Users Guide

Cloud Foundation and SDDC design

considerations

VMware Cloud Foundation relies on a set of key infrastructure services to be made available externally. You must configure these external

services before you begin deployment.

NOTE: This section is universal for Cloud Foundation deployments regardless of hardware platform. The content in this

section is also available in the VMware Cloud Foundation Planning and Preparation Guide, and is included here for

reference. The original content in the VMware website includes additional sections which are not in the scope of this

document.

Topics:

• External services overview

• Physical network requirements

• Network pools

• VLANs and IP subnets

• Host names and IP addresses

External services overview

Many external services are required for the initial deployment of Cloud Foundation and for the deployment of other optional components

such as vRealize Operations or vRealize Automation. The following table lists the required and optional external services and

dependencies:

Table 2. Required and optional external services and dependencies

Service Purpose

Active Directory (AD)

(Optional) Provides authentication and authorization.

NOTE: AD is required if you are deploying vRealize

Automation.

Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) Provides automated IP address allocation for VXLAN Tunnel

Endpoints (TEPs).

Domain Name Service (DNS) Provides name resolution for the various components in the

solution.

Network Time Protocol (NTP) Synchronizes time between the various components.

Simple Message Transfer Protocol (SMTP) (Optional) Provides method for email alerts.

Certificate Authority (CA)

(Optional) Allows replacement of the initial self-signed certificates

that are used by Cloud Foundation.

NOTE: A CA is required if you are deploying vRealize

Automation.

Active Directory

Cloud Foundation uses Active Directory (AD) for authentication and authorization to resources. The Active Directory services must be

reachable by the components that are connected to the management and vRealize networks.

You must configure user and group accounts in AD before adding them to the SDDC manager and assigning privileges.

Cloud Foundation and SDDC design considerations 27