INTEGRATING RECOVERPOINT FOR VIRTUAL MACHINES AND CISCO ACI Overview and configuration steps

INTEGRATING RECOVERPOINT FOR
VIRTUAL MACHINES AND CISCO ACI
Overview and configuration steps
ABSTRACT
This white paper provides describes how to properly setup a configuration consisting
of Cisco ACI, VMware ESXi and RecoverPoint for Virtual Machines.
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Part Number H14760
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .............................................................................. 4 AUDIENCE ........................................................................................................ 4 ASSUMPTIONS ......................................................................................... 4 TARGET TOPOLOGY .................................................................................. 5 Physical Topology .............................................................................................. 5 Target Topology Additional Details ....................................................................... 5 Logical Topology ............................................................................................... 6 Logical Topology additional details ....................................................................... 6 IP Address assignment ....................................................................................... 7 OVERVIEW OF CONFIGURATION STEPS .................................................... 7 DETAILED CONFIGURATION STEPS .......................................................... 7 ACI Configuration .............................................................................................. 7 Create a VMM Domain ....................................................................................... 9 Verify APIC to vCenter connectivity .................................................................... 10 Verify vCenter to APIC connectivity .................................................................... 11 Configure the Distributed vSwitch in vcenter ....................................................... 11 Create the rp4vm Networks via APIC ................................................................. 11 Create VMM EPGs ............................................................................................ 12 Create uplink epg ............................................................................................ 14 Modify iSCSI Port Groups to allow iSCSI ............................................................. 15 Configure vmknics and attach to iSCSI Port Groups ............................................. 16 Install RP4VM ................................................................................................. 17 During Deploy OVF Template ............................................................................ 17 3
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The RecoverPoint® for Virtual Machines (RP4VM) installation process recommends that end users:
1.
Pre-configure four network instances (i.e., LAN Network, WAN Network, iSCSI1 Network and iSCSI2 Network) on the ESX
servers where RP4VM will be installed; and
2.
Associate the four RP4VM network interfaces (i.e., LAN Interface, WAN Interface, iSCSI1 Interface and iSCSI2 Interface) to
the pre-configured network instances.
The first recommendation, pre-configuring the network instances, can be automated to a certain degree by using either VMWare®
NSX™ or Cisco® Application Centric Infrastructure (Cisco ACI™). Of these two options, only Cisco ACI is currently capable of
automating the creation of all network instances. VMware NSX is currently unable to create network instances that can be utilized by
ESX vmkernel NICs.
AUDIENCE
This white paper is intended for anyone interested in using Cisco ACI to support the networking requirements for RecoverPoint for
Virtual Machines (RP4VM) version 4.2 or 4.3. Future versions of RP4VM may provide additional scale and functionality. Please refer
to the Installation and Deployment guide for the RP4VM version you are working with for further information.
ASSUMPTIONS
This white paper assumes:
1.
ESXi™ has been installed on the servers that will be used for RP4VM and that all servers have been assigned an IP Address
2.
The “VM Network” shown in the logical topology shown below has been created.
3.
VMware vCenter Server™ has been installed and all servers are being managed by a single vCenter instance.
Note: A single vCenter instance is being used for the sake of example only and is not a requirement. RP4VM 4.2 and 4.3 support up
to four vCenters per RP4VM cluster and up to three RP4VM clusters in a system.
4.
Cisco ACI has been physically installed and all leaf switches have been initialized and are visible in the APIC Fabric Topology
view.
5.
The Servers running ESX have been physically cabled to the Cisco ACI leaf switches as shown in the physical topology
diagram below.
4
TARGET TOPOLOGY
This white paper describes how to configure the following physical and logical topologies.
Physical Topology
Default Gateway:
10.246.54.1
APIC:
10.246.54.124
M
LAN 10.246.54.x
APIC (UCS 200)
L1
L2
C
Spine (Nexus 9336)
M
C
1/16
M
M
C
C
Leaf1 (Nexus 9396)
1/3
1/4
1/5
Leaf2 (Nexus 9396)
1/3
1/4
vmnic1
vmnic1
vmnic1
vmnic5
vmnic5
ESX1:
10.246.54.235
ESX2:
10.246.54.236
ESX3:
10.246.54.237
ESX1:
10.246.54.86
ESX2:
10.246.54.87
Site A (VSAN_Cluster)
Site B
(TwoNode_Cluster)
Target Topology Additional Details
The LAN network for RP4VM will be provided via the ACI uplink from Leaf2 Interface 1/16. Although not shown in this diagram, a
similar approach could be followed for the WAN link.
