VCF 9 Deployment Deep Dive: New Fleet & Instance Deployment with the Wizard

This comprehensive guide provides a step-by-step walkthrough for deploying VMware Cloud Foundation 9 (VCF 9) using the modern, UI-driven VCF Installer Deployment Wizard. Combining practical guidance with real-world insights, this post equips both experienced architects and newcomers with the knowledge needed to execute a successful, first-time VCF 9 deployment.

Planning & Preparation: The Foundation of Success

A successful VCF 9 deployment begins long before you click “Next” in the installer. The planning phase dictates success or failure. Before you even provision the underlying infrastructure, you must clearly define and document the following critical aspects:

• Target Architecture & Topology: Clearly define your Management Domain, Virtualized Infrastructure Workload Domains (VI WLDs), and end-to-end network design.
• Hardware Bill of Materials (BOM) Validation: Confirm every component’s compatibility with the VCF 9 Hardware Compatibility List (HCL).
• Comprehensive VLAN Planning: Document every segment: Management, vSAN, vMotion, Edge, and Workload segments.
• Complete IP Schema: Reserve every IP address for the SDDC Manager, vCenter, NSX Managers, ESXi hosts, and Edge nodes.

Pro Tip: The single most impactful step you can take is investing time in a well-structured planning workbook. This document becomes your single source of truth and will save you countless hours of configuration troubleshooting.

Essential Elements for Your Planning Workbook

Before launching the installer, prepare and centralize the following information:

Category	Key Planning Details
Platform Decisions	VCF version (9.x), underlying vSphere and NSX versions, Storage architecture (vSAN vs. external array), Future roadmap (single-region vs. multi-region).
Host & Cluster Design	Number of ESXi hosts (minimum N+1), CPU/Memory/Storage specs, vSAN disk group config (or external LUN layout), Out-of-band management (iDRAC/iLO/BMC) credentials.
Network Plan	Detailed VLAN IDs and subnets for Management, vSAN, vMotion, and NSX segments. Defined IP pools and ranges.
Identity & Credentials	DNS domain name, minimum of two NTP sources, Enterprise CA integration strategy, vCenter SSO domain naming, Local admin/service account naming conventions.
Security	A secure credential storage strategy (use a password vault, never embed credentials in the workbook).

Requirements & Prerequisites Checklist

Skipping or incompletely verifying these prerequisites is the leading cause of VCF deployment failures. Allocate sufficient time to rigorously validate each item:

• ESXi Hosts: Must meet or exceed VCF 9 HCL requirements.
• DNS Infrastructure: Properly configured forward and reverse lookup entries for all components.
• NTP Configuration: Synchronized consistently across all nodes (pointing to at least two reliable NTP sources).
• Network Reachability: Confirmed for all hosts via both FQDN and IP address.
• Validated Planning Workbook: Ready and accessible.
• VCF Installer Precheck: Plan to successfully complete this internal workflow to validate the infrastructure before the final deployment.

Deployment Walkthrough: Using the VCF Installer Wizard

This section provides a detailed walkthrough of the VCF 9 UI-based deployment process.

Step 1: Deploy and Access the VCF Installer Appliance

1. Deploy the VCF 9 Installer using the provided OVA file.
2. Once initialized, navigate to the web browser interface: https://installer_appliance_FQDN.
3. Log in using the admin@local credentials.

Step 2: Configure Depot Settings and Binary Management

To ensure the installer has access to all necessary VMware binaries, configure your depot:

1. Navigate to Depot Settings and select Binary Management.
2. Choose your connectivity:
   • Online Depot: Requires internet connectivity and a valid download token.
   • Offline Depot: For air-gapped environments.
3. For Online Depot, click Configure, paste your authentication token, and verify connectivity.
4. Select the required binaries from the depot and initiate the download.

Once the download is completed continue with next step

Step 3: Initiate the Deployment Wizard

1. Navigate to Deployment Wizard and select VMware Cloud Foundation.
2. Choose your deployment scenario:
   • New VCF Fleet: For greenfield deployments (my selection).
   • New VCF Instance in Existing Fleet: For expanding an already-deployed VCF environment.
3. Click Continue.

