vSAN Configure - Not allowing me to complete vsan configuration

[ZenWare]

Hi all,

So After following the instructions, I created a 3 host, 2 +1 witness vsan cluster.

I start the configuration process after deploying the witness.

In configure vsan, everything runs smoothly and is succesfully validated

The cache and capacity is set for the two ESXi host, and then I claim disks for the witness

Everything is fine until I get an error and I can't finish.

Has anyone experienced this problem?

Please help!

[RickVerstegen]

Did you try to restart the vCenter service and performed the operation again?

Rick

[ZenWare]

Hi Rick,

Yep, restarts, reboots, the whole drill was repeated and no go.

The work-around to this is to use the vsphere web client (Not the HTML5 version).

Here, there are additional menus: select the cluster, go to Configure and under general you can turn it on manually here.

You will need to go through each menu to make sure the configuration is correct as the HTML5 wizard doesn't exist here.

This is just a work-around and not a solution.

I have my vsan running beatifully but I'm aware there are still problems as you need to switch between the different vcenter UI (HTML5/flash) in order to get certain things done.

Annoying...

[sk84]

Please select the first option "Single Site Cluster". The "Two host vSAN Cluster" is for ROBO deployments where the witness is outside of your cluster. But as you have mentioned, you have 3 hosts in the cluster. Therefore, the first option "Single Site Cluster" should be the right one for your case.

[TheBobkin]

Hello ZenWare​,

What version of vCenter, ESXi hosts and Witness here?

Is this a multi-vCenter environment or single vC?

Same account being used to log into both Flash and HTML5 Clients?

HTML5 Client is still being updated to have full feature parity with the Flash Client but potentially some element of your configuration doesn't support this operation:

https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/6.5/rn/vsphere-client-65-html5-functionality-support.html

You could likely get more verbose output of why this isn't permitted in the web-client logs when this occurs.

sk84​

"Please select the first option "Single Site Cluster". The "Two host vSAN Cluster" is for ROBO deployments where the witness is outside of your cluster. But as you have mentioned, you have 3 hosts in the cluster. Therefore, the first option "Single Site Cluster" should be the right one for your case."

I know you are only trying to help but this is dangerously incorrect information - if one were to configure it like this it would place ~1/3rd of the data components on the Witness Appliance which is not the intended function of these and would be painfully slow and unstable (and unsupported)

If OP is using crossover cables to direct-connect the data-nodes (e.g. a 2+1) then 2-node cluster is the correct option, if they have the data nodes in different sites (e.g. a 1+1+1) connected by switches then they should pick Stretched-Cluster option. Do note that 'sites' are logical-only in reality - there is no requirement that they be geographically distant (and it is of course fine to run the Witness in the same building/room as the cluster it is used in).

Bob

[sk84]

TheBobkin​

Thanks for pointing that out. Yes, you are right. There must be no data objects on the witness appliance. I'm not even sure that's possible. And if the hosts are distributed across racks or data centers, you should urgently select a stretched cluster configuration. And I also understand what "site" means.

But I understood the OP to have 3 hosts in a cluster, so I assumed they were on the same site and he's trying to setup a minimal default configuration with 3 vSAN hosts where all 3 hosts contribute storage to the cluster. And in this case the first option would be the right one. I didn't realize he want to explicity configure a witness host and only 2 hosts containing the data.

Sorry for the misunderstanding.

[ZenWare]

Please select the first option "Single Site Cluster". The "Two host vSAN Cluster" is for ROBO deployments where the witness is outside of your cluster. But as you have mentioned, you have 3 hosts in the cluster. Therefore, the first option "Single Site Cluster" should be the right one for your case.

There are 3 hosts, the cluster has 2 hosts. The third host has the witness OVA (guest) while the other two hosts have the vsan storage (cache + capacity SSD drives).

Since I want to have the witness, vC and DC separate from the rest of the VMs I have a low powered box that is seperate from the cluster.

Is this a problem?

[ZenWare]

Thanks... question answered