You can add ESXi hosts to a running vSAN cluster without disrupting any ongoing operations. The new host's resources become associated with the cluster.

Prerequisites

  • Verify that the resources, including drivers, firmware, and storage I/O controllers, are listed in the VMware Compatibility Guide at http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/search.php.
  • VMware recommends creating uniformly configured hosts in the vSAN cluster, so you have an even distribution of components and objects across devices in the cluster. However, there might be situations where the cluster becomes unevenly balanced, particularly during maintenance or if you overcommit the capacity of the vSAN datastore with excessive virtual machine deployments.

Procedure

  1. Navigate to the vSAN cluster.
  2. Right-click the cluster and select Add Hosts. The Add hosts wizard appears.
    Option Description
    New hosts
    1. Enter the host name or IP address.
    2. Enter the user name and password associated with the host.
    Existing hosts
    1. Select hosts that you previously added to vCenter Server.
  3. Click Next.
  4. View the summary information and click Next.
  5. Review the settings and click Finish.
    The host is added to the cluster.

What to do next

Verify that the vSAN Disk Balance health check is green. If the Disk Balance health check issues a warning, perform a manual rebalance operation during off-peak hours. For more information, see "Manual Rebalance" in vSAN Monitoring and Troubleshooting.

For more information about vSAN cluster configuration and fixing problems, see "vSAN Cluster Configuration Issues" in vSAN Monitoring and Troubleshooting.