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StarWind Virtual SAN® HyperConverged 2-Node Scenario with Hyper-V Cluster on Windows Server 2012R2 MARCH 2018

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StarWind Virtual SAN® HyperConverged 2-Node Scenario with Hyper-V Cluster on Windows Server 2012R2

Trademarks “StarWind”, “StarWind Software” and the StarWind and the StarWind Software logos are registered trademarks of StarWind Software. “StarWind LSFS” is a trademark of StarWind Software which may be registered in some jurisdictions. All other trademarks are owned by their respective owners.

Changes The material in this document is for information only and is subject to change without notice. While reasonable efforts have been made in the preparation of this document to assure its accuracy, StarWind Software assumes no liability resulting from errors or omissions in this document, or from the use of the information contained herein. StarWind Software reserves the right to make changes in the product design without reservation and without notification to its users.

Technical Support and Services If you have questions about installing or using this software, check this and other documents first - you will find answers to most of your questions on the Technical Papers webpage or in StarWind Forum. If you need further assistance, please contact us.

About StarWind StarWind is a pioneer in virtualization and a company that participated in the development of this technology from its earliest days. Now the company is among the leading vendors of software and hardware hyperconverged solutions. The company’s core product is the years-proven StarWind Virtual SAN, which allows SMB and ROBO to benefit from cost-efficient HyperConverged IT infrastructure. Having earned a reputation of reliability, StarWind created a hardware product line and is actively tapping into HyperConverged and storage appliances market. In 2016, Gartner named StarWind “Cool Vendor for Compute Platforms” following the success and popularity of StarWind HyperConverged Appliance. StarWind partners with world-known companies: Microsoft, VMware, Veeam, Intel, Dell, Mellanox, Citrix, Western Digital, etc.

Copyright ©2009-2018 StarWind Software Inc. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written consent of StarWind Software.

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Contents

Introduction ....................................................................................................................................... 4

Preconfiguring the Servers ............................................................................................................. 5

Enabling Multipath Support ........................................................................................................... 7

Downloading, Installing, and Registering the Software ........................................................... 8

Configuring Shared Storage ......................................................................................................... 15

Discovering Target Portals ........................................................................................................... 28

Connecting Targets ........................................................................................................................ 33

Configuring Multipath .................................................................................................................... 39

Connecting Disks to Servers ........................................................................................................ 43

Creating a Cluster ........................................................................................................................... 48

Adding Storage to the Cluster ..................................................................................................... 53

Configuring Cluster Network Preferences ................................................................................ 58

Post-Configuration Tasks .............................................................................................................. 60

Conclusion ....................................................................................................................................... 61

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Introduction

StarWind Virtual SAN® is a native Windows hypervisor-centric hardware-less VM storage solution. It creates a fully fault-tolerant and high performing storage pool built for the virtualization workloads by mirroring existing server’s storage and RAM between the participating storage cluster nodes. The mirrored storage resource is then connected to all cluster nodes and treated just as local storage by all hypervisors and clustered applications. High Availability is achieved by providing multipath access to all storage nodes. StarWind Virtual SAN delivers supreme performance compared to any dedicated SAN solution since it runs locally on the hypervisor and all I/O is processed by local RAM, SSD cache, and disks. This way it never gets bottlenecked by storage fabric. This guide is intended for experienced Windows Server users or system administrators. It provides the detailed instructions on how to set up a 2-node HyperConverged scenario with Hyper-V Cluster on Windows Server 2012R2 with StarWind Virtual SAN as a storage provider.

A full set of up-to-date technical documentation can always be found here, or by pressing the Help button in the StarWind Management Console. For any technical inquiries please visit our online community, Frequently Asked Questions page, or use the support form to contact our technical support department.

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Preconfiguring the Servers

The configuration network diagram is provided below:

NOTE: Additional network connections may be necessary, depending on the cluster setup and applications requirements. For any technical help with configuring the additional networks, please contact StarWind support department via online community forum or via support form (depends on your support plan). 1. Make sure you have a domain controller, and the servers are added to the domain.

