Installing OnCommand Host Package 1.1 with existing VSC 2.1.2

[ASUNDSTROM]

We are beginning to install OnCommand Core and the Host Package.  Our current environment consists of vSphere 4.1 and FAS3240's set up in an HA pair, with a DR FAS 3240 for replication.

Currently we are using VSC 2.1.1 for Provisioning and Backups.  Our implementation of OnCommand 5 will use a separate Windows 2008 R2 x64 host for OnCommand Core and another one for the Host Package.  I have installed OC Core and configured it with our Filers, now I'm looking at installing the Host Package. And have the following questions:

1. If we are installing Host Services on a separate server from both the Core Services Server and vCenter, then does Host Package Installer try to install any components on either the vCenter Server or the Core Services Server?
   • If so, what credential does the installer use? 
   • Is the account specified in the Plug-in Service and vCenter Server Information screen, used for the installation of the plugin on vCenter or just for the operations afterwards? 
   • The documentation does not list any of the required permissions for either of the accounts that connect to vCenter or the OC Core Server.
2. Can Host Package co-exist with a previously installed\utilized Virtual Storage Console 2.1?
   • If so, during the installation it complains that VSC already exists and needs to be uninstalled. I have tried to stop the NetApp Services on the vCenter server, before the Host Package installation to get around it, but it still errs "The existing Backup and Recovery or Provisioning and Cloning operations must be un-installed in order to proceed with the installation".
   • I could select “continue if validation fails.” but if I continue, will the installation be complete?
3. Since we have VSC currently installed and running backups, are those backups going to be usable after this installation of the Host Package?
   • If I have to uninstall VSC for the complete Host Package installation, will I lose the VSC backup history?

[shivamm]

>>1.If we are installing Host Services on a separate server from both the Core Services Server and vCenter, then does Host Package Installer try to install any components on either the vCenter Server or the Core Services Server?

>>1.If so, what credential does the installer use?

the credentials used by the installer is that of your server on which you are installing your Oncommand host package.

>>2.Is the account specified in the Plug-in Service and vCenter Server Information screen, used for the installation of the plugin on vCenter or just for the operations afterwards?

whwn you install OnCommand Host Package 1.1 , there is a pluginb information wizard which asks for the IP of the host where you want to install your plugin,

it can be your local host also or the vcenter host , this plugin information is required by hostpackage to communicate with vcenter for afterwards operation , depending on what IP information you give your plugin will be installed accordingly on that host, usually installing plugin on the server where you are installing your host package is preferred. so probably you can give the IP of your local host server.

>>3.The documentation does not list any of the required permissions for either of the accounts that connect to vCenter or the OC Core Server.

having an administrator account is what is required otherwise you may face an error while install and it will prompt you for the administrative account, so better install with administrative account.

>>>Can Host Package co-exist with a previously installed\utilized Virtual Storage Console 2.1?

coexistence do exist with hostPackage and previously installed VSC 2.1.1 ,see the below two answers inline.

• >>If so, during the installation it complains that VSC already exists and needs to be uninstalled. I have tried to stop the NetApp Services on the vCenter server, before the Host Package installation to get around it, but it still errs "The existing Backup and Recovery or Provisioning and Cloning operations must be un-installed in order to proceed with the installation".

the answer to this question is that Hostpackage and VSC2.1.1 co exist given you install the plugins of both on the same server ,if you try to install Host Package plugin on a different server then you will get this error message so to avoid it make sure your plugin IP of your Host Package and VSC remains same,in short you need to install the plugins of both on  the same machine which is preferably the vcenter server machine.

>>I could select “continue if validation fails.” but if I continue, will the installation be complete?

if you are able to continue then installation will succeed for sure but then you will not be able to use the host service backup and recovery capabilities.

>>3.Since we have VSC currently installed and running backups, are those backups going to be usable after this installation of the Host Package? If I have to uninstall VSC for the complete Host Package installation, will I lose the VSC backup history?

when you do VSC backups they exist on the netapp disk,the thing is how will you restore it once you uninstall VSC, so the best thing is you install the plugin of hostpackage and VSC on the same machine ,then you can install HP and use it without any issues and also you will be able to use your VSC backups also , so no need to uninstall VSC which is what we recommend.

the only issue which comes when you try to install HP plugin on a different machine which you can avoid by giving the IP of VSC machine while install and things will go good for you.

let me know if you have anymore queries.

[ASUNDSTROM]

Thank you for your responses Shivamm.

Here are some follow up questions that I have:

>>1.If so, what credential does the installer use?

"the credentials used by the installer is that of your server on which you are installing your Oncommand host package."

