This process greatly simplifies the deployment, but still several steps are needed. The OS will automatically use SN of the server and will use it as a hostname. If you are on the same network, you can simply navigate to https://<device-serial-number>.local (it uses local discovery).
-
Hydrated MSLab with LabConfig from 01-HydrateMSLab
-
Understand how MSLab works
-
Make sure you hydrate Azure Stack HCI 23H2 Preview using CreateParentDisk.ps1 located in ParentDisks folder as it contains WebUI onboarding
-
Note: this lab uses ~50GB RAM. To reduce amount of RAM, you would need to reduce number of nodes.
$LabConfig=@{AllowedVLANs="1-10,711-719" ; DomainAdminName='LabAdmin'; AdminPassword='LS1setup!' ; DCEdition='4'; Internet=$true; TelemetryLevel='Full' ; TelemetryNickname='' ; AdditionalNetworksConfig=@(); VMs=@()}
#Azure Stack HCI 23H2
#labconfig will not domain join VMs
1..2 | ForEach-Object {$LABConfig.VMs += @{ VMName = "LTPNode$_" ; Configuration = 'S2D' ; ParentVHD = 'AzSHCI23H2_G2.vhdx' ; HDDNumber = 4 ; HDDSize= 1TB ; MemoryStartupBytes= 24GB; VMProcessorCount="MAX" ; vTPM=$true ; Unattend="NoDjoin" ; NestedVirt=$true }}
#Windows Admin Center in GW mode
$LabConfig.VMs += @{ VMName = 'WACGW' ; ParentVHD = 'Win2025Core_G2.vhdx'; MGMTNICs=1}
#Management machine (windows server 2025, but can be 2022)
$LabConfig.VMs += @{ VMName = 'Management' ; ParentVHD = 'Win2025_G2.vhdx'; MGMTNICs=1 ; AddToolsVHD=$True }
To sucessfully configure NTP server it's necessary to disable time synchronization from Hyper-V host.
Run following code from hyper-v host to disable time sync
Get-VM *LTPNode* | Disable-VMIntegrationService -Name "Time Synchronization"
These prerequisites are needed to successfully register server into the Azure. Following code will log in into the subscription, create Resource Group and Arc Gateway.
$GatewayName="LTPClus01-ArcGW"
$ResourceGroupName="LTPClus01-RG"
$Location="eastus"
#login to azure
#download Azure module
Install-PackageProvider -Name NuGet -MinimumVersion 2.8.5.201 -Force
if (!(Get-InstalledModule -Name az.accounts -ErrorAction Ignore)){
Install-Module -Name Az.Accounts -Force
}
#login
Connect-AzAccount -UseDeviceAuthentication
#assuming new az.accounts module was used and it asked you what subscription to use - then correct subscription is selected for context
$Subscription=(Get-AzContext).Subscription
#install az resources module
if (!(Get-InstalledModule -Name az.resources -ErrorAction Ignore)){
Install-Module -Name az.resources -Force
}
#create resource group
if (-not(Get-AzResourceGroup -Name $ResourceGroupName -ErrorAction Ignore)){
New-AzResourceGroup -Name $ResourceGroupName -Location $location
}
#region (Optional) configure ARC Gateway
#install az cli and log into az
Start-BitsTransfer -Source https://aka.ms/installazurecliwindows -Destination $env:userprofile\Downloads\AzureCLI.msi
Start-Process msiexec.exe -Wait -ArgumentList "/I $env:userprofile\Downloads\AzureCLI.msi /quiet"
#add az to enviromental variables so no posh restart is needed
[System.Environment]::SetEnvironmentVariable('PATH',$Env:PATH+';C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SDKs\Azure\CLI2\wbin')
#login with device authentication
az login --use-device-code
#download WHL
