Prerequisites

VMware vSphere Environment with a vCenter Server

  • vCenter Server versions 7.x or greater.
  • The vCenter Server must have SSO (Single Sign On) enabled and will be connected to in order to manage the deployment process.

VMware ESXi Hosts (One or More)

  • At a minimum, one unused NIC to be used for ports and management traffic. Ideally, four or more dedicated iSCSI ports should be configured for front-end service to other ESXi hosts and mirroring.
  • A datastore on each ESXi server with enough space to install DataCore Server software on the virtual machine. A minimum size of 100 GB is required. This datastore should be visible only to one ESXi host in the datacenter.

OS Version for DataCore Installation Manager on vSphere (Server and Desktop)

  • All the Microsoft supported versions are fine.

DataCore Server Virtual Machine

  • The DataCore Installation Manager for vSphere will download additional components needed to complete the installation or upgrade of DataCore SANsymphony. An Internet connection is required during installation.
  • The DataCore Installation Manager for vSphere must be able to connect to all of the ESXi hosts in the datacenter and vCenter.
  • The DataCore Installation Manager for vSphere must be installed on a machine with the same username and password as the ones set for the virtual machine.

Network Connectivity

  • All ESXi hosts, Windows virtual machines, and vCenter servers must be resolvable through IPV4 DNS only. While it is possible to use DHCP to configure network services, the recommended approach is to prepare static IP addresses in advance and have A records for your ESXi and vCenter servers be in DNS. For the DataCore virtual machine that the DataCore Installation Manager for vSphere will deploy, it is also recommended that the management port for the virtual machine use a static IP address and the DNS record be created in advance.

  • For the DataCore SANsymphony virtual machine deployment, DataCore Installation Manager for vSphere only supports Virtual Switches (vSwitches), and not Distributed Virtual Switches (dvSwitches). However, there is no issue with using the dvSwitches for the production workload/virtual machines.

    If the ESXi server that is attempted to be deployed only has the dvSwitches, the error that displays may not specify this cause clearly, instead it states the following: “The given key was not present in the dictionary” and then the user interface (UI) closes.