Adding new ESX host to a cluster

[herrokitty]

Hi all,

I've recently been dropped in the deep end with our VM guy having resigned and left...

Simple question, what are the major steps when adding an ESX host to a cluster?

We have HA and EVC enabled clusters....

Have tried googling for a while but thought i'd give these VM forums a shot....

I'm just not too sure how the network side of it works also...like after i add the host, do i have to manually configure the network side of things...

Thanks in advance.

[Virtualinfra]

Yes configure networking manually.

refer the below pdf for a step by step configuration to add host to cluster in page 58

http://pubs.vmware.com/vsphere-50/topic/com.vmware.ICbase/PDF/vsphere-esxi-vcenter-server-50-host-ma...

Award points for the helpful and correct answer by clicking the below tab

[herrokitty]

Thankyou for the quick reply....

I guess i should elaborate...i know how to add the host to the cluster via the vSphere client.

What i'm after is a high level guide as to what is involved.

e.g.

Check for hardware compatibility to check how it will scale into our EVC cluster.

Check bla bla

Add to cluster via vSphere client.

Setup vswitches and networking.

etc. etc.

[a_p_]

I'm just not too sure how the network side of it works also...like after  i add the host, do i have to manually configure the network side of  things...

What you need to do depends on whether you are using standard vSwitches or vDS (Virtual Distributed Switches). Anyway, assuming you are using standard vSwitches:

• make sure the hardware is supported and compatible to the configured EVC level
• update the host's firmware and install ESX
• configure the Service Console/Management Network (hostname, IP settings)
• add a Host-A record for the new ESX host to your DNS server
• add the host to vCenter Server (not to the cluster yet) and assign the license
• configure the vSwitches, storage, NTP, ...
• once the host has been configured like the ones in the cluster, move it into the HA cluster

André