$AKA="https://aka.ms/ArcGatewayWhl"
$URL=[System.Net.HttpWebRequest]::Create("$AKA").GetResponse().ResponseUri.AbsoluteUri
$FileName=$url.Split("/") | Select-Object -Last 1
Start-BitsTransfer -Source $URL -Destination $env:userprofile\Downloads\$FileName
#add GW extension
az extension add --allow-preview true --source $env:userprofile\Downloads\$FileName --yes
#make sure "Microsoft.HybridCompute" is registered (and possibly other RPs)
Register-AzResourceProvider -ProviderNamespace "Microsoft.HybridCompute"
Register-AzResourceProvider -ProviderNamespace "Microsoft.GuestConfiguration"
Register-AzResourceProvider -ProviderNamespace "Microsoft.HybridConnectivity"
Register-AzResourceProvider -ProviderNamespace "Microsoft.AzureStackHCI"
#create GW (currently needs to fill signup form https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure-stack/hci/deploy/deployment-azure-arc-gateway-overview#how-to-use-the-arc-gateway-on-azure-stack-hci)
$output=az connectedmachine gateway create --name $GatewayName --resource-group $ResourceGroupName --location $Location --gateway-type public --allowed-features * --subscription $Subscription.id
$ArcGWInfo=$output | ConvertFrom-Json
#endregion
#output variables (so you can just copy it and have powershell code to create variables)
Write-Host -ForegroundColor Cyan @"
#Variables to copy
`$SubscriptionID=`"$($Subscription.ID)`"
`$ResourceGroupName=`"$ResourceGroupName`"
`$Region=`"$Location`"
`$TenantID=`"$($subscription.tenantID)`"
`$ArcGatewayID=`"$(($ArcGWInfo).ID)`"
"@
# now can be servers registered using GUI
Latest Azure Stack HCI version modified the NIC naming scheme and all adapters are named with names Port0-PortX as you see on screenshots below
$Servers="LTPNode1","LTPNode2"
$UserName="Administrator"
$Password="LS1setup!"
$SecuredPassword = ConvertTo-SecureString $password -AsPlainText -Force
$Credentials= New-Object System.Management.Automation.PSCredential ($UserName,$SecuredPassword)
#configure trusted hosts to be able to communicate with servers (not secure as you send credentials over to remote host)
$TrustedHosts=@()
$TrustedHosts+=$Servers
Set-Item WSMan:\localhost\Client\TrustedHosts -Value $($TrustedHosts -join ',') -Force
Invoke-Command -ComputerName $Servers -ScriptBlock {
$AdaptersHWInfo=Get-NetAdapterHardwareInfo
foreach ($Adapter in $AdaptersHWInfo){
if ($adapter.Slot){
$NewName="Slot $($Adapter.Slot) Port $($Adapter.Function +1)"
}else{
$NewName="NIC$($Adapter.Function +1)"
}
$adapter | Rename-NetAdapter -NewName $NewName
}
} -Credential $Credentials
As you now have all variables needed, you can proceed with navigating to WebUI on each node.
In MSLab you can simply navigate to https://LTPNode1 and https://LTPNode2. In production environment you can either navigate to https:// or simply configure an IP address and navigate there. The webUI takes ~15 minutes to start after booting the servers.
Log in with Administrator/LS1setup! and proceed with all three steps to register nodes to Azure.
$Servers="LTPNode1","LTPNode2"
$AsHCIOUName="OU=LTPClus01,DC=Corp,DC=contoso,DC=com"
$LCMUserName="LTPClus01-LCMUser"
$LCMPassword="LS1setup!LS1setup!"
$NTPServer="DC.corp.contoso.com"
#Create new credentials
$UserName="Administrator"
$Password="LS1setup!"
