VMware Cloud Foundation 3.9.1 was released yesterday and this release brought few changes with it. In this post I will jot down few of the those changes. 

1: Updated BOM: VCF 3.9.1 deploys SDDC with latest release of vSphere 6.7 U3b. It also includes NSX-V 6.4.6 (latest) for management domain. For complete list of updated BOM, please refer to the below screenshot

2: Changes in Cloud Builder UI: VCF 3.9.1 is based on Cloud Builder 2.2.1.0. This release of cloud builder have incorporated few changes in UI. Few of them are listed below:

2A: Workflow Migration from OVA Setting to UI: In older releases of Cloud Builder, SDDC workflow type (vcf, vvd or vxrail) was defined while deploying the OVA. Now this has been moved from the OVA settings into the main UI wizard. 

2B: Easy Navigation Through Workflows: There’s a new progress bar to help you navigate more easily through the workflows.

Important Changes in Deployment Parameter Sheet

1: Additional networks for Edge Gateway uplinks: With VCF 3.9.1, NSX-v ESG’s are deployed which will be leveraged by vRealize products that can be deployed later once the Mgmt Domain is deployed. You have to define the uplink network that will be used by the ESG’s to form BGP peering etc with your ToR. 

2: Application Virtual Networks (APN): A whole new section named Application Virtual Networks has been added in the deployment configuration sheet. APN is overlay networks that can span a defined zone of clusters and traverse NSX Edges for their North-South ingress and egress and implements software-defined networking based on NSX in the management domain. To know more about APN, please read official VMware blog

2 ESG’s will now be deployed during mgmt domain creation. Also logical segments will be provisioned and the vRealize components will sit on these segments. 

Universal Distributed Logical Router will also be deployed to support workload mobility use-cases such as planned migration or disaster recovery.

3: vRealize Components over VXLAN: As discussed earlier, APN will lay foundation for the vRealize components that will be deployed later. vRLI is deployed as part of the management domain creation and you no longer need to place vRLI on management network. Instead it will be placed on the subnet specified for the segments that will be created during sddc bringup. 

I am in the process of deploying VCF 3.9.1 in my lab and will update this article if more changes are observed. 

And that’s it for this post.

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