How Do You Create and Configure Clusters in the vSphere Client

You can create clusters in the vSphere Client and then configure them manually or by using the Quickstart workflow.

A cluster is a group of hosts. When a host is added to a cluster, the resources of the host become part of the resources of the cluster. The cluster manages the resources of all hosts that it contains.

When you create clusters, you can enable vSphere High Availability (HA), vSphere Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS), and the VMware vSAN features.

Starting with vSphere 7.0, you can create a cluster that you manage with a single image. By using vSphere Lifecycle Manager images, you can easily update and upgrade the software and firmware on the hosts in the cluster. Starting with vSphere 7.0 Update 2, during cluster creation, you can select a reference host and use the image on that host as the image for the newly created cluster. For more information about using images to manage ESXi hosts and clusters, see the Managing Host and Cluster Lifecycle documentation.

Starting with vSphere 7.0 Update 1, vSphere Cluster Services (vCLS) is enabled by default and runs in all vSphere clusters. vCLS ensures that if vCenter Server becomes unavailable, cluster services remain available to maintain the resources and health of the workloads that run in the clusters. For more information about vCLS, see vSphere Cluster Services.

How Do You Create a vSphere Cluster with the vSphere Client

You can create a new vSphere cluster object by using the vSphere Client.

Starting with vSphere 7.0, the clusters that you create can use vSphere Lifecycle Manager images for host updates and upgrades.

A vSphere Lifecycle Manager image is a combination of vSphere software, driver software, and desired firmware with regard to the underlying host hardware. The image that a cluster uses defines the full software set that you want to run on all ESXi hosts in the cluster: the ESXi version, additional VMware-provided software, and vendor software, such as firmware and drivers.

The image that you define during cluster creation is not immediately applied to the hosts. If you do not set up an image for the cluster, the cluster uses baselines and baseline groups. Starting with vSphere 7.0 Update 2, during cluster creation, you can select a reference host and use the image on that host as the image for the newly created cluster. For more information about using images and baselines to manage hosts in clusters, see the Managing Host and Cluster Lifecycle documentation.

Prerequisites

• Verify that a data center, or a folder within a data center, exists in the inventory.
• Verify that hosts have the same ESXi version and patch level.
• Obtain the user name and password of the root user account for the host.
• If you want to extend a cluster with initially configured networking, verify that hosts do not have a manual vSAN configuration or a manual networking configuration.
• To create a cluster that you manage with a single image, review the requirements and limitations information in the Managing Host and Cluster Lifecycle documentation.

Required privileges:

• Host.Inventory.Create cluster

Procedure

1. In the vSphere Client home page, navigate to Home > Hosts and Clusters.
2. Select a data center.
3. Right-click the data center and select New Cluster.
4. Enter a name for the cluster.
5. Select DRS, vSphere HA, or vSAN cluster features.

   Option	Description
   To use DRS with this cluster	Slide the switch to the right to enable the DRS service. (Optional) Click the info icon on the left to see the Default Settings for the DRS service. The default values are: Automation Level: Fully Automated Migration Threshold: 3
   To use vSphere HA with this cluster	Slide the switch to the right to enable the vSphere HA service. (Optional) Click the info icon on the left to see the Default Settings for the vSphere HA service. You are present with the following default values: Host Monitoring: Enabled Admission Control: Enabled VM Monitoring: Disabled
   To use vSAN with this cluster	Slide the switch to the right to enable the vSAN service. For more information on vSAN, see Creating a vSAN Cluster in the vSAN Planning and Deployment documentation.

   You can override the default values later on in the workflow.
6. (Optional) To create a cluster that you manage with a single image, select the Manage all hosts in the cluster with a single image check box.
   For information about creating a cluster that you manage with a single image, see the Managing Host and Cluster Lifecycle documentation.
7. Click Next.
8. Review the cluster details and click Finish.
   The cluster appears in the vCenter Server inventory. The Quickstart workflow appears under Configure > Configuration.

Results

You have created an empty cluster in the vCenter Server inventory.

What to do next

You can use the Quickstart workflow to easily configure and expand the cluster. You can also skip the Quickstart workflow and continue configuring the cluster and its hosts manually.

How to Extend and Configure Your vSphere Cluster by Using the Quickstart Workflow

You can extend and configure a cluster by using the simplified Quickstart workflow in the vSphere Client. Quickstart groups common tasks and offers configuration wizards that guide you through the process of configuring and extending a cluster.

After you provide the required information on each wizard, your cluster is configured based on your input. When you add hosts using the Quickstart workflow, hosts are automatically configured to match the cluster configuration.

Once the cluster creation operation completes, you are redirected to the Cluster quickstart page located under Configure > Configuration. The Quickstart workflow consists of three cards for quickly extending and configuring your clusters.

