FlexPod Converged Infrastructure setup using Ansible for FlexPod Express with Cisco UCS C series server in Intersight Managed Mode, VMware vSphere 8.0, and NetApp ONTAP 9.12.1

This repository for FlexPod contains Ansible playbooks to configure Cisco Nexus, Cisco UCS Intersight, NetApp ONTAP, VMware ESXi, and VMware vCenter. This repository can be used for setting up Cisco devices, NetApp ONTAP Storage, and VMware ESXi and vCenter as covered in the following NVA: https://www.netapp.com/pdf.html?item=/media/88340-NVA-FlexpodExpress_C220_A250_NexusFinal.pdf

The NVA lays out the complete process for configuring the FlexPod using Ansible. Since these playbooks are intended to save time in setting up a working FlexPod, a complete FlexPod as shown below is needed to execute the playbooks. Various simulators could be used to partially test individual playbooks.

Set up the execution environment

To execute various ansible playbooks, a linux based system will need to be setup as described in the NVA with the packages listed at the following pages:

• Cisco UCS Intersight: https://galaxy.ansible.com/cisco/intersight
• Cisco NxOS: https://galaxy.ansible.com/cisco/nxos
• NetApp ONTAP: https://galaxy.ansible.com/netapp/ontap
• VMware: https://galaxy.ansible.com/community/vmware

How to execute these playbooks?

Because a number of manual tasks need to be executed between running the Ansible playbooks, the NVA document should be used as a guide for running the playbooks. Commentary is included in the variable files to guide filling in those values.

In this version of the FlexPod setup, NVMe-TCP is configured in the variable files. The steps for setting up a FlexPod with local boot with NVMe-TCP and NFS storage protocols are:

1. Create a directory and clone the repository from Github with "git clone https://github.com/ucs-compute-solutions/FlexPod-Express-Intersight.git".
2. Fill in the variable files according to the NVA.
3. Follow the manual steps in the NVA to set up the Nexus switches on the network and ssh into each switch.
4. Execute the Nexus playbook with "ansible-playbook ./Setup_Nexus.yml -i inventory" to setup the Nexus switches.
5. Follow the manual steps in the NVA to add timezone information to the Nexus switches.
6. Follow the manual steps in the NVA to get the NetApp storage cluster on the network.
7. Execute the NetApp storage playbook with "ansible-playbook -i inventory Setup_ONTAP.yml -t ontap_config_part_1".
8. Follow the manual steps in the NVA to create an Intersight Account.
9. Claim the UCS C series servers into Intersight.
10. Execute the IMM playbooks with "ansible-playbook ./Create_IMM_Server_Policies.yml", and "ansible-playbook ./Create_IMM_Server_Profile_Templates.yml" to setup the Cisco UCS Server Profile Templates, Policies.
11. Follow the manual steps in the NVA to create UCS IMM server profiles for two or more VMware ESXi management hosts.
12. Follow the manual steps in the NVA to install VMware ESXi on the two(or more) host servers and assign IPs to those servers.
13. Execute the ESXi playbook with "ansible-playbook ./Setup_ESXi.yml -i inventory" to setup the ESXi hosts.
14. Bring a vCenter into the environment by either installing vCenter on the first ESXi host according to the NVA, copying it in, or establishing L3 routing to it.
15. Setup the vCenter and add the two or more ESXi hosts to it by executing "ansible-playbook ./Setup_vCenter.yml -i inventory".
16. Follow the manual steps in the NVA to complete setting up vCenter and the ESXi hosts.
17. Execute the NetApp storage playbook with "ansible-playbook -i inventory Setup_ONTAP.yml -t ontap_config_part_2" to setup NVMe-TCP and finalize ONTAP Storage.
18. Execute the manual steps in the NVA to complete the NVMe-TCP setup.