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Logical Topology
Site A - ESX “235”
Site B - ESX “86”
VM “Test1”
Splitter
VM Network
VMNIC2
VMNIC0
XtremIO
(VSAN_Cluster)
DS
VM Network
XtremIO
(TwoNode_Cluster)
DS
ESX iSCSI Initiator
VM “Test1.copy”
Splitter
ESX iSCSI Initiator
Vmknic4
(10.1.55.235)
PG iSCSI1
PG iSCSI2
Vmknic3
(10.1.56.235)
vRPAj1
VMNIC
1
VMNIC
5
Vmknic4
(10.1.55.86)
PG iSCSI1
PG iSCSI2
PG WAN
PG WAN
PG LAN
PG LAN
VDS “A”
VDS “B”
Vmknic3
(10.1.56.86)
vRPAk1
vNIC3 (iSCSI tgt) 10.1.55.146
vNIC3 (iSCSI tgt) 10.1.55.167
vNIC1 (LAN) 10.246.54.146
vNIC1 (LAN) 10.246.54.167
Site A - ESX “236”
VM “Test2”
Splitter
VM Network
iSCSI2 Site B
iSCSI1 Site B
LAN Site B
VM Network
vNIC0 (WAN) 10.1.54.167
WAN
vNIC2 (iSCSI tgt) 10.1.56.167
vNIC0 (WAN) 10.1.54.146
VM Network
LAN Site A
iSCSI1 Site A
iSCSI2 Site A
vNIC2 (iSCSI tgt) 10.1.56.146
VMNIC2
XtremIO
(VSAN_Cluster)
DS
Site B - ESX “87”
VMNIC0
VM Network
XtremIO
(TwoNode_Cluster)
ESX iSCSI Initiator
Splitter
ESX iSCSI Initiator
Vmknic4
(10.1.55.236)
PG iSCSI1
PG iSCSI2
Vmknic3
(10.1.56.237)
vRPAj1
DS
VM “Test2.copy”
VMNIC
1
PG WAN
VMNIC
5
PG iSCSI1
PG iSCSI2
PG WAN
PG WAN
PG LAN
VDS “A”
VDS “B”
vNIC3 (iSCSI tgt) 10.1.55.147
Vmknic4
(10.1.55.87)
Vmknic3
(10.1.56.87)
vRPAk1
vNIC3 (iSCSI tgt) 10.1.55.168
vNIC2 (iSCSI tgt) 10.1.56.147
vNIC2 (iSCSI tgt) 10.1.56.168
vNIC0 (WAN) 10.1.54.147
vNIC0 (WAN) 10.1.54.168
vNIC1 (LAN) 10.246.54.147
vNIC1 (LAN) 10.246.54.168
Logical Topology additional details
A couple of points worth noting:
•
As explained in the “Assumptions” section above, it is assumed that the VM Network shown above in red has already been
created.
•
Although there is only a single “WAN” network shown above, you will actually create 2 WAN networks in the example below
(one for Site A and another for Site B). The purpose for doing this is to provide a basic idea of how to work with contracts.
•
We are using the ESXi Software based iSCSI initiator for this example.
•
Although it is not shown in the topology diagram above, we are connecting to the EMC XtremIO® array via iSCSI and are
also making use of the ESXi software based iSCSI initiator for this purpose.
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IP Address assignment
The following IP Addresses assignments will be used.
OVERVIEW OF CONFIGURATION STEPS
1.
2.
ACI Configuration
a.
Configure Fabric
b.
Add vCenter to APIC
c.
Verify connectivity
vCenter Configuration
a.
3.
Configure the Distributed vSwitch in vcenter
Tenant (RP4VM network) Configuration
a.
Create the rp4vm Networks via APIC
b.
Modify iSCSI Port Groups to allow iSCSI via vCenter
c.
Configure vmknics and attach to iSCSI Port Groups via vCenter
d.
Install RP4VM Appliance via vCenter
DETAILED CONFIGURATION STEPS
ACI CONFIGURATION
Configure Fabric
1.
Create three switch profiles; Leaf1, Leaf2, BothLeaves
a.
Under FABRIC -> ACCESS POLICIES, expand Switch Policies and then right click Profiles and click Create
Switch Profile
b.