Table 1. Quickstart workflow cards for extending and configuring a cluster

Cluster Quickstart Workflow Card	Description
Cluster basics	You can edit the cluster name and activate or diactivate cluster services. The card lists the services you enabled.
Add hosts	You can add new ESXi hosts. After the hosts are added, the card shows the total number of hosts present in the cluster and displays health check validation for those hosts.
Configure cluster	You can configure network settings for vMotion and vSAN traffic, review and customize cluster services, and set up a vSAN datastore. After the cluster is configured, the card provides details on configuration mismatch and reports cluster health results through the vSAN Health service.

Characteristics of a Cluster Configured Using the Quickstart Workflows

A vSphere cluster that is configured using the Quickstart workflow has the following characteristics.

• Hosts are of version ESXi 6.7 Update 2 and later.
• Hosts end up having similar configuration, including network settings.
• Cluster configuration is based on the recommended default settings for networking and different services.
• Licenses cannot be assigned using the Quickstart workflow. You must manually assign the required licenses. See vSphere License Management.

Skipping Quickstart

The Skip Quickstart button prompts you to continue configuring the cluster and its hosts manually. To confirm exiting the simplified configuration workflow, click Continue. After you dismiss the Cluster quickstart workflow, you cannot restore it for the current cluster.

How to Add an ESXi Host to Your vSphere Cluster by Using the Quickstart Workflow

You can add new and existing ESXi hosts to a cluster in the vCenter Server inventory.

You can also add hosts to a DRS cluster. For more information, see the vSphere Resource Management documentation.

When you add the first three hosts to the cluster, vSphere Cluster Services (vCLS) agent virtual machines are added by default to the cluster. A quorum of up to three vCLS agent virtual machines are required to run in a cluster, one agent virtual machine per host. For more information about vCLS, see vSphere Cluster Services.

Note: After you configure the cluster by using Quickstart, if you modify any cluster networking settings outside of Quickstart, you cannot use the Quickstart workflow to add and configure new hosts to the cluster.

Prerequisites

• Verify that hosts have the same ESXi version and patch level.
• Obtain the user name and password of the root user account for the host.
• If you want to extend a cluster with initially configured networking, verify that hosts do not have a manual vSAN configuration or a manual networking configuration.

• Verify that you have the proper privileges. Different sets of privileges apply when you add multiple hosts to a cluster and a single host to a cluster or a data center. For more information, see Required Privileges for Common Tasks in the vSphere Security documentation.

• To add a host to a cluster that you manage with a single image, see the Managing Host and Cluster Lifecycle documentation.

Procedure

1. In the vSphere Client, navigate to a cluster within a data center.
2. On the Configure tab, select Configuration > Quickstart.
3. Click Add in the Add hosts card.
4. On the Add hosts wizard, add new or existing hosts to the cluster.

   • Add hosts that are not part of the vCenter Server inventory.

     1. Click the New hosts tab.

     2. Populate the IP Address and credentials text boxes for those hosts.

     3. (Optional)

        To add more new hosts, click the Add Host button.

     4. (Optional)

        To reuse the credentials for all added hosts, select the Use the same credentials for all hosts check box.

   • Add hosts that are managed by your vCenter Server instance and are in the same data center as your cluster. The hosts must not be part of another cluster on the vCenter Server instance.

     1. Click the Existing hosts tab.

     2. From the list, select the hosts that you want to add to the cluster.

5. Click Next.

   The Host summary page lists all hosts that will be added to the cluster and related warnings.

   Note:

   If a host cannot be validated automatically by the system, you are prompted to manually validate its certificate and accept its thumbprint in the Security Alert pop-up.

6. On the Host summary page, review the details of the added hosts and click Next.
7. (Optional) On the Import Image page, select the host whose image to use as the image for the cluster.

   The Import Image page appears when you add hosts to a cluster managed with a single image. For information about adding a host to a cluster that you manage with a single image, see the Managing Host and Cluster Lifecycle documentation.

8. On the Ready to complete page, review the IP addresses or FQDN of the added hosts and click Finish.

   Review the number of added hosts and the health check validation, performed by the vSAN Health service, in the Add hostscard.

9. (Optional) Click Re-validate to trigger the validation of the hosts.
   Note:

   If an error occurs, it is visible in the Recent Tasks pane only.

Results

All hosts are placed in maintenance mode and added to your cluster. You can manually exit the maintenance mode.

What to do next

Configure your cluster default settings through the Quickstart workflow.

How to Configure Your vSphere Cluster by Using the Quickstart Workflow

Learn how to use the Quickstart workflow to quickly configure the settings of a vSphere cluster.

To configure the host networking settings on your host and to customize the cluster settings, start the Configure cluster wizard, part of the cluster Quickstart workflow. Learn how to use Quickstart to configure a vSAN cluster, see Use Quickstart to Configure a vSAN Cluster in the vSAN Planning and Deployment documentation.