$SecuredPassword = ConvertTo-SecureString $password -AsPlainText -Force
$Credentials= New-Object System.Management.Automation.PSCredential ($UserName,$SecuredPassword)
$SecuredPassword = ConvertTo-SecureString $LCMPassword -AsPlainText -Force
$LCMCredentials= New-Object System.Management.Automation.PSCredential ($LCMUserName,$SecuredPassword)
#configure trusted hosts to be able to communicate with servers (not secure as you send credentials over to remote host)
$TrustedHosts=@()
$TrustedHosts+=$Servers
Set-Item WSMan:\localhost\Client\TrustedHosts -Value $($TrustedHosts -join ',') -Force
# region to sucessfully validate you need make sure there's just one GW
#make sure there is only one management NIC with IP address (setup is complaining about multiple gateways)
Invoke-Command -ComputerName $servers -ScriptBlock {
Get-NetIPConfiguration | Where-Object IPV4defaultGateway | Get-NetAdapter | Sort-Object Name | Select-Object -Skip 1 | Set-NetIPInterface -Dhcp Disabled
} -Credential $Credentials
#endregion
#if servers are Dell AX Nodes, SBE Package needs to be populated and servers updated
#region update servers with latest hardware updates
$DSUDownloadFolder="$env:USERPROFILE\Downloads\DSU"
#Set up web client to download files with autheticated web request
$WebClient = New-Object System.Net.WebClient
#$proxy = new-object System.Net.WebProxy
$proxy = [System.Net.WebRequest]::GetSystemWebProxy()
$proxy.Credentials = [System.Net.CredentialCache]::DefaultCredentials
#$proxy.Address = $proxyAdr
#$proxy.useDefaultCredentials = $true
$WebClient.proxy = $proxy
#Download DSU
#https://github.com/DellProSupportGse/Tools/blob/main/DART.ps1
#download latest DSU to Downloads
$LatestDSU="https://dl.dell.com/FOLDER10889507M/1/Systems-Management_Application_RPW7K_WN64_2.0.2.3_A00.EXE"
if (-not (Test-Path $DSUDownloadFolder -ErrorAction Ignore)){New-Item -Path $DSUDownloadFolder -ItemType Directory}
#Start-BitsTransfer -Source $LatestDSU -Destination $DSUDownloadFolder\DSU.exe
$WebClient.DownloadFile($LatestDSU,"$DSUDownloadFolder\DSU.exe")
#Download catalog and unpack
#Start-BitsTransfer -Source "https://downloads.dell.com/catalog/ASHCI-Catalog.xml.gz" -Destination "$DSUDownloadFolder\ASHCI-Catalog.xml.gz"
$WebClient.DownloadFile("https://downloads.dell.com/catalog/ASHCI-Catalog.xml.gz","$DSUDownloadFolder\ASHCI-Catalog.xml.gz")
#unzip gzip to a folder https://scatteredcode.net/download-and-extract-gzip-tar-with-powershell/
Function Expand-GZipArchive{
Param(
$infile,
$outfile = ($infile -replace '\.gz$','')
)
$input = New-Object System.IO.FileStream $inFile, ([IO.FileMode]::Open), ([IO.FileAccess]::Read), ([IO.FileShare]::Read)
$output = New-Object System.IO.FileStream $outFile, ([IO.FileMode]::Create), ([IO.FileAccess]::Write), ([IO.FileShare]::None)
$gzipStream = New-Object System.IO.Compression.GzipStream $input, ([IO.Compression.CompressionMode]::Decompress)
$buffer = New-Object byte[](1024)
while($true){
$read = $gzipstream.Read($buffer, 0, 1024)
if ($read -le 0){break}
$output.Write($buffer, 0, $read)
}
$gzipStream.Close()
$output.Close()
$input.Close()
}
Expand-GZipArchive "$DSUDownloadFolder\ASHCI-Catalog.xml.gz" "$DSUDownloadFolder\ASHCI-Catalog.xml"
#upload DSU and catalog to servers
$Sessions=New-PSSession -ComputerName $Servers -Credential $Credentials
