Adding clusters to Automated instances
You can add clusters to VMware Cloud Foundation for Classic - Automated instances to expand the compute and storage capacity. Within a cluster, you can manage VMware ESXi™ servers for better resource allocation and high availability.
Adding clusters to Automated instances with VMware vSphere® 6.5 or 6.7 is not supported.
Before you add clusters to Automated instances
Whenever possible, add clusters by using the IBM Cloud® for VMware Solutions console and not the VMware vSphere® Web Client. Changes that you make on the vSphere Web Client are not synchronized with the VMware Solutions console. If you want to add clusters to VMware Cloud Foundation for Classic - Automated instances by using the vSphere Web Client, do so only for on-premises clusters or clusters that you don't manage in the VMware Solutions console.
- New clusters are provisioned with mirrored M.2 boot drives.
- The number of clusters, hosts, and virtual machines (VMs) determines the maximum number of clusters that you can add. Remain within the VMware® sizing guidelines and limits for your deployment. For more information, see VMware configuration maximums.
- You can add a cluster while another cluster is being created or deleted.
Cluster type
Select the cluster type: Workload cluster or Gateway cluster.
System settings for workload clusters
When you add a workload cluster to an Automated instance, you must specify the following settings.
Cluster name
The cluster name is set to vcs-xx by default, where xx represents two randomly generated alphabetic characters.
You can also specify a new cluster name that meets the following requirements:
- Only lowercase alphabetic, numeric, and hyphen (-) characters are allowed.
- The cluster name must start with a lowercase alphabetic character.
- The cluster name must end with a lowercase alphabetic or numeric character.
- The maximum length of the cluster name is 30 characters.
- The cluster name must be unique within the VMware Cloud Foundation for Classic - Automated instance.
Licensing settings (BYOL only)
Bring Your Own License (BYOL) is no longer supported except for migrations or upgrades of existing BYOL clusters. Use this feature only if you are upgrading or migrating an existing BYOL cluster.
If you are a BYOL user, provide your own license key for vSphere:
- Select I will provide and enter your own vSphere license key.
- Select Use existing license only if you are using a BYOL vSphere license for your instance. When the option is enabled, you can select the existing license only if the instance has enough capacity for the additional hosts.
Bare metal server settings
The CPU models differ depending on the version that your instance was initially deployed in. You can choose between Cascade Lake and SAP-certified Cascade Lake servers[1].
Data center location
The IBM Cloud® data center location of the cluster is set to the IBM Cloud data center of the Automated instance by default. You can deploy the cluster to a different IBM Cloud data center than the deployed instance if you ensure that the network latency between the two IBM Cloud data centers is less than 150 ms.
If you deploy the cluster to a different IBM Cloud data center or IBM Cloud infrastructure pod, three extra VLANs are ordered for use with the ordered IBM Cloud bare metal servers.