Procedure

1. In the vSphere Client, navigate to а cluster.
2. On the Configure tab, select Configuration > Quickstart.

   The Cluster Quickstart page appears.

   Note:

   To configure your cluster host networking and services manually by referring to different parts of the vSphere software, click the Skip quickstart button. If you dismiss the Cluster quickstart workflow, you cannot restore it, and you have to configure manually any hosts that you add to this cluster in the future.

3. In the Configure cluster card, select Configure.
   The Configure cluster wizard appears.
4. On the Distributed switches page, configure the cluster networking.

   Alternatively, you can select the Configure networking settings later check box to hide all options that are related to cluster networking and to change the recommended host networking manually at a later time.

   Caution:

   After you select the Configure networking settings later check box, and complete the Configure cluster workflow, you cannot perform the cluster networking configuration in the future by using the Configure cluster wizard.

   1. In the Distributed switches section, specify the number of distributed switches to create from the drop-down menu.
      Note: You can select up to three distributed switches.

      The selected distributed switches are configured as part of this workflow and all hosts in the cluster connect to them.

   2. Enter a unique name for each of the distributed switches you are about to create.
   3. (Optional) Click Use Existing to select an existing compatible distributed switch and an existing compatible distributed port group.
   4. In the Port groups section, set up the vMotion network by selecting a distributed switch from the drop-down menu and assigning a new default port group to it.
   5. In the Physical adapters section, for each physical network adapter (NIC), select the distributed switch name from the drop-down menu.
      The new distributed switch must be assigned to at least one physical adapter.

      Note: If you are using an existing distributed switch, the physical adapter selection must match the current mapping of the distributed switch. Any variation results in an error.
      This mapping of physical NICs to the distributed switches is applied to all hosts in this cluster.
   6. Click Next.
5. If the vSphere DRS feature is enabled on the cluster, configure the networking options in the vMotion traffic page.
   1. (Optional) Select the Use VLAN check box and enter an ID for the vMotion distributed port group.
   2. (Optional) Select a protocol type from the drop-down menu.
   3. Select an IP configuration type from the drop-down menu.
   4. (Optional) Populate the text boxes for each host in the cluster depending on the IP address type you need for setting up the networking.
      If the IP address type is set to DHCP, DHCP is used to obtain the IP settings for the vMotion traffic.
   5. Click Next.

      The Advanced options page appears.

6. On the Advanced options page, customize the cluster settings depending on the services you enabled.
   1. If you enabled the vSphere HA feature during cluster creation, use the options in the vSphere HA section to activate or deactivate host failure monitoring, virtual machine monitoring, and admission control.

      If you enable admission control, you can specify the failover capacity by number of hosts.

   2. If you enabled the vSphere DRS feature during cluster creation, the Distributed Resource Scheduler section is visible.

      1. Set the Automation level to Fully Automated, Partially Automated or Manual.

      2. Select one of the five migration settings from the Migration threshold drop-down menu.

   3. 
      

      1. Select a lockdown mode from the drop-down menu.

      2. (Optional)

         Enter an NTP server address or FQDN.

         If you enter more than one NTP server addresses, separate them by using commas.

      3. (Optional)

         Select a host update option from the drop-down menu.

      The settings are applied across all hosts in this cluster.

   4. In the Enhanced vMotion Compatibility section, enable Enhanced vMotion™ Compatibility (EVC) and select the CPU model from the EVC mode drop-down menu.
   5. Click Next.

      The Review page appears.

7. Review the settings and select Finish.
   The card closes, and the progress of the operation appears in the Recent Tasks pane.

Results

You have created a fully configured cluster in the vCenter Server inventory.

What to do next

Expand your cluster manually or by using the Quickstart workflow and the Add hosts card.

How to Extend Your vSphere Cluster with Host Networking Configuration

By using the Quickstart Workflow, you can extend a hyper-converged cluster by adding hosts and configuring their networking to match the cluster configuration.

Note: If you modify any cluster networking settings outside of Quickstart, you cannot use the Quickstart workflow to add and configure new hosts to the cluster.

Prerequisites

• Verify that you have an existing cluster and hosts added to it.
• In the initial cluster configuration, you configured the host networking.
• Verify that hosts have the same ESXi version and patch level.
• Obtain the user name and password of the root user account for the host.
• If you want to extend a cluster with initially configured networking, verify that hosts do not have a manual vSAN configuration or a manual networking configuration.
• To add a host to a cluster that you manage with a single image, see the Managing Host and Cluster Lifecycle documentation.