Provide a name (i.e., Leaf1)
c.
Click the + to add a Switch Selector
d.
i.
Provide a name (i.e., Leaf1SwSel)
ii.
Select the Leaf node ID of Leaf1 (i.e., 101)
iii.
Click UPDATE
iv.
Click NEXT
v.
Click FINISH
Repeat Steps b and c but use a name of Leaf2, a switch selector name of Leaf2SwSel and select the Leaf Node ID
of Leaf2 (i.e., 102).
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e.
Repeat Steps b and c but use a name of BothLeaves, a switch selector name of BothLeavesSwSel and select the
Leaf Node IDs of Leaf1 and Leaf2 (i.e., 101 and 102). NOTE: This step is not technically required for this
demo but Cisco recommends creating one by default.
2.
Create an Attachable Access Entity Profile for the interface connected to the LAN.
a.
Under FABRIC -> ACCESS POLICIES, expand Global Policies and then right click Attachable Access Entity
Profiles and click Create Attachable Access Entity Profile.
i.
Provide a name (i.e., ExternalNetwork)
ii.
Click the + next to Domains (VMM, etc..) and then from the Domain Profile pull down,
1.
Select “Create Physical Domain”
a.
Provide a name (i.e., Dell_Switch_Port16)
b.
Then from the VLAN Pool pull down, select “create VLAN Pool”
i.
Provide a name (i.e., UntaggedSwitch)
ii.
Select the “Dynamic Allocation” radio button
iii.
Click the + next to encap blocks
1.
Provide the starting VLAN ID (i.e., 99)
2.
Provide the ending VLAN ID (i.e., 99)
3.
iv.
c.
Click OK
Click SUBMIT
Click SUBMIT
iii.
Click UPDATE
iv.
Click NEXT and the “ASSOCIATION TO INTERFACES” dialog is displayed.
v.
Click the + under “Select the interfaces” and the “CONFIGURE INTERFACE, PC, AND VPC dialog is
displayed.
1.
In the CONFIGURED SWITCH INTERFACES section, click on “Leaf2” (because this is where our
uplink to the LAN is connected)
a.
Click on the big green plus sign to “configure switch interfaces”.
i.
In the Interfaces text field, enter 1/16 (because this is where the uplink cable is
attached). Note: refer to the target topology diagram, for more information
ii.
In the “Interface Selector Name” text field, provide a name for the Interface
Selector. Note, since the Dell_Switch is connected to this interface, name the
Interface Selector Dell_Switch_IFSel.
iii.
From the “Interface Policy Group” pull down menu, select “Create Interface
Policy Group” and the “CREATE ACCESS PORT POLICY GROUP” dialog is
displayed.
1.
Provide a name (e.g., Dell_Switch_PG)
2.
From the “Link Level Policy” pull down menu, choose “Create Link
Level Policy” and the “CREATE LINK LEVEL POLICY” dialog is displayed.
a.
Provide a name (e.g., 1G_Interface)
b.
Ensure Auto Negotiation is set to on
c.
Set the speed to 1 Gbps (since our uplink to the Dell switch is
1G)
d.
3.
b.
Click SUBMIT
Click “SUBMIT”
Click “SAVE”
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2.
Click “SAVE”
vi.
Click “SUBMIT”
vii.
Next to each “INTERFACE POLICY GROUP”, under the SELECT INTERFACES column, select the “All” radio
button.
b.
Click “FINISH”
Create a VMM Domain
1.
Under TENANTS -> mgmt, expand Tenant mgmt, expand networking and then right click Networking and select create
Bridge Domain.
a.
Enter a name (e.g., VMM_BD)
b.
Click SUBMIT
2.
Under VM NETWORKING -> POLICIES, right click VM Provider VMware and click Create vCenter Domain.
3.
In the “CREATE VCENTER DOMAIN” dialog:
a.
Enter a name (i.e., vCenter1)
b.
Ensure that the “VMWare vSphere Distributed Switch” radio button is selected.
c.
From the Associated Attachable Entity Profile pull down menu, select “Create Attachable Entity Profile”
i.
Provide a name (i.e., vCenterAEP)
ii.
Click NEXT and the “ASSOCIATION TO INTERFACES” dialog is displayed
1.
Click the + under “Select the interfaces” and the “CONFIGURE INTERFACE, PC, AND VPC dialog is
displayed.
a.
In the CONFIGURED SWITCH INTERFACES section, click on “Leaf1”
i.
