Lab: HCI Deployment

Deploy 2-node and 4-node HCI topologies using the Terraform playground and validate cluster health, storage, and networking.

Objective

Deploy VergeOS in Hyper-Converged Infrastructure (HCI) configurations using the Terraform playground. You will provision both a minimal 2-node cluster and a scaled 4-node cluster, then validate storage, networking, and overall cluster health.

Prerequisites

• Completed all prior modules (1–9)
• Access to the vergeos-terraform-playground repository (cloned locally)
• Terraform CLI installed and configured
• A VergeOS environment or lab that supports nested deployments
• Familiarity with Terraform basics (init, plan, apply)

Difficulty

Intermediate -- Requires understanding of VergeOS architecture and basic Terraform usage

Estimated Time

2 hours

Steps

Part 1: 2-Node HCI Deployment

Deploy the minimal HCI topology.

1. Clone the vergeos-terraform-playground repository (if not already done)
2. Review the examples/ directory and identify the 2-node HCI .tfvars file
3. Examine the variables to understand:

   • Node count and roles
   • Network configuration (core fabric, external)
   • Storage tier configuration
4. Run terraform init to initialize the provider
5. Run terraform plan -var-file=<2-node-hci>.tfvars and review the planned resources
6. Run terraform apply -var-file=<2-node-hci>.tfvars to deploy
7. Log into the VergeOS UI and verify:

   • Both nodes appear online in the dashboard
   • Core fabric network is established
   • vSAN storage pool is healthy with expected capacity
   • Controller node roles are assigned to Node 1 and Node 2 (Tier 0 metadata storage present)

Part 2: 4-Node HCI Deployment

Scale up to a 4-node HCI cluster.

1. Identify the 4-node HCI .tfvars file in the examples directory
2. Compare it with the 2-node configuration -- note the differences in:

   • Node count
   • Storage redundancy settings
   • Any additional network configuration
3. Deploy the 4-node topology using terraform plan and terraform apply
4. In the VergeOS UI, verify:

   • All four nodes are online and healthy
   • Storage has redistributed across all nodes
   • Controller node failover (HA pair on Node 1 / Node 2) is healthy
   • Network connectivity between all nodes is established

Part 3: Validation & Comparison

Compare the two deployments and validate production readiness.

1. Create a test VM on each cluster and verify it starts successfully
2. Test VM live migration between nodes
3. Compare resource utilization between the 2-node and 4-node deployments
4. Document the differences in:

   • Storage redundancy and capacity
   • Compute headroom
   • Failure domain considerations
5. Clean up both deployments with terraform destroy

Verification

Your HCI deployment lab is complete when you can answer yes to all of the following:

• Successfully deployed a 2-node HCI topology via Terraform
• Successfully deployed a 4-node HCI topology via Terraform
• Verified cluster health, storage pools, and networking in the VergeOS UI
• Created and migrated a test VM on at least one cluster
• Documented the key differences between 2-node and 4-node HCI deployments
• Cleaned up all lab resources with terraform destroy