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Isilon OneFS cluster: how to add a node

In this article we are ready to add nodes to EMC Isilon OneFS cluster. For those who want to review the details about creating a Isilon OneFS cluster can find more info here. In addition more details about Dell EMC Isilon OneFS simulator can be found here.

The process of adding a node to an Isilon cluster is very simple. As per our home lab we can also take advantage of the template VM as we have seen in the previous article. The idea for the next nodes is to deploy the new nodes from the original VM Template. Currently the EMC Isilon simulator supports up to 6 nodes. Depending on available resources in your home lab you might want to deploy the full 6 nodes! For the purpose of this article we’ll be installing the first two.

As we’ll cover in the rest of the article we are going to perform these 3 simple steps:

  • Deploy a new Isilon node
  • Power on the Isilon node
  • Check connectivity with Isilon node

 

Add nodes to EMC Isilon Cluster

Deploy a new Isilon node

In order to deploy a new Isilon node to be part of an Isilon OneFS cluster we have two options: either deploy the original OVA file or deploy a new VM from a template. As per considerations in the previous article we’re going to explore the latter. So a right click from the Template to create a new VM

vCenter Create VM from template

From the wizard all we have to do is to specify the basic settings including the Host where this VM will run, the storage where it will be located plus additional options with regards to the OS customisation. Let’s start by providing a name for the new VM along with the desired location in the vCenter infrastructure

vCenter select Data Center

At this point we can select which vSphere Host will run this VM

vCenter Select Host

From here we can select the Datastore where to locate the new VM

vCenter Select Datastore

And finally we also have additional settings to further customise the operating system. Since this is based on FreeBSD none of the options really apply here. Customisation is available for Windows and Linux only. Also there is no need to apply for any customisation at this point

vCenter customise Operating system

And a final screen to review and amend the desired setup

vCenter Deploy from template summary

Power on the Isilon node and start the wizard

At this point we are ready to start the newly created VM. The initial sequence of the wizard is similar to what we covered in the previous step. In this case with the Cluster option we’ll go for option “2” in order to join an existing cluster

Isilon OneFS cluster join

The second node immediately recognise an available Isilon cluster on the network along with its NetBIOS name. In our case “OneFS81” So all we have to do is to confirm by typing the cluster name and hit enter

Isilon OneFS cluster join

The wizard at this point will proceed by formatting the available drives and “copying” the same configuration. Notably this node will be automatically labelled as OneFS81-2. This represents the ClusterName-NodeNumber. Ideally we can also login to the terminal shell with the “root” account

Isilon OneFS cluster node login

Check connectivity with Isilon node

Now that the second node is part of the Isilon cluster we can also check the name resolution. This is an optional step and is adding more clarity on how the Isilon OneFS cluster networking is operating. In the previous article we ran a “ping -a” to resolve the first node. If we run the same test with the other “High” IP Address we obtain the same result. Which means this is working as expected. so we just need to make sure the intended IP addresses are allocated in the DNS as IP Pool for the Isilon cluster

Finally if we point to our cluster IP Address on port 8080 we can confirm the new node is now part of the cluster and also the new cluster size is updated

Isilon OneFS cluster dashboard

This concludes the article on the Dell EMC Isilon simulator overview. Of course there are other aspects like licensing, or configuring Network Shares for our applications which I will cover later with specific articles. The simulator indeed is a good start to play and learn more about Dell EMC Isilon solutions. As a side note the Isilon infrastructure is also available as a “software only” solution. This is the Isilon SD Edge which leverages a full Software Defined approach for the storage. More info and articles on this later. Feedback in a form of comments and suggestions are always welcome.

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About the author

Michele Domanico

Passionate about Virtualization, Storage, Data Availability and Software Defined Data Center technologies. The aim of Domalab.com is sharing with the Community the knowledge and experience gained with customers, industry leaders and like minded peers. Always open to constructive feedback and new challenges.

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