Nexus 1000v and Host-Profile (Auto-Deploy) Question

[tjalbrecht]

I have been playing with Auto-Deploy in vSphere 5, and it works great with a standard vswitch.  However, when I try to use auto-deploy with the Cisco Nexus 1000v, I am having some trouble.  The auto-deploy relies on host-profiles, and I wanted to know if the 1000v works with host-profiles or not?

When I boot a stateless ESXi host, I can add it to the 1000v dvswitch.  However, upon reboot, the networking reverts to a regular vswitch labeled "M-switch", and both uplink adapters show "standby".

Has anyone been able to get auto-deploy working with the 1000v?

Thanks,

T.J.

[lwatta · Accepted solution]

TJ

The first thing you need to do is make sure you add the VEM module to your auto-deploy image. Here is a link to a document that describes how to add the VEM image to an ESXi upgrade.

https://communities.cisco.com/docs/DOC-26572

The steps are the same for auto-deploy you just don't export to ISO.   This way everytime the ESXi host reboots the VEM image will always be there.

The second thing is that you are correct you need to use host-profiles. The simplest thing to do is to add and ESXi host to the Nexus 1000v and then build a host-profile off that host. Then simply apply that profile to all the other ESXi hosts.

louis

[tjalbrecht]

Louis,

Thanks for the response.  I have already gone through the following steps, with no luck:

1. I added the VEM offline bundle to the image

2. I added my host to the 1000v

3. I updated my host profile

4. I removed the AutoDeployRule

5. I created a new AutoDeployRUle with the updated host-profile.

When a host reboots, its networking does not end up in the 1000v dvswitch.  Have you completed this in a working configuration?

I am going to start the process over from scratch, and see if it works.

[tjalbrecht]

I am seeing the following error in vCenter:

Name: Reconfigure dvPort group

Status: Cannot complete a vSphere Distributed Switch operation for one or more host members.

Error Stack:

vDS operation failed on host 192.168.1.127, got (vmodl.fault.HostNotConnected) exception

[lwatta]

So your host-profile is part of the auto-deploy?

Try a generic auto-deploy image and assigning the host-profile through vCenter instead of through the auto-deploy server.

I saw issues with host profiles and auto-deploy during beta but have not been able to test since then.

[tjalbrecht]

I figured out the problem.  There is a field in the host profile section:

Networking configuration -> Host virtual NIC -> switch : vnic : management -> Stateless boot properties for virtual NIC

For some reason, that was set to VLAN 200, while my PXE boot environment was on the native VLAN.  The host would come up, install ESXi stateless, and when it tried to apply the host profile, it put itself in VLAN 200, effectively disconnecting it from my DHCP, and losing connectivity.

It works great now!