What is VMware Cloud Foundation?
VMware Cloud Foundation is a hybrid cloud platform that provides a full-stack hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) that is made for modernizing data centers and deploying modern container-based applications. VCF integrates different components like vSphere (compute), vSAN (storage), NSX (networking) and some parts of the vRealize Suite in a HCI solution with infrastructure automation and software lifecycle management. The idea of VCF follows a standardized, automated and validated approach that simplifies the management of all the needed software-defined infrastructure resources.
This standardized and automated software stack provides customers consistent infrastructure and operations in a cloud operating model that can be deployed on-premises, at the edge or public cloud.
By integrating vSphere and vSAN, Cloud Foundation allows the data center cloud administrator to use flash arrays in a server, build a virtual storage area network (VSAN) out of those arrays and pool them directly into vSphere. By integrating vSphere and NSX, Cloud Foundation allows the data center cloud administrator to use microsegmentation to attach policies to the application and fully abstract workloads from the infrastructure, improving security, portability and scalability.
Cloud Foundation also automates all of the lifecycle operations -- installation, configuration, operation and so on -- of the entire VMware software stack, features policy-driven Workload Domains and monitors both the physical topology of the software-defined data center, as well as its underling components.
Cloud Foundation is designed with data center cloud administrators -- more specifically, VMware administrators -- in mind, because it enables them to provision an application environment instantaneously, rather than send out requests and wait for storage and network to be provisioned.
Cloud Foundation also integrates with pre-existing VMware products, including VMware vRealize Suite, VMware Integrated OpenStack, VMware Integrated Containers and VMware Horizon, and it leverages VMware vCenter Server for VM management, monitoring and provisioning.
Cloud Foundation comes with three deployment options:
o Ready Systems, which deploys Cloud Foundation with prequalified vSAN Ready Nodes and networking switches
o Integrated Systems, which deploys Cloud Foundation with software stack preinstalled and integrated on qualified hardware
o As a Service from the Public Cloud, which runs Cloud Foundation as a service, managed by public cloud providers.
VMware Cloud Foundation Architecture
VCF supports two architectures:
o Standard Architecture
o Consolidated Architecture
Standard Architecture Model – This is the preferred model, in this model management workloads run on a dedicated management domain and user workloads are deployed in separate virtual infrastructure (VI) workload domains. Each workload domain is managed by a separate vCenter Server instance which provides for scalability and allows for autonomous licensing and lifecycle management.
Consolidated Architecture Model – This architecture model is used for specific use cases and POC environment. In this model, the management and user workload domains run together on a shared management domain. The environment is managed from a single vCenter Server and vSphere resource pools provide isolation between management and user workloads. The consolidated architecture does not support NSX-T or the automated deployment of Horizon and Enterprise PKS.
What software is being delivered in Cloud Foundation?
The BoM (bill of materials) is changing with each VCF release. Let me take the VCF 4.3 release as example to list the components and software versions:
o VMware SDDC Manager 4.3
o vSphere 7.0 Update 2a with Tanzu
o vCenter Server 7.0 P03
o vSAN 7.0 Update 2
o NSX-T 3.1.3
o VMware Workspace ONE Access 3.3.5
o vRealize Log Insight 8.4
o vRealize Operations 8.4
o vRealize Automation 8.4.1
o (vRealize Network Insight)
Which VMware Cloud Foundation editions are available?
Edge/Remote Use Cases?
When you would like to deploy VMware Cloud Foundation workload domains at a remote site, you can deploy so-called “VCF Remote Clusters”. Those remote workload domains are managed by the VCF instance at the central site and you can perform the same full-stack lifecycle management for the remote sites from the central SDDC Manager.
How many physical nodes are required to deploy VMware Cloud Foundation?
A minimum of four physical nodes is required to start in a consolidated architecture or to build your management workload domain. Four nodes are required to ensure that the environment can tolerate a failure while another node is being updated.
VI workload domains require a minimum of three nodes.
This means, to start with a standard architecture, you need to have the requirements to start with at least seven physical nodes.
What are the minimum hardware requirements?
These minimum specs have been listed for the management WLD since VCF 4.0 (September 2020):
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