• I'm confused by your response on this.  In a Windows AD domain, you can have a computer account authenticate to another server.  Is this what you are talking about?  I don't think it is, but it is what you stated.  If it is the computer account, then I guess I'll have to add the computer account to the Administrators group, according to your response on Question 1.3.
• Are the credentials that are used for the installation of the plugin to the remote vCenter server, the credentials provided to the Installation Screen "Plug-in Service and vCenter Server Information" or the AD computer account?  From what I can initially tell, the credentials that are provided to the installation screen, authenticate to vCenter during the validation process I mentioned in question 2.2.
• Or are the credentials used for the installation, the credentials that I'm currently logged in under during the installation on the Host Package Server, which is a separate server from the vCenter server, so would it be using pass-thru authentication.

>>2.Is the account specified in the Plug-in Service and vCenter Server Information screen, used for the installation of the plugin on vCenter or just for the operations afterwards?

"when you install OnCommand Host Package 1.1 , there is a plugin information wizard which asks for the IP of the host where you want to install your plugin, it can be your local host also or the vcenter host, this plugin information is required by hostpackage to communicate with vcenter for afterwards operation, depending on what IP information you give your plugin will be installed accordingly on that host, usually installing plugin on the server where you are installing your host package is preferred. so probably you can give the IP of your local host server."

• So I had planned to install the Host Package on a separate server from the vCenter server, so for this screen, I provided the local IP address for the Plugin Installation, which would install the Plugin on the same server as the Host Package.

Second response to question 3:

"the answer to this question is that Hostpackage and VSC2.1.1 co exist given you install the plugins of both on the same server ,if you try to install Host Package plugin on a different server then you will get this error message so to avoid it make sure your plugin IP of your Host Package and VSC remains same,in short you need to install the plugins of both on  the same machine which is preferably the vcenter server machine.

the only issue which comes when you try to install HP plugin on a different machine which you can avoid by giving the IP of VSC machine while install and things will go good for you."

• If I understand your recommendations on question 2 and 3: for me, the only way to have the existing VSC2.1.2 coexist with HostPackage, is to install HostPackage and the plugins directly to the vCenter Server, where (in my case) the previously installed VSC is located?

New questions in response to your answers:

1. Can VSC be installed on a separate host from vCenter? If so, then would I be able to:
   • Uninstall VSC from the vCenter Server
   • Install all HostPackage and VSC components on a new separate server from vCenter and be able to utilize the functionality in VSC and HostPackage.
   • Although in this approach, I would lose the ability to restore previous VSC backups using the new installation of VSC.
   • I'm just concerned that installing VSC, HostPackage on vCenter may be too resource intensive too perform well.
2. Currently we have vSphere 4.1, shortly we will upgrade to vSphere 5.  I saw that there are some "gotchas" surrounding NFS datastores, but didn't notice any for FC Datastores. We don't currently utilize any NFS datastores.  Should we expect any issues if we install the HostPackage now while on vSphere4.1 then upgrade to vSphere5 later?

[shivamm]

>>If so, what credential does the installer use?

i want to explain you this point clearly based on your questions,

when you give the credentials ,one credential is for the account information, this you give as your host credentials which are server credentials where you install your HostPackage.

the other credentials which you need to enter is your vcenter information in the HP wizard where vcenter information is asked, this credential information is for the vcenter machine credential which includes vcenter IP and account information of vcenter server which you need to provide .

you dont have to add anything anywhere ,its not that much complicated dont worry. and hope this clears your confusion.

see my answers inline.

'>>>1. Can VSC be installed on a separate host from vCenter?

VSC can always be installed on separate host from vcenter server , you just have to register that VSC with vcenter once you are done and also

If so, then would I be able to:

• Uninstall VSC from the vCenter Server

>>you can uninstall VSC from vcenter and install on different host but then you will lose your backups.

• Install all HostPackage and VSC components on a new separate server from vCenter and be able to utilize the functionality in VSC and HostPackage.

>>make sure if you do this the plugin IP remains same for both otherwise you will hit the issue as we had discussed earlier.

• Although in this approach, I would lose the ability to restore previous VSC backups using the new installation of VSC.

>>yes you will lose backups

follow the below steps to register VSC when you install VSC on a  host different from vcenter server

1. If the registration Web page does not open automatically, point a Web browser to the following

URL:

https://localhost:8143/Register.html

<<<If you use a different computer from the one where you installed VSC, replace localhost with

the hostname or IP address of the computer where you installed VSC.>>

If a security certificate warning appears, choose the option to ignore it or to continue to the Web

site.

2. In the Plugin service information section, select the IP address the vCenter Server uses to access

VSC.

This IP address must be accessible from the vCenter Server. If you installed VSC on the vCenter

Server computer, this might be the same address as you use to access the vCenter Server. IPv6

addresses are not currently supported.

