Clusters that are already in production can be expanded with the addition of one or more CBox(es) and/or DBox(es) . CBoxes add more compute service, while DBox add more storage.
Depending on your application workload, your data needs, and the performance you are experiencing, the addition of either or both CBoxes and DBoxes may be beneficial. Always consult with VAST Data to determine the best course of action for you.
After consulting your sales engineer, ordering and receiving new CBoxes and/or DBoxes, follow the subsequent sections on this page to expand your cluster.
After expanding the cluster, you might find it beneficial to enable DBox HA or perform a rewrite for storage efficiency.
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Unused switch ports available for connecting the new CNodes and DNodes.
Please consult your VAST Data sales engineer for help designating switch ports and ensuring that they are configured with the correct port designations for CNodes and/or DNodes as required.
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Rack space and PSUs available for the new CBoxes and DBoxes.
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New CBox(es) and/or DBox(es) ordered for the expansion, with rail mount kits, power cables, and network cables for connecting each CNode and DNode to the cluster's switches.
Management Subnet and Gateway |
Verify the subnet and gateway that was supplied during cluster installation for the cluster's CNode and DNode management IPs. You will need to supply the same subnet and gateway for the management IPs of the new CNodes and/or DNodes. |
DNode, CNode Management External IPs |
Establish unused external management IPs on the management subnet to allocate to each new CNode and/or DNode. To check the external management IPs in use on the other CNodes and DNodes in the cluster from the VAST Web UI, browse to the CNodes and DNodes tabs of the Infrastructure page and look at the IPs in the Management IP column. |
CNode, DNode IPMI pool |
Establish IP addresses for the CNode and DNode IPMI interfaces. This is one IP address per server except in the case of CERES DBoxes, where you will need one per DTray or half of the number of DNodes. |
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Unpack and rack mount each new CBox and DBox in one of the cluster's current racks or an adjacent rack. For help with these tasks, see the Hardware Install Guide. For specific guidance regarding rack mount positions, consult your Sales Engineer.
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Consult your Sales Engineer on the correct cabling scheme and connect the new CNodes and DNodes to correctly configured designated switch ports, using appropriate NIC ports and cables.
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In the Infrastructure page of the VAST Web UI, select either the CBoxes tab or the DBoxes tab, and click Create Boxes.
The DBox and CBox Expansion dialog appears.
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Click Discover Now.
Hosts are discovered and validated. The process takes time. You can monitor it by following the host_discovery activity in the Activities page. When the process is complete, the discovered CBoxes and DBoxes appear in the DBox and CBox tabs.
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In the DBox and CBox tabs, review the details of the DBoxes and CBoxes that were discovered. Expand each DBox and CBox to see the nodes are discovered.
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Review any errors that may have been detected during validation with any of the discovered nodes.
To review any hardware errors that were detected, click Show Errors at the bottom of the screen. Errors may pertain to CPU, memory, disks, NVRAMs, port connectivity, or licensing issues.
The error text refers to the affected node, enabling you to match each error to a node listed above. In order to identify the position of the affected node, you can hover over a node to see where it is located in its CBox or DBox.
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Resolve any issues before continuing with the expansion. In the event that faulty hardware was received in the shipment, consult VAST Support on how to proceed.
The following options are available:
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You can remove and either fix and reinsert, or replace a faulty component with a new one. After replacing a faulty component, click Discover Now to repeat host discovery and validation. Check the discovered hosts again for errors.
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Exclude nodes. In case of validation errors that cannot be resolved on site before continuing and are critical, you can identify the affected node and exclude it from the expansion. In this case, please report the errors to Support and arrange return and replacement of hardware.
To exclude a node:
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For each DBox that you are adding, review and/or configure the following for each new DNode, in the DBox tab:
Subsystem
Leave the default value (0) unless the expansion requires use of a non default subsystems. This is available only if the cluster was configured to support a large subnet at cluster installation.
If you need to change the subsystem, hover to reveal the edit button (
) and set the subsystem per DNode per the plan.
The subsystem is used in the formation of the IP addresses that are allocated to the nodes for the cluster's internal network. Multiple subsystems expand the number of IP addresses that are available for allocation. The default setting is 0 for all DNodes and CNodes, which configures a single subsystem. A single subsystem enables the allocation of up to 254 IP addresses. There are three internal IP addresses allocated to each CNode and to each DNode.
Follow the expansion plan for the cluster and allocate a subsystem to each node as planned.
Valid range: 0-63.
