How to Create a Scale-Out File Server in VMM

Updated: May 13, 2016

Applies To: System Center 2012 R2 Virtual Machine Manager

You can use the following procedures to create a Scale-Out File Server cluster from physical computers by using the Virtual Machine Manager (VMM) console. You can use the following types of computers to provision a Scale-Out File Server cluster:

• Computers with the Windows Server 2012 R2 operating system installed

• Bare-metal computers (computers that do not have an operating system installed)

In both cases, you use the Create Clustered File Server Wizard as described in the following procedures.

Before you begin this procedure, make sure that the following prerequisites are met:

Configuration The physical computers must be correctly configured. For more information, see Prepare the Physical Computers in VMM.

Operating system on VMM server The operating system on the VMM management server must be Windows Server 2012 R2.

PXE server A PXE server must exist, and it must be added to VMM. For more information, see How to Add a PXE Server to VMM.

Profile A physical computer profile must exist. For more information, see How to Create a Physical Computer Profile to Provision File Servers in VMM.

Drivers All needed driver files must be added to the library. For more information, see How to Add Driver Files to the VMM Library.

DNS servers If your environment has multiple Domain Name System (DNS) servers, and DNS replication may take some time, we strongly recommend that you create DNS entries for the computer names that will be assigned to the physical computers, and allow time for DNS replication to occur. Otherwise, deployment may fail. For more information, see Prepare the Physical Computers in VMM.

Run As account Although it is not a required prerequisite, you can create a Run As account before you begin this procedure. (You can also create the account during the procedure.) The Run As account must have permissions to access the Baseboard Management Controller (BMC), which is used for out-of-band management on the computers that you want to discover. You can create a Run As account in the Settings workspace. For example, create a Run As account that is named BMC Administrator. For more information, see How to Create a Run As Account in VMM.

Use the Create Clustered File Server Wizard

When you create a Scale-Out File Server Cluster from bare-metal computers, the Create Clustered File Server Wizard does the following:

1. Discovers the physical computers through out-of-band management

2. Deploys the Windows Server 2012 R2 operating system image on the computers by using the physical computer profile (if configured to do so)

3. Enables the file server role on the computers

4. Enables the Scale-Out File Server role on the cluster

5. Adds the provisioned computers as a Scale-Out File Server cluster under VMM management

To discover physical computers and provision them into a Scale-Out File Server cluster

1. Open the Fabric workspace.

2. In the Fabric pane, click Servers.

3. On the Home tab, in the Create group, click File Server Cluster.

   The Create Clustered File Server Wizard opens.

4. On the General page, enter a Cluster name, a File server name, and Cluster IP addresses (if needed), and then click Next.

5. On the Provisioning Type page, select the option to provision bare-metal computers. Select the physical computer profile that you want to use for the servers in the Scale-Out File Server cluster, and then click Next.

6. On the Credentials and Protocol page, do the following:

   1. Next to the Run As account box, click Browse, click a Run As account that has permissions to access the BMC, and then click OK.

      Note

      If you do not already have a Run As account, click Browse, and then in the Select a Run As Account dialog box, click Create Run As Account.

      For example, if you created the Run As account that is described in the Prerequisites section of this topic, click the BMC Administrator account, and then click OK.

   2. In the Protocol list, click the out-of-band management protocol that you want to use for discovery, and then click Next.

      Note

      • If you want to use Data Center Management Interface (DCMI), click Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI). Although DCMI 1.0 is not listed, it is supported.
      • Make sure that you use the latest version of firmware for the BMC model.

7. On the Discovery Scope page, specify the IP address scope that includes the IP addresses of the BMCs. You can enter a single IP address, an IP subnet, or an IP address range. Then click Next.

8. On the Target Resources page, select the computers that you want to provision, allow time for deep discovery, and then in the list on the left, click items to review information about the computer. Adjust settings as needed.

   For example, to configure specific switch or port settings for a network adapter (different from the settings that you configured in the physical computer profile), click Network adapters, locate a network adapter in the list, and for that adapter, click the ellipsis button (…). A dialog box with advanced configuration settings opens. For more information about switch and port settings, see the links at the end of this procedure. As another example, to specify the disk volume on which the operating system should be installed, click Disks, and then select the appropriate volume.

   As a best practice, with a new or changed physical computer profile or a new computer, carefully review the information on this wizard page.

   Important

   If the number of physical network adapters in a computer does not match the number of physical network adapters that are defined in the physical computer profile, you must specify missing information for the adapters. If you decide to not deploy a computer at this time (for example, if it requires installing or uninstalling physical hardware), you can remove the computer from the list of those that are to be deployed. To do this, select the BMC IP address of the computer that you want to remove, and then click the Remove button.

9. On the Deployment Customization page, the steps vary depending on whether you selected a profile that uses DHCP or a profile that uses static IP addresses.

   If you selected a physical computer profile that uses DHCP (in step 5), do the following:

   Note

   Until you type a computer name for each computer, a Missing settings warning appears.

