Wednesday 18 June 2014

HP CloudSystem 8.0

Well,

I thought I'd give HP CloudSystem 8.0 a spin. I downloaded all Zip Files
https://h20392.www2.hp.com/portal/swdepot/displayProductInfo.do?productNumber=Z7550-63212
(Needs a HP Web / Passport Account)

Next I got hold of the install documentation:
http://www.hp.com/go/cloudsystem/docs

Extract all the Zip Files. I'm using VMware so I'll end up with the following:

Folder:
HP_CloudSystem_Enterprise_ESX_8.0_Mar_2014_Z7550-01323
File:
CS-Enterprise-8.0.0.20.ova

Folder:
HP_CloudSystem_Foundation_ESX_8.02_May_2014_Z7550-01430
File:
CS-Base-8.0.2.0.ova
CS-NN-8.0.2.0.ova
CS-SDN-8.0.2.0.ova

HP_CloudSystem_Tools_8.0_Mar_2014_Z7550-01325
extract csstart-windows.zip to a subfolder

Now you're ready to start deploying!

Connect to vCenter with the C# client (there are bugs with some of the web client versions and importing OVFs). Import the four ova's above to a new VM Folder to group them. Ensure they are named as follows as the script we run later won't work otherwise. Check the "0" and "." placement in particular.

CS-Base-8.0.0.20
CS-Enterprise-8.0.0.20
CS-NN-8.0.0.20
CS-SDN-8.0.0.20


Before you mark them as templates (This step may not be needed), determine what memory you have available on your test system and reduce the hardware accordingly. It will automatically reduce the vCPU requirement for the Base OVA from 8 to 4 but it also looks for 32Gb Ram! I've reduced mine to 8Gb and it seemed to survive. Mark all 4 as templates.

Next open a administrative command prompt on the system where the castart-windows.zip was extracted to. Browse to this folder and execute the following command:

csstart gui --start-browser --insecure


This will start locally hosted web page you use to commence the initial setup.




Create the following Port Groups in your ESXi environment:

cloud-mgmt
dc-mgmt
Cloud-Trunk
External


Run through the setup wizard step by step. I tried using the standalone Host name instead of a cluster but it kept rejecting it with an error. I used 10.0.0.0/24 as the network. I selected 50GB for my glint store as I don't have much free. After encountering an error I created a basic Cluster with no DRS/HA and put my Host into it and after adjusting the memory of the base VM it could clone and power up the next set of VMs. I used the name ca1.lab.local as my base server.
Tip: ensure your PC can resolve the DNS name, I had to edit my HOSTS file to fix this. You should end up with the following VMs which form the Foundation level solution:


 
 










The Logon page looks like this:


Update: I'm still missing something. Getting the following error and it deletes the additional VMs:








Hmmm...checked networking and they are getting a DHCP lease off my Domain Controller instead of the Base VM. Turned off DHCP on my DC and rebooted the 4 sub VMs just generated and the wizard finished fine! I just need to find a 3PAR now...!

You can get more activity information in this location (I couldn't find it earlier!):














You can now see the errors encountered earlier:




































Next extract the OO Central file to your workstation:
HP_CloudSystem_OO_Studio_8.0_Mar_2014_Z7550-01319.zip

Run the OO-installer.exe as administrator, Click Next on all the Defaults EXCEPT don't select any of the content packs at this time.


Extract the OO-studio-upgrade.zip to a subfolder and cut and paste the Upgrade subfolder into C:\Program Files\Hewlett-Packard\HP Operations Orchestration

Open a command prompt as administrator and change into the directory C:\Program Files\Hewlett-Packard\HP Operations Orchestration\Upgrade\10.02\bin
Ensure OO Studio is closed and run the command "apply-upgrade.bat" from this folder





Then register your vCenter under Integrated Tools section:



















To Launch the OO Studio make sure you execute the shortcut below as Administrator & Import the content packs from the extracted folder you unzipped to earlier:





The next step is to deploy the Enterprise components. Switch to the Enterprise section in the portal:




















Then step through the wizard giving assigning the name and ip to the appliance. Ensure DNS works for it first! The final VM is spun up. This one is big - it gave itself 4 vCPU & 16Gb of RAM when the template shows half that! Hungry thing!