computing Administration
  • Nutanix Database Administration

This is a great opportunity to build out your Nutanix skill set at no cost.

What are you waiting for? Get started today!

Terms and conditions

  • Exam voucher will be assigned to student via their learning plan within 24-hours after the completion of the course
  • Course must be completed and exam voucher redeemed by July 31, 2021
  • Exam voucher code can only be used once
  • Student will receive one (1) exam voucher for each completed online course from the list above

Enjoy 😊 Happy Learning

Nutanix LCM Error: Foundation Service Running on one of the Node, Test failed

LCM Inventory is getting failed with the error “ Foundation Service running on one of the nodes, test failed”

SSH to one of the CVM, and run below command to get the foundation service status

allssh ‘genesis status | grep foundation’

nutanix@NTNX-15SXXXXXXAAAA-A-CVM:192.168.1.10:~$ allssh ‘genesis status | grep foundation’

================== 192.168.1.10 =================

foundation: []

================== 192.168.1.11 =================

================== 192.168.1.12 =================

foundation: [14525, 14556, 14557]

================== 192.168.1.13 =================

================== 192.168.1.14 =================

As per the output, foundation service is running on one of the node( 192.168.1.12), ssh to the node where foundation service is running. And run the below command.

genesis stop foundation

nutanix@NTNX-15SXXXXXXAAAA-C-CVM:192.168.1.12:~$ genesis stop foundation

2021-02-17 13:15:16.382143: Stopping foundation (pids [14525, 14556, 14557])

Once genesis stop you can confirm it while running the command again.

nutanix@NTNX-15SXXXXXXAAAA-A-CVM:192.168.1.12:~$ allssh ‘genesis status | grep foundation’

================== 192.168.1.10 =================

foundation: []

================== 192.168.1.11 =================

================== 192.168.1.12 =================

foundation: []

================== 192.168.1.13 =================

================== 192.168.1.14 =================

Rerun LCM inventory, its running fine now

Enjoy 😊

Rubrik : How to Add Nutanix AHV Cluster

Rubrik Supports Nutanix AHV Backups. In the current Rubrik release configuring Rubrik AHV backup are like 5min job or piece of cake.

In today article I will show how to add Nutanix AHV Cluster in Rubrik as Backup Source.

Click on the gear icon à on the menu select Nutanix Cluster

On Right of Page click + icon to add the Nutanix Cluster

You have to provide the below information

  • Nutanix AHV Cluster IP
  • Cluster UUID
  • Cluster SSL Certificate
  • Prism Username / Password

To get the Nutanix Cluster UUID & Certificate , SSH to Nutanix CVM

Run Below Command to get the Cluster UUID

NCLI Cluster info

info

To get the Nutanix Certificate:

print ssl.get_server_certificate ((‘Prism Element IP’, 9440),ssl_version=ssl.PROTOCOL_TLSv1_2)

Click Ok to add the Nutanix Cluster. Once Nutanix Cluster is added you can proceed with VM selection and assign desire SLA.

Best Regards,
Qamar Abbas

Nutanix – Turn-off IPMI VLAN Tagging using IPMITool

Yesterday I faced an issue which took more 2-3 hour to get sorted. I had old Nutanix Block on which I need to do the foundation when I started the foundation using Nutanix Foundation VM and got error foundation process failed with error “ Unable to set IPMI IPs)

  • I tried to set IPMI IP on the Nutanix Nodes manually, but strange thing even after setting up IPMI IPs I was unable to ping the IPMI interface. I tried on Shared/ dedicated IPMI Port but failed.
  • The hardware I was using was old Nutanix Block from G4 Generation, and there was no other options in IPMI Menu in System Setup to modify except IP Address
  • I tried to login Hypervisor , but failed as I don’t have IP root password.

Moving forward, I got an idea make one bootable using download IPMItool from SuperMicro Website, boot the nodes from USB Drive.

  • When I run the IPMICFG tool and get the current VLAN Status, VLAN ID was ON on the IPMI interface. I turned off the VLAN ID.

IPMICFG -vlan off

Incase if you have access on the hypervisor IPMItool can be used to trun-off the VLAN ID, using below command to turn off VLAN Id from ESXi Host.

/ipmitool lan set 1 vlan ID off

Once the VLAN off, I am able to access IPMI ports and proceed with foundation.

IPMICFG Can be download from below link

https://www.supermicro.com/SwDownload/SwSelect_Free.aspx?cat=IPMI

AHV Networking Basics

AHV use Open VSwitch(OVS) to connect the CVM, Hypervisor and gest Virtual machines to each other and to physical network.

Open VSwitch:

Open VSwitch is an opensource software switch implementation in the Linux Kernel. OVS acts like a Layer-2 switch which means its maintain the MAC Address table. Host, VMs connect to Virtual Ports on the switch.OVS support common switch features like VLAN Tagging, Load Balancing and link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP). Each AHV Host server maintain and OVS instance and all OVS instance combine to form a single logical switch.

Bridges:

Bridges act as virtual switch to manage traffic between physical and virtual network interfaces. By default AHV configuration includes an OVS called Br0 / Br0-up and a native Linux Bridge call Virbr0. The virbr0 Linux bridge is responsible for management and storage communication between CVM and AHV host. All the other traffic (storage, host, VM) flows through br0 OVS bridge.

Ports:

Ports are logical entity created in bridge that represent connectivity to virtual switch.

Bonds:

Bonded ports aggregate the physical interfaces on the AHV host. By default, the system creates a bond named br0-up /Br0 having all physical interfaces.

OVS bonds supports multiple load-balancing modes, including active-backup, balance-slb, and balance-tcp.

Unable to login to VSphere 6.7 Appliance Management UI

Today I have faced the strange issue, I tried to add new host to vcenter but unable to add to check the VCenter services I tried to login to Vcenter appliance Management UI but unable to login.

I tried to reset the Vcenter Appliance root passowrd but didn’t work. After troubleshoting I found the solution. Applmgmt Services was not running which was not allowing me login to management Console.

So Check the services status from Shell , open VCenter Appliance Console / SSH.

Access à Shell

#service-control –status

#service-control –start applmgmt

Once Services started , I am able to login to console & able to add ESXi host to VCenter.