Cascade Lake
For Cascade Lake servers, choose from the following CPU models and supported RAM sizes:
| CPU model | Cores | GHz | Storage type | RAM options |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dual Intel Xeon Silver 4210 | 20 | 2.2 | Up to 12 drives | 128 GB, 192 GB, 384 GB, 768 GB, 1.5 TB |
| Dual Intel Xeon Gold 5218 | 32 | 2.3 | Up to 12 drives | 128 GB, 192 GB, 384 GB, 768 GB, 1.5 TB |
| Dual Intel Xeon Gold 6248 | 40 | 2.5 | Up to 12 drives | 128 GB, 192 GB, 384 GB, 768 GB, 1.5 TB |
| Dual Intel Xeon Platinum 8260 | 48 | 2.4 | Up to 12 drives | 128 GB, 192 GB, 384 GB, 768 GB, 1.5 TB |
| Quad Intel Xeon Gold 6248 | 80 | 2.5 | Up to 24 drives | 384 GB, 768 GB, 1.5 TB, 3 TB |
| Quad Intel Xeon Platinum 8260 | 96 | 2.4 | Up to 24 drives | 384 GB, 768 GB, 1.5 TB, 3 TB |
SAP-certified Cascade Lake
For SAP-certified Cascade Lake servers, choose from the following configurations:
| CPU model | Cores | GHz | RAM | Storage type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dual Intel Xeon Gold 5218 (BI.S4.NW192) | 32 | 2.3 | 192 GB | Up to 12 drives |
| Dual Intel Xeon Gold 5218 (BI.S4.NW384) | 32 | 2.3 | 384 GB | Up to 12 drives |
| Dual Intel Xeon Gold 6248 (BI.S4.NW768) | 40 | 2.5 | 768 GB | Up to 12 drives |
| Dual Intel Xeon Platinum 8260 (BI.S4.NW768_v2) | 48 | 2.4 | 768 GB | Up to 12 drives |
| Dual Intel Xeon Platinum 8280M (BI.S4.NW1500) | 56 | 2.7 | 1.5 TB | Up to 12 drives |
| Dual Intel Xeon Platinum 8280M (BI.S4.NW3000) | 56 | 2.7 | 3 TB | Up to 12 drives |
| CPU model | Cores | GHz | RAM | Storage type |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dual Intel Xeon Gold 5218 (BI.S4.H2.192) | 32 | 2.3 | 192 GB | Up to 12 drives |
| Dual Intel Xeon Gold 5218 (BI.S4.H2.384) | 32 | 2.3 | 384 GB | Up to 12 drives |
| Dual Intel Xeon Gold 6248 (BI.S4.H2.768) | 40 | 2.5 | 768 GB | Up to 12 drives |
| Dual Intel Xeon Platinum 8280M (BI.S4.H2.1500) | 56 | 2.7 | 1.5 TB | Up to 12 drives |
| Dual Intel Xeon Platinum 8280M (BI.S4.H2.3000) | 56 | 2.7 | 3 TB | Up to 12 drives |
| Quad Intel Xeon Platinum 8280M (BI.S4.H4.3000) | 112 | 2.7 | 3 TB | Up to 24 drives |
| Quad Intel Xeon Platinum 8280M (BI.S4.H4.6000) | 112 | 2.7 | 6 TB | Up to 24 drives |
Number of bare metal servers
- If you are planning to use NFS storage, you can order 2-59 servers.
- If you are planning to use vSAN™ storage, you can order 4-59 servers.
- All servers that you order have the same configuration.
Storage settings
Storage settings are based on your selection of IBM Cloud bare metal server configuration and the storage type.
You can add NFS storage shares to an existing vSAN or NFS cluster. For more information, see Adding NFS storage to Automated instances.
NFS storage
When you select NFS storage, you can add file-level shared storage for your instance where all shares use the same settings or you can specify different configuration settings for each file share. The number of file shares must be in the range of 1 to 100.
Specify the following NFS options.
- Configure shares individually - Toggle this switch on to specify different configuration settings for each file share.
- Number of shares - If you want to use the same configuration setting for each file share, specify the number of file shares for the NFS shared storage that you want to add.
- Size (GB) - Select the capacity that meets your shared storage needs.
- Performance - Select the IOPS (input/output operations per second) per GB based on your workload requirements.
- Add shared storage - Select to add individual file shares with different configuration settings.
The following table indicates the performance level details.
| Option | Details |
|---|---|
| 0.25 IOPS/GB | This option is designed for workloads that are not used often. Example applications include vaulted data, hosting large databases with legacy data, or virtual disk images of virtual memory system as backup. |
| 2 IOPS/GB | This option is designed for most general-purpose workloads. Example applications include hosting small databases, backing up web applications, or VM disk images for a hypervisor. |
| 4 IOPS/GB | This option is designed for higher-intensity workloads that have a high percentage of active data at a time. Example applications include transactional databases. |
| 10 IOPS/GB | This option is designed for the most demanding workload types, such as analytics. Example applications include high-transaction databases and other performance-sensitive databases. This performance level is limited to a maximum capacity of 4 TB per file share. |
vSAN storage
Specify the following vSAN options.
