VMware Cloud Foundation

VCF-9 – Part 6: Deploying Workload Domain

Manish Jha

Welcome to part 6 of the VCF-9 series. The previous post in this series discussed the ESXi host commissioning process. Now it’s time to put those hosts into action by creating a workload domain. This post will guide you on creating a new workload domain. 

If you are not following along, I encourage you to read the earlier parts of this series from the links below:

1: VCF-9 Architecture & Deployment Models

2: VCF Installer Walk-through

3: VCF-9 Networking Models

4: NSX Edge Cluster Deployment

5: ESXi Host Commission in VCF

A typical VCF deployment includes a management domain and one or more VI workload domains. Each VI workload domain can be configured with specific resources, network configurations, and policies to support its intended workloads. The VI workload domains are isolated from the management domain and are used for hosting business applications and providing cloud-like operations within a private data center.… Read the rest

VCF-9 – Part 5: ESXi Host Commision – What’s Changed?

Manish Jha

Welcome to part 5 of the VCF-9 series. The previous post in this series discussed the new method of deploying the Edge cluster and the transit gateway. In this post, I will discuss the process of commissioning an ESXi host.

If you are not following along, I encourage you to read the earlier parts of this series from the links below:

1: VCF-9 Architecture & Deployment Models

2: VCF Installer Walk-through

3: VCF-9 Networking Models

4: NSX Edge Cluster Deployment

In the VCF world, host commissioning refers to the process of adding physical servers (with ESXi installed) to the SDDC Manager inventory to create a pool of available capacity for workload domains and clusters. Starting with VCF-9, VMware has announced the deprecation of the SDDC manager and moved the majority of the day-1 & day-2 configurations to VCF operations. As part of this change, the process of ESXi host commissioning has also changed, and this feature has been moved to the vCenter server UI. … Read the rest

VCF-9 – Part 4: NSX Edge Cluster Deployment

Manish Jha

Welcome to part 4 of the VCF-9 series. The previous post in this series discussed the networking models (VPC Networking and Segment Networking) and the key differences between them. In this post, I will discuss deploying NSX Edges through a built-in wizard in the vCenter UI. 

If you are not following along, I encourage you to read the earlier parts of this series from the links below:

1: VCF-9 Architecture & Deployment Models

2: VCF Installer Walk-through

3: VCF-9 Networking Models

In previous VCF releases, NSX Edges were deployed through SDDC Manager using the UI/JSON. VCF-9 has introduced a newer way of deploying NSX Edge VMs, and the deployment can now be performed through vCenter UI to simplify the process, particularly for centralized external network connectivity. However, installation and configuration via the NSX Manager is still possible. 

You will notice one change when deploying Edges through vCenter Server, i.e., instead of creating a tier-1 gateway, the wizard deploys a Transit Gateway.… Read the rest

VCF-9 – Part 3: Networking Models

Manish Jha

Welcome to part 3 of the VCF-9 series. Part 1 of this series dived into VCF-9 architecture and deployment models, and Part 2 showcased the deployment of a VCF instance using the new VCF installer. In this post, I will discuss the networking models available in VCF-9.

If you are not following along, I encourage you to read the earlier parts of this series from the links below:

1: VCF-9 Architecture & Deployment Models

2: VCF Installer Walk-through

In VCF 9, NSX introduces two networking object models: VPC Networking and Segment Networking.

VPC Networking: The VPC networking model offers a streamlined approach for configuring networking and security services, making it accessible even to non-networking experts. It aligns with the user experience found in public cloud platforms and integrates seamlessly within the VCF stack. Cloud users can interact with the VPC model through the NSX UI/API, vCenter UI, VCF Automation, or Supervisor cluster.… Read the rest

VCF-9 – Part 2: VCF Installer Walk-through

Manish Jha

Welcome to part 2 of the VCF-9 series. In part 1, I discussed what’s new in VCF-9 and the deployment models and cluster topologies supported by VCF. In this post, I will walk through the deployment of VCF using the new VCF installer tool. 

The cloud builder tool that was included with earlier VCF editions has been replaced by the VCF installer. The new installer offers a whole new experience for deploying VCF instances and is lightweight. VCF-9 deployment methodology is more robust, well-designed, and efficient than the previous Excel-based Cloud Builder method. The installer can deploy VCF instances via UI or through JSON files and supports both brownfield and greenfield deployments. The installer also includes an improved built-in validation.

The VCF installer is available in the OVA file format and can be downloaded from here.