Procedure

1. In the vSphere Client home page, navigate to Home > Hosts and Clusters and select a configured cluster.
2. Right-click the cluster and select Add Hosts.
   The Add hosts wizard appears.
3. On the Add hosts page, add new or existing hosts to the cluster.
   • Add hosts that are not part of the vCenter Server inventory.
     1. Click the New hosts tab.
     2. Populate the IP Address and credentials text boxes for those hosts.
     3. (Optional) To add more new hosts, click the Add Host button.
     4. (Optional) To reuse the credentials for all added hosts, select the Use the same credentials for all hosts check box.
   • Add hosts that are managed by your vCenter Server instance and are in the same data center as your cluster.
     1. Click the Existing hosts tab.
     2. From the list, select the hosts that you want to add to the cluster.
4. Click Next.
   The Host summary page lists all hosts that will be added to the cluster and related warnings.

   Note: If a host cannot be validated automatically by the system, you are prompted to manually validate its certificate and accept its thumbprint in the Security Alert pop-up.
5. On the Host summary page, review the details of the added hosts and click Next.
6. (Optional) On the Import Image page, select the host whose image to use as the image for the cluster.
   The Import Image page appears when you add hosts to a cluster managed with a single image. For information about adding a host to a cluster that you manage with a single image, see the Managing Host and Cluster Lifecycle documentation.
7. On the Ready to complete page, review the IP addresses or FQDN of the added hosts and click Finish.
   The Extend Cluster Guide page appears.
8. In the Configure cluster card, select Configure.
   The Configure cluster wizard appears.
9. If the vSphere DRS feature is enabled on the cluster, configure the networking options in the vMotion traffic page.
   1. (Optional) Select the Use VLAN check box and enter an ID for the vMotion distributed port group.
   2. (Optional) Select a protocol type from the drop-down menu.
   3. Select an IP type from the drop-down menu.
   4. (Optional) Populate the text boxes for each host in the cluster depending on the IP address type you need for setting up the networking.
      If the IP address type is set to DHCP, DHCP is used to obtain the IP settings for the vMotion traffic.
10. Click Next.
    The Review page appears.
11. Review the settings and select Finish.
    The card closes, and the progress of the operation appears in the Recent Tasks pane.

Results

After successful validation, your newly added hosts are configured as the existing hosts in your cluster and the Configure button in the Configure hosts card becomes inactive. You can only click Re-validate to verify the cluster configuration.

What to do next

Add more hosts to the cluster.

How to Extend and Configure Your vSphere Cluster Manually

You can extend a cluster by manually adding hosts to that cluster. If you previously configured the cluster without setting up the host networking, the configuration of the existing hosts in the cluster is applied to the newly added hosts.

Prerequisites

• Verify that you have an existing cluster and hosts added to it.
• Verify that hosts have the same ESXi version and patch level.
• Obtain the user name and password of the root user account for the host.
• During the initial cluster configuration, select the Configure networking settings later check box. For more information, see How to Configure Your vSphere Cluster by Using the Quickstart Workflow.
• To add a host to a cluster that you manage with a single image, see the Managing Host and Cluster Lifecycle documentation.

Procedure

1. In the vSphere Client home page, navigate to Home > Hosts and Clusters and select a configured cluster.
2. Right-click the cluster and select Add Hosts.
   The Add hosts wizard appears.
3. On the Add hosts page, add new or existing hosts to the cluster.

   • Add hosts that are not part of the vCenter Server inventory.

     1. Click the New hosts tab.
     2. Populate the IP Address and credentials text boxes for those hosts.
     3. (Optional) To add more new hosts, click the Add Host button.
     4. (Optional) To reuse the credentials for all added hosts, select the Use the same credentials for all hosts check box.

   • Add hosts that are managed by your vCenter Server instance and are in the same data center as your cluster. The hosts must not be part of another cluster on the vCenter Server instance.

     1. Click the Existing hosts tab.
     2. From the list, select the hosts that you want to add to the cluster.
4. Click Next.

   The Host summary page lists all hosts that will be added to the cluster and related warnings.

   Note:

   If a host cannot be validated automatically by the system, you are prompted to manually validate its certificate and accept its thumbprint in the Security Alert pop-up.

5. On the Host summary page, review the details of the added hosts and click Next.
6. (Optional) On the Import Image page, select the host from which an image must be imported to the cluster.

   The Import Image page appears when you add hosts to a cluster managed with a single image. For information about adding a host to a cluster managed with a single image, see the Managing Host and Cluster Lifecycle documentation.

7. On the Review page, click Finish.
   The Cluster Quickstart page appears.
8. Click Skip Quickstart to continue configuring the cluster manually.
   Caution: Once you dismiss the Quickstart workflow, you cannot enable it again on the cluster.

   Note: You must manually configure all hosts added to the cluster after dismissing the Quickstart workflow.

What to do next

Manually configure all cluster settings and add more hosts to the cluster.