Size for vSAN capacity disks
Select an option for the capacity disks that you need.
Number of vSAN capacity disks
Specify the number of capacity disks that you want to add.
If you want to add more capacity disks, select the High performance with Intel Optane checkbox. This option provides two extra capacity disk bays, which are useful for workloads that require less latency and higher IOPS throughput.
The High performance with Intel Optane option is available only for instances with vSphere 6.
Size for vSAN cache disks
Review the Size for vSAN cache disks value. The value depends on whether you checked the High performance with Intel Optane box.
Number of vSAN cache disks
Review Number of vSAN cache disks. The value depends on whether you checked the High performance with Intel Optane box.
Enable vSAN deduplication and compression
vSAN storage depends on the number of servers and your total disk capacity, and the use of deduplication and compression.
The amount of storage reduction from deduplication and compression depends on many factors, including the type of data stored and the number of duplicate blocks. Larger disk groups tend to provide a higher deduplication ratio. For more information, see Using deduplication and compression.
vSAN license (BYOL only)
Bring Your Own License (BYOL) is no longer supported except for migrations or upgrades of existing BYOL clusters. Use this feature only if you are upgrading or migrating an existing BYOL cluster.
If you are a BYOL user, provide your own vSAN license key. Select I will provide or Use existing license and enter your license key.
The Use existing license option is available only if you are using a BYOL vSAN license for your instance. When the option is enabled, you can select the existing license only if the instance has enough capacity for the additional hosts.
If your initial cluster is a vSAN cluster, any additional vSAN clusters use the same vSAN license and have the same configuration as the initial one. This statement is also true for any initial or extra clusters in the instance for which you select vSAN. The first time, you must provide the vSAN license and the edition. The next time that you select vSAN for a new cluster, the license you initially chose will be reused.
Network interface settings
When you add a cluster for an Automated instance, you must specify the following network interface settings.
Hostname prefix
You can use the default hostname prefix or specify a new one. When you specify a new hostname prefix, the hostname prefix must meet the following requirements:
- Only lowercase alphabetic, numeric, and hyphen (-) characters are allowed.
- The hostname prefix must start with a lowercase alphabetic character.
- The hostname prefix must end with a lowercase alphabetic or numeric character.
- The maximum length of the hostname prefix is 10 characters.
Configure hostnames individually
You can customize the hostnames prefix individually by toggling the switch on.
The hostnames prefix must meet the following requirements:
- Only lowercase alphabetic, numeric, and hyphen (-) characters are allowed.
- No consecutive hyphens are allowed.
- The hostname prefix must start with a lowercase alphabetic character.
- The hostname prefix must end with a lowercase alphabetic or numeric character.
- The maximum length of the hostname prefix is 13 characters.
Networking type
Network interface card (NIC) enablement settings are based on your selection of either Public and private network or Private network only.
Uplink speed
The Uplink speed option is not available to gateway clusters.
The uplink speed provides two options:
- 10 Gb, which is selected by default.
- 25 Gb, which is available only for specific pods and data center locations. The following table shows the available locations for the 25 Gb uplink speed.
| Data center | Pod |
|---|---|
| TOK02 | 02 |
| TOK04 | 01 |
| TOK05 | 01 |
| Data center | Pod |
|---|---|
| FRA02 | 02 |
| FRA04 | 01 |
| FRA05 | 01 |
| LON04 | 01 |
| LON06 | 01 |
| MAD02 | 01 |
| MAD04 | 01 |
| MAD05 | 01 |
| PAR04 | 01 |
| PAR05 | 01 |
| PAR06 | 01 |
| Data center | Pod |
|---|---|
| TOR04 | 01 |
| WDC04 | 04 |
| WDC06 | 01 |
| Data center | Pod |
|---|---|
| DAL10 | 03 |
| DAL12 | 01 |
| DAL13 | 02 |
VLANs
Network settings are based on your selection of either Order new VLANs or Select existing VLANs.