Invoke-Command -Session $Sessions -ScriptBlock {
if (-not (Test-Path $using:DSUDownloadFolder -ErrorAction Ignore)){New-Item -Path $using:DSUDownloadFolder -ItemType Directory}
}
foreach ($Session in $Sessions){
Copy-Item -Path "$DSUDownloadFolder\DSU.exe" -Destination "$DSUDownloadFolder" -ToSession $Session -Force -Recurse
Copy-Item -Path "$DSUDownloadFolder\ASHCI-Catalog.xml" -Destination "$DSUDownloadFolder" -ToSession $Session -Force -Recurse
}
#install DSU
Invoke-Command -Session $Sessions -ScriptBlock {
Start-Process -FilePath "$using:DSUDownloadFolder\DSU.exe" -ArgumentList "/silent" -Wait
}
#Check compliance
Invoke-Command -Session $Sessions -ScriptBlock {
& "C:\Program Files\Dell\DELL System Update\DSU.exe" --compliance --output-format="json" --output="$using:DSUDownloadFolder\Compliance.json" --catalog-location="$using:DSUDownloadFolder\ASHCI-Catalog.xml"
}
#collect results
$Compliance=@()
foreach ($Session in $Sessions){
$json=Invoke-Command -Session $Session -ScriptBlock {Get-Content "$using:DSUDownloadFolder\Compliance.json"}
$object = $json | ConvertFrom-Json
$components=$object.SystemUpdateCompliance.UpdateableComponent
$components | Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty -Name "ClusterName" -Value $ClusterName
$components | Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty -Name "ServerName" -Value $Session.ComputerName
$Compliance+=$Components
}
#display results
$Compliance | Out-GridView
#Or just choose what updates to install
#$Compliance=$Compliance | Out-GridView -OutputMode Multiple
#or Select only NIC drivers/firmware (as the rest will be processed by SBE)
#$Compliance=$Compliance | Where-Object categoryType -eq "NI"
#Install Dell updates https://www.dell.com/support/home/en-us/product-support/product/system-update/docs
Invoke-Command -Session $Sessions -ScriptBlock {
$Packages=(($using:Compliance | Where-Object {$_.ServerName -eq $env:computername -and $_.compliancestatus -eq $false}))
if ($Packages){
$UpdateNames=($packages.PackageFilePath | Split-Path -Leaf) -join ","
& "C:\Program Files\Dell\DELL System Update\DSU.exe" --catalog-location="$using:DSUDownloadFolder\ASHCI-Catalog.xml" --update-list="$UpdateNames" --apply-upgrades --apply-downgrades
}
}
$Sessions | Remove-PSSession
#restart servers to finish Installation
Restart-Computer -ComputerName $Servers -Credential $Credentials -WsmanAuthentication Negotiate -Wait -For PowerShell
Start-Sleep 20 #Failsafe as Hyper-V needs 2 reboots and sometimes it happens, that during the first reboot the restart-computer evaluates the machine is up
#make sure computers are restarted
Foreach ($Server in $Servers){
do{$Test= Test-NetConnection -ComputerName $Server -CommonTCPPort WINRM}while ($test.TcpTestSucceeded -eq $False)
}
#endregion
#region populate SBE package
#download SBE
Start-BitsTransfer -Source https://dl.dell.com/FOLDER12137689M/1/Bundle_SBE_Dell_AS-HCI-AX-15G_4.1.2409.1901.zip -Destination $env:userprofile\Downloads\Bundle_SBE_Dell_AS-HCI-AX-15G_4.1.2409.1901.zip
#or 16G
#Start-BitsTransfer -Source https://dl.dell.com/FOLDER12137723M/1/Bundle_SBE_Dell_AS-HCI-AX-16G_4.1.2409.1501.zip -Destination $env:userprofile\Downloads\Bundle_SBE_Dell_AS-HCI-AX-16G_4.1.2409.1501.zip
#Transfer to servers
$Sessions=New-PSSession -ComputerName $Servers -Credential $Credentials