Step 4: Configure VCF Operations and vCenter Options

• For a greenfield deployment, typically leave the VCF Operations and vCenter new instance options unchecked, as you are deploying them fresh.
• Check these only for brownfield scenarios where you are importing existing appliances.

Step 5: Enter General Configuration Details

This is where you plug in the foundational information from your planning workbook:

• VCF Version (9.x build)
• VCF Instance Name
• Management Domain Name
• Deployment Model (e.g., Standard)
• DNS Domain Name and minimum of two DNS Servers
• NTP Server(s)

Step 6: Configure VCF Operations Appliances

Specify sizing and FQDNs for the Operations components:

• Operations Appliance Size (Small, Medium, Large)
• Administrator & Root Passwords
• Fleet Management Appliance FQDN
• Operations Collector Appliance FQDN

Note: If VCF Automation is a Day-1 operation, you can defer this and enable it after the initial deployment.

Step 7: Specify vCenter Server Details

Input the core management details:

• vCenter appliance FQDN, Size, Datacenter (DC) Name, and Cluster Name.
• vCenter administrator password and SSO domain configuration.

Step 8: Specify NSX Manager Details

Configure your NSX cluster for resilience:

• NSX Manager appliance FQDNs (typically three for production).
• NSX Manager administrator credentials.
• NSX cluster configuration parameters.

Step 9: Configure Storage Architecture

Select your storage solution:

• vSAN: Specify architecture, Datastore Name, Failures to Tolerate (FTT), and whether Deduplication/Compression are enabled.
• VMFS on FC or NFS v3 for external array deployments.

Step 10: Configure ESXi Host Credentials

For each ESXi host in the management domain:

1. Enter the root password and FQDN.
2. After adding all hosts, click Confirm All Fingerprints to validate SSH thumbprint connectivity—a critical step for pre-deployment checks.

Step 11: Configure Networking

Input the full network configuration based on your plan:

• VLAN assignments for each segment.
• IP pools and ranges.
• Network segment descriptions.

Step 12: Configure the Distributed Virtual Switch (DVS)

• DVS Profile: Choose Default Profile (for 2 pNICs) or Custom Profile (for more than 2 pNICs) to optimize traffic separation. Refer to the “View Topologies” guide if needed.
• Specify DVS settings: Distributed Switch Name, MTU Size (often 9000 for jumbo frames), and Load Balancing Policy.
• Configure the vMotion, vSAN, and NSX overlay networks.

In my lab environment, the nested hosts have only 2 NICs, so I proceeded with the default distributed virtual switch topology. The next step is to expand the VDS and configure its key settings, including the VDS name, MTU value, and the appropriate load-balancing policy.

Configure the vMotion and vSAN networks, then proceed to the next set of configuration steps.

Configure the NSX overlay network in alignment with your infrastructure’s IP plan.

Step 13: Configure SDDC Manager Appliance

Provide the details for the core orchestration component:

• SDDC Manager FQDN
• Appliance Password

Step 14: Review, Validate, and Deploy

This final stage ensures operational readiness:

1. Review All Settings: Go through the entire configuration summary one last time.
2. Download JSON Specification: Crucially, download this file! It captures your entire configuration for troubleshooting or easy redeployment.
3. Execute Input Validation: Click Next to run comprehensive checks (syntax, network reachability, DNS, credentials, and VLAN/IP conflicts).
4. Deploy: Once validation is 100% successful, click Deploy to initiate the VCF 9 deployment.

Expect the deployment to take between 30 to 90 minutes, depending on your infrastructure (nested environments may take longer). Monitor the dashboard for real-time updates.

Key Takeaways

• Plan Comprehensively: Time invested in planning saves multiples of that time in troubleshooting.
• Document Everything: Your planning workbook is your single source of truth.
• Validate Rigorously: Do not proceed with deployment until all prerequisites and the installer’s validation checks pass successfully.
• Save the JSON: Download the specification file for rapid redeployment if needed.

Thank you for reading this VCF 9 deployment guide! If you found this post helpful, please share it with your network.

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