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Setup Nutanix CE All-Flash NVMe – Part 2

Setup Nutanix CE All-Flash NVMe – Part 2

23. December 2018 Stefan Comments 12 comments

After we prepared the USB sticks in part 1, we come here to the biggest part of the series. Here I want to show you what you have to do to run the new Intel Hades Canyon NUC with Nutanix CE.

We have to adjust some things like BIOS downgrade.

Let’s start with a list of what we should have prepared:

  • we need 2 IP addresses per node
    • in my case: 10.42.10.* (AHV: 20,22,24,26 and CVM: 21,24,25,27)
  • 1 more for Cluster IP address
    • in my case 10.42.10.42
  • one USB stick per node (at least 8GB) with the Nutanix CE IMG
    • see Setup Nutanix CE All-Flash NVMe – Part 1
  • one USB Stick for the BIOS downgrade/upgrade
  • in case you use Intel Hades Canyon (e.g. Intel NUC NUC8i7HVK Hades Canyon) you need the Bios version.
    • BIOS Version HN00034
  • you need an HDMI monitor and a USB keyboard to set the BIOS settings and perform the installation

Then let’s start installing all nodes.
I’ll show you an example of how to prepare each node.

BIOS Downgrade/Upgrade and Settings:

You need a USB stick with FAT/FAT32 where you can save the HN0034.bio file.
Now we have to downgrade/upgrade the BIOS to version 0034 at every nuc.
In my case, I’m updating from 0029 to 0034.

The reason for this is that the legacy boot was removed from 0037 onwards. Unfortunately we need an MBR boot (legacy) for the current Nutanix CE .
The Nutanix CE IMG is unfortunately not recognized by a pure UEFI boot.

If someone here has a tip for me, let me know.

Now plug the USB drive into a free USB slot and turn on the NUC. Press the F7 key to enter the BIOS update menu.

Bios Update - Screen 1
IMAGE 2018-12-21 10:11:46
IMAGE 2018-12-21 10:12:17
IMAGE 2018-12-21 10:12:59

After the BIOS update we go directly into the BIOS by pressing F2.

IMAGE 2018-12-21 10:18:09

Here we have to make the following settings:
Set also the correct Time in the BIOS

Advanced -> Devices -> SATA -> Chipset SATA Mode: AHCI

Advanced -> Devices -> uncheck: Audio, WLAN, Bluetooth, Enhanced Consumer IR, HDMI CEC Control and Disable SD Card

The aim is to minimise any problems

IMAGE 2018-12-21 10:21:28
IMAGE 2018-12-21 10:25:41

Advanced -> Security -> uncheck: Intel Platform Trust Technology 

IMAGE 2018-12-21 10:28:16

Advanced -> Boot -> Boot Priority -> Check: Legacy Boot

IMAGE 2018-12-21 10:31:17

Advanced -> Boot -> Boot Configuration -> check: Boot USB Devices First, USB

IMAGE 2018-12-21 10:32:49

Advanced -> Boot -> Secure Boot -> uncheck: Secure Boot

To save our settings, press F10 and (Y) Yes. The system reboots now

Start the Nutanix CE Setup

Equip your node with the prepared Nutanix CE USB drive, HDMI display, USB keyboard and Power on the node. If you have set and flashed everything correctly, the system should boot from the USB drive and show the Nutanix login prompt.

Note: if you want to allocate less than 16GB RAM for the CVMs (for example, because you have less than 32GB RAM), adjust the CVM settings before installing.
Login with user “root” and password “nutanix/4u”.

Edit the sysUtil.py file with vi:

vi /home/install/phx_iso/phoenix/sysUtil.py

Edit the line “SVM_GB_RAM = 16” to “SVM_GB_RAM = 8”
You can also modify the vCPU Count.

# Contains custom SVM resource settings per model. Defaults will be used
# if a particular model does not exist in this structure.
SVM_GB_RAM = 8
SVM_NUM_VCPUS = 8

Saves the file with “:wq”.
Now we log out with exit from the root session.

We log into the system with the user “install” and without password. This will automatically start the setup.

chooses your keyboard and language layout, I use “us” to keep the Nutanix CE System (CLI) in english 😉
Use TAB to mark the point “Proceed” and press Enter.

now we are at the most important point of the Nutanix CE installation, we have to enter the previously selected IP addresses.

