VCF and VVF 9.0 Installer – first look

The VMware Cloud Foundation Installer installs a VCF (VMware Cloud Foundation) or VVF (vSphere Foundation) infrastructure. The VCF Installer is the evolution of the Cloud Builder, with considerable improvements. Upgrading from vSphere 8U3 or VCF 5.2 is in-place, and VVF/VCF 9.0 can be installed brownfield or greenfield.

Installing the VCF Installer

It is installed from an OVA, which on a new installation can go on the first ESX host.

Download: https://support.broadcom.com/group/ecx/productfiles?subFamily=VMware%20Cloud%20Foundation&displayGroup=VMware%20Cloud%20Foundation%209&release=9.0.0.0&os=&servicePk=&language=EN

Filename: VCF-SDDC-Manager-Appliance-9.0.0.0.24703748.ova

First look

These options are available:

• Depot settings
• Deployment wizard for VCF
• Deployment wizard for VVF
• Deployment from a JSON file

Depot settings

The VCF Installer appliance is only 2 GB. The other OVA files, for vCenter, NSX Manager, VCF Operations and Automation, can be downloaded automatically through the depot settings. That needs the download token from the Broadcom portal (here is how to create one).

Deployment wizard

Things worth knowing about the wizard

• The DNS records for the appliances (VCF Operations, vCenter and so on) have to exist on the DNS server beforehand. The VCF Installer does an FQDN lookup during installation, and it has to succeed before you can continue.
• Existing vCenter and VCF Operations (version 9.0) appliances can be imported.
• In the VCF wizard, installing VCF Automation can be skipped.
• Three ESX hosts are needed with vSAN, or two with NFS or FC (VMFS) storage.

The VMware Cloud Foundation deployment wizard

From here the wizard walks through the configuration needed for a VCF 9.0 fleet.

The VCF Installer’s FQDN lookup:

If the wizard is cancelled, the data is kept:

The vSphere Foundation deployment wizard

The VVF wizard has no option for NSX and VCF Automation. For those you need the VCF wizard.

VCF deployment from JSON

We published example JSON files on GitHub: https://github.com/soultecag/vcf-9/tree/main/vcf-installer

Conclusion

The wizards for VVF and VCF deployment are well made. We will post more about VCF and VVF 9.0 here over the coming days.

If you have questions about updating to VVF or VCF 9.0, we are here for you.