These two methods will meet the goal of creating a trust relationship between the cluster and each of these new nodes. Generating passphrases in the administration User Interface of an existing node, and entering them when prompted in each new node is a method that allows the administrator to securely authenticate the new nodes to the cluster. The passphrase is a one-time password that is valid for 24 hours and can be used to add multiple nodes to the cluster. Clicking the Add New Nodes button on the System Status page in the administration User Interface of an existing node is another method that allows the administrator to initiate the process of adding new nodes to the cluster. The administrator can enter the FQDN or IP address of the new node, and then validate the certificate and accept the trust relationship. Clicking the Add New Nodes button on the Cluster Management page in the product User Interface of an existing node is not a valid option, as this button does not exist on that page. Using any local or directory user with the Administrator role in vRealize Operations when prompted in each new node is not afeasible option, as the new node does not have any local or directory users configured yet. Using the vRealize Operations root user name and password when prompted in each new node is not a reliable option, as the root user name and password may not be the same for all the nodes, and may not be known by the administrator. References: Expand an Existing Installation to Add a Data Node, section “Expand an Existing Installation to Add a Data Node”. Add a Node to a vRealize Operations Analytics Cluster, section “Add a Node to a vRealize Operations Analytics Cluster”. vRealize Operations Manager User Guide, section “Create and Configure Dashboards”.