VCF 9 – New Installer

VCF 9 has made major changes to the deployment process. The Cloud Builder + Deployment EMS spreadsheet have been deprecated and we have a brand new installer!

To begin, we deploy an SDDC Manager/Installer appliance via vSphere. Once it’s online, we can begin the process.

Now we connect the Installer to either an online or offline depot to download the installer bundles. This supports the new “Download Token” authentication out of the box so we don’t have to change product URLs like we do in VCF <5.2.x

We have two options here, either the deployment wizard or deploy using JSON spec. One really useful feature is that once we have completed the interactive installer, a JSON spec can be downloaded for for future reference/deployments. It also functions as an “as-built” document.

On the final screen before Validation, we can download the JSON spec for this deploy which can be re-used.

The next page will run all the validations and if successful we can proceed to deployment.

And that’s it! If you’ve done everything correctly you should have a fully deployed VCF9 environment in about 5-6 hours.

Here’s the JSON example that lines up with the Holodeck Architecture. If you are using this JSON you’ll need to update the SSH Host Key Thumbprints, but it’s very easy to do – once the JSON is imported we have the option to edit in the wizard (Step 8 – Hosts).

{
	"sddcId":"holo-a-mgmt",
	"vcfInstanceName":"Holo-A",
	"workflowType":"VCF",
	"version":"9.0.0.0",
	"ceipEnabled":true,
	"dnsSpec":
		{"nameservers":["192.168.20.11","192.168.20.12"],"subdomain":"vcf.sddc.lab"},
		"ntpServers":["10.0.0.1"],
		"vcenterSpec":
			{
			"vcenterHostname":"vcenter-mgmt.vcf.sddc.lab",
			"rootVcenterPassword":"VMware123!VMware123!",
			"adminUserSsoPassword":"VMware123!VMware123!",
			"ssoDomain":"vsphere.local",
			"vmSize":"small",
			"storageSize":"",
			"ssoDomain":"vsphere.local",
			"useExistingDeployment":false},
			"clusterSpec":
				{
				"clusterName":"holo-a-mgmt-cl01",
				"datacenterName":"holo-a-mgmt-dc01"
				},
			"datastoreSpec":
				{
				"vsanSpec":
					{
					"failuresToTolerate":1,
					"vsanDedup":false,
					"esaConfig":{"enabled":false},
					"datastoreName":"holo-a-mgmt-cl01-ds-vsan01"
					}
				},
		"nsxtSpec":
			{
				"nsxtManagerSize":"medium",
				"rootNsxtManagerPassword": "VMware123!VMware123!",
				"nsxtAdminPassword": "VMware123!VMware123!",
				"nsxtAuditPassword": "VMware123!VMware123!",
				"nsxtManagers":[{"hostname":"nsx-mgmt-1.vcf.sddc.lab"}],
				"vipFqdn":"nsx-mgmt.vcf.sddc.lab",
				"useExistingDeployment":false,
				"skipNsxOverlayOverManagementNetwork":true,
				"ipAddressPoolSpec":
					{
						"name":"holo-a-tep",
						"description":"",
						"subnets":
							[{"cidr":"172.16.254.0/24",
							"gateway":"172.16.254.1",
							"ipAddressPoolRanges":
							[{
							"start":"172.16.254.100",
							"end":"172.16.254.190"
							}]}]
					},
				"transportVlanId":"110"},
			
			"vcfOperationsSpec":
				{
					"nodes":[{
						"hostname":"vrops-9.vcf.sddc.lab",
						"rootUserPassword":"VMware123!VMware123!",
						"type":"master"
						}],
					"applianceSize":"small",
					"adminUserPassword":"VMware123!VMware123!",
					"useExistingDeployment":false,
					"loadBalancerFqdn":null
				},
					
			"vcfOperationsFleetManagementSpec":
				{
					"hostname":"fleet.vcf.sddc.lab",
					"rootUserPassword":"VMware123!VMware123!",
					"adminUserPassword":"VMware123!VMware123!",
					"useExistingDeployment":false
				},
				
			"vcfOperationsCollectorSpec":
				{
					"hostname":"vrops-cp-9.vcf.sddc.lab",
					"applicationSize":"small",
					"rootUserPassword":"VMware123!VMware123!",
					"useExistingDeployment":false
				},
			
			"vcfAutomationSpec":
				{
					"hostname":"vra-9.vcf.sddc.lab",
					"adminUserPassword":"VMware123!VMware123!",
					"ipPool":["10.0.0.41","10.0.0.42"],
					"nodePrefix":"vra-9",
					"internalClusterCidr":"198.18.0.0/15",
					"useExistingDeployment":false
				},
				
