Cisco dCloud Lab access tutorial

Hyperflex System Engineer Virtual Enablement

Cisco dCloud Lab access tutorial

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Cisco dCloud Lab access tutorial

AUTHORS COMPANY TITLE EMAIL

Smail Milak NIL Instructor smilak@nil.com

Authors

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Cisco dCloud Lab access tutorial

1. Introduction

Purpose of this document is to show how to schedule and access Cisco HyperFlex labs
that are hosted on Cisco dCloud. It’s intended only for this Virtual Enablement because
of large number of participants. For that the Cisco Lab Portal will be hard to manage and
attendees would need to wait for a free spot. Using dCloud, a free spot can be scheduled
immediately or at least at the same day.

Cisco dCloud is free of charge and can be accessed anytime with a Cisco account. Beside
HyperFlex there are hundreds of other labs available, DC, WiFi, Networking etc.

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2. How to access and schedule labs on Cisco dCloud

Open https://dcloud.cisco.com/ and log in. Choose the closest data center and accept
the End User Agreement if asked.
For the next steps access this video tutorial https://dcloud-cms.cisco.com/help/videos
to get familiar with the portal.
Next step is to find the right HyperFlex lab and schedule it. For that follow the next steps.
Lab 1: Install standard HyperFlex Cluster

1. Access Cisco dCloud using the provided link.

2. Click on Catalog.
3. Under Search type in “HyperFlex”.
4. Multiple HyperFlex labs will be listed.
5. Select “Cisco HyperFlex 4.0 Installation and Management Lab v2” as your first lab
6. Click Schedule, then Schedule a single session.
7. Drag the blue box on the calendar and make is smaller (see picture 1.) to define
the length of the session. Three to four hours is more than enough.
Note: If there is not enough resources and you don’t want to wait, choose another
DC in the top right corner.
Note: You may schedule multiple sessions on different DCs. They are independent
of each other.

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8. Click next and fill out the field (see picture 2.)

9. Click Schedule

You will get an e-mail from Cisco dCloud (nobody@cisco.com) with the following subject
“Cisco dCloud: Cisco HyperFlex 4.0 Installation and Management Lab v2 Scheduled”

You may open dCloud (don’t forget to be on the right DC) and go under My Hub. There
you will find your session but will be “Scheduled” or “Starting”. It will take around 15-20
minutes for the lab to be ready and accessible.
By clicking on View you will find the Lab Guide under Resources. Download
“Cisco_HyperFlex_4_0_Installation_and_Management_Lab_v2-1.pdf” for Standard
Cluster installation.
Follow the Lab Guide closely!

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Lab 2: Install Stretched cluster.

Note: You will schedule the sam lab as you did for Lab 1 but another Lab Guide will be
used.
1. Access Cisco dCloud using the provided link.
2. Click on Catalog.
3. Under Search type in “HyperFlex”.
4. Multiple HyperFlex labs will be listed.
5. Select “Cisco HyperFlex 4.0 Installation and Management Lab v2” as your second
lab
6. Click Schedule, then Schedule a single session.
7. Drag the blue box on the calendar and make is smaller to define the length of the
session. Three to four hours is more than enough.
Note: If there is not enough resources and you don’t want to wait, choose another

Use Lab Guide “HX4.0_StretchedVMware_LG_v1.0.pdf”

Lab 3: Cisco HyperFlex Edge 4.0 with Intersight v1 (All Flash or Hybrid, 2-Node) available
only in RTP Data center, or Cisco HyperFlex Edge with Intersight v1 that is available in
LON and SJC Data center
1. Access Cisco dCloud using the provided link.
2. Select LON or SJC DC in the upper right cornet for 3-Node HX Edge with Intersight
lab or RTP DC for HX Edge 2-Node cluster with Intersight.
3. Click on Catalog.
4. Under Search type in “HyperFlex”.
5. Select “Cisco HyperFlex Edge with Intersight v1 “ or Cisco HyperFlex Edge 4.0 with
Intersight v1 (All Flash or Hybrid, 2-Node) depending on your DC.
6. Click Schedule, then Schedule a single session
7. Drag the blue box on the calendar and make is smaller to define the length of the
session. Three to four hours is more than enough.
Note: If there is not enough resources and you don’t want to wait, choose another

By clicking on View you will find the Lab Guide under Resources. Download “Cisco
HyperFlex Edge 4.0 with Intersight v1” or Cisco HyperFlex Edge 4.0 with Intersight v1 (All
Flash/Hybrid, 2 Node), depending on your DC.

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Lab 4: Getting Started with Cisco Intersight v1

1. Access Cisco dCloud using the provided link.

2. Select any DC in the upper right corner. If you are close to London, then use the
LON Data Center.
3. Click on Catalog.
4. Under Search type in “Intersight”.
5. Select “Getting Started with Cisco Intersight v1
6. Download the lab guide under Related Resources
7. Click View (No need to schedule)
8. A new tab will open and Intersight will appear.

Tips:
- Follow the lab guides, don’t do any changes on your own, otherwise the
deployment could fail
- You will find many HyperFlex labs on dCloud that could be helpful for your studies
but also for demonstration to your customers.
- It’s a simulated environment and a simulator is used instead of real hardware.
Otherwise so many labs wouldn’t be possible. That’s why bugs could be expected
but this is not related to the real environment that is stable and in production by
thousands of customers.

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