HP CloudSystem Matrix How-To Guide: ESXi Cluster Provisioning

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Introduction
This document describes how to provision a VMware 5.0 ESXi cluster using the infrastructure orchestration (IO)
capabilities of the HP Matrix Operating Environment 7.0. By using an infrastructure orchestration template, you can
quickly and easily deploy ESXi hosts. This new feature provides the following:
The ability to define an ESXi cluster configuration solution in terms of networking, servers, and storage in the form of
a Matrix OE template. The template is created using the graphical Matrix OE infrastructure orchestration designer
and can be made available in the Matrix OE service catalog.
Special workflows that are unique to the ESXi clustering feature are added to the ESXi cluster Matrix OE templates
using the designer tool.
Access to the defined ESXi cluster solution template by administrators or (optionally) users by using the Matrix OE
infrastructure orchestration self-service portal. From the portal, a user can request an instance of the template for
provisioning.
Automation of the ESXi cluster provisioning based on the template by the Matrix OE infrastructure orchestration
engine. The specific tasks are a combination of the generic functions in the orchestrator and those of the workflows
attached to the template and initiated by the orchestration engine. These tasks automatically perform the following:
 Configure physical blade servers
 Connect the physical servers to an Auto Deploy provisioning engine and its network
 Trigger initial installation of ESXi on all cluster members
 Configure and attach physical storage and networks to all cluster members
 Communicate with the vSphere server to create the cluster and configure cluster members to match the
template specification by using vSphere host profiles
 Integrate the completed cluster into the server resource pool framework of IO so that it is ready as a target for
virtual machine (VM) provisioning through the Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) paradigm of IO
Management and configuration of the pool of resources from which the cluster will be created using the Matrix OE
console in HP Systems Insight Manager (HP SIM). This administrative interface can be used to configure and manage
the available networks, servers, and storage resources from which the ESXi clusters will be provisioned. It also can
be used to manage and approve individual requests for ESXi clusters within those resource pools.
ESXi cluster provisioning in Matrix OE is accomplished by Matrix OE components working in conjunction with
VMware vSphere components in the environment. The total solution comprises the following:
Software components running on the Matrix Central Management Server (CMS)
 User interfaces for the Matrix OE IO designer, self service portal, and console (SIM)
 The Matrix OE service catalog that contains templates that define ESXi cluster solutions
 The Matrix OE IO engine to automate installation and configuration of an ESXi cluster based on a template in the
service catalog
 (New) The workflow library that contains ESXi provisioning–specific workflows added in this release
 (New) VMware PowerCLI tools that the Matrix OE workflows use to communicate with the vSphere and Auto
Deploy servers
A VMware vSphere server
 Manages ESXi clusters from a VMware prospective
 Is registered with the Matrix CMS via standard Matrix procedures
A VMware Auto Deploy server (can be the same server as the vSphere server or independent)
 Responds to requests to provision ESXi servers over a provisioning and management network
 Contains the ESXi image depot for HP blade servers
 Contains credentials for that depot
 Has preloaded VMware licenses for automatic allocation as new ESXi servers are provisioned One or more HP
CloudSystem Matrix enclosures
 Physical blades that will host ESXi cluster member servers
 HP Virtual Connect modules that configure and define available networks that can be attached to the blade
servers that will be ESXi hosts