2. Install Failover Clustering and Multipath I/O features, as well as the Hyper-V role on

both servers. This can be done through the Server Manager (Add Roles and Features) menu item.

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3. Configure network interfaces on each node to make sure that Synchronization and iSCSI/StarWind heartbeat interfaces are in different subnets and connected according to the network diagram above. In this document, 172.16.10.x subnet is used for iSCSI/StarWind heartbeat traffic, while 172.16.20.x subnet is used for the Synchronization traffic.

4. In order to allow iSCSI Initiators to discover all StarWind Virtual SAN interfaces, the StarWind configuration file (StarWind.cfg) should be changed after stopping the StarWind service on the node where it will be edited. Locate the StarWind Virtual SAN configuration file (the default path is “C:\Program Files\StarWind Software\StarWind\StarWind.cfg”) and open it via WordPad as Administrator. Find the <iScsiDiscoveryListInterfaces value=”0”/> string and change the value from 0 to 1 (should look as follows: <iScsiDiscoveryListInterfaces value=”1”/>). Save the changes and exit Wordpad. Once StarWind.cfg is changed and saved, the StarWind service can be restarted.

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Enabling Multipath Support

5. Open the MPIO Properties manager: Start -> Windows Administrative Tools -> MPIO. Alternatively, run the following PowerShell command:

mpiocpl

6. In the Discover Multi-Paths tab, choose the Add support for iSCSI devices checkbox

and click Add.

7. When prompted to restart the server, click Yes to proceed.

NOTE: Repeat the procedure on the other server.

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Downloading, Installing, and Registering the Software

8. Download the StarWind setup executable file from the StarWind website: https://www.starwind.com/registration-starwind-virtual-san

NOTE: The setup file is the same for x86 and x64 systems, as well as for all Virtual SAN deployment scenarios.

Launch the downloaded setup file on the server to install StarWind Virtual SAN or one of its components. The Setup wizard will appear. Read and accept the License Agreement.

Click Next to continue

https://www.starwind.com/registration-starwind-virtual-san

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9. Carefully read the information about the new features and improvements. Red text indicates warnings for users who are updating the existing software installations.

Click Next to continue.

10. Select Browse to modify the installation path if necessary. Click Next to continue.

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11. Select the following components for the minimum setup:

• StarWind Virtual SAN Service. StarWind service is the “core” of the software. It can create iSCSI targets as well as share virtual and physical devices. The service can be managed from StarWind Management Console on any Windows computer or VSA that is on the same network. Alternatively, the service can be managed from StarWind Web Console deployed separately.

• StarWind Management Console. Management Console is the Graphic User Interface (GUI) part of the software that controls and monitors all storage-related operations (e.g., allows users to create targets and devices on StarWind Virtual SAN servers connected to the network).


https://www.starwindsoftware.com/resource-library/starwind-management-console-thin-client-configuration-guide

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12. Specify Start Menu Folder. Click Next to continue.

13. If a desktop icon needs to be created, enable the corresponding checkbox. Click Next to

continue.

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14. When the license key prompt appears, choose the appropriate option:

• Request time-limited fully functional evaluation key. • Request FREE version key. • Select the previously purchased commercial license key.


15. Click Browse to locate the license file. Press Next to continue.

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16. Review the licensing information. Click Next to continue.

17. Verify the installation settings. Click Back to make any changes. Press Install to proceed with the installation.

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18. Enable the appropriate checkbox to launch StarWind Management Console right after the setup wizard is closed. Click Finish to close the wizard.

19. Repeat the installation steps on the partner node. NOTE: To manage StarWind Virtual SAN installed on a Windows Server Core edition with no GUI, StarWind Management Console should be installed on a different computer running the GUI-enabled Windows edition.

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Configuring Shared Storage

20. Double-click the StarWind tray icon to launch StarWind Management Console. NOTE: StarWind Management Console cannot be installed on an operating system without GUI. It can be installed on any GUI-enabled Windows edition including Windows desktop versions.

