2-Node vSAN Stretched Cluster Shutdown (Cross-Hosted Witness)

Products

• VMware vSAN

Issue/Introduction

This article explains the procedure to shutdown two 2 node vSAN cluster which cross host each other's vSAN witness appliance.

Environment

VMware vSAN 7.x

VMware vSAN 8.x

Resolution

Pre-requisites:

• Ensure that there is no resync prior to placing the hosts into maintenance mode.

 

Steps:

The below plan can be followed to shutdown the vSAN clusters:

1. Prior to shutdown of the vSAN clusters, create a clone of the currently applied storage policy on the vSAN witness appliances.

2. Edit the new policy to enable "Force provisioning".
   Enabling force provisioning, will allow the VM swap object to be created during power ON of the vSAN witness appliance when there are only 2 node available in the vSAN cluster.

3. Apply this new storage policy to the vSAN witness appliance VM.

   This will ensure that the VM can be powered ON when the witness host is not available.

4. Once the policy is applied and the VM is compliant with the storage policy, proceed with the steps to shutdown the vSAN clusters.
   Either Shut Down the vSAN Cluster Using the Shutdown Cluster Wizard or Shutting down and powering on a vSAN Cluster when vCenter Server is running on top of vSAN depending on the location of vCenter.

5. On startup, after powering ON the vSAN data nodes of both clusters, proceed to exit them from maintenance mode.

6. Post this, power ON the vSAN witness appliances.

7. Post this the other VMs can be powered ON.