   1. Click a BMC IP address in the list.

   2. In the Computer name box, type a name for the selected entry. The computer name cannot include any wildcard characters. Also, the computer name must be unique.

      For example, enter FileServer.contoso.com.

   3. Decide whether to select the Skip Active Directory check for this computer name check box, based on the following information:

      If the check box is clear, deployment will fail if the computer account already exists in Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS). This check helps prevent deploying a computer with the same name as an existing computer.

      If you select the check box, deployment will continue if the computer account already exists in AD DS.

      Warning

      If there is an existing computer account in AD DS other than the Run As account that was specified in the physical computer profile, and you skip Active Directory verification, the deployment process will fail to join the computer to the domain.

   4. If multiple BMC IP addresses are listed, for each one, click the entry and type a computer name.

      For example, for a second computer, enter FileServer06.contoso.com.

   5. When you complete this step, and there are no more Missing settings warnings, click Next.

   6. Review the warning message, and then click OK to continue.

   If in step 5 you selected a physical computer profile that uses static IP addresses, do the following for each BMC IP address in the list:

   Note

   Until you complete all required settings for a computer, a Missing settings warning or Invalid MAC address error appears.

   1. In the MAC address box, enter the MAC address of the management network adapter on the selected computer.

      Note

      The management adapter is a network adapter that can be used to communicate with the VMM management server. This is not the MAC address of the BMC.

   2. In the Logical network list, click the logical network that you want to use. The default logical network is what is defined in the physical computer profile.

   3. In the IP subnet list, click the IP subnet that you want to use. The list of subnets is scoped to what is defined for the logical network in the associated network sites.

      Important

      Make sure that you select the IP subnet that corresponds to the physical location where you are deploying the hosts and to the network that the adapter is connected to. Otherwise, deployment may fail.

   4. To assign an IP address, do either of the following:

      To automatically assign an IP address from the selected IP subnet, make sure that the Obtain an IP address corresponding to the selected subnet check box is selected. VMM will assign an IP address from the first available static IP address pool.

      Note

      If the Obtain an IP address corresponding to the selected subnet check box is selected, the IP range and IP address settings do not apply.

      To assign a specific IP address from the selected IP subnet, clear the Obtain an IP address corresponding to the selected subnet check box. In the IP range list, click the IP address range that you want to use. In the IP address box, enter an available IP address that is included in the range.

      Note

      The list of IP address ranges is scoped to the static IP address pools that are available for the selected subnet.

   5. When you complete this step, and there are no more warning or error messages, click Next.

10. On the Summary page, confirm the settings, and then click Finish to deploy the file server computers and to bring them under VMM management.

    The Jobs dialog box appears. Make sure that all steps in the job have a status of Completed, and then close the dialog box.

11. To confirm that the cluster was added, follow these steps:

    1. Open the Fabric workspace.

    2. In the Fabric pane, expand Storage, and then expand File Servers.

    3. Verify that the name of the new Scale-Out File Server cluster appears in the File Servers pane, and that its status is OK.

Before you begin this procedure, make sure that the Windows Server 2012 R2 operating system is installed on the computers. To create the cluster, the VMM management server must be running System Center 2012 R2VMM with the Windows Server 2012 R2 operating system.

Use the Create Clustered File Server Wizard

When you create a Scale-Out File Server Cluster from existing servers, the Create Clustered File Server Wizard does the following:

1. Enables the file server role on the computers

2. Enables the Scale-Out File Server role on the cluster

3. Adds the provisioned computers as a Scale-Out File Server cluster under VMM management

To create a Scale-Out File Server cluster from existing servers

1. Open the Fabric workspace.

2. In the Fabric pane, click Servers.

3. On the Home tab, in the Create group, click File Server Cluster.

   The Create Clustered File Server Wizard opens.

4. On the General page, enter a Cluster name, a File server name, and Cluster IP addresses (if needed), and then click Next.

5. On the Provisioning Type page, select the option to provision computers on which Windows Server 2012 R2 is installed. Enter the necessary details, and then click Next.

6. On the Cluster Nodes page, use Add and Remove to create the list of computers that you want to add to the cluster. In the Add File Server Nodes dialog box, type the identifying information for each computer that you want to add, one computer per line.

7. On the Summary page, confirm the settings, and then click Finish to create the cluster and to bring it under VMM management.

   The Jobs dialog box appears. Make sure that all steps in the job have a status of Completed, and then close the dialog box.

8. To confirm that the cluster was added, follow these steps:

   1. Open the Fabric workspace.

   2. In the Fabric pane, expand Storage, and then expand File Servers.

   3. Verify that the name of the new Scale-Out File Server cluster appears in the File Servers pane, and that its status is OK.

Adding Physical Computers as Hyper-V Hosts or as Scale-Out File Servers in VMM Overview
Configuring Hyper-V Host Properties in VMM
Creating and Modifying Hyper-V Host Clusters in VMM