WilliamLam.com

VCF 9.1 - Deploying VCF Management Services (VCFMS) to non-Management Network during VCF Upgrade

by // 2 Comments

As part of upgrading an existing VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) deployment from either VCF 5.x or 9.0.x to VCF 9.1, one of the required steps is deploying the new VCF Management Services (VCFMS) component using a workflow provided by SDDC Manager.


The current default behavior of the VCFMS deployment workflow is to automatically deploy the VCFMS components, shown below, onto the existing VM Management network. This is typically the same network that hosts infrastructure components such as vCenter Server, NSX and other management services.


While defaulting to the management network may be convenient, most enterprise organizations do not have a large number of free IP addresses sitting idle. Even if there was available IP capacity, it is usually not contiguous blocks of IPs, which can make accommodating the CIDR-based IP allocation requirements of VCFMS more challenging than expected.

The good news is that we can use the SDDC Manager API to select an alternative vSphere-based network (VLAN or NSX Overlay) to deploy VCFMS!

[Read more...]

VCF 9.1 - Side-loading VCF binaries into VCF Installer & Fleet Depot Service for Air-Gapped Environments

by // Leave a Comment

VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) 9.1 continues to support side-loading, or direct upload, of VCF binaries into the VCF Installer, similar to VCF 9.0. However, there is now an additional workflow required after the VCF Fleet has been deployed, where the VCF management component binaries must also be uploaded to the new Fleet Depot Service.

When using either an Online or Offline VCF Software Depot, the Fleet Depot Service automatically retrieves the required VCF binaries from the configured source. However, when using a "Disconnected" or local depot, users must now manually upload those binaries into the Fleet Depot Service to support Day-N operations such as deploying optional VCF components including Log Management, Realtime Metrics and VCF Operations for Networks, as well as provisioning new VCF Instances and Domains.

Having recently gone through this workflow myself (detailed instructions below), I think customers with air-gapped requirements will have a much better experience using a VCF Offline Depot. It works just as well within those network constraints and avoids the need to manually upload binaries to multiple locations, especially for customers managing a large number of deployments.

[Read more...]

VCF 9.1 - VMUG x Intel x Micron Collaboration on Single VCF Host Deployment for VMUG Connect

by // Leave a Comment

Everyone knows how difficult and expensive it can be to build a personal lab, yet that is often where practitioners and architects gain their most valuable hands-on experience with VMware technologies.

Earlier this year, Intel reached out and shared that they would be attending several VMUG Connect events to showcase how organizations can leverage the latest Intel Xeon 6 processors for AI inferencing using Intel Advanced Matrix Extensions (AMX).

Intel was also interested in doing something cool and fun for the VMUG community at these events, so after brainstorming a few ideas, we landed on what seemed like the obvious answer: giving away a system to an attendee that would allow them to get hands-on with AI workloads running on VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF)! 😆

[Read more...]