VCF Import – vSphere & vSAN

With the aim of simplifying the process of onboarding existing vSphere and vSAN environments into a full stack private cloud platform, VCF Import becomes a crucial new feature for infrastructure users looking to modernize infrastructure without downtime. This feature allows for immediate integration into VMware Cloud Foundation, reducing the time investment and complexity that normally goes with migration scenarios.

There are two scenarios for importing existing vSphere infrastructure into Cloud Foundation.

  • Scenario 1: when you do not already have the SDDC Manager deployed.
  • Scenario 2: when the SDDC Manager has already been deployed.

 SSH to SDDC Manager

  1. Open PuTTY application
  2. Click sddc-manager.vcf.sddc.lab
  3. Click on Load
  4. Click Open
Create Directory for Import Tool

  1. When prompted for the password enter PASSWORD
  2. Create a new directory for the tool using mkdir /home/vcf/vcfimport
Open WinSCP

  1. Click the Windows Symbol in the taskbar
  2. In the search section type winscp
  3. Click on WinSCP to open the application
Connect to SDDC Manager

  1. In the Host name field enter: sddc-manager.vcf.sddc.lab
  2. In the User name field enter: vcf
  3. In the Password field enter: PASSWORD
  4. Click Login to connect

Accept SDDC Manager Authentication Banner

  1. Click Continue on the Authentication Banner popup
Copy Import Tool to SDDC Manager

  1. Click and hold the vcf-brownfield-import tool and drag it to the vcfimport folder to copy the file over to our SDDC Manager
Extract the Import Tool

  1. Change your directory to where we copied the file by typing cd vcfimport/
  2. Extract the import tool by typing tar -xvf vcf-brownfield-import-5.2.0.0-24108578.tar.gz

This will extract the VCF Import Tool and files needed to complete our import.

Launch Import Tool Help

  1. Change directories to where the import tool was extracted by typing cd vcf-brownfield-import-5.2.0.0-24108578/vcf-brownfield-toolset
  2. Launch the help for the VCF Import Tool by typing python3 vcf_brownfield.py –help
  3. You will notice the tool opened and displayed the current version as well as the options you have to execute a precheck, convert a vCenter, or import a vCenter.
Run vCenter Import PreCheck

  1. Run the Import Precheck by typing python3 vcf_brownfield.py check –vcenter vcsa-01a.vcf.sddc.lab –sso-user administrator@vsphere.local
  2. When prompted for the vCenter SSO Password enter: PASSWORD
  3. When prompted for the SDDC Manager local admin password enter: PASSWORD
  4. You will be asked to accept the target vCenter thumbprint, type yes and hit enter
Review PreCheck Output

  1. Once the precheck completes it will provide a summary of any errors along with the Total, Passed, and Failed checks. It also provides the path to the output files listing out the failed guardrails but also a complete list of the guardrails checked. In the next step we will review the output to see what needs to be resolved before we can import.
Review Guardrails Report

  1. To review the output and see what failed we will review the output YML file by typing cat output/guardrails_report_vcsa-01a.vcf.sddc.lab.yml
  2. You will notice the single failed finding is due to not having HA enabled or DRS set to fully automated. Lets log into vCenter and review our cluster
 Log into vCenter
  1. Open vCenter FQDN through browser
  2. In the User name box enter: administrator@vsphere.local
  3. In the Password box enter: PASSWORD
  4. Click the LOGIN button
Edit Cluster Settings

  1. In the Hosts and Clusters View, Expand both the vCenter and Datacenter objects
  2. Right Click on the vSAN Cluster
  3. Click on Settings
Edit DRS Settings

  1. Click on EDIT… to review the DRS settings

Note: If you notice in the settings for DRS, it has been enabled but is currently set to Partially Automated. We need to set that to Fully Automated to be able to import this vCenter and vSAN Cluster.

Set DRS to Fully Automated

  1. From the Automation Level dropdown, Select Fully Automated
  2. Click on the OK button

Now that we have resolved the finding from the Import precheck we can return to our PuTTY session and execute the import command.

Import vCenter as Workload Domain

  1. Start the Import by running the following command python3 vcf_brownfield.py import –vcenter ‘vcsa-01a.vcf.sddc.lab’ –sso-user ‘administrator@vsphere.local’ –domain-name ‘Imported’ –skipnsx-deployment
  2. You will be prompted to enter the password for 3 items – vCenter SSO, SDDC Manager local admin, and vCenter 
  3. You will be asked to accept the SSH keys for the target vCenter Server, type yes and hit Enter
Accept SSH Keys

  1. As the import continues and discovers the hosts within the vCenter Server and Cluster you are importing you will be asked to accept the SSH keys for each of the hosts, type yes and hit Enter

 

The import will now begin processing and the destination vCenter will be added as a Workload Domain within your SDDC Manager inventory. Lets switch back to the browser and log into SDDC Manager to review the task and progress.

Log into SDDC Manager
  1. Login to SDDC Manager FQDN
  2. In the User name box enter: administrator@vsphere.local
  3. In the Password box enter: PASSWORD
  4. Click the LOGIN button
Review Import Task

  1. Once you have logged in, the task pane should show the progress of the import task.

Note: This process will take 7-10 minutes to complete.

Import Task Completed

  1. Once the import is complete you will see a success message along with any errors encountered.
  2. Close the PuTTY session

Explore Imported Workload Domain

  1. Return to the web browser and the SDDC Manager tab. You will notice the Import task competed here as well.
  2. Close the Tasks Pane
  3. Click on Workload Domains
  4. Click on the Imported domain
Workload Domain
1.
  1. In the Workload Domain view you can now explore the various sections including the Hosts, Cluster, and Certificates. Feel free to explore each of the tabs at your convenience.
Password Management

  1. Click on Password Management in the left pane
  2. Notice that you can now see some of the accounts from the imported hosts that can be rotated using the SDDC Manager interface
Conclusion

You have learned how to Import vCenter as a Workload Domain within SDDC Manager. Please note that importing NSX into VCF is not available as of VCF  5.2 version. Hope importing NSX feature will come in future VCF versions.

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