Click on the big green plus sign to “configure switch interfaces”.
1.
In the Interfaces text field, since this is “Leaf1”, enter 1/3-5. Note,
refer to the target topology diagram, these are the interfaces
connected to the VSAN_Cluster.
2.
In the “Interface Selector Name” text field, provide a name for the
Interface Selector. Note, since the VSAN_Cluster is attached to these
three ports, I’m going to name the Interface Selector
VSAN_Cluster_IFSel.
3.
From the “Interface Policy Group” pull down menu, select “Create
Interface Policy Group” and the “CREATE ACCESS PORT POLICY
GROUP” dialog is displayed.
ii.
b.
a.
Provide a name (e.g., VSAN_Cluster_PG)
b.
Click “SUBMIT”
Click “SAVE”
In the CONFIGURED SWITCH INTERFACES section, click on “Leaf2”
i.
Click on the big green plus sign to “configure switch interfaces”.
1.
In the Interfaces text field, since this is “Leaf1”, enter 1/3-4. Note,
refer to the target topology diagram, these are the interfaces
connected to the TwoNode_Cluster.
2.
In the “Interface Selector Name” text field, provide a name for the
Interface Selector. Note, since the TwoNode_Cluster is attached to
these three ports, I’m going to name the Interface Selector
TwoNode_Cluster_IFSel.
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3.
From the “Interface Policy Group” pull down menu, select “Create
Interface Policy Group” and the “CREATE ACCESS PORT POLICY
GROUP” dialog is displayed.
ii.
c.
a.
Provide a name (e.g., TwoNode_Cluster_PG)
b.
Click “SUBMIT”
Click “SAVE”
Click “SAVE”
2.
Click “SUBMIT”
3.
Next to each “INTERFACE POLICY GROUP”, under the SELECT INTERFACES column, select the
“All” radio button.
4.
d.
Click “FINISH”
From the VLAN Pool pull down, select “create VLAN Pool”
i.
Provide a name (i.e., vCenterVLANPool)
ii.
Select the “Dynamic Allocation” radio button
iii.
Click the + next to encap blocks
1.
Provide the starting VLAN ID (i.e., 100)
2.
Provide the ending VLAN ID (i.e., 300)
3.
iv.
e.
f.
Click SUBMIT
Click the ‘+’ sign next to vCenter Credentials and the “CREATE VCENTER CREDENTIAL” dialog is displayed.
i.
Provide a name (i.e., admin)
ii.
Provide a username of an actual user (e.g., root) that has been configured to have administrator rights on
the vCenter instance you’ll be connecting to.
iii.
Provide the password for the user specified above (e.g., “Dangerous”).
iv.
Enter the password again
v.
Click OK.
Click the ‘+’ sign next to “vCenter/vSheild”
i.
Provide a name (e.g., vCenter1)
ii.
Provide the IP Address of the vCenter (e.g., 10.246.54.98)
iii.
Ensure that VDS Version is set to “vCenter Default”
iv.
Enter the name of the Datacenter in vCenter that you’ll want to configure (e.g., Demo)
v.
From the Management EPG, select “Create Management EPG”
1.
g.
Click OK
In the Application Profile, select “Create Application Profile Under Tenant mgmt” and the CREATE
APPLICATION PROFILE dialog is displayed.
a.
Provide a name (e.g., VMM_APP_Profile)
b.
Click SUBMIT
2.
Provide a name (e.g., VMM_EPG)
3.
From the Bridge Domain pull down menu, select VMM_BD
4.
Click Submit
vi.
From the Associated Credential pull down, select “admin” which was created earlier.
vii.
Click OK
Click Submit
Verify APIC to vCenter connectivity
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1.
Under VM NETWORKING -> INVENTORY, expand VMware, then select the VMM Domain that you just added (i.e.,
vCenter1). In the PROPERTIES window to the right, you should see your vCenter instance and it should have a state of
“Online”.
a.
Note, you can also expand the vCenter instance and then expand “Hypervisors” to see the Hypervisors that are
being managed by
Verify vCenter to APIC connectivity
After you have added the vCenter credentials to APIC and clicked submit, APIC will automatically create a VMware vSphere
Distributed Switch that can be viewed in vCenter under Home -> Networking. Note the name of the VDS is the same as the name of
the VMM Domain that I created in APIC
CONFIGURE THE DISTRIBUTED VSWITCH IN VCENTER
Before you can use the VDS created by APIC, you’ll need to perform a few configuration steps in vCenter.
