How to setup vSAN without vCenter? VCSA may be your answer
It is quite an interesting topic this one.
As some may know, setting up a new vSAN Cluster requires it to be done from vCenter. But what if it’s a greenfield deployment, how do you actually do this?
There are a couple of workarounds fortunately previously.
Assuming that you have an existing vCenter from another environment, you could use that to add new nodes to cluster and spin up vSAN from it. Alternatively, (assuming you have 4 nodes provisioned for vSAN) you can allocate one of them to deploy vCenter on a local datastore, then spin up vSAN on the remaining 3 nodes. Next vMotion vCenter onto the 3 node vSAN, clean up the node previously running vCenter and prep it to join into vSAN.
While the few methods above are all legitimate ways to do it, it still requires some careful planning. What some may not know (which I found out recently when I was working with a partner deploying this), is a feature within the vCenter Server Appliance (VCSA) that allows us to easily setup vSAN as part of a greenfield deployment. I always assumed many knew about it since its been around for a while (but obviously not…).
VCSA is deployed via an ISO image an it contains a UI installer. On a side note, VMware recommends that customers move away from vCenter on Windows and deploy these virtual appliances instead. The installer steps you through the installation steps, and as you come to the section “Select Datastore”, you will notice there is an option “Install on a new vSAN cluster containing the target host”. Check this radio button.
The next screens will then ask you for details on the vSAN Cluster and also allows you the option to claim disks to form vSAN.
You then continue with the bring-up of vCenter. What happens next is essentially, the installer will setup vSAN on a single node (the same node you want vCenter to live on) and deploy the VCSA OVA on top of it. Once powered on, when you login to vCenter, you will notice that vCenter now is installed on a single node vSAN cluster. Don’t get any interesting ideas of running a “single node vSAN” just because the initially setup allowed it to happen.
To complete the vSAN cluster setup, continue to add the remaining nodes of vSAN on to the existing 1-node cluster and wah-lah… Just like MAGIC, you have just configured vCenter and vSAN with a single step!
I have also recorded a short video demo, in case you want to see the entire process. [Watch it here]
