You can use the Quickstart workflow to quickly configure a vSAN cluster.

Prerequisites

  • Verify that hosts are running ESXi 6.0 Update 2 or later.
  • Verify that ESXi hosts in the cluster do not have any existing vSAN or networking configuration.

Procedure

  1. Navigate to the cluster in the vSphere Client.
  2. Click the Configure tab, and select Configuration > Quickstart.
  3. (optional) On the Cluster basics card, click Edit to open the Cluster basics wizard.
    1. Enter a cluster name.
    2. Select basic services, such as DRS, vSphere HA, and vSAN.
    3. Click Finish.
  4. On the Add hosts card, click Add to open the Add hosts wizard.
    1. On the Add hosts page, enter information for new hosts, or click Existing hosts and select from hosts listed in the inventory.
    2. On the Host summary page, verify the host settings.
    3. On the Ready to complete page, click Finish.

    The selected hosts are placed into maintenance mode and added to the cluster. When you complete the Quickstart configuration, the hosts exit maintenance mode.

    Note: If you are running vCenter Server on a host in the cluster, the host does not need to be placed into maintenance mode as you add it to a cluster using the Quickstart workflow. The host that contains the vCenter Server VM must be running ESXi 6.5 EP2 or later. The same host also can be running a Platform Services Controller. All other VMs on the host must be powered off.
  5. On the Cluster configuration card, click Configure to open the Cluster configuration wizard.
    1. On the Configure the distributed switches page, enter networking settings, including distributed switches, port groups, and physical adapters.
      • In the Distributed switches section, enter the number of distributed switches to configure from the drop-down menu. Enter a name for each distributed switch. Click Use Existing to select an existing distributed switch.

        If the physical adapters chosen are attached to a standard virtual switch with the same name across hosts, the standard switch is migrated to the distributed switch. If the physical adapters chosen are unused, there is no migration from standard switch to distributed switch.

        Network resource control is enabled and set to version 3. Distributed switches with network resource control version 2 cannot be used.

      • In the Port Groups section, select a distributed switch to use for vMotion and a distributed switch to use for the vSAN network.
      • In the Physical adapters section, select a distributed switch for each physical network adapter. You must assign each distributed switch to at least one physical adapter.

        This mapping of physical NICs to the distributed switches is applied to all hosts in the cluster. If you are using an existing distributed switch, the physical adapter selection can match the mapping of the distributed switch.

    2. (Optional) On the vMotion traffic page, enter IP address information for vMotion traffic.
    3. On the Storage traffic page, enter IP address information for storage traffic.
    4. On the Advanced options page, enter information for cluster settings, including DRS, HA, vSAN, host options, and EVC.
      Host update preference options configure the vSAN build recommendations for vSphere Update Manager. For more information, see " vSAN Build Recommendations for vSphere Update Manager" in Administering VMware vSAN.
    5. On the Claim disks page, select disks on each host for cache and capacity.
    6. (optional) On the Proxy settings page, configure the proxy server used to send vSAN Support Insight data to VMware's Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP).
    7. (optional) On the Create fault domains page, define fault domains for hosts that can fail together.
      For more information about fault domains, see "Managing Fault Domains in vSAN Clusters" in Administering VMware vSAN.
    8. On the Ready to complete page, verify the cluster settings, and click Finish.

What to do next

You can manage the cluster through vCenter Server.

You can add hosts to the cluster through Quickstart. For more information, see "Expanding a vSAN Cluster" in Administering VMware vSAN.