1.
Click on the “vCenter1” Distributed Switch under the “vCenter-VSNCS-test” folder.
2.
Select the summary tab and then click on “Add Host” and the Select Hosts and Physical Adapters dialog is shown.
3.
Select the interfaces that are attached to the ACI leaf interfaces. Based on the Physical Topology provided above, this
would be vmnic1 on the ESX Servers in the VSAN_Cluster and vmnic5 on the ESX Servers in the TwoNode_Cluster.
4.
Click next, next, next and finish.
5.
To view the changes, select Home, Inventory, Hosts and Clusters and then select one of the hosts
6.
For each host, under the configuration tab, select Networking, vSphere Distributed Switch and you should see a Distributed
vSwitch named “vCenter1”.
7.
Notice that this newly created VDS does not have any Port Groups associated with it. When using APIC, the creation of VDS
Port Groups are controlled by APIC through the use of End Point Groups (EPGs). Basically there is a one-to-one relationship
between a VDS Port Group (visible in vCenter) and an ACI End Point Group (visible in APIC).
CREATE THE RP4VM NETWORKS VIA APIC
Before we begin the RecoverPoint for Virtual Machines (RP4VM) installation process, we’ll need to create the Networks that RP4VM
requires. As shown in the Logical Topology diagram (above), we’ll need to create 4 Networks per site. These networks are:
•
Site A – iSCSI1
•
Site A – iSCSI2
•
Site A - LAN
•
Site A – WAN
•
Site B – iSCSI1
•
Site B – iSCSI2
•
Site B - LAN
•
Site B – WAN
NOTE: We are using two different WAN networks to simulate the RP4VM instances are located in different data centers. That having
been said, you would also typically have different vCenter and APIC instances when you are configuring this in the real world.
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Each of the network instances above will be associated with an EPG created in APIC as follows.
Create VMM EPGs
The EPGs created in this section will be associated with the VMM Domain and will be visible in vCenter. In order to get the LAN
traffic to use the uplink on Leaf2 port 1/16, another EPG will need to be created and associated with a different Domain. Those steps
will be covered in the next section “Create Uplink EPG”.
1.
From APIC, Click “TENANTS” and then “ADD TENANT”
2.
In the “CREATE TENANT” dialog:
a.
provide a name (i.e., RP4VM)
b.
Select a Security Domain (i.e., all) NOTE: You would probably want to something a bit more intelligent here if this
was a real world example.
c.
Click NEXT
d.
Click the large plus sign to add a network and the “CREATE NEW NETWORK” dialog is displayed.
i.
Provide a name (i.e., RP4VM_NET)
ii.
Ensure that “Create A Bridge Domain” check box is selected
iii.
Click NEXT and the “Specify Bridge Domain for the Network” is displayed
iv.
1.
Provide a name (i.e., RP4VM_BD)
2.
Click OK
Click FINISH
3.
Ensure that the tenant “RP4VM” is selected and expand “Tenant RP4VM”
4.
Select Networking -> Bridge Domains -> RP4VM_BD
5.
a.
Set L2 Unknown Unicast to Flood. Note: This is only necessary due to a limitation with APIC and its inability to
learn vmknic MAC Addresses.
b.
Click Submit
Under Tenant RP4VM, right click Application Profiles and select “CREATE APPLICATION PROFILE”. The “CREATE
APPLICATION PROFILE” Dialog is displayed.
a.
Provide a name (i.e., RP4VM_AP)
b.
Click the ‘+’ under EPGs and the “CREATE APPLICATION EPG” dialog is displayed
c.
i.
Provide a name (i.e., SiteA_iSCSI1)
ii.
In the Bridge Domain pull down select RP4VM_BD
iii.
Click the ‘+’ sign next to “Associated Domain Profiles (VMs or bare metals)
iv.
From the Domain Profile pull down select vCenter1 and ensure that both Deployment Immediacy amd
Resolution Immediacy are set to Immediate.
v.
Click update
vi.
Click OK
Repeat step b (above) for each network required to support RP4VM (should be a total of 8 in this example). When
complete, the CREATE APPLICATION PROFILE dialog will look something like the following.
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d.
Select SiteA-WAN by single clicking on it under EPGs
e.
Click the + under Provided Contracts and the ADD PROVIDED CONTRACT dialog is displayed
f.
g.
i.
