Step-by-step VMware Cloud Foundation 4.3 design and install vRA

In my previous post Step-by-step VMware Cloud Foundation 4.3 design and install vRLI we have completed deployment of VMware vRealize log insight, now we are ready to start deployment of vRealize Automation aka vRA.

When we talk about a true SDDC, its incomplete without automation layer. With the pace IT is evolving, actions from IT can not take days, if it does than it can not satisfy the need of  business, and if it can not be an enabling unit then may be IT wouldn't be needed. Visionaries already anticipated it. Solution was to automate day2day tasks which reduces delivery time significantly. Not only that, reactive approach reduces action taken on an incident which helps in better operations. Now due to automation most of the manual tasks will not need human resources, same resources can be utilized in innovation.

People initially thought automation will result in loss of jobs, however it presented with other opportunities. 

Step-by-step VMware Cloud Foundation 4.3 design and install vRLI

In my previous post Step-by-step VMware Cloud Foundation 4.3 design and install vROPS we have completed deployment of VMware vRealize operations manager, now we are ready to start deployment of vRealize log insight solution aka vRLI.

In order to proceed further in our journey of a complete software defined datacenter stack, we need to incorporate products and solutions which fulfills certain needs of the SDDC. So far we have added the capability of self driving operations with VMware vRealize operations manager. What we still lack is a solution with which we can do our logs management. In every organization we have compliance requirements which includes keeping logs available for a certain amount of time (Long term archival). In this post we will be adding that capability to our SDDC.

Step-by-step VMware Cloud Foundation 4.3 design and install vROPS

In my previous post Step-by-step VMware Cloud Foundation 4.3 design and install WSA we have completed deployment of VMware vRealize workspace one access, now we are ready to start deployment of vRealize operations manager aka vROPs.

Its very important we understand that flow, first we installed vRealize lifecycle manager, did a repository sync and created a global environment for workspace one access. Workspace one access will deliver identity and access management in VMware cloud foundation environment, as it is installed in a cross region nsx segment we can leverage it on each site which is part of same VCF deployment.

But before we start discussing how we are going to consume these services, we should complete the deployment of vRealize suite components. Next in line is vRealize operations manager.

Step-by-step VMware Cloud Foundation 4.3 design and install WSA

In my previous post Step-by-step VMware Cloud Foundation 4.3 design and install VRLCM we have completed deployment of VMware vRealize lifecycle manager, as explained in my previous post in order to install vRealize components in a VMware cloud foundation environment we need vRLCM.

If you go to vRealize tab on  SDDC manager before installing vRLCM you will get a clear message as in you need to deploy it before you can deploy other vRealize suite products.

As shown in the image below. Once vRLCM is deployed we start vRealize suite deployment with workspace one access.

Step-by-step VMware Cloud Foundation 4.3 design and install VRLCM

In my previous post Step-by-step VMware Cloud Foundation 4.3 design and install AVNs we have completed deployment of application virtual networks, where we will be hosting our vRealize suite products. As VMware Cloud Foundation is the private cloud it would be incomplete without automation, logs management, operations management. That's where vRealize suite comes in picture. 

Before we talk about vRealize suite, we need to be aware of the life cycle management. Not only in IT lifecycle management plays an important role. knowingly or unknowingly we do it in our day to day life.

Step-by-step VMware Cloud Foundation 4.3 design and install AVNs

In my previous post Step-by-step VMware Cloud Foundation 4.3 design and install Edge Nodes we completed deployment of edge node cluster in VMware cloud foundation management domain and successfully deployed T0 and T1 router instance for dynamic routing. For dynamic routing we used BGP in real world deployment your network team will enable BGP on uplink devices, however if you are doing it in LAB then you need to enable BGP on your uplink router which would be in our case CSR1000v. Please refer to my post where I have enabled it on our virtual router. 

Now as we are advancing with the deployment its time we create AVNs for hosting vRealize components. As each component will be placed on a AVN based on its usage and compliant with VMware Validated Designs.

I have already talked about VMware validated designs in my post Home Lab Step-by-Step-NSX-T 3.1 design and Install-P1 I would recommend to have a look at it once.

Step-by-step VMware Cloud Foundation 4.3 design and install Edge Nodes

In my previous post "Step-by-step VMware Cloud Foundation 4.3 design and install MGMT domain" we have completed VCF management domain deployment.

As we are using version 4.3, which gives us flexibility of deploying either with Static routing or dynamic using BGP, it doesn't deploy edge nodes and no AVN gets created. It actually allows us "Architects" to design and deploy without manual intervention or work around for keeping up with the needs of customer.

In a brown field deployment if you have an underlay network which is configured with static routes, as customer have limited subnets and do not have requirement of rapid network provisioning, they would not want to enable BGP, only to accommodate VCF and to design around this requirement we used work arounds, but now its a straight solution.

Step-by-Step-NSX-T 3.1 design and Install-P3

In my previous post Step-by-Step-NSX-T 3.1 design and Install-P2 we have have cover configuration of IP pool for host and edge transport node, transport zones, uplink profiles, Distributed switch for nsx, host addition to vds, host transport node profile and finally configuration of NSX on host transport nodes.

Now our esxi hosts are ready to participate in NSX-T datacenter however until we have a working connectivity model it would be of no use. Hence in this post we will take care of EDGE nodes.

To start with, I would urge you all to configure backup of your nsx-t manager cluster, as making it a habit will save you from many unfortunate situations. 

Step-by-step VMware Cloud Foundation 4.3 design and install MGMT domain

As VMware cloud foundation 4.3 is around for a while and 4.3.1 is already available, I thought I should write this piece on how to design and deploy step by step. So with out wasting any time lets directly jump on to the product. VMware cloud foundation is available for some time now and many enterprises are adopting it because of ease of management it provides, in terms of a complete suite which includes all required/necessary products for a true software defined datacenter. But if you are new to VMware Cloud Foundation then be aware VMware cloud foundation is a VMware validated suite of products such as vSphere for compute virtualization, vSAN for storage virtualization and NSX for network virtualization along with other products to ease day 2 operations. Interoperability of these products is extensively tested by VMware and finally made available for general use. It is based on VMware validated designs so all solution designing principle are accounted for.

If you are installing it fresh or you need to upgrade from a previous version of VCF I would recommend reading the release notes. Below are few sections I focus.

Step-by-Step-NSX-T 3.1 design and Install-P2

In my previous post Home Lab Step-by-Step-NSX-T 3.1 design and Install-P1, we completed the installation of NSX-T managers and added compute manager. In this post we will start discussing the different deployment options and how to ascertain which deployment model is best suited for our customers.

But, before jumping on to deployment options, I would like to talk about architecting/designing a solution. This is for the folks who are new to solution architecture field. To summarize, a solution is build up of  5 components. Requirements, Risks, Constraints, Assumptions and based on these, design decisions.