One public VLAN and two private VLANs are required for your instance order. The two private VLANs are trunked into each IBM Cloud bare metal server.
Order new VLANs
Select to order one new public VLAN and two new private VLANs.
Select existing VLANs
Depending on the IBM Cloud data center that you selected, existing public and private VLANs might be available.
When you select to reuse existing public and private VLANs, specify the VLANs and subnets:
- Public VLAN is for public network access. If you select the Allocate a new one option for this field, a new public VLAN is allocated automatically. This field is only available on the Public and private network tab.
- Public primary subnet is assigned to physical hosts for public network access. If you select the Auto assigned option for this field, a new public primary subnet is selected automatically, and a new one is created if necessary. This field is only available on the Public and private network tab.
- Private VLAN is for connectivity among the data centers and services within the IBM Cloud. If you select the Allocate a new one option for this field, a new private VLAN is allocated automatically.
- Private primary subnet is assigned to physical hosts for management traffic. If you select the Auto assigned option for this field, a new private primary subnet is selected automatically, and a new one is created if necessary.
- Secondary private VLAN is for VMware features such as vSAN. You can select an existing secondary private VLAN or select to allocate a new one.
Ensure that the firewall configuration on the selected VLANs does not block the management data traffic. Also, ensure that all the VLANs that you select are in the same pod. ESXi servers cannot be provisioned on mixed-pod VLANs.
Optionally, use Advanced settings to configure portable subnets for VLANs.
Use the Public VLAN, Private VLAN, or Secondary private VLAN tabs to specify the Portable subnet for each applicable purpose. If you select the Allocate a new one option for this field, a new portable subnet is allocated automatically. Notes
- Complete the Public VLAN, Private VLAN, or Secondary private VLAN settings before you can configure portable subnets.
- The number of portable subnets is displayed on the Advanced settings option after you save the portable subnet settings. Click Portable subnets settings to edit the settings.
- The saved portable subnet settings are cleared if you change the Public VLAN, Private VLAN, or Secondary private VLAN settings.
IBM Cloud for VMware Solutions takes control of the entire subnet and you can't use any IP addresses in the subnet.
System settings for gateway clusters
When you add a gateway cluster to an Automated instance, you must specify the following settings.
Data center location
Select the IBM Cloud® data center settings. For more information, see Region and data center locations for resource deployment.
Geography
Select the region where your consolidated cluster or instance is hosted.
Data center
Select the IBM Cloud data center where the consolidated cluster is hosted.
Pod
Select the IBM Cloud data center pod where you want to deploy your resources. Keep the default pod selection if you do not have reasons to prefer a different pod.
Cluster name
By default, the cluster names are set to instance name-edge.
You can also specify a new name for your clusters. The names must meet the requirements that are listed in Cluster name.
CPU model
You can choose between the following CPU models:
- Dual Intel Xeon® Silver 4210 processor (Cascade Lake) with 20 cores, 2.20 GHz, and 10 Gb of uplink speed.
- Dual Intel Xeon Gold 5218 processor (Cascade Lake) with 32 cores, 2.30 GHz, and 25 Gb of uplink speed.
RAM
You can select different values of RAM in the range 64 GB - 1.5 TB.
Number of bare metal servers
The number of servers is set to 2 and cannot be changed. Both servers have the same configuration.
Hostname prefix
The hostname prefix applies to all clusters in the instance. It must meet the following requirements:
- Only lowercase alphabetic, numeric, and hyphen (-) characters are allowed.
- The hostname prefix must start with a lowercase alphabetic character.
- The hostname prefix must end with a lowercase alphabetic or numeric character.
- The maximum length of the hostname prefix is 10 characters.
Configure hostnames individually
You can customize the hostnames prefix individually by toggling the switch on.
The hostnames prefix must meet the following requirements:
- Only lowercase alphabetic, numeric, and hyphen (-) characters are allowed.
- No consecutive hyphens are allowed.
- The hostname prefix must start with a lowercase alphabetic character.