Under Name, select common/default
ii.
Click OK
Click the + under Consumed Contracts and the ADD CONSUMED CONTRACT dialog is displayed
i.
Under Name, select common/default
ii.
Click OK
Repeat steps e and f for SiteB-WAN
Note: In order for communication to be possible between two EPGs, a contract must be used. The default contract used above
allows all traffic to be passed to and from the WAN EPGs. If this were an actual deployment, you would probably want to limit the
traffic that would be allowed to pass between the two WAN EPGs. This can be done by creating a new contract.
h.
Click submit
If you go back to vCenter, you’ll notice that there are now 8 new port group associated with the vCenter1 VDS. See below for an
example of what this would look like.
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CREATE UPLINK EPG
The following steps will create and configure the EPG that will be used to allow the VMM LAN EPGs to use the uplink port on leaf 2
interface 1/16.
1.
2.
Under Tenant RP4VM > Application Profiles > RP4VM_AP, right click Application EPGs and select Create Application EPG
a.
Provide a name (i.e., LAN_Uplink)
b.
Click the ‘+’ under EPGs and the “CREATE APPLICATION EPG” dialog is displayed
i.
Provide a name (i.e., SiteA_iSCSI1)
ii.
In the Bridge Domain pull down select “RP4VM_BD”
iii.
Click the ‘+’ sign next to “Associated Domain Profiles (VMs or bare metals)
iv.
From the Domain Profile pull down select “Dell_Switch_Port16” and ensure that both Deployment
Immediacy amd Resolution Immediacy are set to Immediate.
v.
Click update
vi.
Click FINISH
Under Tenant RP4VM > Application Profiles > RP4VM_AP > Application EPGs, expand “EPG LAN_Uplink”
a.
Click Contracts
i.
From the ACTIONS pull down menu, select “Add Provided Contract” and the ADD PROVIDED CONTRACT
dialog is displayed:
1.
Under Name, select common/default
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2.
ii.
b.
3.
From the ACTIONS pull down menu, select “Add Consumed Contract” and the ADD CONSUMED
CONTRACT dialog is displayed:
1.
Under Name, select common/default
2.
Click OK
Right click “Static Bindings (Paths)” and select “Deploy Static EPG on PC, VPC, or Interface and the “DEPLOY
STATIC EPG ON PC, VPC, OR INTERFACE” dialog is displayed.
i.
Ensure the Path Type is set to “Port”
ii.
From the Path pull down menu, select leaf2 > Interface 1/16
iii.
In the Encap text area, type vlan-99
iv.
Select a Deployment Immediacy of Immediate
v.
Set the Mode to Untagged. Note: I am choosing Untagged because I am connected to a LAN segment
that uses untagged frames, you’re configuration may be different.
vi.
Click SUBMIT
Under Tenant RP4VM > Application Profiles > RP4VM_AP > Application EPGs, expand “EPG SiteA_LAN”
a.
Click Contracts
i.
ii.
4.
Click OK
From the ACTIONS pull down menu, select “Add Provided Contract” and the ADD PROVIDED CONTRACT
dialog is displayed:
1.
Under Name, select common/default
2.
Click OK
From the ACTIONS pull down menu, select “Add Consumed Contract” and the ADD CONSUMED
CONTRACT dialog is displayed:
1.
Under Name, select common/default
2.
Click OK
Under Tenant RP4VM > Application Profiles > RP4VM_AP > Application EPGs, expand “EPG SiteB_LAN”
a.
Click Contracts
i.
ii.
From the ACTIONS pull down menu, select “Add Provided Contract” and the ADD PROVIDED CONTRACT
dialog is displayed:
1.
Under Name, select common/default
2.
Click OK
From the ACTIONS pull down menu, select “Add Consumed Contract” and the ADD CONSUMED
CONTRACT dialog is displayed:
1.
Under Name, select common/default
2.
Click OK
NOTE: For some reason after following the above, the Policy Group “1G_Switch” was associated with the wrong AEP. It should have
been ExternalNetwork but was instead VMMDomain.
MODIFY ISCSI PORT GROUPS TO ALLOW ISCSI
As explained in the Logical topology details section (above), this case study uses the ESXi Software based iSCSI initiator. This iSCSI
Initiator will be used by the RP4VM splitter to communicate with the RP4VM appliance that is running on the ESX Servers (refer to
the Logical Topology diagram for more information). In order for this communication to take place, we need to bind the iSCSI
Initiator to vmknics that can be attached to the appropriate iSCSI Port Groups. The problem is the iSCSI Initiator can only be bound
to vmknics that are attached to Port Groups that have a “compliant teaming and failover policy” and Port Groups created via APIC do
not compliant. To resolve this issue, perform the following steps:
1.