If the StarWind VSAN service and StarWind Management Console are installed on the same server, Management Console will automatically add the local StarWind VSAN instance to the console tree after the first launch. Then, StarWind Management Console automatically connects to it using the default credentials. To add the remote StarWind VSAN servers to the console, use the Add Server button on the control panel.

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21. StarWind Management Console will ask to specify the default storage pool on the server it connects to for the first time. Configure the default storage pool to use one of the volumes that have been prepared previously. All devices created through the Add Device wizard will be stored on it. In case an alternative storage path is required for StarWind virtual disks, use the Add Device (advanced) menu item.

Press the Yes button to configure the storage pool. If the storage pool destination needs to be changed, press Choose path… and point the browser to the necessary disk.

NOTE: Any of the arrays which will be used by StarWind Virtual SAN to store virtual disk images should meet the following requirements: • Initialized as GPT. • Have a single NTFS-formatted partition. • Have a drive letter assigned.

The steps below cover the procedure of an HA device creation for the Witness drive. Other devices should be created the same way.

22. Right-click on the Servers field and click on the Add Server button. Add a new StarWind

Server which will be used as the second StarWind VSAN node.

23. Select the StarWind server where the device needs to be created and press the Add Device (advanced) button on the toolbar.

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24. Add Device Wizard will appear. Select Hard Disk Device and click Next.

25. Select Virtual Disk and click Next.

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26. Specify the virtual disk location, name, and size. Click Next.

27. Specify the virtual disk options and click Next.

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28. Define the caching policy and specify the cache size (in GB). Click Next to continue.

NOTE: It is recommended to assign 1 GB of L1 cache in Write-Back or Write-Through mode per 1 TB of storage capacity. Yet, the cache size should correspond to the storage working set of the servers.

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29. Define Flash Cache Parameters and size if necessary. Choose the SSD location in the wizard. Press Next.

NOTE: The recommended size of the L2 cache is 10% of the initial StarWind device capacity.

30. Specify the target parameters. Enable the Target Name checkbox to customize the target name. Otherwise, the name will be generated automatically based on the target alias. Click Next.

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31. Click Create to add a new device and attach it to the target. Then click Close.

32. Right-click on the newly created device and select Replication Manager. The Replication Manager window will appear. Press the Add Replica button.

33. Select Synchronous two-way replication. Click Next to proceed.

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34. Specify the partner server IP address. The default StarWind management port is 3261. If a different port has been configured, type it in the Port Number field. Click Next to continue.

35. Select the failover strategy for the HA device. For the purposes of this document, the Heartbeat failover strategy is used. Click Next to continue.

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36. Choose Create new Partner Device. Click Next.

37. Specify the partner device location if necessary and/or modify the target name of the device. Click Next.

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38. Select the synchronization and heartbeat networks for the HA device by clicking Change Network Settings.

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39. Specify the interfaces for synchronization and heartbeat. Press OK. Then click Next. NOTE: It is recommended to configure the Heartbeat and iSCSI channels on the same interfaces to avoid the split-brain issue. If the Synchronization and Heartbeat interfaces are located on the same network adapter, it is recommended to assign one more Heartbeat interface to the separate adapter.

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40. Select Synchronize from existing Device for the partner device initialization mode. Click Next.

41. Press the Create Replica button. Then click Close.

42. The added device will appear in StarWind Management Console.

Repeat HA device creation steps for any virtual disks that will be further used as a Cluster Shared Volumes.

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Once all devices are created, Management Console should look as demonstrated on the screenshot below.

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Discovering Target Portals

This part describes how to discover Target Portals on each StarWind node. 43. Launch Microsoft iSCSI Initiator: Start -> Windows Administrative Tools -> iSCSI

Initiator. Alternatively, launch it using the command below in the command line interface: iscsicpl

44. Navigate to the Discovery tab.

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45. Click on the Discover Portal button. The Discover Target Portal dialog appears. Type 127.0.0.1.