- The hostname prefix must end with a lowercase alphabetic or numeric character.
- The maximum length of the hostname prefix is 13 characters.
Networking type
Select either Public and private network or Private network only for the gateway cluster.
Summary
Based on your selected configuration for the cluster, the estimated price is instantly generated and displayed in the Summary pane. Click Pricing details to generate a PDF document with the price summary for the VMware Solutions resources.
You can also add the provisioned resources to the IBM Cloud estimate tool, by clicking Add to estimate. The estimate tool is useful if you want to get an approximate price of the selected VMware Solutions resources together with other IBM Cloud resources that you might consider purchasing.
Procedure to add clusters to Automated instances
-
From the VMware Solutions console, click Resources > VCF for Classic from the left navigation pane.
-
In the VMware Cloud Foundation for Classic table, click the instance that you want to add clusters to.
Ensure that the instance status is Available. Otherwise, you cannot add clusters to the instance.
-
Click the Infrastructure tab and click Create on the upper right of the Clusters table.
-
On the Create cluster page, select the cluster type.
-
For workload clusters, enter the cluster name and complete the following configuration.
-
Complete the licensing settings if you are a BYOL user. You must provide your own license key for the VMware vSphere component.
- Bring Your Own License (BYOL) is no longer supported except for migrations or upgrades of existing BYOL clusters. Select I will provide or Use existing license and enter your own license key only if you are performing an upgrade or migration of an existing BYOL cluster.
- The Use existing license option is available only if you are using a BYOL vSphere or vSAN license for your instance. When the option is enabled, you can select the existing license only if the instance has enough capacity for the additional hosts.
-
Complete the bare metal server configuration.
- If you want to host the cluster in a different IBM Cloud data center than the one that the instance is hosted in, toggle the Select a different location switch on and choose the IBM Cloud data center to host the cluster.
- For Cascade Lake, select the CPU model, RAM size, and the Number of bare metal servers.
- For SAP-certified Cascade Lake, select one of the preset configurations.
-
Complete the storage configuration.
- If you select NFS storage and want to add and configure the same settings to all file shares, specify the Number of shares, Size (GB), and Performance.
- If you select NFS storage and want to add and configure file shares individually, toggle the Configure shares individually switch on, then click Add shared storage and select the Size (GB) and Performance for each individual file share. Select at least one file share.
- If you select vSAN storage, specify the following values:
- Size for the vSAN capacity disks
- Number of vSAN capacity disks
- Size for vSAN cache disks
- Number of vSAN cache disks
- If you are a BYOL user, provide your own vSAN license key.
If you want more storage, check the High performance with Intel Optane box.
By default, the Enable vSAN deduplication and compression box is selected. If you do not want to enable vSAN deduplication and compression, clear the checkbox.
-
-
For gateway clusters, complete the following configuration.
- For data center location, click the Edit icon
and select the geography, data center, and pod to host the cluster. - Specify the cluster name.
- Select the CPU model, RAM size, and the number of bare metal servers.
- For network interface settings, enter the hostname prefix.
- If you want to customize the hostnames prefix individually, toggle the Configure hostnames individually switch on.
- Select the Networking type, either Public and private network or Private network only.
- For data center location, click the Edit icon
-
On the Summary pane, verify the cluster configuration before you add the cluster.
- Review the settings for the cluster.
- Review the estimated price of the cluster. Click Pricing details to generate a PDF summary. To save or print your order summary, click the Print or the Download icon
on the upper right of the PDF window. - Click the link or links of the terms that apply to your order, and confirm that you agree with these terms before you add the cluster.
- Click Create.
Results after you add clusters to Automated instances
- The deployment of the cluster starts automatically and the status of the cluster is changed to Initializing. You can check the status of the deployment by viewing the deployment history on the instance details page.
- When the cluster is ready to use, its status changes to Available. The newly added cluster is enabled with vSphere High Availability (HA) and vSphere Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS).
You cannot change the cluster name. Changing the cluster name might cause the add or delete ESXi servers operations in the cluster to fail.