VMWare VCF Automated deployment

MetalSoft provides an extension for deploying an VMWare VCF automatically. The currently supported version is 5.2.1.

Requirements

  1. The following files need to be on the repository:

  • the ESXI template such as VMware-VMvisor-Installer-8.0U3b-24280767.x86_64.iso

  • the VCF cloud builder VMWare-Cloud-Builder-5.2.1.0-2437856_OVF10.ova

  • Compatible hardware. Check the official VMWare documentation with updated requirements.

Registering the ESXI template

1a. Create the MetalSoft ESXI template (with internet access)

metalcloud-cli os-template list-repo 
metalcloud-cli os-template create-from-repo ESXi/8.0.3/esxi-8-cluster-node

1b. Create the MetalSoft ESXI template (airgapped) In air-gapped environment, on a machine with internet access clone the github repository

git clone https://github.com/metalsoft-io/os-templates

Copy the os-templates directory to the machine where the CLI can be executed that has access to the Global Controller. The os-templates directory should contain the .git files.

metalcloud-cli os-template list-repo --repo-url /path/to/os-templates
metalcloud-cli os-template create-from-repo ESXi/8.0.3/esxi-8-cluster-node --repo-url /path/to/os-templates

  1. Extract the BOOT.cfg file from the ISO Open the ESXI ISO and extract the BOOT.cfg file. On a linux server the following commands can be used:

mount /path/to/esxi.iso /mnt
cat /mnt/EFI/BOOT/BOOT.CFG

Copy the content to clipboard.

  1. Update the ISO Go to Templates > esxi > Assets > BOOT.CFG> Content Replace the content with the content of the clipboard.

  2. Modify the kernelopt line in the

kernelopt=ks=cdrom:/KS.CFG

Click SAVE

  1. Update the URL asset with the URL towards the ISO file.

https://path-to-your-repo/VMware-VMvisor-Installer-8.0U3b-24280767.x86_64.iso

Click SAVE

Registering the VCF extension

git clone https://github.com/metalsoft-io/metalsoft-extensions
metalcloud-cli extension create VCF application "VMWare VCF 5.2.1" --definition-source vmware-cloud-foundations/extension.json
metalcloud-cli extension publish <id-of-created-extension>
metalcloud-cli extension make-public <id-of-created-extension>

Preparing logical networks

4 different networks are required and must be created as separate logical networks either as pre-created or private:

Go to Admin > Fabrics > fabric > Logical networks Create the following logical networks (the names need to match):

  • vcf-mgmt tagged: true. Activ-Active redundancy. Ensure this network has access to the Site Controller, in-band (set the correct vlan id and/or ip ranges). Choose a VLAN or leave on automatic. Set IPv4 allocation strategy to Auto with a /28 subnet and gateway placement strategy “default”.

  • vcf-san tagged: true. Active-active redundancy. Choose a VLAN or leave on automatic. Set IPv4 allocation strategy to Auto with a /28 subnet and gateway placement strategy “default”. Set IPv4 allocation strategy to Auto with a /28 subnet and gateway placement strategy “default”.

  • vcf-vmotion tagged: true. Active-Active redundancy. Choose a VLAN or leave on automatic.Set IPv4 allocation strategy to Auto with a /28 subnet and gateway placement strategy “default”.

  • vcf-nsx tagged: true. Active-active redundancy Choose a VLAN or leave on automatic. Set IPv4 allocation strategy to Auto with a /28 subnet and gateway placement strategy “default”.

Deploy a test VCF cluster

From the infrastructure editor add a new VCF cluster from the list.