EMC Storage Product Knowledge Sharing

Nondisurptive installation of PowerPath/VE using VMotion

2010-08-26T12:30:00.000-04:00

When connecting to an ESX host for the first time, rpowermt prompts the administrator for the username and password of the ESX host. Each new ESX host managed by rpowermt generates a prompt a username and password. The administrator is prompted for a lockbox password once, rpowermt securely stores the following information in a lockbox(encrypted
file).

- --ESX host being accessed

- --Username and password of ESX host being accessed,

Storing the host and passwords in a lockbox enables them to be mainitained across system reboots. If a lockbox is copied from one rpowermt server to anotherm, the user is prompted to enter the lockbox password again.

PowerPath/VE for vSphere rpowermt commands do not require root access to run the executable; however, the ESX root password is required as an entry in the lockbox, Access to rpowermt command executable is based on the native access controls of the server (Windows or RHEL) where rpowermt is installed.

PowerPath/VE 5.4 and supported ESX/ESXi versions

EMC PowerPath/VE release	Supported VMware ESX/ESXi version
EMC PowerPath/VE release	ESX 4.0	ESXi 4.0	ESX 4.0 U1/U2	ESXi 4.0 U1/U2	ESX 4.1	ESXi 4.1
5.4	Yes - vCLI install only	Yes - vCLI install only	Yes - vCLI install only	Yes - vCLI install only	No	No
5.4 SP1	Yes - vCLI install only	Yes - vCLI install only	Yes - Update Manager and vCLI install	Yes - Update Manager and vCLI install	Yes - vCLI install only	No

Procedures:

Note:- Please check ESM for prequisites for PPVE before installing/upgrading.

& 1) vSphere hosts must be part of a DRS cluster.

2) 2) vSphere hosts must have shared storage. If there is not shared storage, create it.

3) 3) Place the first vSphere host in Maintenance Mode. This will force VMs to fail over to
other cluster members using Vmotion.

4) 4) Install PowerPath/VE on the first vSphere host using vCLI.

Using Vmware Remote Tool (vCLI) on server, install PowerPath/VE on maintenance mode server, use the following command:

vihostupdate --server “server-IP-Address” --install --bunde=/<path>/EMCPower.VMWARE.5.4.bxxx.zip

Note:- Use vihostupdate.pl for Windows

Once the command completes, verify that package is installed. Use the following command.

vihostupdate --server “server-IP-Address” –query

5) If necessary, make changes to the first vSphere host’s claim rules.

6) 6) Exit Maintenance Mode.

7) 7) Reboot the first vSphere host. (Wait host to come online before proceeding next steps.)

8) 8) Place the second vSphere host in Maintenance Mode. This will force VMs to fail over to
other clusters member using Vmotion.

9) 9) Install PowerPath/VE on the second vSphere host using vCLI.

10)   If necessary, make changes to the second vSphere host’s claim rules.

11)   Exit Maintenance Mode.

12)   Reboot the second vSphere host.

13)   Perform the same operation for remaining hosts in the cluster.

14)   After PowerPath/VE installation has completed for every node in the cluster, rebalance the VMs across the cluster.

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2010-07-09T21:30:00.000-04:00

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2010-06-28T21:16:00.000-04:00

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