{"id":3933,"date":"2019-11-07T16:08:32","date_gmt":"2019-11-07T22:08:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jasemccarty.com\/blog\/?p=3933"},"modified":"2020-02-16T19:40:40","modified_gmt":"2020-02-17T01:40:40","slug":"vswa-67p01-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jasemccarty.com\/blog\/vswa-67p01-update\/","title":{"rendered":"vSAN Witness Appliance Updates in vSAN 6.7 P01"},"content":{"rendered":"

Stretched Cluster and 2 Node vSAN<\/a> configurations require a vSAN Witness Host prevent split-brain scenarios when sites are isolated from each other due to loss of connectivity or other outage.<\/p>\n

The Stretched Cluster Guide<\/a> and 2 Node Guide<\/a> state that any physical vSphere host with appropriate RAM and storage devices can be used, or the free vSAN Witness Appliance. The physical host approach will still require a licensed edition of vSphere<\/a>, and the host must be capable of running the same build of vSphere as the vSAN Cluster it is joined to.<\/p>\n

The vSAN Witness Appliance, not to be confused with a vSAN Witness Host<\/a>, is a free virtual appliance that runs vSphere as the Guest OS, and does not require any licensing for itself. It does have to run on top of a vSphere 5.5 or higher installation, which could be either a licensed vSphere host, or a host running the free vSphere Hypervisor.<\/p>\n

vSAN Witness Appliance Deployment<\/h2>\n

For vSAN Stretched Cluster configurations a single vSAN Witness Host is required. The same goes for 2 Node vSAN Clusters. Typically vSAN Witness Appliances are deployed during the creation of the cluster and they maintain the same lifecycle as the cluster.<\/p>\n

Deploying a vSAN Witness Appliance typically consists of deploying an OVA, providing a password as well as selecting switch and storage parameters. Networking and adding the vSAN Witness Host to vCenter is accomplished post deployment. It has been a relatively simple, manual process.<\/p>\n

Administrators who have desired to more easily deploy the vSAN Witness Appliance have used custom scripts, such as Vsan-WitnessDeploy.ps1<\/a>, to streamline the deployment process.<\/p>\n

Easier vSAN Witness Appliance Deployment in vSAN 6.7 P01<\/h2>\n

With the release of vSAN 6.7 P01, most of the manual steps have been added to the deployment workflow. Network settings are prompted for during deployment and configured during the initial boot process of the vSAN 6.7 P01 Witness Appliance.<\/p>\n

\"vSAN<\/p>\n

In addition to the previously prompted for root password and switch configuration, the OVA deployment also prompts for the following information:<\/p>\n