Prepping the Environment

Network & VLANs

I am using a VyOS router to provide network connectivity to my nested lab and have configured the following VLANs.… Read the rest

VCF-9 – Part 1: Introduction & Architecture

Manish Jha

Introduction

VCF-9 was introduced at VMware Explore 2024, marking a pivotal advancement in how enterprises build and manage private clouds. Designed to simplify and consolidate IT environments, VCF 9 promises faster deployment, streamlined consumption, and simplified management—all while boosting security and cost-efficiency. VCF-9 is aimed at allowing organizations to manage their entire infrastructure as a single, unified system.

Some of the key features of VCF-9 are:

1: Streamlined Infrastructure: One Platform, Many Capabilities – VCF 9 integrates compute, networking, storage, and automation into a unified framework. This helps two main audiences:

  • Infrastructure teams can automate and simplify private cloud deployment.
  • Platform engineers & developers benefit from a self-service environment for VMs, containers, and Kubernetes workloads.

2: Tailored Experiences for Cloud Admins and Engineers

  • Cloud Admins: Gain a consolidated control center to manage capacity, policies, tenants, and security—all from a single console. Diagnostic tools and topology maps accelerate issue resolution.
  • Platform Engineers: Can self-provision environments across traditional VMs and modern container stacks.
… Read the rest

One Node (ESXi) Management Domain Deployment in VMware Cloud Foundation

Manish Jha

Those who are familiar with VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) are aware that deploying the management domain requires a minimum of 4 ESXi hosts. In a production environment, this is not a problem, but in resource-crunched Lab/PoC environments, it is very difficult to deploy the full-fledged management domain.

In this blog post, I am going to demonstrate how to deploy a VCF management domain with just a single ESXi host in a nested lab. This tidbit will be very helpful for the folks who want to test VCF but don’t have adequate resources available in the lab.

I am following VCF 5.1.1 BOM for my deployment. I will cover resource requirements as well as touch base on the nested ESXi configuration. Let’s get started!!!

Nested ESXi Configuration

1: Resource Allocation

The nested ESXi was deployed with 96 GB Memory and 14 CPUs, 2 network adapters, and 1000 GB SSD storage. Although 96 GB is a bit less especially if you plan to deploy NSX Edges later after the SDDC bringup.… Read the rest

Quick Tip- Cleanup Failed Tasks from SDDC Manager Dashboard in VCF

Manish Jha

Tasks in VCF might fail because one or more subtasks within the primary task have failed. Some of these tasks are not retriable and remain in a lingering state in the SDDC Manager dashboard.

The command provided in this blog post will help you in clearing out such tasks from the dashboard.

Step 1: Fetch the failed task ID from the SDDC manager interface.

Click on the failed task and notice the URL change in the browser. The task id is displayed in the URL itself.

Make a note of the task id.

Alternatively, you can run the below API call directly from the SDDC Manager VM.

The output of this API call returns a list of the tasks. You can filter the failed tasks and get the task ID.

Step 2: Delete the failed task

Execute the below API call and it will delete the failed task from the SDDC Manager dashboard.… Read the rest

Tip and Tricks for VCF Lab Deployment

Manish Jha

In this post, I’ll go over a few tips/tricks that you may use throughout your VCF lab deployment to get the most out of this fantastic tool.

Tip 1: Bring down lab resource utilization

Most of us, I believe, use VCF as a nested lab, and because VCF requires a lot of computing power, this is one area that we struggle with. Because of the limited resources available, a full-fledged deployment is not always practicable. NSX-T nodes, in my experience, are the most problematic component. VCF deploys several NSX-T nodes and each NSX-T requires a lot of resources. 

You can limit the number of NSX-T nodes in both the management and workload domains by following the below instructions:

Step 1: SSH into SDDC Manager using the vcf user and switch to root user by running the command: su – root

Step 2: Modify application-prod.properties… Read the rest

Quick Tip: Cleanup Unused Image Bundles in VCF

Manish Jha

I recently downloaded the image bundles for vRealize components while working in my newly deployed VCF 4.4 environment, not realizing that SDDC Manager does not orchestrate the deployment of any vRealize suite component except the vRealize Suite Life-Cycle Manager. I came across a useful out-of-the-box SDDC Manager feature when looking for a way to clean out the unneeded image bundles.

The process outlined in this post will assist you in clearing out any partially downloaded image bundles or unnecessary bundles that SDDC Manager is not currently using. 

Step 1: SSH into SDDC Manager using the vcf user and switch to root user by running the command: su – root

Step 2: Grab the unwanted image bundle id from UI

Step3: Run the following command to clean up the unwanted bundle

where bundle_id is the Id of the unwanted bundle

Example:

… Read the rest