Deploy Azure Stack HCI on a single server

Applies to: Azure Stack HCI, version 22H2

This article describes how to use PowerShell to deploy Azure Stack HCI on a single server that contains all NVMe or SSD drives, creating a single-node cluster. It also describes how to add servers to the cluster (scale-out) later.

Currently you can't use Windows Admin Center to deploy Azure Stack HCI on a single server. For more info, see Using Azure Stack HCI on a single server.

Prerequisites

• A server from the Azure Stack HCI Catalog that's certified for use as a single-node cluster and configured with all NVMe or all SSD drives.
• For network, hardware and other requirements, see Azure Stack HCI network and domain requirements.
• Optionally, install Windows Admin Center to register and manage the server once it has been deployed.

Deploy on a single server

Here are the steps to install the Azure Stack HCI OS on a single server, create the single-node cluster, register the cluster with Azure, and create volumes.

1. Connect to the server by opening a PowerShell session:

   Enter-PSSession -ComputerName <server-name>
   

2. Install the Azure Stack HCI OS on your server. For more information, see Deploy the Azure Stack HCI OS onto your server.

3. Configure the server utilizing the Server Configuration Tool (SConfig).

4. Install the required roles and features using the following command, then reboot before continuing.

   Install-WindowsFeature -Name "BitLocker", "Data-Center-Bridging", "Failover-Clustering", "FS-FileServer", "FS-Data-Deduplication", "Hyper-V", "Hyper-V-PowerShell", "RSAT-AD-Powershell", "RSAT-Clustering-PowerShell", "NetworkATC", "Storage-Replica", "NetworkHUD" -IncludeAllSubFeature -IncludeManagementTools
   

5. Use PowerShell to create a cluster, skipping creating a cluster witness.

   Here's an example of creating the cluster and then enabling Storage Spaces Direct while disabling the storage cache:

   $ClusterName= "<Name to use when accessing this system - 15 characters or less>"
   $ServerName= "<Current name of the server>"
   

   New-Cluster -Name $ClusterName -Node $ServerName -nostorage
   Enable-ClusterStorageSpacesDirect -CacheState Disabled
   

   Note

   • The cluster name should not exceed 15 characters.
   • The New-Cluster command will also require the StaticAddress parameter if the node is not using DHCP for its IP address assignment. This parameter should be supplied with a new, available IP address on the node's subnet.

6. Use PowerShell or Windows Admin Center to register the cluster.

7. Create volumes.

Updating single-node clusters

To install updates for Azure Stack HCI version 21H2, use Windows Admin Center (Server Manager > Updates), PowerShell, or connect via Remote Desktop and use Server Configuration tool (SConfig).

To install updates for Azure Stack HCI version 22H2, use Windows Admin Center (Cluster Manager > Updates). Cluster Aware Updating (CAU) is supported beginning with this version. To use PowerShell or connect via Remote Desktop and use Server Configuration Tool (SConfig), see Update Azure Stack HCI clusters.

For solution updates (such as driver and firmware updates), see your solution vendor.

Change a single-node to a multi-node cluster (optional)

You can add servers to your single-node cluster, also known as scaling out, though there are some manual steps you must take to properly configure Storage Spaces Direct fault domains (FaultDomainAwarenessDefault) in the process. These steps aren't present when adding servers to clusters with two or more servers.

1. Validate the cluster by specifying the existing server and the new server: Validate an Azure Stack HCI cluster - Azure Stack HCI | Microsoft Docs.
2. If cluster validation was successful, add the new server to the cluster: Add or remove servers for an Azure Stack HCI cluster - Azure Stack HCI | Microsoft Docs.
3. Once the server is added, change the cluster's fault domain awareness from PhysicalDisk to ScaleScaleUnit: Inline fault domain changes.
4. Optionally, if more resiliency is needed, adjust the volume resiliency type from a 2-way mirror to a Nested 2-way mirror: Single-server to two-node cluster.
5. Set up a cluster witness.

Next steps

• Deploy workload – AVD
• Deploy workload – AKS-HCI
• Deploy workload – Azure Arc-enabled data services