IMAGE 2018-12-21 10:47:51

I have the IPs for the HOST:
10.42.10.20, 10.42.10.22, 10.42.10.24, 10.42.10.26
and for the CVM:
10.42.10.21, 10.42.10.23, 10.42.10.25, 10.42.10.27

Fill it out according to your instructions.
Important: the item “Create single-node Cluster?” may only be marked if you want to build a cluster consisting of a single system!

Read and accept the EULA and hit the start button.
Now the installation of AHV and the CVM starts.
Depending on the USB stick speed this will take a few minutes.

As soon as the system is ready with everything, you will be shown this via Success!.

IMAGE 2018-12-21 10:53:13

Give the individual CVM a few minutes to boot up cleanly.
repeats this paragraph with all systems.

Build the Cluster

You now have installed Nutanix CE Nodes which are not yet at home in any cluster. We change this now!

I assume that all previous steps worked.
In my case I now have 4 Intel NUC Hades Canyon installed with Nutanix CE 2017.07.20 (2017.07.20 because of the NVMe bug in the newer versions)

to create our super cool new cluster, we log into some CVM first. I use my first installed node and log into its CVM (SSH into).
Use the username “nutanix” and the password “nutanix/4u”.

ssh nutanix@10.42.10.21

to create the cluster now, let’s just type “cluster –dns_servers=DNSSERVER –ntp_servers=NTPSERVER –redundancy_factor=2 -s CVMIP,CVMIP,CVMIP –cluster_name=CLUSTERNAME –cluster_external_ip=CLUSTERIP create“.

it is important that there is no space between the CVM Ips.
in my case:

cluster –dns_servers=10.42.10.1,1.1.1.1 –ntp_servers=10.42.10.1 –redundancy_factor=2 -s 10.42.10.21,10.42.10.23,10.42.10.25,10.42.10.27 –cluster_name=NTNX –cluster_external_ip=10.42.10.42 create

after a certain time, the cluster Create should be ready.

screenshot_134

and that’s it!

Now we go to https://10.42.10.42 (my Cluster IP) and Setup entire Cluster.
In Part 3 we configure the complete cluster and do some tests (performance and so one) – stays tuned

screenshot_135

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12 thoughts on “Setup Nutanix CE All-Flash NVMe – Part 2”

  1. Michael Ablassmeier says:
    15. March 2019 at 13:36

    hi,
    i made some short manual on how to convert the nutanix ahv legacy bios installer image into a plain uefi bootable one, media, maybe that works for you:

    https://github.com/abbbi/nutanix_uefi

    Reply
    1. Stefan says:
      18. March 2019 at 15:22

      Hello, Michael,
      thanks for your advice! I will try it out and report!

      Reply
    2. Patrick Loher says:
      3. April 2019 at 9:20

      Hi Michael

      I have tried to follow your instructions, but have failed to image into loopback. I might have missed something in the previous step to create the partition. Do you have further advice how to create the partition (type, bootable, …)?

      Regards Patrick

      Reply
  2. bradley radomski says:
    9. April 2019 at 18:50

    Do you have any information/photos for your mounting solution in the Pelican case?

    Reply
    1. Stefan says:
      24. June 2019 at 18:22

      sorry for my delay! i noticed that comments were in spam…

      I will publish an article! thanks for your input

      Reply
  3. Andrew says:
    29. July 2019 at 20:32

    Hi Stefan,

    Just wondering when you will release Part3 of your journey?

    Reply
    1. Stefan says:
      27. August 2019 at 21:43

      Hey Andrew, sorry for my delay!

      https://virtualife.pro/hci-in-a-box-mobile-datacentre/

      Reply
  4. Goran says:
    3. November 2019 at 14:14

    Hello Stefan,
    do you have maybe the HN0034 bios version and would you share it to us? On intel page you are only able to download the latest version, which has removed bios legacy support 😦

    Reply
    1. Stefan says:
      17. December 2019 at 16:25

      Hey Goran,

      sorry for my late reply – i will get in touch with you! it must be on my NAS at home.

      Reply
  5. MJMcMahon says:
    2. December 2019 at 1:46

    PLEASE help with an older BIOS! I spent the afternoon bashing my head against the wall with my 8i7HNK trying to get it to read the Nutanix CE .img file with zero success. 🙁

    Reply
    1. Stefan says:
      17. December 2019 at 16:26

      He MJMcMahon,

      sorry for my late reply – i will get in touch with you! it must be on my NAS at home.

      Reply
      1. Mike McMahon says:
        17. December 2019 at 18:05

        don’t worry about it – I sent the NUC back.

        Reply

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