In vCenter, navigate to Home -> Networking
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2.
Under the vCenter1 VDS, right click one of the iSCSI Port Groups (e.g., SiteA_iSCSI1) and choose “Edit Settings…”
3.
Click on “Teaming and Failover” and note that there are 8 Active uplinks.
4.
Move uplink2 – uplink 8 to “Unused Uplinks” by selecting them and then clicking “Move Down” until they are under “Unused
Uplinks”.
5.
Click OK
6.
Repeat for every iSCSI port group
CONFIGURE VMKNICS AND ATTACH TO ISCSI PORT GROUPS
In this step we will create two vmknics on every ESX Server and associate them with the appropriate iSCSI Port Group. The IP
Addresses defined in the IP Address assignment table (above) and provided below for ease of reference will be used.
NOTE: This white paper describes a configuration that uses a separate network (Broadcast Domain) for each of the iSCSI Networks.
This is being done for example purposes only and is not a requirement for RP4VM. Refer to the RP4VM Installation and Deployment
guide for further information.
1.
2.
Create vmknics
a.
In vCenter, navigate to Home -> Hosts and Clusters and then select the server with an IP Address of
10.246.54.235 (a.k.a Site A ESX-1).
b.
Under the Configuration tab, click Networking and then vSphere Distributed Switch.
c.
Click Manage Virtual Adapters next to “Distributed Switch: vCenter1” and the Manage Virtual Adapters dialog is
displayed.
d.
Click Add
e.
Select New virtual adapter and click Next and click Next again, this will bring you to the Connection Settings
dialog.
f.
Ensure the “Select port group” radio button is selected and then select the port group created in APIC that is
associated with the vmkernel NIC you are creating. In this case it would be the port group “SiteA_iSCSI1”.
g.
Click Next.
h.
Enter the IP Address in this case 10.1.555.235 and the Subnet Mask of 255.255.255.0.
i.
Click Next and then click Finish.
j.
Repeat the above steps for all vmknics required. In this case study there are 10.
Bind iSCSI SW initiator to the vmknics created above.
a.
In vCenter, navigate to Home -> Hosts and Clusters and then select the server with an IP Address of
10.246.54.235 (a.k.a Site A ESX-1).
b.
Under the Configuration tab, click Storage Adapters.
c.
Select the iSCSI Software Adapter and then click Properties. The iSCSI Initiator Properties dialog is displayed.
d.
Click the Network Configuration tab and then click Add.
e.
Select one of the vmknics created above and then click OK. See below for an example.
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3.
f.
Repeat steps d and e for the other vmkinc on this server
g.
Repeat the above for all ESX Servers in the environment
To verify that the APIC and ESX configurations are correct, use vmkping while in an ssh session with each ESX server to
verify that connectivity can be established between the vmknics.
INSTALL RP4VM
Once the steps above have been completed, you can install RecoverPoint for Virtual Machines as described in the “RecoverPoint for
VMs 4.2 Installation and Deployment Guide_302-001-540_02.pdf”. This white paper will not attempt to duplicate those instructions
but will instead point out the place in the installation process where you’ll see the results of the work you performed above.
During Deploy OVF Template
When you are deploying the RecoverPoint for Virtual Machines OVF Template, you’ll be prompted to map the networks defined in the
RP4VM Template to networks in your inventory (see screen shot below). You’ll note that the pull down menu contains all of the
EndPoint Groups you created in APIC and associated with the VMM Domain vCenter1.
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CONTACT US
To learn more about how EMC
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help solve your business and IT
challenges, contact your local
representative or authorized reseller,
visit www.emc.com, or explore and
compare products in the EMC Store.
EMC2, EMC, the EMC logo, EMC Connectrix are registered trademarks or trademarks of EMC
Corporation in the United States and other countries. VMware is a registered trademark or
trademark of VMware, Inc., in the United States and other jurisdictions. © Copyright 2016 EMC
Corporation. All rights reserved. Published in the USA. 01/16 Whitepaper H14760
EMC believes the information in this document is accurate as of its publication date. The
information is subject to change without notice.
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