3. Type the host name or IP address of the vCenter Server and the administrative credentials for the

vCenter Server.

4. Click Register to complete the registration.

Note: A registration failed error message displays if you type the incorrect user credentials for

the vCenter Server.

Note: You should close the registration page after you complete the registration process

because the Web page is not automatically refreshed.

>>I'm just concerned that installing VSC, HostPackage on vCenter may be too resource intensive too perform well.

that is obvious running multiple applications at the same machine will be resource intensive but if you have a good machine config this performance hinderance will not be affecting much.

but you can always different machines to install VSC and HP 1.1 to improve performance.

>>>Currently we have vSphere 4.1, shortly we will upgrade to vSphere 5.  I saw that there are some "gotchas" surrounding NFS datastores, but didn't notice any for FC Datastores. We don't currently utilize any NFS datastores.  Should we expect any issues if we install the HostPackage now while on vSphere4.1 then upgrade to vSphere5 later?

i need to confirm this point because i have not personally done this scenario but will update you soon.

just let me know if you need any more clarifications wrt to the above answers.

[ASUNDSTROM]

What is the recommended architecture for the HostPackage 1.1, vCenter and VSC 2.1.2?  Is it that all three packages should be installed on the same server, the vCenter Server, if the resources are available?

[arunchak]

Hi,

HostPackage is independent of VSC. However they can co-exist. Its not mandatory that they should be installed on the vCenter Server. can be installed on different servers as well.

Thanks,

  Arun

[ASUNDSTROM]

Thanks for the reply Arunchak.

What I'm looking for is the NetApp recommended approach.  I understand that the components are fairly versatile, but what is the best architecture for integrating vCenter, VSC and OnCommand Host Package. 

Are there any caveats to installing both the OnCommand Host Package and VSC on a server that is not the vCenter Server?

It seems that there are caveats when installing the OnCommand Host Package on one server when VSC is already installed on the vCenter server.  For instance the scenario that I ran into above, along with the ability of using a shared "Locks" directory.

shivamm stated "the answer to this question is that Hostpackage and VSC2.1.1 co exist given you install the plugins of both on the same server ,if you try to install Host Package plugin on a different server then you will get this error message so to avoid it make sure your plugin IP of your Host Package and VSC remains same,in short you need to install the plugins of both on the same machine which is preferably the vcenter server machine."

[arunchak]

>>Are there any caveats to installing both the OnCommand Host Package and VSC on a server that is not the vCenter Server?

There is no cavets, ensure that the servers are DNS resolvable.

>>Are there any caveats to installing both the OnCommand Host Package and VSC on a server that is not the vCenter Server?

The extension found and you have to uninstall VSC was an issue in HP1.1, will find out if we have a beta build released which addresses this issue and get back.

You can use shivams method now as it could act as a workaround for your problem until the HP build with  the fix is available.

Thanks,

   Arun

[ASUNDSTROM]

For clarity, I'm guessing that you were meaning to answer the following two questions.

>>Are there any caveats to installing both the OnCommand Host Package and VSC on a server that is not the vCenter Server?

There is no cavets, ensure that the servers are DNS resolvable.

>>Are there any caveats to installing the OnCommand Host Package on a separate new server when VSC has been previously installed on the vCenter Server?

The extension found and you have to uninstall VSC was an issue in HP1.1, will find out if we have a beta build released which addresses this issue and get back.

Thank you for your input.

[arunchak]

You are right.

[GARDINEC_EBRD]

Sorry to re-visit an old thread, but having read through I'm wondering if it should be possible to run VSC and OCHP 1.1 on the same host (the vcenter server) with VSC version 4.0 as opposed to 2.x?  I've tried it here, but I get the following issue during the host package install:

I've checked that the IP address for vcenter is correct, and the hostname blanked out above is also correct.

Does anyone know if this should work? 

Thanks,

Craig

[ASUNDSTROM]

Yes it should work, what we have found was that we had to back up the VSC repository, uninstall VSC before installing OCHP 1.1., install OCHP, reinstall VSC and restore the repository.

Abe Sundstrom

[kryan]

I recommend that you use OCHP 1.2 as it can be installed without needing to remove VSC.  However, using OCHP 1.2 entails using OnCommand Unified Manager Core 5.1.

[RTWILLIAMSON]

Can anyone share experiences with running OCHP 1.2 with OCCS 5.1?  This would be preferrable rather than uninstalling VSC 2.1.2, installing OCHP 1.1, then reinstalling VSC and restoring backup metadata.

[arunchak]

The "extensions have been detected" issue was resolved in OCHP 1.2. But as said earlier you might need to have core package 5.1 with it.