			"hostSpecs":[
			{"hostname":"esxi-6.vcf.sddc.lab","credentials":{"username":"root","password":"VMware123!"},"sslThumbprint":"17:C4:47:9B:28:A6:3D:D2:8E:88:0F:31:BD:50:A7:72:11:99:A4:65:AA:62:5C:66:B3:10:38:EC:0B:1F:82:A7"},
			{"hostname":"esxi-5.vcf.sddc.lab","credentials":{"username":"root","password":"VMware123!"},"sslThumbprint":"FD:8D:4C:66:97:2F:C4:2A:82:60:74:B1:7E:A3:62:D1:AB:B8:37:45:25:4F:E6:01:5F:52:AA:EE:0C:76:5A:60"},
			{"hostname":"esxi-4.vcf.sddc.lab","credentials":{"username":"root","password":"VMware123!"},"sslThumbprint":"F6:F0:B5:C8:E4:D5:55:11:56:D4:0B:DF:D4:7B:FB:5E:26:11:50:59:9D:55:BD:91:D8:0E:59:85:06:9D:1E:61"},
			{"hostname":"esxi-2.vcf.sddc.lab","credentials":{"username":"root","password":"VMware123!"},"sslThumbprint":"53:0D:69:5E:AE:6D:06:8F:1C:7B:16:18:DE:36:FE:EE:51:08:80:B8:23:29:E7:89:52:64:61:A8:48:56:EC:68"},
			{"hostname":"esxi-3.vcf.sddc.lab","credentials":{"username":"root","password":"VMware123!"},"sslThumbprint":"DC:42:A7:F6:BA:24:88:00:20:61:F1:E8:B1:5C:2F:2F:CE:84:03:F3:3E:51:40:67:05:12:40:5C:FD:BC:99:1F"}
			],
			
			"networkSpecs":[
			{
				"networkType":"MANAGEMENT",
				"subnet":"10.0.0.0/24",
				"gateway":"10.0.0.1",
				"subnetMask":"255.255.255.0",
				"includeIpAddress":null,
				"includeIpAddressRanges":null,
				"vlanId":"110","mtu":1500,
				"teamingPolicy":"loadbalance_loadbased",
				"activeUplinks":["uplink1","uplink2"],
				"standbyUplinks":null,
				"portGroupKey":"holo-a-mgmt-cl01-vds01-pg-esx-mgmt"
			},
			{
				"networkType":"VM_MANAGEMENT",
				"subnet":"10.0.0.0/24",
				"gateway":"10.0.0.1",
				"subnetMask":"255.255.255.0",
				"includeIpAddress":null,
				"includeIpAddressRanges":null,
				"vlanId":"110","mtu":1500,
				"teamingPolicy":"loadbalance_loadbased",
				"activeUplinks":["uplink1","uplink2"],
				"standbyUplinks":null,
				"portGroupKey":"holo-a-mgmt-cl01-vds01-pg-vm-mgmt"
			},
			{
				"networkType":"VMOTION",
				"subnet":"10.0.4.0/24",
				"gateway":"10.0.4.1",
				"subnetMask":"255.255.255.0",
				"includeIpAddress":null,
				"includeIpAddressRanges":[{"startIpAddress":"10.0.4.100","endIpAddress":"10.0.4.190"}],
				"vlanId":"114",
				"mtu":"8940",
				"teamingPolicy":"loadbalance_loadbased",
				"activeUplinks":["uplink1","uplink2"],
				"standbyUplinks":null,
				"portGroupKey":"holo-a-mgmt-cl01-vds01-pg-vmotion"
			},
			{
				"networkType":"VSAN",
				"subnet":"10.0.8.0/24",
				"gateway":"10.0.8.1",
				"subnetMask":"255.255.255.0",
				"includeIpAddress":null,
				"includeIpAddressRanges":[{"startIpAddress":"10.0.8.100","endIpAddress":"10.0.8.190"}],
				"vlanId":"115",
				"mtu":"8940",
				"teamingPolicy":"loadbalance_loadbased",
				"activeUplinks":["uplink1","uplink2"],
				"standbyUplinks":null,
				"portGroupKey":"holo-a-mgmt-cl01-vds02-pg-vsan"
			}
			],
			"dvsSpecs":[
			{
				"dvsName":"holo-a-mgmt-cl01-vds01",
				"networks":["MANAGEMENT","VM_MANAGEMENT","VMOTION"],
				"mtu":"8940",
				"nsxtSwitchConfig":
					{
						"transportZones":
						[{
							"transportType":"OVERLAY",
							"name":"VCF-Created-Overlay-Zone"}]},
							"vmnicsToUplinks":[{"id":"vmnic0","uplink":"uplink1"},
							{"id":"vmnic1","uplink":"uplink2"}],
							"nsxTeamings":
							[{"policy":"LOADBALANCE_SRCID","activeUplinks":["uplink1","uplink2"],"standByUplinks":[]}],"lagSpecs":null},
			
			{
				"dvsName":"holo-a-mgmt-cl01-vds02",
				"networks":["VSAN"],
				"mtu":8940,
				"nsxtSwitchConfig":null,
				"vmnicsToUplinks":[{"id":"vmnic2","uplink":"uplink1"},{"id":"vmnic3","uplink":"uplink2"}],
				"nsxTeamings":null,
				"lagSpecs":null
			}
			],
							
			"sddcManagerSpec":
			{
				"hostname":"sddc-manager.vcf.sddc.lab",
				"useExistingDeployment":false,
				"rootPassword":"VMware123!VMware123!",
				"sshPassword":"VMware123!VMware123!",
				"localUserPassword":"VMware123!VMware123!"
			}
}