This is an interactive demo. Follow the instructions and click as needed.

The orange boxes shows where to click, and you can also use the left and right arrow keys to move through the demo in either direction.

This demo shows you the EVO:RAIL initial configuration user interface.

Objective: Become familiar with configuration options and capabilities.

Accessing EVO:RAIL

EVO:RAIL is accessed from a browser (Firefox/Chrome/IE) on a management workstation/laptop connected to the EVO:RAIL network.

1. Click the Google Chrome browser icon on the ControlCenter desktop.
2. When you see a message stating that the site's security certificate is not trusted, click Advanced.
3. Then click Proceed to 192.168.110.22 (unsafe)

Welcome to EVO:RAIL!

This is the EVO:RAIL configuration splash page.

1. Click Get Started.
2. The next page displays the EVO:RAIL End-User License Agreement. To accept the license, click Accept.

Have you completed the EVO:RAIL Setup Checklist and Network Configuration Table?

This page asks if you have completed the EVO:RAIL Setup Checklist and Network Configuration Table.

1. Click the I set up my switch checkbox.
2. Click the I set up my management VLAN checkbox.
3. Click Next.

How would you like to configure EVO:RAIL?

You can configure EVO:RAIL using the step-by-step user interface or you can upload a JSON-formatted configuration file. In the Hands-on Lab, you will use a configuration file.

1. Click Configuration file.
2. Click the configuration file we have provided for the Hands-on Lab, config.json.
3. Click Open.

The configuration file is uploaded. Now you will see the values from the file in the EVO:RAIL user interface.

System

The System page is used to configure the time zone and specify any existing NTP, DNS, proxy or active directory servers on your network. External servers are not used in the Hands-on Lab.

1. The only required setting is the time zone, which you can see was set to UTC by the configuration file.
2. Click the scroll bar down.
3. Click Next.

Management

The Management page is used to configure the hostnames, network settings, and passwords for the ESXi hosts and for EVO:RAIL and vCenter Server.

Hostnames:

1. An ESXi hostname consists of an ESXi hostname prefix, a separator, an iterator, and a domain. Look at values loaded from the configuration file.
2. Look at the Preview field. The value shown, esxi-node01.vmworld.local, shows how the prefix, separator, iterator and domain are combined to form the hostname for the first ESXi node in the EVO:RAIL cluster. All other ESXi hosts follow the same pattern, incrementing the iterator.
3. Look at the vCenter Server and EVO:RAIL hostnames. The domain is automatically applied to these two hostnames.

Networking:

4. Look at the Starting and Ending addresses for ESXi hosts' IP pool. The configuration file specified 16 IP addresses to allow for expansion to 4 appliances (each with 4 nodes). When planning for an EVO:RAIL appliance, you can optionally specify extra IP addresses for up to sixteen appliances.
5. Look at the vCenter Server and EVO:RAIL IP addresses set by the configuration file.
6. Look at the subnet mask and gateway, which are the same for all ESXi hosts, vCenter Server, and EVO:RAIL.

Passwords:

7. Click the scroll bar down.
8. There is one password for all ESXi hosts in the EVO:RAIL cluster. In the Hands-on Lab it is set to VMware1!
9. There is one password for vCenter Server and EVO:RAIL. In the Hands-on Lab it is set to VMware1!
10. Click Next.

vSphere vMotion

The vSphere vMotion page is used to configure the starting and ending addresses for the IP pool, the VLAN ID, and the subnet mask for vMotion.

1. Look at the values that were set by the configuration file. Sixteen IP addresses were allocated to allow for future expansion. The VLAN ID was set to 0 because a flat network without VLAN tagging is used in the Hands-on Lab.
2. Click Next.

Virtual SAN

The Virtual SAN page is used to configure the starting and ending addresses for the IP pool, the VLAN ID, and the subnet mask for Virtual SAN.

1. Look at the values that were set by the configuration file. Sixteen IP addresses were allocated to allow for future expansion. The VLAN ID was set to 0 because a flat network without VLAN tagging is used in the Hands-on Lab.
2. Click Next.

VM Networks

The VM Networks page is used to configure virtual machine network segments.

1. Look at the three VM networks that were specified in the uploaded configuration file.
2. Click Next.

Solutions

The Solutions page is used to configure various solutions provided by VMware and EVO:RAIL partners. In the Hands-on Lab, the only solution that shown is Logging.

1. Logging can be set to VMware vRealize Log Insight or to an existing Syslog Server on your network.
2. Click Next.

Review and Validate

1. Click Validate.
2. EVO:RAIL verifies the configuration data and checks for conflicts.
3. Click Build EVO:RAIL.

Build EVO:RAIL

EVO:RAIL implements data services, creates the new ESXi hosts and a Virtual SAN datastore, and deploys the vCenter Server.

1. Click Start Configuration
2. Dismiss the security warning by clicking Advanced, then clicking Proceed to 10.10.10.200 (unsafe)
3. The configuration steps will be shown faster than real-time. When you reach Hooray! the appliance is fully configured.
4. Click Manage EVO:RAIL to view the login screen for EVO:RAIL management.

This is the end of the demo. To return to the lab, click the link in the upper right corner or close this browser tab.