Step-by-step VMware Cloud Foundation Repository update without Internet

In my previous post Step-by-step VMware Cloud Foundation 4.2.1 install using VLC we finished building our management domain successfully. Now in order to install vRealize suite we need to download the bundles from VMware, If you have direct internet connectivity (connection to depot.vmware.com) open for SDDC manager then you just need to authenticate with my.vmware.com account and it will start polling and downloading the packages.

If your SDDC manager do not have direct connectivity option, then there could be two scenarios.

1. Either a proxy server in place using which updates/bundles can be downloaded.
2. Environment is air gapped and only option is to offline bundle download and updating repository manually.

Access Denied SSH SSDC manager despite entering correct password

Most often we face an issue where we try to login any photon OS appliance using ssh but we get error access denied, now if the error is due to no access then solution is to provision access, however if the account has access and you are entering correct password still you are getting this error then you must consider that the account might have been locked due to failed login attempts.

Step-by-step VMware Cloud Foundation 4.2.1 install using VLC

In my previous post Step-by-step VMware Cloud Foundation 4.2.1 install I scrapped the lab we started for VCF 4.2.1 and now is the time we continue it with Lab constructor. It would be an injustice if I do not mention Tom Stephens(VMware)'s name who introduced VLC to me, and made my life easier.

In order to start with it we need to review the pre-requirements. You need a single physical host running ESXi 6.7+ with 12 cores, 128 GB RAM and 800 GB SSD.

Configure vSphere standard switch, create a trunk port group and set the switch MTU to 9000 , in our case we already have the Nested-SDDC switch and nested-Trunk port group configured. Our trunk port group is inheriting security settings from the switch, where its configured to accept forged transmits, promiscuous mode and mac address change. Disable these settings on the switch level and configure on the port group nested-trunk, we are doing this for only VCF lab, once we are done with this we will revert it. I am also powering off the CSR1000v virtual router, until this lab is complete.

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.

Home Lab Step-by-Step Part-9-HA-DRS

In my previous post, Home Lab Step-by-Step Part-8-vCenter we have successfully deployed vCenter server, and now we are ready to configure vCenter server.

Just be aware that as we are performing these actions in a nested environment, we will face performance issues, hence do not run out of patience due to slowness and delayed response. 

Now in order to start we will login to the vCenter server https://vcsa.lab.local, using SSO credentials.

Home Lab Step-by-Step Part-8-vCenter

In my previous post Home Lab Step-by-Step Part-7-Shared storage, we have configured shared storage, DNS entries and NTP setup. Now we are ready to deploy vCenter.

Lets start by downloading the vCenter ISO from VMware Customer connect portal.

Once you have downloaded the ISO, we can start deployment process.

Locate the downloaded ISO and mount it on the base machine ( I am using addc server for this task).

Home Lab Step-by-Step Part-7-Shared storage

 In my previous post Home Lab Step-by-Step Part-6-Nested-ESXi we completed, installation of nested esxi servers, and now we are ready to create shared storage for our nested SDDC environment.

To facilitate shared storage to our ESXi servers, we have already installed iSCSi target server role on ADDC in our previous post Home Lab Step-by-Step Part-5-Infrastructure Services now its time to configure the shared volume and for that we added one extra disk to the ADDC server. You can ignore the extra disk I added other than the one highlighted (I am using it for keeping ISO files).