Step-by-step VMware Cloud Foundation 4.2.1 install

In my previous post I was working with NSX-T, however due to some urgent requirement I started testing latest VCF suite. Hence this post is not about NSX-T, its about deploying VCF in home lab. Now as we all know that VCF is a pre-packaged bundle which comes with pre-validated versions of VMware portfolio products, and helps organizations adopt the private cloud with very little manual efforts. It uses automation to deploy the SDDC.

I am running VCF deployment on a single physical server, hence at some point in time I will run out of resources, at that point I will switch to deployment of VCF using VLC, VLC is the VMware Cloud Foundation Lab Constructor designed for professionals like us who wants to test product but can be limited due to physical resources. I am doing it old fashion way just to demonstrate how deployment would happen in real world, however VLC would actually be better to test the product. In case you do not have resources to test it at your ease no need to get disheartened, you can use simulation to learn.

What is vExpert?? Should I apply??

Well, I am not sure if you are aware of it or not but, applications are open for vExpert 2021. Now the big question what is vExpert and should I apply for it?

Let me answer the second question first, and answer is "YES, you should".

Home Lab Step-by-Step-NSX-T 3.1 design and Install-P1

 In my previous post Home Lab Step-by-Step Part-10-vSAN 7, we completed single site vSAN cluster setup. Now we will start deployment of NSX-T manager, after completing NSX-T manager installation we will talk about the different design scenarios, and we will discuss the deployment method for them as well.

If you are new to software defined networking space, then I would highly recommend reading Getting Started with NSX-T: Logical Routing and Switching: The Basic Principles of Building Software-Defined Network Architectures with VMware NSX-T by Iwan Hoogendoorn and If you at advanced level then would recommend reading Multi-Site Network and Security Services with NSX-T: Implement Network Security, Stateful Services, and Operations

Before we start deployment of our NSX-T manager, we need to make sure we are ready with pre-requisites. What are those pre-reqs? Well these are clear system requirements for NSX-T, hence kindly check them properly and make sure everything is in place.

Home Lab Step-by-Step Part-10-vSAN 7

In my previous post Home Lab Step-by-Step Part-9-HA-DRS, we completed the deployment of our virtual SDDC, and now we are ready to test different solutions.

Here, I would try to add some history, relevance and information about the solution we will be deploying in our lab environment. This should give you a fair understanding why we are doing something and what is the use case. Which becomes very helpful when we go out in real world for designing solutions for our customers.

So, let’s start with vSAN. First question which should be answered is “What is vSAN”?

Probably you already know the answer of this question, if not than let me help you with that.

Every datacenter (physical or virtual) comprises of five core elements, Compute, Storage, Network, Backup/Recovery and Security.