A single-node cluster is configured like a regular (three-node or more) cluster in many ways, but here are some of the conditions. Nutanix offers the option of a single-node cluster for ROBO implementations and other situations that require a lower cost option and accept lowered resiliency protections.
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Single-node clusters are supported only on a selected set of hardware models.
Refer the following article for details
single-node-supported-hardwares
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Do not exceed a maximum of 1000 IOPS
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Do not exceed a maximum of 5 guest VMs . To protect the guest VMs from a scenario of node failure, nutanix recommends to configure backups.
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These are unlike single-node replication targets which are for replication and backup purposes.
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LCM is supported for software updates, but not firmware updates.
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There is no built-in resiliency for Prism Central on a single-node cluster. Do not create a Prism Central instance (VM) in the single node cluster.
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Async DR is supported for 6 hour RPO only
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Use external DNS and NTP servers. It is recommended to put DNS and NTP servers on a different cluster.
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All user VMs must be shut down before upgrading a single-node cluster. A warning box appears if any guest VMs are running.
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Single node clusters enter read-only mode when certain requirements are not
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met or a disk fails. An alert (a yellow exclamation mark) is generated in the web-console that the single-node cluster has entered read-only mode.
Disk Failure can be categorized as 2 types
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SSD Failure
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If the SSD fails, the cluster goes into read-only state. In the read-only state, there are no create, read, update or delete operations and no cluster changes
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If the SSD is unresponsive then data loss is at risk. To mitigate this, make sure there are more than 1 SSD in the cluster
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HDD Failure
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The HDD failure is handled in the same way as that of a normal cluster and none of the situations that occur when the SSD fails occur in the case of HDD
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If there is insufficient rebuild capacity when an HDD is unresponsive, then the cluster can fill up and IO can fail.