foreach ($Session in $Session){
Copy-Item -Path $env:userprofile\Downloads\Bundle_SBE_Dell_AS-HCI-AX-15G_4.1.2409.1901.zip -Destination c:\users\$UserName\downloads\ -ToSession $Session
}
Invoke-Command -ComputerName $Servers -scriptblock {
#Start-BitsTransfer -Source https://dl.dell.com/FOLDER12137689M/1/Bundle_SBE_Dell_AS-HCI-AX-15G_4.1.2409.1901.zip -Destination $env:userprofile\Downloads\Bundle_SBE_Dell_AS-HCI-AX-15G_4.1.2409.1901.zip
#unzip to c:\SBE
New-Item -Path c:\ -Name SBE -ItemType Directory -ErrorAction Ignore
Expand-Archive -LiteralPath $env:userprofile\Downloads\Bundle_SBE_Dell_AS-HCI-AX-15G_4.1.2409.1901.zip -DestinationPath C:\SBE
} -Credential $Credentials
$Sessions | Remove-PSSession
#endregion
#region exclude iDRAC adapters from cluster networks (as validation was failing in latest versions)
Invoke-Command -computername $Servers -scriptblock {
New-Item -Path HKLM:\system\currentcontrolset\services\clussvc\parameters
New-ItemProperty -Path HKLM:\system\currentcontrolset\services\clussvc\parameters -Name ExcludeAdaptersByDescription -Value "Remote NDIS Compatible Device"
#Get-ItemProperty -Path HKLM:\system\currentcontrolset\services\clussvc\parameters -Name ExcludeAdaptersByDescription | Format-List ExcludeAdaptersByDescription
} -Credential $Credentials
#endregion
#region clean disks (if the servers are reporpused)
Invoke-Command -ComputerName $Servers -ScriptBlock {
$disks=Get-Disk | Where-Object IsBoot -eq $false
$disks | Set-Disk -IsReadOnly $false
$disks | Set-Disk -IsOffline $false
$disks | Clear-Disk -RemoveData -RemoveOEM -Confirm:0
$disks | get-disk | Set-Disk -IsOffline $true
} -Credential $Credentials
#endregion
#region configure NTP server
Invoke-Command -ComputerName $servers -ScriptBlock {
w32tm /config /manualpeerlist:$using:NTPServer /syncfromflags:manual /update
Restart-Service w32time
} -Credential $Credentials
Start-Sleep 20
#check if source is NTP Server
Invoke-Command -ComputerName $servers -ScriptBlock {
w32tm /query /source
} -Credential $Credentials
#endregion
#region and make sure password is long enough (12chars at least)
$NewPassword="LS1setup!LS1setup!"
Invoke-Command -ComputerName $servers -ScriptBlock {
Set-LocalUser -Name Administrator -AccountNeverExpires -Password (ConvertTo-SecureString $Using:NewPassword -AsPlainText -Force)
} -Credential $Credentials
#create new credentials
$UserName="Administrator"
$SecuredPassword = ConvertTo-SecureString $NewPassword -AsPlainText -Force
$Credentials= New-Object System.Management.Automation.PSCredential ($UserName,$SecuredPassword)
#endregion
#region create objects in Active Directory
#install posh module for prestaging Active Directory
Install-PackageProvider -Name NuGet -Force
Install-Module AsHciADArtifactsPreCreationTool -Repository PSGallery -Force
#make sure active directory module and GPMC is installed
Install-WindowsFeature -Name RSAT-AD-PowerShell,GPMC
#populate objects
New-HciAdObjectsPreCreation -AzureStackLCMUserCredential $LCMCredentials -AsHciOUName $AsHCIOUName
#to check OU (and future cluster) in GUI install management tools
Install-WindowsFeature -Name "RSAT-ADDS","RSAT-Clustering"
#endregion
#$iDRACCredentials=Get-Credential #grab iDRAC credentials
$iDracUsername="LabAdmin"
$iDracPassword="LS1setup!"