46. Click on the Advanced button. Select Microsoft iSCSI Initiator as a Local adapter and

select Initiator IP (leave default for 127.0.0.1). Confirm the actions to complete the Target Portal discovery.

47. Click the Discover Portal… button.

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48. In Discover Target Portal dialog, type in the iSCSI interface IP address of the partner node that will be used to connect the StarWind-provisioned targets. Click Advanced.

49. Select Microsoft iSCSI Initiator as the Local adapter, select the Initiator IP in the same subnet as the IP address of the partner server from the previous step. Confirm the actions to complete the Target Portal discovery.

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50. Now, all target portals are added on the first node.

51. Go through Discovery Target Portal steps on the partner node.

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52. The resulting Discovery tab on the partner node will look as shown on the screenshot below.

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Connecting Targets

53. Click on the Targets tab. The previously created targets are listed in the Discovered Targets section.

NOTE: If the created targets are not listed, check the firewall settings of the StarWind Server as well as the list of networks served by the StarWind Server (go to StarWind Management Console -> Configuration -> Network). Alternatively, check the Access Rights tab on the corresponding StarWind VSAN server in StarWind Management Console for any restrictions implemented.

54. Select the Witness target from the local server and click Connect.

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55. Enable the checkboxes as in the image below. Click Advanced.

56. Select Microsoft iSCSI Initiator in the Local adapter dropdown menu. In Target portal IP, select 127.0.0.1. Confirm the actions.

NOTE: It is recommended to connect the Witness device only by loopback (127.0.0.1) address. Do not connect the target to the Witness device from the partner StarWind node.

57. Select the CSV1 target discovered from the local server and click Connect.

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59. Select Microsoft iSCSI Initiator in the Local adapter dropdown menu. In Target portal IP, select 127.0.0.1. Confirm the actions.

60. Select the partner target from the other StarWind node and click Connect.

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62. Select Microsoft iSCSI Initiator in the Local adapter dropdown menu. In the Initiator IP field, select the IP address for iSCSI channel. In the Target portal IP, select the corresponding portal IP from the same subnet. Confirm the actions.

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63. Repeat the steps above for all remaining HA device targets. The result should look as shown in the screenshot below.

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64. Repeat the steps described in this part on the other StarWind node, specifying corresponding local and data channel IP addresses. The result should look as demonstrated in the screenshot below.

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Configuring Multipath

NOTE: It is recommended to configure the different MPIO policies depending on the iSCSI channel throughput. For 1 Gbps iSCSI channel throughput, it is recommended to set Failover Only or Least Queue Depth MPIO load balancing policy. For 10 Gbps iSCSI channel throughput, it is recommended to set Round Robin or Least Queue Depth MPIO load balancing policy. 65. Configure the MPIO policy for each target except Witness with the load balance policy of

choice. Select the target located on the local server and click Devices.

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66. In the Devices dialog, click MPIO.

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67. Select the appropriate load balancing policy.

68. For the Witness target, set the load balance policy to Failover Only.

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69. Repeat the steps above for configuring the MPIO policy for each remaining device on the current node and on the partner node.

NOTE: In case the Failover Only MPIO policy is used, make sure that the local path (127.0.0.1) is set to Active, while the partner connection is set to Standby.

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Connecting Disks to Servers

70. Open the Disk Management snap-in. The StarWind disks will appear as unallocated and will be offline.

71. Bring the disks online by right-clicking on them and selecting the Online menu option.

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72. Select a disk other than Witness (check the disk size to make a proper choice) and right-click on it to initialize.

73. By default, the system will offer to initialize all non-initialized disks. Use the Select Disks area to choose the disks. Select GPT (GUID Partition Style) as the partition style to be applied to the disks. Press OK to confirm.

74. Right-click the selected disk and choose New Simple Volume.

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75. In New Simple Volume Wizard, indicate the volume size. Click on the Next button.

