2-node vSAN cluster hardware change

[mike-p]

Hello,

what is the correct way to evacuate an esxi host in a 2-node stretched cluster in order to change the hardware or maybe reinstall esxi ?

A full evacuation would violate the SFFT=1 policy.

Thanks in advance & Regards

[TheBobkin · Accepted solution]

@mike-p , Correct you cannot use Full Data Migration option in such a cluster.

Thus you are limited to using Ensure Accessibility option - it is advisable to take good backups before doing this as the data will be FTT=0 until the other node is back in the cluster.

Note that reinstalling ESXi doesn't remove the vSAN data nor Disk-Groups, it is also possible to change hardware and retain the Disk-Group structure, that being said, this will just lower the delta-resync time and not offer any additional redundancy benefit (as the data would be stale).

[mike-p]

ok, in case of reinstalling esxi the maschines are still accessible as long as the witness host is availlable?

[TheBobkin]

@mike-p Yes, assuming the data is stored as FTT=1, remaining data-node+Witness satisfies both 1. Full copy of data available and 2. Quorum is met (2/3 components = majority available).