Deploy vSAN Witness Host

You deploy the vSAN witness host for a stretched cluster at a site away from the existing availability zones to prevent propagation of outage in the data center.

Prerequisites

Download the vSAN witness host virtual appliance .ova file.

Procedure

1. In a web browser, log in to vCenter Server at https://vcenter_server_fqdn/ui.
2. Select Menu > Hosts and Clusters.
3. In the inventory panel, expand vCenter Server > Datacenter.
4. Right-click the cluster and select Deploy OVF template.
5. On the Select an OVF template page, select Local file, click Upload files, browse to the location of the vSAN witness host OVA file, and click Next.
6. On the Select a name and folder page, enter a name for the virtual machine and click Next.
7. On the Select a compute resource page, click Next.
8. On the Review details page, review the settings and click Next.
9. On the License agreements page, accept the license agreement and click Next.
10. On the Configuration page, select Medium and click Next.
11. On the Select storage page, select a datastore and click Next.
12. On the Select networks page, select a portgroup for the wintess and management network, and click Next.
13. On the Customize template page, enter the root password for the witness and click Next.
14. On the Ready to complete page, click Finish and wait for the process to complete.
15. Power on the vSAN witness host.
    1. In the inventory panel, navigate to vCenter Server > Datacenter > Cluster.
    2. Right-click the vSAN witness host and from the Actions menu, select Power > Power on.