76. Assign a drive letter to the disk. Click Next.

77. Select NTFS in the File System dropdown menu. Keep the Allocation unit size as Default. Set the Volume Label of choice. Click Next.

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78. Press Finish to complete the operation. 79. Complete the steps above for the Witness disk. Do not assign any drive letter or drive

path for it.

80. On the partner node, open the Disk Management snap-in. All StarWind disks will appear offline. If the status is different from the one shown in the screenshot below, click Refresh under Action in the top menu to update the information about the disks.

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81. Bring all StarWind disks online as described above.

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Creating a Cluster

NOTE: To avoid issues during the cluster configuration validation, it is recommended to install the latest Microsoft updates on each node. 82. Open Server Manager. Select the Failover Cluster Manager item from the Tools

menu.

83. Click the Create Cluster link in the Actions section of the Failover Cluster Manager.

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84. Specify the servers to be added to the cluster. Click Next to continue.

85. Validate the configuration by passing the cluster validation tests: select Yes… and click

Next to continue.

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86. Specify the cluster name.

NOTE: If the cluster servers get IP addresses over DHCP, the cluster also gets its IP address over DHCP, though this scenario is not advisable. If the IP addresses are set statically, it is required to set the cluster IP address manually. Click Next to continue.

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87. Make sure that all settings are correct. Click Previous to make any changes. Click Next to proceed.

NOTE: If the Add all eligible storage to the cluster checkbox is enabled, the wizard will try to add all disks to the cluster automatically. The smallest device will be assigned as the cluster witness disk. It is recommended to unmark this checkbox before clicking Next and assign the cluster witness disk later manually.

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88. Upon the cluster creation completion, the system displays a report with the detailed information that can be viewed by clicking the View Report button. Alternatively, click Finish to close the wizard.

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Adding Storage to the Cluster

Follow the steps below to add the Cluster Shared Volumes (CSV) that are necessary for working with Hyper-V virtual machines.

89. In the Failover Cluster Manager, go to Cluster -> Storage -> Disks. Click Add Disk in

the Actions panel, choose StarWind disks from the list, and confirm the selection.

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90. To configure the cluster witness disk, right-click on Cluster and proceed to More Actions -> Configure Cluster Quorum Settings.

91. Follow the wizard and use the Select the quorum witness option. Click Next.

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92. Select Configure a disk witness. Click Next.

93. Select the Witness disk to be assigned as the cluster witness disk. Click Next and press

Finish to complete the operation.

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94. In Failover Cluster Manager, select a disk. Right-click on it and select Add to Cluster Shared Volumes.

95. If renaming of the cluster shared volume is required, right-click on the disk and select

Properties. Type the new name of the disk and click Apply followed by OK.

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96. Perform the steps above for any other disk in Failover Cluster Manager. The resulting list of disks will look as shown in the screenshot below.

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Configuring Cluster Network Preferences

97. In the Networks section of the Failover Cluster Manager, right-click on the network from the list. Set its new name if required to identify the network by its subnet. Apply the change and press OK.

NOTE: Do not allow cluster network communication on either iSCSI or synchronization network.

98. Rename other networks as described above, if required.

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99. In the Actions tab, click Live Migration Settings. Uncheck the synchronization network. Allow the iSCSI network only if it is 10+ Gbps. Apply the changes and click OK.

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Post-Configuration Tasks

100. Once the disks are added to the cluster shared volumes and the network preferences are set, highly available virtual machines can be created on the cluster shared volumes. Select Roles and in the Action tab, click Virtual Machines -> New Virtual Machine. Complete the wizard.

NOTE: to avoid the unnecessary CSV overhead, configure each CSV to be owned by the different cluster node. This node should also be the preferred owner of the VMs running on that CSV.

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Conclusion

The Windows Failover Cluster will increase the availability of services or applications running in it, as well as exclude the downtime during maintenance. In case of any additional questions, visit the StarWind Support Forum.

https://www.starwindsoftware.com/support-form

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