$SecureStringPassword = ConvertTo-SecureString $iDracPassword -AsPlainText -Force
$iDRACCredentials = New-Object System.Management.Automation.PSCredential ($iDracUsername, $SecureStringPassword)
#IP = Idrac IP Address, USBNICIP = IP Address of that will be configured in OS to iDRAC Pass-through USB interface
#You can configure all to be 169.254.0.1. Openmanage extension still recommends having each IP to be unique. on node 1 it would be 169.254.11.1 iDRAC and +1 in OS (169.254.11.2)
$iDRACs=@()
$iDRACs+=@{IP="192.168.100.139" ; USBNICIP="169.254.11.1"}
$iDRACs+=@{IP="192.168.100.140" ; USBNICIP="169.254.11.3"}
#ignoring cert is needed for posh5. In 6 and newer you can just add -SkipCertificateCheck to Invoke-WebRequest
function Ignore-SSLCertificates {
$Provider = New-Object Microsoft.CSharp.CSharpCodeProvider
$Compiler = $Provider.CreateCompiler()
$Params = New-Object System.CodeDom.Compiler.CompilerParameters
$Params.GenerateExecutable = $False
$Params.GenerateInMemory = $true
$Params.IncludeDebugInformation = $False
$Params.ReferencedAssemblies.Add("System.DLL") > $null
$TASource=@'
namespace Local.ToolkitExtensions.Net.CertificatePolicy
{
public class TrustAll : System.Net.ICertificatePolicy
{
public bool CheckValidationResult(System.Net.ServicePoint sp,System.Security.Cryptography.X509Certificates.X509Certificate cert, System.Net.WebRequest req, int problem)
{
return true;
}
}
}
'@
$TAResults=$Provider.CompileAssemblyFromSource($Params,$TASource)
$TAAssembly=$TAResults.CompiledAssembly
$TrustAll = $TAAssembly.CreateInstance("Local.ToolkitExtensions.Net.CertificatePolicy.TrustAll")
[System.Net.ServicePointManager]::CertificatePolicy = $TrustAll
}
Ignore-SSLCertificates
#Patch Enable OS to iDrac Pass-through and configure IP
$Headers=@{"Accept"="application/json"}
$ContentType='application/json'
foreach ($iDRAC in $iDRACs){
$uri="https://$($idrac.IP)/redfish/v1/Managers/iDRAC.Embedded.1/Attributes"
$JSONBody=@{"Attributes"=@{"OS-BMC.1.UsbNicIpAddress"="$($iDRAC.USBNICIP)";"OS-BMC.1.AdminState"="Enabled"}} | ConvertTo-Json -Compress
Invoke-WebRequest -Body $JsonBody -Method Patch -ContentType $ContentType -Headers $Headers -Uri $uri -Credential $iDRACCredentials
}
Basics:
Resource Group: LTPClus01-RG
ClusterName: LTPClus01
Keyvaultname: <Just generate new>
Configuration:
New Configuration
Networking
Network Switch for storage
Group All traffic
Network adapter 1: Ethernet
Network adapter 1 VLAN ID: 711 (default)
Network adapter 2: Ethernet 2
Network adapter 2 VLAN ID: 712 (default)
RDMA Protocol: Disabled (in case you are running lab in VMs)
Jumbo Frames: 1514 (in case you are running lab in VMs as hyper-v does not by default support Jumbo Frames)
Starting IP: 10.0.0.111
ENding IP: 10.0.0.116
Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway: 10.0.0.1
DNS Server: 10.0.0.1
Management
Custom location name: LTPClus01CustomLocation (default)\
Azure storage account name: <just generate new>
Domain: corp.contoso.com
Computer name prefix: LTPClus01
OU: OU=LTPClus01,DC=Corp,DC=contoso,DC=com
Deployment account:
Username: LTPClus01-LCMUser
Password: LS1setup!LS1setup!
Local Administrator
Username: Administrator
Password: LS1setup!LS1setup!
Security:
Customized security settings
Unselect Bitlocker for data volumes (would consume too much space)
Advanced:
Create workload volumes (Default)
Tags:
<keep default>