Network Type
This is automatically set to match the global DNode network topology setting that appears at the top of the tab. This setting determines the mode configured on the DNode's NICs for connectivity to the internal cluster network.
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For each CBox that you are adding, review and/or configure the following for each CNode, in the CBox tab:
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Click Continue to general settings.
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In the General Settings screen, complete the following fields:
Provide the IPv4 subnet mask that was provided at cluster installation for the management subnet, in CIDR notation.
Reserved for future use. Do not fill this field.
The IP address of the default gateway for the management network. Supply the same IP address that was provided at cluster installation.
This is the gateway through which to route traffic to the management external IPs that you will supply in the relevant fields.
Enable this setting only if you are replacing a DBox by adding a new DBox that is empty of SSDs and NVRAMs, into which you will migrate the SSDs and NVRAMs from a DBox that you are removing. See Replacing a DBox for the full DBox replacement procedure.
CNode management external IP pool
Specify an IP pool from which to assign IPs for the management network to the new CNodes that you are adding to the cluster (see VAST Cluster Deployment Overview). The pool should contain enough unused IPs on the management network for all of the new CNodes and the number you need to provide is displayed as a recommendation.
To check which management external IPs are already assigned to existing node in the cluster, go to the DNodes page in the web UI and look at the IPs in the Management IP column for all DNodes and CNodes.
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173.30.200.100,173.30.200.101,173.30.200.102,173.30.200.103
The IP pool from which to assign IPs for the management network to all DNodes. The pool should contain enough IPs for all DNodes in the cluster.
For example, for an installation with one Mavericks DBox, there are two DNodes, so you need to supply two IPs that were designated for the management external IP pool in the installation plan. The recommendation "You should add exactly 2 IPs" is displayed.
CNodes IPMI pool
An IP pool from which to assign an IP to the IPMI interface of each new CNode.
Set this IP pool if and only if the cluster uses the standard IPMI network configuration.
If the cluster is deployedconfigured with the B2B IPMI networking option, do not configure this IP pool.
The CNodes will be assigned IPMI IPs in the same order as they are assigned management external IPs. The CNode that receives the first IP in the management external IP pool receives the first IP in the CNodes IPMI pool and so on.
DNodes IPMI pool
An IP pool from which to assign an IP to each IPMI interface.
For Mavericks DBoxes, provide an IP per DNode.
For CERES DBoxes, provide an IP per DTray. This is half of the number of DNodes.
Set this IP pool if and only if the planned deployment uses the standard IPMI network configuration.
If the cluster is deployed with the B2B IPMI networking option, do not configure this IP pool.
Add IPs as described for CNodes IPMI pool.
The DNodes will be assigned IPMI IPs in the same order as they are assigned management external IPs. The DNode that receives the first DNode IP in the management external IP pool receives the first IP in the DNodes IPMI pool and so on. (For CERES DNodes, the IPMI IP is duplicated on both DNodes in each DTray. Otherwise, the order is the same in principle.)
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Click Advanced settings and set the following optional advanced settings if you need to:
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Click Submit.
If you added only CBoxes, the expansion is now completed and you can monitor it's progress by following the add_boxes activity from the Activities page.
When expansion is complete, you can also check the CNodes tab, find the new CNodes and verify that each CNode's state is active.
If your expansion includes DBoxes, continue.
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Check the state of the newly added DNodes and any newly added CNodes:
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On the DNodes tab, find the new DNodes and verify that each DNode's state is init.
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On the CNodes tab, find the new CNodes and verify that each CNode's state is active.
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Click
.The DBox Expand dialog appears.
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From the NVRAM section layout dropdown, select the target NVRAM section layout for the cluster after the expansion.
Choose a section layout that is supported for your expansion:
Previous NVRAM Section Layout
DBox Type Used for Expansion
Valid NVRAM Section Layout Option
Default
Mavericks with 15 TB QLC drives
Automatic
(keeps Default section layout)
Default
Mavericks with 30 TB QLC drives
Thirty TB drives
Default
Ceres with 15 TB QLC drives
Ceres
Thirty TB drives
Mavericks with 30 TB QLC drives
Thirty TB drives
Many Files
Mavericks with 15 TB QLC drives
Many files
Ceres
Ceres with 15 TB QLC drives
Ceres
Ceres 30TB
Ceres with 30 TB QLC drives
Ceres Thirty TB drives
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Click Expand.
The expansion begins and you can monitor it's progress by following the add_boxes activity from the Activities page.
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