In this post, let's quickly go through the steps which you need to follow to enable the vSAN File Services. You can enable vSAN File Services on a regular vSAN cluster, a vSAN stretched cluster, or a vSAN ROBO cluster.
Prerequisites
Before turning on the vSAN File Services, make sure the following are configured:
- Every ESXi host in the vSAN cluster must have minimal hardware requirements such as:
4 Core CPU
16 GB physical memory
- Make sure the network is set up as a vSAN File Service network.
If using standard switch based network, the Promiscuous Mode and Forged Transmits are enabled as part of the vSAN File Services enablement process.
If using DVS based network, vSAN File Services are supported on DVS version 6.6.0 or later. Create a dedicated port group for vSAN File Services in the DVS. MacLearning and Forged Transmits are enabled as part of the vSAN File Services enablement process for a provided DVS port group.
- Allocate static IP addresses as file server IPs from vSAN File Service network, each IP is the single point access to vSAN file shares.
For best performance, the number of IP addresses must be equal to the number of hosts in the vSAN cluster.
All the static IP addresses should be from the same subnet.
Every static IP address has a corresponding FQDN, which should be part of the Forward lookup and Reverse lookup zones in the DNS server.
Procedure
1. Navigate to the vSAN cluster and click Configure > vSAN > Services.
2. On the File Service row, click Enable.
The Configure File Service wizard opens.
3. Review the checklist on the Introduction page, and click Next.
4. In the File service agent page, select one of the following options to download the OVF file.
a. Automatic Approach
- This option lets the system search and download the OVF. Ensure that you have configured the
proxy and firewall so that vCenter can access the following website and download the appropriate
JSON file. https://download3.vmware.com/software/ VSANOVF/FsOvfMapping.json
- If an OVF is already downloaded and available, then following the options are available:
Use current OVF: Lets you use the OVF that is already available.
Automatically load latest OVF: Lets the system search and download the latest OVF.
b. Manual Approach
- This option allows you to browse and select an OVF that is already available on your local system.
- If you select this option, you should upload all the following files:
VMware-vSAN-File-Services-Appliance-x.x.x.x-x_OVF10.mf
VMware-vSAN-File-Services-Appliance-x.x.x.x-x-x_OVF10.cert
VMware-vSAN-File-Services-Appliance-x.x.x.x-x-x-system.vmdk
VMware-vSAN-File-Services-Appliance-x.x.x.x-x-cloud-components.vmdk
VMware-vSAN-File-Services-Appliance-x.x.x.x-x-log.vmdk
VMware-vSAN-File-Services-Appliance-x.x.x.x-x_OVF10.ovf
5. Click Enable.
Results
- The OVF is downloaded and deployed.
- The vSAN file services is enabled.
- A File Services VM (FSVM) is placed on each host.
Now that the vSAN File Service is enabled, you can proceed to configure it. For more information on configuring the vSAN File Service, please refer to this VMware Documentation.
That's it for now.
Thank you for reading!
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